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ENGLISH 2132 American Literature II Fall 2010 Instructor: Brian Sweat Office: 149A Phone: 449-7579 Email: bsweat@waycross.edu website: http://www.waycross.edu/faculty/bsweat/ COURSE DESCRIPTION: An overview of the history of American literature, from 1865 to now. TEXT: Baym: The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Vols. C, D, and E (3 books) COURSE GOALS: explain the development of unique thematic concepts in American literature enrich appreciation of key texts improve comprehension of complex texts develop critical thinking skills as well as critical writing skills appreciate the literature of modern America and understand its background ATTENDANCE: Regular attendance at class is most important and is the student’s responsibility. An instructor may drop a student from class with a grade of WF when a student has missed twenty percent (20%) of regularly scheduled class meetings. If such absences are excused, the withdrawal grade will be W or WF, depending on the student’s status at the time he/she was dropped.
HOW A STUDENT MAY DROP A COURSE WITHOUT PENALTY: In order to drop a course officially without penalty, a student must obtain and fill out a Drop/Add form from the Registrar’s office, acquire appropriate signatures, and return the completed form to the Registrar’s office before the designated date published in the Academic Calendar in the Waycross College Catalog. MAKE-UP WORK: It is the student’s responsibility to make up any missed work absolutely no later than one (1) week after his/her absence. No make-up assignments will be given unless circumstances are extenuating, in which case a written request for a make-up assignment, accompanied by appropriate documentation of the reason for the absence, must be made on the date of return by the student. ONE drop grade is allowed on quizzes. No make-up quizzes will be given. The first quiz missed will be counted as the student’s drop grade. Any additionally missed quizzes will be recorded as zeroes. Please note that all makeup work will be substantially more difficult than the original assignment. PLEASE NOTE: This class is designed to foster intelligent, mature discussion. It is NOT a suitable environment for children or pets; please do not bring either to class. If a student exhibits disruptive behavior, he/she will be asked to leave the classroom. Disruptive behavior includes talking while the instructor is talking, making derogatory comments to the instructor or classmates, gathering belongings before class has been dismissed, sleeping in class, continuously asking if we can go early, incessant wheedling for extra credit/easier assignments, and/or possession of activated pagers, beepers, or telephones in class. GRADING: The final grade will be determined as follows:
GRADE EQUIVALENCIES:
CRITERIA FOR GRADING ESSAYS A Outstanding vocabulary, sentence structure, development, and organization B Good vocabulary, sentence structure, development, and organization C Average vocabulary, sentence structure, development, and organization D Weak vocabulary, sentence structure, development, and organization F Unsatisfactory vocabulary, sentence structure, development, and organization MAJOR ERRORS (ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING):
MINOR ERRORS (ANY THREE OF THE FOLLOWING EQUAL A MAJOR
ADA STATEMENT: “The College is committed to providing accessibility to all students in accordance to ADA/504 guidelines. Students should contact the Director of Student Life regarding accessibility.” ACADEMIC SUPPORT CENTER: The Academic Support Center (ASC) was created to offer supplemental assistance to students enrolled in all courses at the College. The ASC offers a variety of services at all levels, ranging from personal tutoring in math, reading, and composition skills to providing handouts and supplementary materials on writing research papers and critiques, taking essay and objective tests, and developing effective study techniques. Through audio-visual, computerized, self-paced, and one-to-one tutorial work, the ASC assists students in developing strengths and eliminating deficiencies. Students may be referred by instructors or may independently seek additional help. ASSISTANCE: 1. Instructors will be available for weekly conferences at scheduled times. RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT: A research paper is required in English 2132 and represents a significant portion (20%) of the final grade. Topic: The paper should present a critical interpretation of one aspect (such as style, character, theme, symbolism, etc.) from a work or works of American literature that we studied. The paper will be developed using evidence from both primary and secondary sources. The paper will be 7 to 9 pages long.
For the research paper, a minimum of seven secondary sources is required. Encyclopedias, MASTERPLOTS, CLIFF NOTES, and MONARCH NOTES are not allowed as sources. No more than one of the sources may be a biographical study. All sources must be from the Waycross College Library, from the textbook, or from (or approved by) the instructor. Steps for the research paper: 1) Identify a tentative topic and submit the topic. The paper should represent the student’s own interpretation of some aspect of early American literature and should be organized as an extended, fully documented essay. Information and ideas gained through research should be integrated with the student’s own ideas as he/she develops and supports his/her thesis and should be documented. Proper documentation is essential and should follow the forms reviewed in class. The Works Cited page should be a separate section at the end of the paper. The manuscript should be typed (7-9 pages) or handwritten (8-10 pages) in blue or black ink on unlined white paper. One-inch margins are expected.
