Back to Spring Courses

 

Clay Steinman                                                                          Office Hours: T 3:40-5:40 p.m.,

Office: HU 301C/Mailbox: HU 301                                         W 5:50-6:50 p.m.,

Phone/Voice Mail: 696-6726                                                  and by appointment.

Email: steinman@macalester.edu                                                                                                        

 

HMCS 110-01

Texts & Power: Foundations of Cultural Studies

Spring 2009

TTh 9:40-11:10 a.m. OLRI 270

           

Course Description: This course introduces students to the intellectual roots of cultural studies, including critical media studies, focusing on the theoretical bases for analyses of power and meaning in production, texts, and reception. It includes primary readings in anti-racist, feminist, modern, postmodern, and queer cultural and social theory, and compares them to traditional approaches within the humanities. Designed as preparation for intermediate and advanced work in cultural studies, the course is writing intensive (and counts as a “W” course for all but first-semester first years), with special emphasis on developing skills in critical thinking and scholarly argumentation and documentation. Completion of or enrollment in HMCS 110 is the prerequisite for majoring in Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies. The course also counts toward the minor in Media Studies.

 

Consumer Alert:

• This course has no prerequisites, and I am careful to assume in my assignments and in class lectures and discussions no prior knowledge in the area. (Indeed, I will cut off discussion of readings not assigned and of texts not familiar to the whole class.) The course should be accessible to anyone with a taste for or interest in contemporary cultural theory and its roots in critical race theory, feminism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, semiotics (the study of signs and meanings), poststructuralism (the study of human subjectivities as constructions of social forces), and queer theory. It is indeed a theory course, and not a course in cultural analysis, although we will use examples from the culture at large. The course also should serve as preparation for many of the cultural studies courses offered across campus.
• As a foundations course, HMCS 110 covers what I imagine will be mostly new ground for many of you. For that reason, I believe my main job is to help you develop an introductory understanding of the readings. That means most of the time will be spent explaining or discussing questions about the reading. How much time we shall have to discuss the reading (as in, "What do you think about it?"), in groups or in the class as a whole, will depend on the volume and complexity of questions. I hope you will take time to talk or write on Moodle about what you think--with your classmates, your friends, or with me in my office or in other meetings we might arrange. Because I give first priority to answering questions, we may discuss some readings quite briefly.
• The class has no particular political line, and indeed covers theorists with contradictory ideas. Yet it is a course in socially critical cultural theory, so we will concentrate on generally unfamiliar arguments critical of the way things are. Some of you may well end up working inside the culture industry (I did, as a journalist for several years), and if you do I hope you will find what we learn to have been helpful. However, all of us live within the cultures of our world, and so the course is taught from the perspective of consumers and of residents of the planet, rather than of industry executives or stockholders. I hope we will have an atmosphere in which you will feel free to articulate your own ideas about and critiques of the reading, culture, and the world, as long as they are relevant to the topic under discussion and grounded in the assignments of the course. I also welcome your comments and suggestions for change.

 

Readings: You are responsible for knowing the meaning of all words in the readings, looking them up when appropriate (a pocket dictionary and sometimes a college dictionary might not be adequate, and Wikipedia can be helpful as an introduction but cannot be relied upon for written work); see a reference librarian for help locating other sources), and for being able to identify the authors of the concepts in the reading. Let me know if you find any of the readings or class discussions unclear—or if you cannot find definitions for terms in the reading. In general, pages not assigned in books below are recommended.

 

Main Course Texts (ordered for purchase from the Textbook Store in Lampert):

Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. 3^rd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2008. Barker offers introductory assistance, secondary commentary, a glossary, and contemporary examples to complement the primary theoretical texts that form the basis of this course (from Leitch and on e-reserve). Not suitable as a major source for exams and papers.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. Chicago

Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing. 3rd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2008 (not on reserve but in the reference collection). Useful throughout college. As the book recommends, you should skim this early in the term and then use it as you find it helpful when reading/writing. We will go over a few sections in class, but these are by no means the only valuable ones.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6^th ed. New York: MLA, 2003 (two copies may be found in the library reference section). A reference book useful in college humanities courses.

