Chawton House, near Alton, England. The home of one of Jane Austen’s brothers.
What was Jane Austen’s World like?
Assignment: Engage in a multi-phased research project on some aspect of Austen’s culture.
Step 1: You are assigned a topic. You will be asked to rank topics via a qualtrics survey and I’ll do my best to give you at least your second choice, if not your first. If you have a topic not on the list, please contact me directly and perhaps we can make it work. List of Topics and Dates
Step 2: Initial research materials are due Tuesday, February 9th and can be in DRAFT form. [REVISED 1/29]
- No more than 3-5 pages of your findings, with a bibliography indicating where you found your information.
- You will find a great deal of information by simply doing google searches, since Austenmania is quite rampant on the internet. For the most part, however, google searching will just be the beginning of your search.
- I’ll expect you to use at least two academic sources (i.e. books published by an academic press, articles published by scholars, etc.). Please do feel free to ask me about a source’s usefulness if you have any questions. Ideally, you’ll use at least 1 other actual book from the Main Library. If you are unable to go to the library because of illness, please contact me.
- A very strong project will have around 5 varied sources from the internet, from literary scholarship, historical scholarship, popular culture and publishing.
- Accompany the bibliographic reference to a physical library book with a photo of the shelf where you found it.
- Don’t forget that the presentation is multi-media; you must have images.
- At least one section of your presentation should be dedicated to connecting your topic to the work of Jane Austen.
- Does your topic have a presence in popular culture? How is that topic represented?
- Submit your material electronically (i.e. Google Docs or by email). Must be in Times Roman, 12 font if a .doc but can be in the form of paragraphs, detailed notes, or outline. You may choose to begin drafting your multimedia presentation as well (i.e. in Powerpoint, Prezi, Keynote, or another presentation software). Please turn in both your research notes and your draft presentation.
Step 3: In-Class Presentation (rolling through the semester): Once I collect all of the research project write-ups, you’ll be assigned a day to present
- a 5 minute “flash” presentation your findings to the class.
- You should do so in a way that brings multi-media affordances into class. You’ll have access to the classroom computer and projector. If necessary, you will be able to do your presentation via Zoom.
- You may not go beyond 5 minutes in your classroom presentation but I encourage you to bring insights about your topic into classroom discussions throughout the semester.
Step 4: For the final step of this project, you’ll turn in a revised version of your first draft, your notes for the presentation itself, and a copy of your digital presentation for posting on this website. The presentation should be in a digital form. DUE within two days of your presentation.
Where to begin:
Broadview Online: Jane Austen in Context
The supplementary material in all of our Broadview editions
Google Search Engine: here is what I found for “Jane Austen and Fashion”
The Post-Austen page on this website
The Dread Wikipedia: I confess that sometimes this is a helpful site BUT it should never be the only place to look. It can be a very useful place to start but you want to make sure that the information is accurate. The citations on a wikipedia page are often the most helpful.
When grading this, I’ll be looking for enthusiastic research energy, so while I’ve not “required” too many sources, you’ll surely want to look at far more sources than the minimum of 5 that you are required to cite in your project.