English 12CP Research Paper Daily Research Log

DAILY RESEARCH LOG

Project:                                   Student:                                  Date:

Source: Record complete citation.

Notes: Describe what you learned and how it will relate to your thesis.

Sir Gawain Vocabulary

Use TWO of the following words in two separate, complete sentences.  Be sure your sentences shows your understanding of the words and shows proper context.

• dais
• gisarme
• recreant
• nobility
• wight
• dainties
• pendant
• wrought
• steed
• burnish

Hamlet on PBS

Here is the link for the PBS version of Hamlet.

Let's Move!

Arthur was young in blood, was wild in his brain and was not content to sit for a long time.  What adventures get you up and going and keep you, like Arthur, from sitting too long and getting bored?

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Text of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  
Works Citation for Sir Gawain:
Nielson, W. A. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Cambridge, ON: In Parentheses Publications, 1999. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. York University. Web. <http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/sggk_neilson.pdf>.

Background to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight study questions

Part 1

1.      After opening with a discussion of Troy, what is the setting of the poem’s opening in terms of time and place? (Be more precise than “Britain.”) What time of the year is it? Why are all the knights gathered in this location?

2.      Where did the narrator first hear this story, according to his words in the second stanza?

3.      What are some of the amusements the court participates in as part of the celebration? (see stanzas three and four).

4.      When Arthur is first introduced, how is he described? What vow has Arthur made to himself out of pride? How does this interfere with the guest’s dinner?

5.      What are some the possible entertainments Arthur proposes?

6.      As soon as the trumpets finish their flourish for the first dish, who shows up at the hall?

7.      When the poet describes the strange intruder, what is the first trait he notices as unusual about this weird knight? (Hint, he doesn’t notice the color first!) What’s the second thing he notices?

8.      What is unusual about the strange knight’s clothing? About his horse? What are some of the decorations on his saddle?

9.      What is unusual about the strange knight’s hair-do?

10.  In the tenth stanza, the poet lists some of the things the knight is not carrying or wearing. What are these items? Why might the narrator think it odd that the knight doesn’t carry or wear these things?

11.  What does the strange knight carry in one hand? What strange item does he carry in the other hand?

12.  How long is the head of the ax-haft that the Green Knights wields as a weapon?

13.  When the Green Knight demands to speak to Arthur, what do folk deem (think) the Green Knight is? How do all the guests initially react to his outrageous demand, and what do they say? (trick question!)

14.  When King Arthur greets the Green Knight, he states “The head of this hostelry Arthur am I.” What is a hostel? Why is it ironic that Arthur says he is the head of such a place? (i.e., what is Arthur implying about the way the Green Knight is treating King Arthur after barging into his court without invitation?)

15.  What evidence the Green Knight offer that his purpose is playful and non-violent?

16.  What reason does the Green Knight offer for not wanting to fight with the men he sees sitting on the banquet benches?

17.  What prize will one of King Arthur’s knights win if he agrees to play the game with the Green Knight (and lives)?

18.  If the Green Knight survives the blow from one of King Arthur’s knight, what will he get to do to that knight? What date or duration is the set time for this “payback”?

19.  What color do we learn are the Green Knight’s eyes when he stares out over the crowd to intimidate them?

20.  Before Sir Gawain steps up to play, who first leaps down out of anger to play the game? Why is this a really bad idea politically when it comes to the welfare of Camelot?

21.  Note Gawain’s requests and his language in stanza 16. He asks permission to play the game instead, and he asks permission to get up and leave the table, and he asks permission to stand by the king (if such an action does not displease Guinevere). What do these requests and his diction reveal about Gawain’s character? How is this a foil or contrast for the Green Knight’s behavior at the party?

22.  Why does Gawain say it will be no great loss if he dies while playing the Green Knight’s game?

23.  What is Gawain’s familial relationship to King Arthur? How is he related to him?

24.  King Arthur says, “Keep . . . what you cut with this day, / And if you rule it aright, then readily I know, You shall stand the stroke it will strike after.” What advice is he giving Gawain with these words? What does such advice reveal about King Arthur’s understanding of the Green Knight’s powers?

25.  What does Sir Gawain want to know about the Green Knight before he strikes the blow? What does his question reveal about Sir Gawain’s understanding of the Green Knight’s powers, which contrasts with King Arthur’s understanding?

26.  When the Green Knight bows down and extends his neck in order to have his head chopped off, what does he carefully move out of the way so his neck can be clearly seen?

27.  Where does the Green Knight’s head roll after it is chopped off? How do you imagine the guests reacted when they found it there?

28.  Where does the Green Knight’s head tell Sir Gawain to come before New Year’s Day of next year? What does he say will happen if Sir Gawain does not show up?

29.  What does Arthur tell Queen Guinevere when she looks horrified at what just happened?

30.  What does Arthur ask Gawain to do with the ax-blade he has won?

Oedipus the King

Respond to the following question in 100 words.

What is worth risking everything for?

MLA Format

Copy and paste the following text into a blank Word document, making all the text 11 pt. Times New Roman. Fix all the errors. Put a page break before the second section.  Be sure to type your name in a header and print when completed.

 Works Cited

Lorain, John. Nature and Reason Harmonized in the Practice of Husbandry. Philadelphia: Carey, 1825. Print.