Leitch, Vincent B., et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: Norton,

2001. On two-hour library reserve for this course for copying purposes (less expensive than buying the book).

 

Other Sources Used in Class (these books contain excerpted articles on e-reserve, and can be found in the library collection):

Abbas, Akbar, and John Nguyet Erni, Internationalizing Cultural Studies: An Anthology, Malden,

MA: Blackwell, 2005.

Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk [1903]. Dover Thrift Editions. New York: Dover,

            1994. 21 Sept. 2008 <http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DubSoul.html>.

Hall, Stuart, et al., eds. Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 1995.

Lemert, Charles. Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classic Readings. 3^rd ed. Boulder: Westview, 2004.

Morley, David, and Kuan-Hsing Chen, eds. Stuart Hall : Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, 1996.

Seidman, Steven, and Jeffrey C. Alexander, eds. The New Social Theory Reader: Contemporary Debates. London: Routledge, 2001.

 

Evaluation: Most of your final grade will be based on your performance on the following:

1.     a paper of no more than 500 words applying a class reading to a text (10 percent).

2. a rewrite and expansion (1,200-1,500 words) of the first paper due one week after the first version has been returned (10 percent).
3. two one-hour, in-class open-book essay exams (10 percent each).
4. a term paper outline/preliminary draft of 1,000-1,250 words for the paper below (20 percent).
5. a term paper of 2,500-2,750 words, demonstrating your knowledge of the concepts of the course, responsive to the question, “What do I believe about texts and power?” (40 percent). You may do additional reading for this paper, depending upon your topic, but it is not required.

 

The short papers are primarily designed for you to demonstrate your talents at paper organization and your knowledge of academic policies regarding documentation, discussed in the “Guidelines for Papers” below, as well as your knowledge of the details of the Modern Language Association system used in this and subsequent humanities courses. An excellent, detailed discussion of issues involving sources (when and how to use and credit them) can be found at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/sources/. The MLA system is described in depth in Gibaldi, but treated adequately in any comprehensive college writing handbook and on a number of websites, such as http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc.

 

The open-book essay tests will have one or two questions of a general nature asking you to compare or to apply and evaluate readings in the course. Makeup examinations will be given only in cases of documented medical or other emergency.

 

All written assignments must be completed to pass the course. A late paper will be penalized one letter grade for each class day or portion thereof late, unless you can produce appropriate documentation justifying the lateness (for example, a “B” paper submitted one class late would receive a “C”). An incomplete will be granted only in the case of a documented crisis. If you want comments on tests or papers not graded until after classes end, please email me after you have received your course grade.

 

I urge you to call on me for help with your papers and to work with other students, as long as you do not plagiarize their ideas. Plagiarism will be handled according to the Macalester policy on academic integrity (http://www.macalester.edu/employmentservices/handbook/sec12.10.html). Also see Booth, Colomb, and Williams, 191-195, and http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01. For help with quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01. Additional help is available from the MAX Center: http://www.macalester.edu/max/. The following is from the MAX Center:

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

General Statement

The Macalester Academic Excellence (MAX) Center (x6121; Kagin Commons) is here to help you do your best at Macalester in meeting your own goals and highest standards. Through academic enrichment and support services, ranging from workshops to individual assistance, the MAX Center can help you excel in your academics.

 

Professional counselors and peer tutors in writing, mathematics, science, and study skills provide personal assistance in:

• Writing for any college course, from brainstorming through final editing
• Content areas such as calculus, statistics, organic chemistry, or cellular biology
• Sharpening study and time management skills

 

General hours are 9:00 A.M. – 4:30 P.M., M-F and 7 P.M. – 10 P.M., S-Th. Peer tutors are usually available in all areas during the evening, but as schedules vary during the day, it is useful to call x6121 (daytime) or x6193 during evening hours to schedule an appointment.

 

The MAX Center also provides testing accommodations. Students must verify the need for accommodations through the Dean of Students Office.

 

Writing Statement

The Macalester Academic Excellence (MAX) Center, located in Kagin Commons, has peer tutors available for assisting students in all stages of their writing. Hours are 9:00 A.M. – 4:30 P.M., M-F and 7 P.M. – 10 P.M., S-Th. Becky Graham and Jenny White also provide writing assistance to students during the daytime hours, M-F. You may drop in for help or call x6121 (daytime) or x6193 during evening hours to schedule an appointment.

