Foss Spring 2012 BLSEH Class Summary Essay

At one randomly-assigned point during the semester you will compose a thesis-driven class period summary (750-1250 words). You must post this essay to our course wiki notes repository, in addition to turning in a hard copy to me.

Regarding the former, simply click on the appropriate date on the calendar/repository; you then simply cut and paste your Summary into the window that opens for you. (There may be some minor reformatting you need to do, so please check the appearance before you consider yourself done.)

Your deadline for posting to the wiki and turning in a hard copy to me will be the beginning of the second class period after your assigned day. Missing this deadline will earn you a late penalty (see syllabus); there also will be a penalty for work falling outside the parameters of the word count requirements.

I will grade your class summary essay on the accuracy of its content, as well as on all the basic qualities of a successful essay—including but not limited to clear thesis statement, strong organization, logical paragraphing, coherent and appropriately developed presentation, successful integration of quoted material (where applicable), grammatically correct writing, and a mature sense of style.

Two helpful samples of recent student work along similar lines may be found here:





This assignment will allow all of you to contribute in a meaningful way to the collaborative construction of a multi-voiced record of our progress through our course, a record which will hold within it the potential to truly transform your understanding both of British literature since 1800 and of meaning-making itself as a collaborative process (as well as serving as a tremendous study aid for the exams).

You are welcome to post to the wiki frequently; you are not limited to your class period summary essay. When you are logged in to the wiki, each page will have a Discussion tab at the bottom (where you also will find the Edit tab). If you wish to earn extra class participation points, you may post comments about (supplements to, qualifications of) the official sets of notes posted for that day by clicking on its discussion tab. This might be especially helpful on days when there is small group work that is not reported back on to the class as a whole, for the official note-taker will be limited to a summary of her/his group work.

You should see such commentary as distinct from the sort of contributions you may post to any Canvas Discussions. Your wiki comments should focus on contributing to the summary of what went on during class; any other comments/questions should be posted to Canvas.

You are also welcome to make the repository a more aesthetically pleasing and intellectually stimulating resource by contributing audio files, image files, video files, and/or links to websites. Again, any wiki work above and beyond the required essay will earn regular class participation points.

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