University of New England

MLA Options for Teaching: Teaching Literature and Law

Guidelines and Editorial Policy

Nature of and intended audience for the volume
This volume is intended for teachers of literature and law at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels in both liberal arts and law school settings. It presents specialist and non-specialist readers with the theories that have informed the history of Law and Literature as a field of study. It provides teachers at all levels (graduate students as well as senior professors) with a range of model courses that demonstrate how teaching literature can be enriched by its interdisciplinary pairing with law. It suggests new approaches to canonical Law and Literature texts and extends readers’ understanding of what constitutes a legal or literary text, and it offers resources for teaching within this field. 

Length and nature of the essays
Submissions should be 10-12 pages in length, including notes and works cited. 

Please note that submissions should be in the form of essays as opposed to annotated syllabi. 

Contributors for “Model Courses” and “Texts” especially should approach their topics as an occasion to discuss teaching (rather than to present a literary analysis, for example). Questions to consider might include the following:

• What kind of class is this (writing course, senior seminar or graduate course, general education requirement)?
• Who are your students?
• What are your teaching objectives for this course, unit, or text?
• How do you structure your approach?
• What is gained by approaching your subject in this way?
• What have been the particular challenges of your approach, and how have you sought to resolve them?
• What kind of assignments have you given?

Style and format
Essays should conform to the guidelines indicated in the most recent edition of the MLA Style Manual, which requires parenthetical references that direct readers to a list of Works Cited. Each essay should be accompanied by a list of Works Cited, and content notes should be kept to a minimum.

Editorial Policy
The editors and the Publications Committee of the MLA reserve the right to reject or to request revision of submissions if (1) they do not meet the stated guidelines, or (2) they fall below the quality expected from contributors. 

Evaluation procedures
A draft of the completed manuscript will be sent to the MLA for review by at least two consultant readers. Their evaluations will determine whether further revision is requested or whether the manuscript will be presented to the Publications Committee, along with the readers’ reports, for the publication decision.
Copyright information

The MLA will ask each contributor to assign copyright ownership to the Association with the proviso that contributors will be able to use their essays elsewhere without permission.

Deadline for submission
Completed essays will be due to the editors by June 1 2007. Please send them to Matthew (manderson@une.edu) and Cathrine (cfrank@une.edu) as a Word attachment.