Commentary

The first 10% of your grade will be based on a short writing exercise that give you the chance to respond critically to the course topics and content. This is due by 16:00 sharp, on Monday October 7, to be uploaded via our Brightspace page. Late assignments will not be accepted.

Responses are short commentaries (~ 750 words) that capture your understanding of and personal reaction to the property topics that we’re covering in the classroom and their connection to recent experiences or current events happening around the world. It should be an intelligent, substantive, engagement with the both the course materials and the experience or event.

A response can be: a well-argued opinion, a comparison with other materials in this course or another; a critique; a suggestion for social or legal reform. It can include: relevant references to current events, history, politics, art, media, or personal experience. A response cannot be: a description or a summary of the materials or event.

While your response must not merely describe the course materials and discussion, it should still engage with the course materials and discussion. It should not be a response to an issue in general or in contexts only tangentially related to course materials and discussion.

Because you have little time and space in which to convey your thoughts on important topics and complex issues, I suggest that you focus your responses. The materials themselves are wide-ranging. I strongly encourage you to choose one particular issue, rather than trying to cover everything that could be said in response. The more specific the issue you address, and the more precisely you address a particular aspect of that issue, the better.

The format of your response is less important than the substance. For example, you may use any style of referencing and citation that you wish. You should, however, take special care to edit and proofread your response as thoroughly as possible before submitting it.