21L.315 In-Class Presentations
You will work in pairs to frame the discussion for one class day. First, together with your partner, prepare a brief handout with salient facts about the author, central themes, and provocative discussion questions for the class. The first team member will open the frame by introducing the handout and starting discussion off (5 minutes). The second team member will take notes on the discussion and summarize it at the end of class, hence closing the frame (5 minutes).
In the event that we have more class members than days for two-member-team presentations, we will have three-member teams on the first day a new text is introduced. The third member will start off the presentation by reporting on the Nobel Prize speeches (Presentation and Acceptance) for that author (5 minutes). You will find the speeches at the Nobel Prize website.
Note that if you present in class on the day when response papers are due, you may have an extension (no more than two days) to hand in your response. Or you can choose to hand in your response paper earlier.
Note on Writing
Topics for the response papers will come from your own observations of the texts and class discussions. In each response paper, select a passage for closer study and expand your reading using evidence from the passage as support. The final essay will involve similar skills but will give you space to develop a more refined thesis and argument based on your reading of the text. For guidelines on how to write a response paper or critical essay, please consult:
- MLA Citation Form (PDF)
- Writing FAQs (PDF)
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"A Brief Guide to Writing the English Paper" from the Harvard Writing Center (PDF)
Additional Resources for Writing
- MIT Libraries Research Guide for Literary Study
- MIT Writing and Communication Center
- MLA Documentation Guide from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
- "What WikiPedia can teach us about the new media literacies (part one)," last modified on June 26, 2007
- Developing a Strong Thesis Statements from Purdue OWL
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Perelman, Leslie, and Edward Barrett. The Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing. McGraw-Hill Humanities, 1997. ISBN: 9781559346474.
Additional Resources on Grammar and Style
- Grammar Resources from the University of Chicago Writing Program
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Fowler, Henry Watson, and Francis George Fowler. The King's English - 1919. Cornell University Library, 2009. ISBN: 9781112233302.
- Corbett, Phillip B. "Subject, Meet Verb." New York Times, August 4, 2009. Accessed January 22, 2015.