The Graded Papers

I have had a chance to grade many of the papers. Frankly, they were generally disappointing. (Don't read that as a statement about your paper, but about the set.) And the weakness of the papers reveals something that you should attend to in studying for the final.

The assignment asked you to view the speeches in the context of the civil rights movement. Too many of you comment on the speeches, but not in that context. We have spent a lot of time during the semester talking at each stage and at each moment about what the state of the movement was. We used movement theory to understand the demands placed upon the speakers by the state of the movement. Little of that skill was in evidence in the papers. Then we have talked about the speeches in terms of how they respond to the requirements of the movement.

This is a way of thinking about speeches that will be a necessity for you to master for the final.

Seeing your paper

At this point I have all the papers graded that were handed in by the beginning of class on December 2. If you handed your paper in later than that, you may wish to check this site again on Wednesday morning to see if I have reached the later papers. My commitment to have your papers graded within two weeks of when they are handed in applies only to those papers that came in on time. Since I will grade papers from my other class that came in on time before I grade the papers that came in late for your class, I cannot guarantee you that I will have them graded.

I will be in my office from 9 until 3 on Wednesday. If your paper was handed in on time, drop by to pick up your paper and talk to me about it if you wish. I will answer any additional questions as well. If you just want your grade, send me an email before Wednesday afternoon. It will need to be sent from your email address. I will let you know your grade.

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