ENG211: Introduction to the Study of Language and Literature

Transcription

1 ENG211: Introduction to the Study of Language and Literature Summer 20 Online Asynchronous Professor: Andrew Logemann Office Phone: Office Location: Frost Hall Course Site: About the Course This course has three major goals. It provides a broad overview of the English program at Gordon College for majors and minors and an introduction to the academic discipline of literary studies. At the same time, it will offer you the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to succeed in our program. By design, it combines theory and practice. You will learn how to analyze a literary text in college-level English courses, how to ask questions about literature that generate productive analysis, and how to build upon the insights of others as you make researched arguments about literature. Much of our work will involve becoming familiar with the ideas from literary theory and cultural studies that have had a profound influence on the ways modern readers think and talk about literature. In addition to learning some of the basic questions of literary theory and cultural studies, you will be asked to apply them to literature from a number of literary periods and genres. The course will also introduce you to research methods in literary studies, project management principles for research, and the appropriate use of MLA style for citation and documentation of sources. Along the way, you ll have opportunities to develop your ability to work with literary texts and to enter into academic conversations about important writers and ideas. Required Texts Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN: Schilb, John and John Clifford. Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. 6 th Edition. Bedford St. Martin s. ISBN: Student Learning Outcomes After you ve successfully finished this course, you ll be able to: 1. Analyze written materials from a variety of genres through the strategies of close reading and explication. 2. Recognize effective interpretive questions in the discipline of literary studies, and apply this knowledge to develop your own successful interpretive questions about literary texts. 3. Participate in academic conversations with your peers and with published critics. 4. Understand basic ideas from literary theory and cultural studies. 5. Generate well-reasoned arguments and evaluate them against relevant criteria and standards from the discipline of literary studies. 6. Write clearly for a specified audience, using conventions of format and structure appropriate to your rhetorical situation, including MLA style for documentation. Course Structure and Approach This is a fully online class. All digital/online activities are asynchronous, which means that you do not need to be online at a set time of day. You do, however, need to complete your assignments according to firm deadlines, which you can see in the Schedule of Readings and Assignments. I have organized our material into six units: Unit 1 What Is Literature? How and Why Does it Matter?; Unit 2 Making Arguments about Literature; Unit 3 Critical Approaches to Literature; Unit 4 Literary and Cultural Theory; Unit 5 Making

2 Researched Arguments in Literary Studies I; Unit 6 Making Researched Arguments in Literary Studies II. Each unit will afford you a sequence of opportunities to dig deeply into the topic and to demonstrate your learning, including content (material you read), assignments (work you do), and assessments (quizzes and exams). There is also an introductory unit that orients you to the course, ensures you have the needed technology skills to succeed in the course, and introduces you to your classmates. Assignment and (How You ll Earn Your Grade) This course s approach to assignments and grading will likely be different than other courses you ve taken, so read this section carefully. In most courses, a professor sets up a series of mandatory activities that you must complete to pass the class. I m not going to do that this term. Instead, I am going to offer you a broad range of opportunities to earn points toward your grade in an effort to allow you to make decisions about your path according to your interests and skills. It s a Choose Your Own Adventure style of grading in which you select the projects on which you want to work, and use them to demonstrate the extent of your learning. Are you an excellent test taker? Great. Then take lots of quizzes and exams. Not so good at exams? Invest your energies in blog posts, explication posts, and reader s reports. I suggest mixing it up and doing a little of everything to make sure you earn enough points to get the grade you d like to receive. But NOTE WELL: Slow and steady progress is the key to success in this course. There are no make-ups or extra credit opportunities. Plan your term wisely. Also, keep in mind that the points listed for each opportunity are the maximum number of points possible; you shouldn t expect to earn 100% of the points every time you submit an assignment. For example, you can earn points for each quiz, but if you only answer half of the questions correctly, you would earn only half of the points possible. Your final course grade will be determined according to the following scale: A pts. B pts. C pts. D pts. F 599 pts. and below Course Schedule This course is organized into units, with one unit due every week. Each unit works the same way, so once you ve completed Unit 1, you ll follow the same plan every week until the end of the term. The only exception is the beginning of the course, where you will complete a brief introductory unit. The various types of assignments and assessments are due on the same day each week. How to Pace Your Work in This Class This course requires you to work consistently and in a self-directed way. To succeed, you ll need to log in to the course at least once every weekday. We hit the ground running, so our deadlines begin the first week of class. Work is consistently due on certain days throughout the week, and we go through the same sequence of assignments and assessments with each unit. Below, I ve drawn up a suggested schedule of how to pace your work across a week of our course. Remember, you can always turn in work early if this schedule doesn t fit well around your other commitments. Monday Complete assigned reading for the day; take reading quiz; write blog post. Tuesday Complete assigned reading for the day; take reading quiz; write blog comments. Wednesday Complete assigned reading for the day; take reading quiz; participate in digital discussion. Thursday Write explication post during Units 1-4; work on research essay during Units 5-6. Friday Complete unit exam during Units 1-4; get started on next week s assigned reading.

