Prof. Robert Collins
ENGL 262G—The Art of Literature
Paper #2 — Presentations
ASSIGNMENT:
You’ve all been assigned to groups, and each group has been assigned a certain theoretical
essay. By now you should have at least dipped into your group’s essay, and I hope you’ve got a sense
of what’s going on in that essay.
What I’m asking you to do with your groups is this: you need to work together to produce a
presentation of roughly ten minutes (longer is better than shorter) that summarizes your essay, and
considers how it relates to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. After your presentation is
over, you will also have to answer questions from the class about your essay. This also means that
when your group is not presenting, you’ll need to pay careful attention and come up with questions!
Every student must ask at least one question over the course of the presentations.
Your presentations should cover at least these few things:
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Who wrote this essay?
What field does it come from?
What is the topic of the essay? That is, what is it about?
What is the argument of this essay? That is, what is it asking us to believe about this topic?
What kind of evidence is used to persuade us?
How is the same topic treated in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? What would
the author of your essay say about this novel?
Those are the things that you should say in your presentation. Here’s what you should do:
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Have every group member contribute something (not necessarily speaking, but feel free to
divide up speaking roles).
Have some kind of visual aid — a PowerPoint, a poster board, someone writing on the
board, a handout out for everyone, something like that.
You should present for 8-12 minutes.
You should be prepared! You might consider writing something in advance and reading it
from a page, or you may simply wish to outline what you want to say on a notecard, or you
may want to memorize your bit. If you’re very familiar with what your essay and what you’re
saying about it, you can speak off the cuff, but you should definitely practice for.
SCHEDULE:
Wednesday, October 16: Group Workshop. This will be the only time I’ll force you to get together
with your groups, but I certainly recommend finding time to meet outside of
class. You’ll discuss your essay and plan your presentation for most of the
class period.
Monday, October 21 and
Wednesday, October 23: Presentations! We’ll have three groups present on Monday and two on
Wednesday. The order of presentations will be determined on group
workshop day.
AFTER THE PRESENTATIONS:
When presentations are over you should begin thinking about your essay. A more detailed prompt
for the essay is coming, but for now what you need to know is this.
 The essay is due Monday, November 4.
 It will be at least five full pages in length.
 After hearing everyone’s presentation about the essays, you will choose one of them – not
necessarily your group’s! – and consider how its argument relates to The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-time.
 We will not have class on Wednesday, October 30. Instead, you’ll be required to meet with
me in my office that week for a ten-minute conference about your essay. A sign-up sheet is
forthcoming.
GRADE BREAKDOWN:
Paper Two is, at the end of the day, worth 25% of your grade. There are a few components to this
grade, which break down like this:
The Essay Itself
Group Presentation
Did the Student Ask a Question?
Did the Student Attend His/Her Conference with Me?
— 10%
— 10%
— 3%
— 2%