Bad Girls: Postfeminism and Popular Culture
Assignments
| Assignment | Percentage | Words | Due Date |
| Position Paper | 15% | 500 | January 25 |
| Annotated Bibliography and Group Presentation | 25% | 750 (100x5+250 intro) | Various (see below) |
| Essay | 30% | 1500 | Feb. 15 & March 15 |
| Participation | 10% | ||
| Exam | 20% | April: date TBA |
Position Paper
A position paper entails just that: taking a position on a given topic. It should be a short, concise, and persuasive argument using rhetorical techniques and evidence on one narrowly defined aspect of the assigned readings. Above all, it is an argument rather than statement of opinion. This assignment emphasises the skills of assessment, the ability to take a stand on complex issues, and precision in writing and argument.
Annotated Bibliography and Group Presentation
Annotated bibliography provides the opportunity to develop skills which can be applied to all academic reading and which can be use with all reading for this and other courses. As you read the supplementary material on the course, research your project, and come across pertinent material elsewhere, it is a way of keeping track of texts that are useful or will be useful to you so you will remember what they are about and their pertinence for you. When you share this information, it provides others with a sense of the text and whether or not it would be helpful for them to read it, watch, listen to it, etc.
Group work and presentations are common to many environments inside and outside the university and combine the skills of being able to work individually and to bring that work together in conjunction with others. It also provides the opportunity of developing oral skills--presenting a large amount of material in a short space of time and with other people.
Assignment: sign up for one of the topics--three of you will be working on the same one. Research the area and provide the class with an annotated bibliography of five items each which you found useful or interesting in the area. Briefly summarise the text (100 words for each text), and indicate how it relates to the foci of the course. Then write a 250 word introduction introducing your topic. Photocopy and/or post your assignment for the date of your topic. You are the "experts" and consultants for this area. Be prepared to talk to the class formally or informally about the area. The topics are huge and so will have to be narrowed. For example, in the film noire topic, one of you might choose to trace the films of an actress who played a number of femme fatale roles, while another might research the pulp fiction which inspired the films, and another might read widely in the criticism.
The topics are as follows:
| January 11 | Women and Comic Books | Carrie Clancy | ||
| January 20 | Women and TV: Feminist and Postfeminist Role Models | Mary Fogarty | Anna Milot | |
| January 25 | Women and Film Noire: History | Kate Millson | Nancy Allen | Sarah Johnstone |
| January 25 | Women and Film Noire: Neo-Noire | Heather Wax | Huwaida Pervez | Odette Trudel |
| February 1 | Women and Technology | Laura Cornish | ||
| February 17 | Women and Gangs | Vuyiswa M'Cwabeni | Elissa Healey | Michelle Etue |
| March 1 | Women and Prison | Trinh Nguyen | Lisa Baigent | Ed Tan |
| March 8 | Women and Music: History (->70s) | Yootha Neller | Heather Sandgren | Patricia Wilson |
| March 15 | Women and Sci Fi | Nicole Stewart | Ali Rahim | Anthony Thomas |
| March 17 | Women and Music: Contemporary (80s and 90s) | Tamara Glick | Anna Kovacs | Caroline Greene |
| March 24 | Women and Japanamation | Liisa Sheldrick | Mireille Morley | Richard Goodine |
| April 5 | Women and Video Games | Melanie Neale | Ted Sublett | |
| April 5 | Women and Contemporary Literature | Yvonne Tourand | Laurie Welshman | Kate Kenwell |
Essay
You have a choice of writing a group essay or an individual essay, depending on the nature of the project and your preferences for individual or collective work. Creative projects are also a possibility in conjunction with an shorter essay but those who choose this option are reminded--not as discouragement but merely fair warning--that such undertakings consume huge amounts of time, and like the essays are evaluated extremely rigorously.
The essay is an ongoing project which starts on the first day and continues until the end of the course. You may be asked for your expert opinion on your topic throughout the term. Emphasis is on reworking and so there is a first and a second draft which will be peer edited.
Since the course encompasses a wide range of material and students will have diverse backgrounds and interests, the range of possibilities for essay topics is large indeed. They may grow out of the bibliography/presentation assignment. Suggestions will also be provided.
All topics must be cleared by the course instructor.
It is expected that essays will be written within the framework of the course--concerned with the issues discussed in class, and engaged with the theory in the syllabus--both enthusiasm and first class critical skills are assumed.
If you post your essay on the web, be sure to hand in a hard copy as well.
Exam
An exam provides the chance to review all of the mateiral in a course and to bring it all together--to synthesize it in useful ways. It encourages everyone to continually construct links among the texts throughout the year as well as at the end of term.
Format: TBA
Late Policy
5% a day (which includes 5% for each day of the weekend). The position paper will not be accepted more than one week after its due date.
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