Assignments

English 2200: Writing about Literature, Spring 2009

Section 01 (CRN 20246): TR 2:00-3:15PM, Arts & Sciences 351B

Section 02 (CRN 21432): MW 3:30-4:45PM, Arts & Sciences 236

Selected Reading

In an effort to afford YOU a say in what we study this semester, please complete the Text Selection Survey by Thursday, 1-22. You will be asked to vote for one of the texts from the following categories below, and you'll be asked to suggest a film. If you're unfamilar with an author/text, read the head notes in our textbook, Approaching Literature. For selections not in our anthology, look up the author or text in Wikipedia.

 

Section Choice of Texts Response Percent Response Count

Short Stories: Approaching Literature (I)

Louise Erdrich, "The Red Convertible" (73-80)

 22.7% 10

Gabriel García Marquez, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (369-73)

 20.5% 9

Toni Morrison, "Recitatif" (431-44)

 13.6% 6

Haruki Murakami, ""Birthday Girl" (445-54)

 43.2% 19

Short Stories: The Best American Short Stories 2008 (II)

T. C. Boyle, "Admiral"

 19.0% 8

A. M. Homes, "May We Be Forgiven"

 23.8% 10

Jonathan Lethem, "The King of Sentences"

 23.8% 10

Alice Munro, "Child's Play"

 33.3% 14

Electronic Literature

Michael Joyce, Twelve Blue

 43.9% 19

Shelley Jackson, my body - a Wunderkammer

 34.1% 14

Stuart Molthrop, Reagan Library

 7.3% 3

Lance Olson and Tim Guthrie, 10:01

 14.6% 6

Single Poem

I'll sort through these suggestions and post them soon

    

Book of Poetry: Galileo American Poetry 2 database (I)

Hayden Carruth, For You (American Poetry 2)

 42.2% 16

Wallace Stevens, Harmonium (American Poetry 2)

 35.1% 13

John Wheelright, Mirrors of Venus: A Novel in Sonnets: 1914-1938 (American Poetry 2)

 21.6% 8

Book of Poetry: Galileo American Poetry 2 database (II)

Muriel Rukeyser, "The Book of the Dead" (American Poetry 2)

 32.4% 12

Sharon Olds, Satan Says (American Poetry 2)

 35.1% 13

Sara Teasdale, Love Songs (Project Gutenberg)

 32.4% 12

Drama: Approaching Literature

 August Wilson, Fences 7.9% 3

Sophocles, Antigone

 28.9% 11

Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman

 47.4% 18

Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog

 2.6% 1

John Guare, Woman at a Threshold, Beckoning

13.2% 5

Film

 I'll sort through these suggestions and post them soon    

Various Poems, Part One

In addition to reading Schakel and Ridl's Ch 11 Reading Poetry (541-5) and Ch 12 Words and Images (546-69), read the following poems:

Various Poems, Part Two

In addition to reading Schakel and Ridl's Ch 13 Voice, Tone, and Sound (570-99), read the following poems:

Hayden Carruth, For You

I encourage you to read Carruth's entire collection of poetry. However, we will focus on poems from Contra Mortem (73-104)

Film

Film

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942, 102min)

 24.5% 12

Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994, 142min)

 18.4% 9

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960, 109min)

 40.8% 20

The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1958, 96min)

 16.8% 8

 

One student tried to fix the s-election by voting 17 times, so I am throwing out all of his or her votes.  Here are the adjusted results:


Film

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942, 102min)

 21.9% 7

Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994, 142min)

 28.1% 9

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960, 109min)

 46.9% 15

The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1958, 96min)

 3.1% 1

In Class Activities

1. The Most Important Passage(s)

Divide into groups of three or four. Each group will be responsible for finding the three most important passages that illustrate their assigned topic, below, which is the same as Informal Writing 3, and which will help to prepare you for the first formal paper, a close reading of a passage. Discuss the core conflict and ultimate meaning in your topic and in your passages. Select a secretary to record and present your findings to the rest of the class.