 

Math and Science Statement

The Macalester Academic Excellence (MAX) Center, located in Kagin Commons, has peer tutors available to help students understand mathematics and science concepts for courses in math, biology, and chemistry. Hours are 9:00 A.M. – 4:30 P.M., M-F and 7 P.M. – 10 P.M., S-Th. Dave Ehren and Stephanie Alden also provide mathematics and science assistance to students during the daytime hours, M-F. You may drop in for help or call x6121 (daytime) or x6193 during evening hours to schedule an appointment.

 

 

Disability Accommodations: Reasonable accommodations will be provided for students with cognitive, learning, physical, psychological, or sensory disabilities. Please contact the Disability Services Office located at Macalester Health Services, 696-6275, to discuss possible accommodations. See: http://www.macalester.edu/health/disability.html.

 

Computers/Phones/Electronic Recording Devices: Except when expressly encouraged, you do not have my permission to use computers, phones, or electronic recording devices during class.

 

Marginal Notes: Instead of using reading reports, we shall use what John C. Bean calls the “marginal notes approach” in Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001, 143-144). Here’s how it works:

·       You are required to bring a copy of every reading to class with your own marginal notes, which I may ask to see. If you are using a borrowed book or do not want to make marginal notes on a book you plan to resell, you can use notebook paper.

·       As Bean puts it: “Every time you feel the urge to highlight or underline something write out why you wanted to underline it in the margins. Why is that passage important? Is it a major new point in the argument? A significant piece of support? A summary of the opposition? A particularly strong or particularly weak point?”

·       He continues: “Use the margins to summarize the text, ask questions, give assent, protest vehemently.” He urges you to “carry on lively dialogue with the author in the margins.”

·       He urges instructors to “occasionally start class discussions by asking a student to read . . . marginal notations next to a certain passage.”

 

Class Participation: I expect you to attend every class meeting, to be on time, and to participate when appropriate. Feel free to ask questions and to disagree, but please remember that it is vital that our classroom be a safe and supportive space for participation and listening, especially when we talk about issues that affect people personally, such as gender, race, and sexualities. I will not evaluate the positions you take in class, but interrupting, speaking off-topic or without having done the reading, and routinely taking more than your share of class time are not welcome. Extraordinarily helpful class participation will be rewarded as will exemplary participation on Moodle. Unprepared participation, more than three unexcused absences, unexcused late arrivals, or repeated failure to bring annotated readings with you (they count similarly) may affect your grade by up to a full letter.

 

 

Other expectations: Learning new social and cultural theory resembles learning a new language; you have to practice thinking, talking, and writing about the ideas to become fluent in them—and I will grade your writing based on its fluency. I recommend that you form reading groups of 2-4 people to discuss the assignments; I would be happy to meet with you by invitation, and am available with notice for lunch meetings at the Campus Center. I am particularly interested in participating in discussions of readings in Leitch not assigned. If, at the end of a discussion of an assigned reading, you still have a question about it, use Moodle, which I have set up as a discussion forum for the class: the URL is http://moodle.macalester.edu. (In addition to the main forum, there are groups entitled “Questions about the course and about writing” and “Questions/comments about course readings” for which students may initiate threads.) You can be confident that if you have a lingering question, others in the class will have it as well. Contributions to our Moodle forum can only help your grade. I expect that on average this four-credit course will require about twelve hours a week of work in and out of class, but weeks inevitably vary in their demands. You may want to read ahead or complete projects early to even out the course requirements, balance out your other classes, or explore areas of interest. Please let me know if a reserve reading is missing or an e-reserve copy is incomplete. The syllabus is subject to change as the term proceeds.

 

SCHEDULE

 

M         1/26 Upperclass validations.

                        Work due for Fall 2008 incompletes.

T          1/27     Introductions.

Th        1/29     Barker, “An Introduction to Cultural Studies” I, 3-7.

T          2/3       Barker, “A New World Disorder?” 141-176.

Barker, “An Introduction to Cultural Studies” II, 7-22.

