nationalparalegal.edunationalparalegal.edu/.../ContemporaryLiterature/ENG-103-1402.docxWeb viewENG-103-1402. Contemporary American Literature. Syllabus and Course Guide. The NPC Contemporary

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ENG-103-1402

Contemporary American Literature

Syllabus and Course Guide

The NPC Contemporary American Literature course meets 15 times over the course of the 8-week term in the NPC interactive classroom. Each session consists of about 60 minutes of online lecture by the course instructor. After the lecture, students may ask questions and make comments on the material being studied.

The class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays as indicated on this syllabus. Unless otherwise noted, all lectures begin at 8:00 PM Eastern time (5:00 PM Pacific).

Unless an extension has been taken pursuant to the NPC Extensions Policy (see the end of this syllabus), all assignments and exams must be submitted by the course deadline which appears later in this syllabus. No extensions may be taken or granted unless the student has submitted one or more assignments or exams in advance of the original deadline. In addition, extensions are subject to grade penalties and are limited to no more than 30 days from the date of the original extension.

Please note that students are strongly encouraged to do their work as the course progresses rather than waiting for the days or weeks before the deadline to do all of their work. It is also critically important that students realize that:

1. A grade of “Incomplete” is the same as an “F” and is a failing grade.2. A grade of “Incomplete” will result in a reduction in the student’s grade point

average. 3. Student may have to pay to re-take or replace a course for which a grade of

Incomplete is assigned. 4. Two consecutive Incompletes may subject the student to dismissal from the

college under NPC’s chronic incomplete policy.5. Students with a GPA of under 2.0 are not eligible to receive federal financial

aid and cannot graduate until their GPA is at or above 2.0.

Contemporary American Literature (ENG-103) Course Syllabus, Page 1

If a student is having trouble completing the course, the student is strongly encouraged to contact his or her student mentor or teacher as early as possible.

INSTRUCTOR:

The instructors for this course are:

- Lecturer: Eve Rosenbaum ([email protected])- Grader: Lisa Burkhart-Chalmers ([email protected])

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was no such thing as an “American” literature. There were American writers, of course, but they owed more to their British contemporaries than to a wholly American literary canon. By the turn of the twentieth century, just 100 years later, American literature was thriving and diverse, an unstoppable force as powerful as the nation itself, bringing together a multitude of voices that truly explored what it meant to be an American citizen. In this course, we will immerse ourselves in our country’s best writing from the late nineteenth-century through the present day, as we learn from those who sought to capture the realities of their lives and the lives of those around them in their own unique voices. We will read poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama, and learn about how genre can impact the stories we tell. We will learn about the legacies of slavery, of war, of how a melting pot can produce great struggles but also great works of art. The American story is one of immigration, diversity, and overcoming hardships, and the literature we read will teach us our own history through the eyes of our finest writers.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

At the completion of this course, the student will have acquired knowledge of and the skills to:

Recognize and appreciate the importance of American literature. Acquire familiarity with the idea of the literary canon (and its detractors), including

issues of history, culture, race, ethnicity, and gender. Perform close readings of texts in a multitude of genres. Identify and analyze fundamental literary elements and devices within a text. Acquire a wide range of literary terms relating to literature and literary history. Synthesize their acquired knowledge into thoughtful and persuasive essay

assignments and exams. Apply MLA style guidelines to all written work.


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

TEXTBOOKS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS:

American Literature, Volume 2, edited by William E. Cain, Lance Newman, Alice McDermott, and Hilary E. Wyss. Second edition, Penguin Academics.

ISBN-10: 0321838637 ISBN-13: 978-0321838636

(referred to in this syllabus as “text”)

It is expected that each student will obtain a copy of the book prior to the beginning of the study period. The book may be obtained in any manner the student chooses to do so, including:

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/American-Literature-Volume-II-Penguin-Academics-Series/9780321838636.page

http://www.amazon.com/American-Literature-Penguin-Academics-Edition/dp/0321838637/

http://www.textbooks.com/American-Literature-Volume-II-2nd-Edition/9780321838636/William-Cain.php

Additional readings will be posted to the “slides and documents” page on the NPC student website.

All reading assignments refer to the textbook, unless otherwise noted. The assigned text should be read before the lecture where possible.








WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS:

At the outset of the course, four assignments will be posted on the “Assignments and Exams” page. The 4 assignments will cumulatively count for 40% of the student’s grade for the course. Please compose your answers to assignments on your own computer, remembering to save your work frequently. Once your assignment is complete, please submit by uploading it pursuant to the directions on the Assignments & Exams page within the NPC student site. Assignments may be submitted as PDF files, Microsoft Word documents, Open Office documents or PowerPoint presentations. (You may have to log into Google to view this document.)

Each submitted assignment will be graded on the following scale: 4 - Excellent 3 - Good 2 – Satisfactory 1 – Poor 0 – Not acceptable (must resubmit) (Half-points may also be awarded in assignment grading.)

Please see the “Assignment Grading Rubric” (beginning on the next page of this syllabus) for more detailed information as to how assignments are graded and the key elements of assignments that instructors look for when grading assignments. In addition to a grade, students will receive written feedback from the instructor on their assignments, where appropriate. To the extent possible, it is recommended that students complete the assignments as the course proceeds rather than waiting until after the course ends.


GRADING RUBRIC

This rubric serves two purposes. First, and most importantly, it can be used as a tutorial for writing better papers. Referring to it before, during, and after completing a first draft of a writing assignment can help you to keep your argument and method of presenting your argument on track. Second, since it constitutes a list of graders’ criteria in assessing the quality of your work it can help you to get a better grade.

Criteria upon which grades are based:

- Relevancy

- Sentence and paragraph quality and structure

- Structure and flow of argument

- Facts and logic

- Cogency

- Terms, concepts, and theories defined

- Statement(s) of assumptions and limitations

- Consideration of counterarguments

- Efficiency

- Professionalism and citation

Grading Criteria Defined

1. Relevancy. Degree to which the paper answers or responds appropriately and effectively to the question(s) or prompt(s) given in the description of the assignment. This is an essential component of every assignment. Papers which do not respond to the questions and prompts in the description of the assignment will be graded down substantially or may need to be re-submitted.

2. Sentence and paragraph quality and structure. The quality, organization and clarity in each sentence and paragraph. In particular, the meaning and significance of the facts, statistics, and/or logical reasoning in their sequencing and logical organization within each sentence and within each paragraph. Alternatively, this might be described as the quality not of each bit of information itself but rather its usefulness as it is employed to advance each paragraph's individual purpose.


3. Structure and flow of Essay. The overall build or flow of your argument from introduction, to evidence and/or logic, to ultimate conclusion or outcome. This might alternatively be described as the quality of the paragraphs with each judged for its appropriateness and utility as a building block in the progressive sequence of paragraphs that you use to present your argument. With respect to this criterion, while it is the paragraphs that are judged, they are not considered individually but rather by how well they all combine to advance the argument toward its conclusion.

4. Facts and logic. Quality and/or quantity of facts, statistics, and/or logic employed. Generally, the greater the quantity and quality of careful logical reasoning and salient facts to an argument or paper, the better.

5. Cogency. The degree to which the argument is presented in a convincing manner. One notes that this is greatly enhanced by a strong showing with respect to the other grading criteria.

6. Terms, concepts, and theories defined. When you are called upon to use terms, concepts, and theories from your readings and to explain how they relate to a fact or situation, you should also be sure to explain them adequately, that is, enough so that it is clear that you understand how they relate to the phenomena you are being asked about in the description of the assignment. Note that this is not relevant to every paper, so please ask your professor if it will apply to a particular assignment if it is not already clear to you.

7. Statement(s) of assumptions and limitations. If your essay will address or account for some but not all situations then it should be clear (implicitly) or make clear (explicitly) as to in what types of instances it would not apply. Note that while assumptions and limitations reduce the breadth of the context in which an argument is applicable they can also increase its strength and validity. Many great arguments do not address all eventualities and do not apply in all contexts. For example, the universally accepted health-related argument that human milk is better for babies than baby formula has a limitation: It is not true in the case of a nursing mother who carries HIV. A good argument that applies to most situations is far better than a meaningless or poor argument that applies to them all. Moreover, knowing and stating explicitly the limits of an argument usually makes it clearer and easier to apply.