2. Reading a Book of Poetry

Hayden Carruth, Contra Mortem

 

Now that we have practiced close readings of a number of poems, our next task is to understand the overall theme(s) of a book of poetry, specifically Hayden Carruth's Contra Mortem from For You. For our next class, reread the book focusing on the poems assigned to your group project team. Come to class prepared to discuss the theme of Carruth's book based on how he treats the following topics (being and life, nothingness and death, nature, and humanity) across multiple poems.

  1. Find in your assigned group of poems an example of the following figures of speech, and explain it.
    • simile
    • metaphor
    • personification
    • metonymy and synecdoche
    • paradox
  2. Discuss and propose the theme of your assigned group of poems.
    • And find a passage or two that best illustrates this idea.

Sharon Olds, Satan Says

 

For our next class, we'll determine the overall theme of Olds' Satan Says by breaking into groups and examining the theme of each of its four sections. Reread the book focusing on the poems assigned to your group project team.

  1. Select a secretary to record your responses.
  2. Determine the rhythm and meter of one of the poems in your assigned group of poems.
  3. Discuss and propose the theme of your assigned group of poems.
    • Find a passage or two that best illustrates this idea.
    • Discuss and assert the theme of Olds' book of poetry. Explain how your group's assigned section fits into the overall structure and meaning of Satan Says.

3. Putting Theory into Practice I: General Theory

You have read the theoretical overviews and written an informal summary on the one assigned to you and your group. The next step in applying theory to the study of literature is practical/praxical.

  1. What questions does the theoretical approach ask any work of literature in general?
  2. What questions does the theoretical approach ask Hamlet in particular?
  3. What might a critic using your group's assigned theory say about Hamlet? What might she focus on and how might she generally interpret Hamlet?

4. Putting Theory into Practice II: Specific Criticism

You have read the theoretical overviews and collaboratively summarized the one assigned to your group. Your group also looked at Hamlet through the lens of the theory. Today, you will engage a work of criticism written using the theoretical perspective, as well as brainstorm issues for your group project.

  1. identify the issue or question that the article is investigating,
  2. defining the article's thesis or main idea
  3. explain how the source helps your understanding of the work
  4. brainstorm issues your group project should include in its website and presentation and plan times for your group to meet

Reading Scholarly Criticism

As you'll find out in class discussion, I have a particular psychoanalytic-existentialist approach to literature. However, there are more approaches to literature than you can learn in any one class or any one degree. In order to introduce you to the various ways of reading (not to mention to prepare for the group project and third paper), we'll read and discuss scholarly articles, which exemplify different critical approaches, on many of the texts we're reading in class. While I encourage you to read all of the criticism, you are only responsible for reading the articles that you're assigned on this sheet. All articles are available online in the Course Documents section of GeorgiaVIEW.

 

Text Article Students (Section 01 TR) Students (Section 02 MW)

Roth, American Pastoral criticism

Gentry, "Newark Maid Feminism in Philip Roth's American Pastoral"

Leigh Augustyniak

Rob Jackson

Alyanna Johnson

Amy Sanner

Stephanie Wood

Katy Allmon

Erica Danaj

Callie Griffin

Carey Stachler

Carter Whitt

Johns, "The Presence of Allegory: The Case of Philip Roth's American Pastoral"

Kristina Bettis

Sarah Krogh

Christopher McKenzie

Rob Tharpe

Danielle Barnes

Christine Davis

Jessica Hurtte

Brittany Stephens

Parrish, "The End of Identity: Philip Roth's American Pastoral"

Andrew Deneen

Callie Gay

Jenna Langmack

Travis Thompson

Deide Bateman

Olivia Dowd

Amanda Kendrick

Wes Tanner

Stanley, "Mourning the 'Greatest Generation': Myth and History in Philip Roth's American Pastoral"

