I will not be able to read and evaluate each of these individually as we go.  Instead I'm going to evaluate them as a complete packet.  (I will respond to an early one or two, so that you have a sense of whether or not you're meeting the criteria and so that you can ask me questions.)  In general, I will evaluate these assignments according to content (Does each paper respond to the text or discussion and engage the prompt?), expression (Does the writer work to express clearly [or complexly if not clearly] what he or she is thinking about, or to embrace a particular discursive form?), and maturity of thought (To what extent does the writer dig into the materials and/or explore questions and ideas?) 

The entire packet will be worth 30 points.  If any essay is missing or late, the packet will be reduced by five points per missing/late essay--which means that your total grade for the course will be reduced a full five percent for each missing or late short paper; please, please do all of them and do them on time.  

Although I may ask for hardcopies of short papers occasionally, most will be due as electronic contributions to our email class listserv.  Keep in mind that such forums date each posting you make.  *PLEASE NOTE:  Servers--including email servers--occasionally crash.  Keep backup copies of everything you write. If you post an assignment and it disappears, you will be responsible for replacing it.

To see the actual Short Paper prompts, click here.

page last updated fall 05