NOTE: Do not hand in a paper that you already completed from another class, especially one of my previous classes that you attended. I will give such a paper, even if you modified it for this class, a grade of F. LATE PAPERS WILL BE PENALIZED ONE LETTER GRADE PER DAY LATE. FAILURE TO TURN IN AN ACCEPTABLE RESEARCH PAPER WILL RESULT IN FAILURE OF THE COURSE. COURSE ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE WEEK ONE Day ONE: Aug 24 Introduction Day TWO: Aug 26 Mark Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” WEEK TWO Day ONE: Aug 31 Mark Twain, “Letters From The Earth” Day TWO: Sept 2 Henry Adams, “The Education of Henry Adams” WEEK THREE Day ONE: Sept 7 Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Day TWO: Sept 9 Chppewa Songs, Henry James, “The Beast in the Jungle” WEEK FOUR Day ONE: Sept 14 TEST ONE!! Day TWO: Sept 16 Joel Chandler Harris, “The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story,” “How Mr. Rabbit was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox”; Emma Lazarus, “The New Collossus” WEEK FIVE Day ONE: Sept 21 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” Day TWO: Sept 23 Booker T. Washington, "Up from Slavery: Chapter XIV. The Atlanta Exposition Address"; W. E. B. Du Bois, "The Souls of Black Folk" WEEK SIX Day ONE: Sept 28 Stephen Crane, “The Open Boat;” Paul Laurence Dunbar, “An Ante-Bellum Sermon,” “We Wear the Mask,” “Sympathy” Day TWO: Sept 30 Jack London, “To Build a Fire”; Zitkala Sa, “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”
Day ONE: Oct 5 TEST TWO!! Day TWO: Oct 7 Theodore Roosevelt, “From The Strenuous Life”; Charles W. Chesnutt, “A Defamer of his Race” WORKS CITED DUE WEEK EIGHT Day ONE: Oct 12 Edgar Lee Masters, “Trainor, the Druggist,” “Doc Hill,” “Margaret Fuller Slack,” “Abel Melveny,” “Lucinda Matlock” Day TWO: Oct 14 Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Luke Havergal,” “Miniver Cheevy,” “Mister Flood’s Party” OUTLINE DUE WEEK NINE Day ONE: Oct 19 E. E. Cummings, “From The Enormous Room”; John Reed, “One Solid Month of Liberty” Day TWO: Oct 21 TEST THREE!! WEEK TEN Day ONE: Oct 26 Robert Frost, “Mending Wall,” “Out, Out—,” “Fire and Ice,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay” “Departmental,” “Desert Places,” “Provide, Provide”; Day TWO: Oct 28 WEEK ELEVEN Day ONE: Nov 2 Sherwood Anderson, “Hands”; Carl Sandburg, “Chicago,” “Fog,” “Cool Tombs” Day TWO: Nov 4 Wallace Stevens, “The Snow Man,” “A High-Toned Old Christian Woman,” “Of Modern Poetry”; William Carlos Williams, “To Elsie,” “The Dead Baby,” “The Wind Increases”; F.T. Marinetti, “Manifesto of Futurism”; Mina Loy, “A Retrospect” WEEK TWELVE Day ONE: Nov 9 T.S Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Waste Land”; E.E. Cummings, “ “O sweet spontaneous,” “Buffalo Bill’s,” “I sing of Olaf glad and big,” “pity this busy monster,manunkind” Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “Mother to Son,” “Genius Child,” “Theme for English B” Day TWO: Nov 11 Theodore Roethke, “Cuttings,” “My Papa’s Waltz”; Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish”; Randall Jarrell, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”; Robert Lowell, “ Skunk Hour,” “Night Sweat”; WEEK THIRTEEN Day ONE: Nov 16 Kurt Vonnegut, “ Slaughterhouse-Five, Ch. 1”; James Dickey, “The Heaven of Animals” Day TWO: Nov 18 Hunter S. Thompson, “From Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”; Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Mother”; Allen Ginsberg, “Howl” WEEK FOURTEEN Day ONE: Nov 23 RESEARCH PAPER DUE!!!!!!!!!!! Day TWO: Nov 25 Ursula K. Le Guin, “Schrodinger’s Cat”; Sylvia Plath, “Lady Lazarus,” “Daddy”; John Updike, “Separating”; Thomas Pynchon, “Entropy”; Art Spiegelman, “Maus” WEEK FIFTEEN Day ONE: Nov 30 TEST FOUR!! Day TWO: Dec 2 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY; NO CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!! WEEK SIXTEEN Day ONE: Dec 7 Review and Catching Up Day TWO: Dec 9 Review for the Final |