Twenty-five percent of your grade in this class . . .

As stipulated in the syllabus, "25% of your grade in this class will be based on an academic paper plus an in-class presentation (5-6 pages on an assigned text plus a 10-15 minute in-class presentation to be given on an assigned day some time after Spring Break)."  Both of these assignments should use your assigned essay as a launching pad or springboard.

Each presenter is responsible for setting up a meeting with the instructor at least one week before his or her presentation date.  At that meeting the presenter will do a "dress rehearsal" of the in-class presentation.

Academic Paper Assignment Description
Value:  15% of Final Grade

Objective
1. Your primary objective is to inform your readers about your assigned essay.  Your account of the essay should, of course, by full and fair.
2.  Your second objective (equally important) is to give your readers something more than is what is provided by the essay.  You may either provide more information, provoke thought, argue that one controversial view or another (relevant to the essay) is wrong (or incomplete or simplistic).  If you have other ideas, let me know in advance.

Due date:
Your paper is due by the beginning of class exactly one week after your assigned presentation date.


Formatting and Citations
Your paper should be 5-6 pages in length (not including works cited); that's 1500-1800 words.
Your paper should be submitted in hard copy form AND in e-mail form. The e-mail draft should be pasted into the body of an e-mail (not submitted as an attachment).
Your paper should include three or more citations (including the essay).  These citations should be listed at the end of the paper in standard MLA format.  In-text citations should also follow standard MLA-format guidelines.

Style
Your paper should employ Standard Edited American English, but I encourage the strategic use of personal voice (including the first person "I") and occasional slang for humorous effect, to make the paper lively.

Audience:
Your target reading audience is college-educated readers who have not read the essay you've been assigned.  Fairly or not, these college-educated readers will make judgments about your reliability as a source on the basis of your command of SEAE. At the same time, they don't want to be bored (see "Style" above).

Other Notes
Be sure to give your paper an original title!

In-Class Presentation
Value:  10% of Final Grade

Objective
Your primary objective is to provide your audience with new knowledge or something to think about it (an argument or an provocative question, for example) with regard to the topic addressed by the essay you have been assigned.  Make productive use of your 10-15 minutes.

Due date
See assignment schedule at the top of this post.

Format, Style, Citations
Be prepared to provide your audience with information about your sources in the form of either a handout or a post on the course website.
You are not required to use multimedia tools, but you are required to make your presentation interesting.  
It is not enough to simply entertain them, though.

Audience:
Assume that your audience (our class) has already read the essay you've been assigned.