Assignments

All papers submitted on paper must use MLA formatting style, including in-text citation and a Works Cited page. Refer to the Purdue OWL website. Students must submit their own original work. Plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, or multiple submission will result in a failing grade for the assignment and possible further penalties.
Short Papers
Final Paper: Creative Argument
Blog Comments
Group Presentation

Short Papers

Paper 1: Queer Form in Poetry

  • Due Thursday, September 20 at 3:30 pm, printed on paper and as electronic document in Work Samples folder.
  • (600-1000 words)
For this assignment you will choose one of the following poems: Sappho “Fragment 16”; Shakespeare “Sonnet 18”, Nugent “Sonnet 1.” Your job is to do a close reading of the poem that pays attention to formal elements and tells us something new, interesting, or exciting about the poem. Because this is a formal analysis, most of your evidence should come the text itself, although some contextual information may be appropriate to your argument.
  1. Begin with the poem. Read it again, then again, and again, and again. Make sure you understand the general meaning. What is the poem about? Does it tell a story, recreate a dialogue, describe a scene? Get the basic details down in your notes. Then make notes on the poem itself to record your ideas and observations. Underline important words or draw lines to make connections. Pay attention to formal elements, such as
    • rhyme - how are words connected by similar sound?
    • stress - which words are marked with an accent in the poem’s rhythm?
    • lines - which words come at the beginning of lines? at the end? which lines are longer or shorter?
    • stanzas - how are lines grouped together? what happens between the end of one stanza and the beginning of the next?
    • punctuation and capitalization - where is the punctuation and what does it do? why are words capitalized?
    • sound - how are words connected with similar consonant sounds (alliteration) or vowel sounds (assonance)?
    • vocabulary - what specific words stand out as important? look up their meanings. do any words have multiple meanings that can change the meaning of a line or a stanza or the poem?
    • repetition - what is repeated and when? what do you notice when a word or phrase appears again? does it reinforce something, change something, undo something?
  2. Develop an idea. Notice which elements most stood out to you. Think about why they are important. How do they affect the meaning of the poem? How do they relate to other relevant issues, such as sexuality, gender, secrecy, autobiography, eroticism, queerness, pain, love, sacrifice, belonging, discrimination, the body?
  3. Work your idea into an argument. Test your idea. Look for more evidence. Modify or expand your idea. Workshop your idea with classmates. Make it original and complex. Find support in the text. Think about how you would explain it to someone else and convince them you are right. Write things down and see how they change.
  4. Write. Write a draft. Rethink. Revise. Repeat earlier steps as necessary.

Paper 2: Language in Context

  • due Thursday, Oct 11 to Tuesday, Nov 20. You are expected to write this paper during or shortly after reading the text you choose. Submit printed on paper in class and as an electronic document in Work Samples folder.
  • (600 −1000 words)

For this assignment you will choose a passage from one of the following texts: Borderland / La Frontera, Giovanni’s Room, Zami. Your job is to do a close reading of the passage that pays attention to language and historical context and tells us something original and interesting about the novel.

Blog Post

  • (400-600 words)
  • Due dates vary. Due by midnight before day of class as blog post. Due at beginning of class printed on paper.

This assignment allows you to write about literature and critical theory in a less formal setting. The blog post will also help jump start class discussion on the text. You job is to write a thoughtful response to the reading. You can take an approach similar to those in your other papers (analysis of formal elements, historical context or cultural context); you can relate the reading to another work (a book, a song, a film) or to recent history; you can explain what you found most interesting about the reading. Whatever your approach, you are required to share an original insight on the text in a way that helps the rest of us understand the text better.  You are welcome to be creative in your writing but, as always, think about your style, language, and audience.

Keep in mind that this writing is public. However, that doesn’t mean it has to be perfect. In fact, you are expected to welcome the feedback and ideas you get from classmates and the professor—in blog comments and in class—and use them towards your revision, if you choose to revise the blog post.

