633 Description | 633 Syllabus

Each week we will be reading one play and at least one scholarly article. To prepare yourself for conversation in class, write at least one substantive, analytic question about each assigned reading. The primary purpose of the focus questions is to provide you an opportunity to articulate your thinking about the assigned readings before you come to class. Your questions will enhance our conversations about the literature and scholarship we will be reading and insure that everyone is prepared to make substantive contributions to our dialogue in class. Another important purpose of the focus questions is to indicate to me whether you are reading and comprehending all the assigned texts; keep in mind that your questions should demonstrate to me that you have read all the assigned texts carefully and thoughtfully. The more of the assigned texts you bring into your questions, the better. Consult the syllabus for the due dates and assigned readings for each set of focus questions. I do not accept late focus questions. If you are absent when a set of questions is due, you must submit the set the next time you attend class.

Your questions must be typed. On the top right hand corner of the first page of each set of questions, type your name and the number of the set. Consult syllabus for numbers.  

Assessment: The focus questions will constitute 25% of the final grade. I will assess them according to how specifically they address the readings, how fully they do so, and how analytically they do so. In other words, I will ask myself whether the questions deal specifically with the texts, offering concrete, specific questions; whether they reflect that you read all of the assigned text or texts; and whether you have attempted some kind of analysis that goes beyond mere summary or "plot" description. You need not concern yourself with a single "right analysis," nor need you worry about a "wrong analysis." Any analytic insight that focuses on more than mere summary or surface detail is acceptable. Each set of focus questions will be graded on a scale from 1-5, with 5 representing the highest level of achievement. Missing questions will be averaged in as zero. No late questions accepted. To receive a grade of "A" on the focus questions, you must submit all focus questions by the due date. See Course Description for policy on due dates and late work.

Each of you will be responsible for a thorough report to the rest of the class on one of the social, ideological, political, or economic struggles of early modern England. If you wish, you may work in small groups to complete your research and present your report. The presentation to the class may use either a creative format, perhaps some kind of dramatization, a power-point or web-based format, or a more traditional academic format using any variety of classroom techniques. The purpose of the in-class component is to engage the rest of the class, in a dynamic and interesting way, in the central issues of the social history you've read.

You will need to read some primary texts representing the actual early modern discourses themselves that shaped thinking about the issue. In addition, you will read several scholarly articles or chapters of books about the issue. In conjunction with this activity, each you will produce a short paper (5-8 pages, typed in MLA format) which synthesizes and reports upon the materials concerning the social issue under consideration.

You will produce a scholarly piece of writing on at least one play. The paper will be researched and properly documented according to MLA format. The piece should have a target audience, either a specific journal or an actual conference to which you wish to submit your work. Your work should contextualize your analysis of the play within the social, cultural, economic or ideological contexts of its own historical moment. During the final exam time, you will submit the scholarly article or conference paper and present a 10-15 minute overview of the piece to the rest of the class. The article or conference paper must be accompanied by a letter of submission addressed to the target journal or conference to which you wish to submit the piece. As the course progresses, we will learn how to find a target audience and write a letter of submission.

 The essay will:

1. Take into account the scholarship on the play since 1980. Be sure you're not reinventing some other writer's "wheel." In view of the historical and cultural work we'll be doing this semester, you may find some salient problems in the earlier commentary on the play, or you may find that your own thinking falls in line with other scholars' work. Either way, you need to acknowledge how your work engages with other scholar's conversations about the play(s) you examine;

2. Locate your own analysis of the play within the social, historical, economic, cultural, theoretical and/or ideological contexts that you think offer us an important perspective on the text;

3. Demonstrate the validity of your analysis by offering sufficient evidence from the text and specific references to sources concerning the social, historical, economic, cultural, theoretical and/or ideological contexts within which you are reading the text.

Ideally, your essay should draw upon the research you completed on the early modern social issue you examined earlier in the course. It should reflect the kind of work we have been doing all semester as we read and discussed the plays and contemporary scholarship about them. You may consult with other class members whose projects focused upon any concerns that may be pertinent to your own work.

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