Researching Biography

Task

Your task in this project is to learn about the speaker. You should read general biographies but in addition strive to answer the questions below.

Reading

Klumpp and Read, pp. 8-9.

Questions to Ask

• When was the speaker born? Where?
• What do we know about the speaker's childhood? Describe the household in which s/he grew up. Poor? Wealthy? What were his/her parents like?
• What kind of an education did the speaker have?
• How did the speaker learn to speak? How was s/he educated as a speaker?
• What was the speaker's life work? How did this influence his/her speaking?
• Were there noted characteristics of the speaker's rhetoric?
• How did the speaker get involved in public life? What were his/her purposes in public life?
• What were the major achievements of the speaker's life?
• How important were the speaker's contributions to our society?

Strategies for Research

1. I would start by reading short general biographies. You can probably access these sufficiently on the web. Look particularly at Wikipaedia. Remember, however, that these are not well vetted information, so don't be surprised if you find they are exaggerated or even untrue.
2. Now work into more specific information. Someone in the group might want to read the latest biography of the speaker or the group might want to split this biography into pieces. Notice which other biographies this latest one cites repeatedly. Begin to investigate them.
3. Now turn specifically to the questions above. Can you answer them? Are the answers well established and agreed upon by biographers. Spread your work out into additional biographies at this point and use indexes to find answers to these questions.
4. Now sit down as a group and share your findings. If you find that there are holes in your research, return to the library.

Preparing Your Oral Report

You will have fifteen minutes to present your findings. As a group, decide what things are important to report to the class. Formulate those into a report. Decide how you will present it orally. Time the presentation. You will be on the clock. Check with the criteria for the oral report to make certain you have planned a satisfactory presentation.

Preparing Your Bibliography

Select the 10-20 sources that when combined into a full bibliography meet the criteria specified for the assignment. You do not report all sources you consulted but select those when taken together best reflect your oral report. Remember, judging the sufficiency of your bibliography does not involve counting but meeting these criteria. Review the annotations to make certain they reflect the required information for each source. Then execute the honors pledge and hand it in.