One of the goals of this semester is to learn about the resources held in the Woodruff Library’s Special Collections. The class will divide into four groups. Each group will look at a different set of materials (we will learn more about these collections at our Library visit on 10/29):

Carol Ann Duffy (Devin O'Malley, Rob Lazar, Jieun Jun)

Seamus Heaney (Chelsea Platt, Matt Buendia, Jonah Queen, Ana Pineda)

Langston Hughes (Fabre Collection) (Amanda Klein, Nina Omeaku, Shagun Arora, Alex (Hansang) Lee)

Ted Hughes/Sylvia Plath (Kunal Vani, Nicole Azores-Gococo, Peter Zhao, Alex Howard, Hyo-Jin Chae)

One of the primary questions I would like you to keep in mind is how these materials advance, restrict, or otherwise change our experience of poetry.

There will be two elements to this project:

Presentation

After exploring these materials, each group will present your findings to the class. The form of the presentation is up to your group. You will responsible for leading 30 minutes of class. Each person in the group must participate in some element of the presentation. You should all examine the collection and decide what elements might be of interest to the class, and how best to present those materials to us (a handout, a poster, powerpoint, etc).  Feel free to set up an appointment to meet with me to discuss your ideas.

In addition to sharing your general knowledge of the collections, you will choose a poem (or poems) to serve as the centerpiece of your presentation. Its relationship to the materials will depend on what you find and will be explained in your presentation.  This poem (or one of these poems) should be posted to the wiki for annotation by the entire class.  This will allow everyone to come to class with some familiarity with the material.

Each person will also turn in a short (2-4 pages) reflection on the group project due on the day of your presentation. This should outline your experience conducting research (What was most interesting? What was most difficult?), your contribution to the presentation, and your overall impression of the project (Did you enjoy it? Did you think it was successful? Why or Why not? What would have made it more successful?)

Research Paper

Each student will also write an 8 page paper on a topic inspired by his/her research in MARBL. The only requirement is that you include some discussion of material held in Special Collections (you may move beyond the specific collection researched for your presentation, if you like). You may use secondary research (using books and/or peer reviewed journal articles) for this paper, but it is not required. If you use secondary sources, please use MLA format for citations.

Deadlines

Each student will turn in a brief explanation of their topic for my approval (Due Monday 11/17).

A draft will be due for peer review (Wednesday 12/3)

Final draft due to a box outside my office by noon on Friday 12/12 (NO EXCEPTIONS)