Assessment

During our first class meeting, you will sign up to give a short, 10 minute (approx. 5 pages double spaced) presentation on one of the secondary readings. The presentation should outline the argument and methods of the reading, and present some of the key issues. You may wish to take issue with some of the author's points, or lay out for the class some of the most and least compelling moments of the essay under discussion, but you may also focus on summary (rather than analysis). These presentations will help to ground our discussion. You should be prepared to answer questions from myself and your classmates about your presentation.

On the first day of class, you will sign up to lead our discussion of one of the literary texts throughout the semester. As discussion leader, you should prepare enough questions to facilitate about 45 minutes of discussion (roughly 5-7 questions). These questions can take different forms, but they should be intentionally designed to encourage discussion (rather than lead to a right or wrong answer). For example, asking how classmates interpreted a particular scene or description will engender more discussion than a factual question about where a character is from or how old the author was when she wrote the novel. You may also wish to ask questions that make use of secondary texts we've read (either for that week or a previous week). A question like: what do you think Scholar Y would have to say about the way this particular passage is written? will likely lead to a lot of productive discussion, but remember to provide your classmates with all of the information they will need to develop an answer to this question (is there a relevant passage in scholar Y's work that will refresh our memory?) You may also want to put this literary text in conversation with a previous one. After 45 minutes, I'll ask you if you want to continue leading discussion, or if I should take over. You'll be assessed on the quality of questions you come up with. Feel free to experiment with this assignment!

On March 23rd you'll submit a paper abstract in response to a call for papers designed for our course. More information about the guidelines for writing an abstract will be provided. Please make plans to meet with me well in advance of this date if you'd like to chat about topics for the abstract, as this abstract will shape the conference presentation and seminar paper that will be due later in the semester.

On April 13th you'll submit a revised and expanded project abstract (taking into account my feedback) along with a selectively annotated bibliography for the project. More guidelines for this assignment will be provided.

On our final class day (April 27th) we will convene a conference . You will present a conference paper (15-20 minutes; 7-10 double spaced pages) to your classmates, and possibly some outside attendees. You should be prepared to answer questions about your paper, and also to ask them of your classmates.

On May 1st at midnight, your seminar paper will be due. This is a culmination of the work that began with your paper abstract. The seminar paper is a fleshed out version of the argument of your conference paper, should be 20-30 double-spaced pages, and should include in-text citations and a works cited page in Chicago Style. More information about how to complete a successful seminar paper will be provided.