The Great Works II-English 2850 Spring 2016
Baruch College, Spring 2016
ENG 2850 (Hybrid): Great Works 2; Section: HWA
Wednesdays 9:55-11:35, Room 1307 (A-17 LEX)
Class Blog: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/greatworkshybrid2016sectionhwa
Course 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 the seventeenth century to the present, via examples drawn from fantasy and satire, Romantic poetry, modern plays, and a broad range of narratives. 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.
This is a hybrid course with face-to-face course time taking place in person Wednesdays, and online on Mondays. 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 are online, students must have a reliable connection to the Internet and a computer that they can access regularly when off campus. Please set up a Google/gmail.com account, as some projects will involve collaborative writing on Google Docs and submission through a Google Drive. Additionally, our mandatory weekly face-to-face meetings are an essential part of the class, and thus participation both online and in the classroom is essential.
Required Texts:
Diaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. New York: Riverhead, 2007.
Puchner et al. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3nd ed. Volumes D-F. New York: Norton, 2012. ISBN 9780393933659 $71.75 (also on reserve at Newman Library).
YOU MUST USE THE 3RD EDITION ONLY!
Recommended Text
MLA Handbook for Writing Research Papers. Modern Languages Association of America, 2009. ISBN: 9781603290241 $20.00
Online at Baruch:
Berggren, et al. Contexts and Comparisons: A Student Guide to the Great Works Courses (C&C). Access from any Baruch computer through Electronic Resources, Digital Collections, from the home page of the Newman Library.
*Other required texts will be made available either as handouts in class or posted on the class blog.
Course Learning Goals:
- Increased ability to interpret meaning in literary texts by paying close attention to an author’s choices of detail, vocabulary, and style by in offering a critical evaluation and appreciation of a literary work’s strengths.
- Ability to discuss the relationship between literary texts and the multicultural environments which they represent.
- Increased ability to write a critical essay employing a strong thesis statement, appropriate textual citations, and contextual and intertextual evidence for your ideas.
- Increased knowledge and familiarity of new technologies for online communication including blogs, collaborative text documents, and audio/video software.
Course Requirements:
Assignment Policy: Formal Essays for this course will only be accepted electronically and are expected during class time on due date. Formal essays must be attached in WORD only. Assignments received after class time on the due date will not be accepted for ANY reason. Assignments are returned via email and if you are using Office 365, you must download the document to view comments, simply opening it will only show the grade, not the comments. Online assignments must be completed by noon on the due date. Online assignments that involve visiting a museum, must be completed by noon the next day.
Formal Essays: Rather than simply presenting a narrative or factual summary, this essay should forward a focused claim in two works we have read in this course and develop a well-supported argument with specific reference to the text(s) via quotations/citations from the texts read in this class. These papers must be a full five to seven double-spaced pages in length. Failure to meet the expected page length requirement will result in a grade of zero (40% of final grade).
Revisions: You will be allowed to revise one of the two papers submitted for this course. Please be advised that revision does not guarantee a higher grade.
Response Papers: Each student must complete four 500-word written response papers to the literature as outlined on the schedule. They are due at noon on the day noted on the syllabus. You will submit a total of four responses over the course of the semester, so missing one response can have an adverse affect on your grade. If you are unable to submit your response when it is due, simply put your effort into turning the next one in on time, as there is no make up (10% of final grade). There are three things to remember about the form and content of this response: it must meet the 500-word requirement; it must go beyond summary or description of the text in question; it must express a critical (not merely personal) opinion or idea about the text(s). I expect these pieces to be clearly written, implementing correct grammar, the use of direct textual quotation, and correct citation. Responses will be posted to the class blog according to a schedule.
Participation: Each student will be responsible for actively (speaking at least once per class) participating in all in class discussions and assignments. Class attendance is NOT participation (10% of final grade). You MUST bring all readings scheduled for the day to each class meeting. Not bringing materials to class will result in a 0 for your daily participation grade (treated as unexcused absence).
Blog Questions/Assignments: There are questions post for the semester. Each student must write a 100-150 word response to the question and provide a 100 word response to another students response (10% of final grade).
