How fast can you write a novel?

National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, is a creative writing project originating in the United States in which each participant attempts to write a 50,000 word novel in a single month. Despite the name, the project is now international in scope. Nearly 80,000 participants registered in 2006, with almost 13,000 winners verifying their novels as meeting the goal. The cumulative word total for all participants in 2006 was 982,564,701.

ProQuest Learning: Literature Activity

Teachers are not responsible for expecting their students to write 50,000 word novels. But they are responsible for helping students to appreciate the works of the best authors and reading some of these novels.

Assign students to write a report of 150-200 words that answers one of the three questions at the end of one of these four study units (scroll down): The Historical Novel; The Early and Nineteenth-Century Novel; The Modern Novel; and The Postmodern Novel.

Pathfinder 1: Click Study Pages > Genre Pages > Select from one of the four choices

Students can use this model for their reports.

BookCart Activity

Studying authors and great writing gets a lot easier when you copy and use ProQuest model BookCarts. The following BookCarts are available to create assignments: Nobel Prize in Literature; Censorship and Banned Books; Contemporary American Literature and Authors; and CR08--Banned Books (MS/HS).

Each has examples of several essential questions for critical thinking (you can create more) to guide students and ensure that they do more than copy and paste facts for their reports. Assign students to answer at least two of these questions in a written report of at least 150 words. Students can use this model for their reports.

Pathfinder to copy one or all of these ProQuest BookCarts:

• Open your eLibrary CE Teacher Edition
  
  
• Click BookCart Admin at the top right
  
  
• Click the ProQuest Carts tab
  
  
• Select the English Language Arts folder
  
  
• Click the Copy icon for Nobel Prize in Literature, Censorship and Banned Books, Contemporary American Literature and Authors, plus CR08--Banned Books (MS/HS)
  
  
• Return to My Local Carts

Copied BookCarts will appear with "Copy of" as a title prefix. Click the BookCart Title to open the Editor, then remove "Copy of", add your name in the Author boxes, then save your new BookCart.

PowerPoint presentations are becoming a popular way for students to present the conclusions of their research activity. ProQuest has created a student model template to help them organize and prepare their reports, ensuring they address essential questions and integrate critical thinking.