Revised Paper

  • (600-1000 words)
  • due by Thursday, Dec 6, at 3:30pm on paper and as electronic submission to Work Samples folder

You are required to revise one paper that has already been submitted and received feedback from the professor: Paper 1, Paper 2, or Blog Post. Your original paper must be significantly revised, which means that a major portion or all of the paper must be rewritten, reconceptualized, and/or reorganized. The revision must be submitted  on paper, stapled to the original paper with instructor comments, and the revision must be proofread and formatted, which means that any formatting errors, grammatical errors, spelling errors, etc. from the original assignment must be fixed or removed before submitting the revision.

Final Paper: Creative Argument

For the final assignment, you will make a critical argument about a text (or texts) of your choice, but you are not required to write in the the typical format of the academic essay. Instead, you are encouraged to use a creative form of writing to make a critical argument about a text from our syllabus and about your own cultural and historical context as a writer.

Think about the way The Lost Bois use children’s books to make a statement about queer reading and intellectual development; think about the way Swinburne uses a few fragmentary lines of Sappho to write a poem that glorifies Sappho and eroticizes the fragment; think about the way Isaac Julien uses writing by Nugent, Hughes, and Baldwin to imagine a Black gay male community; think about the way Alison Bechdel uses works by Wilde and Joyce to retell her family history as partly comic and partly tragic. Each of the authors (Lost Bois, Swinburne, Julien, Bechdel) teach us something new about the original text(s) and teach us how to better understand their own cultural and historical situation.

In this assignment, you will do the same. Choose a text that was especially meaningful to you. Ask yourself, what did this text teach me about my own world? What specific features of the text were instrumental in this teaching? How does my own cultural and historical context give me a unique reading of this text? Once you have answered this questions, you’ll have to think about how best to convey your ideas in a creative and effective format. Brainstorm by yourself, with classmates, and with your instructor. You are required to submit a proposal for feedback from your instructor and at least one classmate.

Proposal

  • due by Tuesday Nov 27 at 3:30pm printed on paper
  • (100-200 words)

Write a brief description of your plan for this project, including the text (or texts) you have chosen, your argument, and the form your writing will take. The purpose of the proposal is to give you a chance to consider your plan receive feedback from at least one classmate and the professor.

Critically Creative Writing

  • (800-1200 words)
  • due by Thursday, Dec 13 at 5:00pm as blog post and as electronic submission in Work Samples folder

You have some artistic license in the form of this writing assignment. If you believe your assignment should be longer or shorter than the required word count, please explain why to the professor at least one week before the due date.

Blog Comments

  • (approximately 100-300 words)
  • Due by 12 noon on day of class.

You are required to post a comment on our class blog once a week. Comments are due by 12 noon on the day of class, should be added as a comment to one of that day’s blog posts, and should be relevant to the reading due for that class period.  Your comment can elaborate an idea you had while reading, explain language or context to help us better understand the reading, respond to a question in the blog post or another comment, or continue the conversation unfolding on the blog. Please keep in mind that you are encouraged to respond to posts and comments from classmates, but you are NOT expected to evaluate the student blog post or take a simple stand of agreeing or disagreeing with its position. (You are not required to post a blog comment for the week in which you write a blog post.)


Group Presentation

  • 8 - 10 minutes
  • Due dates vary. Be ready to give your presentation by 3:30pm on your day.

You are required to work in a group of approximately 4 students to research a work of critical theory beyond our syllabus, and to teach that work to the rest of the class in a short presentation. Your presentation should

  • introduce the author and the context of their writing
  • explain their main arguments
  • relate those arguments to the reading on our syllabus

You are also expected to be entertaining and interesting—to make other students pay attention and make them think. The format of your presentation is up to your discretion; any supplementary materials (blog post, printed handouts, slide show) are optional. Please be aware of the time limit and rehearse your presentation to fit the requirements. It takes roughly 2 minutes to read 1 double-spaced page out loud, or 6 minutes to read 3 pages. You are responsible for managing group work and fairly dividing the research, preparation, and presentation. You are encouraged to speak to your professor as a group before the presentation.

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