Barnet, Sylvan. An Introduction to Literature, 14th edition, Pearson Education-Europe: London, 2004.

Baldick. A Dictionary of Literary Terms. 2nd ed. Oxford: Barnet, Burto, Cain, 2004.  0198608837;

ENGL 240 Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (3)

Prerequisite: ENGL 101. An introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama, with emphasis on developing critical reading skills. Study may be organized either by genre or by theme. Writers covered vary from semester to semester. Films may be included. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: ENGL 240 or ENGL 340.

• Identify and analyze literary elements in poetry, short stories, and plays
   

• Define basic literary terms and apply them to a literary work
   

• Write focused, unified, and grammatically correct analytical essays on literary works
   

• Collect, analyze, evaluate, and integrate research sources into analytical essays on literary texts

Course Introduction

English 240 focuses on the reading and analysis of literature--poems, short stories and plays. The instructional activities are therefore designed to help you develop effective critical reading and writing skills. As you are systematically introduced to basic literary terms, you will learn strategies for applying those terms to literary texts. The work that you do for this class will not only help prepare you for upper level literature courses but also provide you with the analytic and writing skills necessary in all the disciplines. If you are considering English as a major, this course is a great preparation for English 303.

The theoretical reading is minimal. Terms will be introduced and demonstrated in the textbook, at which point we will carry these concepts into the weekly activities, where you'll be able to practice applying them yourself, testing your interpretations of a text--where, in other words, you'll gain practice in methods of close reading and well reasoned analysis necessary for papers and exams. Because the weekly activities will directly connect to exams and writing assignments and because thoughtful peer discussion will be a major method of helping you master analytical method, consistent participation is absolutely vital to success in this course. You will be required to write two formal essays, one focused on poetry and one on short fiction (the second paper will require a bit of research); and take a proctored midterm examination, as well as an online final.

In addition to the textbook and in-class activities, four instructional modules included in the Course Content area will be available to further help you develop basic analytical and writing skills.

Whether you are a potential or declared English major desiring to take a first or next step in acquiring or solidifying critical skills or whether you'd merely like to follow up on a vague curiosity about literature (even a slightly skeptical curiosity), you will find the course responsive to your purpose. The activities encourage thoughtful reading and discourse, just as the assignments require it. The course invites multiple perspectives and will focus on providing you with strategies for systematically investigating the meaning of a text and, when you've finished this investigation, effectively presenting your interpretation.
 

Grading

Students' final grades in English 240 will be determined by grades on the two papers, the proctored mid-term, and weekly participation in conferences.

 
These elements will be weighted as follows:

Paper 1 (poetry)  10%
Paper 2 (fiction) 30%
Proctored Midterm Exam (poetry & fiction) 25%
Online Final Exam (drama) 25%
Participation 10%

Total 100%

 
Grades will be based on the following scale:

A 90-100 points
B 80-89 points
C 70-79 points
D 60-69 points
F 0-59 points

Departmental Grading Standards

Students and faculty recognize that the grade the instructor gives is a professional judgment of the quality of the student's submitted work and that grades are based on shared assumptions and expectations. At the most basic level, we expect that assignments will be submitted to the instructor on time. Submitted assignments are to be clearly focused and organized, with a discernible thesis statement. Generalizations and conclusions are to be adequately supported and, when appropriate, research documentation is to be well integrated and effectively presented. A formal writing style is required, along with proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

It's also important that students and faculty have shared expectations regarding the grading of assignments. The following broad definitions are based on the suggestions of the UMUC Information Literacy and Writing Assessment Task Force and offer general criteria for grading.

The grade of A reflects excellence. The A paper offers a well-focused and organized discussion appropriate to the instructor's assignment, reflects critical use of relevant materials, and demonstrates effective and formal writing requirements. Research papers must demonstrate outstanding efforts to identify varied pertinent sources, to employ those materials critically in the text of the papers, and to provide error-free citations of those resources.

The grade of B represents an effort beyond satisfactory and indicates the paper was completed in an appropriate and competent manner and, in general, demonstrates a strong attempt at original and critical analysis, writing, and research. The B paper may contain a few minor errors of grammar or citation, and its thesis or its conclusions may be undeveloped or too weakly supported.

The grade of C indicates that the paper was done in a satisfactory or appropriate fashion and represents the average work expected for university courses. The presentation is organized around a central idea with arguments supported by relevant examples. The paper is structured into correctly written paragraphs and sentences. Although fulfilling the assignment, the C paper may exhibit one or more weaknesses including, but not limited to, errors of punctuation and grammar, imprecise or incorrect word use, inaccurate or uncritical use of materials, occasional inconsistency of organization or development, and lack of direct relevance of the selected research materials to the topic.

