• Regular attendance and tutorial participation 10%
• Oral Presentation and brief write-up (3 pages) 10%
• Creative Project 10%
• Essay (5-7 pages) 20%
• Revision and Extension of Essay (7-9 pages) 20%
• Final Exam (3 hours) 30%

REQUIREMENTS:

Regular attendance and tutorial participation:  Your participation grade is based both on attendance and on informed participation in classroom discussions (i.e. direct and thoughtful references to the texts discussed).  In your tutorial, you will be expected to have completed all of the readings required for the week, regardless of what day your tutorial falls upon.  (See schedule below.)  

Oral presentation and write-up:  Sign-ups for presentations will take place during the first tutorial.  Please be aware that your presentation must focus on the specific section of the required text that is studied that week.  For this assignment, you will identify a theme or formal device that you find especially compelling in the section of the required text, and offer a brief analysis of its development throughout the passage(s) covered that week.  You may refer briefly to secondary sources, but you will be evaluated primarily on the closeness of your attention to the required text, as well as on the originality of your topic and the quality of your writing.  Your oral presentation will be 6-8 minutes in length (absolutely no longer).  You may use audio/visual materials if you want, but no clips longer than one minute.  Your write-up will be 3 pages (double-spaced) and due in tutorial on the same day.  You may choose to read your write-up for your in-class presentation or else freely elaborate on its main points.  Your write-up will conform to M.L.A. style guidelines (see below), and exhibit proper sentence and paragraph structure, but need not be a formal essay.  Your oral presentation will be worth 5% of the total grade for this assignment; your write-up will be worth 10%.  

Creative Project: You will select a text from the required readings (a book that you have not addressed in your essay) and respond to it through some in some ‘creative’ way.  You should feel free, in this assignment, to respond in any way that interests you.  You may, for instance, offer a sketch or illustration of a meaningful scene in the text, or else compose a few comic-book panels.  You may compile an imagined ‘soundtrack’ to a book, or else compose your own music.  Equally, you may create a short video or create some sort of media response.  You may, of course, attempt some fiction writing yourself – perhaps outlining an imagined ‘alternative’ or ‘missing’ scene of the book.  Your response must be accompanied by a one page explanation or rationale regarding your response.  You will be evaluated on the originality of your response, and the degree to which it reveals a close and knowledgeable engagement with the selected text.  

Essay:  Your essay will be 5-6 pages in length.  It will provide a clear thesis (argument) on a book-length text from the course (typically either Waiting for the Barbarians or Wide Sargasso Sea), and it will exhibit your own independent research on relevant social or literary issues.  Your essay will be evaluated on the originality of your argument, the closeness of your analysis of the primary text, the depth of your research, and the quality of your writing. Your essay should also conform to M.L.A. style guidelines.  Please see the English department website (www.sfu.ca/english/) and click on English Style Guide for a concise description of M.L.A. style.   Revision of Essay:  Your revised essay will be 6-7 pages in length.  It will effectively incorporate the feedback provided by your tutorial director, as well as deepen and expand your original argument.   

Exam:  The exam will be three hours in length and cover all lectures and course materials.  In one ‘essay response’ part of your exam, you will have to compare two texts (books) that you have not addressed in either your essay or oral presentation.