Projects & Exams

I will post information here about our projects and exams. On the Policies page, students can find information about the percentage of the grade for each one. 

Project 1: Short Analysis. This project shows me how you handle critical-thinking, close-analysis, and grammar. All are critical in the class and this project, of 750 words and based on one reading, serves as a helper so I and the Writing Consultants (who won't read these) can better help you improve your later work. 

Topic: Find a single paragraph from On the Road that sums up Kerouac's message about the value of being constantly on the move. In your essay, read that passage closely. How does it explain the actions that occur elsewhere? 

Format: at least 750 words. You lose a point if you don't have your name on the first page, another if the piece is not double spaced. You do not need a title for this. Late work loses 4 points if not in to me by the start of class. Cite quotations and paraphrases with page numbers like this: When Sal sets out on the road for the first time, he ends up in a rain storm (Kerouac 10). He says "it was my dream that screwed up" (Kerouac 11). Note that simple MLA format. Fail to use it verbatim, and you'll lose a point. Rewrites are not permitted, but if you fare poorly, you and Max can meet so you can do some extra work to get things working properly. 

Project 2: Literary Close Reading (image: Neal "Dean" Cassady, his daughter Cathy, and Jack "Sal" Kerouac)

Format: at least 1,500 words. Here you really expand upon the work done in project one by reading closely a passage of prose of your choice. Include your name and a title that sums up the focus of your paper, though not necessarily its governing claim/thesis. If I were choosing a passage about the way Dean or Ed Dunkel treat the women in their lives, I might call my paper "Left By The Side of the Road But Never Lost." 

Topic: Pick a passage of no more than two paragraphs from On the Road. Simply quote the first part of your passage and don't bother to retype it all.Your job is to analyze, in detail, how this passage helps the reader understand a motif in Kerouac's text. 

Still stumped about how to do this sort of close reading, where individual words and references might "unpack" a bigger idea? What you are after is not the book's theme (that's pretty easy: the need to go on the road and Sal's need to follow Dean to get there) but your passage should relate to a motif in the work. Both terms get explained in our handbook of terms (see the link on the left side of this page). 

Getting Help:

--You will meet with Max to discuss the draft you turn in during class. I'll also ask a Consultant training in my Eng. 383 class to sit in and give you their feedback.

--Study the model here at the English Department's Writing Handbook and listen to advice from Dr. Elizabeth Outka (fourth video down on the page here) about how to draw conclusions from the close readings before you begin to draft the draft Max and my Eng. 383 students will read. 

--Know my Pet Peeves list. This takes time, but I'll expect you to know as many of them as you can. The "Misused Words" noted will come, in time. But the big ones for now include flaws in argumentation.--Work on incorporating quotations and following them with your own analysis. This is tough work, but it makes the argument you present ready fluidly. Try the Writer's Web handout here to get you started. 

Project 3: Road Trip

Here you go deep, living some of the experiences (but not all, I hope!) from our readings and films. In short, you go on The Road yourself overnight. 

Project 4 & Take-home "Easter Eggs"

Complete a clustering or brainstorming exercise and submit it with your draft (to Max for project 4) or me (Take-home exam).  Be certain that if you do this for Project 4, I see the exercise when you turn in your revision (ask Max to return it with his remarks at your conference). Extra credit for well considered examples!

Project 4: Place Analysis

Format: You will work in small groups with designated drivers.  UR Transportation runs free shuttles to Willow Lawn, the Carytown area, and Short Pump. Each group member is to analyze one aspect of the place in at least 1,500 words, comparing the success or failure of that development to ideas in Kunstler's The Geography of Nowhere. You are also welcome to reference ideas from his talk to our class. Each team-member will get a separate grade for the project, but you should decide who wants to write about what. I'd also give Google Street View (via Google Maps) a try.

You need not conduct interviews of shoppers or merchants (this can get you into trouble!) but feel free to snap photos to tip into your paper, if they help build you case for the aspect of place you analyze. If possible, get a sense of the neighborhood or region around your area; this puts it into the sort of context that Kunstler considers (here, Google Street View is your friend). For each group:

Writer 1: Analysis if how the place accommodates automobiles and other forms of transit

Writer 2: Analysis of how the place employs architecture to help or hinder pedestrians

Writer 3: Analysis of how the place considers quality-of-life factors where those who use it live, work, or entertain themselves (These "factors" might include the public realm, such as natural areas or playgrounds, and private realm, such as convenience of getting groceries into one's house)

Writer 4: (if you have a fourth) Analysis of the range of commercial enterprises in your area.

Teams:

Team 1: Carytown (Web site): AJ*, Robbie*, Hadi, Thomas D

Team 2: The Shops at Willow (Web site) Brett*, Divij, Kate, Thomas W

Team 3: Short Pump Town Center (Web site) CJ*, Ashmina, Marc

Team 4: West Broad Village (Web site) Mike*, Andrew*, Emma

* Student with car

Take-Home Final (50% of final-exam grade): Film Analysis

Format: at least 1,500 words. You will pick a film from the list of and conduct some mise-en-scene analysis of one part of the film. 

Begin the paper with a thesis about what this part of the film reveals about cars, the highway, and car culture. In the body of the paper, briefly reference other readings or films to show that your film is not some isolated example. Due at start of in-class final exam.

Getting help: Some 383 students will volunteer to read a draft. Be respectful of their time and do not expect feedback just before the final is due! E-mail any of the students listed to arrange a meeting after you e-mail them a draft:

Lizzie Beers elizabeth.beers@ (the usual)

Choices:

• Hopper, dir. Easy Rider

• Hillcoat, dir. The Road

• Mendes. dir. Road to Perdition

• Miller, dir. The Road Warrior (an Australian film that greatly influenced the style of US post-apocalyptic films, including Hillcoat's adaptation of McCarthy's novel)

• Linklater, dir. Dazed and Confused (like Lucas' film not really about cars per se but the teenage culture made 

• possible by universal car ownership)Needham, dir. Smokey and the Bandit (I am not kidding. It had this strange cultural effect that has lasted decades)

• Levinson, dir. Rain Man

• Wenders, dir. Paris, Texas

• Charles, dir. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

• Sarafian, dir. Vanishing Point

• Dayton & Faris, dirs. Little Miss Sunshine

• Lucas, dir. American Graffiti (note that Bob Falfa's '55 Chevy is one of the three cars from Two-Lane Blacktop. The car that flips later is not but is a rolling shell used for the shot)

• Levinson, dir. Tin Men (a film as much about the Cadillac as the men who drive them)

• Ramis, dir. National Lampoon's Vacation.

• Payne, Dir. About Schmidt.

• Kaplan, dir. Heart Like a Wheel. Taught in the last version of this class, the dramatized, real-life story of Shirley Muldowney, the first female champion of the professional drag-racing set.

A film you nominate to me might work. I must approve this film for you to write about it. Films with international settings, such as The Motorcycle Diaries or Mr. Hulot's Holiday, might be possible. I must approve your film in advance. I reserve the right to say no to crappy and formulaic Hollywood blockbusters.