Tyler Ebrite

Anne Holzhausen

Sarah Beth Lines

Cameron Wellman

Liz Brown

Coty Fox

Kaoru Kobori

Ainsley McKay

Eden Teague

Varvogli, "The Inscription of Terrorism: Philip Roth's American Pastoral"

Rachelle Eyma

Kimberly Marsh

Jake Ryals

Steven White

Elizabeth Carpenter

Courtney Gilliam

Stephen Rockwell

Tina Vuncannon

theoretical approaches

Monday, March 30

Tuesday, March 31
  • Deconstruction
  • Tyson, "Deconstructive Criticism"

Alyanna Johnson

Jenna Langmack

Sarah Beth Lines

Chris McKenzie

Cameron Wellman

Danielle Barnes

Deide Bateman

Cody Fox
  • Feminism
  • Murfin, "What Is Feminist Criticism?"

Kristina Bettis

Andrew Deneen

Rachelle Eyma

Anne Holzhausen

Travis Thompson

Courtney Gilliam

Jessica Hurtte

Eden Teague

Carter Whitt
  • New Historicism
  • Tyson, "New Historical and Cultural Criticism"

Leigh Augustyniak

Kimberly Marsh

Rob Tharpe

Stephanie Wood

Katlyn Allmon

Liz Brown

Olivia Dowd

Wes Tanner
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Guerin, "The Psychological Approach"

Tyler Ebrite

Callie Gay

Sarah Krogh

Amy Sanner

Steven White

Elizabeth Carpenter

Amanda Kendrick

Ainsley McKay

Carey Stachler

Tina Vuncannon
  • Reader-Response
  • Hall, "Reader-Response Analysis"
 none

Christine Davis

Callie Griffin

Kaoru Kobori

Stephen Rockwell

Brittany Stephens

Shakespeare, Hamlet criticism

Wednesday, April 1

Thursday, April 2
  • Deconstruction
  • Ferguson, "Hamlet: Letters and Spirits"

Alyanna Johnson

Jenna Langmack

Sarah Beth Lines

Chris McKenzie

Cameron Wellman

Danielle Barnes

Deide Bateman

Cody Fox
  • Feminism
  • Showalter, "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism"

Kristina Bettis

Andrew Deneen

Rachelle Eyma

Anne Holzhausen

Travis Thompson

Courtney Gilliam

Jessica Hurtte

Eden Teague

Carter Whitt
  • New Historicism
  • Coddon, "'Suche Strange Desygns': Madness, Subjectivity, and Treason in Hamlet and Elizabethan Culture"

Leigh Augustyniak

Kimberly Marsh

Rob Tharpe

Stephanie Wood

Katlyn Allmon

Liz Brown

Olivia Dowd

Wes Tanner
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Jones, "Tragedy and the Mind of the Infant"

Tyler Ebrite

Callie Gay

Sarah Krogh

Amy Sanner

Steven White

Elizabeth Carpenter

Amanda Kendrick

Ainsley McKay

Carey Stachler

Tina Vuncannon
  • Reader-Response
  • Booth, "On the Value of Hamlet"
 none

Christine Davis

Callie Griffin

Kaoru Kobori

Stephen Rockwell

Brittany Stephens

Psycho (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Dick, "Hitchcock's Terrible Mothers"

Alyanna Johnson

Jenna Langmack

Sarah Beth Lines

Chris McKenzie

Cameron Wellman

Danielle Barnes

Deide Bateman

Cody Fox

Erb, "'Have You Ever Seen the Inside of One of Those Places?': Psycho, Foucault, and the Postwar Context of Madness"

Kristina Bettis

Andrew Deneen

Rachelle Eyma

Anne Holzhausen

Travis Thompson

Courtney Gilliam

Jessica Hurtte

Eden Teague

Carter Whitt

 

Hendershot, "The Cold War Horror Film: Taboo and Transgression in The Bad Seed, The Fly, and Psycho"

