Baruch College
Department of Modern Languages and Literature
CMP 2800 (KMWA)
Great Works of Literature I (Antiquity to 1600)
Spring 2018
Instructor: Prof. Phillip Griffith Classroom: VC 6-118
Email: [email protected] Class Hours: MW 2:55-4:35 pm
Office Hours: M 1:15-2:15, or by appt. Office: VC 6-260E
Course website: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/spring2018greatworks/
Course Description
This survey course introduces students to a selection of texts from world literature, from ancient Mesopotamia to early modern Europe around 1600. The course is designed to introduce students, as well, to a variety of major literary genres, from epic and lyric poetry, to dramatic forms, to prose essays. Students will learn about literary themes and devices while also placing works in their historical and cultural contexts. This is a communication-intensive course designed to improve writing and oral communication skills through class participation in discussion and group work, as well as through writing activities (at home and in class) and oral presentations.
Course Objectives
- The ability to interpret meaning in a literary text and communicate it through use of appropriate literary terminology.
- The ability to discuss the relationship between literary genres and works from different cultural contexts.
- Increased ability to communicate ideas in both presentations and group discussions.
- Increased ability to write a critical essay with a strong thesis statement and appropriate textual and contextual evidence.
- Increased ability to work collaboratively to complete a group project.
Required Texts
The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Edition. Package 1 (volumes A, B, C)
+ texts posted to the course website as assigned and made available by instructor.
Students must have the relevant text in class the day of discussion to receive participation credit. For texts posted to the website, this means printing a hardcopy to bring to class.
Other Course Materials
This class uses web-based platforms, including a class blog hosted by Blogs@Baruch and the online annotation system Hypothes.is. Students will receive instructions on how to create accounts for these platforms. Additional required readings will be posted on the class website as PDFs.
Course Requirements
- Blog posts 15% — Each student will post 2 blog posts during the semester. These are 250-word paragraph responses to a topic related to the class reading. Specific prompts will be given to students, and responses must be posted by noon on the due date. Additionally, students must reply at least 3 times to posts by their colleagues during the semester.
- Translation essay (and online annotation) 15% — Students will translate a passage of a text and compose an essay reflecting on the process of translation. Specific instructions will be distributed closer to the due date.
- Close reading essay 15% — For this essay, students will carefully analyze a passage of a text and connect their analysis to an interpretation of a theme relevant to the text. Specific instructions will be distributed closer to the due date.
- Final project 25% — For the final project, students will assemble an anthology of passages from the texts on the schedule of readings and analyze them through a specific theoretical or thematic lens. In addition to selected passages from course texts, the project will include a brief introductory essay, a critical essay, and a final presentation. Further details will be distributed later in the semester.
- Midterm Exam 10% — This exam will assess your understanding of key terms and texts from the course. It will be a mixture of short and longer answer questions, including quotation identifications.
- Reading quizzes 10% — These short quizzes are designed to assess completion of the assigned reading. Quizzes will be unannounced and take place in the first 5 minutes of class. Quizzes cannot be made up, but the lowest quiz grade will be dropped.
- Participation 10% — Students are expected to attend each class meeting having completed the required reading and with a copy of the required text(s). Students may use tablet or laptop computers but may not use cell phones in class.
Grade Scale
This course follows the college-wide grading scale posted on the College website:
Attendance
Students with more than 4 absences will be subject to a WU grade assigned by the instructor.
More than 3 late arrivals will result in loss of participation points. A late arrival or an early departure of more than 30 minutes will result in an absence.
NO CELL PHONES. No meals/disruptive food.
Late Assignments
Late assignments will be subject to a reduction in grade of 1 letter grade for every class session they are late. If you foresee a problem, speak to me well in advance of the due date.
Academic Honesty
All students are expected to present original work. Anyone caught plagiarizing or cheating on a quiz, test or any assignment will receive an F on the assignment and be referred to the college for further disciplinary action. Please familiarize yourself with the policy by visiting: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html
Please let me know if you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism in the context of this course.
Accommodations Policy
Baruch College is committed to making individuals with disabilities full participants in its programs, services, and activities through compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. It is the policy of Baruch College that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall be denied access to or participation in any program, service, or activity offered by the university. Individuals with disabilities have a right to request accommodations. If you require any special assistance or accommodation, please let me know as soon as you can, ideally during the first three weeks of the semester.
Online Resources Instructions
To access the course blog (Blogs@Baruch):
- Set up a Blogs@Baruch account by signing in with your Baruch username here: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/
- You will receive an email invitation from me to join the course blog sent to your Baruch email address. If you do not find the invitation in your inbox, check your junk mail folder. If you still cannot find the invitation, email me.
- Accept the invitation to join the blog.
- When you access the course blog through your Blogs@Baruch username, you will see the Dashboard. From here, you can select “Posts” on the left hand menu to write and publish your blog posts.
To use Hypothes.is to read and annotate:
On selected pages of our website, you will be able to use the annotation tool Hypothes.is. When you’re on these pages, a screen will pop up on the right hand side. This is where our footnotes to the text will show up. You can open and close this screen by clicking on the arrow in the top right corner. Note: you can use this annotation tool without logging in to the site!
- The first time you want to annotate (i.e. highlight or comment on the text on the page) you have to create an account with Hypothes.is
- This is easy! Follow the link in the pop-up screen to the Hypothes.is website. There, enter your email address and follow the instructions.
- Once you have your account, go back to the pop-up screen on our website and log in.
- You can now start highlighting, annotating, reading others’ annotations, and replying to them.
- By default, annotation comments are set to public, but you can set them to private if you choose by changing the setting at the bottom of the op-up window.
- You can see all of your peers’ comments by clicking on their name. This will take you to the Hypothes.is website where you will see a list of that user’s public comments.