hum 681 syllabus

7/28/2019 HUM 681 Syllabus

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Comprehensive

Exam

HUM681

In order to fulfill your degree requirements for Tiffin Universitys Master of

Humanities program, you need to complete either a Comprehensive Exam

(HUM 681) or a Capstone Project (HUM 680). Youre eligible to register for

one of these courses once youve completed twenty-one hours of

coursework at Tiffin University. This course, HUM 681, is the Comprehensive

Exam option. In preparation for your exam, you and your peers will spend

the semester reviewing the topics and texts that youve studied at TU in

order to focus them into two or three areas that reflect your specific

interests. Youll develop a reading list and your own questions as a result of

your review. Two weeks before the end of the semester, your instructors will

send you at least seven questions covering these areas. The instructors

questions will be based on your questions but will not be identical to them.

Youre to select three questions to answer, writing seven to ten page

answers for each question. You will submit your answers in asingle Word,

.pdf, or .rtf file to a designated folder in turnitin.com before midnight on the

last day of the semester.

The Comprehensive Exam for

Your Master of HumanitiesDegree at Tiffin University

Your exam answers should

demonstrate an easy

familiarity with the subject of

the question, argue a

coherent thesis, and support

that thesis with sound textual

evidence.

exam answers

Your exam answers should

also demonstrate

competence in writing skills.

Successfully written exams will

score an average of 3 on the

writing rubric provided with

this syllabus.

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2


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2 lorem ipsum :: [Dat

Really, youve

already done this

before

Why you shouldnt fear the

exam

1. You will spend the semesterdeveloping your two to three areasof interest, your reading list, andtheir questions, so your instructors

won't be springing questions uponyou about unexpected subjects orreadings. Your questions will befocused upon a reading list andcritical approach or methodologyof your choice.

2. You will be given at least sevenquestions at the end of thesemester to answer, but you areonly required to answer three ofthem, so you can skip questionsthat don't work for you.

3. You will have to write seven toten page answers to the threequestions of your choice duringthe last two weeks of class, whichis about a twenty- to thirty-pagepaper in two weeks. That's whatyou often had to do in your regulargraduate seminars. However, it'snot really a single, coherenttwenty-page paper, but ratherthree shorter papers.

4. Your writing will be held to"average" expectations forgraduate student writing, which isabout a three on most measuresof the WIC rubric. Because it'squick writing, though, you won't beheld to the standards of finishedacademic writing. We expect yourwriting to be coherent, correct, andorganized, but not highly polishedor publishable.

Q: Who will be reviewing myexam?

A: Each section of HUM 681 will

have two instructors assigned to it.We will try to group students andinstructors by concentrations whenpossible. These instructors will beyour guides throughout thesemester as you think about andprepare for your exam. Bothinstructors will score your exam atthe end of the semester.

Q: What if I cant finish my exam inthe time allotted?

A: Thats the only scary part of theexam process: you have to finish itin one semester. Since its atimed exam (two weeks), yourenot allowed to take an incomplete.If you dont submit your work bythe time that the turnitin.com foldercloses, you will receive a grade ofF for the exam. You will also, ofcourse, receive a grade of F if youplagiarize or otherwise violateTiffin Universitys academichonesty policy (see the Student

Handbook). If you have significantextenuating circumstances,however, document them, informyour instructors as soon aspossible (NOT after the final duedate), and your instructors willconsider allowing you to withdrawfrom the course so that you canretake the course at a better time.You will, however, have to retakethe course from scratch.

syllabus:

HUM 681


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Summing Up WhatYouve Read So

Far

How the Comprehensive Exam will work:

1. You will spend the semester reviewing and organizing your

reading, discussing your process of exploration and your choices

with your peers on weekly discussion board posts.

2. You will base your exam on your reading and course of study at

Tiffin University, focusing it on two to three areas of study. One

should be your concentration if you declared a concentration.

3. You will write seven or more sample test questions or exam topics

three weeks before the end of the semester and submit them to

your instructors.

4. Your instructors will write seven individualized sets of test questions

and distribute them to each student.

5. You will select three of these questions and write seven to ten

page answers to them.

6. You will submit your answers in a single Word, .rtf, or .pdf file to a

designated folder in turnitin.com by midnight the last day of the

semester. Follow MLA style in all writing for this class.