Leigh Augustyniak

Kimberly Marsh

Rob Tharpe

Stephanie Wood

Katlyn Allmon

Liz Brown

Olivia Dowd

Wes Tanner

Hesling, W., "Classical Cinema and the Spectator"

Tyler Ebrite

Callie Gay

Sarah Krogh

Amy Sanner

Steven White

Elizabeth Carpenter

Amanda Kendrick

Ainsley McKay

Carey Stachler

Tina Vuncannon

Redfern, "'Leading Them Down the Garden Path': Another Look at Hitchcock's Psycho"

 none

Christine Davis

Callie Griffin

Kaoru Kobori

Stephen Rockwell

Brittany Stephens

Informal Writing

The goal of informal writing assignments is to get you to think actively and write critically about literature. These short assignments of 1-2 double-spaced, typed pages will also prepare you to write the longer, formal papers. Approximately once per week, you will be asked to respond to or practice analyzing some element of fiction (conflict, character, setting, imagery, figure of speech, etc.), respond to a thematic issue, or practice summarizing scholarly criticism in preparation for formal papers and research projects.

 

Responses will be due by the start of class on the due date, either as a typed hard copy or word-processing file in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Informal Writing #. To retrieve your graded electronically submitted paper, go to GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Informal Writing #. Be sure to click the "Graded" tab. You can retrieve your graded response in the same dropbox; look for the file (not the comments, not the grade, but the actual file) under submissions posted by me. Here is a grading rationale and calculation of informal writing assignments; and here is a handout on GeorgiaVIEW basics.

  1. Joyce, "Araby" or Carver, "What We Talk about When We Talk about Love"
    • Choose one of the stories and write a character sketch of the first-person narrator. What do we know about him and how do we know it? What does he desire? What causes him anxiety? What are his core conflicts? If you choose Carver, what might Mel's character issues reveal about the narrator?
    • Due: Section 02 MW 3:30-4:45PM: Wednesday, January 21
      Due: Section 01 TR 2:00-3:15PM: Thursday, January 22
  2. Murakami, "Birthday Girl" or Munro, "Child's Play"
    • Choose one of the stories and then describe its point of view and time shifts. How do these jumps and leaps advance the main character's prime conflict? How does the point of view and narrative structure function in the overall meaning of the story?
    • Due: Section 02: Wednesday, January 28
    • Due: Section 01: Thursday, January 29
  3. Roth, American Pastoral
    • Because there are so many ways to dig into the heart of this novel, you have your choice of the elements of fiction to write about. As you are reading, answer all of the questions for they will form the foundation of our class discussion, but choose one of the following topics on which to write your third informal response.
      • Character: Do a character sketch of one of the following characters: Nathan Zuckerman, the Swede, or Merry. What are her predominant traits, and what is/are the character's core conflict/s? How do that persons conflicts shape the main idea of the first half of the novel?
      • Point of View: Describe the shifting point of view and the levels of the narrative frame. How is Nathan Zuckerman's point of view related to the Swede's point of view? Why and how is this point of view relationship significant, if not thematic?
      • Setting: What are the two primary historical/cultural eras that the novel juxtaposes? How is the Swede representative of the earlier time period setting and his daughter representative of the later time period? Define/describe the intergenerational and cultural conflict in terms of the time periods in which the novel is set.
      • Symbolism: What does baseball mean in American culture? What do baseball, athletics, and the glove factory symbolize in the novel, and what themes do they introduce?
      • Structure: What is pastoral literature? Why is the novel titled American Pastoral? What happens in Part I that warrants the title "Paradise Remembered"? What happens in Part II that warrants the title "The Fall"? What is the structural trajectory of the first half of the novel, i.e., it moves from where/what to where/what?
    • Due: Section 02: Wednesday, February 4
    • Due: Section 01: Thursday, February 5
  4. Roth, criticism
    • As a group, write a one page, double-spaced summary of your assigned article from the criticism schedule. What is the article's broad topic? What is its specific, focused, analytical, argumentative thesis? What questions does the critic ask of the novel, what evidence does she use to draw her conclusions, and what interpretations does she make?
    • Due: To Be Written in Class
  5. Miller, Death of a Salesman
    1. Respond to one of the following five issues
      • Deconstruction: In what ways is the meaning or theme of the play undecidable? For instance, how does the play promote the idea of the American dream of business while also contradicting and subverting that ideology?
      • Feminism: What does the play reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy? How is Linda portrayed, and how does this portrayal relate to the gender issues of the 1940s and 1950s?
      • New Historicism/Cultural Studies: How does the play fit into and modify the history of the 1940s and 1950s, specifically the culture of business world and the American dream?
      • Psychoanalysis: Discuss the desires and fears, traumas and conflicts, of which Willy is unaware but which nonetheless motivate if not control his character and actions.
      • Reader-Response: Analyze what the play did to you as you were reading it. What parts affected you the most? how? and why? How is the experience of reading the play similar to yet different from what the play says or means?
    2. These questions are adapted from Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, 2nd ed.
    3. Due: To Be Written in Class
  6. Theory
    • First, summarize the main tenets of the theory assigned to your group on the criticism schedule. What questions does the theoretical approach ask any work of literature in general?
    • Second, discuss how Hamlet could be interpreted through the lens of your group's assigned theory, in other words, what questions does the theoretical approach ask Hamlet in particular?
    • Due: To Be Collaboratively Written in Class

