Missouri Western State College, Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism
English 220-02: Introduction to Reading Texts
10:00 am MWF, JGM 104
Spring 2003
Teacher: Dr. Keith Rhodes
Office: SS/C 222 C
Phone: 271-4314
Office Hours: MWF 8:20-9:50 am; T 2:50-3:20 pm
E-mail: rhodes@missouriwestern.edu
Teacher’s Website:
Textbook Website: http://www.prenhall.com/guth
MLA Website: http://www.mla.org/
Required Texts
- Guth, Hans P., and Gabriele Rico. Discovering Literature: Stories,
Poems, Plays. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall-Pearson, 2002.
- Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
5th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1999.
*Recommended: Harmon, W. & C. H. Holman Handbook to
Literature. [any recent edition]. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall-Pearson,
[…]
Departmental Objectives and Means
Upon completion of English 220 a student should be able to:
1. Recognize the major characteristics of literary genres.
2. Discuss literature, orally and in writing, with assurance.
3. Appreciate literary works that are encountered and provide a context for those works.
4. Understand the different ways in which literary theme may be treated in literature.
5. Think critically and present that thinking by written and oral responses to the literature.
6. Analyze literary genres and works.
To reach these goals, the student is expected to:
1. Read poetry, fiction, and drama
2. Investigate various methods of approaching and understanding literature
3. Write papers, including themes and essay examinations
4. Read a variety of literary works in which a chosen theme is dominant.
State General Education Goals
In addition, pursuant to state-mandated goals for college general education, English 220 helps students to:
· Identify works in humanities and fine arts.
· Compare and contrast historical and cultural ethical perspectives and belief systems.
· Utilize cultural, behavioral, or historical knowledge
to clarify and articulate a personal value system
· Understand differences and relationships between formal and popular culture.
· Recognize the ramifications of ones’ value decisions on self and others.
· Recognize conflicts within and between value systems.
· Recognize and analyze the effect of context on ethical decisions.
· Explain historical, cultural, and social contexts in humanities and fine arts.
· Identify aesthetic standards used to make critical judgments in humanities.
· Apply aesthetic standards to works in humanities and fine arts.
Further Course Goals
This course aims to use literary analysis as a way to
explore and develop more complex and powerful ways of reading. While you
should certainly expect to improve your analysis of literature, you should
also be able to apply what you are learning to the analysis and interpretation
of other texts. Further, we will examine a few standard tools, or “theories,”
commonly used to interpret literary and other texts. Finally, as in all English
classes we will hope to improve your writing ability in several ways; but
more specifically you should expect to leave this class with an advanced
and nearly perfect command of MLA (Modern Language Association) Style.
Assignments and Grading
Your grade will be determined by writing, class participation,
and testing. Writing will count the most, so I will spend the most time explaining
it. These explanations will come mostly as part of the assignments themselves,
but some main points will be explained below. Participation grading works
best as a matter of judgment, so that throughout the course we will be negotiating
the idea of weaker and stronger participation. Again, a few main points will
be set out below. You will receive information about your grades throughout
the course. If at any time you wish to discuss any aspect of your grades,
stop by during office hours or make an appointment.
Grading Requirements and Components:
All graded materials will receive scores in points.
The point scale will
be converted to letter grades as follows
90-100% = A
80-90% = B
70-80%
= C
60-70% = D
|
These are the values for each course component:
Participation: 20%
Theme
One: 20%
Theme Two: 20%
Theme Three: 20%
Mid-Term: 10%
Final Exam:
10%
|
Participation
The study of literature and texts is mostly a matter of
interpretation and negotiation. These are necessarily social processes, so
you need to work on doing them in conversation with others. This does not
mean that you need to talk a lot to get a good grade, and in fact it will
be possible to lose points by dominating class discussion to too little point;
but you must participate. Alert, engaged attendance is the starting point,
but you must do more. You will be able to contribute to in-class conversations,
complete quizzes, write online messages, and put exceptional effort into
the stages by which we will construct the themes. I will give constant, if
often simple, feedback about the quality and quantity of your efforts. You
will be free to negotiate other possible means of earning participation credit.
