Fall
Semester 2011
Professor Doug Linder
| Grades for the Famous Trials
course will be based 50% on a 60-or-so question in-class multiple
choice
exam that will be administered during the last class. The other 50% of the grade will be based on student projects. Students may choose one of the two following options for their projects: 1. Students may assemble materials pertaining to one of the trials listed on the "Other Famous Trials " or "Yet More Trials" webpages. (The exception is the Dan White (Harvey Milk Murder) Trial, on which I have started construction.) For each trial, students should write a 3000-word (minimum) to 4000-word (maximum) account of the trial (including background information), digitize at least one primary source relating to the trial (e.g., trial testimony of a witness, appellate decision reviewing conviction, indictment), and prepare a chronology and bibliography (including books and Internet links). Please use endnotes, not footnotes, for your accounts. Students are encouraged (but not required) to use their trial materials to produce what could become a website using the templates of the Goetz or Celia trial sites. Grading will not be based on technical proficiency, but rather the quality of your content. Students may work individually or with one other student to complete this project. 2. Students may produce a video (on DVD) documentary for one of the trials listed on the "Other Famous Trials " or "Yet More Trials" webpages. A good example of a video, produced by three students in the seminar last year, is posted on the site: Hollywood Ten Trial video. The video can include clips from other sources (documentaries, news stories, feature films), but any such clips should be less than 60 seconds in length to fall within fair use guidelines. Your video should be from 15 to 30 minutes in length and include some original ideas about the significance of your featured trial. This option may also be selected as a group project for up to three students. (The length of the video can extend up to 30 minutes for group projects. The same grade will be assigned for everyone working on the project, so students might want to take steps to ensure that all group members contribute equally to the project.) You must make choose your trial and one of the two project options listed above by September 13, 2011. Assignments are due the last class of the semester. |