PRESENTATIONS FOR CPLT 325 WORLD LITERATURE SINCE 1650
CSU FULLERTON, FALL 2015

EMAIL | SYLLABUS | POLICIES | QUESTIONS | PRESENTATIONS | JOURNALS | PAPER | FINAL

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRESENTATIONS REQUIREMENT

*2023 Note: Visitors may download these PDF files: ANCIENT WORLD LIT. | MODERN WORLD LIT.

Basho | Saikaku | Enlightenment | Voltaire | Goethe | the Romantics | Dostoyevsky | Tolstoy | Chekhov | Tagor | Ichiyo | Kafka | Brecht | Garcia Lorca | Neruda | Paz | el Saadawi | T’ien-Hsin | wa Thiong’o | Soyinka

Most sessions will feature one or more student presentations that will give you a chance to hear different perspectives on the course readings, and I will also post the written versions students send me to a special blog so those interested can review them. Your presentations will also help me determine the direction my own comments, encouraging me to respond to your ideas rather than lecture continuously. See the syllabus for the presentation requirement’s value as a percentage of the course grade.

On the first day of class, look over the authors or texts on our syllabus and then, next to your name on the roll sheet I will pass around, suggest several authors or texts that you might like to present on. I’ll try to give you the choices you have made, to the extent that the schedule permits. Depending on class size, each student will give two or three presentations. Be aware that if you choose only very popular authors or texts (Jane Austen, Hamlet, etc.), I may need to schedule you for something different.

Within a few days, check the schedule on this page to see when and on which authors and questions you are slated to present. I will complete the schedule by choosing specific question/s to be addressed from among the full sets. You can access all author questions using the links below or by visiting the QUESTIONS PAGE. (They are also available from the syllabus page.)

Insightful responses are better than “answers.” I encourage you in advance to develop your remarks so that they go beyond the question at its simplest. The office hour (or email consultation for second and subsequent presentations, if any) and “advance final draft” requirement is 30% of your grade for the presentation.

It’s easy to do well if you prepare in advance and make a good effort, and your colleagues will be supportive. Completing the in-class component is 70% of the grade for each presentation.

Please check the schedule below on this page to verify the current status of your in-class presentation and blog entry. Within a few days after you’ve completed both, next to your name should appear the notation (Presentation completed). If you see other notations as indicated below in “How I Evaluate Presentations,” please contact me by email.

HOW I EVALUATE PRESENTATIONS

I will judge presentations on the following grounds: did the student 1) meet with me or email me a timely advance final draft so that I can offer advice and determine the course of my own comments? and 2) seem to have put genuine effort into preparing rather than treating the presentation as a barren “answer” to a stale question. Students who do those two things will receive an “A” for the presentations requirement. I am not going to grade presentations so much on in-class factors as on how well students prepare and (again, if necessary) follow up. I will indicate whether students have completed the requirements: (Presentation completed), (Missed Presentation), (Rescheduled Presentation.)

MISSED PRESENTATIONS / RESCHEDULING PRESENTATIONS

If you find that you will be unable to make it to class for one of your scheduled presentations, please let me know in advance if possible. So long as you have provided me with a timely advance draft of your remarks (I usually print them out and bring them to class), I will read the presentation for you and give you partial credit for the “in-class” portion of the presentation grade. If you haven’t provided me with a final advance draft, I will not read it in class. In such cases, rescheduling on a new author or text may be possible at my discretion and if the schedule allows.

Refer to the following PDF document for the relevant questions: COMBINED QUESTIONS ON WORLD LITERATURE SINCE 1650.

SCHEDULE: WORKS DISCUSSED ON DATES INDICATED

*Note 2023: The full schedule is no longer available in this archival version of the course materials.