The grade of D Indicates that the paper may have a poorly defined topic or thesis, lack of clear focus or organization, and contain unsupported generalizations or conclusions. Research support is inadequate, not clearly relevant, or improperly documented, as less-than-minimal research effort is evident. The paper may also suffer from numerous or major formal writing errors.

The grade of F indicates that the paper is not clearly relevant to the assignment and that its topic and thesis are poorly focused or defined. The paper may display inadequate organization or development, unsupported generalizations, and nonstandard formal features (including language usage, sentence structure, paragraphing, and so on). Research support is absent, inadequate, or irrelevant to the assignment.

Participation: Ten percent of the final course grade is determined by participation. Just as in face-to-face course, students in DE courses are required to "get to class." This means that each student is responsible for having sufficient access to a computer to complete course activities and assignments in a timely manner. Conferences are generally open for two weeks and assignment guidelines provided well in advance of submission deadlines. Thus, even in the case of short-term technology disasters, students can avoid missing conferences or late submissions by planning ahead.  Regular participation (two posting sessions a week and two posting sessions in every conference) and engagement in classroom discussions are prerequisites for success in this course.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism does not involve making an error in bibliography form, e.g., putting publication information in the wrong order, but in copying exact wording from a text without using quotation marks or otherwise making reference to the ideas or texts or speech of others without clearly indicating the source. To ensure that students understand exactly what plagiarism is, all class members will be required to take a plagiarism tutorial and will be responsible for asking questions where there is uncertainty in applying the information learned in this tutorial during ensuing work on assignments and papers.

Note on Reading Assignments:

The reading assignments designate entire chapters. Typical for the poetry section of this book are short introductions to terms and concepts, accompanied by a selection of works that illustrate the concepts or terms under examination.

Thus, the reading assignments in the poetry section will involve browsing numerous poems. However, you will not be expected to "master" all of the poems browsed. In general, it will be expected that the poems from reading assignments are understood only insofar as they illustrate the concept at hand. Poems for more in-depth study will be identified in the class activities discussions and assignment guidelines. It is thus a much smaller selection that will be covered on exams and/or become the subject for critical essays. Poems subject to inclusion on exams will be identified in an exam review conference!

In the case of fiction and drama, the number of individual works will be smaller and a larger number of the works read will be the subject of exam questions and/or paper topics. Fiction and drama subject to inclusion on exams will be clearly identified in an exam review conference!

Note on audio additions to classroom instruction

Most of the poems, stories and plays that will be discussed in this course will be found in your textbook. Some will be found only online. Many will be found both in your text and online, so that you may access them in either medium.

Several of the online poetry readings on the course schedule are accompanied by the parenthetical gloss "online text w. audio option." These poems all reside on The Academy of American Poets (poetry.org) website. All poems listed as such are available not only in electronic text form but also in audio versions, read by the respective author. In order to listen to the audio files, you'll need Real Player. Although several browsers may work with the downloads on this site, IE (Internet Explorer) seems to work best. Listening will not be obligatory, but I can only encourage you either to set your computer up for listening or to find a place where you can complete these selected listening activities. Hearing the author's voices and diversity of reading styles is not only enjoyable, but tends to help students feel more comfortable as readers trying to find an their own voices! Get your computer set up or find a friend or internet cafe where you can listen to online readings before class starts or right at the beginning, so you can jump right into the listening fun.

Projects

Paper 1: Write a critical essay (700-800 words) on a selected poem.

Paper 2: Write a critical analysis (1200-1500 words) on thematic aspects of selected short fiction. For this paper, you will be presented with a choice of selected topics relating to short stories discussed in class. Although the paper will focus on theme, you'll will be analyzing how individual elements such as character, narrative style, plot or symbolism contribute to theme, as well as supporting your arguments with textual evidence. You'll also be encouraged in this second paper to undertake and make use of limited research resources. This writing project will be accompanied by in-class activities that support you during all phases of planning and writing, from initial analysis, to research, drafting and editing.

Proctored Midterm: The midterm exam will ask for short answer and/or short essay responses on material covered during weeks 1-5 of the course. It will focus on the application of concepts introduced in the weekly activities (e.g., image, metaphor, symbol, meter, character, narrator, theme, etc.) to specific passages or works that we have discussed in class. The exam will be closed book. While familiarity with the content and/or themes of the poems/stories identified as being covered on the exam will be expected, poems or story passages requiring detailed analysis will be reproduced on the exam.

