LITR 222: Science Fiction (CRN 714)
MWF 12:00-12:50, FITZ 206

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Assignments

For this class you have 4 assignments: Angel postings, an essay, a group presentation and paper, and a final exam. All written assignments must be typed, and all need to be in MLA format. Each assignment is worth 25% of your final grade.

Angel Posting and Miscellaneous: For 8 of the 10 texts assigned in class, you will be required to post a response to the reading to the Angel discussion board bearing the name of the text. The posts will be due by noon the day after the class’s first discussion of the text—generally a Tuesday (you may post earlier; see the syllabus for specific deadlines). You have several options for your posts: you may respond to something that was discussed in class; you may respond to a question/comment posted in the instructions for the discussion board; you may respond to a classmate’s comments; you may come up with your own topic of discussion. Some things to consider discussing about all of the books include character analyses, thematic elements, imagery/symbolism, and other aspects of literary analysis that you have learned in other classes. You are welcome to compare the book to others we’ve read (or to others with which you are familiar). Do not give plot summaries. In addition to these 8 reading response posts, you will be required to write a post responding to one of the group presentations (not including your own) at the end of the semester.

I’m looking for a solid paragraph or two of concrete, specific analysis, and I encourage you to reference specific passages in the texts in your analyses. Choose only a single aspect of the text to discuss or your post will be too broad. Use standard academic English (i.e. no emoticons or internet/chat abbreviations) in your posts. Posts will be graded on a scale of 0 to 10: 0 = no post; 1-5 = E; 6 = D; 7 = C; 8 = B; 9-10 = A. Flaming posts will earn you an automatic 0 for the post, and a second occurrence of flaming will earn you a 0 for the remainder of this portion of your grade. Note that you may post more than the required 9 times (and I encourage you to do so), but you will only be graded on 9. Grades for the posts will be available on Angel. The grammar and mechanics policy will not be applied to the posts; however, excessive errors will have an adverse effect on your post’s grade.

In addition to the Angel posting, I may occasionally assign additional in-class writings or give reading quizzes. These additional works will count as part of this component of your final grade.

Article Response: For this assignment, you will read a critical journal essay (or an article published in a book) that is at least 5 pages long about science fiction and write a response to it in which you 1) give a short, 1-paragraph summary of the argument; and 2) discuss the positive and negative aspects of the author’s claims. You may choose any article about science fiction. The article can be about a specific book or series in science fiction or about an aspect of science fiction (e.g. metafiction, cyber punk, narrative, etc.). Please note that you may not choose a book review as your article. If you have difficulty finding an article, please see me so that I may help you find something.

Your response should be 2-3 pages long, in MLA format, and you should include an MLA citation of the article at the beginning of the response. Your goal is to analyze the author’s approach to science fiction. Questions to keep in mind as you’re reading the article and preparing your response include: What is the author’s thesis (i.e. main argument)? What literary theory (or theories) is the author employing? What books are being analyzed to formulate the argument? Is the textual evidence supplied by the author adequate to prove his/her point? Do you see any holes in the argument? Was there anything in the texts overlooked in the creation of the argument? Is there additional evidence to support the claim that the author overlooked?

Proofread your work carefully, for the grammar and mechanics policy will be applied to this assignment. You may submit the response in a hard copy or by e-mail attachment (use Word or Rich Text Format). The response is due on Monday, 5 March, by 5:00.

Group Presentation: For this assignment, you will explore a specific sub-genre of science fiction with a group of 2 or 3 others and create a 10-15-minute presentation in which you explain the sub-genre to the class. On Friday, 3 February, you will decide on a group to work with and choose a sub-genre to explore. Each group must choose a different sub-genre, so have a couple of options in mind in case your first choice is taken by another group. I have included a list of sub-genres below, but if you know of another that you’d like to explore, you may propose it.

Your group’s job is to define the sub-genre and explain how it is distinct from other subgenres. In order to define your sub-genre, the group will choose one text that everyone in the group must read (it can be a text assigned for class). In addition, each group member must read at least one other text (groups choosing poetry or short fiction must read collections, not single poems or short stories). You may not read more than one book by the same author, and you may only use one book assigned in class as a main text, though you may list additional class texts on your list of additional books (see below). Once you have read the texts, you need to sit down and discuss what types of elements exist in the books that give them commonality. You also need to decide which of these elements (or combination of elements) makes your sub-genre unique. Note that you are not required to do secondary research, though you are welcome to do so. If you do additional research you must include citations on the written portion of the assignment. (Research includes using the internet to find lists of books for your sub-genre.)

When you give your presentation, each member of the group must speak. You must define your sub-genre for the class by giving a list of specific criteria that the texts must have and examples of the criteria from the books you have read. Some of the criteria will always be required of the sub-genre while some may be common but still optional. You need to differentiate these criteria for the class.

Each group will, in addition to presenting its definition to the class, be required to submit a paper to me containing the following items:

1. A written definition of the sub-genre with examples from each of the books you’ve read in it. This definition should be at least 1½ to 2 pages long.
2. An annotated bibliography containing for each book read by the group (5 books for groups of 4, 4 books for groups of 3) an MLA Works Cited citation and a summary annotation of the text.
3. A list of 10 additional books that fit the subgenre.
4. A list of any secondary sources you use, if applicable. These sources include any websites you use to find books that fit your subgenre.

Here are some sub-genres that you may choose from:

For some of the sub-genres on the list, you may need to narrow your focus because they are very broad. You should also note that overlap between genres can be expected. For example, War of the Worlds can fit both under Classic and British (and probably several others). If you’re not sure what would fit under a certain sub-genre, you can ask for examples.

Presentations will begin on Friday, 27 April and conclude on Monday, 7 May.

Final Exam: For your final exam, scheduled for Friday, 11 May, from 11:00-1:30, you will be required to synthesize what you have learned throughout the semester in an essay. The specific topic for the essay will be given at the exam itself, but you should be prepared to discuss a minimum of 7 of the books you have read for class in the essay. The exam will be open note, open book, and you should bring your books with you so that you may reference specific passages in your essay.

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