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Requirements

• • english major
• • english minor
• • english and creative writing major
• • english and creative writing minor
• • film studies minor
• • teacher licensure
• • first year writing
• • criteria for senior exercise and portfolio evaluations

• Overall content. The presentation shows evidence of significant intellectual content and investigation.
• Clarity of argument or project, including the thesis or research question, main points, and conclusions).
• Organization and coherence. The presentation should proceed logically and should provide clear transitions from point to point.
• Delivery. The presenter should adhere to time limits and show evidence that she has practiced, has mastered her material (speaking from notes rather than reading). She will speak clearly, with assurance (and not too fast).
• Ability to respond seriously and effectively to questions and suggestions.
  

Criteria for Critical Research Project:

• Ability to ask useful questions of a text
• Ability to create a thesis which successfully responds to these questions
• Ability to conduct significant research in traditional and electronic sources relevant to the investigation
• Ability to integrate the results of such research into the student’s original argument
• Ability properly to document sources and citations.

Criteria for Creative Writing Critique Assessment:

Fiction
1. Line editing. (Does the reader detect and point out persistent or particularly notable problems with word-choice, syntax, diction, punctuation, or spelling?)
2. Marginal comments. (Does the reader point out particularly good or weak dialogue, description, or action? Does the reader ask questions about the characters or action in the story?)
3. Terminal comment. (Does the reader summarize her response to the story? Does the reader point out the ways in which the story is convincing and unconvincing? Does the reader suggest how the story might be altered or more fully developed to make it more convincing?)

Poetry
1. Music/rhythm (Does the reader address the poem’s particular rhythm or music?)
2. Form/line length (Does the reader address the poem’s shape–line length, rhyme, form–and whether or not it contributes to the poem’s effectiveness?)
3. Effective diction (Does the reader address whether the poem’s word choice is deliberate, specific, and effective? Does the reader point out the overuse of abstractions? Does the reader point out images and lines that are both surprising and effective?)
4. Punctuation (Does the reader address whether or not the poem’s punctuation is clear and effective?)
5. Title (Does the reader address the poem’s title and whether or not it serves to amplify or enhance the poem’s subject?)
6. Terminal comment (Does the reader summarize the explain her response to the poem?)

Criteria for Portfolio Project:

Fiction
1. Convincing point of view. (Is the point of view clearly established? Is the point of view consistent?
2. Characterization. (Are the characters clearly delineated? Do we learn enough about the characters’ histories, preoccupations, virtues, and flaws? Does the writer establish empathy or antipathy toward the characters?)
3. Convincing setting. (Does the author clearly establish where and when the stories take place? Is the setting presented evocatively? Does the setting serve to develop characterization?
4. Convincing dialogue. (Is the dialogue consistent with characterization--age, social and economic status–and setting–time period, location? Does the dialogue help illuminate the story’s theme?)
5. Convincing action. (Does the story clearly establish a conflict? Does the story seem appropriately paced? Does the action build toward a climax?)
6. Theme. (Is the story’s purpose subtle but clear?)
7. Language. (Is the writing evocative or compelling? Is the writing capable, i.e., mechanically and syntactically correct?)

Poetry

1. Voice (Is the speaker in the poem clearly established?)
2. Form (Does the poem’s shape–line-length, rhyme, etc.--contribute to the poem’s effectiveness?)
3. Imagery (Do the poem’s images effectively and allusively convey its subject?
4. Subject (Is the occasion of the poem clear? Does the poem adequately address its subject?
5. Mood (Do the poem’s voice, images, and subject matter clearly establish a mood?)
6. Theme (Is the poem’s purpose subtle but clear?)
7. Language (Is the writing evocative or compelling? Is the writing capable–i.e., mechanically and syntactically correct?)