After you've chosen your topic, you'll need to find at least three reliable sources of information about it.  Possible sources include Web sites, books, magazines, videotaped documentaries, or a native speaker who will give you an interview.  At least two of the three sources must be written sources, at least one full page of text each.

Make copies of your sources to hand in along with your written assignment.  Also include bibliographical information somewhere in the assignment.  If you use Web pages as a source, make an effort to find out who the author is, or at least where the site is hosted, and be sure to include the URL.

Your assignment will probably be about 200-250 words.  You may type it if you like; this will be good practice for the movie review, which must be typed.  Click here for information about diacriticals (accents and other special characters) on the computer.

Include at least three or four good sentences for each of the following functions:

G Tell why your topic is interesting to you and what you liked about it.

P Give a brief history of the place/event or a brief biography of the person.  (Make this sentence a good paragraph; past narration is the punto clave on which most of you will benefit most from lots of practice, and it really only develops in paragraphs, not in unconnected sentences.)

D Describe the place/event, or the person's work  (the main body of what you read/learned).

R Give your reaction to what you learned.  Use impersonal expressions from p. 181 (Watch out for the misprint!)

C  Compare the three sources you used.  Which was the most/least interesting?  Which had the best information?  Which did you learn from the most?  Which was most useful?  Which did you like the most?  Be sure to tell why.

Optional sections÷for practice (no points off for mistakes) and a tiny amount of extra credit.

F  What will you do with this information in the future?  Do you think you'll ever go to the place/ event, or study the artist's work?  Why?  What do you think will happen?

H  If you had to do this assignment again, what would you do differently?  And/or  If you were to go to this place, what would you do, see, etc?

Your goal for this assignment should be two-fold-- to prove that you read and understood the sources, and also to show how you're progressing with the puntos clave.

Once the assignment is returned to you, pay special attention to the comments and use the feedback as you write the next assignment.  KEEP all of these assignments together in a secure place; you will turn them all in again at the end of the semester for a grade on progress, improvement, and overall quality of the project as a whole.