Peer Response

Goals

The dual goals of this course are for you to read and write about literature in a variety of manners. Informal writing and formal papers allow you to analyze the texts; reading scholarly criticism and participating in class discussion exposes you to a variety of other interpretations. Peer response sessions extend the reading and writing process by allowing you and your peers to engage in direct oral and written dialogue about matters of interpretation, with the ultimate goal of improving your formal papers. You have the opportunity to revise your first two formal papers based upon comments by your peers and myself. You will provide constructive criticism to 3 or 4 other members of the class as will they to you.

Note: If a group member does not submit her paper in .doc or .rtf format at least two days before the peer response session, the rest of the group is not responsible for responding to her paper.

Peer Response Groups

Written Peer Response

Answer the following questions as you formulate your one page, double-spaced response to each peer's paper. Because these peer response papers and sessions help your peers revise their papers and thus improve their grade, it is very important that you offer the best constructive criticism in the strongest possible terms, both in writing and in the group meeting. Do not simply say that a peer's paper is okay. Even if you find no problems, engage a dialogue with the paper's interpretation.

Verbal Peer Response

In the peer response meeting, group members will share their responses in verbal form. Writers take turns listening to their group members review their work. Specifically, the writer should read the first page of her paper aloud; and then the group should go around the circle and address the following issues. The process should take 7-10 minutes per writer and last 35-50 minutes depending on the size of the group.

Paper 1 Close Reading

We have discussed Addonizio, O'Connor, Oates, Gass (section 1 only), Updike (Section 1 only), James Joyce, Carver, Alexie, Murakami, and Michael Joyce and (some) Roth at length in class. You have written about some of these works, but only informally and tentatively. Now is your opportunity to rigorously analyze a work of literature. For the first formal paper, write an essay built around the most important passage in one of the texts that we have read so far. In your studied interpretation, what is the most significant passage? Why is it central to the core conflicts, character, and meaning of the story? What issues does it embody? In other words, using this key passage, you should write a paper that 1) interprets the meaning of the work via 2) explicating the fundamental conflicts and basic concerns of the text.

 

Note: You will write at least one draft of this paper and have the option of revising. The first draft, which will also be reviewed by your peers, will be given a tentative grade. If you choose to revise, the second draft grade will replace the first. If you earn an F on the first draft, you must revise, otherwise you will fail the course.

