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Final Exam assignment 2018
Complete Essay 1
email exams deadline: Tuesday, 8 May 2018 noon |
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Web Highlights, 
(This webpage is the assignment for our course's final exam, to be updated until last class meeting, 30 April, when paper copies will be distributed.)
Official Exam Date: Monday, 7 May 2018, 4-6:50pm; No regular class meeting. Classroom available for student use. Instructor keeps office hours.
Email submission window:
1-8
May noon.
Email exams
due to whitec@uhcl.edu by
noon Tuesday 8 May. "Submission window" is 1-8
May.
Email
your pre-midterm submission to
whiteC@uhcl.edu.
Attach appropriate file(s) to an email for
whiteC@uhcl.edu.
(Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format works,)
and / or
Copy
and paste contents of your essays into an email message to
whiteC@uhcl.edu
Acknowledgement of receipt:
Instructor usually replies that he's received your submission within a few hours
(unless you send it at an odd time).
Spacing:
Single-spacing preferred.
No need to double-space, but OK if you do. All submissions are
converted to single-space for reading onscreen.
5-10 days after submission, each student receives individual email of final grade report including notes and grades for final exam and course.
Three parts to Final Exam:
Part 1.
Revise & extend Essay
to include African American literature and
minority
identity.
(At least 16 paragraphs total.)
Part 2. Web Highlights.
Essay reviewing
3+ Model Assignments from previous
semesters, including at least two midterm essays on African America (5+ paragraphs)
Part 3.
Complete Research Report
with references to 4 outside sources and (possibly) to
course texts.
(8-10 paragraphs.)
Part 1. Revise & extend Essay to include African American literature and minority identity. (At least 16 paragraphs total.)
Revise and extend your Essay draft from Midterm1 & Midterm2 according to
instructor feedback, continue developing
minority
definition (especially in comparison with
immigrant
or
dominant-culture
identity).
Revise introduction and add paragraphs to include
African American Literature and historical backgrounds (African
Americans as Minority or Immigrant?).
Above all, work to unify your essay so that it makes consistent points about
minority
identity, voice, or literature in comparison or contrast with
immigrant
or
dominant-culture
identity.
Refer to
terms and themes from Course Objectives,
definitions from term-webpages
(applied to examples from
readings), and the
literary device(s) or
purpose(s) by which they express their
minority
status and humanity.
What have you learned about African Americans (as well as Mexican Americans
and American Indians) as a
minority
culture and their literature as a result of
reading our texts and learning some African American cultural history?
How do they use a literary
device or technique to express the
minority
identity or their status as
humans with equal rights?
Refer to
Course Objectives,
esp. Primary objectives 1-2 and
(possibly) Detailed Objective 3a.
African American alternative narrative:
“The Dream”.
("The Dream" resembles but is not identical to "The American
Dream," which emphasizes immediate individual success. "The Dream" factors in setbacks, the need to rise again, and a quest
for group dignity.)
Length:
Add
at least 4 or 5 paragraphs to your revised Essay draft from Midterm2 (depending on style, length, etc.)
Required:
Give your essay a
title.
Added instruction for Literary device(s) or purpose(s):
Introduce it early
Define it
or provide a working
definition according to
term-webpage
Observe or apply it to examples from texts.
How does the text confirm, challenge, or extend the
working
definition?
How does
the literary
device help develop or express the meaning of the text,
esp. in terms of
minority or
human status?
How does the literary
device make the text live or matter more for the reader?
Part 2. Web Highlights.
Essay reviewing
3+ Model Assignments from previous
semesters, including at least two midterm essays on African America (5+ paragraphs)
Review
at least 2 past midterm essays involving African American literature from
Model Assignments.
Your third item may be any other item from American Minority
Model Assignments, including research
projects on African American literature, or consider reviewing
a complete Research Report Start from Immigrant Literature
2016 or
2013.
Write Part 2 as an essay with introduction and conclusion.
“Review”: Describe what interested you, where, why you chose it, what you learned. Analyze the writers' language and style. You may criticize what you found, but not required.