Th        2/5       Booth, Colomb, and Williams, “Preface,” “Prologue,” and “Thinking in Print:

The Uses of Research, Public and Private,” 9-15. You are responsible for completing this book on your own by 3/3. If you have any questions about the book or about writing, please let me know or ask them on Moodle.

                        Barker, “An Introduction to Cultural Studies” III, 23-38.                   

Leitch, “Introduction to Theory and Criticism” I, 1-8.

F      2/6      Last day to register, validate, and add/drop a class (no notation).

T          2/10     Leitch, “Introduction to Theory and Criticism” II, 8-13.

                        Barker, “Questions of Culture and Ideology” I, 39-43.          

                        Leitch, “Introduction to Theory and Criticism,” III, 13-28.

Th        2/12     Leitch, “Plato,” 33-37.

                        Plato, from Republic, Leitch, 49-80 [375 B.C.E.].

T          2/17     Peter Hamilton, “The Enlightenment and the Birth of Social Science,” Hall, Held,

                                    Hubert, and Thompson, 19-54 (e-reserve).

Leitch, “Immanuel Kant,”499-504.

Th        2/19     Kant, from The Critique of Judgment [1790], 504-519.

Leitch, “Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel” and Hegel, from Phenomenology of Spirit

[1807], 626-636.

Paper 1 assigned.

F          2/20     Last day to designate grading options.

T          2/24     Hegel, from Lectures on Fine Art [1835-38], Leitch, 640-644.

                        Booth, Colomb, and Williams, “Connecting with Your Reader: (Re-)Creating

Yourself and Your Readers,” 16-27.

                        Booth, Colomb, and Williams, “Drafting Your Report,” 187-202.

                        Booth, Colomb, and Williams, “The Ethics of Research,” 273-276.

                        Discussion of documentation and the MLA Style. Come prepared by having studied

                                    Gibaldi or another style manual that you bring with you.

                        Barker, “Questions of Culture and Ideology” II, 54-56.

Th        2/26     Paper 1 due.

                        Paper 2 assigned; Paper 1 conferences scheduled.

                        Booth, Colomb, and Williams, “Revising Your Organization and Argument,” 203-

                                    210.

                        Leitch, “Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels” and Marx, from Economic and

                                    Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Leitch, 759-767.

                        Marx and Engels, from The German Ideology [1845-46] and from The Communist

                                    Manifesto [1848], Leitch, 767-773.

T          3/3       Marx, from Grundrisse [1857-58], from the Preface to A Contribution to the

                                    Critique of Political Economy [1859], and from Capital, Vol. 1 [1867],

                                    Leitch, 773-787.

                        Engels, “Letter from Friedrich Engels to Joseph Bloch” [1890], Leitch, 787-788.

                        Lemert, “Max Weber,” and Weber, “The Spirit of Capitalism and the Iron Cage”

[1905], “The Bureaucratic Machine” [1909-1920], “What is Politics?” [1918], and “The Types of Legitimate Domination” [1909-1920], 99-115 (e-reserve).

Th        3/5       Paper 2 due.

                        Leitch, “Matthew Arnold,” and Arnold, “The Function of Criticism at the Present

                                    Time” [1864, 1875], 802-825.

                        Leitch, “Pierre Bourdieu,” and Bordieu, from Distinction: A Social Critique of

                                    Judgment [1979], Leitch, 1806-1814.

T          3/10     Barker, “Questions of Culture and Ideology” III, 43-54, 56-74.

                        Leitch, “Antonio Gramsci,” 1135-1137.

                        Read “Writing Essay Exams” at http://departments.colgate.edu/diw/essayexam.html.

                                    Come to class prepared with questions about the exam-writing process.

Th        3/12     Essay Test 1 (on material through 3/10).

Bennett, “Antonio Gramsci” I, 191-193 (e-reserve; includes extensive quotations

From Gramsci’s writings [1910-1935]).

F          3/13     Mid-term grades due.

Sa-Su   3/16-3/22 Spring break.

T          3/24     Bennett, “Antonio Gramsci” II, 193-218 (e-reserve; includes extensive quotations

from Gramsci’s writings [1910-1935]).

Barker, “Culture, Meaning, Knowledge: The Linguistic Turn in Cultural Studies” I,

75-78.

