ENGL
501/Schwartz
Information
Sheet: Midterm Exam Fall, 2009
The closed book Midterm will take place during class time
on Thursday, November 12. It will cover:
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your specific knowledge of the research strategies
and techniques you have practiced in the series of guided research exercises;
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your understanding of the idiosyncracies of the various research
tools introduced in the Practicum exercises -- what they're good for, their
short-comings, how to use them;
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proper bibliographic citation formats for books, journal
articles, and essays in edited (book) collections;
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the rules which govern capitalization, punctuation, and underlining
vs. quotation marks for the titles of works;
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assigned background readings on Shakespeare, the genre of
Romance, and the The Tempest;
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your familiarity with the details of the play itself;
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assigned contextual and critical readings for The Tempest
-- historical source materials and scholarly essays about The Tempest
and/or about Prospero's Books. In addition to being able to identify
these readings by title and author, you should know the approximate dates
of the assigned contextual and critical readings about The Tempest (know
the century of works written before 1900, and the decade of initial publication
for all critical essays from the 20th and/or 21st centuries). Also,
be able to identify the critical perspective(s) which each of these essays
represent. Finally, in preparation for the exam essay, refresh your
memory about the focus of each essay -- what questions each critic asks
and how s/he answers those questions;
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possibly, a BRIEF overview of your research project.
The OBJECTIVE PORTION will consist primarily of multiple
choice, matching, and fill-in-the-blank questions; there may also be some
short answers.
Some questions may entries reproduced from the MLA Bibliography,
and ask you: 1) to write a proper MLA bibliographic citation for the item
in question; 2) to explain the step-by-step process you would follow to
determine whether the item is available at Cal Poly (either in print collections
or through a subscription databases); and 3) to explain, specifically and
in detail, how you would get your hands on the item if it is NOT available
at Cal Poly.
-- There will be NO choice in these sections; you must
answer all questions on the objective exam.
-- HINT: complete/correct Reading Quizzes, and use
them to study!!
There MAY also be a section presenting a number of significant
passages from the play to identify; questions might include e.g. who is
speaking, to whom, about what, what is going on, and/or which critic(s)
have found the passage in question particularly important. NOTE:
if such a section is included on the exam, there is likely be an element
of choice.
II. ESSAY
You will be asked to write an ESSAY on The Tempest
and/or Prospero's Books which will also discuss some of the assigned contextual
and critical/scholarly readings. This essay will be worth a significant
number of exam points (probably between 1/3 and 1/2). There will
be a choice of topics.
DON'T FORGET TO BRING AN EXAM BOOK (large format preferred)
WITH YOU TO CLASS!!!
You are advised to have read ALL the material assigned,
since it will be difficult to camouflage large gaps. You WILL be required
to demonstrate SOME knowledge of ALL assigned readings.
A WORD TO THE WISE: While my exams are demanding, they
are not "random" or unfair. They DO cover a lot of ground, but there will
NOT be any trick questions or nasty surprises (except, perhaps, for the
fact that they really DO cover the material I tell you they will!). If
you know the material well, you should be able to complete the exam in
the allotted time and earn a good grade.
Final words of wisdom:
DON'T stay up all night before the exam.
DO have a good lunch.
And DO STUDY WITH A GROUP OR A FRIEND!!