(This webpage is the assignment for our course's first midterm. This page will be updated and refined up to 16 February, when paper copies will be distributed.)

Three parts to Midterm1:

Part 1. Genre definition and example(s): Using the Introduction to Genres page, develop a "working definition" of genre in three categories (Subject / Audience, Formal, Narrative) and apply them to a genre  of your choice besides tragedy (though it can relate). Cite at least 2 examples of your genre from your reading, viewing, or listening experience (one or more of which you'll analyze) and 2 research sources from the course website or beyond. (4+ paragraphs, 1.5-2 double-spaced page equivalent)

Part 2. Learning Essay 1. Write an opening draft of semester-long essay on your overall learning experience concerning the nature of tragedy and comedy (4+ paragraphs, 1.5-2 double-spaced page equivalent)

Part 3. Research Report 1 (Proposal) on Special Topic. Preview and explain your choice of Special Topics for semester-long Research Report, to be developed in Midterm2 and concluded in Final Exam. Refer to two research sources from course website or elsewhere. (3-4 paragraphs, 1.5-2 double-spaced page equivalent)

Special requirements:

Provide titles for all essay-answers to all three parts. (Don't just repeat the assignment title.)

Refer to a previous midterm or final exam sample from Model Assignments at least once somewhere in your exam. (More than one reference can be impressive.)

Somewhere in your midterm, refer at least once to Aristotle's Poetics and Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy.

In Essay 2 or elsewhere, refer to most if not all the plays read to midterm, including Oresteia trilogy (Agamemnon + selections from Libation Bearers & Euminides); Mourning Becomes Electra / Homecoming, and Lysistrata; plus or minus other plays (or films) you know or class has presented, like The Bacchae.

Audience: a future member of our class (who may read your exam on Model Assignments). Help that student learn his or her way through our course materials. Help that future student care about what both of you may learn.

Of course your ultimate audience is your instructor, who mostly responds to how well you show what you're learning in terms of fulfilling the assignment, accounting for essential course content, and how readable and compelling your writing can be.

Most unusual feature of this course's midterms and final exam: All three parts are semester-long writing projects. In response to feedback from instructor and your own learning, you will revise, update, and extend what you've written to Midterm2 and the Final Exam.

Your research report topic may change somewhat as you continue your research. You may change your topic, but you must review where you started and connect to new topic by explaining the change and any possible continuity.

Where students go wrong: They ignore resources available on exam and website, trying to remember or make things up instead of clicking on terms and reviewing objectives.

Content details:

Part 1. Genre definition and example(s): Using the Introduction to Genres page, develop a "working definition" of genre in three categories (Subject / Audience, Formal, Narrative) and apply them to a genre  of your choice besides tragedy (though it can relate). Cite at least 2 examples of your genre from your reading, viewing, or listening experience (one or more of which you'll analyze) and 2 research sources from the course website or beyond. (4+ paragraphs, 1.5-2 double-spaced page equivalent)

Contents:

"Working Definition" = use the Introduction to Genres to define the meaning, importance, and limits of "genre." Specifically define and distinguish Subject / Audience genre, Formal genre, and Narrative genre with brief, general references to your text-examples. This "working definition" can be revised, questioned, or extended as you work with examples of your chosen genre.

Choose a specific genre to analyze: Start with a genre you already know and like, or scan List of Genres for possibilities. Your main example for development of your working definition will be your choice of genre and example-texts to analyze.

• Your genre may be literary or extra-literary, for instance a category or genre of film, music, theater, dance, visual art (genre paintings), reality TV, sitcoms, stand-up comic monologues, etc.

Required research sources: For midterm1, 2 research sources from course website or beyond; for midterm2, 4 sources; for final exam, 6 sources.

These sources may be from our course's instructional sites, from Model Assignments by previous students (links below), or from sources beyond this course.

How to analyze your example as genre: This essay is a classic exercise in the critical-thinking pattern of definition-example-analysis, in which the writer ventures a working definition, tests it against examples, then revises or extends the definition based on how the example interacts with the definition.

What feedback to expect: Most students develop the categories of genre, then apply them to the genre and example(s). Instructor feedback often emphasizes how to do both at once—that is, explain each category while immediately using examples from your genre and text-examples.

Requirement: You must describe or analyze your chosen genre through all three categories from Introduction to Genres:

Subject / Audience genre (genre as most people understand it)

Formal genre (form of imitation or mimesis)

Narrative genre (genre as story, aspect most emphasized in course)

Warnings / Reassurances: Since there are no pure genres, don't panic if your genre or examples turn into or mix with other genres.