Paper 2 Interpretive Debate

We have discussed Addonizio, O'Connor, Oates, Gass (section 1 only), Updike (Section 1 only), James Joyce, Carver, Alexie, Murakami, and Michael Joyce, Roth, Carruth, Olds, and Miller at length in class. For the first formal paper, you analyzed the core conflicts and meaning of a work by looking at a significant passage. For the second formal paper, enter into the interpretive debate; write an essay that analyzes a difference of interpretion on a key point in a work of literature. Present the different interpretations, then argue for your side, your reading. Some issues that we have debated include but are not limited to: was the Misfit "moral" and/or was the grandmother an authentic Christian just before her death, what did Connie really want in and/or was the story a critique of female sexuality, why do Marlene and Charlene kill Verna and/or how does it affect Marlene's psyche, and "what is wrong with [the Levovs'] life," if anything, and what happened to the speaker in "Satan Says" and/or why she was praying to Satan. You may, of course, use an interpretive question not listed here. You may use any work we've read in class, but it must not be the same work on which you wrote your first formal paper. You may use the Roth criticism we've read in class to help you, but you are neither required nor encouraged to do research for this paper.

 

Note: You will write at least one draft of this paper and have the option of revising. The first draft, which will also be reviewed by your peers, will be given a tentative grade. If you choose to revise, the second draft grade will replace the first..

Group Project

1. Sign-Up

The informal writing and first two papers compelled you to analyze literature, to estimate the author's world view. This assignment asks you to do just that, but also to teach the class what you've come to understand. Your group must choose a work of literature in the genre you've been assigned. Groups of four or five will compose a WetPaint or WikiSpaces website (or similar collaborative webspace that the rest of the class can view) that provides 1) a working analysis of the text as well as 2) an annotated bibliography of journal articles, books, and book chapters on the text and/or its author. Groups will then teach the work of literature to the class in a multimedia enhanced presention (for example, the webspace, Powerpoint, YouTube, mp3, and so forth).  The project should be both informative and interpretive. This assignment is neither a book report nor a biography, but instead a critical and analytical interpretation of a work of literature.

 

The purpose of this sheet is merely to form groups.  Sign up for two slots, placing a #1 by your first choice and a #2 by your second choice. Do not sign a slot that is already full.  Once groups are assigned, those groups are responsible for meeting with me outside of class to determine a work of literature to read, research, and teach to the class.

 

Section 01 TR 2:00-3:15PM

 

poetry

Christina Rosetti, "Goblin Market"

Alyanna Johnson

Jenna Langmack

Sarah Beth Lines

Chris McKenzie

Cameron Wellman

novel or short story(ies)

George Orwell, 1984

 

Kristina Bettis

Andrew Deneen

Rachelle Eyma

Anne Holzhausen

Travis Thompson

play

Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac

Leigh Augustyniak

Kimberly Marsh

Rob Tharpe

Stephanie Wood

film

Peter Weir, The Truman Show

Tyler Ebrite

Callie Gay

Sarah Krogh

Amy Sanner

Steven White

 

Section 02 MW 3:30-4:45PM

 

poetry group 1

Margaret Atwood, "Siren Song"

Danielle Barnes

Deide Bateman

Cody Fox

poetry group 2

Christina Rosetti, "Bride's Song"

Courtney Gilliam

Jessica Hurtte

Eden Teague

Carter Whitt

novel or short story(ies)

