Courses

ENG 3243.01

Literary Analysis and Criticism

Summer I 2009

 

Course Name, Number, and Description: Catalog Description: “ENG 3243. Literary Analysis and Criticism. Analysis of fiction, poetry, and drama, using representative historical periods and contemporary texts. Focus on literary history, schools of criticism, literary terminology, genres, principles of analysis with intensive writing practice. Prerequisites: Nine hours of English. Three lecture hours a week. Credit: Three hours."


Location and Time:  1-3 p.m. M-Th.  ASB 105.


This course satisfies a requirement on the degree plan for the Bachelor of Arts in English leading to 8-12 certification or for an upper-level English elective for the English major or for the English minor or in the General Studies degree plan (with a concentration in English).  This course does NOT fulfill the requirements for English credit in the core curriculum.  If you are taking this course for the Bachelor of Arts in English leading to 8-12 certification, you must make a "B" or better to receive credit for that program.  This course will be taught entirely in a traditional classroom setting and format (in a computer lab).  The final exam will be held on Friday, July 10 from 1-3 p.m.  The final examination will consist of writing one literary essay in class on a work of literature that you have not read previously.

Instructor Contact Information: Office Location, Phone, Office Hours, Email Address:
Russell Greer, Ph.D.  Associate Professor.  Office: CFO 803.  E-mail: rgreer@twu.edu.  Fax: (940) 898-2297.  Office telephone: (940) 898-2346.
Website: www.russellgreer.com


During the month of June 2009, I will be serving as Acting Chair of the department, so I will be on campus in either CFO 906 or CFO 803 typically from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.  You may schedule appointments with me during those times through the departmental administrative assistant, Laura Bass, by calling (940) 898-2324.  From July 1-9, I will host office hours by appointment in CFO 803 from noon to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday unless otherwise indicated.  To contact me, you may also leave a voice mail for me at (940) 898-2346.  I check for messages once a day and try to return calls promptly, often in the evening. 
 

Required textbooks:


(1) Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice by Charles E. Bressler  (Pearson/Prentice Hall.  ISBN 0-13-153448-3);


(2) They Say/I Say by Gerald Graff (81 pages.  W.W. Norton. ISBN: 0393924092)

Course Goals and Student Learning Outcomes:

Our course goal is to learn to write a literary analysis essay.   We will approach this goal by (1) surveying the key historical figures who have created the tradition of literary analysis; (2) studying in depth two important contemporary schools of literary theory: formalism and reader-response theory; (3) writing daily responses to literature; (4) writing two formal literary analyses of about four typed pages each out of class and one literary analysis of about the same length in a timed, in-class final examination period;   (5) giving classroom presentations on key literary approaches in the twentieth century; and (6) studying models of professional essays on literature; (7) exploring the aesthetic experience in student presentations; (8) reviewing the form conventions of the literary essay; and (9) by reviewing the rhetorical strategies of the literary analysis by going over They Say/I Say. 

 

Our key student learning outcomes will be (a) producing three essays of about one thousand words each, two written out of class and one written in a timed environment in class; (b) producing daily responses to literature; and (c) giving presentations on literary theory.


Academic Dishonesty Statement:
“Honesty in completing assignments is essential to the mission of the university and to the development of the personal integrity of the student. Cheating, plagiarism, or other kinds of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will result in appropriate sanctions that may include failing an assignment, failing the class, or being suspended or expelled.  Suspected cases in this course may be reported to Student Life. The specific disciplinary process for academic dishonesty is found in the TWU Student Handbook.  Tools to help you avoid plagiarism are available through the TWU Libraries’ “Quick Links” under “Research Help” (http://www.twu.edu/library/literacy/index.htm)”

This statement was authorized and mandated by the TWU Provost on November 10, 2005.