Allen, R.L. The American Farm Book; or Compend of American Agriculture; Being a Practical Treatise on Soils, Manures, Draining, Irrigation, Grasses, Grain, Roots, Fruits, Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar Cane, Rice, and Every Staple Product of the United States with the Best Methods of Planting, Cultivating, and Preparation for Market. New York: Saxton, 1849. Print.

1.      Demaree, Albert Lowther. The American Agricultural Press 1819-1860. New York: Columbia UP, 1941. Print.

2.      Baker, Gladys L., Wayne D. Rasmussen, Vivian Wiser, and Jane M. Porter. Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture. [Federal Government], 1996. Print.

3.      Drown, William and Solomon Drown. Compendium of Agriculture or the Farmer’s Guide, in the Most Essential Parts of Husbandry and Gardening; Compiled from the Best American and European Publications, and the Unwritten Opinions of Experienced Cultivators. Providence, RI: Field, 1824. Print.

4.      Danhof, Clarence H. Change in Agriculture: The Northern United States, 1820-1870. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1969. Print.

Nicholson, John. The Farmer’s Assistant; Being a Digest of All That Relates to Agriculture and the Conducting of Rural Affairs; Alphabetically Arranged and Adapted for the United States. [Philadelphia]: Warner, 1820. Print.

5.      “Historical Census Browser.” University of Virginia Library. 2007. Web. 6 Dec. 2008.

6.      Hurt, R. Douglas. American Agriculture: A Brief History. Ames, IA: Iowa State UP, 1994. Print.

7.      Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. Prairie View A&M. 2003. Web. 6 Dec. 2008.

Correctly format the parenthetical citations listed in the bold type:

One result of the newly circulating print information was the “need for acquiring scientific information upon which could be based a rational technology” that could “be substituted for the current diverse, empirical practices” (This quote is in the book Changes in Agriculture, page 69). In his 1825 book Nature and Reason Harmonized in the Practice of Husbandry, John Lorain begins his first chapter by stating that “[v]ery erroneous theories have been propagated” resulting in faulty farming methods (from the book Nature and Reason Harmonized in the Practice of Husbandry, page 1). His words here create a framework for the rest of his book, as he offers his readers narratives of his own trials and errors and even dismisses foreign, time-tested techniques farmers had held on to: “The knowledge we have of that very ancient and numerous nation the Chinese, as well as the very located habits and costumes of this very singular people, is in itself insufficient to teach us . . .” (This quote is from the Historical Census Browser ). His book captures the call and need for scientific experiments to develop new knowledge meant to be used in/on/with American soil, which reflects some farmers’ thinking of the day.

By the 1860s, the need for this knowledge was strong enough to affect education. John Nicholson anticipated this effect in 1820 in the “Experiments” section of his book The Farmer’s Assistant; Being a Digest of All That Relates to Agriculture and the Conducting of Rural Affairs; Alphabetically Arranged and Adapted for the United States:  “Perhaps it would be well, if some institution were devised, and supported at the expense of the State, which would be so organized as would tend most effectually to produce a due degree of emulation among Farmers” (This quote is from The Farmer’s Assistant, page 82). Part of Nicholson’s hope was realized in 1837 when Michigan established their state university, specifying that “agriculture was to be an integral part of the curriculum” (This quote is from Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture, page 122). Not much was accomplished, however, much to the dissatisfaction of farmers, and in 1855, the state authorized a new college to be “devoted to agriculture and to be independent of the university” (This quote is from The American Farm Book , page 783). The government became more involved in the creation of agricultural universities in 1862 when President Lincoln passed the Morrill Land Grant College Act, which begins with this phrase: “AN ACT Donating Public Lands to the several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts [sic].” The first agricultural colleges formed under the act suffered from a lack of trained teachers and “an insufficient base of knowledge,” and critics claimed that the new colleges did not meet the needs of farmers .

It's Grammar Time!

All students must view and take notes on this Comma PowerPoint.  Then you must identify the error in your essay (list the actual comma rule!) and fix the error.

Please visit the Purdue OWL Writing Lab at Purdue OWL and search for lessons on the areas of grammar identified on your research paper.  Take notes on the grammar rules and ways to repair the problem in your writing.

Then, identify the error in your essay (list the actual grammar rule!) and fix the error.

The Glass Castle

Describe a memory you have of moving, whether it was moving homes, schools, or even rooms.  What kind of impact or significance did the move have on you?  (All of you have moved, even if it is from Highland School up to the high school).  Write at least 100 words.

Tweet, Tweet Tweet!

Digital Media Habits

Tell me about your digital media habits. How much time (and money) do you spend using technology for socializing and entertainment like texting and gaming?  Does it hurt your grades?  Do you recognize yourself at all in these teens' stories? Do you often switch between doing homework and things like checking Facebook, watching videos or playing games? Do you find it hard to focus on and process your schoolwork? Are your grades affected? Do you – or your parents – try to set limits on your use of technology?  
When answering these questions, do not just answer yes/no...tell a story about yourself and your experiences from these questions.  These are a springboard for discussion.  You are not required to answer each question individually, but rather think about the questions to form a sophisticated, informed, and thoughtful comment.  You must post by tomorrow 8 am.

Six Word Memoirs

For sale:  baby shoes, never used.   
A short, short story by Ernest Hemingway