WE SHALL SOON LEAVE EMERSON by the roadside, and after writing a practice junior-theme-esque paper on "Self-Reliance," we will finish the Transcendentalists with a careful reading of Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," a timely reading for next-week's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

MONDAY

Small group analysis of Emerson's main points, starting on page ten of our handout. In small groups, students will write a summary of his key points, sharing them on the chalkboard.
HW: Post your favorite, top three aphorisms from Emerson's "Self Reliance" as a reply to the blog post of that same name.

TUESDAY

Small group analysis of Emerson's final two points in "Self-Reliance." Before writing out summaries of points 3 and 4, groups will read the summaries of points 1 and 2 from classes yesterday. As a reminder, students should real ALL the posted Emerson quotes before choosing their top one for their essay.
HW: Brainstorm for the Emerson paper by writing three pages about your selected Emerson quote, what he meant by it, what it means in America today, and how it applies to your life. This should be in complete sentences, and if typed, should run approximately 1.5 pages in length.

WEDNESDAY

Introduction to our approach to research, which comes to us from the University of Chicago's Little Red Schoolhouse and The Craft of Research. Besides reading Booth, Colomb and Williams' advice for students, we practice what they preach by discussing your selected quotes, discussing a) what Emerson meant, b) how it applies to America today, and c) how it factors into your personal experience.
HW: Building a list of key search terms and phrases that help you understand what Emerson means in his quote, as you understand it. We will use Library databases to identify poems, plays, short stories, and novels that illustrate Emerson's quote. And you will want to enter the bibliography information into a noodlebib account. Come to class with an extensive list of words and phrases that illustrate what your quote means.

THURSDAY

We will start today by quickly reviewing three Library databases you should use for tonight's research. We will use class time to begin researching sources that connect to your Emersonian quote. Time permitting, we will review an annotated bibliography and begin writing, during class, annotations for the five sources that illustrate your Emerson quote.
If you had not done so, you will finish identifying your fifth source, and will then complete written annotations for each of the five sources. Remember that you want to include the author's professional expertise and qualifications, the source's intended audience and purpose, and well as a critical analysis of how the source explores the theme of your Emerson quote.

FRIDAY

Review of the structure of Tuesday's paper. Meeting in library. Today we will review using Novelist to locate novels that thematically illustrate your Emerson quote. The skill we're practicing is locating professional reviews on a literary source, something you must do for your top five, junior theme novels prior to settling on your top choice.
First draft of your paper is due Tuesday (no class on Monday for MLK seminar day). Write your rough draft of the Emerson paper.