Louise Bishop's teaching pages

Requirements

• Response papers. You'll write three short response papers this term, between 250 and 500 words each. These papers, and the formal papers, will be thematically- as well as textually-oriented. These are formal papers in the sense that spelling, grammar, and thinking count--all papers must be neat, typed, revised, finished, and proofread. At the same time, these are papers in which to try out ideas, to experiment and challenge yourself intellectually. I will read these papers, comment on them, and grade them pass/no pass. A passing paper requires a strong thesis, cogent evidence, and NO MORE than two grammatical errors. No-pass response papers may be rewritten but MUST be handed back to me within a week. Three passing papers will count as a 4.0, two as a 2.0, one paper as a 1.0.
• Article summary and response. You will read, and then, using our class's Blackboard discussion board, summarize and comment on a critical essay. Our Gulliver's Travels edition includes five essays (as well as an account of the text's critical history, which we'll all read for February 1). There's a Blackboard site discussion section for each Gulliver essay, and for the other five essays (two for Verne, two for Woolf, and one for Arcadia).
  The first sentence of your summary will be the thesis of the article. Your summary should be at least 5 or 6 sentences long (about a paragraph); longer is acceptable. Following the summary, you'll respond to the article in a second paragraph: how did reading the article enrich your understanding of the text? How did it shift your ideas about literary criticism or literature? What further questions do you now have of the text? You may discuss your article with others writing on the same article or other articles--in fact, I encourage you to do so. At the same time, the summary must be your own work. These summary responses, like the other responses, have the same strictures and will be graded Pass/No Pass: you have one week in which to rewrite No Pass summaries. See the schedule for summary response due dates: summaries are to be posted on the appropriate Blackboard discussion board before 2:00 pm on the date due.
• Graded formal papers. Two 1250-1500 word essays, each of which will treat a course theme and may use observations originally explored in response (and/or article summary) papers. Paper 1 is due Monday, February 1 . Paper 2 is due Monday, March 8 . Note paper due dates: papers must be turned in on the date specified. Plan ahead.
• Final exam. Cumulative, essay, take-home exam due no later than Tuesday, March 16, at 3:15 pm.

Grading

The response papers constitute 15% of your grade; the two formal papers, 25% and 30% respectively; the article summary 10%; participation, 5%, and the final exam will constitute 15% of your grade. Please note the University's "grade point value" system effective 9/90, as I will be using this system (unless otherwise noted):

Note that a grade of "C" is, according to academic regulations, "satisfactory," while a "B" is "good." That means that a "B" is better than average, better than satisfactory, better than adequate. The average grade, then, is a "C"; a grade of "B" requires effort and accomplishment.