ASSIGNMENTS
- Weekly course blog entries, responses to readings, and comments
- 4 short quizzes: questions based on course blog entries
- Group project and presentation
- Midterm: short (50 min) critical essay
- Final examination: ± passages for rapid identification ±short commentary + longer (2h) essay
Weekly advance preparation and passages for close reading will be posted on this present UBC Blogs site in advance of each class, as will be assignments: in THE COURSE menu on your right. Outlines for each class will appear after the event. (There will also be a link to this site from the WebCT Vista one.)
GRADING
Weekly blog entries | 20% |
Quizzes (in class) | 10% |
Group project and presentation | 20% |
Midterm (in class) | 20% |
Final examination | 30% |
GRADING CRITERIA
- Grading Guidelines for Content-Based Courses (Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies, UBC)
- Critical analysis: grading criteria (O’Brien)
- As this is a literature/culture course, most of your grade is for
- content (your own idea and interpretation) and
- structure (good choice of examples, relevance, an intelligent reading, well-reasoned, solid argument, acceptable conclusions with regard to all of the above).
- Style, syntax, grammar, and spelling will contribute to the grade, insofar as they contribute to the communication of content and structure: bear in mind that this is an exercise in EXPLANATION which will be assisted by clear EXPRESSION.
- While some critics, theorists, etc. may make occasional passing appearances in our course: note that this course’s focus is on primary texts and YOUR close reading of them. There will never be a pop quiz, vocabulary test, or “who’s who” multiple-choice exercise on this sort of thing (which is a good thing, but just not our present business).
- Please don’t cheat. It’s not good, it’s not nice, and it’s no fun for anyone.
- Proper citation is of course permitted, and a different beast from plagiarism. Do consult University policies further on this point; if in doubt, contact your professor and discuss.
- See further: RESOURCES CRITICAL
- See even further still: NBBB optional… to see matters from the other side, for examples of what not to do, and out of sheer mischief:
- Kem’s Utterly Merciless Guide to Essay Writing
- Rate Your Students
- “This is a news website article about a scientific paper” (The Guardian, 2010-09-24)
SEE ALSO:
- Presentations & projects
- Aims & expectations
- Syllabus a.k.a. timetable, schedule