                        Term paper discussed.

Th        3/26   Leitch, “Ferdinand de Saussure,” and Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics

                                    [1906-1913], Leitch, 956-977.

                        Barker, “Culture, Meaning, Knowledge: The Linguistic Turn in Cultural Studies” II,

                                    79-82.

                        Leitch, “Sigmund Freud” I, 913-916.

T          3/31   Leitch, “Sigmund Freud” II, 916-919.

                        Barker, “Culture, Meaning, Knowledge: The Linguistic Turn in Cultural Studies” III,

96-97.

Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams [1900, 1929] and “Fetishism” [1927],

Leitch, 919-929, 952-956.

                        Feminist critiques of Freud.

Th        4/2       Leitch, “Jacques Lacan,” 1278-1285.

            Barker, “Culture, Meaning, Knowledge: The Linguistic Turn in Cultural Studies” IV,

                                    97-100.

            Lacan, “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in

                                    Psychoanalytic Experience” [1949], Leitch, 1285-1290.

                        Leitch, “Laura Mulvey,” 2179-2181.

F          4/3       Last day to withdraw from a class.

T          4/7       Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” [1973, 1975], Leitch, 2181-2192.

            Analysis of an excerpt from L’Auberge Espanole/The Spanish Apartment (2002,

                                    France, Cédric Klapisch).

                        Leitch, “Louis Althusser,” 1476-1479.

Th        4/9       Term Paper Outline/Draft Due.

                        Althusser, from “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” [1969, 1970], Leitch,

                                    1483-1491, 1496-1509.

                        Barker, “Culture, Meaning, Knowledge: The Linguistic Turn in Cultural Studies” V,

                                    83-96.

                        Term Paper Conferences Scheduled.

T          4/14     Leitch, “Michel Foucault,” 1615-1622.

                        Foucault, “What Is an Author?” [1969], from Discipline and Punish: The Birth of

                                    the Prison [1975], from The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, An Introduction:

                                    Part Two: “The Repressive Hypothesis” [1976], and from Truth and Power

                                    [1977], Leitch, 1623-1636, 1648-1670.

                        Barker, “Issues of Subjectivity and Identity,” 215-245.

Th        4/16     Barker, “Ethnicity, Race and Nation,” 246-279.

                        Leitch, “W. E. B. Du Bois,” 977-980.

                        Du Bois, “The Forethought,” “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” “Of the Dawn of

Freedom,” and “Of the Meaning of Progress” [1903]. 21 Sept. 2008 <http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DubSoul.html>.

M         4/20-F 5/1 Fall 2009 Registration.

Week of 4/20-24 Evening pizza showing and discussion of Ethnic Notions TBA (1986, USA,

Marlon Riggs). Additional reading (please bring to class): Dargis, Manhola, and A. O. Scott. “How the Movies Made a President: Evolving Cinematic Roles Have Prepared America to Have a Black Man in Charge.” New York Times 18 Jan. 2009, Arts & Leisure sec.: 1+ (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/movies/18darg.html).

T          4/21   Leitch, “Dick Hebdige,” and Hebdidge, from Subculture: The Meaning of Style

[1979], Leitch, 2448-2457.

Leitch, “Stuart Hall,” 1895-1898.

                        Hall, “Gramsci’s Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity” [1986], Morley

                                    and Chen, 411-440 (e-reserve).

Hall, “Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies” [1990], Leitch, 1898-1910.

                        Hall, “New Ethnicities” [1992], Morley and Chen, 441-449 (e-reserve).

Th        4/23     Michael Omi and Howard Winant, “Racial Formation” [1994], Seidman and

Alexander, 371-382 (e-reserve).

                        Barker, “Sex, Subjectivity and Representation,” 280-314.

                        Leitch, “Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak,” and Spivak, From A Critique of Postcolonial

                                    Reason: “Can the Subaltern Speak?” [1983], Leitch, 2197-2208.

T          4/28     Essay Test 2 (on material through 4/23).

                        Leitch, “Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno,” and Horkheimer and Adorno,

                                    From Dialectic of Enlightenment: “The Culture Industry as Mass Deception,”

                                    [1947], Leitch, 1220-1240.

