I will send u the readings along with the questions u have to answer per discussion posts per week.
Discussion Posts (6×2.5%) 15% (Every Thursday)
Discussion Papers (3×5%) 15% (May 16, 30, 13)
Quizzes (5×2%) 10% (Every Tuesday)
Essay #1 Outline 5% (May 20)
Essay #1 (Fiction) 10% (May 27)
Essay #2 (Poetry) 20% (June 10)
Final Exam 25% (June 17)
Discussion Posts (15%): These are meant to be your response to the week’s reading. I will post guiding questions or parameters for each week. These will be fairly loose as this is an opportunity for you to work on articulating your feelings and questions about the literature we are reading. (250-300 words)
Discussion Papers (15%): 3 times throughout the semester you will revise one of your discussion posts into a more polished piece of short writing. These are opportunities for you to practice honing your skills in writing and literary analysis. (300-400 words)
Quizzes (10%): The quizzes are designed to assess your ability with certain mechanics. The first quiz focuses on some basic grammar, the second on integrating quotations, the 3rd on terminology related to fiction, the 4th on poetry, and the 5th on drama. The quizzes are also meant to keep you on track with the reading.
Essay #1 (10%) (and outline, 5%): The first essay will have you engage with a single primary text (one of the fiction readings). Potential topics and guiding questions will be provided in a separate document. (700-800 words)
Essay #2 (20%): The second essay will ask you to compare and contrast elements of two poems. Potential avenues for inquiry will be discussed and provided in a separate document. (800-1000 words)
Final Exam: The final exam will be asynchronous (with a window to access), but timed and limited to one submission. Further information about the final will be provided as it approaches.
Discussion Posts
The discussion posts are due on Thursdays at Noon and are your chance to personally respond to the readings. For each discussion post, you will be provided with some questions to consider, but I also want to read about what you found interesting, surprising, moving, frustrating, beautiful, etc. I also want you to voice your questions. For some discussion posts, there will also be required elements listed (e.g. “compare 2 of the poems” or “include at least one paraphrase and at least one quotation”). These are opportunities to practice the writing skills you will have to demonstrate on the major essays and in the final exam as well as future classes you take.
Discussion posts will be graded primarily based on completion. I am looking for you to meaningfully engage with a reading or readings from that week, meet the length requirements, and to complete any required elements. If you do those things, you will receive full marks.
Discussion posts should be between 250-300 words and posted as a thread in the correct discussion forum. I strongly recommend writing your discussion posts in Word or Docs and then pasting them into the editor on Blackboard.
Discussion Papers
The discussion papers are an opportunity for you to take your discussion posts one step further and another opportunity to practice your academic writing. After completing your discussion post on Thursday, take some time to read the posts of your peers. Are they noticing the same things you are? Has someone, perhaps, uncovered a possible answer to a question you had? Has someone written something that’s inspired or changed or furthered your interpretations?
After seeing what other people have written, reflect on your discussion post and put some extra polish, nuance, and rigour into it to compose a slightly more formal Discussion Paper. In effect, a mini essay.
Like discussion posts, the discussion papers will be primarily graded on completion. I am looking to see you reflect further on your initial ideas, perhaps even do some re-reading, and to further a more meaningful set of observations, interpretations, analyses, or arguments.
Unlike the discussion posts, however, I will also add an estimated letter grade and provide some brief commentary on your papers. This feedback is to help you develop your academic writing throughout the course and to give you some insight on the things you need to work on for the larger assignments. Please note: the grades you get on your discussion papers do not necessarily have any connection to the grades you get on the essays. It is possible to write great discussion papers and then a poor essay or vice versa, but it is my hope that this feedback will be helpful to you as you move through the course.
Discussion papers are due on Mondays (May 16, 30, and June 13) by 11:59pm and should be around 300-400 words. Your first discussion post will be a revision of your Week 2 discussion post. The last 2 discussion papers can be a revision of either of the 2 immediately preceding discussion posts. Discussion papers will be submitted to the correct assignment area on Blackboard in .doc, .docx, .pdf, or Google Docs format.