Assignments
 The Reader's Notebook

Students will track their evolving reactions in a reader's notebook or log. Notebook entries are due an hour before each class meeting, and should be sent to me by email (thury@drexel.edu).

Each notebook entry is to consist of at least 400 words.

Notebook entries should be informal writings, not complete essays. In looking at your notebook entries, I will feel no interest in your grammar or spelling. In evaluating your entries, I will be considering your thinking about the plays and the other topics discussed in class and in the readings. Entries which are too general or do not show thought and development of ideas will be considered less successful than those that show your ongoing, evolving understanding of what you are reading and how you react to it.

Notebook entries will be of two kinds:

1) You will be assigned specific questions to answer. In this case, answer the question by finding and discussing specific examples in your reading. There is no specific format for such entries.

2) A log is a narrative of your reading process. The components of a log are alternating narratives and responses. These are explained below. Traditionally, a two-column format is used for such a log. Since your notebook will be kept on the computer, you will need to use headings, as follows:

NARRATIVE:
(your narrative)
RESPONSE:
(your response)
NARRATIVE:
(your narrative)
etc.

A log has two components that alternate:

  1. A narrative that describes a part of a story you are reacting to (briefly summarized). List the page or pages of the book you are referring to.
  2. A response that explains your reaction to what you found. This section could discuss the connections you are making between points, and how your idea/conception of the drama you are reading is growing or changing. Your response could also discuss the issues like staging and characterization, social issues raised by the play, etc.
 

Midterm Paper (Return to Top)

You are to investigate, on the WWW, or in the library, any one aspect of drama that interests you and relate it to your reading for this class. This may involve reading an additional play by an author whose work we do not read in this course, or learning about history/biography/social conditions/writing style not covered in this class. You must use 1-3 sources in your paper.

Topics are assigned on a first-come, first served basis, and may not overlap among members of the class.
Proposal (1 paragraph explaining what you would like to do, and giving a proper citation for a WWW address you plan to use, or for library sources you will investigate). Use MLA format for print sources. Proposal due January 22.

Paper (4 pages maximum) explaining what you have found and how it fits with what we are doing in class. The paper should not be an annotated list, but should explain an overall point of view or argument.

Successful papers will:

  1. have a thesis that relates the research to the students's thinking and understanding about plays read for this class. This means relating the research to what you say in your notebooks, or to what we discuss in class.
  2. discuss specific points in our readings and how your research influences a reader's (or your) view of them.
  3. pay attention to where your source (library or WWW) gets its information: opinion, letters, analysis, etc.)
  4. refer to research findings briefly, without excessive quotation, and will explain points in the source clearly to someone who has not read it.

Paper due January 29.

 
Final Paper (Return to Top)

Proposal: One paragraph explaining your thesis and listing your subtopics. In order to do your proposal, reread your notebooks submitted thus far, and consider them in the light of Panoply.html.

This paper requires you to analyze and represent your understanding of drama. The paper should be based on the notebook entries you have kept in your journal all term. It should include material covered in the theoretical readings for this class, but it should not be primarily based on them. Your thesis and main argument should come from your notebooks. The paper should be about how you understand drama.

You need to find some pattern or theme that you think is interesting in your notebooks, and illustrate it in your paper. Your paper should be about your ongoing understanding of drama, and it should discuss the reading of more than one author.

Things to avoid:

Successful papers will:

  1. be coherent discussions of a thesis. Avoid making your paper a list of unrelated points.
  2. discuss specific points in the text and how you read them.
  3. refer to your notebooks briefly, without excessive quotation, and will explain points in them clearly to someone who has not read them.

    Length: about 5 pages.