Deanna Stover's Courses

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Deanna Stover is an Assistant Professor at Christopher Newport University. This website is a compilation of her syllabi since starting at CNU in Fall 2020.

View the Project on GitHub deanna-stover/coursesCNU

Twine Assignment

Proposal Deadline: Our Virtual Meeting in Week 8 (see below)
Percentage: 5% (required)

Annotated Bibliography Deadline: Sunday, November 1st by 11:59 pm
Percentage: 10%

First Play Test: Monday, November 30th (in class)

Second Play Test and Essay Peer Review: Monday, December 7th (in class)

Final Twine Game and Research Paper Deadline: Friday, December 11th by 11:59 pm
Percentage: 30%

General Overview

First of all, Twine is kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. It’s an interactive hypertext storytelling medium. We’ll be learning how to use Twine and how to customize it using some basic HTML and CSS.

In many ways we’re trapped in our own yellow wallpapered room because of the pandemic, but that doesn’t mean we can’t write something that at the very least attempts to make a difference. Like Stetson, we’ll be writing for change. For this assignment you’ll create a Twine game about a social issue (current or historical–after all, history informs the present), but you can be creative about how you tell the story.

You’ll write a project proposal and then an annotated bibliography before you get too deep into the Twine game so I can make sure you’re headed in the right direction and to guarantee your game is grounded in research. You’ll also write a short research paper that discusses the choices you made in your Twine game and how it relates back to the research you completed.

Combined, the game and paper equal 30% of your grade, but think of the game as worth 15% and the research paper as worth another 15%. Not quite so intimidating then, hopefully!

Some topic ideas (but this list certainly isn’t exhaustive!):

I do expect you to do academic research that backs up the choices your player is given in the game itself, so please don’t choose a topic if you are unwilling to have your beliefs questioned. I also want everyone to be respectful and kind to their classmaes, so be aware of the language and framing you use when addressing controversial topics.

Assignment Breakdown

- Proposal - Week 8 (10/19 - 10/21)

Instead of having class on Monday and Wednesday of Week 8, I’ll be holding individual meetings about your topic proposal. You’ll need to turn in your proposal via Scholar before our meeting. This is where we’ll discuss your choice of subject and come up with some ideas for moving forward. Your proposal should be 200-300 words and explain both your topic and its social relevance.

I will not accept the other portions of this assignment until your proposal has been approved.

- Annotated Bibliography - Sunday, November 1st at 11:59 pm

You’ll be responsible for finding at least five (5) academic sources and writing 100-150 words per entry explaining the central argument of the source and its relevance to your project (i.e. how you plan to use it).

The Annotated Bibliography should be formatted according to MLA guidelines. This means it should be double-spaced, alphabatized by the last name of the authors, and formatted with a hanging indent. Please see my example on the Google Drive for an example.

- Final Twine Game and Research Paper Deadline - Friday, December 11th at 11:59 pm

Your playable Twine game should have the following:

In addition to your Twine game, you must write a 1000-1250 word research essay. This essay will tie your research back to the choices you made in creating your Twine game, so you should be citing at least five academic sources in your paper.

Late Work

I will be subtracting 10 points for every day your assignment is late unless you’ve been been given an extension.

Evaluation Criteria

- Twine Game

- Research Essay

I owe credit to S. Einstein and M. Vetter for their Twine Assignment.

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