Culminating Activity and Research

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested." ~ Sir Francis Bacon

At the end of each of your secondary school English courses there will be a Culminating Activity, an independent study unit on a literary work of your choice.  This is a great opportunity for you to explore your interests and creativity. Your first step will be to choose a book.  You should select one not based on how easy or short it is, but on how interesting the content is to YOU.  Below are some suggestions.


Selecting a Culminating Activity Novel

Grade 11 Culminating Novels (student recommendations)

Since all grade 11 books are out of copyright and in the public domain, they are also available as free electronic books by following the links in the "Electronic Books" page in the side menu of this website.

Novel - Author

- 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
- A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – R.L. Stevenson
- Dracula – Bram Stoker
- Emma – Jane Austen
- Erewhon – Samuel Butler
- Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
- Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
- Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
- Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
- Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
- Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
- Life on the Mississippi – Mark Twain
- Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
- Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
- McTeague – Frank Norris
- Nana – Emile Zola
- Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
- Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
- Paradise Lost – John Milton
- Persuasion – Jane Austen
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
- Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
- The Awakening – Kate Chopin
- The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
- The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood – Howard Pyle
- The Mill on the Floss – George Elliott
- The Moonstone – Willkie Collins
- The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket – Edgar Allan Poe
- The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
- The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
- The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
- The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
- Through the Looking-Glass – Lewis Carroll
- Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 


More Good Books for Grade 11

Best Books Ever Listings - From Project Gutenberg, the first producer of free ebooks.
 http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Best_Books_Ever_Listings_%28Bookshelf%29


Grades 9-10 Culminating Novels (student recommendations)

Novel - Author

- A Study in Scarlet – Arthur Conan Doyle
- Cell – Stephen King
- Emma – Jane Austen
- For One More Day – Mitch Albom
- Gathering Blue – Lois Lowry
- Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
- Mountain Girl, River Girl – Ting-Xing Ye
- Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
- Shogun – James Clavell
- The 5 People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
- The Alchemist – Michael Scott
- The Girls – Lori Lansens
- The Giver – Lois Lowry
- The Help - Kathryn Stockett
- The House of the Scorpion – Nancy Farmer
- The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
- The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
- Tom Finder - Martine Leavitt
- Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom
- Uglies – Scott Westerfeld



Forest of Reading Recommended Books

Here are more book suggestions from the Forest of Reading, a Project of the Ontario Library Association (OLA).  

White Pine™ Awards Reading Program (Grades 9-12)
Fiction Reader Tracking Sheet (2013)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-edwKTf8tssQTJic2FhelVQdWM/edit

White Pine™ Awards Reading Program (Grades 9-12)
Fiction and Non-Fiction Winners and Nominated Titles (2002-2012)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-edwKTf8tssY1BTeUk3TmZfUUU/edit

Archive of Past Winners and Nominees:
http://www.accessola.org/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/About_the_Forest/Archive_of_the_Winners_Nominees/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Awards_Winners.aspx?hkey=44e84890-3e3b-474b-996a-f4e9b5c6fcff


Forest of Reading books are available from the school library and/or the Toronto Public Library.



Get Help Choosing Your Next Book
Can't decide on a novel?  The goodreads website allows you to tell it what titles or genres you have enjoyed in the past and the website will recommend books that you will probably enjoy. Click on the following link to visit the site. http://www.goodreads.com/





Find Good Sources of Information

Wikipedia is NOT Suitable for Academic Research.
This article, by Oakland University's Kresge Library, explains why:
http://library.oakland.edu/tutorials/wikipedia.htm
Instead of using Wikipedia for your research, you may use the Online Encyclopedias and Databases on the Etobicoke School of the Arts and Toronto Public Library websites.  You can also use Google Advanced Search to find resources on the web.  Remember to cite all your sources.  See  links below.

School Library:
http://www.tdsb.on.ca/libraries/links.asp?schoolNo=2905
Toronto Public Library - Online 

 Articles, Magazines, Newspapers and Databases:
  


Cite Your Sources  

TDSB Essay Writing and Research Guide for Secondary Students
- Research Success @ Your Library
To view, download or print pages of the research guide you will require the TDSB password, which is available from your teacher or teacher-librarian.  This guide contains instructions on writing thesis statements, essay outlines and works cited pages, as well as other research-related material.  http://www.tdsb.on.ca/libraries/files/research_guides.htm

NoodleBib - Create a Works Cited or Bibliography of Your Research Sources: http://www.noodletools.com/

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