ENG 3323.50
American Fiction
Summer III 2006
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Michael Chabon Andrea Barrett Edward P. Jones Marilynne Robinson
Course Name, Number, and Description: ENG 3323.50. American Fiction. Description: The 2005-2007 Texas Woman's University General Catalog describes ENG 3323 in this way: "ENG 3323. American Fiction. American fiction from the eighteenth century to the present, with stress on major novels and short stories. Prerequisites: Nine hours of English. Three lecture hours a week. Credit: Three hours."
For ten weeks, I will provide lectures that synthesize important information about the history of American fiction, and I will provide a bibliography so that you can pursue further reading if you wish. In addition, we will read four major works of contemporary American literature, three of which have won the Pulitzer Prize recently; one has been a finalist for the prize. As you can see, the emphasis of this particular section this summer will be contemporary American fiction, although I will try to place it in the context of American fiction since the eighteenth century.
Please note that this course is taught almost entirely online. After the optional orientation the course will be conducted online asynchronously on Blackboard at twu6.blackboard.com with only one required meeting all semester--for the final exam. The final examination will be held on Friday, August 11, 2006 at a time and place that will be announced once the semester begins (since TWU doesn't announce final examination information about online courses in advance).
Faculty Contact
Information: Office Location, Phone, Hours:
Russell Greer, Ph.D. Associate Professor. Office: CFO 803. E-mail:
rgreer@twu.edu or
russellgreer@verizon.net.
Fax: (940) 898-2297 (English Department). Office telephone: (940) 898-2346. Website:
www.russellgreer.com
Most students find they can communicate with me quickly through the course itself online or by e-mail (rgreer@twu.edu). In addition, I will host office hours by appointment in CFO 803 from 1-3 p.m. on Wednesdays during Summer III unless otherwise indicated. If I cannot hold regular office hours, I will make an announcement on Blackboard, my website, and on the door of my office. I am usually not available in my office at other times, but I am available by phone and online. You may also leave me a voice mail at (940) 898-2346. I check for messages daily and try to return calls promptly.
Course Goals/Student
Learning Outcomes:
Our primary course goal is to engage in the discourse of American fiction--
considering such questions as "what IS the tradition of American fiction" and
"where has it led us today"? You will demonstrate that engagement, as a
student learning outcome, weekly in the daily assignments, in the required
essays, and most importantly in the final examination. If you have fully
engaged in the a conversation about this subject, your work will go beyond
summarizing the novels or memorizing facts; instead, you will have internalized
the subject, showing an ability to comment, to critique and to analyze the
required reading effectively.
List of textbooks and supplies:
Required: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Picador. ISBN: 0312282990; published in 2000; winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001) by Michael Chabon.
Required: Servants of the Map: Stories (W.W. Norton. ISBN: 0393323579; published in 2002; nominated for Pulitzer Prize in 2003) by Andrea Barrett.
Required: The Known World: A Novel (Amistad. ISBN: 00600557559; published in 2003; winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2004) by Edward P. Jones.
Required: Gilead: A Novel (Picador. ISBN: 031242440X) by Marilynne Robinson (published in 2004; winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2005)
Suggested: A Guide to MLA Documentation by Joseph Trimmer (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. ISBN: 0618338055) or an English handbook with MLA style information such as The Bedford Handbook by Diana Hacker (ISBN 0-312-44337-4).
Disability
Statement:
”Texas Woman's University seeks to provide appropriate academic adjustments for
all individuals with disabilities. The University will comply with all
applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and guidelines,
specifically Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA), with respect to providing appropriate academic
adjustments to afford equal educational opportunity. It is the responsibility
of the student to register with and provide medical verification and academic
schedules to Disability Support Services (DSS) at the beginning of each semester
and no later than the second week of school in a timely manner to arrange for
appropriate academic adjustment. For further information regarding Disability
Support Services or to register for assistance, please contact the office at
898-3835 (voice, 898-3830 (TDD), or visit CFO 105” (Texas Woman’s University
Office of Academic Affairs).
Grading Policy, Major Course Assignments and Examinations and Attendance:
Final Exam: 40% (Final Exam Week)
Individual Essay: 20% (Week EIGHT)
Group Essay: 5% (Week FIVE)
PowerPoint: 5% (Week FOUR)
Participation: 30% (Online Attendance: credit is given for postings to the discussion questions, the reading quizzes, anything posted in your group’s forum for a particular week, special assignments, and the weekly summary)
Midterm Conference: Please note that if you have a failing grade after you receive your feedback in Week SIX, I will need to meet with you in person in my office to discuss ways to improve your grade.
