NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS REQUIREMENTS:

This course is a seminar, and your participation is essential. You are expected to attend class regularly, and to participate in class discussion. To facilitate that discussion, you are expected to have completed all reading by the date for which it is assigned. Note that some of the assignments are long, and plan ahead.

In order to enhance our discussion, and to facilitate interactions between our weekly meetings, I’ve set up a web discussion for this course. You can post messages by logging on to courseworks.columbia.edu.  

Over the course of the semester, you are required to post three messages to the bulletin board:

  • By September 17, post a brief message introducing yourself to the class under the heading "meet the scribbling women."
  • By October 3, post your tentative thesis topic under the heading "tentative thesis topics."
  • By October 15, post information about a useful source or research tool under the heading "research tips."
  • Once you’ve posted these three messages, you may post again or not as you wish. You should, however, check the bulletin board periodically to see what your classmates have been writing and to see if there are any course-related announcements.

    This course also has a separate web page, from which you can access the bulletin board, the schedule of readings, and other course materials. Its URL is http://www.columbia.edu/~lmg21/19aww/19awwhome.html.

    Twice during the semester, each member of the seminar will be responsible for participating in a panel of students who will open discussion. As a panel member, you will read aloud a two-page paper that discusses your reaction to a particular aspect of the assigned reading. You may choose to do a close reading of a particular passage, to explore a theme or issue in the texts, or to connect the assigned texts with other texts you’ve studied, either within or outside of the course. The panel members will then respond to questions from each other and from the rest of the class. Optional readings listed on the syllabus may be of particular interest to panel members. You will also hand in a copy of your paper.

    In addition, each seminar participants will research and write a senior thesis. The thesis will be prepared in several stages.

  • First, you will submit a one-paragraph topic proposal, due October 3.
  • Second, you will conduct a preliminary literature search, and will prepare an annotated preliminary bibliography, due October 17.
  • Third, you will write a thesis prospectus presenting a project plan and a more developed bibliography, due November 6. (I will provide detailed instructions for this assignment.)
  • You will submit a working draft of your thesis to the professor and to a student editor by November 17.
  • Finally, you will write a 25- to 35-page thesis, well-researched, intelligently argued and appropriately documented. Two copies of your thesis are due on December 5.
  • You will present your research at our final seminar meeting on December 8.

    All essays must be typed, double-spaced, on white paper in standard fonts. Please don't use very small or very large fonts to squeeze or stretch out your essay. The page guidelines apply to standard 12-point fonts. Papers should follow the new MLA guidelines for essays; see the English department guide to the preparation of papers, A Writer's Reference, or The MLA Handbook for details.

    As seniors, you’re familiar with the Barnard College Honor Code. As senior thesis writers, you will be participating not only in the Barnard College community, but also in the broader community of literary scholars. This community, like Barnard College, values intellectual integrity very highly. Plagiarism is a serious violation, and I report all cases of plagiarism to the Dean of Studies without exception. If you are at all confused about appropriate acknowledgment of sources, please see me for clarification.