Syllabus and Course Guidelines

Professor: Timothy Aubry

Email address: [email protected]

Office Hours: Wednesday 10AM-12PM.  (Please email me to make an appointment for a Zoom session.  I am also available at other times).

Required Texts: 

E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

You can purchase E-Book versions or hard-copy versions of these texts on Amazon

In this course, we will be reading three modern novels.  All four were written between 1900 and 1960 and represent attempts to make sense of the bewildering array of historical changes that helped give shape to modern era in Europe and the United States and across the world.

Learning Goals:

This course is designed to help you

  • Cultivate an ability to read the language of literary works closely in order to grasp its overt and subtle meanings, to make sense of the author’s agenda, and to understand better how the choices the author has made shape the reader’s experience.
  • Understand how the novel as a genre responds to the historical forces, social tensions, and political struggles of its time, particularly the developments associated with the rise of modernity.
  • Understand what makes a literary work “modern” and how the authors assigned departed from more traditional conventions and structures.
  • Improve your ability to articulate clear, well-supported interpretations of the literary works in class discussions, in low-stakes writing assignments, and in formal papers.
  • Read secondary critical essays about the literary works and make sense of the critics’ central arguments and then incorporate these ideas in your own written work.
  • Produce well-organized, persuasive essays that articulate what the literary work is saying or doing, what ideas it is expressing, what feelings it arouses, and how it works to produce a particular impact on readers.
  • Requirements:
  • Two major projects (One 3-5 page essay and one creative project)
  • Three response papers
  • Independent Assignments
  • Entries in the class’s shared Google Doc journals (2 entries per reading assignment)
  • Attendance and participation

Grading

For this course, I will be giving you points for each assignment that you complete. There will be 100 possible points. For most assignments, you will receive points simply for completing the task. There will be numerous challenging assignments, but if you complete all of them, you will receive a high final grade. The primary factor in determining your grade for the class, in other words, will be how much work you do during the session. The goal of this system is to assess your performance on the basis of the effort you put into the course and the progress you make, rather than assessing you on the basis of what knowledge or skills you bring to the class based on previous learning experiences.

Here is the breakdown:

Three response papers (4 points each): 12 total points

  • If you follow the guidelines and complete the assignment, you will receive 4 points for each essay.
  • If you turn in a piece of writing but do not follow the instructions, or if your essay is incomplete, you will receive 2 points for that assignment.
  • If you do not hand the assignment in, you will receive 0 points.

Journal Entries: 25 total points

  • You will receive 1 point per entry. I am asking you to complete 28 journal entries. But you only need to complete 25 to receive all the points in this category. If you complete more than 25 entries, you can receive bonus points for a maximum of 3 bonus points.

Independent Assignments: 20 total points

  • You will be given 10 independent assignments on days when we have whole-class zoom sessions. You will receive 2 points per assignment.

Major paper: 20 total points

This is the one assignment that will be graded on the basis of the quality of the work, meaning a stronger paper will receive more points than a weaker paper. Please read over the grading rubric to understand what each grade means. Here are the values that will be assigned to each grade:

A: 20

A-: 18.5

B+: 16.5

B: 15

B-:13.5

C+: 11.5

C: 10

C-: 8.65

D+: 6.5

D: 5

F: 0

Please note that you have the option to revise the major paper and the final grade will be the one that counts.

Final Project: 10 total points

  • A project that demonstrates significant effort will receive 10 points. A project that demonstrates minimal effort will receive 5 points. If you do not hand in your final project, you will receive 0 points.

Participation and Attendance: 13 total points

  • There are 15 classes during this session. I strongly encourage students to attend all classes and to participate during every discussion. You can miss two classes without being penalized. For every additional class you miss, 1 point will be deducted from your participation and attendance total unless you get permission from me to miss the class and have a legitimate reason for your absence.

Please note that you can make up work that you missed later in the semester. If, for instance, you do not submit your journal entries or complete your independent assignments before they are due, you can do hand them in up until the final class, August 11.

Once I have tallied up all the points you earned, I will assign you a final letter grade using the following the point system:

A 93.0-100.0
A- 90.0-92.9
B+ 87.1-89.9
B 83.0-87.0
B- 80.0-82.9
C+ 77.1-79.9
C 73.0-77.0
C- 70.0-72.9
D+ 67.1-69.9
D 60.0-67.0
F below 60.0

Technology Requirements:

This class will be conducted entirely online using several different platforms, including Zoom, Blogs@Baruch, and Google Drive and Google Docs. To use these platforms and engage with the material, you will need a laptop or desktop computer.  I strongly recommend that you use your computer for the Zoom discussion sessions, which will allow for the best approximation of in-person discussion.  That said, I realize that different students have different degrees of access to technology and that some may be in a household where multiple people need to use the technology and/or the WIFI.  Thus I am going to ask you to do your best to participate in the Zoom sessions using a computer, but I am willing to make allowances for students who have to use their phone or another device or have to miss a session because of technological  challenges. Anyone in need of equipment should consult the following page for information about the technological resources that Baruch offers:

https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/techdistribution/

For Students with Disabilities:

It is college policy to provide accommodations and academic adjustments to students with disabilities. Any student who has a disability who may need accommodations in this class should register with Student Disability Services.  You can find the forms necessary register here: https://studentaffairs.baruch.cuny.edu/student-disability-services/register/  Student Disability Services is currently working remotely.  If you have any questions, you can email the office here: [email protected]. As your professor, I am happy to make whatever accommodations are necessary for you to feel comfortable and succeed in this class.

Plagiarism policy:

Plagiarism is not permitted at Baruch College.  To plagiarize is to steal or pass off the language or ideas of another writer as your own.  Anyone caught plagiarizing will be given an automatic F for that essay and will be asked to meet with the dean.

You are allowed, of course, to use the language and the ideas of other writers, but you must acknowledge your sources.  When you are repeating another writer’s language verbatim you must use quotation marks and cite your source with a parenthetical citation (including the last name of the author and the page number) and an entry in your works cited list.  When you are paraphrasing another writer—putting that writer’s ideas into your own words—you also must include a parenthetical citation and an entry in your works cited list.