Online Attendance (Participation): Thirty percent of your final grade will depend on your participation online. You must post a minimum of TEN times a week on the discussion question forums (including the weekly summary) and in your groups. Some of these postings will be responses to the study questions; others will be preparation of group responses; others will be responses to your classmates. If you do not post at least ten times in the assigned week, do not expect a good participation grade for that week. I will give you a participation grade for every week and announce them in Week TWO, Week SIX, Week NINE, and after the final exam. Your grade will be determined by (1) the amount of postings and (2) the quality of the postings (equally weighted). I calculate participation for a week that begins on Monday and ends at midnight on the following Sunday. Your postings do not need to be long (100-240 words for a primary answer to a discussion question is adequate, and responses can be shorter), but they DO need to advance the discussion helpfully. Postings only count in the week they are due; in other words you cannot “make up” late postings after the week is over. Postings only count in the following places: (1) the discussion question forums; (2) the weekly summary forum; and (3) your group forum for the week in question. Note: Each week you will be asked to answer three discussion questions, one of which will usually be a group question (after the first week). These discussion questions will allow you to earn participation credit and share ideas with your classmates.
Student Participation Summary Form
You will post a summary to a forum provided after you have completed all your week's postings and attach a "student participation summary" form. You can find this form under COURSE INFORMATION. In this form, you will cut and paste your "top ten" postings from the week. You may edit your postings for grammar and spelling (in fact you SHOULD edit them for grammar and spelling) but not for content (I will check occasionally to make sure that the they represent your actual work from the week). I will use this summary form to assign your participation grade. If you do not submit a summary form, you cannot get credit for the week's work even if you fully participated otherwise.
Academic Dishonesty:
“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. 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 and Planner 2005-2006
(pages 133-135). I intend to follow 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)" (133). 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 lower grade on the test/paper/project in question, with an
explanation from the instructor”; (3) “Assignment of a 0 on an assignment"; (4)
“Assignment of a grade of F in the course" (134). A discussion of the more
severe penalties for second offenses appears on pages 134-135. If you have
any questions about whether or not a practice constitutes plagiarism, please
contact me before you turn in the assignment. All student papers and
discussion forum postings will be checked for plagiarism with a plagiarism
website by the instructor. When you submit your group essay and your
individual essay to digital dropbox, you will also need to post it to
www.turnitin.com; that website, in turn,
will generate a report for me. 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 or use
www.turnin.com to check your work BEFORE submitting it to me. You have that
option with this program.
Tentative calendar of classes, assignments.
Check here for the academic calendar for Summer III 2006. Please note that this daily syllabus is for planning purposes only and is subject to change. The page number next to the reading assignment indicates where in your text the story or essay begins.
Final Examination: This examination will have two parts. The first part will be objective. In it, you will be required to define terms, identify passages, and answer short questions about the narratives in the form of matching, multiple choice, and short answer questions. You may NOT use use your books or notes for the first, objective portion of the test, but you MAY use your books and notes to write the essays in the second part. In the second part you will be required to write two short in-class essays in class about the narratives we have read during the semester. I will give you several topics from which to choose, and you must choose two. You must write complete sentences, and four or more of these major errors will cause you to receive a “20” (F) on the essay portion of the examination: comma splices, fused sentences, apostrophe errors, sentence fragments, and agreement errors. Therefore, you should make sure during the semester that you understand and can avoid these errors. If you have questions, please see me during my office hours.
Week ONE (5-11 June 2006)
Reading:
1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2000) Part I and Part II.
Assignments:
1. Post your autobiography.
2. Form learning teams by the end of Week ONE (if you have no preference, I will assign you to a group at the beginning of Week TWO).
3. Answer three discussion questions, post weekly summary, and complete all participation requirements.
4. Read the Week ONE lecture under COURSE DOCUMENTS.
5. Take the online reading quiz.
Week TWO (12-18 June 2006)
Reading:
1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) by Michael Chabon (Part III and Part IV).
Assignments:
1. Answer discussion questions, including your first group question, post a weekly summary, and complete all participation requirements.
2. Read the Week TWO lecture found in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
3. Take the online reading quiz.
3. Dr. Greer will return feedback through Week ONE this week.
Week THREE (19-25 June 2006)
Reading:
1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) by Michael Chabon (Part V and Part VI).
