ENGL 639: Assignments

1. Regular Attendance and Participation in Group Conversation

2. Weekly "Probes and Insights": 2 substantive discussion questions and 1 insight for each set of assigned texts (25% of Grade)

To demonstrate that you have read all the readings, each week please prepare a set of (for want of a better word) "Probes and Insights." These should be specific questions and ideas about the texts, not simply vague and general ruminations. They need to demonstrate that you have read and thought about the readings each week. Because the reading for this course is quite heavy, I want to grant credit and assign a grade for completing that work. My assumption is that each of you intends to read all the texts thoughtfully, striving to grasp as much as you can and asking fruitful questions. Therefore, I would like to assign the letter grade of "A" to this course activity from the outset of our work together. As long as you demonstrate that you have read and thought about each of the assigned readings, I can assign an A for this portion of the final grade.

By "probes" I mean essential, critical questions that get at what you feel are the central issues of the pieces we read. These should be substantive questions, dealing with fundamental concerns. When we have more than one assigned text, your "probes" should deal with as many of them as possible; you may wish to create questions that "probe" the issues of a couple of the assigned texts.

By "insights" I mean just that--ideas that have come to you after careful reflection upon each piece. Make your "insight" be the one idea you would most like to contribute to our conversation about one or more of the assigned readings each week; again, you may create an "insight" that deals with a couple of the assigned texts. I would like at least two "probes" and one "insight" each week. Come to class prepared to share these with others and to explain them more fully. Our conversations each week will be rooted in your own concerns as articulated in your questions and ideas. I will collect these each week and use them to plan for future class meetings. I do not require that you type these, but if your handwriting is a wretched as mine, "consider these gray hairs" and failing eyes.

Assessment Criteria: To receive a grade of "A," submit your "Probes and Insights" on the due date. Be sure your Probes and Insights demonstrate that you have read the assigned works in their entirety. Late work or vague and general "Probes and Insights" will necessarily lower the grade from the A, which you have at the outset.

3. Seminar Presentation: Historical Contexts for Reading and Interpretation (25% of Grade)

Each student will participate in a group or individual seminar presentation that provides the rest of the class with essential information about contexts within which we will discuss a text. I strongly urge you to choose a seminar presentation subject that will help you with your research for your scholarly essay. Each student will prepare a 20 minute oral presentation, using whatever techniques seem most appropriate (interactive, lecture, lecture/discussion, slides, videos, PowerPoint, web-based presentation). It is important that these presentations stay within the twenty-minute limit. If you are unsure of how to gauge your time, try a "dress rehearsal" or run-through before class. Be advised that it takes roughly twenty minutes to deliver a 9-10 page double-spaced paper.

Your presentation may take any number of formats: powerpoint presentation, web-based presentation, conventional lecture, round-table discussion, overheads and handouts to supplement a lecture, video or audio clips, brief dramatizations to focus on an issue and present information, mock interviews or talk shows with historical personages or "experts." Use your imagination. Above all else, the presentations should be informative and interesting. Try to make your material come alive for us--but make sure you have well-researched information to teach us the history we need to know.

I have provided an set of links to scholarly sites that will be helpful as you begin your research. As the course progresses, I will meet with the groups to suggest potentially useful sources. Those of you who are working on a thesis or conference presentation in conjunction with this course may use this activity as an opportunity to present your work to the group.

See syllabus for specific historical topics and dates for presentations.

Assessment Criteria: The seminar presentations will be assessed according to the following criteria: the substantiveness of the information, its relevance to the course, the clarity of the presentation, the organization or the material, the presentation techniques or strategies, and the observing of the twenty-minute time limit. I will distribute a peer assessment sheet so that the rest of the class may participate in the assessment of this activity, and the assessment statements of the class will weigh heavily in my assessment.

4. Scholarly Essay (50% of Grade)

Each student will complete a fully researched scholarly essay that grows out of our work in the course. The essay should be narrowly focused so that you can demonstrate it convincingly in about 15-25 pages, counting the content endnotes and works cited pages. The essay should be addressed to a specific audience, either a particular conference or scholarly journal, or some other quite particular audience; it should pursue a clear purpose and demonstrate a central thesis idea. Those of you who are writing theses about women writers pertinent to this course may complete one of your chapters to fulfill this activity. Those of you who are studying for the Masters Degree in other departments may integrate your own discipline into this activity; for example you might write a more personal reflection on the content of the course and how it comes to bear on your discipline, your own education, or your professional work.

Possible Options for the Scholarly Essay:

Journal Article: Target a specific journal, find out the required page length and format, and direct your article to that journal. When you submit your essay, indicate your target journal. Most articles run between 15-25 pages, counting content end notes and works cited pages. Substantively researched articles usually integrate between 20-30 sources into their arguments. Strive for a substantive, fully researched piece of scholarship that integrates a rich array of sources into its presentation. Proper MLA documentation is required.

Conference Paper: Target a specific conference and direct your piece to its audience. When you submit your essay, indicate your target conference. Most conferences allow a twenty-minute presentation. Text should be no more than 10 pages. You should, however, provide additional elaboration, references, and materials in at least a couple of pages of content endnotes. Text, content endnotes and works cited pages should total about 15 pages. Conference papers should be no less substantive than scholarly articles; the only difference is that they compress their scholarship much more, and offer adequate evidence to be convincing but not exhaustive proof; they often rely on explanatory endnotes for the elaboration that must be omitted from the text. Try to integrate at least 20 sources into your argument, using content notes when necessary to compress. Proper MLA documentation is required.

Personal/Scholarly Reflection: The purpose and audience for this essay will vary depending upon the writer, but it should offer a personal/scholarly reflection on the content of the course. The paper should be between 15-20 pages, counting content endnotes and works cited pages. This type of essay should synthesize your reflection upon a number of the readings for the course, integrating them into a well-focused, overarching thesis idea that you have developed while reading works by and about Woolf and Morrison and the historical contexts that shaped their works. By personal/scholarly, I mean that the piece may, indeed, explore your intimate responses to the materials for the course, but will do so in a way that affords a scholarly context derived from research provided by any of the required and recommended readings as well as some outside research and that demonstrates its ideas using evidence from the texts upon which it reflects. Like any piece of scholarly writing, this type of essay uses full and accurate documentation of sources, including content endnotes and work cited pages. Proper MLA documentation is required. Strive for a richly imagined and generous integration of the course materials, using at least 20 sources in the text and content endnotes.