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Study
Questions
On
the second day of class, I will give you several questions to consider
as you read the first material of the quarter. At the end of the
second week of classes, you will turn in a 2-3 page response to
any one of these questions. On the same day, I will give you another
set of questions for the next segment of the quarter. We will continue
on this way until the end of the term. The specific
questions for each round will also be posted on this website.
You
should think of your responses to study questions as the skeletons
of essays. I mean that they should
- have
a thesis (and I cannot stress this enough: you must be actually
saying something about the way you have come to understand the
writing you choose to work with),
- be
well-thought out,
- include
specific references to the readings,
- indicate
the points you would make about these references in a lengthier
essay, and
- include
a Works Cited page in correct
MLA-format when you use direct quotations from texts.
Under
no circumstances should these responses exceed three pages. The
idea is to effectively sketch out your ideas for a lengthier essay
about material which is as fresh in your audience's mind as it is
in yours.
I will
make written comments on your Study Question Responses, but I will
not give them a letter grade. I may ask you to revise a response,
if it is clearly not on track with my intentions for the assignment
… this is common during the first month, so don't be personally
insulted. If I ask you to revise a response, you will not receive
credit for having completed it until you have turned in the revision.
Reading responses will not be accepted more than 48 hours after
they are due. If you are not in class, you should email them to
me as a Word attachment.
25%
of your final grade for this course is represented by your Study
Questions Response grade, which will be based on completion. This
means that you have an A for this portion of your grade right now.
The grade will be lowered by one-third letter-grade (an A will become
an A-) for each time any of these things happen:
- You
turn in a response within 48 hours after its due date
- You
fail to complete a requested revision of a response
Note
that you must complete and receive credit for at least three (3)
of these responses throughout the quarter in order to pass the class.
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Presentation
You
will collaborate with two other students on a presentation to the
class about the political, cultural, or intellectual context of
a specific text we are reading. Presentations should be 40-45 minutes
long, include some form of audio or visual media which enhances
our understanding of your topic, include an informational handout
for students, and promote class discussion.
You
and your partners must meet with me to discuss your plans at least
one week in advance of your scheduled presentation. I expect that
by this meeting, you will have read your primary materials (the
syllabus readings your presentation is coupled with) and made significant
progress in researching your topic. Feel free to meet with me earlier
if you need some help getting started on this part of your work.
If
you do not meet with me at least one week before your scheduled
presentation, or if you have not read the primary materials and
started researching at least one week before your presentation,
your grade for this assignment will be lowered a full letter-grade.
On the day of your presentation, your group should turn in one collaborative
annotated bibliography to me. One week after your presentation,
each member of your group should turn in an individual reflection
paper.
More
specific information and guidelines for the presentation are available
on this page.
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Final
Project
You
will complete a final project instead of taking a final exam. You
can find info
on the details of this project here.
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