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A short class with Sarah and her students. The other ways are under More.
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The description is one sentence long: a multimedia presentation on a chosen author's life and work, highlighting key texts and stylistic elements. Let's take it apart. What does 'life and work' tell you?
That we need some biography, but also the books themselves.
Yes, and the life matters only where it helps explain the writing. What about 'key texts'?
Not every book they wrote, just the important ones?
Exactly: two or three you can read closely. And 'stylistic elements'?
How they write: their words, their images, their sentences.
Perfect. So the brief has five parts: a chosen author, life and context, key texts, stylistic elements and a multimedia product.
You may make a video, a slide deck or a website. How would you choose?
I'm studying a poet, and I want people to hear the rhythm, so maybe a video with readings.
A good reason. Remember that a video needs a script and a storyboard before you film anything.
My author wrote novels and short stories set in the same imaginary town. A website could have a page for the town and a page for each book.
That suits a website well, as long as the navigation is clear. And a slide deck?
It's best for a live talk, if we keep the slides light and speak to the audience.
Right. Choose the format that shows your author's style best, not the one with the most effects.
Here is a fact: Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. Is that analysis?
No, it's just information.
How could we connect it to his writing?
In Things Fall Apart he uses Igbo proverbs in the dialogue, which shows the culture had its own wisdom before colonial rule.
Excellent. You named a stylistic element, pointed to a key text, and explained its effect and purpose.
So every slide or scene should name a feature, show it, explain it and link it to the context.
That is the pattern that turns a biography into an author study.
Chosen author, life and work, key texts, stylistic elements and a multimedia product are all requirements.
Two or three key texts read closely are worth more than a long list of titles.
Name a feature, show it, explain its effect and link it to the author's context.
Choose a video, slide deck or website for what it can show about your author.
Credit every quotation, image and clip, and end with a list of works cited.
A video on R. K. Narayan opens with a hand-drawn map of his imaginary South Indian town of Malgudi, then uses short readings from Swami and Friends to show his plain English and gentle irony about everyday life.
A website on Chinua Achebe has pages for his life, the context of colonial Nigeria, Things Fall Apart, his use of Igbo proverbs and folk tales, and his influence on later African writers.
A slide deck on Maya Angelou pairs a short extract from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings with one of her poems, showing how repetition and rhythm carry a voice of resilience in both prose and verse.
Choose, read, research, plan, create, then present and reflect to finish great.
Imagine you are a museum curator building one room about a writer. You cannot show every object, so you pick the best few, write a label for each explaining why it matters, and credit every lender on the wall by the door.
Name it, Show it, Explain it, Link it: the four steps for every stylistic element.
L.K.S.M. - Life, Key texts, Style, Multimedia: the four parts of the brief that follow your choice of author.
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What does the project description ask you to create?
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Key text
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Stylistic element
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Fact or analysis?
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Why include a works-cited list?
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The short description of a task that states what must be produced and what it must include.
A work that best represents an author or that strongly influenced other writers.
A feature of how an author writes, such as diction, imagery, sentence structure, point of view or tone.
An author's choice of words, for example plain or ornate, formal or conversational.
The time, place, culture and events surrounding an author and their writing.
A plan of a video that sets out each scene, with its images, narration and timing.
The list, at the end of a project, of every source used, so that others can find and check them.
The Author Study Multimedia Project asks you to create a video, slide deck or website about a chosen author's life and work, highlighting their key texts and the stylistic elements that make their writing recognisable.
This lesson unpacks the project description step by step. It explains what each part of the brief means (a chosen author, life and work, key texts, stylistic elements and a multimedia product), walks through a typical route from choosing an author to presenting the finished piece, compares the three formats, and shows how to turn facts about an author into analysis of how and why they write as they do. Model examples show what a strong project looks like.
The description of the Author Study Multimedia Project is short: create a multimedia presentation (a video, slide deck or website) on a chosen author's life and work, highlighting key texts and stylistic elements. Each phrase in that sentence sets a requirement.
A strong project does not stop at "what happened in the author's life". It explains how that life and context show up in the writing. Compare these two sentences about Chinua Achebe:
The second sentence names a stylistic element (proverbs in dialogue), points to a key text, and explains the effect and the purpose. Every section of your presentation should do the same: name the feature, show it with a short quotation or clip, explain its effect, and connect it to the author's context.
A clear introduction to the author and why they matter; a short, relevant account of life and context; close attention to two or three key texts; a section on style with evidence; a look at the author's influence; and a list of works cited, so your audience can see where every fact, image and quotation came from. In MYP Language and Literature this project is mainly assessed on analysing (Criterion A) and organizing (Criterion B), so analysis and clear structure matter more than special effects.