PDF version of this assignment.

Due Date

  • No more than 1 week after the in-class portion of the lab (see our course calendar for specifics)

Overview

One of the central features of this course is our hands-on work with digital methods and tools. During the last hour of many class periods, we’ll work through a specific activity related to a digital tool or research methodology. You’ll be responsible for completing the activities we begin in class as lab reports, posting your results on our course site. The labs are designed both to introduce you to the digital method or tool under investigation, and to get you thinking about what the value of that method or tool might be for the study of literature. As such, you should approach the labs analytically, asking what new questions about literature or text more generally the particular method or tool we are investigating makes possible. The labs are also important because they will introduce you to methods you might incorporate into your final project.

The labs will ask you to learn new skills, and they will place a premium on willing experimentation, flexibility, and persistence. They will also contain a written portion, and they will frequently ask you to engage with the course readings.

Sometimes, as indicated on our course calendar, you will be asked to complete a portion of the lab before coming to class.

Details & Requirements

  • You should complete each lab according to the instructions provided.
  • Lab reports are due by class time no more than 1 week after we complete the in-class portion of the lab. I will not accept late lab reports, and you cannot make up missed lab reports.
  • You will post lab reports to our course site. Please categorize your posts according to the lab you are completing (so “Lab 1” for the lab report for Lab 1, and so on). The assignments for the Labs are also posted on our course site (categorized under “Labs”).
  • The lab reports and methodological analyses are together worth 20% of your course grade, and they are graded on completion. Each lab report is worth 10% of your total blogging grade.

I will read every lab report, and I will also occasionally comment on them via our course site when I feel I have something substantive to contribute. You should not interpret a comment from me on a lab report as either validation or condemnation of a post; nor should you interpret a lack of commenting from me as validation or condemnation. I am very happy to give you more specific feedback on your lab reports in office hours.

See “How to Post” for more information about how to post to the site.