Plagiarism
The following definition of plagiarism appears in Joseph F. Trimmer’s A Guide to MLA Documentation (Sixth Edition), published by Houghton Mifflin Company (2004): “Plagiarism is theft.  It is using someone else’s words or ideas without giving proper credit—or without giving any credit  at all—to the writer of the original.  Whether plagiarism is intentional or unintentional, it is a serious offense…You can avoid plagiarism by taking notes carefully, by formulating and developing your own ideas and by using quotes responsibly to support, rather than replace, your own work” (25).  Note that I have used this quotation from a source and have given it full attribution.  You should do the same with your sources.  I strongly urge you to read the discussion of academic dishonesty that appears in Section Four of The Student Handbook 2008-2009 (pages 154-156).  I intend to follow the TWU policy as outlined in this handbook exactly.  It defines plagiarism in this way: “Plagiarism occurs when a student obtains portions or elements of someone else's work, including materials prepared by another person or agency, and presents those ideas or words as her or his own academic work.  The intentional or unintentional use by paraphrase or direct quotation of the published work of another person without full and clear acknowledgement shall constitute plagiarism.  Students are responsible for following guidelines of the appropriate course or discipline (ie; MLA, APA)" (154).  In this course, we will use the Modern Language Association (MLA) format.  Penalties for first-time offenses include, at the instructor’s discretion, any of the following: (1) “Written reprimand”; (2) “Assignment of a 0 on an assignment"; (3) "Assignment of a lower grade on the test/paper/project in question, with an explanation from the instructor";  (4) “Assignment of a grade of F in the course" (155). A discussion of the more severe penalties for second offenses appears on pages 155-156.  If you have any questions about whether or not a practice constitutes plagiarism, please contact me before you turn in the assignment. 

WWW.TURNITIN.COM
Academic writing differs from other kinds of writing in that it is a conversation with other people who are writing and thinking about your topic.  As we will learn while reading They Say/I Say, when you write an academic essay, you will agree with others, disagree with them, or do a little of both, but above all you will remain in a conversation.  If you do not clearly identify their words and ideas from your own, you are not in a position to demonstrate your own critical thinking.  Plagiarism, therefore, not only robs others other their proper credit, but it robs you of your ability to respond with integrity.  To protect the integrity of the course (in this age of the internet), our department asks students to submit their essays to a plagiarism-checking website called www.turnitin.com.  That website, in turn, will generate a report  for me and to you.  It will also archive your paper.  If you would prefer not to have your work checked by this plagiarism website and your work archived in it, that is your right.  However, instead of using turnitin.com, you would need to write a short statement in my presence (during my office hours) explaining your objections.  After accepting this handwritten essay from you, I would then check your future out-of-class work with other electronic tools that do not archive your work, such as the various Google search engines. 


Turnitin.com has video tutorials on how to upload your papers, and it has tutorials on how to understand proper citation. I urge you to create an account as soon as possible by viewing the student training video found at http://www.turnitin.com/static/training.html) The video will tell you how to create a user profile and upload your paper (as you would with an attachment) and have it checked. It's a fairly easy and painless process, but you must create the user profile first (giving your email address, creating a password, etc.). You will do this only once.


After you create that user profile, you will need to know the class ID and the class password for this class (ENG 3243). Here they are:

Class ID: 2745213
Enrollment Password: English

 
Let me also recommend that you watch the library's tutorial on plagiarism that you can find at http://www.twu.edu/library/tutorial/plagiarism/player.html
Above all, remember that if you have any questions as to whether or not you have used another person's work and not given proper credit, please see me before you submit the work.


Disability Support Policy Statement: "If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the office of Disability Support Services (CFO 106, 940-898-3835, dss@twu.edu) in order to obtain the required official notification of your accommodation needs.  Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss approved accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate"


[This statement provided by the office of Disability Support Services].

 

Grading policy, major course assignments and examinations, and attendance policy:
 

Essay #1:  20% (Due 18 June). Please note that you can revise for a higher grade.

Essay #2:  20% (Due 2 July). Please note that you can revise for a higher grade.

