Site Visit Report. Students will visit the Chrysler Museum, the Hampton University Museum, or another cultural collection devoted to world arts and culture in order to examine art and artifacts from the cultures that we are studying in the course.  Focusing on one exhibit from the same culture or comparing two or more artifacts from different cultures, students will describe what they have seen in the material culture and relate it to the literary cultures studied in the course, particularly concerning the theme of heroism. The professor will conduct a tour of the Chrysler Museum for students early in the semester and will provide notes to this collection on the course Web site.

[Click here for notes on art objects at the Chrysler Museum]

[Click here for an example of a site visit report. ] or [ Click here for another exemplary site visit report.]

Review. Students will select (with the professor's approval) a non-fiction book or academic Web site in history, literary study, archeology, or other field that can shed light on one or more of the texts assigned in the course.  The professor will place pre-approved book selections on reserve in the library, though students are free to make other selections, provided they seek approval first. The review must provide complete bibliographic data about the book (author, title, city of publication, publisher, year of publication), summarize its contents and main ideas, describe its critical apparatus (notes, bibliography, illustrations, index, etc.), and assess its intended audience and evaluate its effectiveness for that audience (at least one fully-developed paragraph for each of those things).

[Click here for an example of a book review.]

Live Performance Review. Students will attend a live performance of an art form related to or derived from literature (e.g. drama, opera, choral music). The professor will provide a list of possible local performance events, though students are welcome to find their own, provided that they secure approval from the professor first. The review must provide all relevant details of the event (date, time, place, performers, pieces performed), a description of the performance, and evaluation of the skill of the performers, an analysis of its relation to literature and the themes of the course (in particular if there are explorations of the concept of heroism), an analysis of the performance culture itself (what kinds of people attended, how were they dressed, how did they behave) and your personal response to the performance, including your reasons for that response.

[Click here for a list of pre-approved performances.] [Click here for an example of a performance review.] [ Point and click here for another performance review.]

Seminar Oral Report. During the course of the semester, each student will prepare and present an oral report on one of the selections below. This will require students, in consultation with the professor, to explore a specific text, writer, or theme, to conduct supplementary research, and to present their findings (both how they conducted their research and what conclusions they reached) in 10 minutes. Students will prepare for the professor a one-page summary of their findings (an abstract) and of their research sources (a bibliography). These projects will be evaluated both for the quality and clarity of the presentation (including any media used) and the sophistication of the research sources included in the bibliography.