6C February 6, 2012

African Heritage Report Outline

Choose a person of African heritage and prepare a written report to share with the class.  The report must be typed. Use your home computer as much as possible. Keep an updated copy of your work in your email or on a removable drive (e.g. USB drive) so as to be able to work both at home and in school.

The choice of topic must be of a person of African heritage who has made a significant contribution to society and to the advancement of people of African heritage. Sports stars, singers and movie stars are generally not acceptable as a topic unless it can be clearly demonstrated that they have contributed to the advancement of people of African heritage in a significant way. (An acceptable sports figure would be Muhammed Ali. An acceptable TV star would be Oprah Winfrey.)

Bibliography: your bibliography is the most important part of your report. Keep track of each item you consult immediately by making an ongoing list. See the bibliography guidelines prepared for you and keep careful track of your sources of information. You must use a variety of resources to prepare your report.

Resources:

• Visit the website of the Black Cultural Centre (http://www.bccns.com) to browse some possible topics for your report
• Check your local branch of the Public Library and the school library.  Show this outline to your local librarian. The Library website for students has excellent tools for writing a biography.
• Use the Internet for more information and for images.
• Find a resource person who can give you first hand information about your chosen topic.

Format:

• Introduction: In your introduction, tell why you chose this person and describe what you intend to tell your reader about the person of your choice.
• Main part: Tell of the person's origin (place of birth, childhood, family…), his or her personal achievements, obstacles he or she had to overcome, his or her contributions to the world in his or her chosen occupation. Describe universal qualities the person displayed in his/her life that are lessons to us all regardless of colour.
• Conclusion: Conclude (or finish) your report by talking again about some of the main points of your report and telling why this person was important.
• Ensure your report is nicely presented in a protective cover and don't forget some images.
• You should write approximately 4-8 double-spaced pages (2-4 type-written) as a minimum requirement.
• Write in your own words, do not copy and paste text into your report unless it is a short quote. In that case, any text representing someone else’s words must be in “quotation marks”. 

•       First draft due: Monday, February 20, 2012
•       Final edited presentation copy due: Monday, March 5, 2012

Parent’s signature to indicate that you have seen the African Heritage Report outline:_____________________________________

How to prepare bibliographical references for a variety of sources of information 

The bibliography is the most important part of your project because it cites the sources of information you have used to support statements you have made about the subject of your study. 

BOOKS

Author (last name first). Title (underlined). Place of publication:

Publisher. Copyright date.

Ex. Grace, Eric S. Seals. Boston: London, Brown, 2001.

PRINT ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Title of article (in quotation marks), name of encyclopedia (underlined). Edition (year), Volume, pages used.

Ex. "Arizona." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1996, vol.1. pp.670-678.

ELECTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

Title of article (in quotation marks), name of encyclopedia

(underlined) , Format (CD-ROM). Publisher. . Edition (year).

Ex. "Sharks." Encarta Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Microsoft Corp. 1997.

MAGAZINES

Author. Title of article (in quotation marks). Name of magazine (underlined) Date of issue: pages used.

Ex. Norris, Kenneth S. "Dolphin in Crisis." National Geographic. September 2001: 2-35.

INTERNET SITE

Name of the Home Page (underlined). Name of the computer network (World Wide Web). Date of access. Online address (Universal resources locator).

Ex. Boyden School Home Page. World Wide Web. 15 May 2009. URL: http://www.walpole.ma.us/eboydenhome.htm.

Personally Conducted Interview

Name of person interviewed. Type of interview conducted. Date.

Ex. Wynn, Phail. Personal interview. 29 Apr. 2010.

Ex. Munger, Katy. Telephone interview. 5 June 2010.