8. Consideration of counterarguments. In assignments which ask you to take a position on a particular issue you can strengthen your argument by explaining why counterarguments are invalid, mistaken, or at least inferior to yours. This is not always necessary, but it becomes more necessary in cases of more obvious counterarguments. On the other hand, if instead you have presented your argument in such a way that it would be obvious to any reader as to why, compared to any possible counterargument, your argument better addresses the issue or is otherwise more advantageous or parsimonious (e.g. it explains more events with an equal amount of theory or less) then you will not need to mention competing views. An example of one instance in which you will definitely need to address counterarguments is when you are explicitly asked to assess particular counterarguments in the description of your writing assignment.


9. Efficiency. Put simply, this is the ratio of the length of an argument to its overall cogency. While more complex arguments may require more verbiage to be explained, no argument benefits from a needlessly extended discussion of issues of little or no relevance to the main point. It is obvious to say that longer papers have more opportunity to contain a greater amount of information in them. However, an argument that can be made in 250 words should not be extended to 500 lest the paper lose points for its inefficiency. It may be helpful to think about this on a more piecemeal level as a need to keep the number of words used to make each point of your argument to a comfortable minimum.

10. Professionalism and citation. The use of appropriate formatting, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and citation in your paper. Citation refers to the format that should be used to cite the sources of your information, quotations, and arguments, if they are not your own. The proper citation format will be explained to you by your professor or in other documents relating to your course. Information presented as fact without any citation of its source will not be considered to contribute to the argument, and thus not to the grade. In other words, if you want credit be sure to credit your source. With respect to each citation it should be clear as to whether you are citing the source of a fact or that of a whole argument.


EXAMINATIONS:

Three examinations will be posted on the NPC website when indicated on the syllabus of the course. The examinations may consist of a combination of multiple choice, open ended and essay questions. The 3 examinations will cumulatively count for 60% of the student’s course grade.

The instructor will provide specific information regarding the content of each examination as the examination time approaches.

All examinations are timed. A student may begin the examination any time after it is posted to the NPC website. Once begun, the examination must be completed within 4 hours.

Examinations will be graded on a conventional 0-100 scale. The number of points each question is worth is equal to 100 divided by the number of questions on the examination.

The amount of partial credit to be awarded, if any, for an answer that is not complete and correct is at the discretion of the instructor. Instructors are instructed to award partial credit that is proportional to the level of knowledge and legal skill displayed by the student in answering the question.

For more information on assignments and examinations, please see the NPC Student Handbook.

To the extent possible, it is recommend that students complete the exams as the course proceeds rather than waiting until after the course ends.


Early Assignment Submission Incentive Policy

NPC encourages students to submit their assignments and exams as early as possible. In order to facilitate early submissions, students are advised that in exchange for submitting assignments in the first six weeks of the course, they will be awarded the opportunity to re-do or fix up an assignment after it is graded in order to increase the grade.

The following limitations apply:

1. When resubmitting an assignment or exam, a student will only be able to increase their grade to a maximum of 3 or by one full point, whichever is greater. For example, if a student submits an assignment within the first six weeks of the course and receives a 1.5 or a 2.0, the student may make corrections suggested by the instructor and can potentially raise the grade to a maximum of 3. A student who initially receives a grade of 2.5 may raise the grade as high as 3.5 with a resubmission.

2. A student may exercise this option up to two (2) times per course.

3. Students are not guaranteed the maximum increase if their corrections do not merit such a change. A grader has the discretion to award a smaller or no increase if the student does not follow the graders feedback.

To resubmit an assignment under this policy, please contact the course grader.


NPC PLAGIARISM POLICY

All work done by NPC students on assignments, examinations and research projects is expected to be their own work. Quoting other sources as part of analyzing a subject is desirable and necessary in many cases. However, when other sources are quoted or used, they must be properly attributed to the original sources. This applies to direct quotes of sources and to paraphrasing other sources or using ideas obtained from other sources even if the exact text it not used.

Plagiarism means using the materials of others without appropriately citing the source and is an academic offence.

Under the NPC plagiarism policy, a student may not, as part of any assignment or exam submission:

1) Quote any text from any other source without:

a) putting quotation marks around the quotes material; AND

b) appropriately citing the source of the quote.

