Seminar Work
Participation (20%) Although I will give brief informational lectures, I plan on operating this class as a seminar the vast majority of the time. “Seminar” comes from the Latin word meaning “seed bed,” as in, a place for scholars and their ideas to grow. The success of this class is heavily dependent, therefore, on the contributions you make to our weekly meetings. You should come prepared to each class to speak and share interpretations, criticisms, ask questions, and respond to your classmates’ commentary.
Seminar Starter (15%) You will begin our discussion for one of our seminar meetings. How you choose to do this is up to you, but plan on spending about 15 minutes on your introduction. Here are some things you might do with this time (though don’t feel limited by these suggestions): summarize the critical reading for the day; give some historical background to the play we are discussing; offer a response to either the critical reading or the play that is argumentative and provocative; show and analyze a performance of a scene from one of our plays; stage a mini-debate on a given topic (if you are working on a team). The goal of this exercise is to generate conversations topics for the evening, so please keep that in mind when you are preparing.
The Sixteenth Century at 500 (10%) In the final week of the semester you will work in groups to discuss a significant representation of the sixteenth century in our own culture.
Written Work
Short Essay Assignments (4-5 pages) (30%). Over the course of the term I will post THREE short assignments for you. These will allow you to explore in greater detail the topics and methodologies we are using in class.
You must follow the guidelines outlined in the Shakespeare Style Sheet before submitting your essays.
Final Presentation (25%)
During our final exam period you will present a conference-style paper of roughly 5-10 minutes. This work can be something new or a further development of an earlier short assignment. You must also submit an abstract for this final presentation (see schedule) as well as a hard copy of your presentation.