• the biographical experience of its author.
• the social, political or economic circumstances of the author's life.
• ideas introduced or of great interest during the author's life.
• a reaction to or change from previously existing literature.
• the boarder culture of the author.

• A web site consisting of at least three pages -- AN AUTHOR PAGE, AN AUTHOR RECOURCE PAGE AND AN INFLUENCES PAGE.  See guidelines for each page below.
• Note cards reflecting your research in print sources. 
• An oral presentation in which you explain to your classmates what insight into your author's work you gained by researching relevant background -- social, political, biographical, economic, philosophical, religions, cultural.

• Name of author, formatted using "Heading #1" and 24 point font
• Passage that captures the style & key theme(s) of the author.  Give bibliographic citation after quoting the passage.
• Picture of author or other suitable graphic.  [You must secure permission to use pictures on your web page.  How do you go about securing permission?  If retrieving an image from another web site, find an E-mail address on the site and inquire about permission.  See sample request.] 
• Include a recording of your passage on your site.
• Brief biographic sketch of author or fact sheet on author's life. 
• Acknowledgments.
• Your names; revision date (e.g.: Last Revised:  month/day/year) and/or link to your E-mail address(es).

1. the author's life to determine the influences on his/her artistic vision and literary style;
2. the author's cultural milieu to bring to life the time period and culture in which the author grew up and worked.  Explore the art, music, architecture and other literature that may have impacted the author;
3. the social, political and economic context of the author's work to discover influences on his/her work from that context.  We've seen from our study throughout the year that fiction is often inspired by or reflective of historical events.  La Historia Oficial came as a protest to the brutality of Argentina's Dirty War; The Painted Bird as a protest to the hatred and prejudice underlying the Holocaust; All Quiet on the Western Front as a protest to the cruel deaths of WW1 soldiers, etc.  As you research the history of the author's time, look for the events and issues that may shed light on his/her writing.
4. the philosophical or religious ideas the author -- or at least his/her contemporaries -- would have encountered.  Again, look for the impact of these ideas on his/her fiction.

• Name of author at top of page, formatted using "Heading #1" and 24 point font.
• A minimum of 5 annotated links for the author -- 10 if you are working with a partner. 
• Suitable graphics, making sure that you get permission for using them!
• Your name and/or link to your E-mail address(es).  [Make link to E-mail address by typing <mailto:your e-mail address>.]

Outline the nature of the influences on the author's writings on this page.  The format of this page is open -- as long as it shows the impact of the social, political, biographical, economic, philosophical, religions, cultural background on your author's creative vision -- on the themes he/she works with -- and on his/her writing.  Caution:  This page should not be an information dump.  Instead, it should display the impact or influence of the author's context on his/her work.  You may use charts, outlines, exposition, diagrams to express the connections you see between the literature and life/times of the author.  Be creative.  You should provide your classmates with a copy of this page when you make your oral presentation.