Grading Option B

Grading Option B: The Long Research Paper

You may choose a different option to determine your grade in this course. This option is an intensive 15-page paper that requires reading another book on top of the other class reading, plus hours of research and planning. This is a graduate school-level assignment. If you choose this assignment you are not held to complete the study question assignments, film responses, or examinations, but you must still read the assigned readings and attend class. You have until the end of Week 2 to choose this option, but once you choose this option, you cannot go back to the first and will be held to the following timeline:

By Thursday, January 22 (Week 2)—Inform me that you have officially selected Grading Option B.

Thursday, January 29 (Week 3)—Topic Proposal (10 points)—submit a 125-250 word topic proposal stating your thesis and describing what you intend to argue.

Thursday, February 5 (Week 4)—Annotated bibliography (20 points)—submit an annotated bibliography with at least 5 critical sources you will use to back up your thesis. For more information on how to write an annotated bibliography please see the reference librarian Heather Schwappach at the library.

Thursday, February 12 (Week 5)—Detailed Outlined (30 points)—A 2-3 page outline detailing your paper’s argument and evidence. Be sure to include your central idea and your evidence to each of your arguable points.

Thursday, February 26 (Week 7)—First Draft (40 points)—A full draft of your paper so I may make comments for guidance, improvements, and revisions. This includes a meeting with me.

Thursday, March 19 (Week 10)—Final Draft (100 points).

NOTE: Some of you have expressed interest completing both option A and B. You should dedicate yourself to Option B and make sure you meet all the deadlines. If you successfully complete Option B and A, your grade will increase significantly. But if you don’t successfully complete Option B, any work, partial or completed, from Option A will only slightly benefit your grade.

Book List
Here’s a list of recommended books for this assignment. You may choose another book from this list pending my approval.

Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe. Africa, novel
Aké: The Years of Childhood (1989) by Wole Soyinka. African, memoir.
Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton. South Africa, novel.
Selected Poems (2007) by Derek Walcott. St. Lucia, poetry.
Omeros (1990) by Derek Walcott. St. Lucia, poetry.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Columbia, novel.
The Book of Lamentation (1962) by Rosario Castellanos. Mexico, novel.
The Underdogs (1925) by Mariano Azuela. Mexico, novel.
The English Patient (1990) by Michael Ondaatje. Sri Lanka, novel.
Midnight's Children (1981) by Salmon Rusdie. India, novel.
The Wretched of the Earth (1961) by Frantz Fanon. Martinique, novel.
A Small Place (1988) by Jamaica Kincaid. Antigua, novel.
The House of the Spirits (1982) by Isabel Allende. Chile, novel.
Disgrace (1990) by J.M. Coetzee. South Africa, novel.
Outside History: Selected Poems 1980-1990 by Eavon Boland.