“can you take this assignment and make it look nice Choose ONE author and investigate how an important life experience, event, relationship, struggle, or historical event influenced that author's writing. Your goal is not simply to write a biography. Your goal is to explain the connection between the author's life and their literature. You are answering the questions: How did something in this author's life influence what, how, or why they wrote? STEP 1 — CHOOSE YOUR AUTHOR 🖤 PERSONAL EXPERIENCES Poe • Dickens • Maya Angelou • Hemingway • Steinbeck • Plath 🏛️ HISTORICAL/POLITICAL CONTEXT Orwell • Wells • Vonnegut • Tolkien • Bradbury • Hughes 👩‍🏫 GENDER & SOCIETY Jane Austen • Mary Shelley • Charlotte Brontë • Virginia Woolf • Margaret Atwood 👻 HORROR/GOTHIC Poe • Shelley • Stoker • Stevenson • Hawthorne • Stephen King 💰 CLASS & SOCIETY Dickens • Austen • Fitzgerald • Steinbeck • Wells ⚔️ WAR & TRAUMA Hemingway • Tolkien • Vonnegut • Wiesel • Woolf STEP 2- FIND THE CONNECTION- This is where your research begins. You are looking for a specific connection, not a list of everything that happened during your author's life. Ask yourself: • What important experience shaped this author? • What did the author struggle with? • Who influenced the author? • What historical events affected the author? • What social issues did the author experience? • What beliefs did the author develop? • What happened in the author's life that appears again in their writing? Investigate their life LIFE EVIDENCE #1 What did you discover about the author's life? Source:__________________________________ Evidence/Fact: What does this tell you about the author? Why might this experience matter to the author's writing? LIFE EVIDENCE #2 Source: __________________________________ Evidence/Fact: Why is this important? LIFE EVIDENCE #3 Source: __________________________________ Evidence/Fact: Why is this important? INVESTIGATE THE LITERATURE Now it's time to move from the author's life to the author's writing.Choose at least TWO works by your author. These could be; novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, memoirs, etc WORK #1 Title: __________________________________ What is this work about? What connection do you see between the author's life and this work? Textual Evidence Find a specific quotation, scene, character, symbol, conflict, theme, or literary technique that supports your connection. Page/Location: __________________________ Explain the connection. Don't just tell me what happens. How does this evidence reflect the author's life or experiences? WORK #2 Title: __________________________________ What connection do you see? Textual Evidence Page/Location: __________________________ Explain the connection. ASK THE BIGGER QUESTION Now that you've researched the author and analyzed the literature, think beyond the obvious connection. Ask the Following : WHY did this experience matter? HOW did it change the author's writing? WHAT did the author seem to be saying because of this experience? WHY might the author have chosen to explore this subject? DEVELOP YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION Your question should connect: AUTHOR + LIFE EXPERIENCE + LITERATURE Examples: How did Edgar Allan Poe's experiences with loss influence his portrayal of death and grief? Or how did the social and economic limitations placed on women influence Jane Austen's portrayal of marriage? Your question is_______________________________________________________________ STEP 3- THESIS [Author's] experience with __________ influenced their writing by causing them to explore __________ in __________. ( do not use word for word--- this is just an example) Example: Kate Chopin's experiences with marriage, motherhood, and widowhood influenced her writing by leading her to explore women's desire for independence and the limitations of traditional gender roles, particularly in "The Story of an Hour" and The Awakening. STEP 5 — WRITE YOUR TEXXXI BODY PARAGRAPHS T-- Topic What is the main point of this paragraph? E- Evidence- What evidence from the author's life or work supports your point? X- Example- Importance/ Transition X- Example- Importance/ Transition X- Example- Importance/ Transition I- Implementation/ So what? -- Why should my reader care What should the layout of my paper be: Introduction • Introduce the author • Introduce the important life experience/event • Provide necessary background • Introduce your research question • Present your thesis Body Paragraph 1 The Author's Life Explain the important experience using research. Body Paragraph 2 Connection to Literary Work #1 Analyze how the experience appears in the author's writing. Body Paragraph 3 Connection to Literary Work #1/#2 Analyze another example. Body Paragraph 4 Deeper Literary Analysis Explain what this connection reveals about the author's themes, purpose, style, characters, symbolism, etc. Conclusion Answer the bigger question: How did the author's life become part of their literature?”