Unit: 20th Century Short Stories

Assignment: ​Vision Board Project

In this assignment, you will be putting yourself in the position of a research historian
preparing to publish a paper. To do so, you will be creating a vision board that features a thesis,
at least two quotes from three short stories, and supporting visual elements. The purpose of this
vision board is to represent an argument about 20th century short stories and their historical
context using textual evidence and supplementary media. Below, you’ll find a “GRASPS Story”
further explaining the role you’ll play and additional information on the goal, role, audience,
situation, and product of said role.

The GRASPS Story:

You are a research historian that has been studying 20th century short stories for the

past couple of weeks. You’re looking to get a research grant to further your study of the role of

literature in the 20th century, but you don't have the credentials to be considered for such a

grant. You plan to try and get an essay of yours published to improve your notoriety in the

historical research community and to improve your chances of getting a grant. A friend of yours

who works at an acclaimed academic journal has offered to go over your initial essay topic and

give you feedback on it. Your friend has also convinced some of their colleges to agree to do

the same. You’ve decided the best way to present your thoughts and analysis is with a vision

board. You’ve narrowed your essay topic down and chosen three different short stories to

support your thesis, and now all that is left to do is create your vision board and send it to your

friend.

GOAL​: For you to create a vision board that brings together all of your analysis and research

about the 20th century short stories you’ve chosen to study under one solid argumentative

thesis in a multimedia form.

ROLE​: You’re a historian studying the role of short stories in the 20th century
AUDIENCE​: Your friend and his colleagues, all of which are accredited historians from the

peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press: The Historical

Journal.

SITUATION​/Setting: You’ve been studying popular 20th century short stories from a new

historicist perspective trying to identify common threads that reflect the state of society at the

time. Now you’re looking to get a paper on the topic published in a well known historical journal.

You’ve developed a strong thesis for your paper and identified specific pieces of evidence to

support it, but don’t want to move on to writing your paper before receiving feedback on what

you have so far. You’ve decided to make a vision board for your paper to present to an

accredited historian that you know who works at The Historical Journal.

PRODUCT​/Performance & Purpose: You will create a vision board that features your thesis, at

least two quotes from each short story, and supporting visual elements. The purpose of this

vision board is to represent an argument about three short stories and their historical context

using multiple media sources.

Product Checklist

❏ A thesis statement

❏ Quotes from at least two of the 20th century short stories we’ve read in class

❏ Quotes from at least one 20th century short story from the supplemental reading list

❏ Relevant supplementary images