empire map

Reports
Report rubric (.doc file)

1. When you present your report to the class, keep in mind that it should be short: 5-7 minutes maximum. You can also team up with another class member, if you choose to do so. If you do, you may combine the number of allotted minutes (e.g., 2 people could have up to 10-14 minutes), although you do not have to do so.

2. You can use PowerPoint or other presentation tools, but they are not required. If you use PowerPoint, you need to upload it to a presentation site such as Slideshare, email the presentation to me no later than 9 p.m. on the day before the report, or bring your own computer.

3. If you choose the report option, you'll also prepare a one-page "fact sheet" to hand out to the class. This should include the following:

Your presentation may focus on something you wish to work on for your paper. You may also want to work on one of the following:

  • Additional information about the social, intellectual, artistic, scientific, philosophical, or historical contexts for the works and authors assigned in class.
  • Interpretations of works or aspects of a work not read in class.
  • Introductions to authors not specifically covered in the course.
  • Discussion of one or more critical works relating to the era. Using information from Wikipedia or other general sources is not sufficient.
  • Background about the social and intellectual connections among certain groups of authors.
  • Note: These are suggested topics, but you're welcome to choose your own in consultation with me.
  •   Name Topic
    9/4 Lois Guinn Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and the birth of Frankenstein
      Amanda Bridge Ralph Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism
      Elyssa Reisman Outlaw heroes (Zorro, Robin Hood) and popular culture
      Jon Rice Dr. Frankenstein and the sharply featured man (the monster)
      Amanda Chapman and Brittnay Crabb Open topic
        Open topic
    9/18 Elizabeth Stringer and Danielle Brown Poe's theories of fiction
      Alexis Burt and Mary Wakeling Luddites
      Caleb Palmquist The Lowell Offering
      Lily Garibay Open topic
      Vanessa Mendoza & Ivan Valdovinos Open topic
    10/9 Gage DiGiovanni, Josh Osborne Western films
      Sam Herriot The rise of the Western
      Laurel Gray The shootout in fiction and film (O.K. Corral, etc.)
      Susan Roberts Mark Twain and race
      Anne Boothman Open topic
      Paul Lund 19th-century views on nature and ecology
    10/25 Tenika Eddings and Jacob Leon Kipling and race
      Brittany Kealy Kate Chopin
      Max Sodorff The British Empire: Colonial responses to imperial rule
      Lauren Jerde Open topic
      Colleen Stuckey Open topic
      Savannah Tiedeman Open topic
    11/13  

    Possible topics:
    Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the divided self
    The Aesthetic movement

      Stephanie Hicks Oscar Wilde
      Kara Kjarstad The Decadents (Swinburne, Lionel Johnson, etc.) and The Yellow Book
      Stephanie Hassel and Corey Whitmore Sherlock Holmes: Then and Now
      Erik Monahan and Brady Reichert Aesthetic Movement
      Kyle Sittig Open topic