Senior Seminar News

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the course. I'll be putting announcements on this page having to do with course requirements, changes in these web pages, and other matters. Between this page and the main page, you should get a good sense of what's new and upcoming in the course. So I recommend checking out both those pages every time you visit the course web site--at least once a week.

5/9/02

I made some final clarifications on the assignment sheets for the two projects due next week--the audience/genre revision and the exit paper. On those pages can be found most of the announcements I made in class yesterday, but for the sake of convenience, I'm putting them all here, as well.

• Please recall that the exit paper is required for graduation. When you turn it in, please also let me know if you want me to add any other paper(s) from this course into your portfolio. I'll be returning your portfolios to the English department on Friday, May 17, 2002, with my signatures certifying that your portfolios are completed.
• In terms of getting your papers back to you, I'll be sending emails to the course listserv this week and next when I'm putting papers I've commented on in the "ENGL 400 Projects" folder on the bulletin board outside my office door. You may pick them up at any time. If you plan to be leaving town before next F 5/17 and want your papers back, please include a large self-addressed envelope when you turn them in; I'll mail the ones you tell me to out to you in late May.
• My office hours for next week are M-F 10:30-4. Come on in if you want to discuss any aspect of the course with me or get feedback on a draft of a paper.

It's home stretch time, people! You can do it!

5/7/02

Hey all. I've just made a page that elaborates on the requirements for the exit paper given on the main page and clarifies the process of the next week and a half for turning in and getting back papers in the course.

I'm having extra office hours this week--staying past 4:30 on T, W, Th, and changing my Friday hours to be from 10-3. See me or email me if you have any questions about any aspect of the course.

Remember that our last class will be devoted to a peer review on the exit paper and course evaluations. See you Thursday!

4/30/02

Hopefully this will be my last change to my office hours this semester. I'm attending a conference on Friday, so have to cancel my Th and F afternoon hours. In their stead, I'll be available for extended hours the rest of the week: T 3:30-5, W 1:30-4:30, Th 8:30-9:30, 11-11:30.

4/24/02

I have to change my office hours a bit this week, even from what I announced on the listserv earlier in the week. T was as usual, but today I'm available from 10-2, Th 3:30-5:30, F 12-4.

4/11/02

Please check out the newly revised research-based revision and application project assignment sheets for clarifications on the assignments and grading criteria.

3/21/02

Hey everyone, hope you have a wonderful break. Just wanted to gives you a heads-up on a few important matters to consider before our next class meeting.

• First off, congratulations on finishing the research-based revision! I'll be returning your papers when we return from spring break.
• Second, I've revised the links page to reflect the suggestions you all sent to the course listserv during our "scavenger hunt" today.
• Third, I wanted to let you know about my office hours for the first two weeks after break. Between 4/2 and 4/5 I'll be there T 3:30-6; W 9-12, 2-4; Th 3:30-6; F 9-12, 12:30-3. Please use the sign-up sheet on my door, though, because I have mandatory individual conferences with my students in both my other courses this semester.
• The following week is course selection week, and I'll be using a similar sign-up sheet method to allow my advisees "first dibs." So to those of you who aren't my advisees, you will be allowed to sign up for times that they have left open, but only on condition that you sign up for a time on the day after you look for openings. Let me explain what I mean by this. If you come by Friday 4/5 and see that there are slots open on M 4/8, you can sign up for any one of those, but you can't sign up for any times later than M 4/8. The same holds for people who stop by on M 4/8--they can sign up for any open slots on T 4/9, but not any later than that. And so on. This will allow my advisees to get "first dibs" but leave room for you to slip in during times they haven't reserved.... My hours for the week of 4/8-4/12 are as follows: M 9-12, 1-4; T 4:30-6; W 9-12, 1:30-4:30; Th 3:30-6; F 9-12, 1:30-3.

3/19/02

To make up for break cutting off my Friday office hours, I'm extending my T-Th hours. I'll be in my office T 3:30-5:30, W 10-12, 1-5:30, and TH 3:30-5:30. Stop by if you have any questions about the research-based revision, the application project, your mid-term grade, or any other aspect of the course.

Don't forget that we're meeting for Thursday's class in Fenton 2162, the Giambrone Computer Lab! Look to the listserv for attachments relating to that Thursday meeting this afternoon.

3/13/02

I've revised the research-based revision project page to recap the expectations we've discussed in class for the peer review and include the assignment sheet for the project.

3/12/02

I have to restructure my office hours this week a bit. My TTH hours remain the same, but on W I'll only be available to meet from 10-12, 1-3, and F 10-12, 3-4.

3/7/02

I have to change my office hours for F 3/8: due to a meeting, I'll switch them two hours earlier from 2-4:30 to 12-2:30....

3/5/02

Please see the main page for a major change to our schedule for the next couple of weeks. I've moved the peer review on the research-based revision back a week and the due date for the project to before you leave for spring break. See the main page for details.

3/4/02

Hey all, obviously we're going to have to tinker with our schedule due to the snow emergency. Here's hoping we can meet tomorrow. Assuming we can, I'll announce changes to the schedule then....

3/1/02

Hey all, the links page has been updated with info. on job/graduate school searches, Stephenson's Snow Crash, and Devi's Imaginary Maps. Check it out when you get a chance by clicking on the link on the top and bottom of every page on the course web site.