Jhumpa Lahiri, "Temporary Matter," Interpreter of Maladies

Katlyn Allmon

Liz Brown

Olivia Dowd

Wes Tanner

play

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Ernest

Elizabeth Carpenter

Amanda Kendrick

Ainsley McKay

Carey Stachler

Tina Vuncannon

film

Sam Mendes, American Beauty

Christine Davis

Callie Griffin

Kaoru Kobori

Stephen Rockwell

Brittany Stephens

2. General Goals

The informal writing and first two papers compelled you to analyze literature, to estimate the author's world view. This assignment asks you to do just that, but also to teach the class what you've come to understand. Your group must choose a work of literature in the genre you've been assigned. After completing a series of ungraded but nonetheless required miniassignments, groups of four or five will compose a Wikispaces or WetPaint (or similar collaborative webspace; here is Wikispaces' Help page) that provides a working analysis of the text as well as an annotated bibliography of journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly websites on the text and/or its author. Groups will then teach the work of literature to the class in a multimedia enhanced presention.  The project should be informative and argumentative. This assignment is neither a book report nor a biography, but instead a critical and analytical interpretation of a work of literature. Finally, individual group members will assess their own and their fellow group members' participation in the group.

 

Plan of Action

 

Approximately four weeks before the presentation, groups must create, distribute to members and professor a plan of action that provides a timeline of meetings, individual group member responsibilities, and due dates. Individual group members must participate in the group and complete their individual assignments in a timely manner. Failure to attend meetings, reply to group email in a timely manner, and complete individual miniassignments on time will affect your grade.

3. Written Component

  1. Analysis and Interpretation of the Work of Literature: As this project is not a traditional paper, the word-length is up to the group, but the project should be sure to fully explain how the group is reading the work of literaute, for instance but not limited to, by discussing it in terms of the elements of literature discussed in class (conflict, character, setting, and so forth).
  2. Annotated Bibliography
    1. Search Strategy: Recapitulate where and how you went about your search for sources. Use the literary research methods handout to guide your search. Don’t put off obtaining print sources until the last minute.  You should request and check out materials from libraries a full two weeks before the assignment is due.  Once you have a critical article or book, check its works cited and reference pages for other books that might help your research.
    2. Summary of Findings: In at least 250 words, summarize the various ways critics are interpreting the story. For instance, point out where scholars fall into different camps of interpretation on certain points of the story.
    3. Secondary Sources
      • number and type of sources
        • 2 sources per group member (thus, a four member group should have 8 annotations)
          • 1 scholarly journal article
          • 1 book or book chapter
          • do not use encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, primary texts, fan sites, or critical articles already used in class
      • arrangement and citation format of sources: arrange sources alphabetically and format them according to MLA citation standards
      • annotations: summarize and evaluate the source in 75-100 words by
        1. identifying the issue or question that the source is investigating,
        2. defining the source’s thesis or main idea relevant to your work of literature, and
        3. explaining how the source helps your understanding of the work
    4. Format: WetPaint, Wikispaces, or similar collaborative webspace

Here are some examples of projects from Fall 2008.

4. Presentation Component

The presentation should accomplish two objectives:

  1. Teach the work of literature to the class according to your group's reading of it.
  2. Summarize the ways critics read the story as well as what issues they debate.

As long as you meet these two objectives, the format of the presentation is completely up to you. Audiovisual aides such as Microsoft Powerpoint, YouTube, and mp3 will help to guide your presentation. You may choose to focus on various elements of literature (conflict, character, setting, symbol, point of view, structure, tone) as ways into the work of literature as we have done in previous classes. You have all the technology of our classroom at your disposal: computer with internet, projector, dvd/cd, and Microsoft Powerpoint; let me know if you need other equipment. Presentations will be approximately 20 minutes long and followed by a five to ten minute question and answer period. I strongly recommend that you practice your presentation at least once; and adhere to time.

5. Group Project Timeline

Required miniassignments are in bold. Failure to submit a miniassignment on time will affect your grade. Also affecting your grade will be your self- and group-assessment: on the day the presentation is due, group members will individually submit an assessment of their as well as their fellow group members' participation in the project.

 

Week 7

Groups assigned.

