Wayland Baptist University, San Antonio Campus

Fall Term August 18, 2009- October 31, 2009

Tuesday (Main Campus 104)

 

 Instructor Information:   Maia Adamina, MA 

Instructor E-mail: maia.adamina-guzman@wayland.wbu.edu

 

Course Number and Title:  ENGL 1302 SA01 Composition and Reading

Catalog Course Description:  Readings from imaginative literature; the research paper and shorter critical             

                                                    and interpretive essays. 

 Prerequisite: English 1301

 

Required Textbooks:   The Norton Introduction to Literature (Shorter 9th ed.) and the handbook at

http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref/pdf/WritingAboutLit-REF.pdf

 

Course outcome competencies: Upon the conclusion of this course, students actively engaged in learning will be able to:

1.  Comprehend the importance of imaginative literature as it relates to other disciplines, the University’s liberal arts mission, and the world at large.

                2.  Discuss three major literary genres:  short fiction, poetry, and drama.

                3.  Identify and analyze basic elements of literature.

4.  Use and refine reading, research, and writing skills to support a clear point of view in regard to a piece of literature.

5.  Demonstrate the ability to read critically and communicate persuasively.

 

Course Requirements and Means of Assessment:  

      Essay 1: (3-4 pages, double spaced, primary source only) 25%

      Essay 2: (4-5 pages, double spaced, researched) 25%

      In Class Writings  25%

      Final Exam:  25%

 The more the student puts into the course, the higher his or her outcome competencies will be. Also, please make use of the tutoring sessions available here at Wayland for additional help with your work. The tutor is here Saturdays from 10am -2pm. I’m not a mind reader so if you have any questions or requests, please ask.

 

Attendance: As stated in the Wayland Catalog, students enrolled at one of the University’s external campuses should make every effort to attend all class meetings.  All absences must be explained to the instructor, who will then determine whether the omitted work may be made up.  When a student reaches that number of absences considered by the instructor to be excessive, the instructor will so advise the student and file an unsatisfactory progress report with the campus dean.  Any student who misses 25 percent or more of the regularly scheduled class meetings will receive a grade of F in the course.  Additional attendance policies for each course, as defined by the instructor in the course syllabus, are considered a part of the University’s attendance policy.

 

Additional attendance policies: If you are absent the day an assignment is due, you are still expected to turn it in by the deadline. Please do not e-mail essays to me; turn them in at the front office. Late papers will not be accepted. In-class writing assignments also may not be made up.

 

Instructor's Policy on Academic Dishonesty: First incident will result in an F for the assignment; second instance will result in an F for the course. This includes collusion as well as plagiarism.

 

 Statement: It is University policy that no otherwise qualified disabled person be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity in the University.  Students should inform the instructor of existing disabilities at the first class meeting.  (Documentation of disability may be required.)

 

Tentative Class Schedule –Please try the links for certain texts well in advance. In other words, don’t show up the day of class complaining that you couldn’t get the link to open and haven’t read as these texts can easily be found by googling the title and author. Please check Blackboard weekly for handouts and/or changes.

 

Week 1 August 18  Orientation: discuss syllabus. Discuss in-text citations and Works Cited. Discuss conventions of writing about literature (1690-97).   

 

Week 2 August 25  Have read the sample student essay http://www.dianahacker.com/rules/pdf/RULE5-Peel.pdf. Discuss elements of fiction. Have read “Young Good Man Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne (232), “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (513), and “Every Day Use” by Alice Walker  (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/quilt/walker.html)

 

Week 3 September 1  Have read A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry  (1621)

 

Week 4 September 8  Have read “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks (655), “America” by Walt Whitman (1014),  “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (988),  “Harlem” by Langston Hughes (820), “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall (824), and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson” (980). See Blackboard handout for “Kearney Park” and “’It’s Only Rock and Roll.’” Have also read “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe (885), “The Nymph’s Reply” by Sir Walter Raleigh (892),  “The Sun Rising” (983) by John Donne, “Shall I Compare Thee” (710) and “My Mistress’ Eyes” (788) by William Shakespeare, “Sonnet” by Billy Collins (789), and “Those Winter Sundays” (633).

 

Week 5 September 15  Peer Review of essay.

 

Week 6  September 22  *Essay 1 Due Have read The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (http://www.hoboes.com/html/FireBlade/Wilde/earnest) and watch film. Have read the sample student research essay (1739-48)

 

Week 7   September 29   Have read “The Cask of Amontillado” (123), “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (451), “Araby” by James Joyce (432), and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson  (http://www.americanliterature.com/SS/SS16.HTML) Discuss Tragedy.

 

Week 8  October 6 Have read Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1325)

 

Week 9 October 13   Peer Review of Essay

 

Week 10 October 20  *Essay 2 Due Watch Film for the Final

 

Week 11 October 27 Final Exam

 

Create correct entries for the following –

  • “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas, found on p. 1012 of your textbook.
  • An article written by B. Flannagan and Rupert Descola and titled “Mexico in American Fiction to 1850.” The article was published in 2002 in a journal called Hispania. It appears on pages 302-318. The volume number is 23.
  • An article titled “Nathaniel Hawthorne’s America” authored by Darcy Kemp. The article appeared in  American Adams on October 29, 1998.  You accessed it on November 26, 2005 on http://www.oxfam.edu/english/writers/hawth/

 

An (A) essay shows original thought, has a clear and well supported thesis, is well organized and free of mechanical errors. A (B) essay may either be clear and mostly free of errors but the thesis is unoriginal, or the thesis may be original but the essay is lacking development and/or has mechanical errors. A (C) essay is average –the thesis is clear but is unoriginal and there are substantial mechanical errors. A (D) essay may lack a clear thesis and/or development and have substantial mechanical and developmental errors.  An (F) essay is incoherent, underdeveloped, and filled with mechanical errors.