Description of Assignments and Expectations:

Professor’s Office Hours: Wednesdays: 12-1:30 (Zrinyi 12, room 507/A)

Please use my office house for discussions about course issues or related matters, as
opposed to email. Ideally, email correspondence should be limited to letting me know that
you will be absent from class, submitting assignments, or something that must be
communicated to me before Tuesday’s class meetings. Given the bulk of email I receive, it is
not always possible to reply to emails immediately. I do not check my email on the
weekends.

I will be out of town from Oct 7-11 (Thurs-Mon), but office hours and our class meeting will
not be affected.

Seminar Attendance: Constitutes 5% of final grade. This course rests on the belief that an
important component of student learning will happen by listening and discussing the
readings in the classroom with others. Consequently, my expectation is that every student
will attend every seminar meeting. If an individual misses one meeting due to illness or
something unavoidable, it will not impact on the credit they receive for attendance.
However, missing more than one meeting will result in the student receiving less than 5%
for attendance toward their final course grade.

Seminar Participation: Not graded. The seminar meetings will consist of some framing
lectures by the instructor and discussion involving students and instructor. I expect every
student to participate in making the discussions focused, analytical, and relevant to the
readings and subject matter of the particular meeting topic. It detracts from a seminar’s
success if individual students never contribute to the discussion or if individuals participate
at a rate that is disproportionately higher than their classmates. Please try to monitor the
rate and quality of your involvement in discussions and feel free to discuss with me if you
wish for help finding ways of being more involved. I expect that every student will have
done all of the reading before class. If you have not for some reason, but wish to attend the
seminar nonetheless (which is okay), your contribution to the discussion will either be
through active listening alone, or should acknowledge your limited ability to speak about
readings which you have not been able to do for that particular meeting.

Group/Presentations: 5% of final grade. Each member of the class is required to present on

a given topic related to one of the week’s topics and, or materials. The weeks that
presentations can be made are indicated on the syllabus with the designation [oral
presentation]. Presentations cans be made in groups of one, two or three. For groups of
one, the presentation should be 15 minutes, for groups of two or three, presentations
should be 30 minutes. Students are not required but highly encouraged to speak with me
about their presentation ideas in the planning stage. Everyone giving a presentation will
receive the full 5% credit toward their final grade. While there should be some coordination
among people presenting on the same day, group presentations can be divided into
separate sections undertaken by individual members or they can be done with maximum
cooperation between presenters. Presentation topics could simply elaborate independently
on an issue in the readings or engage with a related topic. For example, in week 5, one could
do a presentation on Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein (as an example of a critique of the
human and image of the inhuman) or the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Week six, one could
examine in more detail the relationship between imperialism and the production of the
human, or more specifically how it contributed to the idea of species. Or for week 10, a
group could examine animal rights ethics as a complement to and potentially relates to the
topic of post-humanism and ethics. In week 11 or 12, one could make a presentation on
biomedical issues and Donna Haraways’s concept of the cyborg. There is plenty of room for
you to find a way of relating what interests you to the course materials through the
presentation. I warmly invite you to discuss your ideas or lack there of to help you work out
a topic that interests you.

Presentation Paper: Due one week after one’s presentation. 3-4 pps. (20% of final course
grade). Presentation papers must be individual student’s explication and analysis of an issue
relating to the group presentation. They can include materials not presented in class or
developed further as a result of class discussion of the oral presentation. They are due one
week after the in-class group presentation. They will be assessed on their indication of
insights and analysis that go beyond the materials presented on the syllabus. They should
not be a typed version of the presentation (i.e. print-out of presentation slides). Rather, they
should be formatted like a traditional should paper/essay which introduces a topic and
develops it in the body of the essay using evidence (if appropriate) or supporting materials
and draws conclusion at the end.

Take-Home Essay: [due: Oct 30, 2010] Required length 3-4 pages. Constitutes 20% of final
grade. This essay is designed to give students an exercise through which they can actively
make sense of some of the themes and readings of the class in a more systematic way than
classroom discussion. It will happen midway through the seminar to give the instructor a
sense of individual students’ level of understanding of the material and in order that the
student gets feedback midway through the course to assist his or her learning in the
remainder of the course. It will not involve outside readings but will ask students to analyze
an issue in a way that reflects their understanding the readings and to make sense of the
material beyond what we have done collectively in the classroom. Essays will be assessed on
the student’s level of accomplishment of these tasks, as well as on the quality of their ideas
and linkages regarding course readings and themes. Essay questions will be distributed on
Oct, 19, 2010.

IMPORTANT CHANGE:

Final Assignment will consist of individual student’s choice between a final paper (10-12
pp) OR a take-home essay (consisting of several questions). You may decide which option
you will choose until December 20th, 2010 [at which point you will either turn in an exam
or pursue the option of a paper].

OPTION #1
Final Paper [due: Jan 5, 2011]: Length is 10-12 pages. Constitutes 50% of course grade. This
paper is meant to reflect students’ comprehension of some of the issues of the course and
ability to contribute to the scholarly work in this area of gender studies/social theory. The
papers must be have an original and sophisticated argument; develop the argument fully
through argumentation, sophisticated analysis, and various support for the main position of
the paper. Please come and discuss with me if you are uncertain what any of these elements
of a paper is. Part of the development students undergo (hopefully) in a doctoral program is
learning how to do scholarship at a professional level. Course papers are one of the
opportunities for developing these skills. The small size of classes mean that I can work with
students individually to clarify and give feedback on their writing and analytical skills as
demonstrated in their writing.

As a means of working with students on their writing and analytical skills, I make the offer to
read a draft of the final paper. This is not a requirement of the course and will not be
graded. However, if a student sends me a draft of their final paper before or on November
24th, I will give them written comments before the end of 12th week.

OR

OPTION #2
Take Home Essay: [due December 20, 2010] Constitutes 50% of final grade. This essay exam
will be comprised of several short essays, much in the style of the first take-home essay.
Questions will be circulated on the final day of the course. Students cannot discuss the exam
essays with one another. If you would like clarification or help with thinking through your
exam answer, please come see the instructor as I can gauge the appropriate level of “help”
for an exam and can insure you get the right information.

General Guidelines:

Format for written work: All written assignments must be typed. The page length is
calculated on normal margins, double-spaced pages, and 12 point font. It is acceptable to
submit assignments via email. The deadline is midnight of the day that the assignment is
due.

Extensions: Assignments are expected before or on the due-date (by midnight). Official
extensions will be granted only in exceptional cases which can be documented. No official
extensions, except relating to physical or natural catastrophe, will be given the day the
assignment is due. Late assignments are accepted by people who are prevented from
submitting assignments on time due to other, more personal reasons. However these
assignments be will be penalized a half a grade for every two days late (e.g. B to B-, etc.) . I
would appreciate students informing me if their paper will be late for unofficial reasons so I
know when to expect them – however, it is not necessary to provide the reason for the late
assignment when no extension is given.

Plagiarism: All work must be one’s own in this course – including take-home essays.
Students are expected to be familiar with what constitutes plagiarism as a consequence of
their participation in the university’s orientation meetings. If you are uncertain, please come
and speak to me. Any ideas or text used from another writer must be fully and properly
cited. Plagiarism will result in an “F” for the course.