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Home My WebLink AboutLIT-206Bergen Community College School of English Department of Composition and Literature Course Syllabus LIT-206: English Literature 1800 to Present Instructor: Office Phone: E-mail: Office Hours: Course Description: This course is a study of British literature from the Romantic period to the present. Students read works by such authors as Blake, Wordsworth, Austen, Hardy, Dickens, Yeats, Lawrence, Woolf, and Thomas. General Education Course. 3 credits; Prerequisite: WRT-101. Sample Required Text: The Norton Anthology: English Literature Vol. 2. (Eighth Edition) Ed. Greenblatt 2006 + Frankenstein by Mary Shelly Student Learning Objectives: The students who successfully complete the requirements of this course will be able to: 1. Identify the themes and qualities of the Romantic, Victorian, Colonial, Modernist, and/or Postcolonial and Post-War periods in the literature of the British Isles. 2. Employ close textual analysis to interpret and evaluate works of British literature from the Romantic period to the present. 3. Experience a variety of writers of literature in the English language from the former colonies who have emerged out of the post-colonial world. 4. Identify the correlative aesthetic, literary, historical, cultural, social, and/or political movements that contextualize the texts under study. 5. Apply appropriate critical lenses to works of British literature from the Romantic period to the present. 6. Critically and analytically read works of British literature. 7. Produce a properly formatted written evaluation of selected works of British literature; and demonstrate competency in both research methodologies and literary analysis. Course Requirements: Students will be required to do the following: 1. Analyze works of literature using a variety of approaches. 2. Participate in class activities such as discussions, writing, and presentations. 3. Write 15-20 pages or 3750-5000 words for the course. This may include the following: journals, quizzes, papers, exams, research papers, class presentation. 4. Take thorough notes during all lectures. 5. Complete the following assignments by the assigned due dates: A. Three three-four page Essays B. Final In-Class Essay Exam C. Write and turn in four journal entrees. D. Six quizzes Three to Four Page Essays: You will be writing three 3-4 page essays throughout the semester. All essays are to be typed, double spaced, in Times New Roman font, printed single-sided. I will provide you with many possible topics for each one. All essays are due on the assigned due date. Any late essay turned in after the class period it is due will receive a 10% grade reduction. I will accept them for one week following the due date. After that they will not be accepted. Handwritten or e-mailed essays will also not be accepted at any time. *They must be turned in as hardcopies in class and electronically via WebCT/turnitin.com. (See page 3) Final In-Class Exam: At the very end of the semester there will be an in-class written essay exam. You will have the whole class period to respond to a few questions on the texts we have read. Journal Entrees: Four times throughout the semester you are to write a reader response journal in the form of one full page of questions and ideas concerning the text(s) we will be focusing on for that day. They must all be about different texts and must be turned in separately. Each one must be typed and double-spaced. Examples will be provided during the second week of classes. Quizzes: Throughout the semester six short quizzes will be given at the beginning of class on the readings assigned for that day. They will be given at the beginning of class and they will be unannounced. If you are more than ten minutes late the day of a quiz, you will miss it and it cannot be made up. This is motivation to have the readings done and to arrive to class on time every day. Attendance: If you miss over 3 weeks of class (any six classes) you can expect to fail the course. *Please note that this does not mean that you have six free passes of any kind. Every class you miss will ultimately hurt you, as you will be missing lectures and important due dates. Nine times out of ten students who receive good final grades accumulate very few absences. If you know you will be absent in advance, please contact me in class or via e-mail to get any info you may need. If you are absent due to an unexpected emergency or illness, again, e-mail me to find out about possible assignment changes or any other pertinent information. Participation: Merely attending class and sitting in a desk will not be enough. You are to take thorough notes in a designated notebook for the class. During some lectures a lot of information will be given and it is essential for you to stay on top of it. You are expected to take part in the discussions of the texts as well. If you’ve done the assigned reading for that day, speak up. The more everyone contributes, the better the class will be. Those students who frequently contribute to class discussions and are seldom late or absent will receive full credit for this portion of the class. Classroom Policies: PHONES OFF. NO TEXTING. Grading: The class will be made up of 310 pts. Here’s how it will break down. Essay #1=50 pts Essay #2=50 pts Essay #3=50 pts Final In-Class Exam #2=50 Journal Entrees=40 pts (10 pts each) Quizzes=30 points (5 points each) Participation=40 pts Plagiarism: Bergen Community College, like all institutions of higher learning, is committed to maintaining academic integrity. Plagiarism, the act of trying to pass any part of another person’s writing off as your own without giving them proper credit, is considered one of the most serious academic crimes. *Any instance of plagiarism will result in an automatic 0 for that assignment. Examples of plagiarism are: -Using any material from another source and including it in your writing without giving the original author credit. These sources could be from the internet, books, newspapers, or another student. Cutting and pasting without giving credit to the original source is illegal! -The extensive use of another’s ideas without the proper citations. -Handing in work, a whole essay, or even one paragraph that was written by someone else. Throughout the course we will look at the proper ways of using other sources and how to correctly cite them in your essays. But in the meantime, remember that all work must be your own. It is incredibly easy for me to identify when you have plagiarized something. Plagiarizing can lead to failing a course and possible expulsion from the college. If you ever have any questions on how to incorporate an outside source into your essay, please ask. WebCT/ Turnitin.com: There is a course shell set up within WebCT (the college’s online course software) for our course. Within it, is a link to the electronic device turnitin. This device notes any instance of plagiarism. All three of your essays must be submitted as hardcopies and electronically to turnitin.com. You will be instructed on how to do this as the time approaches. Sample Course Schedule: Note: This schedule is tentative and subject to change throughout the semester. The day the reading assignment is listed is the day it is to be read by. I have listed the author’s we will be covering. Their specific works and the page numbers will always be given the class period before. If you are absent or know in advance that you will be absent, check with me to make sure you are aware of the current assignment and its due date. If you would like to know in advance any specific titles or page numbers, please ask. Week 1: Intro/ Blake Week 2: Wordsworth/ Shelley Week 3: Shelley/ Frankenstein Week 4: Frankenstein/ Frankenstein Week 5: Industrialism/ Wilde *Paper 1 due Week 6: Wilde/ Colonial Week 7: Conrad/ Conrad Week 8: Shaw Week 9 *Spring Recess – No classes Week 10: Modernism/ Yeats *Paper 2 due Week 11: Woolf/ Joyce Week 12: Post-Colonialism Week 13: Things Fall Apart Week 14: Things Fall Apart Week 15: Review/ *In-class Final *Paper 3 due