Little Web Project
Weight: 20% of final grade
Due: 10/24

Choose a text from the syllabus that you think you will enjoy working on for a series of assignments. For your first assignment, you will concentrate on a short passage from your chosen text, approximately five to ten lines long. The purposes of this assignment are for you to learn to make a simple web page using html coding (you may not use Dreamweaver or any other program that does the coding for you), to begin to think about the material dimensions of the text in its medieval manifestation(s), to begin to analyze the meanings of the text, and to get some feedback from me regarding my expectations for work in this class.

There is very little freedom in this first assignment. You are to make a web page, using straight html coding, with these components:

• a thumbnail image of one page of the manuscript for your text, linked to that image as you have found it on the web. Ideally, the image will be the very page that has your chosen passage on it, but, since everything isn’t on the web, it may be a different page of the same text from the same manuscript or a page from a similar manuscript of that text or of a closely related text. Next to the thumbnail image, you should give information about the source web site and the manuscript.
• a physical description of the page, noting such aspects as its dimensions, any damage, the kind of handwriting, any decoration, punctuation, and so on. If you have found a facsimile of the page with your text, whether online, in another digital medium, or a print facsimile, describe the page that has your text, even if you have had to link to a different page. If you have not found a facsimile of the page, even after consulting with me, then describe the page you found online, stating in what ways you think it may be similar.
• an analysis of the meaning of the short passage you have chosen (a “close reading”), in which you discuss what it says and how it says it, getting into such matters as word choice, tone, metaphors, imagery, and rhythm. This part should be the equivalent of about three typed pages in 12-point font.
• your name, a statement that you are responsible for the content of the site and that no one is to quote it or use your ideas without proper attribution, a statement that it is an assignment for our course, and a link to the course web site.

You should keep your web page on your uweb site (or another site, if you already have one going) and e-mail the url (address) by the due date to me (cpaster@english.ucsb.edu) and to Robin Chin (rchin@umail.ucsb.edu).

Note: Even if your web page is not completed by the meeting time for our class, come to the class that day! We have a guest lecturer, and I expect everyone to be there!

For powerpoint about html and handouts made by Robin Chin, click on "HTML Notes" on the right bar of this "Transcriptions Studio" page.

You can get live help from Robin in the Transcriptions Studio, 2509 South Hall, during her office hours (Mon. 1:30-5:30, Tues. 3-6, Wed. 12-5) or by appointment (contact: rchin@umail.ucsb.edu). Also, feel free to ask me for help.

Group Web Project
Weight: 30% of final grade
Due: November 22, noon (Plan due 11/9)

• the group’s site is to focus on a primary text or cluster of texts
• the site should consist in
  • a “network” of related pages on specific topics, as suggested or approved by the professor
  • a top, introductory page that indicates the site’s authors and summarizes and/or relates a perspective on its topic, as well as providing access to the site’s other pages. It should also provide a link to the assignment page for the class and the same sort of “copyright” claim as the Little Web Project.
  • links to the members’ “little web projects.”
• grading of individuals based on
  • quality of research on topic
  • quality of presentation both in terms of its written and its visual dimensions. The balance of written and visual dimensions may lean more one way than the other: while this class is not about visual design, you should feel free to use the possibilities the web affords you. Proofreading counts; useability and legibility counts; practices of academic honesty must be adhered to.
  • the organization and synergy of the group’s site. Although it is acceptable to present simply a collection of pages related to the group’s topic, it is preferable to indicate through explicit discussion and design of the site what the parts convey when considered as a single composition.
  • how well and how fully you as an individual contribute to the group endeavor (each student will turn in an evaluation of his/her own contribution to the group effort and the contributions of other group members)

Procedure and Plan: The group will need to exchange e-mail and phone information, decide on who will be the “webmaster,” keeping the page on his or her uweb space or other server and making sure that the site as a whole works. The group should also decide on someone who keeps everyone on track with their work (the “taskmaster”), reminding them to get drafts done to share with others. Individual pages (or at least full drafts of them) will need to be done enough ahead of time for composition of the introductory page. The design and substance of that page should be a group project, though one person will need to be in charge of final polishing and proofreading. So, the group plan should specify these elements: the webmaster, the taskmaster, the person who will polish and proofread the introductory page, the topics each member will present.

Topics: The topics, handed out separately, are suggestive rather than definitive, but if you stray very far from the suggestions or come up with a different topic, do get it approved before going very far with it. Any topic may be narrowed or expanded as seems best; the length of any presentation should be the equivalent of 3-5 typewritten, double-spaced pages (if you do something more visual or dynamic, the “equivalent” will be in terms of detail and depth). Be sure to provide proper references for quotations and ideas derived from essays and web sites. Provide at the end a list of essays, books, and web sites that you have used in your research and presentation (i.e. a bibliography).

Research tips:

• Bibliographic databases to consult include the MLA International Bibliography and the International Medieval Bibliography (IMB), as well as the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (all listed in the Library's Indexes and Databases (from the library homepage, go to Research, then Indexes and Databases, then the title of the database).
• If you haven't yet set up a proxy server for library access from home or your laptop, you will want to do so now. For instructions, see Home>FAQs>Off-Campus Access to Our Resources>Proxy Server.
• You will need to use books and journals at the library, not just the WWW. Start soon, work often. This will take more time than you expect (unless you are pleasantly surprised).
• Keep good notes, ALWAYS writing down full bibliographical information for your notes and marking quoted words with quotation marks, recording the page number(s).
• If you can't find what you need, ask me for help.

Essay
Weight: 20% of final grade
Due: Friday, December 1, 4 p.m.

5 pp. typed, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, pages numbered. This essay is about the difference it makes to think about a text in relationship to the material and/or social circumstances of its production and reception. The requirements are:

• Return to your analysis of your passage, done for Little Web Project.
• Use one or two aspects of the material or social dimensions of the text, as you learned it from the Group Web Project (whether your part or another’s contribution), to refine or revise or frame your analysis. (You may rewrite your close reading if you wish; you should correct any errors that I marked.)
• While you are not forbidden to use any other research, it is not expected that you will.
• You may include ideas about relationships between the physical page and the words that you didn’t have an opportunity to include in your Little Web Project.
• For your thesis, make a claim about the significance of the passage or the importance of the material or social dimension(s) that you discuss.
• Organize your essay to support that thesis.
• Supply parenthetical citations, MLA style, for all quotations and for all paraphrased statements of other’s ideas, including web pages created for your group project.
• Provide a title that indicates something about your approach or argument.
• Provide a works cited list MLA style, indicating the edition you have used, any facsimiles, articles and/or web sites used.
• Along with this essay, turn in your printed analysis from the Little Web Project, including my marginal comments.

For MLA style, see The Guide for Writing Research Papers published online by Capital Community College or the MLA's own printed guide (in the Reference section of the Library).