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ENGL 270 American Literature | Gregory Eiselein | Fall 2002

Indepedent Projects: Critical Response

The purpose of this assignment is to practice and refine critical thinking skills. A sure sign of independent, critical thinking is the ability to respond to someone else's view in an informed, respectful, and reasoned manner.

The Basic Assignment. Select anyone of the eight texts on our reading schedule. Then find a critical assessment of the selected text. Your project will summarize the important aspects of that critical assessment and then respond to that critical assessment with your own interpretation and analysis of the selected text. Your basic task will be to speak back to the critical assessment in a way that makes use of your own reading, analysis, and interpretation of the selected literary text.

Finding a Critical Assessment. Hale Library has critical assessments of all eight texts: articles in books and journals, reviews in magazines and newspapers, considerations available through electronic databases. You might, for example, choose an article in Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Streetcar Named Desire: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Jordan Y. Miller [Call Number: PS3545.I5365 S825] or a 1973 book review of Sula listed in the Book Review Index [Reference/Call Number: Z1035.A1 B6]. You could use the internet: a reader review of Morrison or Cisneros at Amazon.com, a review of Pulp Fiction found via the Internet Movie Database, or a new discovery with the help of Google. The books you purchased for this course are also good sources. For instance, you might choose a critical article in the Norton Critical Edition of Winesburg, Ohio or Leaves of Grass or a review in the Broadview Literary Texts edition of Little Women or Emma Lazarus's Selected Writings.

Format. Many of you will complete this independent project by writing a paper of about 4 pages (1,000 words). You may also choose to do this project in some other appropriate format: a web page, a PowerPoint presentation, a class plan, a poster presentation, a creative approach, or some other format. Whatever format you select, it should suit the aims of your project and include some type of written critical response of around 1,000 words.

What-I'm-Looking-For. While evaluating these projects, I'll be asking myself the following questions:

Does the project offer an accurate summary of a critical assessment of the selected text?
Does it use the assessment as a starting point for an interpretation of the text?
Does it offer interesting and specific reasons for its particular interpretation of the text?
Does it support that interpretation with well-chosen direct references to the text?
Does it explain in a clear and persuasive manner its interpretation of the text? Does it explain in particular the direct citations from the text?
Is the project organized and formatted in a way that suits the aims of the project?
Does it document sources and citations?

Documentation. To support your views, you need to refer directly to the text you are examining. You will also need to cite and provide the source for the critical assessment you’ll be using. Please acknowledge precisely the source of your literary text and the critical assessment. I recommend the format suggested by the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th edition, by Joseph Gibaldi. You can find this book at the K-State Union or the library; the library also provides a single sheet handout that explains the MLA format for citation of work by others.

Due Date. Monday, November 25.

Length. Approximately 1,000 words.

Project Conferences. In place of paper proposals or in-class workshops, I will meet with each for a ten-minute project conference. We will discuss your selected text, the critical assessment that you've found, and your general approach to this assignment. In preparation for this conference, I will provide you with a worksheet that needs to be completed prior to the conference appointment

Revisions. After I return your projects (on December 2 probably), please read my comments. If at that point, you would like to revise your project, please do so. Revisions would be due on December 9.

A revision does not automatically receive a better grade. The revision must be substantially improved. It must demonstrate significant change in ideas and focus, arrangement and organization, or evidence and development. Simply correcting typos or making editing corrections will not change the grade.

To submit a revision, you need to: 1) Write a summary explaining why and how you revised—for example, how and why you decided to change the focus and organization; why you deleted or added a certain part; why and how you rearranged information; and so on. 2) Hand-in your revision, your original project, and my original comments along with your summary explaining the changes.

Revisions that don't meet these criteria (arriving by the deadline, offering substantial change, providing a summary of changes, and enclosing the original version) will be returned unread.

Let's Talk. If you have questions or concerns about your project or you just want someone to bounce some ideas off of, please drop by the office to talk with me.

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