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OATES GROUP PROJECT PACKET

ExplainingJoyce Carol OatesUsing

"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

LIT 201-200

Professor Sarah L. Dye

March 31 – April 14, 2008

Week by Week Group Project Directions

(Read very carefully!)

March 31, 2008

Week One (of 3) of the Project

STEP 1. Form five groups, one group for each of the following thesis sentences that represent five different ways to analyze the Oates' short story. Use the thesis sentence in the introduction to your group's collaborative essay. Each group will be attempting to prove its chosen thesis sentence. No group should have less than FOUR (4) persons nor more than FIVE (5) persons. That means that there will be three groups covering only three of the five topics.

  • TOPIC A: This is a realistic story dealing with a young woman about to be attacked/raped by a couple of psychos.*
  • TOPIC B: This is a story that dramatizes the thoughts and feelings of a fifteen-year-old girl concerned with her chastity and the need to keep it intact.*
  • TOPIC C: This is a retelling of the fairy tale, "Little Red Riding Hood."*
  • TOPIC D: This is a Gothic story about a young girl who is visited by Satan and his henchman, Beelzebub.
  • TOPIC E: This is a story inspired and influenced by Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” (folk music and lyrics).

STEP 2. Exchange phone numbers and/or email addresses and schedules with the members of your group before you finish your work this evening. Stay in touch with one another by phone or email this week and subsequent weeks to make sure everyone is beginning their tasks and will have the work completed that the group will need at the next class meetings.Turn in a copy of the list below to Ms. Dye tonight before leaving.

GROUP MEMBERS

NamePhone NumberEmail AddressSchedule

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

* Most easily researched topics for this project

STEP 3. Determine the type of research the group needs to do to develop the thesis sentence. Decide how to divide the research and writing labors equally among members of the group. Remember that the group earns one grade for the project, a grade shared by all members of the group.Turn in a copy of the drafting plan to Ms. Dye before leaving tonight.

How does your group plan to divide the essay writing responsibilities for this project? Explain and summarize briefly in the space provided below:

STEP 4. Conduct research in the ECC Renner Learning Resources Center (library), the classroom (SRC 380) and/or the Open Computer Lab in ICT 125. Be sure to complete ALL of the research tasks listed on the next page.

RESOURCES IN THE LIBRARY EVERY GROUP MUST CONSULT:

(Check them off as the group gets these done.)

_____ Read all of Showalter, Eklaine, ed. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” By Joyce Carol Oates. Women Writers: Texts and Contexts Series. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. Has everyone in your group read the Showalter book completely by this evening? The group must determine what information from this book can be used as part of the group’s research.

List on the back of this page what specific information and articles from the Showalter book are usable for your group’s paper. Turn in a copy of this to Ms. Dye before leaving tonight.

_____ In the RLRC or online, locate the two EBSCO databasesLiterary Reference Center and MagillOnLiterature Plus and print out and read the any articles found there on Oates and on our short story.

_____ Visit the JCO Home Page maintained by Randy Souther at using an Internet browser on a computer. Be sure to consult Souther’s page of criticism and source material for our short story. For some groups’ topics this information can lead you to invaluable sources you can use to prove your thesis sentence. You may use the computers in the RLRC to find this web page resource.

STEP 5. Group members conduct their research, planning and drafting assigned to them by group consensus. Much work will need to be done by EACH group member outside of class over the next week. Groups will have the opportunity to evaluate each of their group members' contributions and willingness to work collaboratively. The groups have the choice of leaving the name of a group member off their project if that group member fails to participate or show up for group meetings. This project is a course requirement so someone whose name does not appear on the title page of the project would be unable to complete LIT 201-200.

STEP 6. Before leaving the library tonight, a group’s members reconvene in order to bring their individual research materials together and determine whether more research is necessary. The group also determines its plan or outline for the group essay. Some groups divide the writing tasks among the members of the group and then compile the entire essay during an additional meeting of the group, either in class next week or outside of class during the week.

April 7, 2008

Week Two (of 3) of the Project

STEP 7. Groups continue work on their project. Meet in the classroom at 7:00 PM.

Then each group must conference with Professor Dyebetween 7:15 PM and 8:30 PM to apprise her of the group’s work accomplishment or to get help with any problems.

Topic A group: TBA PM;

Topic B group: TBA PM;

Topic C group: TBA PM;

Topic D group: TBA PM;

Topic E group: TBA PM.

NOTE: Your group should either be upstairs in the classroom or downstairs in the library tonight until at least 9 PM except during your appointment with Professor Dye.

Group members need to work on the draft of their project essay when not meeting with the professor this evening. The essays should be between 600 and 1000 words. Use specific evidence to support your assigned thesis sentence from both the research your group has done and from the story itself. References in your paper to the story may be simply page numbers in parentheses though references from outside resources should be documented in the MLA (Modern Language Association) style of documentation and include a Works Cited or Sources Cited page. (Someone in your group who took ENG 102 should have a research paper manual with information concerning MLA style; the books are also available in the ECC bookstore or library.) The essays must be typed or computer-printed and should include a title page which includes an alphabetical list of the complete names of all group members. For a sample title page, look for the “Title Page Template” on Professor Dye’s faculty website at the bottom of the “Course” page.

April 14, 2008

Week Three (of 3) of the Project

STEP 8. Groups make oral presentations on their Oates project to the rest of the class. The presentations should be no more than about ten minutes in length. The group may use AV equipment if they wish: we have a Proxima/computer for showing PowerPoint presentations, DVD player and monitor, and an overhead in our classroom which groups may use.

STEP 9. Groups turn in their essays tonight right after they make their oral presentation to the class. The essays should be in presentation folders.

NOTE: What follows is a list of what should be included in your group’s presentation folder when you turn the project in to me: Be sure to get a presentation folder before this evening because the bookstore closes at 7 PM.

  • STAPLED in the following order …
  • Title Page with all group members’ names listed alphabetically.
  • 600-1000 word essay which includes your group’s assigned thesis sentence placed somewhere in the introductory paragraph or section.
  • Internal documentation in MLA Style for any borrowed materials including opinions, statistics, criticism, etc.
  • Works Cited page done in MLA Style of Documentation also at the end of the essay

All of this should be typed and should follow the general “English Department Manuscript Guidelines”and the English Department’s “Conventions for Literary Analysis,” of course. Copies of both are on the class website.

GOOD LUCK WITH THE OATES’ PROJECT!