Final Project: For your final project you will compose a scholarly edition of a short work of literature of your selection. Select a poem, a short story, an essay, a chapter from a novel or scene from a play that we did not discuss in class. Your choice of work is limited, though, to any piece in the Norton Anthology, or another work by any of the authors we studied. The edition will include a 1,000-word introduction that discusses the context of the author’s time period and literary movement of the text; thoroughly annotation of the text based on literary terms, tropes, and theories discussed in class; a glossary of literary terms; an annotated bibliography of five works peer-reviewed literary criticism germane to your text. This will be published as a hyper-text on a class Google Drive (30% of final grade).
Extra Credit: Extra credit is given to students who memorize, recite, and explain any poem or part of a larger work we have read in class. This may be submitted as a video post or in person.
Attendance Policy: This is a required course, and you are expected to attend all classes. Further, I expect you to be on time. Late arrivals beyond 10 minutes after class has started will be equivalent to one (1) absence. You are allowed two absences without penalty. Excessive absences will negatively impact your grade and will result in an F for the course.
Grading Policy: Grading is computed on a 4.0 scale. Percentages are listed above only as a reminder that essays and exams are counted equally, constituting four parts of the grade. Grades for presentations and the blackboard forum are averaged together; then averaged with the participation grade, which will account for the fifth part of the grade. For more information on the 4.0 scale, see the “Grading Policies/Scale” documents in Blackboard.
Plagiarism: Students are expected to be familiar with the accepted academic principles regarding plagiarism. The English Department fully supports Baruch College’s policy on Academic Honesty, which states, in part: “Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to:
- Submitting essays or portions of essays written by other people as one’s own
- Failing to acknowledge, through proper citation, the source of ideas not essentially one’s own
- Failing to document paraphrases, ideas, or verbatim expressions not one’s own
- Collaborating on an assignment without specific permission from the instructor
- Submitting an essay written for one course to a second course without the explicit permission of both instructors
- Submitting work as one’s own that has been prepared by or purchased by another.
Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic process will be sanctioned. In this class, any evidence of plagiarism, however minute it may be, will earn you an F FOR THE SEMESTER. I am required by College policy to submit a report of suspected academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students. This report becomes part of your permanent file. Additional information can be found at: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html
Guidelines for Online Posts: All online entries will be graded by the following guidelines: 1) Adherence to length indicated in each assignment. 2) Thoughtfulness of response. 3) Use of text. 4) Timeliness of response. Late entries will not be accepted. Do not provide a summary of the plot: we’ve all read the text as well, we don’t need you to repeat to us what happened. Do not write your post entirely about the section or author introduction or focus entirely on outside information: while you may want to make connections to another text, the main focus of your post should be the reading itself.
Learning Goals (1) Increased ability to interpret meaning in literary texts by paying close attention to an author’s choice of detail, vocabulary, and style. (2) Ability to discuss the relationship between different genres of literary texts and the multicultural environments from which they spring. (3) Increased confidence in offering a critical evaluation and appreciation of a literary work’s strengths and limitations. (4) Increased confidence in the oral presentation of ideas. (5) Increased ability to write critical essays employing a strong thesis statement, appropriate textual citations, and contextual and intertextual evidence for their ideas.
Guidelines for Paper Writing: (1) All papers must have a clear and concise thesis statement. (2) All papers must focus two texts we have read in this course by two different authors. (3) All papers must be five to seven FULL doubled spaced pages in length. (4) All papers must be written in MLA style and include a Works Cited page. (5) All papers must have a well thought out title and page numbers. (6) All papers must be written in Times New Roman, 12 pt font with 1’ margins all around (7) There must be no extra spaces between paragraphs and your name, date, etc. should be single spaced in the top left hand corner. (8) All papers must use textual evidence to support claims via use of paraphrases, direct quotes, etc. You may not use more than 2 offset quotes in your paper. (9) There must never be the familiar “you” in any paper, ever. (10) The use of outside/secondary sources is STRICTLY PROHIBITED, in an effort to reduce plagiarism.