7. Your work will be graded following the WIC and content/thesis

rubrics integrated into turnitin.com and posted in this syllabus.

Policies

the rules well go by


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Weekly Schedule

Week 1: Review of course

structure, course policies, and

student/faculty introductions.

Students should post an

introduction to the appropriate

threaded discussion by Wed.

midnight. Please respond to at

least two of your peers by

Friday midnight. See the

Threaded Discussion rubric

posted to the course page for

grading policies on all

threaded discussion posts.

Week 2: By midnight Sunday,

write out a list of all of the

courses youve taken in TUs

M.Hum. program in outline

form in a Word or .rtfdocument. If you chose a

concentration, indicate it in a

header at the top of the page.

Organize this list by topic.

Topics might include art,

communication, creative

writing, film, history, literature,

mythology, philosophy, or

others. This list will serve as the

base document from which

you think through your exam

topics. Under each class, list

the primary texts that you read.If you used an anthology, dont

just list the anthology list the

specific readings drawn from it.

Finally, list these topics in the

order of greatest interest. Your

instructors will pick two to three

topics to form the core of your

exam. They will try to select

your top choices, but may

have to move down the list a

little depending upon theirexpertise. Post this document to

the appropriate threaded

discussion on turnitin.com,

explaining what interests you

about these topics and how

they will contribute to your

future development as a

scholar and professional.

Respond to two of your peers

posts by midnight Friday.

Week 3: Review the papers that

you wrote for the courses in

your top three areas and write

100 word abstracts of each of

your papers in the first of your

areas. List the abstracts in a

separate Word file organized

by area of study and course

name. Identify the most

significant secondary sourcesas well what scholarly sources

helped you the most? Post this

Word document to the

appropriate threaded

discussion with a description of

which paper in each area was

the most meaningful to you

and why.

Week 4: Same as Week 3 for

the second of your three areas.

Week 5: Same as Week 3 forthe third of your three areas.

Week 6: Identify the seven most

important primary texts and the

five most important secondary

texts in your first of three areas

and write 100 word summaries

of each one.


the second of your three areas.

Week 8: Same as Week 6 forthe third of your three areas.

Week 9: Its time to add an

interdisciplinary component to

your thought: write 250 word

paragraphs describing the

intersections of areas one with

two, two with three, and three

with one.

Week 10: Now its time to start

developing questions. Write

two to three questions for area

one. These questions shouldnt

be factual only, but should

encourage the development

of a thesis that requires asustained argument to

support. Your questions can be

focused on a single area

(about specific authors in

English), or they can be topical

and cross your areas (e.g.

Women in Art and Literature of

the Early Modern period).


area two.

Week 12: Same as Week 10 forarea three.

Week 13: Youll be emailed

your exam questions in Word

format by midnight Sunday of

this week. If you cant read

Word documents, be sure to

inform your instructors.

Week 14: You should be

working busily on your

questions.

Week 15: Upload seven to ten

page answers to three of your

test questions to turnitin.com

by midnight on the last day of

class. Remember, there are

no extensions or incompletes.

If youre late and do not

submit your work on time you

will receive a grade of F for the

class.

The Comprehensive

Exam will

demonstrate your

mastery of and

engagement with

your fields of study.


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Writing Rubric

Characteristics of an A paper:

The A paper is a highly

sophisticated paper that

supports an original thesis with a

complex argument that skillfully

and correctly integrates

substantial outside research.

The A paper demonstrates not

only substantial understanding

of primary and secondary

reading but the ability to

advance knowledge with its

insight into the material. It has

few or no grammatical or

punctuation errors -- no more

than three or four for every five

pages of writing -- and

maintains a highly academic

tone that correctly and

effectively employs field-specific language. Paper is

insightful, thought-provoking,

and complex, and it is carefully

argued, developed, and

supported. Thesis is specific,

significant, arguable, and well-

written; it gives the reader a

"roadmap" to the paper and

leads the reader to think

differently about the subject.Characteristics of a B paper:

The B paper fulfills all

requirements of the assignment.

