Name: _______________________

Per.:_______ Date:_______
POET STUDY – RESEARCH HANDOUT
PART 1: PREPARATION FOR THE COMPUTER LAB
NOTE: PART 1 must be completely finished by Tuesday, 5/24 in order to have access to a computer in
the computer lab. If you do not finish Part 1 before class on Tuesday, I will contact your advisor and
parents/guardians by email or phone to notify them that you are behind on this final project and might
fail the semester. Be ready, and ask for help if you need it!

A. Select a poet and get your poet approved by Ms. Sorensen (I will sign where it says “Approved”).
You may choose a poet from the Recommended List of Poets for Poetry Projects or choose someone
not on the list, but must obtain approval.

Poet: _______________________________________ Approved: __________________

B. Find FOUR different poems by your approved poet and either type them up or copy-and-paste
them into a single electronic document. Place a citation in MLA format before each poem. Name the
document with your last name, an underscore (_) and the poet’s last name. For example, Sally Smith’s
set of poems by Langston Hughes would have the filename Smith_Hughes.doc . You must save your
poems as .doc only. Email this file to jsorensen@smmusd.org AND print out a copy to bring to class
on Tuesday 5/24/11 (or you may print them in the computer lab at the very beginning of the period).
NOTE: You MUST include a citation at the beginning of each poem. See me if you need help!

Citations & Poems Printed: __________ Submitted & Received by email: ____________

PART 2: IN THE COMPUTER LAB, 5/24 – CHECK & STAMP AT END OF PERIOD
C. Find three DIFFERENT websites with background information about your poet’s life, and copy
and paste the URLs (web addresses) here:

1.

2.

3.

You might wish to print out the biographical information you find on these sites as you will refer back
to it for your biographical essay.
NOTE: You must read the website information carefully. While each will overlap somewhat
(giving the same birthdate information, etc.), there MUST be different information included as well
to justify it as a distinct source. Wikipedia is permitted, but you’ll need to verify that the
information is correct and that it isn’t just a reprint of a biography from somewhere else (if it IS
cited as a reprint, track down the original site and use that instead). Remember that many living
poets have their own websites, so if you find the poet’s official website, that might be a great
source!

Hints: Here are some good websites to try—

1) The Academy of American Poets: http://www.poets.org/
2) The Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/
3) Famous Poems and Poets: http://famouspoetsandpoems.com
D. Copy down seven interesting facts you found from the biographical websites and cite each with the
number above in parenthesis to show where the information came from, like this (1).

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

E. REFLECTION: Write a paragraph (at least 50 words) in which you address some or all of the
following: What is surprising or interesting about your poet’s life? What would you like to still learn
more about? What stands out most about this poet’s life or style of writing? Was this poet an instant
success, or not appreciated until much later? Was the poet’s life particularly difficult or sad? How
does your poet’s life seem to intersect with his/her works?