3 Details on Assignment, Assessment, and Research Process Assignments 1. Blog Posts: Each week in this course, you ll have an opportunity to blog about our assigned readings. Far from being a mere supplement to our course, the blog will be the required reading that we write ourselves and one (of the many) ways we will consider the concepts of our course together. You should think of our work on the blog as an ongoing conversation that is active all term. Your blog posts should be at least 300 words long, and respond directly to the day s readings. You might consider historical or critical questions raised by one or more of the week s readings, connect this week s reading to previous reading in the course, pose an insightful question about the reading and then seek to answer your own question, or respond to another student s post. Blog posts are due on Mondays by 11:59 p.m. You cannot submit your weekly posts late, or make up for missed posts later in the term. This assignment will be assessed according to a grading rubric, which you should consult before submitting your post to make sure you have included all of the required elements. A copy of the rubric is available on our course Wordpress site. 2. Blog Commenting: Your comments on our course blog should engage in a conversation in some meaningful way. More than just agreeing or disagreeing with the original writer, a good comment will be substantive and reflective, explaining why you agree or disagree with the writer, or describing the questions/issues/associations the writer s post raises for you. The best comments will add depth by asking a good question, or referring to another passage from the week s reading that complicates the writer s ideas, or connecting what the writer is saying with another blog post from the class. You will earn 5 points for each substantive comment you make, up to a maximum of points per week. Comments are due on Tuesdays by 11:59 p.m. You cannot submit your weekly blog comments late, or make up for missed comments later in the term. 3. Digital Discussion Participation: Discussion assignments accomplish several different things in this course. First, they provide an opportunity for you to get to know and learn from your fellow students. They let you see the diversity of different viewpoints on the issues we re discussing each week, while also encouraging you to explore our course concepts in relation to your own life. Lastly, discussions encourage you to think about our material in ways that make it more memorable and easier to comprehend. Research shows that students who participate in discussions earn better grades. It s important, therefore, that you participate frequently and put thought into what you post. Research also tells us that communicating online creates some concerns that we wouldn t normally have in a face-to-face discussion. Online, what you say tends to come across as more negative or critical than it would in a regular conversation, even when you re just trying to joke around. It s also easy to treat someone more harshly than you would normally, due to the lack of nonverbal signals, expressions, and so forth. Therefore, in this class, I want you to make a special effort to make sure that you treat each other with respect and kindness in your online communications. Feel free to disagree with one another (and with me!), but be sure that you are criticizing the idea and not the person. I reserve the right to delete posts and comments that are insulting, disparaging toward particular groups of people, or otherwise damaging to our class community. Digital discussion participation will work like this: Each week, I will kick off a conversation about the week s reading and ideas by means of a Digital Discussion Starter post on our course blog. In the form of comments underneath the discussion starter s post, your comments will engage in the conversation in some meaningful way. To receive full credit for digital discussion participation, you should post at least one substantive comment of your own, and reply to at least two other people. This is the minimum requirement, but you re welcome to participate in the discussion thread as often as you d like. Contributions to digital discussions are due on Wednesdays by 11:59 p.m. You cannot submit contributions to a digital discussion late, or make up for missed contributions later in the term.

