Required work for the course includes careful reading of all assigned material and active participation in class discussions. Please come to class prepared with questions and comments about the assigned reading for each day–the success of the course depends on your involvement. Here’s a brief description of the papers and presentations that will be required in the course.
Critical Reception Paper and Presentation (25%):
Early in the semester, you will choose (or be assigned) one of the fictional works on the syllabus. Your first paper will analyze the critical reception of this work. You will be required to present your research findings to the class as well.
Research Proposal and Presentation (10%):
In week 11 of the course, you will present to the class a proposal for a final research paper.
Readers’ Reports (10%):
A draft of your final research paper will be due in the 13th week of class. Each draft will be treated like a submission to an academic journal. It will be sent to two anonymous readers (classmates) who will prepare detailed readers’ reports that make suggestions for revision. Each student in the class will be responsible for serving as anonymous readers on two other students’ drafts.
The reader’s reports should be at least 500 words and do the following things:
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- Restate the writer’s thesis and indicate why it is a matter of some significance
- Identify and discuss the strengths of the essay
- Identify the less-persuasive parts of the essay, and indicate whether these are due to lapses in logical argument, insufficient research, or some other reason
- Summarize any problems with the mechanics of the essay (punctuation, style, documentation, etc.)
- Give the writer specific, concrete advice for revising and resubmitting the draft
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Here are some sample reader’s reports from past semesters:
Research Paper (40%):
The final version of the research paper should be approximately 15 pages long and use MLA citation format. It will be due at the end of the semester.
Class Blog (15%):
In addition to the two major written assignments (the critical reception paper and the research paper), I will ask you to respond to the class blog 9 times throughout the semester. For every day that we have assigned readings in the course, I will provide some prompts to get you started thinking. You may respond to the prompts if you like, but you may also respond to other students’ comments, or to anything else that interests you in the assigned material for the day. Blog posts must be at least 200 words to receive full credit for the day, and they must be posted before 5:00 p.m. on the day they’re due. Blog posts will not receive letter grades, but you will receive credit for the number of comments you post, with 9 posts equaling 100%.