Daily Writing Assignments: 30% (submitted in three portfolios; each portfolio is worth 10%)

Presentation on Literary Theory: 10%

Final Examination: 20% (10 July)

 

Class Attendance: The Texas Woman's University Handbook 2008-2009 states the following about attendance: "Consistent and attentive attendance is vital to academic success, and is expected of all students.  Grades are determined by academic performance, and instructors may give students written notice that attendance is related to specific classroom activities is required and will constitute a specific percentage of a students' grades.
    Instructors are strongly encouraged to keep a record of student attendance. They should note absences due to documented student illness, serious illness or death in the students' immediate family, official school activity, state-recognized religious holiday, or other verified absences deemed appropriate by the instructor.  Students must consult with instructors regarding the completion of make-up work.
    Absences are verified through the Office of Student Life.  Absences do not exempt students from academic requirements.  Excessive absences, even if documented, may result in a student failing the course.  An incomplete may be granted if the student has passing grades in 2/3 of assigned work, but only if the instructor determines that extenuating circumstances prevent the student from being able to complete all course work by the end of the semester or term" (143-144).


For each unexcused absence, I will deduct five points from your final grade (since each class meeting represents five percent of the course time).  Excused absences, as defined by TWU, must be documented through Student Life and, of course, carry no penalty.  If you miss more than fifty percent of any particular class period, you will be counted absent.  When I return each paper, I will indicate the number of absences I have recorded for you to date.

Grading policy, major course assignments, and examinations:


Each essay should be typed and double-spaced.  Please use the Modern Language Association (MLA) format.  Here is a website with information about the MLA format: MLA format: 

 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

 

Your purpose in writing these essays is to communicate a critical perspective about how to read or understand one or more works of literature.  You will turn in a printed copy of your essay to me on the due date indicated on the syllabus and upload your essay to www.turnin.com about the same time.
Creating a strong literary argument is the central focus of each essay.  Do not merely summarize or paraphrase the narrative.  Every essay should have a strong thesis, strong topic sentences, good grammar, and good evidence.  When I report your essay grades to you, I will try to communicate as much specific information as possible by breaking down the grade into five areas, each weighted differently.  Fifty percent of your essay grade will come from my assessment of the essay's content and organization: Was there strong content?  Were the ideas presented logically and as requested by the assignment?  Does the paper contain a clear introduction and summary statement?  For style, I will look specifically at sentence structures and transitions.  For diction, I will examine your spelling and word choice.  For mechanics and grammar, I will focus on whether or not you are using the MLA conventions correctly and whether or not you are making any serious grammatical errors.  In particular, I will look for fragments, comma splices, agreement errors (both pronoun and subject/predicate), apostrophe errors, and fused sentences.  "1" is the lowest mark for one of these areas; "5" is the highest.  I will use this grading scale:
 
Content (1-5)
Organization (1-5) x 5 = _____________
Style (1-5)
Diction (1-5) x 3 = ___________
Mechanics and Grammar (1-5) x 4 = _______________
Total:__________________

Best Practices
1.  Always assume that your reader has read the text you are analyzing.
2.  Write about literature in the present tense;
3.  Avoid the major editing errors: (1) subject/verb agreement errors; (2) pronoun agreement errors; (3) apostrophe errors; (4) comma splices; (5) fused sentences; and (6) sentence fragments;
4.  Remember that essential appositives do not use commas when introducing a literary work: "Shakespeare's play Hamlet is one of his longest";
5.  Don't replicate the punctuation you quote with the exception of question marks and exclamation marks.
6.  In your "Works Cited," cite the work you are analyzing, even if it appears in an anthology (i.e. don't just quote the anthology alone).
7.  Don't use the title of the work of literature that you are analyzing as the title of your own paper.  Your title prepares the reader for your argument, so you should hint at your thesis and mention the work or works that you are going to consider, if possible.  Don't be vague.

