English 252, Spring 2016

Final Exam / Literary Magazine Project

Final Exam: Wed., May 4, 11 am

No work on this project or any other assignment will be accepted after the final exam day /
time. The presentation cannot be rescheduled except in the case of a dire emergency such as
hospitalization or senior grades being due for graduation.

What is this Project?

You will select an online magazine of contemporary literature to analyze and to compare to
texts we have read in class. The Project contains two parts:
1. An essay you will complete individually and submit to Bb/Turnitin.com by the final
exam day and time. The essay should be MLA Formatted and use MLA In-Text
Citations and a Works Cited page. If you need information about MLA, see the
professor, visit the Writing Center, or go to Purdue OWL:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

2. A group presentation of the literary magazine and part of each students essay. The
presentation will be during the final exam day and time. This is an oral presentation.

How will I be graded?

You will receive two grades, one for the written essay and one for the presentation. The essay is
worth 100 points, and the presentation is worth 75 points. Your presentation grade will not
reflect the performance of the other members of the group.

Step One: Choose a Literary Magazine

Below is a list of online literary magazines. These are all written in English and are free to
access. All six magazines must be assigned before any can be repeated.
Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal:
http://anthurium.miami.edu/home.htm
The Barcelona Review: http://www.barcelonareview.com/
Cha: An Asian Literary Journal: http://www.asiancha.com/
Muse India: The Literary E Journal: http://museindia.com/
Quarterly Literary Review Singapore: http://www.qlrs.com/story.asp?id=849
Storytime: Weekly Fiction by African Writers: http://publishyourstory.blogspot.com/

Step Two: Who will you be in a group with? Exchange contact information.
Each member of the group must select different texts to evaluate you should all be reading
different stories, poems, or essays from the website. If there is overlap, then your grades will
be penalized. Your group needs to look at the website and divide up the content.
Communication is very important here.

Step Three: Read Your Literary Magazine

You will read the texts on the website and from them, select three creative works (poetry, fiction,
or non-fiction) that you will analyze for your written essay.
Step Four: Select Six Texts from our Syllabus to compare the three works
from the magazine to.
Select two texts from each book in the anthology. Remember to cover a variety of cultures and
literary genres (fiction, poetry, drama). Remember this is a final exam project and so should
provide coverage of the entire semester.

Step Five: Complete Your Written Analysis

In an essay, analyze the three texts from the literary magazine and compare each one to two
different works from our syllabus.

Questions to Guide Your Written Analysis:

How would you describe the style of the text is it traditional? Experimental? Does it
teach a lesson? In what way?
Are the characters sympathetic? Do you feel connected to them or distanced?
Is natural imagery used? Other types of imagery? What is their effect?
Do they contain themes and conflicts that are easy to relate to (familiar / universal)?
Or is the subject matter unfamiliar to you, specific to a certain culture or personal
experience?
What relation does the work have to the region?

Questions to Guide Your Comparison to Works from Our Class:

How similar or different are the works from the magazine to the works weve read in
class? Think of subject matter, conflicts, themes, style, etc.
How does this comparison help you to understand the anthology texts in greater depth?

Step Six: Organize and Plan Your Presentation

You will need to do this as a group.
The presentation should not exceed 15 minutes.
Show the literary magazine website on the screen.
Other visual support (Prezi or PowerPoint) is permitted.
Notes are permitted.
However, reading off a screen or notes (not looking at the audience) is not engaging.

How Should the Presentation Be Structured?

First, introduce the magazine. Each member of the group should participate in this
introduction. The introduction should give background information about the magazine.
Questions for Background Information (divide this up so the work is shared
equally). All of these questions may not apply to each website:
Who publishes the journal / website?
How long has it been in publication / on the Internet?
Does it also appear in print form?
Does the journal have a mission statement?
How many stories / poems / articles are published in each issue?
 Do some issues have themes?
Who are some of the authors? Who can submit material?
Is there any information about the circulation of the magazine or the hits or
viewers on the site?

Second, each member of the group will present their analysis of one creative text from the
magazine and a comparison to one text from class syllabus. You are not presenting your
complete essay, only a portion of it. Each member of the group should present on different texts.