English 3621: Women's Writing I
Dr. Miriam Jones
Winter, 2004 / W 13:30–15:50 / HH127

requirements || evaluation || assignments || paper || web page/presentation || blogs || participation || exam

Requirements: (Note: students must complete all requirements to pass the course.)

• Paper (20%)
• Web page/presentation (20% for contribution to webpage + 10% for presentation = 30%)
• (Contributions to) Weblog (20%)
• Participation (10%)
• Exam (20%)

Evaluation:

All written work will receive a letter grade. Students who work together will share a grade on that assignment. Following is the grading scheme used by the English Discipline:

Assignments:

[please be sure to refer to syllabus sections on writing and student ethics.]

Paper

Thesis statement due: Feb. 18, 2004
Final draft due: March 10, 2004
Length: 6–8 pages
Percentage of grade: 20%

You may write about any text(s) written by a woman before 1775, whether on the course or not. Focus closely on the text(s) and work outwards. Following are some very general possibilities:

• Discuss how a writer negotiates the constrictions of her chosen genre and/or subject matter.
• Discuss how a writer reworks traditional material, and to what end.
• Discuss how the ways in which a writer negotiates the literary marketplace are reflected in her work(s).

Web page/presentation

Web page due: Feb. 4, 2004
Presentation due: on the day we discuss your chosen writer or topic
Percentage of grade: 20% for webpage + 10% for presentation = 30%

1) Each student is expected to put together a web page displaying research on one of the writers we will be reading. Resources will be made available for those who are less experienced. Since this is not a web design course, my focus, when evaluating your work, will be on content rather than presentation.

Web pages can include links, visuals, attached documents (bibliographies, articles, etc.), and written text. They should be a combination of concrete information and links for further research. Any bibliographical material is expected to follow MLA format.

What to include on your page:

• Find at least one portrait of your subject.
• Include biographical material (keep the focus on your subject as a writer).
• List/include information on her works.
• Have something more substantial about the work that we will read in class.
• Include a print bibliography of pertinent contemporary books and articles.
• Make an effort to list all the important sites about your subject, if there are many, and all the sites, if there are few.
• Give me a short written report telling me at least one thing that your page does that none other does.

You can either

• give me the material electronically or on disk (RTF format preferred), for me to format and post,
• give me the HTML file electronically or on disk, for me to directly post, or
• give me the URL to your own site, for me to link to the course site.

Web Pages will be evaluated on:

• breadth, depth and quality of research,
• inclusion of both concrete information, and resources for further research,
• organization of materials,
• accessibility/user-friendliness, and
• presentation.

2) Each student will make a brief presentation at the beginning of the class in which their chosen writer is being studied, focusing on the text(s) we have read. At the end of each presentation, the presenter will have some questions to initiate class discussion.

(Note: please give the instructor any a/v requests at least a week before.)

Presentations will be evaluated on:

• focus,
• organization,
• appropriateness of material; links to course texts and/or discussions,
• quality of research,
• effectiveness of questions, and
• presentation.

Blog

Length: Whatever it takes (aim for an average of at least one substantial entry per week)
Due: Throughout the term (I will be reading!)
Percentage of grade: 20%

Each student is expected either to initiate and maintain, or to significantly contribute to, a blog (a weblog) about the readings, class discussions, and related matters (such as other texts you are reading or have read).

Resources will be made available for those who are less experienced. There are a multude of links on my links page. As this is not a computer design class, emphasis is on content.

You may choose to blog alone, or to set up a blog with a partner or small group. Or, the class may choose to maintain a single class blog, as long as individual contributions are clearly attributed. Whatever you choose, you are expected to read and comment on others' blogs/posts. This is an interactive exercise.

Blogs/posts will be evaluated on:

• quality and quantity,
• thoughtful engagement with course texts and ideas,
• respectful yet incisive commentary on others' postings,
• connections between the texts we are reading and larger issues, and
• readability/presentation (blog entries are not formal essays, but you are still expected to maintain standards of literacy).

Participation

Each student will be expected to participate in class discussion, and attendance will be noted. Participation is a significant part of the grade.

Exam

During the December examination period. Texts allowed but not notes.