Grade Breakdown
Your final grade will be comprised of the following elements:
- Attendance and Particpation: 20%
- Close Reading Assignments: 10%
- Paper I: 20%
- Paper II: 25%
- Web project: 25%
In-Class Presentation and Online Discussion Forum
As part of your participation grade, all students will give an in-class presentation and post regular critical responses and discussion questions to the online forum. Each student will be assigned one day to give a brief (5-10 minutes) in-class presentation on the day’s assigned readings. Students will choose one passage, section of the reading, or theme, explain briefly why they made their selection, and pose two or three open-ended questions intended to prompt reflection and discussion. Students are encouraged to interpret the format creatively if they wish.
As a complement to the formal writing assignments of the class, students will participate in an ongoing discussion forum. Due each class period (excepting those days when another written assignment is due), students will choose a brief section (a few lines of poerty or prose) from the assigned readings and use that as a basis for their response to the work. Responses should be 1-2 paragraphs (approximately 125-175 words) and conclude with a thoughtful question for class discussion. These responses offer a chance for you to think thoughtfully and experimentally about our readings, and the goal is to stimulate further thought and discussion, not to present a fully-formed argument. Please, however, use complete sentences and avoid abbreviations and emoticons. Responses should be posted by 1 pm the day of class. Please see me if you have any questions.
Close Reading Assignments (10%)
Choose one passage (no longer than four lines of poetry or 10 lines of prose) from the relevant text (a poem by William Blake not discussed in class and Frankenstein and write at least 1 page (double-spaced, 12 point font, no Courier, 1 inch margins) analyzing the significance of its characterization, tone, rhythm, imagery, symbolism, metaphors, similes, descriptive phrases, etc. for some element of the larger work.
The purpose of this assignment is to help you develop the most important skill in literary analysis: close reading. Close reading is the practice of analyzing passages of text, word by word, in order to draw implications from the particular passages. As you read literary texts, it is a good idea to underline passages that seem important and to write brief notes in the margins explaining why this passage might be important. In addition to helping you understand key elements of the texts, this is the first step in developing a paper topic. When you look back over the text, you can find those passages that seemed to have been important to you in the first reading, and by closer analysis of several such passages, you can draw inferences about some element of the work as a whole.
But the first step in this process is to identify important passages and to analyze them. Analysis of passages involves drawing implications about particular words or phrases within the passage that seem to be especially important. Discuss the specific language (including particular words) of the passage. We will go over several examples of close reading in class. You might also consult the Oxford English Dictionary to see how particular words were used during the time that the text was written or to uncover multiple valences of meaning. You need not have a formal, unifying thesis statement about the passage. I am looking more for the ability to draw a variety of implications from it. If you have any questions about this assignment, please feel free to email me or to come to my office hours. No late papers will be accepted.
Important Dates
Wednesday, October 11 — Close Reading I due
Wednesday, October 18 — Close Reading II due
Monday, October 30 — Paper I due
Wednesday, November 29 — Paper II due
Wednesday, December 6 — Presentation of Final Projects in Progress
Sunday, December 10 — Final Projects Due (please email me the URL by 5 PM)
