ENGL 330: Medieval Literature
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz
English Department, California Polytechnic State UniversityABOUT READING QUIZZES
Quizzes are divided into two parts: 1) background/factual and 2) passage IDs. They are "self-designed": there are generally 4-6 questions/passages per section, of which you are asked to choose three in each section as your self-designed quiz. You are eligible for extra credit in a given section only if the three questions chosen as your self-designed quiz are at least half right. If any of the three questions which you chose for your self-designed quiz is NOT at least half right, you are not eligible for extra credit points on that section of the quiz.
IMPORTANT: You must indicate clearly which questions are for extra credit if you attempt more than the required three in a given section. If you fail to do so and ANY question in the section is less than half right, only the three WEAKEST responses in that section will count. By contrast, any "Bonus" questions on a quiz are just that -- bonus points which you can earn whether or not you are eligible for EC. (No penalty for guessing wrong on "bonus points.")
Background/factual: questions covering material presented in assigned pages from introductions, headnotes in the Norton Anthology, and/or on study guides (which will alert you to the information you should know for quizzes -- and exams!). Questions typically cover the following: author name or nickname and biographical information, including inclusive dates for lifespan and/or period of literary activity (use approximations found on study guides or in assigned background readings); title and any alternate titles of the work; date of composition (and/or publication); original language of composition (Old English, Middle English, Latin, French); genre (e.g. dream vision, epic, lyric poem, romance, etc.); form (e.g. alliterative verse, rhyme royal stanzas, rhyming couplets, prose, etc.); principal sources or models; number of manuscripts in which it is preserved; etc. There may also be questions asking you to identify, define or describe characters (listed by name), key concepts and terms, and/or specific formal aspects (e.g. define allegory; describe the Old English alliterative line; what is the rhyme pattern of a "rhyme royal" stanza; etc.).
To prepare for quizzes (and review for exams): make a notecard with relevant factual information for each reading and author. Highlight and learn any factual information provided on the study guides and online background readings. Make sure you know the answers to any background questions asked on study guides. Jot down the names of the main characters in the reading and notes to help you remember what happens in the reading in question.
Passage IDs: a selection of key passages from the primary readings (i.e. the medieval texts, not the background information). You will identify the reading (if more than one is covered on the quiz) and answer questions about it, e.g. who is the speaker; to whom the speaker is speaking; what character a given pronoun refers to; etc. Passages chosen are all key passages to which your attention should have been drawn by the questions on the study guides. Use the study guides when preparing for class, and you should recognize most of the passages on the reading quizzes. NOTE: if you do not know the names of the main characters in the reading, you will miss points unnecessarily. . . !
At the end of the quarter, I will drop the lowest quiz from your average. And while there will be as many as twelve points available on each quiz (including EC), I will calculate your cumulative quiz grade as if quizzes were worth only the 6 required points. As a result, by doing EC questions on one or more quizzes, you can easily make up for a missed or weak quiz. Generally, a significant portion of the class ends up with an A+ quiz average!
Contents of this and all linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2005
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