Preparation, Participation and Attendance (15%). Regular participation in class discussion and activities. Active collaboration in all course activities. Careful preparation of homework and assigned readings before coming to class. ***Attendance to all classes is obligatory. An excess of two absences without a reasonable excuse (written) will reflect in your participation grade and in your final grade ¡Careful! Your final grade will decrease a half a grade with each two unexcused absences. If you miss 25% (7 or more classes) or more of the class you will receive a failing grade. Your participation will be assessed according to the following criteria.

Written Assignments (15%) Students will complete homework assignments during the semester based on the readings and information found on the internet related to the cultural and historical contexts of Spain and Latin American (i.e. Day of the Dead celebrations).  One assignment will be a two-three page essay on a topic related to death and dying and Hispanic culture. N.B. LATE HOMEWORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Oral presentation (10%) Students will lead a class discussion on one work of Hispanic literature dealing with the theme of death and dying and its social-historical and ideological contexts. The report should include a written summary of the following points with photocopies for the members of the class: 1) a brief summary of the work and its social-historical context 2) the principle characters and 3) an explanation of the ways in which the author uses particular discursive strategies that represent/illuminate the overall message of the text regarding death and dying. Here is the rubric for grading purposes.

Journal (20%) Each student will keep a written journal that reflects a thoughtful reading of the works read in class as well as any questions or comments about the texts. Included here are some guidelines to help you. At various points in the semester, the professor will provide topics that should be included in the journal. Journals should be brought to every class for your use in class discussions and as the professor may collect them without notice. 

Final Research Paper (25%) Each student will choose a topic related to the theme of death and dying as it is represented in a literary work or group of works read in class and write a 6 to 8 page paper (plus one page with a minimum bibliography of five sources (MLA format). Here are some suggested topics. The best papers will have a clearly stated, original thesis which will further the interpretation of the text(s) done in class. You can find scholarly articles in the JSTOR database; just search by title or author. You can also find citations to paper articles and some online texts in the MLA bibliography. Please feel free to consult with me at any time. Please use MLA style for quotations and Works Cited. If you need general information on an author or movement, do not use Wikipedia (this site falls under the "questionable websites" category in the rubric); the library has other sources. The specific criteria used for grading is detailed in this page. ***Any paper found to be plagiarized, even if it's only a small fragment, will receive a grade of 0. For a clear definition of plagiarism, please see Prof. Petersen's site.

Midterm Exam (15%) The midterm exam will consist of identifications and essay questions based on the works read and class discussion.

Participation and preparation 15%

Written assignments 15%

Oral Presentation 10%

Journal  20%

Final Paper 25%

Midterm exam  15%

The following grading scale will be used:

A = 94-100; A- = 90-93; B+ = 87-89; B = 84-86; B- =80-83; C+ = 77-79; C = 74-76; C- = 70-73; D+ = 67-69; D = 64-66; F = 0-63

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