ASSIGNMENTS

The major assignments for this course are listed below:

1. Daily Assignments: a daily list of what is due. Bulleted items are due at the start of class on the date immediately above the bullet list.

2. Introduce Yourself

3. Unit #1: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

In our first unit, we will read the classic Victorian horror/sci-fi novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Each of you will write an essay offering a specific interpretation of the novel using properly quoted textual evidence to support your claims about what the novel means. The goal is to read, annotate, and understand the novel; to learn how to properly set up quotes, citations, and works cited using MLA style; and to understand how to use handbooks and online resources to look up the rules for documenting sources so that in future classes that use a different style than MLA, you will know what to look for.

• Contract
• Contact Information
• Personal Introduction
• Paper Topic
• Scholarly Article Analysis Project: Read "Twins, Twinship, and Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (found in Course Materials) and analyze it following these instructions.
• "Integrating Quotes into a Paper (MLA Style)"
• "Dealing with Titles (MLA Style)"
• Sign up for a conference with me via Starfish
• Peer Review
• MS Word Assignment
• Final Draft Checklist
• Note to Dr. Halbert

4. Unit #2: Monster Culture

In this unit, we will read the novel I Am Legend and watch the film 28 Days Later as the primary texts/sources we will write our papers about. We will then read three piece of academic secondary sources (which I am calling "theory") to provide various interpretive lenses or theories that we will apply to our interpretations. Many academic courses ask you to use someone's theory about a concept to analyze a text or a cultural practice: you have to use the beliefs and theories of someone else to build your interpretation of either the novel or film. We will learn to document more complicated sources and continue to refine our abilities to read, annotate, analyze, and write about texts, as well as further develop our abilities to properly document our sources.

• Paper Topic
• Paper Prewriting
• Major Primary Texts: I Am Legend (novel) and 28 Days Later (film)
• Major Theory Readings (All available in Course Materials on Blackboard)
  • "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)"
  • from The Monster Show (Chapter: It's Alive, I'm Afraid)
  • from The Horror Film (Chapter: Slashers and Post-Slashers)
• "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)" Discussion
• Peer Review Guidelines for both Peer Reviews
• Sign up for a conference with me via Starfish
• MS Word Assignment
• Final Draft Checklist for submission
• Grammar Revision of Paper #1

5. Mini-Unit: Edgar Allan Poe and an In-class Essay

For this mini-unit, we will read a brief biographical entry on Poe and read several of his poems (see the Course Materials for the Poe Packet). We will have some class discussions to take apart a few of his poems together before you are asked to write an in-class essay on "The Raven," arguably his most famous poem. Then you will write an in-class essay using one of three prompts and an outline that you will prepare ahead of time to answer the prompt of your choice. The goal is to look at the work of a horror master, think about analyzing poetry and language in general, and practice writing an in-class essay for future courses.

• In-Class Essay Topics and "Exam Card" Preparation
• Major readings (see the "Edgar Allan Poe Packet" in the Course Materials section of our Blackboard site)
  • "The Raven" (754-756)
  • "Annabel Lee" (738)
  • "The City in the Sea" (744-745)
  • "The Sleeper" (745-746)
  • "Ulalume" (757-759)
  • "Alone" (812)
  • "The Conqueror Worm" (814-815).
  • "Edgar Allan Poe—A Biographical Note" (816-819

6. Unit #3: Real Monsters

In our final unit, you have a choice: you can write an interpretation of a fictional or mythical monster not covered in our first two papers, or you can research a historical figure or cultural group that is either truly monstrous or has been falsely depicted as monstrous and argue to justify your belief. You will need to use extensive academic research through our college's library system and our database collection to support your claims, and you will need to learn to find sources and evaluate what sources are worth including or rejecting as part of your project. Each of you will need to prepare an annotated bibliography that summarizes what your sources actually say, and you will give a two-minute presentation outlining your thesis about your topic for the class prior to writing the paper so that people can provide feedback that helps you shape the paper into a more focused argument.

• Paper Topic
• Prewriting Assignment
• Library Research Overview
• Powerpoint on Library Research by Professor Lawrence Greene of the MCCC Library
• Two-minute Presentations
• Annotated bibliography to support your topic. See a sample annotated bibliography
• Peer Review for Research Paper
• Sign up for a conference with me via Starfish
• MS Word Assignment
• Final Draft Checklist
• Notes to Dr. Halbert (We will do this in class)

7. Major Paper Rewrite Option: Students can opt to rewrite their first paper for an entirely new grade, but the changes need to be more than superficial.

8. Final Exam: There isn't a final exam in this course, so no worries.