Week 8

Choose text for group project

each group member brings to class a list of three possible texts for the project

Individual List of Possible Works Due (M, 3-2 for Section 02; T, 3-3 for Section 01)

Week 9

Read text individually

Week 10

Analyze text individually

Week 11

No Class: Spring Break

Week 12

Discuss text as group some time this week

Begin planning presentation and written components

Research Methods Tutorial

Research text both individually and as group

Individual Informal Response Due (W, 4-1 for Section 02; R, 4-2 for Section 01)

Group Plan of Action Due

Week 13

Continue planning presentation and written components

Each group member finds four journal articles and four books/book chapters; group decides who annotates which sources

Individual List of Sources Due (W, 4-8 for Section 02; R, 4-9 for Section 01)

Week 14

each group member annotates two secondary sources

Individual Annotations Due (W, 4-15 for Section 02; R, 4-16 for Section 01)

Week 15

Class time for group projects

Work on presentation and written component

Week 16

Group Presentations

Written component and self/group assessment due on day of presentation

Finals

Group Presentations

Written component and self/group assessment due on day of presentation: Provide link to project, and submit assessment to GeorgiaView > Assignments > Group Project: Assessment

Paper 3 Research Paper

In the first formal paper, you analyzed a particular passage, and in the second paper you debated the oppositing meanings of a work that we have read in class. For the third and final paper, select a work of literature not discussed in class (it may be the work your group project worked on; it must not be a text that you have done a research paper on for another class), and, after clearing it with me, write an in depth analysis and interpretation of the work using 3-5 works of scholarly criticism (journal articles, books, and book chapters) to provide support or counterargument. The primary emphasis of this paper is your thoughtful, rigorous analysis of a work of literature; use the secondary sources only inasmuch as they aid your interpretation.

 

Thesis and Sources: When we meet individually to discuss your third paper, bring your working thesis, a bibliography of 10 works of scholarly criticism (approximately half books and half journal articles). Here is the sign-up sheet for our individual conference, to be held during class time.

 

Individual Conference Sign-Up Sheet

 

Section 02 MW

 

M, 4-13
Danielle Barnes Chopin, The Awakening
Brittany Stephens Mendes, American Beauty
Stephen Rockwell Mendes, American Beauty
Olivia Dowd Fincher, Fight Club
Wesley Tanner Marc Antony in Rome and Shakespeare
Liz Brown Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
Cody Fox sirens in Atwood and Rilke
Tina Vuncannon Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Elizabeth Carpenter Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Carey Stachler Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Carter Whitt Alexie
W, 4-15
Deide Bateman Shakespeare, Macbeth
Courtney Gilliam Rossetti, "Bride Song"
Callie Griffin Mendes, American Beauty
Eden Teague Rossetti, "Bride Song"
Jessica Hurtte Rossetti, "Bride Song"
Christine Davis Max, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
Katlyn Allmon Lahiri, "A Temporary Matter"
Ainsley McKay Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Kaoru Kobori Mendes, American Beauty
Amanda Kendrick Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

 

Section 01 TR

 

T, 4-14
Sarah Beth Lines Percy, The Moviegoer
Stephanie Wood Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac
Cameron Wellman Rossetti, "Goblin Market"
Chris McKenzie Rossetti, "Goblin Market"
Travis Thompson Orwell, 1984
Rob Tharpe Lewis, The Great Divorce
Steven White Raging Bull or Red Dawn
Kimberly Marsh The Simpsons
Alyanna Johnson Rossetti, Goblin Market
R, 4-16
Callie Gay Weir, The Truman Show
Andrew Deneen Orwell, 1984
Tyler Ebrite Orwell, 1984
Amy Sanner Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
Anne Holzhausen Orwell, 1984
Sarah Krogh Weir, The Truman Show
Leigh Augustyniak Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac
Jenna Langmack Rossetti, "Goblin Market"
Rachelle Eyma Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper"
Kristina Bettis Orwell, 1984

 

Note: You will only turn in one draft of this paper to me; however, I encourage you to share drafts with peers you've learned to trust in class and peer response sessions.

 

© Alex E. Blazer 2025