Study Guide, Exam 1
Engl 4040 Modernism and Postmodernism
O'Donnell, ETSU, Fall 2015
Last update: October 8, 2015

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Exam date: Thursday October 15

About the Exam
1. The exam will have two sections: I) Identification, and II) Short Essay. Each is explained below.

2. All the prompts that may appear on the exam are now here on this study guide web page.
3. The exam is "open book": I encourage you to bring your texts and notes to the exam. However, I require that you compose your responses during the exam period, rather than composing the sentences ahead of time and transcribing them during the exam.

Section I. Identification
A. Instructions

This section is worth half of the exam grade. The section will include a list of 8 prompts -- that is, names, titles, concepts, and/or quotes. All 8 prompts on the exam will be drawn from the list of 16 prompts that appears below.

From the 8 on the exam, you will in turn select 6, to which you will respond in writing.

For each of those 6 prompts, write a "mini essay" -- three or four clear, complete, self-explanatory sentences -- in which you identify 1) the author(s) and text(s) with which prompt is associated; 2) the context or definition; 3) an important issue associated with the prompt.

B. 16 prompts

1. Howard C. Campbell

2. synesthesia

3. Toyota Celica

4. SIMUVAC

5. "Robert Kennedy, whose summer home is eight miles away from the home I live in all year round, was shot two nights ago."

6. Big Ben

7. Dylar

8. Institute for Historical Review

9. Sweet Home

10. Billy Pilgrim

11. serenity prayer

12. Stamp Paid

13. "This is not a story to pass on."

14. 1850 Fugitive Slave Act

15. The "rest cure"

16. The Interrotron

Section II. Short Essay
A. Instructions and 2 Prompts

This section is worth half of the exam grade. Write a short essay -- 300-500 words -- in response to one of these questions:

1. What is literary modernism?
2. What is postmodernism?

Discuss in terms of selected texts that we read for this class.

B. Grading Criteria for the Short Essay

An "A" essay will ...

1. ... have a clear, well-defined purpose/ focus/ thesis, and a title that reflects that;

2. ... be well-developed, including dates, author names, titles, other proper nouns, and specific, well-selected quotes from texts;

3. ... be well-organized, with clear section divisions and paragraph breaks;

4. ... be reasonably fluent and readable;

5. ... be well edited.