COURSE REQUIREMENTS

The composition of the final mark:

This will be composed of a global percentage grade in each of the following categories:

1)       Blog (weekly):                             (30%).

2)      Class presentations :                   (20%)

In these presentations, you will take charge of a discussion of a particular text. Your presentation will help to show the links between one of the primary texts and the blog postings on that particular topic.

3)      Long essay:                                  (50%)

You will submit an essay of between 5000 and 6000 words at the end of Term 4. The proposal for your essay (1 – 2 pages) is to be submitted before the end of Term 3.

DESCRIPTION OF TASKS:

1)      BLOG

Each week, one person will take responsibility for posting a substantial comment under the “Article summaries”, and one person will be responsible for the “Book reviews” category.

The “Gossip column” is open – contribute whenever you have something to add.

We will allocate the topics in class so that there isn’t a rush on a particular one.

Everyone else must have read the text as well, in order to be able to respond adequately to the posting.

The designated people who are posting to the blog must do so by 5 pm on evening.

Classmates must respond to the postings by 11 am on Friday morning. (You can also respond to other responders, of course, as well as to the original post). You obviously do not need to “respond” to your own post.

Each student needs to make a minimum of three postings in each category over the entire duration of the course (that is to say - 9 postings altogether). If you make more than these, your best grades will be chosen. Working consistently on the blog will obviously give you a significant advantage, both in terms of course credits, but also in terms of material that will help you develop your final essay.

Please note: these deadlines are absolute. Late contributions won’t be credited. Please factor in the potential for technological hazards. 

Evaluation system for the blog:

The blog will not be marked in detail, but each contribution will be graded, according to the system below.

5 –       The contribution is on time, accurate, and complete. More than this, it is well written, inspired, and thoughtful. It exceeds expectation.

4 –       The contribution is on time, accurate, and reasonably complete. It is well written and does a good job of representing the text accurately.

3 –       The contribution is submitted on time, but offers superficial, basic coverage of the text. Alternatively, potentially good insights are buried in careless or hasty expression.

0 –       The contribution is not submitted on time. Alternatively it is submitted, but offers no sensible engagement with the given texts, or the writing is incomprehensible.

Requirements for blog posts:

There are four different categories of posts:

1)   Article summaries ( + - 300 - 600 words).

Here, the writer will summarize the main points or central argument of an academic article. These posts must be formally written, and properly referenced. They will be judged on the accuracy and clarity with which key issues raised by the text are explained.

We will use these summaries for class discussion, and consider what the article reveals about the discourses at work in a particular text. What are these discourses? How do they limit what can be said in the primary text?  

2)   Book reviews or Movie reviews.  (300 – 600 words).

These posts comment on the primary texts under discussion. (These are: Woman and Labour, “A Policy in Favour of Protection”, “The Buddhist Priest’s Wife”, Manly Pursuits, Black Hamlet, Journey to the Kalahari, Soul of the White Ant, and Dusklands.)

Quote and analyze by all means, although the register need not be highly academic. A broad point of focus will be specified in the course outline.

You should try to both explain the text’s key concerns, and illustrate these briefly by means of an example. Again, we will use these in class to consider how the book reflects the discourses of the day.

3)   Gossip column/Trivia section.  (A paragraph or two).

These posts can be written in a less formal, more journalistic style, and can include any content of interest, including pictures, anecdotes, or “society-page” style gossip, or internet links.

Here you can comment on any of the historical figures in the texts you are reading, on the authors themselves, or on any relevant aspect of their lives and times – people they were reading, people they knew, loved or hated, etc.

I will make suggestions for each week, but you are encouraged to pursue your own obsessions that may arise from the texts.  You are not limited here to a discussion of characters – you might want to do research into a scientific discovery, a popular idea, or a developing technology (an example of this would be the changes in photographic technology in Manly Pursuits, or the meditations on weaponry and war technologies in Dusklands).

This posting can be as “chatty” and entertaining as suits your taste. Feel free to speculate on the motives or feelings of your characters, or to explore their friendships and influences. The ultimate point of this column is to help you understand how the discussions of the day feed into the writing and shape the limits of what can be said. But don’t feel limited by this broader concern – indulge your interests, and go into as much detail as pleases you, however meaningless it seems.

4)      Responses to the Wednesday Posts:

 ·         Each student must comment at least twice in each week.

·         You can either comment on both posts, or you can direct questions or comments to the author of a particular post, and then respond further to whatever answers may come.  

·         Everyone should check the blog at least once a day between Wednesday and Friday. I will gladly credit discussions that go past the weekly deadline, as long as the first two posts come in before the Friday deadline. 

-  Please be aware that your responses will be credited, as well as your posts.

You can, of course, post as often as you like. However the the minimum requirements are:

·            3 postings of “Article summaries” per student throughout the course.

·            3 “Book reviews” in which you comment on the primary texts.

·            3 postings towards the “Gossip column” per student.

If you make more than the required number of posts, the best grades will be used in calculating the final mark.