2) Pass off the work of another as his or her own, even if the student does not directly quote from the other source.

Please note that the NPC plagiarism policy does not mean that you cannot quote language from the courseware, textbook or slides as part of an answer to a question on an exam. These are resources that are meant to be used on an exam when applied in an appropriate manner. However, quoting other sources without attribution or quoting the text, slides or courseware without attribution in an assignment is plagiarism.

For more information regarding the NPC Plagiarism Policy, penalties and due process rights where plagiarism is alleged, please see the NPC Plagiarism Policy at:

http://nationalparalegal.edu/pages/Plagiarism%20Policy.pdf


http://nationalparalegal.edu/pages/Plagiarism%20Policy.pdf

WEEKLY INTERACTION REQUIREMENT

To ensure that all students are involved and participating in the course as the course moves forward, each student enrolled in this course must, at least one during each week, either:

1) Attend a live lecture and take and pass a short quiz given during classOR 2) Submit at least one assignment OR 3) Take at least one examination OR 4) Answer a weekly “interaction” question or questions that will be posted on the “Assignments and Exams” page.

The weekly “interaction” question(s) will be simple and straightforward and will cover material covered in class that week. Answers to these questions should be short (typically 1-3 sentences) and to the point.

This student response (which is necessary only if the student does not attend a live class or take an exam or submit an assignment in the given week) will be graded on a pass/fail basis. The interaction questions will be posted no later than Monday of each week and must be answered on or before the following Monday.

The weekly interaction questions will be posted alongside the assignments. Students who do not attend a live class or take an exam or submit an assignment in the given week will be required to answer the questions presented. Students who did attend a live class or take an exam or submit an assignment in the given week may ignore the question.

Any student who does not fulfill this requirement during a given week will receive a reduction in his or her over-all grade of 2 percentage points from his or her over-all average.

Fulfilling the weekly interaction requirement is particularly important for students receiving financial aid. Federal regulations require the school to withdraw students who go 14 consecutive days without fulfilling an interaction requirement from financial aid and to return any outstanding financial aid money to the government unless the student interacts with the school prior to the time that the withdrawal is completed. If you are unable to fulfill a weekly interaction requirement, is critical that you stay in contact with the school so that other arrangements can be made.


COURSE GRADES

The following formula will be used to calculate final grades

Cumulative exam scores + (assignment points x 12.5) = raw score

Because exams are worth up to 100 points and assignments up to 4 points each, the maximum raw score is 500. 10 raw points (2% of the raw point total) are deducted for each missed weekly interaction. Extra credit may be available for certain in class activities as may be announced by the instructor.

The following conversion chart is then applied based on the total raw points you have earned:>474 = A+ 445-474 = A 420-444 = A- 395-419 = B+ 365-394 = B 340-364 = B- 315-339 = C+ 285-314 = C 260-284 = C- 230-259 = D <230 = F

OPTIONAL STUDY SESSIONS

In addition to the 15 classes listed below, instructors and/or graders will run 1 or 2 additional study sessions to discuss assignments and/or the course materials. Attendance and participation in at these sessions is optional and they will be recorded for those who cannot make it to the live sessions.

Please keep an eye on the course message boards to details as to when these will be held.

All examinations and assignments are due no later than Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 11:59 PM EASTERN TIME; that’s EASTERN time. That means 8:59 PM Pacific time, 9:59 PM Mountain time, 10:59 PM Central time, etc.

Please see the end of this syllabus for a note on NPC course extensions policy!


Lecture, Reading Assignments and Writing Assignments

Class One: Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Reading Assignment: Matthew Power, “Mississippi Drift” (posted on slides and documents page)

Class Two: Thursday, February 6, 2014

Reading Assignment: Whitman’s “Civil War Poetry” (posted on slides and documents page)

Text:- Stephen Crane, “An Episode of War” (295)- “War is Kind” (299)

Class Three: Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Reading Assignment: Text: - Mark Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (13)- William Dean Howells, “Editha” (43)- Charles Chesnutt, “The Sheriff’s Children” (179)

Class Four: Thursday, February 13, 2014

Reading Assignment: Text:

- Charles Chesnutt, “The Sheriff’s Children” (179)- Paul Lawrence Dunbar, “Sympathy,” “We Wear the Mask” (367)

Class Five: Tuesday, February 18, 2014


- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (208)

Exam # 1 will be posted at this point.


