REQUIRED TEXTS:
Required texts for this class will be copies made by each student of sets of three (3) different draft materials (approx.10-15 pp. each set) for distribution to members of the class well before our weekly workshops. These copies will be returned to their authors (with comments) by each student before the end of each workshop week. In addition, students should familiarize themselves carefully with the following useful web-links as they begin research and writing:
Research Guidance: Waidner-Spahr Library
MLA Format and MLA Citation Guide
Scholarly and Academic Research: Finding Journal Articles
Google Scholar: link to wide-ranging scholarly web resources
Students will be required to attend all classes, hand in all written work on schedule, and complete the final course project no later than Friday, APRIL 22 at 5:00 p.m. Students will read and comment on other students' work based on the attached schedule (pp. 2-3). Each student will be responsible for meeting all of the deadlines included on this schedule. Students preparing draft materials for each week's workshop will be required to have copies of those materials in the mailboxes of members of the class (and the professor) no later than the Thursday before the workshop. Students receiving these draft copies will then be required to return them to their authors by the Wednesday following the workshop. Each student will participate in two full-class workshops with his or her own work and one workshop with only the members of his or her workshop group. The final project will be 35-50 pages of your written text, not including title page, endnotes, or works cited, prepared in Times New Roman font, 12 pt. type, and one-inch margins, prepared in the correct MLA format (see copies of PMLA, MLA Handbook, the Purdue online OWL, and earlier 404 projects in the English Department or the Waidner-Spahr Library). Note that MLA style has changed in recent years, and you are responsible for adopting the most recent version (it describes the form of each "work" cited at the end of the citation: Print, Film, DVD, Videodisk, etc., and web sites by the date constructed and the date consulted, without URL.) Here is a site from Cornell University's library that offers one of the simplest and most direct versions of current MLA format and "Works Cited" style:
http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/mla
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Course grades will be based on the following scale. All written and all workshop components of the course must be completed in order for you to pass the class (i.e. you cannot skip one of your own work-shopping or draft sessions or of your classmates):
Workshop Comments/ Draft Final
Participation
Materials Project
20% 30% 50% = 100%
Do not hesitate to contact me during the semester to discuss our workshops,
your research, your writing, or your grade.
January
24 M Workshop: bring a draft prospectus for every class member (15 copies)
26 W Prospectus comments
due in mailboxes (HUB #s and Nichols)
28 F Final Prospectus copies due in mailboxes
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31 M Workshop: Final Prospectus critiques and approval
February 2 W Final reflections on prospectuses and project plans (e-mails)
3 TH . . . . Group #1 drafts due in
mailboxes
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7 M Workshop Group #1 (full-class discussion)
9 W Class comments returned
to Group #1
10 TH Group #2 drafts due in mailboxes
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14 M Workshop Group #2 (full-class discussion)
16 W Class comments returned to
Group #2
17 TH Group #3 drafts due in mailboxes
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21 M Workshop Group #3 (full-class discussion)
23 W Class comments returned
to Group #3
24 TH Group #1 drafts due in mailboxes
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28 M Workshop Group #1 (full-class
discussion)
March 2 W Class comments
returned to Group #1
3 TH Group #2 drafts due in mailboxes
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7 M Workshop Group # 2 (full-class discussion)
9 W Class comments returned to Group #2
10 TH Group #3 drafts due in mailboxes
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SPRING BREAK 11-21 ____________________________________________________________________________
21 M Workshop Group #3 (full-class discussion)
23 W Class comments returned to Group
#3
24 TH Group #1 drafts due to Group #1
only
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28 M Workshop Group #1 (Group #1 only: McClures Gap Road)
30 W Group #1 comments returned
to Group #1
31 TH Group #2 drafts to Group #2 only
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April 4 M Workshop Group #2 (Group #2 only: McClures Gap Road)
6 W Group #2 comments returned
to Group #2
7 TH Group #3 drafts to Group #3 only
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11 M Workshop Group #3 (Group #3 only: McClures Gap Road)
13 W Group #3 comments returned
to Group #3
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13 W-20 Writing, editing, and printing (have a finished copy in hand by Wednesday April 20) ____________________________________________________________________________________
April 22, Friday, PROJECT DUE:
(one unbound copy to EC 305 by 5:00 p.m.) NO LATE PAPERS*
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Friday, May 6 at 2 p.m. An unbound copy for the archives and a bound copy for the English department must be submitted to the English department academic coordinator by 2 p.m. on the last day of classes - (make sure the date and professor’s name are on the cover sheet
of these copies)
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Official guidelines on the departmental 404 lateness policy and College policies:
By uniform English Department policy, all final drafts of 404 theses are due on Friday, April 22nd , at 5:00 PM.