2/27/02

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I have to reschedule my office hours for this coming Friday. Since I have meetings at 3 and 4 pm, I'm changing my F hours to 10 am -12 noon, 1-3 pm. I'd be happy to meet with people to discuss their research-based revisions.

2/22/02

Hey folks, don't forget the email reports I need back from you: still missing 3 personal biblios, 1 research-based revision proposal, 5 audience/genre revision proposals, 13 responses to Erin's talk, 10 responses to Chris's talk, and 12 responses to Nic's talk. So far I've received a couple of early responses to Mary's talk and proposals for the Application Project--please be sure to turn those in by the end of the day Monday at the latest. Thanks, and have a good weekend.

2/7/02

Hey all, I've revised the main page to reflect current information on your teaching presentations. Remember that when you have some idea of what your focus will be, please email so I can give a little more of a preview than your name and option (LB="looking back"; LA="looking ahead"; LO="looking out"), that is, do what I've done for Kara Soos's on 2/28.

I'm just about to upload an assignment sheet for the audience/genre revision project that complements the pages I added on 2/5 (see below for details). If you have any questions about any of the assignments, first check these web sites, and if they haven't been answered then either email me or stop by to see me.

Which reminds me that I'll be in the office till 5 pm today, but have to cancel my office hours for tomorrow due to my travelling to my faculty union's delegate assembly in Albany. To replace those missing Friday hours, I'll be available in the office from 1-4 pm on Monday.

OK, have a productive weekend, and see you Tuesday!

2/5/02

Hey all, the web site is coming along pretty well. I've put a tentative schedule for teaching presentations up on the main page. If you can email me to confirm the date or let me know in class, that would be cool. I still need to hear from 5 people on their preferences, so if your name doesn't appear on the Schedule of Assignments somewhere, let me know.

Also email me if you'd like for me to reserve a place for you at either of the library on-line research tutorials I emailed you all about on the course listserv. The two that I thought might be of most use were on "Internet Searching Skills" (2/12, 6-7:30) and "English" (2/28, 5:30-7).

Finally, I've added new pages on the teaching presentation and the research-based revision that we'll go over in class today--don't forget we're meeting in Fenton 2162, the Humanities Computer Lab! See you all in class....

1/31/02

Hey folks, due to a department meeting, I have to curtail my office hours tomorrow a bit. Since I have to take off at 3, let's say I'll be there (Fenton 240) from 1-3 pm.

A couple of words about the most recent changes to the syllabus. We've already discussed in class the logic behind reversing the "Looking Out" and "Looking Ahead" sections of the course from what was printed in your original syllabi. Although it means moving the Devi reading to the end of the semester, which had been kept clear for writing, it makes more sense to bring the graduate school/job-oriented portion of the course forward so that we're not putting off the part of the course that probably has the most practical consequences for your future plans until a time in the semester when all your applications will already be out. Ending with the "Looking Out" section has required some major changes to the scheduling of assignments and deadlines, etc. It has also meant bringing in speakers during the initial "Looking Back" section of the course who themselves are introducing or foreshadowing things we'll focus on in more detail later in the semester.

It's because of this last fact that I've had to revise the syllabus one more time today. You'll notice I've moved forward the decision-making process on the three main writing projects (Research-based Revision, Audience/Genre Revision, and Application Project) in the course by requiring emails on your plans much earlier than originally scheduled (for the latter two, at least). This is so that you'll be in a position to benefit from the guest presentations by Judy Elwinger, Nelson Graff, and Christina Jarvis, who will be offering both general overviews and hands-on practice on the topics listed. The way I see it, by making your key decisions early, you can focus in the rest of the semester on actually following through on your plans.

So a few reminders for next class and next week: (1) Be thinking hard about your plans for the three main writing projects, based in part on feedback on your portfolios from the peer reviews we did this week--decisions on each are due next Friday, the following Monday, and the Monday after that. (2) Also be thinking hard about your teaching presentation--depending on your preferences, you may be doing one as early as 2/12. (3) As you're reading Snow Crash for next week, be thinking about how it relates to works you've read and courses you've taken at Fredonia--we'll be approaching the novel from an intertextual and a reader-response angle next week, trying to link our discussion of it to our discussion of the questions we were interested in this week (on the level of coherence you see in "your major," that is, the courses you've taken within the major; on the degree of commonality of experience, learning, knowledge, and skills you've each gotten in/from "the major," and whether it's correct to say there really is one major in English). (4) Don't forget that we're meeting next Tuesday in the English computer lab--Fenton 2162!

1/29/02

Hey, folks! The web site is beginning to come together. Not all the links are working, but the main, links, and listserv pages should be, with more to come on-line soon. I've made some major changes to the syllabus, along the lines we discussed in class today. Contrary to what it says under "Schedule of Assignments," however, I'd hold off on replacing your old syllabus with a print-out of the main page of the course web site for a few days yet, while I check with guest speakers for availability and work out the teaching presentation schedule. Once those two things are done, then I'd recommend printing off the main course web page and using it as your syllabus for the rest of the semester.

ENGL 400: Senior Seminar, Spring 2002
Created: 1/29/02 11:10 pm
Last modified: 5/9/02 11:13 am