What did you learn from reviewing Model Assignments that extended, confirmed, challenged or varied what you learned in class?
Compare and contrast the three assignments you review, and summarize what you learned from them relative to each other.
To identify passages, copy and paste brief selections into your web review or refer to them using names, locations, paraphrases, summaries, and brief quotes. (Both options in models.) Either way, highlight and discuss language used in the passages as part of your commentary. Critique what you learn.
Also remember to write it as an essay, not just a list of 3 items.
Note on organization and grading: Some students fulfill assignment by going
through 3 assignments individually, one at a time until finished, with few or no connections between the separate models.
Better submissions unify the three reviews into a whole, purposeful essay in
which the learning experience of one review connects to the learning experience
of another, and your entire learning experience is previewed and
summarized in the essay's introduction and conclusion.
Successful submissions sometimes start by identifying a subject of special interest, then choosing Model Assignments that meet
this interest.
Organization:
Most students follow a classic "5-paragraph essay" organization,
but of course more sophisticated variations and options are possible.
Introductory paragraph: Briefly describe assignment
and your chief interest or theme in choosing selections.
3+ body paragraphs: For most students, 1 item = 1
paragraph, but best essays organize paragraphs thematically or cross-reference what they learn from one item
with what they learn from another. (See
paragraph organization.)
Concluding paragraph:
Summarize learning, re-emphasizing key words or ideas and reinforcing
reader's final impression of your theme or idea.
For Model Assignments of the Web Highlights assignment, see LITR 4340 2016 midterm1 Web Highlight samples, LITR 4326 2016 midterm Web Highlight samples or LITR 4328 2015 midterm Web Highlight samples.
Part 3.
Complete Research Report
with references to 4 outside sources and (possibly) to
course texts.
(8-10 paragraphs.)
Revise and extend your Research Report Start from Midterm2 according to instructor feedback.
Add 4+ paragraphs and 2+ outside sources to your Midterm2 draft.
Content: emphasis is on information, not opinion and analysis, though some summary and evaluation is welcome and expected. It's a report foremost. (In other words, you're not "interpreting" a text but rather reporting facts and information about your selected topic.)
What
did you
want to learn? Why?
What
did you
find out or learn? How?
What
would you like to learn next? (that follows from what you have learned so far)
How does
this knowledge apply to our course or your possible development of its topics?
Description of default or likely organization:
Introduction: Why are you interested in your topic, and what do you wish to learn? What relevance does it have to our course and / or your career? What question are you trying to answer?
Body paragraphs: How did you start your research, and what did you find?
Works Cited / Bibliography: Include a list of your major research sources.
MLA style is preferred, but other
standard forms are acceptable. Don't spend too much time fussing over forms
when you should be feeling impassioned over your subject.
Here's my test for a listing: Would
I be able to track it down using the information provided?
You may use previous research
reports for 1 or 2 of your sources, or use those reports themselves as
sources. (LITR 4333 Model Assignments)
(LITR 5731im Model
Assignments)
Possible sources for research:
interview
with an expert, including former teachers (phone interviews are fine) or faculty
here at UHCL
reference
works in library or on web—the more specialized the better (e. g., use
"handbooks to literature" for definitions rather than "Webster's
dictionary")
no need
for primary research or reading.
For instance, if you are doing your report on
Frederick Douglass, you don't need to read more of his books. You only need to
read about
him and about his books.
welcome to
use previous research projects on similar topics from our
Model Assignments as research sources.
Evaluation standards: Readability, competence levels, content coverage and development, and thematic unity.
Readability & surface competence:
Your reader must be able to
process what you're explaining. Given the pressures of a timed writing exercise,
some rough edges are acceptable, but chronic errors or elementary style can hurt.
Content coverage & development:
Comprehension of subject, demonstration of learning,
use of course resources including instructional webpages + interest & significance: Reproduce course materials accurately
but refresh with your own insights, examples, and experiences.
Thematic Unity and Organization:
Unify materials along a line of thought that a reader
can follow from start to finish. Consult sites on
Unity / Continuity / Transition &
Transitions.