Late submissions will be subject to severe penalties on the thesis grade.** The professor reserves the right not to read late submissions but, instead, to base the thesis grade on work submitted prior to the deadline.
Failure to have earlier drafts (“chunks”) in the hands of readers by the deadline specified in the syllabus will result in failure for the requisite portion of the semester grade.
Lateness is a very serious matter in 404. The simple answer to this problem is to submit all of your work (draft materials and final thesis) on time (or early!).
Academic Honesty
The Dickinson plagiarism policy will be strictly enforced. This class adheres to the college's Community Standards, which clearly state: “Students are expected to do their own work. Work submitted in fulfillment of academic assignments and provided on examinations is expected to be original by the student submitting it.” Please review the Community Standards document for more information. Students have failed to graduate from Dickinson on-time based on academic honesty issues in 404; please do not hesitate to ask me any questions you may have about citation, documentation, or academic honesty in relation to your thesis. The most severe penalties (failure to complete the English major; failure to graduate) can result from academic honesty problems in 404. Don't risk it!
Statement on Disability Services
In compliance with the Dickinson College policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss requests made by students with disabilities for academic accommodations. Such requests must be verified in advance by the Coordinator of Disability Services who will provide a signed copy of an accommodation letter, which must be presented to me prior to any accommodations being offered. Requests for academic accommodations should be made during the first three weeks of the semester (except for unusual circumstances) so that timely and appropriate arrangements can be made.
Students requesting accommodations are required to register with Disability Services, located in Academic Advising, first floor of Biddle House. Please contact Marni Jones, Coordinator of Disability Services (at ext. 1080 or jonesmar@dickinson.edu ) to verify their eligibility for reasonable and appropriate accommodations.
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As you begin research and writing, consult the bibliographic materials you
have already used in 403. Remember that many of our texts for that course
included useful bibliographies. Continue to read widely, but remember that
you will reach a point within the first three weeks of the semester where
you will need to begin writing work-in-progress materials for the class.
In addition, remember that the library and I for advice and guidance. Do not overlook the possibility of extending your research
into libraries beyond Dickinson and Carlisle through interlibrary loan or
personal visits (especially over Spring Break). This work is supposed to represent the culmination of four
years at Dickinson and also of all of your work as an English major. Make
this a piece of work of which you and I and the English department can be proud.
Also remember that this course is not just about your own research and writing.
You are expected to be an active participant in the workshop process. This
means that you will need to read work by your classmates with care, make
comments on the draft materials they provide, and speak up in our weekly
sessions with useful comments and suggestions for improvement. This aspect
of the course will form an important part of your own grade (20%). By the
end of the semester, I will ask each of you to comment on those members of
the workshop whose comments were most helpful and those whose comments were
least helpful as the semester proceeded. When this course succeeds, it does
so as a shared effort. By the end of the semester, our goal should be that
each student has produced a successful piece of work--whatever the final
letter grade--and that the class has produced a series of projects we will
all be pleased to send to the Dickinson library. Imagine coming back to Carlisle with your grandchild in fifty years to see the product of your spring 2011 labors. Also imagine picking up an academic book in the future and seeing your thesis referred to as a source for a high-powered scholarly argument. Now, get serious about your most important single piece of academic work at Dickinson. Now, get busy!
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