Online Final Exam: The online final exam will require short to mid-length essay responses and will cover drama only (weeks 12-15).

*In the case of all papers, students will be presented with a choice of specific topics (Papers 1) or topic areas (Paper 2). Additional topics will be considered in the case of Paper 2, but will need to be approved by me.

Weekly Schedule of Assignments

Week 1 

• Introductions

• General reading:
  Ch. 13: Approaching Poetry (663-674)

• Poems from reading to be discussed: "Harlem" (663; also online).

• Additional poems for in-depth study: "My Papa's Waltz" (online w. audio option; "We Real Cool" (721; also online w. audio option); "The Road Not Taken" (933; also online w. audio option); "Do not go gentle into that good night" (810; also online w. audio option); "My Philosophy of Live" (online w. audio option).

Note: Because students sometimes experience delays in receiving textbooks, I've made sure that although many of the poems are in your textbook, all discussed in Week 1 are available online. Links for all poems will be provided in the appropriate activity areas.


Week 2 

• General reading:
  Ch. 16: The Speaking Tone of Voice (718-731)
  Ch. 17: Figurative Language (742-752)
  Ch. 18: Imagery and Symbolism (756-776)

• Poems from reading to be discussed: "The Terrorist, He Watches" (724; also online); "Icarus" (725); "Digging" (752; also online).

• Additional poems for in-depth study: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (943; also online w. audio option); "The Talking Back of Miss Valentine Jones" (online w. audio option).

• Also: continuation of Week 1 discussions.

Note: Because students sometimes experience delays in receiving textbooks, I've made sure that all except one poem discussed in Weeks 2 are available online. Links for all poems will be provided in the appropriate activity areas.
 

Week 3  

• General reading:
  Ch. 20: Irony (777-787)
  Ch. 21: Rhythm and Versification (788-801, 808-811)
  An Investigation of Japanese Haiku Metrics (online)

• Poems from reading to be discussed: Holy Sonnet XIV: "Batter my heart, three-personed God" (781; also online); "Dream Boogie" (782; also online); "The Dance" (792; also online))

• Additional poems for in-depth study: Selected Haiku by Richard Wright, Masaoka Shiki, and Jack Kerouac (all online)

• Also: continuation of Week 2 discussions.
  
  Paper 1 due

Note: Links for all online poems will be provided in the appropriate activity areas.

 
Week 4 

• General reading:
  Ch. 3: Approaching Fiction (61-71)
  Ch. 4: Stories and Meanings: Plot, Character, Theme (72-82)

• Stories from reading to be discussed: "Cat in the Rain" (61)

• Additional stories for in-depth study: "One Friday Morning" (476); "Battle Royal" (482)

• Also: continuation of Week 3 discussions.

Week 5 

• General reading:
  Ch. 5: Narrative Point of View (97-100)
  Ch. 6: Allegory and Symbolism (144-147)

• Stories from reading to be discussed: "In the Gloaming" (118)

• Additional stories for in-depth study: "An Act of Prostitution" (281); "The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire" (291).

• Also: continuation of Week 4 discussions.

Weeks 6 

• Continuation of Week 5 discussions
• Midterm Q & A

Week 7

• Ch. 7: Writing about Fiction (p. 177-187)

• Stories for in-depth study: "Paul's Case" (430); "Where are you going? Where have you been?" (500); "Everyday Use" (86); "Two Kinds" (534); "Courting a Monk" (322)
  
  Proctored Midterm Exam

Week 8

• Activities: continuation of analysis activities from Week 7

• Research & Writing Workshop: Paper 2
   

Week 9   BREAK

Week 10 

• Activities: continuation of analysis activities from Week 7

• Research & Writing Workshop: Paper 2

Week 11 

• Activities: continuation of analysis activities from Week 7

• Research & Writing Workshop: Paper 2
  
  Paper 2 due

Week 12 

• General Reading
  Ch. 29: How to Read a Play  (1027-1032)
  Ch. 30: Tragedy (1094-1098)
  Ch. 31: Comedy (1415-1418)

• Play to be discussed: Play 1: "Trifles" (1033)

Week 13 

• General Reading:
  "A Doll's House" (1475)

• Play to be discussed: "Trifles"; "A Doll's House"

Week 14

• Plays to be discussed: "A Doll's House"

Week 15

• General Reading:
  Ch. 33: Writing about Drama

• Plays to be discussed: "A Doll's House"

Week 16

•  Online final exam