November 2009 Archives

The story is out of copyright and the full text is widely available online. You are welcome to use any edition, including a print edition, so long as not abridged or an interpretation "based on" the original text.

What feedback do you want your peers to give you on your Paper 3 draft?

We will spend time in class developing a brief rubric, and you will arrange to read and respond to two peer drafts, in an informal but thoughtful 2-3 page essay (uploaded to Turnitin.com and shared with your peers by Thursday).

During the last four decades, a well-publicized shift in what undergraduate students prefer to study has taken place in American higher education. The number of young men and women majoring in English has dropped dramatically; the same is true of philosophy, foreign languages, art history, and kindred fields, including history. As someone who has taught in four university English departments over the last 40 years, I am dismayed by this shift, as are my colleagues here and there across the land. And because it is probably irreversible, it is important to attempt to sort out the reasons--the many reasons--for what has happened. --William M. Chace, The American Scholar

Presenters: Dianna, Karyssa

I've been asked to move class today so that someone else can use technology that's only available on our regular classroom.

Confident about...

• Being able to finish; depth.
  
• Capable.
  
• Research.
  
• Starting with sources, tracing chain.
  
• Structure.
  
• Chronology.
  
• Analysis of primary text.
  
• What makes a good thesis.
  
• Content of paper at this point.
  
• Confident in analysis.
  
• Sources. Pro & Con. 

Questioning about...

• Full 10p length
  
• Time. Sleep.
  
• MLA citation.
  
• Citing graphic novels. (Panel)
  
• Articulation of thesis.
  
• Dubiousness of thesis.
  
• How much depth to explain outside sources.
  
• How to expand to 10p English paper.
  
• Definitions and explanations of ambiguous terms, questions on big issues.
  
• Conveying images properly.
• Proving a point about literature (rather than something else)
  

The instructions are the same as Portfolio 1, but I would like to encourage reflection and assessment -- I'm asking for a reflective portfolio, not just a list of links.

This portfolio should present the work that you didn't present as part of Portfolio 1 or Portfolio 2.

If you have a reason to include an entry from the first part of class (maybe you have expanded it, or a new discussion has emerged on an old entry) feel free to include it -- just explain why you think it belongs in this portfolio.

If you're thinking of doing your term paper on Maus, here's a University of Pittsburgh event you might find interesting. (I'm not assigning this, just mentioning it.)

"The Use of Comic Books in Teaching the Holocaust," a lecture by Beverly Harris-Schenz of the University of Pittsburgh German Department, on teaching the Holocaust to German students. 8 p.m., Thursday, Jewish Community Center (412-421-1500). --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Also

Avi sez, "'Mickey Mouse in Gurs' is a tragic 'comic' book made by Horst Rosenthal in 1942 while incarcerated at the Gurs internment camp in France. Rosenthal uses Mickey Mouse as a kind of subversive Virgil to guide us through the hellish experiences of the concentration camp. Horst Rosenthal was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942." --BoingBoing

The assignment is the same as the presubmission for Paper 2. The only difference is that this paper is longer -- 10-12 pages.

(It's also the only major assignment we'll do for the rest of the term.)

I do not expect to be able to discuss each paper individually with you during class, but I will aim to get you some quick feedback right away, and encourage you to come to sign up for longer consultations.

Feel free to take risks for this assignment; if you hit a dead end or change your topic, that's a good sign -- it's better that you make those changes now, than after you've written 6 or 8 pages.