Reports
Report Evaluation Page
1. When you present your report to the class, keep in mind that it should be short: 5 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 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 or email the presentation to yourself so you can log in to the classroom computer and bring it up from there.
3. 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.
4. The report section of the class day will take about 30 minutes for all reports; be considerate of others and plan your time accordingly.
5. If you want to change your report date, you can do so as long as you notify me 24 hours in advance. If you miss your presentation day or are unprepared to give the report at the beginning of class, you can sign up for a later day (if available), but the report will be marked as late one class day (one letter grade). Reports are only presented on report days, not on days in between. The report topic must relate to the portion of the course that we are studying.
Fact Sheets
If you choose the report option, you need to prepare a one-page Fact Sheet to hand out to the class at the time of the report. You should make 20-30 copies, depending on the number of students in the class.
The Fact Sheet must be handed out at the time of the report. If the Fact Sheet is missing, the report grade will receive a 5 point deduction.
The Fact Sheet should include the following:
- Your name, the title of your report, and the date.
- Information (bibliography) on your sources, which should be scholarly sources, not Wikipedia and similar sites. You may make your Fact Sheet interactive, so that the class has to fill in the blanks, or provide the information that you present. What do you want the audience to take away from your report?
- You should include at least one scholarly article or book in preparing your report.
| Name | Topic | |
| 9/8 Contexts for Romanticism and Frankenstein | ||
| Victoria Vallay | Famous creatures | |
| Rogan Parks | Popular representations of Frankenstein (choose 1-2) | |
| Amanda Griffit | Joaquin Murieta and Robin Hood | |
| Jon Goyt | Frankenstein parodies | |
| Anthony Morley | Frederick Douglass | |
| Poe as critic | ||
| 9/24 Contexts for Dickens and the Western | ||
| William Kendall | Utilitarianism | |
| Adam Faasee | Dickens | |
| The shootout in fiction and film (O.K. Corral, etc.) | ||
| Allison P & Megan Z | Stephen Crane | |
| Dickens's Contemporaries | ||
| Open topic | ||
| 10/15 Contexts for Understanding Imperialism and Race | ||
| Sarah Trethewey | Mary Seacole | |
| Dorrie Weber | British Empire: Colonial responses to imperial rule | |
| Zoe March | Mark Twain | |
| Mikah W & Jace B | Rudyard Kipling | |
| Adam Faasee | Dickens and Twain | |
| 19th-century views on ecology or open topic | ||
| 11/3 Contexts for the Aesthetic Movement and Detective Stories | ||
| The Aesthetic movement | ||
| Amanda Scott | Conventions of the detective story | |
| Emilee Shimazu | 19th-century views of sexuality | |
| Haley Tugaw/Ashley Borello | Sherlock Holmes in film and print | |
| Rachel Roloff | Kate Chopin | |
| Open topic | ||
| 11/17 Tuesday Contexts for the Decadent Movement and Oscar Wilde | ||
| Brittany Higgins Anderson | Oscar Wilde | |
| The Decadents (Swinburne, Lionel Johnson, etc.) and The Yellow Book | ||
| Gay identity in the 19th century | ||
| Sarah Murphy | Edith Wharton | |
| Paige Carlson | Adaptations of The Picture of Dorian Gray | |
| Kale Avery | Oscar Wilde's manuscript at the MASC | |
