J7A Essay process - Overview, Deadlines, Submission process

• The overview of the essay process is on this page. It includes the deadlines in a sort of short list, then, below that, details on how to submit each step and how it will be graded.
• This page is still under construction since I am writing each step as we go along. The other pages are also under construction for the same reason.
• Forms used for submission are on a separate page. Forms page.
• Full information about a step, in other words all the rest of the instructions, are on a separate, instructions page. Instructions page.

Overview

All students will submit an essay for J7A, Fall 2012.

It should have good MLA style form. Details, when available, will have a link here.

It should be APPROXIMATELY in the 1800-2400 word range, in general, but effective length is determined by the essay goals and the expressive style of the student (some or concise, others are not — please be concise where possible). There is no real correlation between word length and grade: accomplish the goals of the essay with prose that has been tightened by a rewriting. Plese do not think aloud or write your way towards a solution: those are events at the stage of the draft, not the complete product sent to us.

It is submitted electronically, with relatively sever late penalties.

Academic honesty is important. Be sure you understand the "context is king" and "fair & accurate representation / over-the-shoulder" and "no forgiveness" rules as described on my Academic Honesty Web page. Do not have others edit or otherwise contribute to your essay, including outside reading for improvement. If you do have editing or other advice, submit an original and the edited version. The original will need to be submitted early (see details below). The original will be graded, the edited version will be refered to if your meaning is unclear.

The basic goal of the essay is a credible and interesting exploration, elucidation and/or interpretation (in other words, "analysis") of a high-cultural art entity using a course concept, in a pairing between concept and entity that is fresh and promising (rather than expect: sabi in Basho's haiku is an expected pairing, bushido in Chikamatsu's plays is unusual enough to be accepted).

The work flow is to identify your topic, get to know your concept better, get to know the context and other things about your entity better, read (or view, etc) your entity in full, then submit the essay. Of course research, brain-storming, outlines, drafts and such happen along the way. Ii am suggesting, however, that you spend time thinking over your course concept first, then move to your entity. This will be time efficient in most cases.

Deadlines, short list (go HERE for instructions on how to complete and submit the assignment)

• Wallace deadline: Assignment of topics and mentor: Wed, Oct 10
• Student deadline: STEP 01 Confirm topic, switch topic, or propose topic: Fri, Nov 2, 8PM
  • All-Mentor deadline: Fri, Nov 2, 8PM — If you have said you will stay with the topic assigned, you will hear from me confirming that. Your topic is now permanent and cannot be changed. If you have said you want to switch topics, you will hear from me as to whether that is approved or not. Your topic (the new one if approved, the initial assignment if not) is your permanent topic and cannot be changed. If you have proposed a topic, you will hear from your mentor about that. (It might be accepted as it, but more likely a resubmission will be required.)
  • Mentor-student deadline: For those proposing new topics not on the list of topics, the final decision day is Fri, Nov 9. If your discussion with your mentor is not resolved by that time, you are returned to your initial assigned topic and it can no longer be changed. If your mentor has approved your topic it is now permanent and can no longer be changed.
• Student deadline: STEP 02 Resources Report: Sat, Nov 17, 10AM MORNING!!

• All-Mentor deadline: Comments and grade on Resources Report: Thur, Nov 22, 8PM
• Student deadline: STEP 03 Complete Essay: Sat, DEC 1, 8PM
  • Optional meeting with mentor: Tue, Dec 4 (2 LeConte, during regular class time) or Thur, Dec 6 (2 LeConte, during regular class time) or at another time and place on Dec 4-6 as announced by your mentor
  • Mentor deadline: Comments and grade on Complete Essay: Tue, Dec 11, 8PM
• Student deadline: STEP 04 Complete Essay, revised: Tue, Dec 11, 8PM
  • GSI-as-Mentor deadline: Anonymous Reader reports to me: Fri, Dec 14, 8PM
  • All-Mentor deadline: Comments and grade on Complete Essay: Sat, Dec 15, 8PM
• I may or may not post bSpace grades on the Anonymous Reader reports before final grades are due to be submitted Monday, Dec 17. If you do not see them before, you should see them shortly afterwards.