4 4. Explication Posts: For each of these brief posts, you will write a 600-word explication of a literary text from our syllabus. An explication is a specific type of literary analysis that asks a question of a text and then resolves that question through a persuasive argument. The question identifies an issue, something that is clearly full of significance but not directly explained: Why is the whale in Moby Dick white? Why does the Duke in My Last Duchess reveal his role in his late wife s demise? Why does Bartleby in Bartleby, the Scrivener stop working? Why do weapons always fail Beowulf? Why does Victor Frankenstein pursue the secrets of life? The argument proceeds by using evidence within the text to contextualize the issue and answer the question the essay is posing. These Explication Posts are due on Thursdays by 11:59 p.m. during Units 1-4. You cannot submit your explication posts late, or make up for missed posts later in the term. Consider the following advice as you write these posts: The literary question you are asking should serve as the title for each explication post. Think small. Think interesting. Think about a question that will be enjoyable to pursue. Make sure that you are identifying an ISSUE in the text rather than making an observation. Structure your essay as an articulation and resolution of the issue. For example, it s not enough to assert that the Duke caused the death of his former wife in My Last Duchess and that makes the poem interesting; everyone knows that already. What is valuable, though, is to formulate an argument that accounts for this revelation within the dramatic monologue. What does the author accomplish in making the reader aware of something the Duke believes is a secret? Why might the author do that? Always keep in mind that you are presenting a convincing ARGUMENT, not simply making a series of remarks about things that you find interesting. The literary text should be used to supply evidence. Quote from it in moderation to back up your assertions. Some students find it helpful to think of the essay as a court case: your role is to persuade your audience that your argument makes sense. It might not be the only way to account for the evidence, but it must be a compelling one. Don t hide contradictory evidence instead, react to it, and show how your argument explains it. Remember that you have very little space to make your argument. Every word is precious. Omit anything that is too general, and say as much as possible with as few words as possible. A thesis sentence like Melville employs many themes to make interesting points says nothing at all. A sentence like Melville s Bartleby embodies the contradictory values of American capitalism will make your reader want to know more. ANALYZE, DO NOT SUMMARIZE. If you are simply retelling the story, you are not writing a critical essay. Your reader knows the plot already and does not require a rehash. Keep a formal tone. Take your writing seriously. Proofread assiduously. What you have to say about the text is important, and will be graded seriously. Be brave. Take risks. As long as you are making a thoughtful, text-based argument and are attentive to the quality of your writing, it is difficult to go wrong. Exercise your intellect and your imagination in this short essay. Grant yourself the luxury of having enough time to think your argument through, and build in time to revise. This assignment will be assessed according to a grading rubric, which you should consult before submitting your post to make sure you have included all of the required elements. A copy of the rubric is available on our course Wordpress site.

