Introduction to Liberal Arts

Fall 2005 Section S/19 Professor Schell

Midterm Exam

 

General instructions. This exam is an opportunity for you to review and reflect on the material thus far in the course; it is also a chance for you to put into practice your very best writing skills, based on feedback you have received in recent weeks from the various writing assignments. Accordingly, the essays will be graded both on the basis of content – did you address the assigned question? Did you engage the relevant material thoughtfully and meaningfully? – as well as in terms of writing style, grammar, etc.  You may visit the Writing Center for help in preparing or in polishing your essays but the ideas must be your own. Please feel free to set up a time to meet with me if you have any questions or need some guidance. It is open-book, open-note and you may use as much time as you need before the stated deadline.

 

This exam is due in class on Thursday, October 13th. You will also need to submit the exam to www.turnitin.com.  Our class ID number is 1336204 and the password is ILA 05.  

 

This exam is worth 10 per cent of your final grade in the course. Each essay is worth 10 points.

 

The exam has three parts; you must complete all three parts to receive credit on the exam. Please make sure to read all of the directions for each part. Also, please make sure that your discussion for each essay is distinct and does not duplicate or overlap material from your other answers (make sure to talk about different things, refer to different points in the text, etc.)

 

Suggestions.  Take the time to brainstorm about each question, review the relevant texts, make notes and generate an outline for each essay before you launch into composing your essay.  Since these are short essays, you want them to be as tightly focused as possible - get right to the point and avoid tangents, being vague and/or unnecessary generalizations.

 

MIDTERM EXAM

 

Part I. Supporting a thesis

Text: Lightman’s A Sense of the Mysterious

 

Purpose. The purpose of this essay is to focus on how to support a thesis that has been assigned to you. Review the text and find good examples to support your sub-claims in discussing and supporting the thesis. Do you not use any direct quotations in this essay; however, you must cite the relevant page numbers for when you refer to information from the Lightman book.

 

Assignment: Drawing upon several examples from different essays in Lightman’s book, reflect upon what you think Lightman means by his title, The Sense of the Mysterious. Write a short essay (250-300 words) in which you support and elaborate upon the following thesis: “An exemplary scientist must have a sense of the mysterious.”

 

Part II. Explication.

Texts: Obama’s Dreams From My Father and Sherwin Nuland’s Leoanrdo Da Vinci

 

Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to work on explicating – drawing out the meaning – a short passage and making connections to the larger themes of the particular text.

 

Assignment: Choose ONE of the passages below (A-C); re-read the surrounding pages and remind yourself what the particular passage is about. Write a short essay (250-300 words) in which you interpret/explain the passage (keeping in mind the scene/context it is from) and connect it to larger themes or issues from the book. In your answer, try to include at least one specific example from the relevant book other than the passage cited in order to support your discussion. Do not use direct quotations but make sure to cite the page numbers for things you refer to in the text.

  1. “To be right with yourself, to do right by others, to lend meaning to a community’s suffering and take part in its healing – that required something more” (Obama, 278-279).

 

  1. “Beneath the small talk and sketchy biographies and received opinions people carried within them some central explanation of themselves. Stories full of terror and wonder, studded with events that still haunted or inspired them. Sacred stories” (Obama, 190).

 

  1. “That a human being can be understood only by turning towards nature” (Nuland quoting Da Vinci, 109).

 

Part III. Reflection and synthesis.

Texts: Obama, Nuland and Lightman; you may also refer to material from convocations but the main point is to engage the course texts.

 

Purpose. The purpose of this essay is to provide you with an opportunity to synthesize the material in the course and to take your reflections on the theme of “exemplary lives” to a more advanced level.

 

Assignment: Write a short essay (250-300 words) in which you consider our theme of “exemplary lives.” Strive to be as specific as you can, and draw upon the course texts for examples.

 

Here are some questions you might consider as you think about the theme and the texts. These are offered simply to prompt your thinking; you do not need to answer these questions nor is this list exhaustive of the kinds of things you can discuss: