FAQ is Back

With the help of the excellent FAQ-tastic, I have republished the general FAQ for this site. There is now a rating system for questions and answers; the ones rated the highest will float to the top of the list. Also, there is now a way to submit questions that are not on the FAQ; just scroll to the bottom of the page to submit your question.

I’m still making updates, but all information for this semester’s classes should be posted. Sorry for any inconvenience caused by our holiday upgrade. You should notice a speed improvement in the server as well.

Transition

Please excuse our mess for a few days. LitMUSE is transitioning from Drupal to Wordpress. Some links will be broken. Some pages will be missing. Everything should be back to normal by Monday, December 1, 2008. I’m going to try to keep all old links the same, but undoubtedly some will have to be updated.

The new theme is called “Modern,” by Ulf Pettersson. My many thanks to him for a clean, elegant theme.

Sorry for any inconvenience. Students may still login.

Human Impacts on the Environment

This essay will require you to research human impacts on the environment and present your findings in a 1000-2000 word essay that is properly documented. Your topic should have a local component; i.e., it should have some direct bearing on the environment in Central Georgia. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

• Automobiles (electric, hybrid, hydrogen, bio-diesel, etc.)
• Emerging global/local challenges
• Sustainable infrastructure
• Alternative energy sources
• Continued reliance on fossil fuels

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Essay Body

Blog / Forum

A major portion of any study of literature or cultural texts is interpretation. For this, there is the blog or forum requirement. Each blog or forum entry should:

1. address a work of literature, text, or topic you have been assigned to read or discuss for class
2. apply a critical approach that we have discussed in class to interpreting that piece of literature (the most popular will be reader response)
3. refer to secondary supportive materials

A blog is a short piece of writing presented on a web site. Think of blog and forum entries as precise pieces of writing where you argue a specific point about a text and support it with primary and secondary evidence. Blog entries should be no less than 350 words and no more than 1000.

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New Look

LitMUSE has a new old look. “Old” because this style sheet was one I used several years ago with LM, but I resurrected it by making the CSS better and formatting it to work with Drupal.

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LitMUSE Moodle

LitMUSE now has a companion server on the Macon State campus. This server will run Moodle to handle courses for me and various colleagues.

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Editing and Revision

Satire

An ironic literary creation detailing the defeat of decency and virtue and the triumph of folly or vice. The work may utilize any literary form — either fictional or nonfictional — relying heavily upon parody, paradox, and anti-climax, and is usually infused with wit and high spirits. Because of its mix of jaunty vigor and bad news, there is no evident catharsis, the works being open-ended and disjunct. The implication at the close is that things will continue to get worse.

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Earthshine

LitMUSE now has a companion site: Earthshine. Earthshine will host online sections of classes I offer, and maybe more.

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