5 Assessments 5. zes: The purpose of the reading quizzes is to help you learn and remember the concepts presented in our assigned reading. These are intended as learning activities in and of themselves. Research shows that quizzing is a particularly effective way to learn information quickly, thus these quizzes are set up to encourage you to test yourself as you complete the reading assignments each week. Each quiz will remain open until 11:59 p.m. on the day the assigned reading is due to be completed. Late quizzes will not be accepted. You will submit your responses to these quizzes online; while you can refer to your books and notes during the quiz, you cannot work together with other students. Each quiz will ask you to certify that you have completed the quiz on your own and that it represents your own work; violations of the rule will be subject to Gordon s policies for academic dishonesty. 6. Unit Exams: The purpose of the unit exams is to encourage you to revisit and integrate material from that unit s readings. Each exam covers material from only the current unit. The format will be a mix of multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. These exams will be challenging, so don t assume that you ll be able to achieve perfect scores. In addition, you must score at least 50% or higher on an exam in order to receive any points at all for the exam. This is prevent students from gaming the system by randomly selecting answers in order to pick up a few points without reading the questions or demonstrating any real understanding of the material. Each exam will become available at 6:00 a.m. on the day it is due. It must be completed by 11:59 p.m. on that same day. You will submit your responses to these exams online; while you can refer to your books and notes during the exam, you cannot work together with other students. Each exam will ask you to certify that you have completed the exam on your own and that it represents your own work; violations of the rule will be subject to Gordon s policies for academic dishonesty. 7. Self-Assessment: Because the grading system in this course is a bit unusual, I want to encourage you to check in on your progress regularly. I have provided a goal for satisfactory progress for each unit, as well as a cumulative goal for satisfactory progress in the course, on the Schedule of Readings and Assignments below to help you track your progress. In addition, at the end of each week during Units 1-4 you will have the option to submit a self-assessment that reports on your performance to date and your detailed plan for selecting the assignments and assessments that will help you reach your desired grade in this course. These self-assessments are due on Saturdays by 11:59 p.m. during Units 1-4. You cannot submit your self-assessment late, or make up for missed self-assessments later in the term. To complete a self-assessment, please visit our Wordpress site and click on the Self-Assessment Submissions Form link under Quick Reference Links. Research Process 8. Research Essay Proposal: For the research essay proposal you will write a 300-word description of both (1) the literary issue you plan to address in your research essay (again, an issue something that is clearly full of significance in a work of literature, but is not directly explained), and (2) the critical conversation related to this interpretive issue that you plan to engage. This proposal should make clear to the reader which literary text you plan to analyze, the research sources on which you intend to draw, and the question you will pose. I encourage you to consider expanding one of your blog posts or explication posts from earlier in the term into a full-fledged research paper. If you take this route, be sure to mention it in your proposal, and focus on how you will be developing your original argument. The research proposal is due by 11:59 p.m. on the date indicated in the Schedule of Readings and Assignments below. This assignment will be assessed according to a grading rubric, which you should consult before submitting your proposal to make sure you have included all of the required elements. A copy of the rubric is available on our course Wordpress site. 9. Research Essay First Draft: First drafts of the research essay will be due at the end of Unit 5. Your first draft will be graded for completeness, but not for quality (that is, you will earn points for having done it, but I will not grade your performance on argumentation, grammar and spelling, MLA style, etc. until the

