The tests and the final will be entirely essay questions. The goal of the discussion board is to allow more thorough and more informal discussion of the reading and the lectures than is possible in class. There will be a new discussion topic on the system at least once a week. Your participation in this system will be graded primarily on the basis on quantity so that you can feel free to say whatever is on your mind that is relevant to the course material under discussion. Grammar and spelling do not matter so long as your point is clear.
Controversy is encouraged.
Students whose notes are not of adequate quality will receive a warning via e-mail that those notes will not be counted. For the group project the class will divide up into groups, each group taking responsibility for one of the biographies. Each member of the group must hand in a statement saying what was their particular contribution to the group project. The group projects will generally get a group grade, but I reserve the right to give individual grades if I perceive that someone makes a contribution significantly larger or smaller than the other group members. The term paper should be about 6-8 typed pages and should be documented with footnotes or endnotes.