Th        4/30 Leitch, “Terry Eagleton,” and Eagleton, from Literary Theory: An Introduction

                                    (1983), Leitch, 2240-2249.

                        Leitch, “bell hooks,” and hooks, “Postmodern Blackness” [1990], Leitch, 2475-

                                    2484.

Leitch, “Judith Butler,” 2485-2488.

F          5/1 Draft of term paper due in Clay’s box in HU 301 by 4:30 p.m. (must be complete and

                                    edited or an NC worth 10 percent will be averaged into your final grade).

F          5/1-T 5/5 Final revision period. Share your work with others for critique and further

                                    revision.

T          5/5       Butler, from Gender Trouble (1990), Leitch, 2488-2501.

                        Barker, “Digital Media Culture,” 346-372.

                        Robert Stam and Ella Shohat, “De-Eurocentricizing Cultural Studies: Some Proposals”

                                    (2005), Abbas and Erni, 481-498 (e-reserve).

                        Conclusions/Evaluations.

                        Term paper due in Clay’s box in HU 301 by 4:30 p.m.

 

 

Guidelines for Papers: Papers must be double-spaced, stapled, punctuated in standard U.S. English, responsive to all aspects of the assignment, including word limits (please put a word count on the front page), and prepared according to MLA style in Gibaldi, using the MLA option of placing only one space after a period. Make sure that you document every reference, whether quotation or paraphrase, including page numbers whenever possible. Feel free to write in the first person. Support claims not common knowledge with evidence and conclusions with argument. Avoid hyperbolic words like “extremely.” In general, paraphrase rather than quote, unless the language to which you are referring is particularly distinctive; this gives you more control over the flow of the argument. Avoid internal ellipses (use paraphrases instead); these make the writing more difficult to read. Do not use dictionaries as sources unless they are scholarly or unless you are analyzing the dictionary itself. Take time to plan your papers, and to revise them. A major writing problem of Macalester students is wordiness; comb your paper for possibilities for cuts and condensations. Never submit a paper unless you have run it through Word’s spellchecker and at least two other people (any two you choose) have read and have commented upon it and have signed the front page. You are responsible for saving a copy of your work file. Define all terms whose definitions are controversial or obscure. Unless a paper assignment tells you otherwise, you can assume your reader is a Macalester student who has not taken this course. When discussing reception, avoid claiming without evidence that all viewers respond identically to any text, or that there is a unified spectator called “we” or “the viewer.” A paper may combine characteristics of different levels of work. In that case the grade will depend on the paper’s overall demonstration of knowledge of the material and of college writing skills. Rewritten papers will be evaluated in part on how well they improve in response to comments offered on the original, which must be attached. Please see me if you have questions about my standards or about any of your grades. Here are my grading standards:

            --An “NC” paper demonstrates that the writer has little, if any, understanding of the concepts of the course. Because of the writer’s lack of skill or concern, the work includes gross errors as well as a conspicuous lack of content. Documentation is negligible. The paper may also fail to address parts of the assignment.

            --A “D” paper demonstrates that the writer has only minimal understanding of the concepts of the course. Significant gaps in the writer’s comprehension indicate the need for more study. The paper shows the writer’s basic compositional skills are below satisfactory for college work. Documentation is unsatisfactory.

            --A “C” paper demonstrates that the writer has understood most of the concepts of the course, but needs to pay more attention to detail in reading or writing. Documentation is erratic.

            --A “B” paper demonstrates that the writer has understood the concepts of the course, has a sense of their complexity, and has applied them with some originality. The paper shows the writer can organize a coherent essay with few mechanical errors. The thesis statement is clear, responsive to the assigned topic, and supported with logical argumentation, including relevant evidence. The paper for the most part includes adequate documentation.

            --An “A” paper demonstrates that the writer has not only mastered the concepts of the course, but has applied them in an imaginative and incisive way. The paper shows a command of the language that allows the writer to articulate worthwhile ideas or perceptions clearly, effectively, in detail, and with virtually no mechanical errors. There is grace to the sentence structure, which is clear and varied throughout. Documentation is consistent. The “A” grade is reserved for exceptional papers; “A-” papers tend to be exceptional in part but marred by one or two problems.