To wrap up this unit, you will be completing a research project on the topic of language and literature of the Greco-Roman Era. Specifically, you will cover these three topics:

• Theatre - Greek conventions, Roman developments, and influence today
• Epic Poetry - poems of Homer (Greek) and Virgil (Roman) though you can report on others.
• Language - words in English from Greek then from Roman and their significance

For each topic, you will report on Greek origins, Roman developments and influence today.

For example, for the section on theatre, you will explain how the Greeks developed certain theatre conventions such as the genres of tragedies and comedies. You will explain how the Roman developed these conventions, making them more varied. You can then discuss how classical drama is connected to dramatic films and TV comedies today.

Form and structure

You can choose to complete this research project as an illustrated report, slideshow or poster.

All projects will have an introduction, followed by the three main sections (theatre, epic poetry and language), a conclusion and bibliography.

Step 1 - Prewriting

Brainstorm what you already know including what you have learned in this course. Write down what you plan to find out. Discuss the project with people who you know at home and at school.

Step 2 - Research

Start by looking through a variety of sources. You should have an idea of what good sources look like by now.

Take notes by hand in your own words. As long as you can rephrase information from a variety of sources into your own words you know that you have developed an understanding. Since copying and pasting does not require understanding, it is best avoided at this point. Use it later when you are looking for direct quotes.

You should have three pages - one for each topic.

Keep track of all of the sources that you took notes from. Do this as you go.

Step 3 - Outline

Create an outline of five sections: introduction, theatre, epic poetry, language and conclusion.

This is where you organize your ideas. Write point form notes from your hand written notes onto your outline. Do your best to get your points in the right order now.

Plan out how you will introduce the project and how you will conclude it.

Step 4 - Composition

Write your project from your outline. If you are writing a report, you should be writing proper paragraphs at this stage. If you are creating a slideshow or poster, you will be dividing each topic into slides or sections and composing key phrases for each.

Step 5 - Images and layout

Here is where you will decide which images that your project will require. Select images that will help to explain the content and which will extend your ideas and understanding. You don't want to include images just to make your project look good. Each image should communicate more information than the words alone can do.

Once you have the content and images completed, you can arrange them for maximum impact. Think about how you develop your ideas from beginning to end.

Arrange all of your sources, including image sources, into a bibliography at the end of the project. This should have its own page or slide. If it is a poster, you can put the bibliography on the back.

This will be marked out of 48 according to the rubric below. Note that you must include rough work with the final project.