Studies in Literature

Reflection Essays. Formal typed essays of 3+ pages in response to questions found on the Syllabus. Essay questions can be reached from links on the Schedule. They are due the day on which the questions are listed on the Schedule. [25 points]

Quizzes. Brief in-class essay or short-answer tests focusing on specific information from the readings and general concepts. [10 points]

Sketches. These are brief, informal writing assignments, usually with the aim of helping you to think through a particular issue or to gather your thoughts. ["Par 5" grading]

Scholarly Research Paper Components

Proposal. A 2-page introduction to the question you plan to address in your paper. You want to give enough background so that your reader can understand the question and its significance. Imagine that I am editing a literary journal and you want to get me interested in your article before you go to all the trouble of researching and writing it. [25 points]

Working Bibliography. A long list of possible secondary sources to be used in your Scholarly Essay. This list will change over time as you add new items to it and drop those that don't prove useful. [10 points]

Panel Presentations. Panel presentations of the sort given at academic conferences. Each panel will have four speakers. Each speaker will present a summary of his or her work in about ten minutes, with another five to ten left for questions. Each presenter will distribute copies of a one-to-two page handout for the other class members. This can be a topic outline, sentence outline (better), introduction and outline, relevant quotations for the literary work, quotations from other critics or sources—whatever will help the listeners follow and understand the presentation. [10 points]

Scholarly Essay. Formal essay in literary criticism of 10-15 pages (not counting bibliography), using primary and secondary sources, suitable for presentation as a published article. [75 points].