CMS150 - Winter 2001
Trials of Conscience: Litigation
and the Rhetoric of Identity
Paper Option
For this assignment you will write a 8-10 page paper (2400-3000
words, excluding footnotes and bibliography) about a a trial which we
will not discuss in class. The trial you pick must have at least one
contemporary account (in the form of a transcript, judicial decision,
memoire or trial speech of a participant, or media accounts). To help
you analyze the materials and focus your arguments, you will prepare
and hand in analyses of the trial, annotated bibliographies, and an
outline during the course of the semester.
Your paper should consider the analytical issues raised by each of
the analyses you do and attempt to connect these issues to both the
historical and contemporary context of the trial itself. I have put
on reserve books relating to the following trials.
- St. Perpetua
- Galileo
- Thomas More
- The Amistad trial
- Oscar Wilde
- Angela Davis
- Dennis Banks and Lenord Pelltier
This list is merely suggestive and not at all inclusive. Please
feel free to choose to write on another trial (e.g., O.J. Simpson,
Clinton's impeachment, the Scopes "Monkey Trial," the trial of Jesus
or Apuleius, etc.). If you do plan to write on another trial, please
meet with me before March 8, 2001, so that I can be sure that the
trial you have chosen lends itself well to the project.
The following deadlines apply to assignments connected with your
paper. If you fail to hand in any of the assignments on a timely
basis without benefit of a dean's excuse, that assignment will be
docked 10% for each calendar day that it is late. If you choose this
option, you must submit a final paper in order to receive a passing
grade in this course. Note, these are deadlines. If you choose to
hand these assignments in early, I will accept them. Depending on
your course load, you may find another schedule with earlier dates
for some assignments more helpful.
- Week 9, Class 2
[3/08/01]: Pick your topic and preliminary
bibliography:
- Hand in a one paragraph description of the trial you have
chosen and why you want to write on it. Hand in a bibliography
describing the primary sources documenting the trial and books
and articles you believe you will use for the paper.
- Week 10 Class 2
[3/15/01]: Case
Analysis (for paper) due
today
- If the trial you choose to write on
has multiple contemporary sources, you must read these as well.
Your Case Analysis should describe and consider contradictions
between the sources. For some contemporary trials, the amount
of contemporary sources may be overwhelming (the trial
transcript in the O.J. Simpson trial, for example). In this
case, you may choose selectively among the available
contemporary sources, but your Case Analysis should explain why
the sources you have chosen to work with are sufficient for the
project you envision.
- For modern trials, newspaper and
media accounts will be very helpful. For some trials,
government documents will be helpful as well. Please ask the
staff at Ladd for help in finding and obtaining copies of these
accounts.
- Your Case
Analysis should be in the form of a
brief (no more than 2 pages, 600 words) paper which answers the
questions the case analysis poses.
- Week 11 Class 2
[3/22/01]: Source
Analysis and
Annotations
due today
- In order to complete this assignment,
you will have to prepare a bibliography of all primary and
secondary material you have considered or will consider in
preparing your web site. For material you have read, write an
annotation,
describing the source. You must have read and annotated at
least eight (8) items (in addition to the contemporary
accounts) by the time you hand in your bibliography. You will
continue to read and prepare annotations during the course of
the semester.
- In addition to contemporary accounts,
I expect to see books, academic articles, and for more modern
trials, articles from law journals on your bibliography. Please
ask the staff at Ladd for help in finding and obtaining copies
of these articles.
- Your Source
Analysis should be in the form of a
brief (2-4 pages; 600-1200 words) paper which answers the
questions the source analysis poses.
- Week 12 Class 2
[3/29/01]:
Argument
Analysis due today
- Your Argument
Analysis should be in the form of a
brief (2 pages; 600 words) paper which answers the questions
the argument analysis poses.
- Week 13 Class 2
[4/05/01]: Updated
Bibliography and Model
Analysis due today
- In order to complete this assignment,
you must choose a theoretical model on which you will rely to
analyze the trial you have chosen. You may choose some of the
theoretical works we are reading in class, or you may choose
another model (e.g., you may wish to do an Althusserian reading
of your trial, or you may be influence in your analysis by the
works of Foucault or Pierre Bourdieu).
- Your Model
Analysis should be in the form of a
brief (2 pages; 600 words) paper which answers the questions
the model analysis poses.
- Your updated bibliography should
include annotations for 20 (twenty) sources in addition
to contemporary accounts of your trial (total; twelve (12) more
than the first annotated bibliography)..
- Paper due [4/18/00] -
Wednesday of exam week
- I have certain criteria I use when grading the form
and content of a paper. You
should read these criteria carefully before submitting your
paper. I will assume that you have when I grade your paper.
- One of the best resources Bates has for students is the
Writing
Workshop . I have seen
the advice and services provided by the Writing Workshop
improve the work of students at all levels. I encourage each
and every one of you to seek the advice of the Writing Workshop
early in the process of writing your paper.