Letters of Recommendation
I am often asked to write letters of recommendation for my students.  I do not mind writing these letters.  I consider it a professional duty, but please note that I will only write letters of recommendation for students who have received an "A" in at least one of my classes, and I always require that the request be accompanied by a copy of a paper written for one of my classes (it can be as heavily revised as you wish).  When you make the request, be sure to note my deadline for writing the letter and to whom I should send it.

 

Tentative calendar of classes, assignments. 

The Summer 2009  academic calendar can be found here:

http://www.twu.edu/academics/2009-summer-academic-calendar.pdf


Please note that this daily syllabus is for planning purposes only and is subject to change.  I will update it occasionally and at least weekly.  When I update it, all additions after 8 June will appear in yellow and all deletions will appear at the bottom of the document.

 

Week ONE

 

Monday, 8 June.

Tuesday, 9 June.

Wednesday, 10 June.

Thursday, 11 June.

Week TWO

 

Monday, 15 June.

Tuesday, 16 June.

Wednesday, 17 June.

Thursday, 18 June.

Essay #1

Please choose one of the literary selections in Charles Bressler’s Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice (or “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor) and write a literary analysis of about four typed pages (double spaced, using the MLA conventions).  Write this literary analysis using a reader-response approach.  You may choose to organize your paper in one of three formats:

·         Analysis

·         Compare and contrast

·         Explication

 

Week THREE

 

Monday, 22 June.

Tuesday, 23 June.

Wednesday, 24 June.

Thursday, 25 June.

Week FOUR

 

Monday, 29 June.

Tuesday, 30 June.

Wednesday 1 July.

Thursday, 2 July.

Essay #2

Please choose one of the literary selections in Charles Bressler’s Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice (or “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor) and write a literary analysis of about four typed pages (double spaced, using the MLA conventions).  Write this literary analysis using a formalist approach.  You may choose to organize your paper in one of three formats.  Please note that explication is particularly useful for the close readings associated with formalism, but analysis works also, especially if you focus on just one key aspect (i.e. ambiguity, irony, tension, paradox, etc.).  You could also be successful writing a comparison/contrast paper:

·         Analysis

·         Compare and contrast

·         Explication

 

Grading Rubric

ENG 3243.01 Literary Analysis

Summer I 2009

Essay #2

Instructor: Russell Greer, Ph.D.

 

Special  focus:

·        They Say/I Say: Chapter FIVE: “And Yet”; Chapter SIX “Skeptics May Object”; Chapter SEVEN: “So What?  Who Cares?”; “Chapter EIGHT “As a Result.”

·        Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice by Charles Bressler (Chapter 3 Russian Formalism and New Criticism 50-71).

 

Content (30%)

·        Does the essay quote from the text under consideration and two secondary sources?  Do not use a website.

·        Does the essay show clear understanding of formalism?

·        Does the essay have a clear literary argument (a thesis) about how to understand some aspect of the text, and does it support that literary argument with textual examples?

·        Does the essay enter a dialogue with other critics and summarize and quote them fairly and accurately?

Organization (30%)

·        Does the essay answer “so what” and “who cares’?

·        Does the essay develop the thesis in the topic sentences?

·        Does the essay have an interesting introduction and conclusion?

·        Does the essay use one of the three basic organizational approaches?  Which one?

o   Comparison and contrast

o   Analysis

o   Explication

Diction (15%)

·        Does the essay use language correctly?  Does it express the meaning intended? 

·        Is the essay reasonably free of spelling errors?

Style (15%)

·        Does the essay have sentence structures that make it easy for the reader to understand what is intended?

Mechanics (10%)

·        Does the essay follow MLA conventions for documentation and bibliography (“Works Cited”).

·        Is the essay reasonably free from major grammar errors, in particular comma splices, fussed sentences, sentence fragments, agreement errors (both pronoun/antecedent and subject/verb), and apostrophe errors?

Total:

 

Week FIVE
 

Monday, 6 July.

Tuesday, 7 July.

Wednesday, 8 July.

Thursday, 9 July.

Friday, 10 July.

 

Last updated 2 July 2009