45 Presentations: British Literature Final Project
Final project
8 minute presentation and paper due MONTH XX, XX, or XX, depending on your sign-up date.
OPTION #1
We’ve spent the semester reading and dissecting several genres. For your final project, you must pick an outside text and present on its value and strengths; in other words, you’re out to “answer” (problematic language, I know) the following questions:
- What elements does your text use/develop well? (Think plot, setting, character, symbol, metaphor, etc.) Use specific examples of ways your text handles your chosen elements.
- Sharpen your focus: Based on close reading, discuss why your text merits academic inquiry, and show me (as in provide evidence and close read) moments where the text gets at that bigger issue—the stakes. For example, we’ve discussed how texts frame, unpack, or reproduce very limiting ideas about gender. You’ll do the same for your ext. Show me why it might belong on a future syllabus.
Possible genres:
o Short story (fiction)
o Personal essay/memoir/creative nonfiction
o Poetry (note that this option does not say “One poem”)
o Play
o Novel
For your paper
A formal essay (5 full pages) addressing the above questions. Yes, it’s an argument. Yes, you need evidence and that evidence should be explicated. Should not be rambling and directionless. Should be precise, argumentative. Should be brilliant.
For your presentation
For your presentation, you’ll need to create a handout for your classmates that includes the following: Author of the text, title of the text, publication date, and genre. You might also include a very brief summary of the text during the presentation to provide context for the class. The handout should also include an excerpt from the text that you’re close reading. Read the text for us, and walk us through your analysis. Show that you understand these devices at work and that you can speak and write about them (as you’ve done all semester) articulately and eloquently.