Class Six: Thursday, February 20, 2014

Reading Assignment: Text:- Susan Glaspell, “Trifles” (442)

Class Seven: Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Reading Assignment: James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” (posted on slides and documents page)

Class Eight: Thursday, February 27, 2014

Reading Assignment: W. H. Auden, “Musee des Beax Arts” ” (posted on slides and documents page)

Text:- Wallace Stevens, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (463), “The Idea of Order at Key West” (467)- William Carlos Williams, “Spring and All” (474), “The

Red Wheelbarrow” (477), “This is Just to Say” (479), “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” (480)

Class Nine: Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Reading Assignment: Gertrude Stein, listen to “If I Told Him” (posted on slides and documents page)

Text:- Hilda Doolittle (H. D.), “Oread,” (489), “Leda” (490), “Helen” (491)- Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro,” “A Pact” (484) - T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (502)- e. e. cummings, “next to of course god america i” (596)

Class Ten Thursday, March 6, 2014

Reading Assignment: Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” (article posted on slides and documents page)Text:

- Eudora Welty, “A Worn Path” (772)



Class Eleven: Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Reading Assignment: American Again” (696), “I, Too” (702), “Harlem 2” (website)Countee Cullen, “Incident” (website)

Text:- Alice Walker, “Everyday Use” (1042)- Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (693), “Let America Be American Again” (696), “I, Too” (702) - Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool” (1229)

Class Twelve: Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Reading Assignment: Text:- Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (1003)- Bernadette Mayer, “Experiments” (website)

Class Thirteen Thursday, March 20, 2014

Reading Assignment: Text:- William Stafford, “Traveling Through the Dark” (1209)- Mitsuye Yamada, “To the Lady” (1243)- Adrienne Rich, “Diving Into the Wreck” (1303)- Gloria Anzaldua, “To live in the Borderlands means you” (1336)- Joy Harjo, “Call it Fear” (1363), “Eagle Poem” (1365)- Sherman Alexie, “On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City” (1400)Sharon Olds, “I Go Back to May 1937” (website)Mark Doty, “Tiara” (website)

Class Fourteen: Tuesday, March 25, 2014


- Edward P. Jones, “Blindsided” (1074)- Amy Tan, “Two Kinds” (1095)

Class Fifteen Thursday, March 27, 2014

Reading Assignment: Sherman Alexie, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” (website)



All examinations and assignments are due no later than Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 11:59 PM EASTERN TIME; that’s EASTERN time. That means 8:59 PM Pacific time, 9:59 PM Mountain time, 10:59 PM Central time, etc.

Please see the NPC EXTENSIONS POLICY below for details on extensions to complete your work.

NPC EXTENSIONS POLICY

1) Extensions that conform to the rules below may be requested from the “assignments and exams” page on the NPC student website.

2) No extensions are possible unless the student has first submitted at least one assignment or examination.

3) No extensions of more than thirty (30) days beyond the deadline are possible for any reason at all.

4) Requested extensions are granted automatically. It is not necessary to give any reason for the request. However, for each day of extension you request, you will be penalized 4 raw points (of 500 that determine your final grade - see page 8 of this syllabus). This accounts for 0.8% of your course grade, per day of extension. This is necessary to compensate for the advantage that students who take more time to do their work enjoy over those who complete their work on time. This also means that a short extension (e.g., a day or two) is unlikely to affect your grade, but a long extension (e.g., two weeks) is guaranteed to affect your grade.

5) The penalty referenced in Paragraph 4 may be waived by an instructor in extreme cases only. Extreme cases include circumstances beyond the control of the student that caused the student to be unable to complete work for a significant period of time. Foreseeable life circumstances such as being busy at work or at home, vacations, family occasions or power or internet outages lasting a few days, are foreseeable life circumstances. Extensions may be taken for these reasons (or, for that matter, for any reason at all), but the grade penalty


will not be waived for anything short of a true, unforeseeable emergency.


Documents

nationalparalegal.edunationalparalegal.edu/.../ContemporaryLiterature/ENG-103-1402.docxWeb viewENG-103-1402. Contemporary American Literature. Syllabus and Course Guide. The NPC Contemporary