Deadlines
We will discuss due dates for the various sections of the projects. Your project must include:
· a list of sources you will use in completing the project,
· a “speed draft” of the project (which you and I will discuss in a conference),
· a draft of the full project (which will be read and responded to by a group of your classmates),
· a final draft of the project.
Failure to complete any of the portions of the academic project listed above will result in a one-letter-grade reduction for each missing portion (obviously, the final draft is required to receive any grade at all).
The final draft of the Biographical Context Essay is due at the last "Project Collection" day, April 26.
Length
The Biographical Context Essays is three to five pages, double-spaced, with a one-inch margin all the way around, and must conform to the MLA stylebook requirements for formatting and parenthetical documentation.
Assignment
This assignment asks you to investigate the biographical context of a work we are studying in class using both biographical sources and the letter collections found in the library’s Besse Collection. Your essay should demonstrate a relationship between a work and its author; in other words, your essay should explain how what an author was doing and saying to other people relates to what he or she was writing at that time.
Subject
The author and work you choose is up to you, except that you are limited to works we have read for class and authors represented in the Besse Collection. Authors represented include (in the order they appear in our syllabus):
Mark Twain PS 1331Sources
Henry James PS 2123
William Dean Howells PS 2033
Stephen Crane PS 1449
Edith Wharton (with Henry James) PS 2123
F. Scott Fitzgerald PS 3511
Ernest Hemingway PS 3515
Katherine Anne Porter PS 3531
William Faulkner PS 3511
Robert Frost PS 3511
e. e. cummings PS 3505
Wallace Stevens PS 3537
Langston Hughes PS 3503
John Steinbeck PS 3537
Richard Wright (with Leslie Marmon Silko) PS 3569
Flannery O’Connor PS 3565
Sylvia Plath PS 3566
Leslie Marmon Silko (with Richard Wright) PS 3569
Your paper should make significant use of at least three biographical sources and five letters written by the author in question. The biographical sources must come from scholarly journals or books. Your three sources may not include Web sources (other than electronic versions of scholarly journals), encyclopedias, or literary reference works, though you may use such works as sources in addition to your three scholarly works. You must follow the MLA guidelines for use of sources to receive credit for the assignment. You must attach copies of any source you use in your paper. If the source is too long to copy, include copies of the first page (or title page, in the case of a book) and any relevant pages.
Drafts
The most difficult aspect of writing scholarly essays (for most students) is maintaining control of the essay, not allowing the sources to take over the paper. In order to help you stay in control, you will write a speed draft after you’ve read your sources but before you begin writing the actual first full draft of the paper.
The speed draft is a short version of your paper, written without the use of your note cards, secondary sources, or even primary sources; this draft helps you to focus and organize the general outlines of your discussion without the restrictions of a formal outline.
You will also need to submit a complete draft of your project for response before you may submit the final draft for grading. Depending on how many of your peers choose this project type, your response may come from me, your peers or a combination of me and your peers.
Academic Projects (You must choose at least one project from this category.)
Academic Seminar Paper (300 points)Oral Projects (You must choose at least one project from this category.)
Standard Academic Paper (200 points)
Biographical Context Essay (100 points)
Annotated Bibliography of Scholarly Sources (100 points)
Annotated Bibliography of Web Sites (100 points)
Historical Presentation (100 points)Examinations
Dramatic Interpretation (100 points)
Class Discussion (100 points)
Midterm Examination (100 points)Interpretive Projects
Final Examination (200 points)
Reading Journal (100 points, repeatable)
Electronic Discussion (100 points, repeatable)
Paper (100 points, repeatable)
Creative Interpretation (100 points, repeatable)
Multiperspective (200 points, may count as academic)
Copyright 2001 by David Kimmel. This page was created using Netscape Composer, Microsoft Paint, and Microsoft Photo Editor. Last updated January 5, 2002.