THE PRACTICE OF CRITICISM | Fall 2008
PAPERS AND EXAMS
For general policies on papers and exams, see The Fine Print.
Exams
The final exam for English 170 will be held on Tuesday, December 16, from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.. in our regular classroom.
You may take the final exam in the classroom or in another internet-connected location of your choice. You may consult books, notes, websites, and other sources in writing your exam essays. The exam will become available at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 16 in the "Final Exam" folder of our myCourses site. (Look for it under the "Tools" tab at the top of the myCourses window.) The folder will also contain a dropbox that will be available from 8:00 a.m. until 11:15 a.m. You must submit your exam to the dropbox before 11:15 a.m. Late exams will not be accepted. I will send a confirmation email to your Geneseo email address to let you know that I've received your exam. You should remain at your computer until you have received this email confirmation. If you run into technological difficulty submitting your exam and we are in contact about the difficulty, I will accept your exam after the closing time of the exam. However, if I do not receive an exam from you by the closing time and you do not respond immediately to my efforts to obtain your exam, your exam will not be accepted. The exam itself will contain contact information so that, in case of difficulty, you can reach me by email, instant message, or cell phone.
A make-up exam will be administered for medical reasons only. You must supply documentation of all illnesses and accidents. (A note indicating merely that you were seen at the infirmary won't suffice.) Please do not request special arrangements to alleviate any of the following: a crowded exam schedule; a heavy workload; conflicts with employment, extra-curricular responsibilities, or job-hunting; familial celebrations (e.g., weddings or graduations); crises in other people's lives (e.g., severe depression of best friend's roommate); crises in your own life that are a normal and inevitable part of the collegiate experience (e.g., demise of relationship with boyfriend or girlfriend.) Fairness dictates that such accommodations cannot be made for one without being offered to all.
Papers
The "due-date" for each of the papers in this class is not a single date but a one-week range during which you may submit your finished work. I grade and return papers in the order in which I receive them, so the earlier you submit, the sooner your work will be returned. You can get a sense of what I look for in papers by downloading a copy of the evaluation rubric that I complete for every paper submitted. In addition, the Online Writing Guide offers help on a wide range of essay-writing matters, including proper conventions for citation. In both papers for this class, you must follow MLA format for citations.
Paper 1
Due September 25 - October 2 (no later than 11:59 p.m. on October 2)
Choose one of the topics below and write an essay of 4-5 pages. For advice on the writing process and information about a range of practical matters from citation conventions to comma splices, see the SUNY Geneseo Writing Guide. To suggest a topic to be added to these options, go the site in myCourses and navigate to Tools > Surveys > Suggest a Topic.
- Choose a single chapter from the Alice books. Identify a theme, image, metaphor, or word that appears in this chapter and is important to the books as a whole. Discuss how the chapter's treatment of it contributes to the books' treatment of it.
- Choose one of the poems from the Alice books and explain how it develops ideas and images that are important to the books as a whole. Be detailed and analytical in your discussion of both the poem and the books.
- Read Abrams' discussion of intertextuality, then develop and explore a thesis about the Alice books as an intertext.
- Find a "metaphor we live by" in the Alice books. Follow Lakoff and Johnson's approach in identifying the metaphor. Examine how the metaphor works in the Alice books. In the course of doing so, explain how Carroll's use of the metaphor both replicates and goes beyond the metaphor's use in everyday language.
Paper 2
Due December 3 - December 8 (no later than 11:59 p.m. on December 8)
Choose one of the topics below and write an essay of 4-5 pages. For advice on the writing process and information about a range of practical matters from citation conventions to comma splices, see the SUNY Geneseo Writing Guide. To suggest a topic to be added to these options, go the site in myCourses and navigate to Tools > Surveys > Suggest a Topic.
- Review the Abrams reading on narrative. Analyze and compare/contrast the narrative structure of any two works on the syllabus (at least one must be a work of prose fiction), paying particular attention to the difference between "story" and "plot."
- Review the Abrams reading on symbol, figurative language, and metaphor, and review Lakoff and Johnson. Write an essay comparing the uses of symbolism in any two works on the syllabus. Your essay should do more than interpret the symbols themselves. It should relate the symbols to the concepts in Abrams and Lakoff/Johnson, so that light is shed not only on your chosen works but on symbolism as a mode of literary expression.
- Review the Abrams reading on queer theory, deconstruction, and dialogic criticism. What do these different critical concepts have in common? Together, what light do they shed on Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest?
- Review MacIntyre's essay, and read what Abrams has to say about postmodernism and poststructuralism. Use the ideas from these sources to discuss the treatment of character in Woolf's novel and/or Cunningham's. Your essay should do more than discuss or analyze the novels' characters themselves. It should shed light on the concept of character.
- Consider the electronic texts on the syllabus collectively. Offer a thesis about the relationship between electronic literature and conventional, printed literature. Do they have certain features in common? What, if any, are the important differences between them? Be sure to illustrate and support your generalizations by reference to particular texts, both electronic and conventional.
Submitting Papers
The two papers for this class must be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m. of the last date in the due-date range. Submit your papers using the drop box in myCourses. (Look for the Drop Boxes under the "Tools" tab.) Late papers lose one-half grade per day.
Be sure to keep a copy of your work.
If you need help with this electronic submission procedure, contact the CIT HelpDesk. If they can't assist you, contact me.
Return of Papers
I will return work electronically, in the order in which it was received, with corrections and comments included in the returned file. Please do not expect work submitted close to the deadline to be returned in less than 2-3 weeks.