Requirements
Participation,
attendance and preparation (15%). You
are expected to come to every class prepared, having read the materials and done
any assignments for the day. Since the principal format of the class is
discussion, oral participation is essential. You are allowed 2 unexcused
absences per semester without penalty, any beyond that will be reflected in your
final grade. If you have a medical emergency, please bring in a written note
from your doctor.
Annotated
Bibliography (15%). You
will prepare an annotated bibliography of five
critical articles on the works read in this course. These will be placed on the
course web site in order that others may use them as a resource for their final
papers. The annotated bibliography will consist of two paragraphs for each
article. The first paragraph should summarize the ideas and thesis of the author
and the second paragraph should include your critique of the usefulness of the article. It
is of utmost importance that you begin to find articles right away in case you
need to use Interlibrary Loan (that may take a couple of weeks). Please hand in
your annotated bibliography in electronic form (that is by e-mail or on a
diskette). Each student will choose the article that they find most interesting
or useful in order to present the main ideas to the class.
Oral
presentations (10%). During the
semester you will prepare one or two brief oral presentations on a topic related
to the course. This might be a literary theme or movement, or a particular
writer or you might lead the class discussion of a reading assigned for a
particular day.
Homework
assignments (20%). In order to guide your
reading and understanding of the material, you will prepare written responses or
comments to questions or topics that the professor will assign during the
semester. The assignments will be posted on the course web site.
Research
paper (25%) Each student will choose a
topic related to the course and write an 8 to 10 page paper (with a minimum
bibliography of five sources (MLA or Chicago Style format). You may choose
either a literary or historical approach. If you decide to write a paper from a
historical approach, you must include a discussion of relevant literary works
and if you decide to focus on a literary work, author, or group of works, you
should also include a discussion of the socio-historical context.
Topics must be approved by Dr. Coolidge and myself, so plan on making an
appointment with one of us once you have an idea for your paper.
Presentation
of research paper (5%). During finals
week you will give a brief presentation based on your research paper.
Discussion
forum (10%). You will participate in an on-line discussion forum at various
times during the semester. The forum will be coordinated with Dr. Coolidge’s
class. You can access the discussion forum through Blackboard, consult the Criteria
for Grading the Discussion Forum on this page, or go to the
following page to see your discussion forum
grades.
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