COMMON COURSE GUIDELINES

Deadline for submission of all projects: Wednesday evening, July 26, 2006*

Deadline for submitting rough drafts for feedback: Sunday evening, July 23, 2006
(Please note that the earlier you send me drafts the more time I'll have to provide useful feedback.  By July 23, I'm afraid, I'll not have much time, and so my comments will be brief.  Put simply, don't delay).

Manuscript format (for drafts and final versions).   Please send me your drafts and your final projects as Word documents in an e-mail addressed to nordqudi@mail.armstrong.edu.   Use standard 12-point font, with one-inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) and the following information at the top of your first page.    

(*Though not encouraged, requests for incompletes will be considered if they are sent to me no later than one week before the deadline of July 26.  In all cases, incomplete work must be finished by the start of the Fall 2006 semester.)

Project #1: Research in Ireland (20%)

Congratulations: you have all successfully completed this requirement to explore Ireland--its landscape, culture, literary traditions, history, and people.  In addition to your travels, you have read/performed/viewed at least three Irish plays (Riders to the Sea, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and Howie the Rookie), toured Yeats country in Sligo and read selections from Yeats's poetry, read at least a few short stories from Joyce's Dubliners and toured what is left of Joyce's Dublin, read a short history of Ireland, visited numerous museums and literary landmarks, and taken various side-trips of your own choosing.
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Project #2: Review Article on 20th-Century Irish Women Writers [30%]

Approximate length: 4 to 5 double-spaced, word-processed pages following standard MLA guidelines.
Readings: The packet of short stories by various 20th-century women writers (handouts distributed before you left for Ireland).
Assignment: Though the small island of Ireland has a disproportionately large and impressive literary tradition, the best-known Irish writers (e.g., Swift, Wilde, Stoker, Synge, Joyce, Yeats, Beckett, Heaney) are all male.  As Alexander Gonzalez observes in his Introduction to Irish Women Writers: An A to Z Guide (2006), “Women have long had . . . a shadowy half-life on the Irish map and in the Irish literary anthology.”  In one way or another, your article will attempt to demonstrate that there are women writers in Ireland (both north and south) deserving of serious attention. 

You can approach this topic from any one of various angles.  For instance, you may choose to  concentrate on just two or three of the writers in the packet, examining such factors as style, theme, and subject matter.  You may (or may not) wish to compare these writers to other, better-known authors.  On the other hand, you may choose to write about several of the works in the packet, noting resemblances and distinctions among them.  Or you may choose to focus only on women writers from Northern Ireland--or just those from Eire.  In any case, you are not limited to the stories in the packet.  For instance, if one writer in particular strikes your fancy, you may want to pick up a collection of stories from that writer (check with me to see if I have a collection to lend you) and focus your review on that author's work.

What do I mean by "review article"?  You are writing for an audience of thoughtful, well-educated readers (but not necessarily English majors or professors), people who already have some familiarity with the stable of Ireland's great (male) writers.  Your review article might appear in a magazine such as The New Yorker or The New York Review of Books or The Times Literary Supplement--or as a preface to an anthology of works by Irish women writers.   (As an example of a review article--in terms of style, tone, and form--have a look at this short review on "Harlem Renaissance Women.")  Keep in mind that you are not conducting a conventional literary analysis for its own sake; in part, you are attempting to persuade your readers to take time out to read works by Maeve Binchy or Clare Boylan or Cherry Smyth--or which ever Irish women writers you favor, from Elizabeth Bowen onwards.
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Project #3: Individual Projects [50%]

Each student in the course has selected subjects for her primary course project--either one long essay or report (10-12 pages) or two or three shorter essays or reports.  Over the next several weeks I'll be working individually with each one of you, clarifying guidelines and responding to drafts.   Please stay in touch with me via e-mail--and don't hesitate to make appointments to stop by the office (late afternoons and evenings are generally the best time). 

English 5550 is taught by Dr. Richard Nordquist
Armstrong Atlantic State University
11935 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Georgia 31419
PHONE: 912 921 5991
e-mail: nordqudi@mail.armstrong.edu  
 
04 July 2006

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