Syllabus

Syllabus ENG 2800: Great Works of World Literature, 1. Fall 2017
In-Person Sessions:  As indicated.  Online asynchronous to Tuesday at 11:59 PM
HAROLD N. RAMDASS 646 312-3958 [email protected]
Office: Department of English, VC 7-290B Office Hours: Friday 4:30-5;30 PM
DESCRIPTION: This course presents a global approach to literature by introducing a variety of narrative, lyric, and dramatic forms representative of different cultures and historical periods, from ancient times through the sixteenth century. We will study examples of epic and lyric poetry, medieval narrative, and classical and Renaissance drama. Discussions involve both close reading of selected texts and comparison of the values the texts promote. Students engage in a variety of communication-intensive activities designed to enhance their appreciation of literature and their awareness of the way it shapes and reflects a multicultural world.
HYBRID COURSES, ONLINE ACCESS & DIGITAL LITERACY: This is a hybrid course with online course requirements on Tuesdays on Blogs@Baruch, and in-person meetings on Fridays. Additional course materials and documents will be made available on Blackboard. In signing up for this hybrid course, students are agreeing to complete a large amount of self-initiated and self-directed online work. This online work comprises various types of assignments, from critical response papers on readings, responses to classmates’ postings, close reading assignments, and various stages of the writing process for formal papers.
Because a significant percentage of the student’s work and grade and will be based on assignments taking place on Blogs@Baruch, students must have a reliable connection to the Internet and a computer that they can access regularly when off campus. Additionally, our mandatory weekly face-to-face meetings are an essential part of the class, and thus online and in classroom participation are both essential.
OBJECTIVES: This course is designed to foster the following skills and abilities:

  • Increased ability to interpret meaning in literary texts by paying close attention to an author’s choices of detail, vocabulary, and style
  • Ability to discuss the relationship between different genres of literary texts and the multicultural environments from which they spring
  • Increased confidence in offering a critical evaluation and appreciation of a literary work’s strengths and limitations
  • Increased confidence in the oral presentation of ideas
  • Increased ability to write a critical essay employing a strong thesis statement, appropriate textual citations, and contextual and intertextual evidence for ideas
  • This hybrid course is also designed to foster students’ ability to evaluate, use, and integrate various technologies, the internet and digital media to produce and present oral and written communication in individual and collaborative contexts.

ACADEMIC HONESTY: This important information for students about the consequences of cheating and plagiarism is Baruch College’s official policy. Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college’s educational mission and the students’ personal and intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear individual responsibility for their work, to learn the rules and definitions that underlie the practice of academic integrity, and to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable excuse for disobeying them. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic process will be sanctioned.

  • Definitions of Academic Dishonesty: Cheating is the attempted or unauthorized use of materials, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise. Examples include:
    Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another to copy your work.
  • Unauthorized collaborating on a take home assignment or examination.
  • Using unauthorized notes during a closed book examination.
  • Taking an examination for another student.
  • Asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you.
  • Changing a corrected exam and returning it for more credit.
  • Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to two classes without consulting the second instructor.
  • Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book (exam booklet) before an examination.
  • Allowing others to research and write assigned papers including the use of commercial term paper services.

 

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes.
  • Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging them.
  • Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source.
  • Failure to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignments.
  • Purchase and submission of papers from “paper mills,” internet vendor sites, and other sources.

 

To learn more about the definition and scope of plagiarism: discuss it with your instructor and visit Baruch College’s online Plagiarism Tutorial at http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/plagiarism/index.htm

  • Obtaining an Unfair Advantage:
    Stealing, reproducing, circulating or otherwise gaining prior access to examination materials.
  • Depriving other students by stealing, destroying, defacing or concealing library materials.
  • Retaining, using or circulating examination materials that clearly indicate that they should be returned at the end of the exam.
  • Intentionally obstructing or interfering with another student’s work.
  • Engaging in activities that intentionally create an unfair advantage over another student’s academic work.

 

REQUIRED TEXTS: Puchner, et al. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, 3rd ed. Volumes A-C. New York: Norton, 2012. ISBN: 978-0-393-93365-9. Publisher Price: $81.25, Paperback
YOU MUST USE THE 3RD EDITION ONLY!
Berggren, et al. Contexts and Comparisons: A Student Guide to the Great Works Courses (CC). Available Online–Electronic Resources, Digital Collections on the Newman Library home page.
August
F 24      Introduction, Syllabus, Hybrid Courses and Computer Literacy, Navigating Blogs@Baruch
T 29      Vol. A: Analects, 1330-34; Vol. B: “Returning to the Farm to Dwell” p.1009, “My Thatched Roof” p.1032 POST DUE AT 7:00 PM
September

F 1        Vol. A: Metamorphoses: “Myrrha & Cinyras” p.1105, Line 372 – p.1110

CC: Chapter 3, “Roman Classicism”
T 5        Vol. A: Metamorphoses: “Venus & Adonis” p.1110, Line 618 – p.1115
F 8        Vol. A: Oedipus p.707 – p.725

CC: Chapter 3, Classical Drama, “Classical Drama”
T 12      Oedipus p.725 – p.747
F 15      Writing Workshop: Comparison/Contrast Essay. Absence reduces course grade by 3%

