Once during the semester, each student will review an article or book that is cited by one of our central texts. Reviews are 4-6 pages and shared with seminar members. Your primary task in this review is to explain how the argument works and how it engages with other scholarship. You should not focus your efforts on an evaluation of the argument or on whether or not you disagree with the author. See the grading criteria below for some tips about how to approach these reviews, and please feel free to ask me questions.
While the review author will not read the paper aloud, s/he will give a brief (no more than 5 minutes) presentation explaining the text, its argument, and its relationship to the texts we've read in class. Papers are due at the beginning of class and will account for 15% of your final grade. Do not exceed 1500 words.
Note: Reviewers are not required to complete a Microtheme, but they are expected to read both the assigned text and the text they are reviewing.
When grading these papers, I will be looking for the following:
- Have you provided an adequate summary of the text and its argument?
- Do you explain the text's significance, its most important features, and its contributions to a scholarly conversation?
- Have you explained how this text connects with the texts we're reading for this class?
- Do you provide evidence for your claims?
- Have you avoided a discussion of whether or not you disagree with the author? Have you avoided a discussion of flaws or shortcomings in the argument?
- Have you followed the rules of engagement
- Is your paper written effectively and coherently with very few grammatical errors?
- Have you observed the 1500-word limit?