6 final draft). I will be happy to discuss it with you during my office hours, or via Skype, if you would like input or assistance. To earn full credit for completing a first draft, your draft should include all of the required elements of the final draft it should be at least 8 pages long, it should engage with both a literary text and research sources, it should cite these sources in MLA style, and it should include a Works Cited page. The first draft of your research essay is due by 11:59 p.m. on the date indicated in the Schedule of Readings and Assignments below. 10. Research Essay Peer Review Participation: During Unit 6 you will have the opportunity to give and receive feedback on essay drafts. I will provide questions for structuring this feedback and earning the possible points for completing this assignment. The peer review comments on two of your classmates research essays are due by 11:59 p.m. on the date indicated in the Schedule of Readings and Assignments below. 11. Research Essay Final Draft: You will write an 8-page (double-spaced) argument addressing a significant issue/question related to any one of the literary texts on our course syllabus. The introduction to your essay should pose the question or issue that your essay will address and engage your reader s interest in it. Within your essay, you will join in conversation with other scholars who have addressed your interpretive issue. Your proposed answer to this question (summarized in a single sentence) will serve as the thesis statement for your paper. An important note: this course affords you a range of options for demonstrating your learning, and gives you the freedom to select the assignments and assessments you d like to complete throughout the term. The final draft of the research essay is the one exception: you cannot pass this course if you do not write a research essay. If you wish, you may opt out of the other elements of the research process: you can skip writing a proposal, avoid writing a first draft, or elect not to participate in our peer review process (though I hope you won t I ve designed these activities carefully to help you become a better writer in this course!). The final draft of your research essay is due by 11:59 p.m. on the date indicated in the Schedule of Readings and Assignments below. This assignment will be assessed according to a grading rubric, which you should consult before submitting your essay to make sure you have included all of the required elements. A copy of the rubric is available on our course Wordpress site. Accommodations Statement Students with disabilities who need academic accommodation are asked to speak with the instructor within the first two weeks of class. Students are also responsible for making sure that documentation of the disability is on file in the Academic Support Center. Failure to register in time with the professor and the ASC may compromise our ability to provide the accommodation. Academic Dishonesty Statement Academic dishonesty is regarded as a major violation of the academic principles of this community and may result in a failing grade or suspension. Academic dishonesty includes plagiarism (see Plagiarism in Student Handbook), cheating (whether in or out of the classroom), and abuse or misuse of library materials when such abuse or misuse can be related to course requirements.

7 ENG211 Schedule of Readings and Assignments Unit 0: Introductory Unit Blog Post (Friday 5/) Syllabus Quiz (Friday 5/) Goal for Satisfactory Progress in Unit 0: points (40 points possible) 0 F 5/ Logemann, Introduction to ENG211. [on our Wordpress site] Initial Blog Post Unit 1: What Is Literature? How and Why Does it Matter? Explication Post (Thursday) 50 (Monday) (Tuesday) (Wednesday) Unit Exam (Friday) Self-Assessment (Saturday) 100 Goal for Satisfactory Progress in Unit 1: 0 points (265 points possible) Cumulative Goal for Satisfactory Progress in the Course: 175 points (B+) 1 M 5/18 Logemann, Introduction to Unit 1. [on our Wordpress site] Schilb & Clifford, ch. 1, What Is Literature? How and Why Does it Matter? Blog Post (3-). T 5/19 Schilb & Clifford, ch. 2, How to Read Closely (16-46). Schilb & Clifford, ch. 3, How to Make Arguments about Literature (47-80). Blog Commenting W 5/20 Culler, ch. 2, What Is Literature and Does It Matter? Ryken, Thinking Christianly About Literature. [on Blackboard] Digital Discussion R 5/21 No Assigned Reading Complete Explication Post. Explication Post F 5/22 No Assigned Reading Complete Unit Exam. Unit Exam

8 Unit 2: Making Arguments about Literature Explication Post (Thursday) 50 (Monday) (Tuesday) (Wednesday) Unit Exam (Friday) Self-Assessment (Saturday) 100 Goal for Satisfactory Progress in Unit 2: 0 points (265 points possible) Cumulative Goal for Satisfactory Progress in the Course: 3 points (B+) Logemann, Introduction to Unit 2. [on our Wordpress site] 2 M 5/ Schilb & Clifford, ch. 4, The Writing Process (81-114). Blog Post Schilb & Clifford, ch. 5, Writing about Literary Genres (1-85). T 5/26 W 5/27 Schilb & Clifford, Seductive Arguments: Poems ( ). Includes Donne s The Flea, Marvell s To His Coy Mistress, and Eliot s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Schilb & Clifford, Jealous Love ( ). Includes Shakespeare s Othello and three critical commentaries. Blog Commenting Digital Discussion R 5/28 No Assigned Reading Complete Explication Post. Explication Post F 5/29 No Assigned Reading Complete Unit Exam. Unit Exam Unit 3: Critical Approaches to Literature Explication Post (Thursday) 50 (Monday) (Tuesday) (Wednesday) Unit Exam (Friday) Self-Assessment (Saturday) 100 Goal for Satisfactory Progress in Unit 3: 0 points (265 points possible) Cumulative Goal for Satisfactory Progress in the Course: 475 points (B+) Logemann, Introduction to Unit 3. [on our Wordpress site] 3 M 6/1 Omelas, and Horrocks The Sheep. Schilb & Clifford, Where Tradition Is a Trap: Stories (856-80). Includes Jackson s The Lottery, Le Guin s The Ones Who Walk Away from Blog Post T 6/2 W 6/3 Schilb & Clifford, Critical Approaches to Literature (34-72). Includes Joyce s Counterparts and Eveline, and Frye s A Refugee at Home. Schilb & Clifford, He Said/She Said: Re-Visions of a Poem ( ). Includes Browning s My Last Duchess, and Spera s My Ex-Husband. Culler, ch. 1, What Is Theory? Culler, ch. 3, Literature and Cultural Studies. Blog Commenting Digital Discussion R 6/4 No Assigned Reading Complete Explication Post. Explication Post F 6/5 No Assigned Reading Complete Unit Exam. Unit Exam