I expect most of the class to excel at this aspect of the grading, since
it will depend heavily on simple effort.
Quizzes and Exams
I might give unannounced quizzes, which will count toward
your class participation grade. Normally, quizzes will have at least as much
instructional as testing purpose, serving as a way to start us thinking about
the right questions. Thus, they may sometimes be unusual, frustrating, etc.
You will always have other ways available to achieve participation credit,
after all. The mid-term and final exams will be more normal. They will also
be thorough and varied, using all manner of questions. The final will not
be comprehensive in the usual sense, but it will probably be true that you
will need to understand much of what we studied during the first half of
the course in order to excel on the final exam.
Theme Assignments
All of the theme assignments will consist not only of
a final paper but also of other parts and stages. You will always need to
show at least minimally adequate attention to all the required parts and
stages for your theme to be accepted for grading. Your themes will then be
graded under these general categories, arranged in the order in which you
will usually need to consider them:
- methods
- thinking
- conventions
- “Methods” refers to ordinary writing and research processes,
but also the more specific techniques that writers need to use while researching
and writing about literature, most of which will be specified in the assignments.
Included here will also be the idea that assignments should be completed
with thoroughness and diligence.
- “Thinking” refers to your visible work with ideas, as reflected in
your writing. This will typically be the largest part of the grade, and it
has many aspects. You will need to read effectively, learn and apply new
information, consider how to work out your own thoughts so that they can
be understood fully by others, find ways to light on and develop interesting
insights, and take on the basic ways of scholars in the field of English.
- “Conventions” refers to all the ways in which literate people these
days expect their writing to be packaged, with particular attention to the
conventions expected by scholars in the field of English. This includes attention
to matters like paragraphing, the order of paragraphs, sentence style, and
sound editing. It especially includes becoming proficient at even the subtlest
nuances of MLA style.
Revision for Re-Grading
You will be able to revise one of your first two themes
for re-grading so long as you meet all other requirements for the themes.
The revision must be completed within one week after the next theme is due.
You will need to submit the entire original theme assignment, including all
grading materials, along with the revised theme. While substantial changes
will be expected, there must still be enough relationship to the original
version that it is clearly a re-working of the original and not simply an
entirely new theme.
Late or Incomplete Task Assignments
If any of the three main writing assignments are turned
in late or are incomplete as of the due date, I will require additional work
for the same amount of credit before those assignments will be accepted.
This policy also applies to students who are late for class on a major due
date, unless they have already turned in their materials. All such late assignments
may also simply be graded, without further response or feedback. They may
not be revised for re-grading.
Student Disability
Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents
the fullest expressions of abilities should contact Missouri Western's special
needs coordinator, Lois Fox, for possible certification of special needs
and expert recommendations for assistance. You should also contact
the teacher personally as soon as possible so that the two of you can discuss
class requirements.
Academic Honesty Policy
You will receive a grade of F for any paper that shows
evidence of cheating and/or plagiarism. You always have the initial burden
of demonstrating that a paper showing evidence of cheating or plagiarism
is in fact your own original work. You should keep thorough evidence of your
writing processes for all papers so that you can meet this burden of proof.
Stronger evidence proving plagiarism may lead to further penalties. Please
note carefully the statement on plagiarism on the departmental website, found
at http://www2.mwsc.edu/eflj/plagiarism.html .
Schedule of Key and Unusual Dates
More specific unit schedules will be provided in class
at key points during the semester. This overview should permit you to calendar
the most important dates. Any changes will be made in writing.
1/13 (M) Class begins.
2/14 (F) First Theme Due
3/7 (F) Mid-Term Exam
3/19-21 (W&F) Teacher at conference; independent peer review and on-line discussion
3/24 (M) Second Theme Due
4/18 (F) Third Theme Due
5/2 (F) 11:30 a.m.: Final Exam