T 19      VOL. A: Iliad p.230 – p.245; Writing: Thesis Statement and Outline Due

CC: Chapter 1, Epic Poetry, “Backgrounds for Reading the Iliad and Odyssey”
F 22      OFF
T 26      Iliad p.246 – p.256
F 29      OFF

 

October

T 3        Iliad p.273 – p.283 and p.299 – p.309
F 6        Iliad p.312 – p.331 PAPER 1 DUE
T 10      VOL. B: Sakuntala p.876 – p.894

CC: Chapter 3, Classical Drama, Passages for Study: “The Theatre Prologue to Kalidasa’s Sakuntala”
F 13      Sakuntala p.894 – p.921
T 17      Sakuntala p.921 – p.942
F 20      MIDTERM (15%)
T 24      Vol. B: “Red Lotus of Chastity” p.962 – p.967

F 27      The Prince HANDOUT (On Blackboard under Course Documents)
CC: Chapter 5, Renaissance Literature, “Historical Background”

 

T 31      Vol. B: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight p.727 – p.751

CC: Chapter 4, Medieval Narrative: “The Backgrounds of Medieval Narrative”

November

F 3        Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, p.751 – p.780

T 7        Vol. B: The Thousand and One Nights p.556 – p.564, p.586.

CC: Chapter 4, Medieval Narrative, Passage for Study, “Tales from A Thousand and One Nights”
F 10      Writing Workshop: The Lens Comparison. Absence reduces course grade by 3%

T 14      Vol. C:  Hamlet, Act 1

CC: Chapter 5, “Renaissance Drama” and Thesis Statement and Outline Due,
F 17      Hamlet, Act 1
T 21      IN PERSON:  Hamlet Act 2
F 24      OFF
T 28      Hamlet, Act 3

December

F 1        Hamlet, Act 4; Paper 2 Due

 

T 5        Hamlet, Act 4

F 8        Hamlet, Act 5, Conclusion
REQUIREMENTS AND GRADE BREAKDOWN
ATTENDANCE POLICY: 2 Absences permitted without penalty. Except in permitted cases due to inclement weather, mass transit problems, unusual traffic conditions, or emergencies, each lateness of 15 minutes or more from the scheduled class start time counts as half an absence.
ACTIVE PARTICIPATION: 20%. When reading, make notes in your text: highlight what interests you, and make a note of why. Note parts that you don’t understand, are confusing; make notes on what seems strange, puzzling or weird. This is the basis for good blog discussions, class discussions, essays, and exams.

 

Failure to participate in discussions online and in class reduces your grade by the appropriate percentage.

 

Online posts (10%). Do assigned reading, participate meaningfully and on time on Blogs@Baruch in lead and response posts as required.  A weekly post is required of every student.  It will take about a month for us to get used to blogging and to work out any possible problems. After this, each week a team of students will create lead posts (200 words per lead post) that reflect their engagement with the assigned reading, include a close reading of what the team determines to be significant textual moments, and raise key questions for blog discussion. Lead posts must be submitted by 11:59 PM on Tuesdays. Other students must engage at least two lead posts and two other student posts. These must be completed by Thursdays at 7:00 PM.

 

In Class (10%). Attend class on time, do assigned reading, participate meaningfully in class discussions. We will incorporate work done in our blog discussions in in-person discussions.
PAPERS: 40%. NO LATE PAPERS, NO PLAGIARISM ACCEPTED. Papers must be submitted in class, on the assigned date, and in hardcopy. I will provide you handouts containing specific guidelines on how to perform close reading, how to create a dialogic journal, and how to do a Comparison/Contrast essay. These handouts can be found on Blackboard under Course Documents. Two in-person classes will be dedicated to writing workshops on the two types of Comparison/Contrast essays required in this course. Workshops take place in our classroom during scheduled class times. Because the skills covered in these workshops pertain to all formal essays and exam essays, workshops are mandatory: each workshop missed will reduce your final grade by 3%. I do not conduct make-up workshops. You are encouraged to seek out the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute for additional assistance with writing.
A rewrite of paper 1 is permitted, and due in class on Friday 21st April, in hardcopy. A rewrite is a rethinking of your work, not a superficial editing. A higher grade is not guaranteed; a lower grade is possible.
QUIZZES: 10%. Quizzes on Friday sessions that test basic reading knowledge required for the day. There are no make-up quizzes.

 

MIDTERM AND FINAL EXAMS: 30%. Exams include two elements:

 

Short identification questions (30%)

A Comparison/Contrast Essay (70%)

 

CLASSROOM DECORUM
During class time, doing work for other courses or employment and social/recreational use of cell/smart phones or laptops are strictly prohibited: infractions will result in dismissal from the course.

You may eat/drink discretely, but please remove all litter when leaving the classroom. Maintain respect for racial, ethnic, religious, socio-economic, political, difference in gender/sexual orientation/expression.
You may record classes only with my written permission. These recordings are for your individual academic use only. You may not share, give or sell these recordings in total or in part to any other party.
There is no extra-credit assignment in this course.