Each step's deadline, grade rubric, grade weight

Assignment of topics and mentor

• Announcement date: Wed, Dec 10
• Content: there will be two bSpace "grade" uploads—"Mentor" and "Essay topic". The "grade" will be "999" just to give bSpace something to chew on. The real content is in the comments box. One "grade" will identify your mentor for the essay process; the other "grade" will identify your topic. Unless you request a topic switch or propose a topic different from your given topic this given topic will be, without any possible chance to switch, your topic for the essay.

Before first deadline

• This is a "dead period" with no communication with the mentor allowed. In other words, it is entirely up to the student to develop a proposal.

STEP 01 Deadline for submission confirming topic, switching topic, or proposing topic

• This is only about the Step 01 submission process. For Step 01 content instructions see: Step 01 Instructions
• Submission deadline: Fri, Nov 2, 8PM
  • This is a REQUIRED submission.
  • LATE PENALTIES: Beginning exactly 30 minutes past deadline, no additional grace period, your submission will be refused and your essay category grade will be reduced by 5%.
  • If we do not hear from you by the deadline, by default you now have the topic
• Submit to these individuals: your mentor and me, on the "To" line and at the same time. You will receive an ACCEPTED or TOO LATE TO BE ACCEPTED notice from me within 48 hours (write me if you don't hear by then). Submitting to your mentor only does not satisfy deadline requirements.
• Submit with this subject line: J7A_S01_LASTNAME_classname
• For proposing a topic not on the list, cut-and-paste the content of this form, DO NOT ATTACH ANY DOCUMENTS TO YOUR EMAIL: Step 01 New Topic Proposal
• For switching for your assigned topic to a different one on the list, cut-and-paste the content of this form, DO NOT ATTACH ANY DOCUMENTS TO YOUR EMAIL: Step 01 Switch to New Topic on the Topic List. *Your switch will be approved if no more than four other students are working on the same topic and if I believe you are not linking up with a friend in class to work on the same topic.
• For staying with your assigned topic to a different one on the list, cut-and-paste the content of this form, DO NOT ATTACH ANY DOCUMENTS TO YOUR EMAIL: Step 01 Keep Assigned Topic
• Grade weight: not graded, except late penalty as described above.
• Special note: You should look ahead at the other requirements, submissions deadlines and such for the essay and be very sure that you can satisfy those requirements with your new topic proposal.

Deadline for response to alternate proposal

• Response to student deadline: as much before Fri, Nov 9 as possible
• Required content: "Approved" "Provisionally not approved" "Not approved"
  • Approved: you can proceed with your topic
  • Provisionally not approved: you can try ONE more time to get your proposal approved; there might be advice already on what came up short
  • Not approved: you are returned to your originally designated topic and you cannot switch (this inflexibility has its reasons, you can ask me if curious)
• Optional content: Suggestions for slight imporvements of direction, brief explanations as to why a proposal was denied, NO alternative ideas offered

Lock-in of topics

STEP 02 Deadline for submission of Resources Report

• This is only about the Step 02 submission process. For Step 02 content instructions see: Step 02 Instructions
• Submission deadline: Sat, Nov 17, 10AM MORNING!!
  • This is a REQUIRED submission.
  • LATE PENALTIES: TEXT
• Submit to these individuals: your mentor and me, on the "To" line and at the same time. You will receive an ACCEPTED or other notice from me within 48 hours (write me if you don't hear by then). Submitting to your mentor only does not satisfy deadline requirements.
• Submit with this subject line: J7A_S02_LASTNAME_classname

Just so you get a sense of it, the report content will be a response to something like the below. I'll complete this later.

• Source MLA-style entry:
  
• Exact portions that you have read:
  
• How you have accessed it:
  
• Is there electronic access for this resource that we can access?
  
• Basic topic of source
  
• Basic theses (that's plural!) of source:
  
• Information from this resource that you consider useful to you (just list in a general sense), if any:
  
• Ideas (not topics but something closer to thesis-conclusion and this might be several), if any:

Deadline for mentor response to Resources Report

STEP 03 Deadline for submission of Complete Essay

Deadline for mentor response to Complete Essay

Face-to-face meeting (5-15 minutes, optional, time for questions and unsolicited adivce)

STEP 04 Deadline for submission of Complete Essay, revised

Deadline for mentor response to Complete Essay, revised

Deadline for anonymous outside reader reports

Report of collective results of outside reader reports

Deadline for any final actions (15)