It meets or exceeds research

requirements effectively,

demonstrating comprehension

of all sources. It properly

documents its sources with no

more than two or three citation

errors. It is almost free of

grammatical or punctuation

errors, having no more than

one or two errors per page, but

while highly competent, the Bpaper lacks the insight and

linguistic competence

characterizing the A essay.

Paper is very thoughtful and

engaging but may not rise to

the "superior" level in

complexity, argumentation,

development, or support. Thesis

is promising but could be more

specific, significant, and/or

better written. The importance

of thesis may need to be better

explained and its implications

more fully drawn out. In these

papers, the conclusion simply

restates the thesis suggested at

the beginning of the paper

rather than developing its

thought.

Characteristics of a C paper:

The average college-level

paper will receive a grade of C.

This paper is written well

enough to be easy to follow,

but could benefit from some

restructuring or additional

paragraphs. It meets minimum

assignment requirements for

research and other elements

and integrates sources

correctly following the most

basicrequirements of theassigned documentation style;

in-text citations are clearly

keyed to the references,

bibliography, or works cited

page. It demonstrates basic

reading comprehension of

both primary and secondary

sources. It may have some

minor punctuation,

capitalization, grammatical, or

spelling errors or some use ofinformal language but is

generally appropriate and

correct. Paper meets all

requirements, but ideas are

basic, obvious, and/or overly

generalized; they may lack

careful explanation and

support. It may have one

promising idea that may need

to be more carefully thought

out or developed. Thesis is

adequate but may notdemonstrate a high level of

critical thinking or provide an

adequate blueprint for the

paper. It may be significantly

lacking in one of the three

qualities of being specific,

significant, or arguable.

Characteristics of a D paper:

The D paper is deficient in one

or more of the following areas:

structure/organization,

research, reading

comprehension,

documentation, word choice,

grammar, or punctuation,

capitalization, or spelling. The

grade of D indicates below-average achievement in

organizing ideas, expressing

ideas, understanding sources,

writing correctly, or following

documentation style. Most D

papers contain serious errors in

usage and fail to present a

central thesis or to develop it

adequately. Paper is limited in

some way: (1) fails to meet all

requirements; (2) lacks focus;

(3) is uninsightful, unconvincing

or underdeveloped; (4) does

not successfully argue a thesis

that fulfills the assignment.

Paper may be limited in more

than one of these ways. Thesis is

weak; makes only a generic

claim, an obvious claim, or an

insignificant claim. The paper

may be summarizing sources

without stating any thought

beyond its sources.

These essay standardssummarize the Writing Intensive

Class rubric created by Dr. Jim

Rovira and Dr. Sherry Truffin in

the summer of 2011. The rubric

itself is integrated into

turnitin.com and will be used to

score your papers.


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What will I get out of a

Comprehensive Exam?

Why an Exam?

Comprehensive exams serve two

purposes: 1) They demonstrate a

students mastery of a body of

knowledge, and 2) They

demonstrate a students critical

thinking about a body of

knowledge.

A successful exam will get its facts

right about its primary and

secondary texts. It will know the

authors, content, themes, genres,

and theses of these works. It will

also demonstrate a students ability

to think creatively and critically

about these texts. Substandard

exam answers might primarily

summarize the students chosen

texts, or they might argue a thesis

indistinguishable from secondary

sources, so that the students

choice of scholarly works argues

the students thesis for the student.

Or the student may argue a thesis,

but may not coherently support it

from his or her chosen primary and

secondary texts.

In a successfully written exam, the

student argues his or her own

thesis, supporting this argument

from both primary and secondary

texts. Readers should learn

something new from student

answers.

Furthermore, the process of

developing and writing exam

questions is excellent practice for

those who wish to teach

humanities subjects at the high

school and community college

levels. While instructors at these

institutions may not be responsible

for producing published works,

they will often have to write test

questions and essay prompts that

should be designed to encourage

students to think critically and

creatively about their subjects.

Thinking through your own

questions will help you learn to

think through questions for your

future students.

Tiffin University, Office of Graduate Student

Services

155 Miami Street

Tiffin, OH 44883(800) 968-6446

[email protected]

GRADE SCALE

A 93-100

A- 90-92

B+ 87-89

B 83-86

B- 80-82

C+ 77-79C 73-76

C- 70-72

D+ 67-69

D 63-66

D- 60-62

F 59or below

hum 681 syllabus

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