Papers. When you write your papers, observe scrupulously the formats described in the MLA handbook and in the handout "FRE and Literature Courses: Style Sheet for Research Papers."

Submit the paper electronically and conventionally. Staple the actual paper, please. Submit the electronic version as a Word attachment. Either CC yourself or retain the sent version in your "sent items" folder.

Papers must represent clear thinking, excellent writing, and hard work. Careless errors are extremely rare or non-existant. Be sure to use spell-check and grammar check.

• The first paper is 5-15 pages on the cultural context of the text on which you are working. Who is the author? How were the themes of the work important to the cultural context in which the piece appeared? What is important to understand about the literary movement in which the piece figures?
• The preliminary bibliography includes the primary source and several (or many) secondary sources. These sources must include some found with the MLA bibliography. It is bad form to have an overreliance on encyclopedias or other reference books or on a single book or website. Please note which sources you have already and which are ordered through Inter-Library Loan. If you have another idea about how to get the source, indicate that. Conformity to MLA style is very important. One copy will be given to a classmate to comment. The corrected bibliography will be submitted later that day. Be sure to note the name of your consulting colleague on the corrected bibliography.
• The second paper is 4-12 pages long and is on a specific passage of a text; it is similar in range to an explication de texte. The French is very carefully controlled and you have polished the development of your idea as much as you can. One copy will be given to a classmate to comment.
• The third paper is the remainder of the final paper. It might be about relevant theoretical issues, more explication de texte, or whatever else your paper needs.
• The final paper is a synthesis and re-organization of the first three. It will deal in depth and critically with a text that falls within the scope of the course, and will consider the cultural context of that work.

The Writing Studio can help you with the difficulties of writing. You can get any available tutor to help you with such general matters as documenting sources, time management, how to write a conclusion, or talking out the ideas you have about a given text. Tutors appreciate being consulted in the early stages of a paper; proofreading is far less satisfying than dealing with ideas. Their website offers many handouts helpful to academic writers.

Presentations (exposés).

Some presentations will require handouts (see below). For other presentations, it is optional. Handouts might include charts, chronologies, or other materials that we need just in class. All handouts that you provide to us should have your name, the date, and some sort of title that clarifies what the paper is for. Proper documentation (i.e., publication information, notes, bibliography) is essential.

Other presentations will be about cultural contexts. It is particularly appropriate to use visual aids and other creative measures for these presentations.

All presentations are in French, are well-planned, include me in the planning process, deal with at least one text or cultural context, and represent clear thinking, good communication, and effective teaching.

Exposé 1: Chansons de voyage. Monday January 9 (afternoon). 3 minutes. Bring in a song, in French or in English, about travel. It might be about separation or longing, as long as it's a geographic separation and that's part of the song. Prepare a one-page handout (not necessarily a whole page!) with your name, song title, author, performer, and an MLA-style reference to the song. You might want visuals or lyrics, too (provide sources!). Be prepared to have us listen to a small segment of the song and say why it's interesting. The presentation and handout are in French.

Exposé 2: Contextes. 5-7 minutes maximum. Give us a thumbnail sketch of this text: What is it about? Who wrote it? What makes it relevant to our class? What might the big issues be? A handout would be helpful here.

Exposé 3: Can be about anything you're working on with your project, especially something about which you want our perspective. 5-7 minutes maximum, so get specific. It can be an explication de texte focusing on a single part of the text. It can be about the secondary sources you are using.

You will need to do enough of the preparation for this presentation by the day before your presentation to distribute the text to the class and to your professor, along with other relevant materials (vocabulary list, for example) that you think we need as we do our reading.

Grand exposé. 15 minutes maximum. Give a conference-style presentation. Distribute text and other materials the day before, as you did for Exposé 3.

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