LITR 4632
Literature of the Future
Midterm Assignment

Relative weight: 30-40% of final grade

Format: In-class or email; open-book and open-notebook

Date: Thursday, 23 June, in or around regular class schedule.

Content: 2 essay questions

Special Requirements / Instructions:

Special Advice:

Don't hurry to email exam. When finished, take a break, then return and improve.

Timing: Email students spend 2-4 hours writing the exam any time after our Tuesday class (21 June) up to noon Friday, 24 June. Pauses & interruptions are okay.

Prep time: Prepare as much as you like. Review notes and texts plus or minus outlining and drafting. Consult notes, outlines, drafts, and the course webpage (syllabus, objectives, model assignments) as you write.

In-class materials: Write in blue or black ink in a bluebook or on handy paper. Fronts and backs, single-spacing acceptable.

Email: email a copy of your answers to instructor at whitec@uhcl.edu.

·               most common mistake: students send to “white” rather than “whitec”

·                Attach appropriate word processing file(s) to an email for whitec@uhcl.edu. (Microsoft Word works, Microsoft Works doesn't)

·                Copy and paste contents of your word processing file into an email message to me at whitec@uhcl.edu

Email acknowledgement: Instructor usually acknowledges receipt of your midterm within a few hours (unless you send it in at an odd time).

Email problems? A problem or two with email is normal in a class this size. Don't panic--we'll work things out.

Length(s): Essay 1 probably 5-8 paragraphs; Essay 2 probably 4-7 paragraphs.

Spacing: No need to double-space, but OK if you do. All electronic submissions are converted to single-space for reading onscreen.  

 

Midterm Content Outline--Two Question Topics > Essays

Essay 1 (1.5-2 hours): Compare, contrast, and evaluate Narratives of the Future

·                  Describe and evaluate the three primary narratives for the future. How do they differ, and how might they combine?

·        Refer to texts frequently. Move back and forth between ideas and examples.

·        How does one narrative of the future turn into another? What implications for the future and for storytelling?

·        Not required to go through 3 narratives one at a time; also possible to organize through "how they turn into each other"

Additional options: (You need not cover each item individually or in order.)

·        What models of the future and human behavior or destiny follow from these narratives?

·        What are the literary and cultural attractions or downsides of these narratives?

·        Where or how do these narratives overlap or conflict?

·        What are the pressures to choose or ignore one or the other?

·        Highlight scenes or insights in text that illuminate one or more narratives.
 

Essay 2 (1 hour): Isolate a personal / professional topic in our course or readings (to be extended in final exam) 

Connect personal or professional reactions to course contents, 1+ course objectives, and 2-3 texts.

("personal" = what you've learned or thought before + personal future; "professional" = application to student career, teaching career, or other professional plans)

Question: What element(s) of our course intrigue you or matter most? Why? What issue(s) seem important and worth reading and discussing? What do you learn about your interests?

Your emphasis may be literary, cultural/social, or both, but use examples from texts to illustrate and develop insights.

Overlap with Essay 1 is possible. Be brief; refer instead of repeat.

Optional prompts:

What difficulties or cautions naturally attend comprehension and expression regarding the future?

What difference do such stories make? Especially considering how long we've been telling them? Do all of us manage alternative futures?

Connect examples from texts to contemporary-future scene.

Possibly connect your theme to Literature of Ideas

Don't feel pressure to conform to views of instructor, who may learn more from difference. The point of the essay is to show yourself learning.

 

Evaluation standards:

As in most Literature courses, quality of reading and writing distinguishes excellent work from competent work--not just reproducing data but organizing it into a unified, compelling essay.

Introducing and developing multiple examples from texts and relating texts to each other are standards for better exams.

·        "Develop" means  extending analysis, connecting to other examples (compare / contrast), and connecting to course objectives.

Audience:

Grading standards

 

Returning your midterms

Receipt of your email midterm will be acknowledged by reply email within a few hours.

Around Sunday 26 June, check for your midterm note and grade emailed from instructor.

 

midterm preparation

how to prepare?--not much time!

review notes, skim texts--recall characters, events, situations, ideas relevant to 3 future narratives

take notes from notes--jot down ideas, examples, then arrange

review previous midterm samples--won't take long to find something to work with--models help kick-start thinking

recall examples from web highlights: