CIF Writing Emphasis Development Grant
Report for Sophomore-Level Literature Courses
TO: Improvement of Learning Committee
FROM: Amanda Tucker, Kara Candito, Amy Parsons, and Laura Wendorff
This report includes the documents (detailed below) requested by the Improvement of Learning
Committee, in accordance with the CIF grant. As you suggested, we have only included the
materials for two courses, as we are still discussing and developing materials for some of the
other sophomore-level literature courses. We thought it was important, however, to show how
these courses might use different approaches and assignments to fulfill WE requirements.
Likely, not all six courses will use completely different assignments, but we feel that these two
courses represent two different, yet successful, strategies of creating a 2000-level WE literature
survey.
The following documents include
A syllabus for ENGLISH 2330: British Literature II, Romanticism through the Present
Day. This syllabus includes a list of student learning outcomes.
Guidelines for the three formal written assignments that students will complete in
ENGLISH 2330.
A summary of how the planned materials in ENGLISH 2330 will be incorporated into a
writing emphasis philosophy wherein: (1) students will be given formative writing
feedback with opportunities for revision of written work, and (2) the writing assignments
will be used within a “learning through writing” (writing-to-learn) framework that
complements the course content.
A syllabus for ENGLISH 2430: American Literature through the Civil War. This
syllabus includes a list of student learning outcomes.
Guidelines for the four written assignments that students will complete in ENGLISH
2430.
A summary of how the planned materials in ENGLISH 2430 will be incorporated into a
writing emphasis philosophy wherein: (1) students will be given formative writing
feedback with opportunities for revision of written work, and (2) the writing assignments
will be used within a “learning through writing” (writing-to-learn) framework that
complements the course content.
Other documents, including handouts and student examples of these assignments, are available.
Please let us know if you would like us to provide additional material.
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ENGLISH 2330
British Literature II: Romanticism through the Present Day
Instructor:
Class Time:
Section:
Office:
Office Hours:
Phone:
Email:
Course Description
This course serves as an introduction to British literature from the late eighteenth-century to the
present-day. We will pay particular attention to four literary movements: the Romantic and
Victorian eras in the nineteenth century and the Modernist and Postmodernist periods in the
twentieth century. Students in this course will read both canonical and peripheral authors in
order to become acquainted with traditional British literary history but also grasp the ways this
history has been challenged. In addition to examining the aesthetic qualities of the texts that
we will be reading, we will also place the works in the context of significant events and
ideologies of the time and will therefore be discussing issues like industrialism, class, gender
relations, empire, and race.
Textbook (available at the Textbook Rental Center)
Abrams, Greenblatt, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. D, E, and F (8th
Ed.)
Additional reading materials will also be distributed during class.
Course Objectives
Some of the objectives of this course include
the development of close and critical reading of texts
an increased ability to use textual evidence to support an argument or interpretation
a better understanding of literary terms and definitions
a greater knowledge of key social, political and cultural events of the late eighteenth
century through the contemporary moment (particularly as they are represented in the
texts we are reading)
University Statement on Learning Outcomes
This course fulfills a general education requirement for humanities. The purpose of the study of
humanities is to explore the range of human thought and experience—achievements and failures,
joys and sorrows, comedy and tragedy, life and death. It should challenge students to understand
and evaluate how others, past and present, historical and fictional, have struggled with these
issues. Through their study of humanities, students will:
understand some of the diverse approaches to questions of human meaning and
value;
demonstrate competence in critical thinking, reading, and writing;
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acquire tools for life-long learning in the humanities.
Writing Emphasis
This course may count towards the general education requirement for writing emphasis, provided
the instructor has completed writing emphasis training. If the course fulfills the writing
emphasis requirement, it will
include a minimum of two formal assignments, with drafts and revisions for each.
incorporate activities, lesson plans, and discussions to teach students the rhetorical
strategies and writing conventions of literary studies.
incorporate informal writing activities and exercises, some graded and ungraded.
At least 40% of the course grade will be determined by student writing.
Instructors will provide meaningful feedback on student drafts and papers. This feedback
will address writing and rhetorical issues as well as content knowledge.
Course Requirements
Reading is the most essential component of this course. If you will not keep up with the reading,
you will not be successful in the course. Nearly every week, I will ask you to spend ten minutes
or so addressing a short prompt on the given reading. The purpose of these is two-fold: to give
students extra incentive to keep up with the reading and to help foster class discussion. While
these brief exercises will be graded for reading knowledge (i.e. if you can demonstrate you’ve
read the required reading, you will do well), they’re also meant to help you develop your writing
skills, especially under time constraints.
The writing assignments are also meant to introduce you to the field of literary studies. For the
first essay, students will pick a specific passage from a literary work and analyze it in detail.
This assignment allows students to practice the skill of close reading—a cornerstone of literary
studies—and prepares them for the second paper. The second paper is a thesis-driven literary
analysis in which students articulate and support an argument over one of the texts that we have
read. The third paper is both an intellectual and creative exercise in which students will
investigate and then fill in the rhetorical gaps and silences in a literary text. In class, we will
discuss the guidelines and look at examples for each of these assignments; we will also spend
time in class practicing the skill sets that will be measured by each assignment.
Finally, students will take a mid-term and non-cumulative final exam. I will provide you with
more detailed information about these exams as they draw closer.
Grading
Your final grade will be calculated by the following percentages:
Essay #1 15%
Essay #2 15%
Essay # 3 15%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 20%
In-Class Writing/Reading Quizzes 10%
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Grading Scale
A = 93 and up B+ = 89-86 C+ = 79-76 D+ = 69-66
A- = 92-90 B = 85-83 C = 75 -73 D = 65-60
B- = 82-80 C- = 72-70 F = below 60
Attendance and Participation
As you know, attendance and participation are vital to a student’s success in any class. This course is no
exception, and I expect you to show up to class on time, having read and thought about the reading
assignment. If you miss more than 2.5 weeks of class), you will receive an F in the course, regardless of
your grades on essays and exams. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out what you
missed. I suggest that you exchange e-mails and phone numbers with two of your classmates in order to
get notes for class periods you might miss. I am happy to provide you with any handouts that were
given in your absence, but I will not repeat everything that was said in class. If you have an emergency
situation that prevents you from coming to class, please let me know immediately. If you need to miss
for religious reasons or due to school functions, please let me know at least one week before your
absence in order for it to be excused.
This course is discussion-based: although I will at times lecture to contextualize our readings,
our sessions will be based primarily on conversation rather than lecture. I therefore expect you
to come to class with something to say about the reading, be it a question, an observation, a
desire to look at one particular passage, etc. I also expect you to regularly participate in class
discussions. If this is a component of the course that makes you feel uneasy, I highly encourage
you to make an appointment with me so that we can discuss ways for you to feel more
comfortable contributing.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism—taking someone else’s ideas and words as your own without giving that person proper
acknowledgement—is one of the most serious academic offenses that a student can commit. In the
second edition of Writings from Readings, Stephen Wilhoit lists the following forms of plagiarism:
Purchasing a paper
Turning in a paper that someone else has written for you
Turning in another student’s work with or without that student’s knowledge
Improper collaboration
Copying a paper from a source text (including the Internet) without proper acknowledgement
Copying material from a reading, supplying proper documentation, but without quotation marks
Paraphrasing material from a reading without proper documentation
If you remain uncertain as to what constitutes plagiarism, or if you are concerned that you may be
inadvertently committing plagiarism, please come see me immediately. If you intentionally plagiarize in
this course, you will face severe consequences: at minimum, you will receive a zero for the assignment,
and you may also fail the course.
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I check my e-mail regularly and will be happy to answer any brief questions that you might have. Please
make sure to include your name on all e-mail correspondence. Although I will try to respond within
twenty-four hours, please be aware that there is no guarantee that I will get back to you the same day.
Therefore, I recommend that you do not send me urgent questions about a paper the night before it is
due. In general, I prefer to discuss your drafts and essays in person rather than via e-mail.
**Papers may not be submitted via e-mail unless I specifically tell you otherwise.**
American with Disabilities Act
Any student who may need an accommodation due to a disability should make an appointment to
see his or her instructor during office hours. A VISA from Services for Students with
Disabilities authorizing your accommodation(s) will be needed.
Important Dates to Remember (Academic Calendar)
Course Outline
**Please Note: Readings should be completed by the day they are listed.**
Week One
Course Introduction
Reading: William Blake, “The Lamb” (83), “The Little Black Boy” (84), “The Chimney
Sweeper” (85) and (90), “The Sick Rose” (91), “The Tyger” (92)
Writing: Discuss Essay # 1: Close Reading
Week Two
Reading: Mary Wollestonecraft, from “A Vindication of the Rights of Women,” 170-88
Maria Edgeworth, “The Irish Incognito” (228-242)
Writing: Close Reading Practice
Student Example, Close Reading
Week Three
Reading: William Wordsworth, “I travellled among unknown men” (277), “I wandered
lonely as a cloud” (305), “The world is too much with us” (319)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan” (446)
Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias” (768), “A Song: ‘Men of England’” (770),
“Ode to the West Wind” (772)
Lord Byron, excerpts from Don Juan (handout)
Writing: Close Reading Practice
Close Reading: Structure and Organization
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Week Four
Reading: Felicia Hemans, “The Homes of England,” (870) “Women on the Field of Battle
(handout)
John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (880), “Ode to a
Nightingale” (903) “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (905)
Writing: Peer Review for Close Reading
Week Five
Reading: Lord Tennyson, “The Lady of Shallot” (1114), “Ulysses” (1123), “Crossing the
Bar” (1211)
Robert Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover” (1252), “My Last Duchess” (1255), “Fra
Lippo Lippi (1271)
Writing: Discuss Essay # 2: Thesis-Driven Literary Analysis
Assignment: Essay # 1: Close Reading Due
Week Six
Reading: John Ruskin, from The Stones of Venice (1324)
Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Old Nurse’s Story” (1222)
Ella D’Arcy, “The Pleasure-Pilgrim” (handout)
Writing: Formulating a Thesis
Textual Evidence: Supporting A Thesis
Week Seven
Reading: Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Writing: Student Example, Thesis-Driven Analysis
Week Eight
Reading: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Writing: Thesis-Driven Analysis: Structure and Organization
Assignment: Midterm
Week Nine
Reading: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
W. B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (2025), “September 1913” (2030),
“Easter, 1916” (2031), “The Second Coming” (2036)
Writing: Thesis Workshop/Peer Review: Thesis-Driven Analysis
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Week Ten
Reading: James Joyce, “Araby” (2168)
Katherine Mansfield, “Miss Brill” (on Blackboard)
T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (2289, “The Hollow Men”
(3289), W.H. Auden, “Musée de Beaux Arts” (2428), “September 1, 1939”
(2432)
Writing: Discuss Essay # 3: Perspective-Taking
Assignment: Essay # 3 Due
Week Eleven
Reading: George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant” (2370)
Louise Bennet, “Dry-Foot Bwoy,” and “Colonization in Reverse,” 2470-73
Writing: Character Analysis: An Overview
Week Twelve
Reading: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Writing: Student Example, Perspective-Taking
Structure and Organization: Perspective-Taking
Week Thirteen
Reading: Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Writing: Textual Evidence: Supporting Your Interpretation
Week Fourteen
Reading: Friel, Translations, 2496-2523
Writing: Peer-Review, Perspective Taking
Week Fifteen
Reading: Helen Oyeyemi, The Icarus Girl (handout)
Writing: Essay Exams, Tips and Strategies
Assignment: Essay # 3: Perspective Taking Due
Week Sixteen
Final Exam
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Guidelines for Essay #1: Close Reading
Date Due:
For your first essay, you will pick a short passage from one of the literary works we have read
and write an essay in which you analyze it in detail. This is not a thesis-driven essay but rather
one in which demonstrate your ability to read and write critically.
In your introduction, you will want to provide some context informing your reader where in the
larger work this short passage appears, but, beyond that, you will want to restrict your analysis to
the passage or scene on which you have chosen to work. While you may want to keep in mind
what we have discussed in class concerning the background information, you will not need to use
outside sources in this essay.
Since you are writing about a passage from a literary work, you will want to pay particular
attention to word choice, dialogue, and setting. Don’t choose just any passage or scene to write
about; choose one that catches your attention in some way and that you feel is important to the
entire work. Once you have made a decision on what to write about, I recommend that you read
the passage several times. The more familiar you are with your material, the more details you
will be able to pick up on.
In class we will look at and discuss examples of close reading, as well as spending time peer-
reviewing this assignment. We will also devote class time to practicing close reading as a class,
in breakout groups, and individually. I am also happy to discuss any aspect of the essay or the
writing process with you individually by appointment. If you have any questions or concerns,
please let me know.
Paper Format/Documentation Style
2-3 pages double spaced
12 point font, one inch margins all around
Page numbers and staple or paperclip
Internal documentation, according to MLA guidelines
An original title (do not underline, bold, or put quotes around your title)
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Guidelines for Essay #2: Thesis-Driven Literary Analysis Date Due:
For this essay, you will choose one of the literary works that we have read and write a thesis-
driven analysis that examines a specific element within it—a major issue or theme, the ways in
which the text presents a certain type of character, scene, idea or event, etc. This essay builds
upon the skills you’ve learned through the close reading assignment and your response papers.
While you are not restricted to a small, specific passage in this essay, you do need to focus on a
specific aspect of the works you are dealing with. A thesis statement for literary analysis
identifies a specific topic within the text and makes a direct claim about that topic’s importance.
Coming up with an effective thesis statement takes thought and time, for it requires a
combination of critical thinking, reading, and writing skills.
You will likely go through multiple versions of a thesis for a single essay. However, you do not
need to have a perfect thesis statement in order to begin writing a thesis-driven essay; you need
only know your specific topic and the particular aspects of the text that you want to discuss.
Rather than starting to write the essay from the introduction, you may find it easier to begin
writing the body paragraphs, especially since you have already practiced close reading in the first
essay. Once you work your way through several paragraphs, you will have a clearer
understanding of what it is you are trying to argue, making it easier for you to articulate a thesis.
In class, we will discuss look at an example of a thesis-driven analysis and go over general
guidelines for writing this sort of essay. I am also happy to meet with you individually to discuss
at any point to discuss your writing process for this essay, from thinking about which texts to
write over to fine-tuning your thesis.
Paper Guidelines:
three to five pages, double-spaced
Twelve-point font, one-inch margins all around
Stapled with page numbers
Internal documentation, according to MLA guidelines
An original title (do not underline, bold, or put quotes around your title)
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Guidelines for Essay # 3: Perspective-Taking Due Date:
In your first essay, you practiced close reading, which is a foundational skill in the academic
discipline of literary studies. In your second paper, you used close readings to support a thesis-
driven analysis of a literary work. This assignment asks you to view literature in a different way:
rather than closely examining a particular passage in a text, you’ll be filling in the rhetorical gaps
and/or silences in a literary work. For this paper, you to write from a specific character’s point
of view. The character should be from one of the literary texts we have read and be someone
without interiority (that is, the reader never gets to access their interior thoughts and feelings).
The objective of this assignment is two-fold: first, it offers a creative exercise that provides you
glimpse into the process through which literature is written and 2.) second, it helps to develop
your empathetic abilities because it forces to you to occupy someone else’s position.
In order to fully understand your character’s position, you must understand the time and place in
which he/she lives: after all, we’re all products of a particular culture. As with the first paper,
you’re occupying a very narrow world—the world of the literary text (I don’t want to hear about
Oroonoko or Belinda running rampant in the PSC). You therefore want to take into account my
lecture notes on the social and cultural history of Great Britain from the late eighteenth century
through the early twenty-first century. You’ll also need to read a minimum of one chapter from
one of the books listed below (which have been placed on reserve in the main floor of the
library) to get a fuller account of life for your character. You should, at minimum, directly
utilize this source twice and parenthetically cite the page numbers that you’ve used. Your essay
should also have a works cited page with that cites the chapter(s) you have read.
The paper should begin with a frame paragraph that explains which work you’re looking at and
from which character’s perspective. You should also explain how the narrator treats this
character and why understanding his/her point-of-view is important. Your reasoning should not
be evaluating the character---you don’t have to like the character, but you do have to try to
occupy their position.
The rest of the paper should be written from the character’s perspective and must include the
following:
a basic character sketch that reveals the character’s key personality traits, beliefs, and
values and how these relate to the beliefs and values of their particular time period
an exploration of a specific scene that provides the motivation and rationale for that
character’s actions
a response to another character in the literary text, with an explanation of that rationale.
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Each section should be roughly one- to one-and-a-half pages. All sections should directly
engage with the literary text (i.e. use direct quotes) and page numbers should be cited
parenthetically.
Paper Guidelines:
four to six pages, double-spaced
Twelve-point font, one-inch margins all around
Stapled with page numbers
Internal documentation, according to MLA guidelines
A Works Cited page, according to MLA guidelines
An original title (do not underline, bold, or put quotes around your title)
References (selected)
Brown, Judith.; Louis Roger, eds. Oxford History of the British Empire: The Twentieth Century.
New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.
Cannadine, David. The Rise and Fall of Class in Britain. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1999.
Hall, Catherine. Defining the Victorian Nation: Class, Race, Gender and the British Reform Act
of 1867. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Hobsbawm, Eric. Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day. New York: New Press,
1999.
Royle, Edward. Revolutionary Britannia?: Reflections on the Threat of Revolution in Britain,
1789-1848. New York: Manchester University Press, 2000.
Woodward, E.L. The Age of Reform, 1815-1870. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1962.
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Summary of Writing Emphasis Philosophy
Students will be given formative writing feedback with opportunities for revision of written work.
For each formal writing assignment, students will read, analyze, and provide feedback for one
another’s drafts. This peer-review process will take place approximately one week before the
paper is due and will be primarily student-led. Additionally, as I stress throughout the semester,
I am available outside of class to read student drafts and to provide feedback. Once a formal
writing assignment is due, I provide both marginal and global comments along with a grade.
Students have the option of revising the first two essays, after they have been graded, provided
they make an individual appointment with me and that they turn in the revision within three
weeks of receiving the paper back. The purpose of the first conditions is to make sure that
students are on the right track and that they understand how to revise and rewrite—and that both
of these involve more than merely fixing a comma splice or adding a sentence. The second
condition ensures that students have grasped the skill set measured by the paper before we move
on to another paper that builds upon this skill set.
The writing assignments will be used within a “learning through writing” (writing-to-learn)
framework that complements the course content. The formal and informal writing assignments
are an integral—and integrated—part of the course. Informal writing assignments are a great
incentive to ensure student reading and give students practice writing under time constraints.
Moreover, they provide a foundation for class discussions, especially for more reticent students
who might feel uncomfortable suddenly being called upon in class. Thus informal writing is
connected to broader student learning outcomes, including an increased ability in both verbal and
written communication.
The formal writing assignments are sequential in nature; that is, each one builds upon the skill
set that students learned from the previous assignment. As a sophomore-level course, ENGLISH
2330 aims to teach students the basic writing skills associated with literary studies. To give an
example, close reading is the foundation of literary studies, but it is not a skill with which
students have much experience. In particular, the five-paragraph essay format, emphasized
repeatedly through a student’s public education, provides a stumbling block for students
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understanding how to close read: this format teaches students that there are only two ways to
think about complex, multi-layered issues (yes or no) and that these issues can be adequately
discussed in 500-750 words. By paying careful and sustained attention to one passage from a
literary text, without having to concern themselves about an argument, students learn an entirely
new way of thinking, reading, and writing critically. The second written assignment teaches
them how to formulate an analytical thesis—as opposed to an evaluative or persuasive one—and
how close reading can be used to support such a thesis.
Moreover, the writing assignments are not just about students’ basic content knowledge. In other
words, if a student attempts to replicate a class conversation about a literary passage in his close
reading, he will not have successfully or productively completed the assignment, and the grade
will reflect as much. In class I will teach, model, and then have students practice (as a class, in
groups , and individually) the skill sets that the written assignments cover. Of course, we will
also discuss literary texts. But the formal writing assignments (detailed above) require students
to offer their own more focused and supported analyses of literary works, independent of our
class sessions.
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ENG 2430: American Literature through the Civil War Spring 2012
Instructor:
Email:
Office:
Office Hours:
Course Description and Policies
ENG 2430 is a survey of American authors and literary trends from the earliest colonial
encounters through the Civil War. Authors, trends and texts never exist in isolation, and so we
will place our readings within larger cultural and historical contexts. For example, we will
examine Puritanism and its legacies, varieties of American Romanticism, debates over slavery
and gender roles, the formation of national identities, and the role of the United States within
early networks of world trade. Discussions will focus on three persistent themes in our cultural
history: the meaning of the land, the role of religion in public life, and the changing definitions
of citizenship.
Literary production has been central to the development of America’s political and social
history; through readings that begin with early Native American creation stories and end with
nineteenth-century poems, we will analyze various, and often conflicting, constructions of
national identity. We will work to put different literatures in conversation. That is, we will see
how matters of race, gender, and class are part of both dominant and resistant cultural
productions. We will also examine how issues from the past have continued relevance in
contemporary political and popular culture.
The course also challenges contemporary definitions of what we think of as “literature.” The
work of the early explorers and settlers does not fit easily into the categories of fiction and
poetry; in fact, our current ideas about novels, short stories, and poems as literature did not
develop until the late eighteenth century. For much of the semester, we will read travel journals,
diaries, sermons, political tracts, and speeches. These will require patient and attentive reading,
along with careful attention to images, tone, and context.
Required Texts:
Lauter, The Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol. A: Colonial Period to 1800, 5th
edition
Lauter, The Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol. B: Early Nineteenth Century
1800-1865, 5th
edition
University Statement on Learning Outcomes
This course fulfills a general education requirement for humanities. The purpose of the study of
humanities is to explore the range of human thought and experience—achievements and failures,
joys and sorrows, comedy and tragedy, life and death. It should challenge students to understand
and evaluate how others, past and present, historical and fictional, have struggled with these
issues. Through their study of humanities, students will:
15
understand some of the diverse approaches to questions of human meaning and
value;
demonstrate competence in critical thinking, reading, and writing;
acquire tools for life-long learning in the humanities.
Writing Emphasis
This course may count towards the general education requirement for writing emphasis, provided
the instructor has completed writing emphasis training. If the course fulfills the writing
emphasis requirement, it will
include a minimum of two formal assignments, with drafts and revisions for each.
incorporate activities, lesson plans, and discussions to teach students the rhetorical
strategies and writing conventions of literary studies.
incorporate informal writing activities and exercises, some graded and ungraded.
At least 40% of the course grade will be determined by student writing.
Instructors will provide meaningful feedback on student drafts and papers. This feedback
will address writing and rhetorical issues as well as content knowledge.
Course Requirements:
A take-home midterm exam
Seven in-class reading quizzes (identification and analysis)
In-class final (Monday May 14, 3-4:52. Seniors are not exempt from this exam)
Regular attendance and active participation in class discussion and writing exercises.
Grade Distribution:
Midterm Exam: 20%
Final Exam: 20%
Journals: 20%
Comparative Analysis: 20%
Reading Quizzes: 10%
Attendance/Participation/In-class Writing: 10%
Course Policies:
Attendance:
Repeatedly coming to class
late will also negatively affect your participation grade.
Participation: Come to class with the necessary texts, having read the assigned material
carefully, with at least one thoughtful comment or question to share. A significant part of your
grade depends on active and respectful participation in class discussion, and having a good-
natured willingness to engage in group activities. You should be prepared to spend a great deal
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of time with each assigned reading, taking notes and making preliminary analysis so that you can
be an active member of the class. Taking notes on class lectures and noting the specific passages
we discuss during class is essential to your success on exams. I will also periodically assign in-
class writing exercises to encourage accountability and discussion. These are graded assignments
that could toward your Participation grade.
In order to facilitate class participation, laptops and especially cell phones may not be used
during class time. And while it seems like it should go without saying, please refrain from using
chewing tobacco during class time as well.
Journals: Throughout the semester, students will turn in three, two-page journals. These journals
are meant to develop both your skills and literary analysis and your empathetic abilities. We will
discuss each journal assignment separately and look at a successful example in class, as well as
practicing the skill sets needed to successfully complete them.
Comparative Analysis: Students will write a thesis-driven analysis (5-6 pg) in which they
compare two literary texts’ representations of one of the course’s major themes—land, religion,
and citizenship. We will discuss the guidelines for this assignment in class and look at a
successful student example. Additionally, we will talk about how to formulate an analytical
thesis in literary studies and have a thesis workshop.
Reading Quizzes: Approximately every two weeks, I will give a reading quiz. I will give you
three or four short passages – you must identify the passages and write a short paragraph
connecting the passage to the rest of the reading. These quizzes will help you keep up on the
reading and will sharpen your close reading and analysis skills for the longer take-home exams. I
will drop your lowest quiz score at the end of the semester. Reading Quizzes cannot be made
up due to absence for any reason.
Late Assignments: All written work is due at the beginning of class period. If you are not able to
make a deadline, contact me ahead of time. In certain cases an extension can be arranged, but
only with prior approval. Alternate deadline arrangements will only be accommodated in cases
of illness or emergency.
Academic Honesty: The following is from UW Platteville’s Policies Governing Student Life:
“Students are responsible for the honest completion or representation of their work, for the
appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others' academic endeavors. Students who
violate these standards must be confronted and must accept the consequences of their actions.”
The most common form of academic dishonesty in literature classes is plagiarism, which can
take many forms such as failure to cite sources, or failure to appropriately paraphrase source
material. If you are cutting and pasting someone else’s language without quotation marks and
proper attribution, you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism on any assignment will result in an automatic
zero on the assignment and a disciplinary meeting with me and the Chair of the English
Department about a possible failing grade for the whole course.
Email/D2L: I will often send important course information to the class over the mailing list
provided by D2L. You must check your uwplatt.edu account regularly. Not getting an
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announcement because you failed to check your messages is not an excuse for missing an
assignment. I am also happy to respond to any questions or concerns you have over email,
usually within 24 hours. I do not accept assignments over email without prior approval.
Resources: I hold weekly office hours as a resource to clarify any questions or concerns you
have about the course.
If you have any disability that may impair your ability to successfully complete this course,
please contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities located in 103 Warner (608-
342-1818). Academic accommodations are granted for all students who have qualified
documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the SSWD.
Schedule of Readings
Writing discussions and assignments are listed in italics.
Unit One: Early Encounters and Exploration Week One
Monday
Course Introduction
Journals: An Overview
Wednesday
Cluster: America in the European Imagination 106-112
Native American Oral Narrative: “The Origin of Stories” 51-53;
“Iroquois or Confederacy of the Five Nations” 54-57;
“Raven and Marriage” 59-63;
“The Creation of the Whites” 65-66.
Friday
Christopher Columbus, “Journal of the First Voyage to America” 119-
128
Assign Journal # 1: Close Reading
Week Two
Monday
Cabeza de Vaca, “Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca” 139-152
Introduce Close Reading (throughout the week)
Unit Two: Colonist and Puritans
Wednesday
Thomas Harriot, “A Briefe and True Report…” 237-246
Friday
John Smith, “The General Historie of Virginia…” 255-259; “A
Description of New England” 264-266
Week Three
Monday
Close Reading Practice (throughout the week)
Introduction of Puritan Philosophy + Reading Quiz #1
Student Example, Journal # 1
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Wednesday William Bradford, “Of Plymouth Plantation” 324-333
Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear Children” 410-413
Friday
Anne Bradstreet, “The Prologue [To Her Book]” 396; “The Author to
Her Book” 402; “A Letter to her Husband, Absent on Public
Employment” 407
Week Four
Monday
Mary Rowlandson, “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of
Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” 437-452 (end of Eight Remove)
Breakout Discussion: Passage Selection (throughout the week)
Wednesday
Mary Rowlandson, “A Narrative of the Captivity…” 452-468
Friday
Cotton Mather, “The Wonders of the Invisible World” 507-514
Week Five Monday
Cotton Mather “The Negro Christianized” 527-532
Journal # 1 Due
Unit Three: Great Awakening and Revolution Wednesday Sarah Kemble Knight, “The Journal of Madam Knight” 584-597 +
Reading Quiz #2
Friday
Cluster: On Nature and Nature’s God, 633-644;
Assign Journal # 2: Character Sketch
Week Six
Monday
Textual Evidence and Support (throughout the week)
Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” 666-677
Wednesday
Thomas Paine, “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs”
959-965;
Toussaint L’Ouverture, “Proclamations and Letters” 1042-1048
Student Example, Character Sketch
Friday Assign Take-Home Midterm
Tips and Strategies for Essay Exams
Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” 990-999, 1003-
1007,1009-1010.
Week Seven
Monday
Benjamin Franklin, “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North
America” 821-824; “On the Slave Trade” 825-827 + Reading Quiz # 3
Wednesday
Charles Brockden Brown, “Somnambulism” 1373-1387
Unit Four: Fiction of the Early National and American Romantic Period
Friday
Take Home Midterm Due
Breakout Discussion: Character Analysis
Week Eight Introduction to 19th
Century, transition to Volume B;
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Monday Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 2165-2175
Journal # 2 Due
Wednesday
Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 2175-2184
Friday
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”
Assign Journal # 3: Comparing Perspectives
Week Nine
Monday
Introduce/Practice Comparative Analysis (throughout the week)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” 2276-2287
Wednesday
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Raven” + Reading
Quiz #4
Friday
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” 2472-2485
Unit Five: Literature of Abolition and the “Woman Question” Week Ten
Monday
Introduction of Slave Narratives
Student Example, Comparing Perspectives
Continue to Practice Comparative Analysis
Wednesday
+ Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an
American Slave” 1882-1892, 19095-1908, 1917-1921
Friday
Harriet Jacobs, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” 2029-2041, 2047-
2049
Week Eleven
Monday
Breakout Groups: Comparative Analysis Complete Jacobs and
Introduction to “Woman Question”
Wednesday
Sarah Grimke, “Letters on the Equality of the Sexes” 2082-2088;
+Reading Quiz # 5
Friday
Angelina Grimke, “Letters” 2089-2091
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of Sentiments” 2113-2115
Unit Six: American Transcendentalism Week Twelve
Monday
Introduction to Transcendentalism and the Sublime
Journal # 3 Due; Introduce Comparative Analysis Essay
Wednesday
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature”1578-1584
Friday
Student Example, Comparative Analysis
Emerson, “Self-Reliance” 1621-1628
Week Thirteen
Monday
Henry David Thoreau, Walden “Where I Lived and What I Lived For”
1753-1762
Formulating a Thesis (throughout the week)
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Wednesday
Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”
Friday
Emily Dickinson, “Tell the Truth but tell it slant” 3076;
“I started Early – Took my Dog” 3063; “My Life had stood- a Loaded
Gun” 3072 + Reading Quiz #6
Week Fourteen
Monday
Breakout Discussion: Comparative Analysis (throughout the week)
Dickinson, cont; introduce Whitman
Wednesday
Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” sections 1-10 (2937-2944 top). Section numbers are in brackets [] in the left-hand margin of the page.
Friday
Whitman, “Song of Myself” 15 (2946-48), 20-21 (2950-2952), 24
(2954-2956), 48-51 (2980-2982)
Week Fifteen
Monday
Thesis Workshop (throughout the week)
Whitman, continued
Wednesday Reading Quiz #7
Whitman, continued
Friday Final Review of Course/Prepare for Final Exam
Week Sixteen: Final Exam
Comparative Analysis Due
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Journal Assignment # 1: Close Reading
The goal of this first journal assignment is to deepen your observational and textual analysis
skills. You will examine a short passage (less than one page of prose/drama; fifteen lines or less
of poetry) from one of the literary works we have read. This passage should involve a
character—through dialogue, description, acts, etc. The objective is not to write a thesis-driven
analysis over the passage but rather to pay close and considered attention to its details and their
meaning.
Since you are writing about a passage from a literary work, you will want to pay particular
attention to word choice, setting, characterization and other literary elements (see handout for
further suggestions). Don’t choose just any passage or scene to write about; choose one that
catches your attention in some way and that you feel is important to the entire work. Once you
have made a decision on what to write about, I recommend that you read the passage several
times. The more familiar you are with your material, the more details you will be able to pick up
on. In your journal assignment, you should be able to explain not only the importance of these
details in understanding the literary work but also their effect on the reader’s experience of the
text.
We will practice close reading in class—as a class, in breakout groups, and individually. We
will also look at a successful student example of this journal. This journal assignment should be
typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The required length is two pages.
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Journal Assignment # 2: Character Sketch
For this journal, you will write a character sketch that reveals the character’s key personality
traits, beliefs, and values and how these relate to the beliefs and values of their particular time
and place. The character should be from one of the literary texts we have read and be someone
without interiority (that is, the reader never gets to access their interior thoughts and feelings).
Additionally, you will write from this specific character’s point of view—which means that you
will be using “I” throughout the paper.
Here are some of the basic questions that your character sketch should address. Please
remember that your answers/claims to these questions should be based on textual support: that is,
you should be able to justify your responses with specific lines and dialogue from the text.
What does the character look like?
How does the character act?
What do other people think of this character?
How does this other character think of other people?
What are the character’s key personality traits?
How does this character’s beliefs and values relate to those of their particular time
period? (It will be helpful to refer back to your notes about the historical/cultural context
of the literary work).
We will practice character analysis in class—as a class, in breakout groups, and individually.
We will also look at a successful student example of this journal. This journal assignment should
be typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The required length is two pages.
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Journal Assignment # 3: Comparing Perspectives
Your third journal builds on the skills you’ve learned in the first two. Like your first journal, it
requires you to carefully select a specific passage to analyze. And as in your second journal, you
will need to be able to occupy another character’s position. As a result, you will need to call
upon your intellectual, creative, and emotional abilities to successfully complete this assignment.
All literary works involve conflict. For this assignment, you will choose a moment in a literary
text in which there is a conflict or confrontation between two or more characters. For each
character involved, you will explain his/her point-of-view, which will involve the following
questions:
How is this character feeling? What is h/she doing?
Is there a discrepancy between what this character is thinking and what h/she is doing?
What causes them to behave as they do? In other words, what’s their motivation?
How does this character view the others who are involved in this conflict?
How does this conflict affect his/her relationships with other characters?
As with the second assignment, you will use first-person. However, you will use first-person for
each character that you discuss (there should be separate headings to indicate when you shift
from one character to another.) You will also need to use specific lines and dialogue to support
your interpretation.It may be helpful to try visualize the scene as though it were a film or a play.
Please keep in mind too that each character will most likely believe that he/she is right: your job
isn’t to pick sides but rather to show how and why each character acts the way that he/she does.
We will practice comparing perspectives in class—as a class, in breakout groups, and
individually. We will also look at a successful student example of this journal. This journal
assignment should be typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The required length is
two pages.
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Essay: Comparative Analysis
For this essay, you will choose two of the literary works that we have read and compare and/or
contrast their methods of treating ONE of the major themes we’ve been discussing throughout
the semester: the meaning of the land, the role of religion in public life, and the changing
definitions of citizenship. Although you may write over any of the texts that we have read, please
keep in mind that certain works pair better with some than others
This essay builds upon the skills you’ve learned through the journals. Your close reading
and character sketch assignments taught you how to focus on the details of the text and to use
those details as support for a broader interpretation. You have also practiced comparison in your
third journal. However, in this essay, you will need to formulate a thesis in which you state the
significance of looking at these two works together—even if you end up emphasizing one text
over another. How can you make these works converse with or critique each other?
In class we will spend time discussing how to write a thesis for literary analysis. We will
also practice comparative analysis—as a class, in breakout groups, and individually. Finally, we
will read a successful student example of this assignment. The paper should be between five and
six pages, typed, and double spaced.
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Summary of Writing Emphasis Philosophy
Students will be given formative writing feedback with opportunities for revision of written
work. The week before every written assignment is due (each of the three journals, the
comparative analysis), students will work in breakout groups to discuss and provide feedback
for one another’s drafts. During this time, I will circulate amongst groups in order to provide
guidance. I am also available outside of class to read and comment on student drafts.
Once a formal writing assignment is due, I provide substantive feedback about the writing as
well as the content. Since each writing assignment is sequential, the formative writing
feedback providing on a assignment is meant to help students succeed on the their next
assignment. For example, before students write their “formal” paper, they will have written
three smaller assignments that teach them how to write a more extended analysis.
Therefore, even though I do not assign the comparative analysis until later in the semester,
students have been preparing to write a thesis-driven analysis since the first week of the
course.
The writing assignments will be used within a “learning through writing” (writing-to-learn)
framework that complements the course content. One way that students “learn through
writing” in this course is through in-class writing, represented by the reading quizzes.
However, the bulk of the course writing assignments concentrates on out-of-class writing.
The journal assignments introduce students to the reading and writing practices used in
literary studies. These assignments might best be described as “semi-formal”: while they are
not formal essays—and thus the expectations for diction, structure, and other writing
elements are different than the final paper—students must also pay attention to the writing,
not just the content. Therefore, we discuss student examples of every journal, so that they
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can think about issues like structure and organization. The focus, nonetheless, is having
students practice through writing the skills I introduce and model in class.
The journals also prepare them for the final essay. Towards the end of the semester, students
will be asked to write a formal essay often used in literary studies—a thesis-driven
comparative analysis. This paper represents the culmination of the students’ engagement of
the course, for it asks them to synthesize different types of reading and writing. Students
will have to carefully examine specific passages within literary texts (i.e. close reading), but
they must also be able to think broadly about changing attitudes towards cultural and
national identity. The goal is to have students think about the study of literature as the
study of (American) culture and life—a type of thinking that they can use well beyond this
course.