Assignments:
1. Answer discussion questions, post a weekly summary, and complete all participation requirements.
2. Read the Week THREE lecture found in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
3. Take the online reading quiz.
Week FOUR
(26 June to 2 July 2006)
Reading:
1. Servants of the Map: Stories: "Servants of the Map," "The Forest," and "Theories of Rain" (2002) by Andrea Barrett.
Assignments:
1. Read the Week FOUR lecture posted in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
2. Answer three discussion questions, post a weekly summary, and complete all participation requirements.
3. PowerPoint Assignment due (5 points): Please take one aspect from any of the four novels and present ten to twenty slides of research that will help your classmates understand some aspect of the novel. For example, you could give background on comic book artist Jack Kirby who inspired Chabon so much or talk about the history which shapes Barretts's book. I am using this assignment as a pre-writing assignment for your essays, so make this presentation something at interests you; it may lead you to a topic or topics for your individual essay. Please post the PowerPoint presentation to the assigned forum by the end of the week and comment on the presentations posted by your classmates.
Week FIVE
(3-9 July 2006)
Reading:
1. Servants of the Map: Stories: "Two Rivers," "The Mysteries of Ubiuitin," and "The Cure" (2002) by Andrea Barrett.
Assignments:
1. Read the Week FIVE lecture posted in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
2. Answer three discussion questions, and complete all participation requirements.
3. Group Essay (5%) due at the end of Week FIVE. Your group will be required to write one critical essay of 3-5 pages on a text we have read this semester post it to me on digital dropbox and www.turnitin.com. The essay should be typed, double-spaced, and conform to MLA guidelines. For a topic, you may choose your own or expand one of the assigned discussion questions. Your primary purpose in this essay is to suggest a strong thesis, an argument about how to understand the novel or stories. I will grade the essay in terms of content, organization, style, diction, and grammar. You must write complete sentences, and four or more of these major errors will cause you to receive a “20” (F) on the essay portion of the examination: comma splices, fused sentences, apostrophe errors, sentence fragments, or agreement errors. Therefore, you should make sure during the semester that you understand and can avoid these errors. If you have questions, please see me during my office hours.
Week SIX (10-16 July 2006)
Reading:
1. The Known World: A Novel (2003) by Edward P. Jones (pages 1-145 in the assigned edition--the first four sections of the book).
Assignments:
1. Read the Week SIX lecture posted in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
2. Answer all discussion questions, and complete all participation requirements.
Week SEVEN (17-23 July 2006)
Reading:
1. The Known World: A Novel (2003) by Edward P. Jones (pages 146-315 in the assigned edition: sections 5-9 in the book).
Assignments:
1. Read the Week SEVEN lecture posted in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
2. Answer all discussion questions, and complete all participation requirements.
3. Dr. Greer will return feedback and grades through Week SIX, including the graded group essay and PowerPoint assignment, this week.
Week EIGHT (24-30 July 2006)
Reading:
1. The Known World: A Novel (2003) by Edward P. Jones (pages 317-388 in the assigned edition: sections 10-12 and the epilogue in the book).
Assignments:
1. Read the Week EIGHT lecture posted in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
2. Answer three discussion questions, post the weekly summary, and complete all participation requirements.
3. Take the online reading quiz.
4. Individual Essay (20%). You will be required to write one critical essay of about 5-7 and post it to me on digital dropbox and www.turnitin.com. I will give you more information about these essays later in the course, but in general they should be typed, double-spaced, and conform to MLA guidelines. Your primary purpose in this essay is to suggest a strong thesis, an argument about how to understand the fiction. I will grade the essay in terms of content, organization, style, diction, and grammar. Please pay particular attention to avoiding the five major errors: fragments, fused sentences, comma splices, apostrophe errors, and agreement errors. For topics, you may choose your own, expand a discussion question, or discover one in discussions with your group members or with me.
Week NINE (31 July to 6 August 2006)
Reading:
1. Gilead: A Novel (2004) by Marilynne Robinson (pages 1-123)
Assignments:
1. Read the Week NINE lecture posted in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
2. Answer three discussion questions, post a weekly summary, and complete all participation requirements.
3. Take the online reading quiz.
4. This week, Dr. Greer will return feedback and grades via digital dropbox, including the graded individual essay, through Week EIGHT.
Week TEN (6-10 August 2006: Note--this is a short week.)
Reading:
1. Gilead: A Novel (2004) by Marilynne Robinson (pages 124-247).
Assignments:
1. Read the Week TEN lecture posted in COURSE DOCUMENTS.
2. Answer three discussion questions, post a weekly summary, and complete all participation requirements.
3. Take the online reading quiz.
Final Examination. You must take the final examination during the final examination period to receive full credit for the course. I cannot schedule the examination BEFORE the final examination period. If you cannot attend, then you must apply for an incomplete before the time of the final examination. When it is approved, you can schedule a make-up with me in my office within one year. If you do not apply for an incomplete and do not attend the final examination in person, you will receive a zero for forty percent of the course. The final examination will be held on Friday, August 11, 2006. I will return final grades, including your grade for the final examination, on Blackboard within several days after you take the final examination.
Last updated: 22
July 2006