2015 Model Essays for Part 1, Midterm1; 2016 Model Essays for Part 1, Midterm

Part 2. Learning about Tragedy 1. Write an opening draft of semester-long essay on your overall learning experience concerning the nature of tragedy and comedy (4+ paragraphs, 1.5-2 double-spaced page equivalent)This essay will continue in midterm2 (extending to romance) and conclude in your final exam

Length: 4-5 paragraphs, 1.5-2+ double-spaced page equivalent.

Text requirements: Refer to all of the following course texts for examples of tragedy's (or comedy's) characteristics or conventions:

• The Oresteia (Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Euminides)

• Mourning Becomes Electra (esp. The Homecoming)

• Lysistrata

• Bacchae is possible but not required.

References to popular examples and texts beyond course are welcome, as are references to any earlier experiences reading and studying tragedy and comedy in other courses at any level, but concentrate on developing examples from required course readings,

For your midterm2 and final extensions of this Learning Essay, you're not totally locked into your opening draft. I'll offer feedback for improvements and possible extensions. You will revise, improve, and extend your opening draft or change directions by explaining and making transitions. The purpose is to start thinking and expressing what you're learning.

Even though our course topic is tragedy, which must remain a focus, your essay isn't limited to tragedy. Compare and contrast to other genres, especially comedy. Also you may compare the tragedies we're studying to other works of drama, cinema, or fiction you've read or studied.

Possible approaches:

Start with what you already knew or assumed about Tragedy (along with other genres) and transition from that earlier knowledge or attitudes to what you're learning now. Compare, contrast, evolve.

Use classic academic essay pattern of definition & example. Introduce term(s), establish a "working definition" (or two), introduce examples, describe how examples fulfill, challenge, or extend definition.

Compare and contrast Tragedy and Comedy, using Aristotle's Poetics, narrative genres (describing the story-patterns of tragedy and comedy, and other sources to define the characteristics and appeals of each genre.

2015 Model Essays for Midterm1 Part 2; 2016 Model Essays for Part 2, Midterm

Part 3. Research Report 1 (Proposal) on Special Topic. Preview and explain your choice of Special Topics for semester-long Research Report, to be developed in Midterm2 and concluded in Final Exam. Refer to two research sources from course website or elsewhere. (3-4 paragraphs, 1.5-2 double-spaced page equivalent)

For midterm2, you will update and revise your proposal and extend to report your findings from at least four research sources (total) and what you learned.

For the final exam, you will update and revise the first two parts of your research report and extend to report findings from at least at least six research sources (total).

Length: Your research report proposal for midterm1 should be 3-4 paragraphs explaining your source, your interest, existing knowledge, and what you learned from two research sources.

Assignment: Indicate by number and title which topic you're choosing. If you're stuck between two possibilities, describe attractions or possibilities for each. Explain why you're interested, any previous knowledge, or examples or instruction relevant to topic.

Text references: Use course texts as examples or models for your topic, but also welcome and encouraged to refer to popular examples or texts beyond course. (Introduction and development of texts for research report may be continued across semester.)

Research requirements: Two research sources should be referred to in terms of how they may help develop your topic. See Special Topics for possible sources, and remember that previous students' discussions of your topic from Model Assignments may provide a source.)

2015 Models of Midterm1 part 3; 2015 Models of final exam Part 3; 2016 models of final exam part 3; 2014 student models of Final Exam Part B; 2012 student models of Final Exam part B; 2010 student models of Part B of Final Exam

Special Topics for Research Reports (Detailed Descriptions of Special Topics)

1. Tragedy and its Updates (Obj. 2a)

2. “Plot is the Soul of Tragedy” + Comedy & Romance (Obj.1, Aristotle’s Poetics, Genres handout)

3. Families in Tragedy + The Oedipal / Electra Conflict

4. Tragedy and Spectacle

5. Classical Humanism and Judeo-Christianity or other religious traditions in Tragedy (Obj. 3)

6. Tragedy as greatest genre--extension of midterm essay.

7. Tragedy’s cultural and historical backgrounds (Obj. 3a)

8. Sophocles and O'Neill: a review of styles, subjects, and stature in four plays.

9. Teaching Tragedy

10. Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy and the Apolline / Dionysiac.

11. Aesthetics of Tragedy: the sublime and beyond: What pleasures and pains with tragedy?

12. The so-called Tragic Flaw: where and what is it, and why do students and teachers fixate on it?

13. Self-generated topic of your choice that would be recognizable to a member of our class.

14. Special topic for Spring 2017: research on Romeo & Juliet + attendance at UHCL performance (March 9, 10, 11).

15. Contemporary / popular films as tragedies?

(Detailed Descriptions of Special Topics)

Evaluation standards: Readability, competence levels, 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 quality: Comprehension of subject, demonstration of learning, use of course resources including instructional webpages + interest & significance: Make your reader *want* to process your report. Make the information meaningful; make it matter to our study of literature and culture. 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.