Assignments
GRADING
Final Grade Percentages10% Victorian Pack Rat Project
15% Close Reading Paper
20% Final Research Paper
15% “My Attic” Entries
20% Final Exam
20% Participation and Preparedness
Accessing Grades:
Grades for major assignments will be posted on ICON under “Grades” approximately two weeks after the due date. Your participation grade and your grades on informal assignments will be posted at the end of the semester.
If you have a question or concern about a grade on a particular assignment, please observe the 24/7 rule: wait 24 hours to contact me about the assignment, but do not contact me after 7 days after I returned the assignment with a final grade.
Grading Rationale:
Final grades will be determined on the University’s A-F grade scale, with A as the highest possible grade.
A: To earn an A in this course, you must excel consistently, producing polished, well-crafted work that demonstrates mastery of new techniques and skills. You must use the revision process strategically to shape your work for your audience and take an active thoughtful leadership role in the classroom.
B: To earn a B, you must exceed all of the requirements of a C by producing proficient work that shows good evidence of revision and attention to audience considerations. You must be an active and constructive participate in the classroom and complete all activities thoroughly and with care.
C: Earning a C in this course signifies an average performance. To receive a C, you must produce competent, college-level work, completing all projects satisfactorily and on time, contributing positively to the classroom environment, giving basic attention to revision, and showing improvement.
D or lower: Earning a D or lower indicates that you have not shown consistent effort, have not met the minimum class standards in some way, or have hurt your grade by plagiarizing, not turning in work, or failing to participate.
ASSIGNMENTS
Victorian Pack Rat Project (10%)In completing this project, you will research a storage space common in Victorian homes. This could be a room (attic, cellar, pantry), built-in storage (cupboards, closets) or moveable storage space (wardrobes, vases, bowls, boxes, baskets). What types of homes had this storage (only the wealthiest?)? What did Victorians keep in this space? Why? Where would you find it? Is this space gendered or classed? Can you find any short stories, poems, or anecdotes that involve this storage space? Does it seem to have any connotations or symbolic meanings for Victorians? Write up a 2-2.5 page report on your most interesting findings (MLA formatting, 12-pt Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins).
Close Reading Paper (15%)
Write a 3-4 page paper that uses close reading and analysis to make an interpretive argument about a text read in our class. This argument can but does not need to be related to our course theme. Most important is your construction of a sophisticated, unique argument about an aspect of a text (perhaps a symbol, motif, metaphor, character, genre, narrative style) supported by textual evidence and rigorous analysis.
Final Research Paper (20%)
Around Week Nine of the semester, we will commence work on our final research papers. In this paper, you will select a primary literary text and a research “topic.” Your primary text need not be one covered in this course. I would prefer the text to be from the Victorian period (since one of the arguments of this course is that Victorians had a unique relationship with issues of storage and preservation), however, if you’d like to cover a text outside of this period, we can discuss this possibility.
Unlike in the close reading paper, the topic of the final research paper must relate in some way to our theme of “Victorian Storage.” I hope, however, after ten weeks in this course, we will better understand how flexible this theme can be. You can feel free to pursue a topic related to the approaches to storage covered in this class: attics and secrets, memory and learning, antiquarianism, storage technologies, and post-mortem preservation. You could, for example, consider “remembrance” and Christina Rossetti poems or the “phonograph” in Conan Doyle’s “The Story of the Japanned Box.” I would also encourage you, however, to consider thinking of other ways to approach the theme of storage: perhaps waste storage and pollution, canned food, the heart as sentimental storage…let your imagination go.
In a 5-7 page paper, use your research to construct an argument about the relation of your primary text and your research topic (e.g., Christina Rossetti critiques Victorian rituals of memorialization in order to encourage a remembrance of the living). This argument will find support in your close reading, analysis, and the contextualization provided by your research. We will discuss more about what kind of sources to use (as well as where to find and how to use them) in class.
Final Exam (20%)
During final exam week, you will take an exam (multiple choice, short answer, and essay) on the lectures, authors and works, critical readings, and overarching themes and terms of this course. Time, location, and date TBA.
“My Attic” Entries (15%)
Instead of holding reading quizzes through the semester, I will sporadically (approximately once a week), ask you to free write a paragraph on something you found “worth remembering” in the day’s reading. This could be a quote or a plot event you found intriguing, a character you have questions about, an idea for a paper topic, etc. After I grade these, I will return them to you to keep in a folder of some kind—your personal “attic”—that will function as idea storage for upcoming papers and discussions.
Participation and Preparedness (20%)
Participation
Students are expected to be present each class, on time, and engaged in the fullest sense. This means that students should listen actively and respectfully while also making helpful, substantive contributions to workshops, peer review, in-class activities, and discussion.
Preparedness
I expect that you come to class each day having read the material required for the day, that you have taken notes on that reading (either in the text or in another document), and that you have a couple of topics in mind to discuss in class when the opportunity arises.
Students will receive a “Participation and Preparedness” grade each day. Students who share lively and substantive contributions (plural!) as well as listen actively and respectively to their peers will receive full marks. Tardiness, missing books, no notes, checking phones, etc. could all lead to deductions in this daily grade.
