Evaluation includes several different but related
notions--
- How much do I have to do for this course?
- How good is writing that earns and A in this course and what
traits does it show?
- How good are the parts of a presentation and how many do I
have to do?
How much do I have to do for this course?
Plan to write at least two essays and some shorter
writings either half as long or one-fourth as long as a full
essay for a proportionate number of points. Your writing
counts the most when it is your final word at the end of a module.
Also plan to make one spoken presentation around midterm.
The course calendar and the grade roster both give the
due dates and link to details for each assignment in the course.
Shorter Writings
Forum responses are PUBLIC answers to questions posted on
the Web; required emails are not public but should still be
carefully edited. Either of these writings can be worth up to
25 or 50 points each. Length and value: If an essay is 3-5 pages
for up to 100 points, expect to write about 1/4 that much for 25
points and 1/2 that much for 50 points.
Examples: How good is the writing for shorter writings in this
course? Take a look at the quality and quantity of responses to
this forum, which were worth up to 50 points; notice especially
how much evidence and commentary (not just facts) these
responses contain to support an answer to the question (students
were answering a question at the end of a textbook chapter
concerning how to group works in the chapter according to a theme or
idea the works have in common).
Essays
Plan to write and revise at least two essays. The best of these
essays will, in each paragraph, quote relevant phrases from the
works and provide ample details and reasonable judgments about the
qualities of each work and its illustration of a theme. Each of
these essays will be worth up to 100 points for about four pages (90
- 100 lines) of articulate, well edited, well supported insights
about a work you have read.
Note: Each essay may be revised once for a higher grade, if
necessary--if I can work out the timing with you.
Examples: How good are the essays written for this course?
To see the length and quality, amount of support, clarity of thesis
(main idea), and transitions between and within paragraphs, take a
look at some essays in the
Litonline Essay Draft Drop Box. Notice also, the
variety of sentence structure and even versatility of word usage
("vocabulary") for these essays, which have been saved as best of
the best on their topic.
Spoken Presentations
Group Oral Presentations (max. 15 minutes):
Movie Scene Analysis or Song Analysis (in person or recorded on
video)
Click this link for details!
Solo Oral Presentations Involve Technology:
Click this link for details of the three options listed
below.
- Audio Review (up to 5 minutes)
- Infomercial (max. 5 min.) (videotape excerpt shown during
start-up session for the class)
- Telephone Discussion (10-20 minutes of conversation
between you and the professor)
Here's the assignment in a nutshell for online
students:
You gain points for talking analytically about a
contemporary work of your choice. Students usually choose a
song or a movie scene for their focus and discuss anywhere
from 3 to 8 items from the " Presentation
Checklist" column that is relevant.
Students who go hi-tech usually talk their analysis
into a microphone, making a sound file, e.g. a .wav
file that can be played in Microsoft's Media Player. In
addition, students who focus on a movie scene might include a
PowerPoint of highlights, much like the samples on the
Litonline website, e.g. the one for "Finding Nemo." Other
students, who focus on a song, copy the lyrics into Word and
mark them up to show how thematically important phrases
are made to stand out, such as through higher volume, harmony,
or instruments that come in to back the phrase. If I don't
know the song, students might include an mp3 file for me.
These students will send me these files on a CD, if
their computer "burns" CDs; those with a high-speed
connection may attach the files to one or more emails.
In the lower tech version, we just talk on the phone at
an agreed upon time and day about any of the items of the " Presentation
Checklist" relevant to the work you choose. In this
case, if I don't know the song, a student might play it into
the telephone from their stereo or computer before we discuss
it. In the case of a movie scene, I usually have seen the
movie, but sometimes I'll rent it and watch it before we
discuss it if I am not familiar with it. Sometimes these
students will email lyrics marked for emphasis or even a
PowerPoint file on a movie scene.
Occasionally, students will pick a literary work, such as one
of the unassigned works from our textbook, to analyze. In
this case, the lower half of the "Presentation Checklist"
becomes more important than the upper half on performance, and
chapters 2 and 3 of the textbook are very helpful.
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Resources for Spoken Presentations
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