Requirements: LIT 6855
Students will be required to participate regularly and
vigorously in seminar discussions, and to write one, argumentative response
to focus our discussion. Students will also be required to develop first
an abstract, then a proposal, and finally a seminar paper.
1. Seminar discussions and responses: Students must involve themselves
in our discussions as persistantly as possible, with as much tact, regard
and respect for each other as possible. Although some people are more shy
than others, the classroom is a public forum and education a collective
process which entails public debate--and this course is specifically designed
to come to terms with the public sphere. For each seminar, we will try
to focus our readings by generating a debate from them. I will start us
off during the first three sessions; after that, each person in the seminar
will choose a session for which to write a sharply focussed argument based
on the readings. I will ask you to submit your responses in hard-copy to
me, although you may use email to distribute the response to your class
mates. These responses must be distributed before the class session to
which they are directed
2. Abstract/Proposal/Paper: Much of our public life as academics requires
us to present our work formally to our colleagues. Thus, in this class,
I am asking you to treat your written work as if it were to be presented
at a conference.
Abstract: is a 200 word document that outlines the major features of
your paper. This will be due during the 7th week, so that I can return
them to you rapidly, that is, in time for the
Proposal: which is a revised abstract, one page, with a tentative bibliography.
This will be due the 11th week. During weeks 14 and 15 and possibly 16,
we will share our work with each other during roundtable discussions; for
this, you must hand out to your colleagues your abstract; you must present
your work orally and respond to questions. Everyone will be responsible
for asking questions--this is part of your participation.
Paper: a 20 page, seminar paper will be due at the end of the semester.