LILE 201-A, Fall 2009Professor: Dr. Julia M. Garrett

LILE-201/ 1

M/W 11:00 am – 12:20 pmOffice:Marcil 115

Marcil 217ABOffice Hours:Mon./Weds. 1:00–2:30 pm

e-mail: hone:602–2226 and by appt.

Human Traditions

Final Examination Guidelines

The final exam for this class is a take-home exam. It will consist of three short comparative essays that will draw from the main readings in our textbook. Each essay will compare episodes from two different texts and should be about 1½ pages each, double-spaced; each essay will be weighted equally. Altogether the whole exam should address 6 (six) different texts, and should total approx. 5–6 pages typed (min. 1500 words).

Your first stage of practicing for this final exam is to design a Sample Exam Essay. During class on Weds. you will review your textbook and select two episodes from our main readings (the readings should be listed at least two weeks apart on the syllabus) and compose a brief essay during class comparing those two episodes. This exercise will also allow students to ask questions and share effective strategies for composing a comparative analytical essay. All students will submit their Sample Exam Essays and passages to me at the end of class, and I will compose the Final Exam from the best material that is submitted on that day. If you would like to bring a laptop to work on during class to write your Sample Exam Essay instead of writing it out in longhand, that would be fine.

On Thu. Dec. 17 by approximately 7:00 pm I will post Exam Passages (as pdfs) from our primary readings on the course website; I will also leave photocopies of these passages in a folder outside my office door if you would prefer to pick them up there on Friday during the day. These passages will include the author and the page number in case you would like to consult them directly in your own textbook. For each essay, choose one of the Exam Passages (in pdf form) and analyze its details in comparison to another Exam Passage. The only passages you cannot choose to write about for the exam are ones that you focused on in writing your Final Project essay.

Please note: it is very important to review, download and print the Exam Passages on Thursday evening, just to be sure that those files are readable. Sometimes a student’s individual computer can’t open the file or creates a very strange-sized pdf. If you run into this problem on Thursday evening, then you will have the option of picking up photocopies at my office on Friday during the day to use for composing your exam.

The finished exam will be due at my office by Mon. Dec. 21, by 10:00 am –– please print your exam essays and bring to my office; you should also submit the essays via email as an attachment in MS Word format. You can, of course, submit your exams earlier than Monday if you will be leaving town.

Using essay format: It should be possible to compose your three short essays in approximately 3–4 hours, so I’m not expecting the same level of analysis and argumentation that was required on the Final Project. However, all essays should be written in formal essay format, including: a title, a thoughtful brief introduction, a clearly articulated thesis statement, coherent paragraph units that relate clearly to the thesis statement, and brief quotations from the passages and texts chosen, using proper citations (skip the concluding paragraph). The essay will be evaluated on its interpretive skill, argumentative effectiveness, and thoughtful development of ideas discussed during class; it must also be proofread for spelling and grammatical errors.

Collaboration: Each student must select and pair up passages independently and write her or his own final examination. No collaboration or communication between students about the Final Exam can take place once Exam Passages have been posted on Thurs, Dec. 17. Students who submit exam responses that correspond too closely (in terms of texts chosen for each question and the line of argument) will risk being charged with academic dishonesty.