Students are reminded that attendance at lectures is mandatory. Discussions Discussions form an integral part of class, allowing students to participate critically in the shaping a collective interpretation of the assigned material. In addition to class participation during lectures, the course will offer ample opportunity for discussion on each of the four monographs assigned as well as for two films, which will be viewed in class. Written papers will prepare students for these formal discussion periods. However, students are free to choose which two of the remaining three books they want to write on.
Papers are due on the day of discussion.
In these assignments, students are warned NOT to narrate, or summarize, the particular reading. Papers that merely summarize and do not treat the reading critically will receive a failing mark. Students should therefore be questioning. To this end, papers must identify the author's thesis, discuss what types of evidence the author uses to present that thesis, and consider ways in which the author could have made a better argument. The mandatory assignment on Faue and Wingerd requires students to integrate arguments from an article and a book.