9 Unit 4: Literary and Cultural Theory Explication Post (Thursday) 50 (Monday) (Tuesday) (Wednesday) Unit Exam (Friday) Self-Assessment (Saturday) 100 Goal for Satisfactory Progress in Unit 4: 0 points (265 points possible) Cumulative Goal for Satisfactory Progress in the Course: 6 points (B+) Logemann, Introduction to Unit 4. [on our Wordpress site] 4 M 6/8 Schilb & Clifford, Misfit Justice ( ). Includes O Connor s A Good Blog Post Man Is Hard to Find and three critical commentaries. T 6/9 Culler, ch. 4, Language, Meaning, and Interpretation. Blog Commenting W 6/10 Schilb & Clifford, From City to Country ( ). Includes Wilde s The Importance of Being Earnest and four critical commentaries. Digital Discussion R 6/11 No Assigned Reading Complete Explication Post. Explication Post F 6/12 No Assigned Reading Complete Unit Exam. Unit Exam Unit 5: Making Researched Arguments in Literary Studies I (Monday) Research Essay Proposal Research Essay First Draft Goal for Satisfactory Progress in Unit 5: 1 points (195 points possible) Cumulative Goal for Satisfactory Progress in the Course: 750 points (B+) Logemann, Introduction to Unit 5. [on our Wordpress site] 5 M 6/ Schilb & Clifford, ch. 6, Writing Researched Arguments (187-6). Includes Gilman s The Yellow Wallpaper and three critical contexts for Blog Post research. T 6/16 No Assigned Reading Complete Research Essay Proposal. Blog Commenting Research Essay Proposal W 6/17 No Assigned Reading Begin Research for Research Essay. Digital Discussion R 6/18 No Assigned Reading Continue Research for Research Essay. F 6/19 No Assigned Reading Complete Research Essay First Draft. Res. Essay First Draft

10 Unit 6: Making Researched Arguments in Literary Studies II (Monday) Res. Essay Peer Review Participation Res. Essay Final Draft 100 Goal for Satisfactory Progress in Unit 6: 1 points (195 points possible) Cumulative Goal for Satisfactory Progress in the Course: 875 points (B+) 6 M 6/22 Logemann, Introduction to Unit 6. [on our Wordpress site] Schilb & Clifford, Love as a Haven (606-20). Includes Arnold s Dover Blog Post Beach and three cultural contexts. T 6/23 No Assigned Reading Complete Research Essay Peer Review. Blog Commenting Res. Essay Peer Review W 6/24 No Assigned Reading Review Comments on First Draft & Begin Revisions. Digital Discussion Response to Peer Review R 6/ No Assigned Reading Revise Research Essay. F 6/26 No Assigned Reading Complete Research Essay. Res. Essay Final Draft