English 1423 is designed to engage you as a reader, a writer, and a speaker.  With these goals in mind, we'll look at a variety of texts from the past and the present.   We'll discuss poetry, short fiction, a play and a novel thinking about the relationship between form and ideas.  Ultimately, we'll consider the politics of reading and writing. 

At times, we'll have group discussions about the literature that will culminate in group PowerPoint presentations.  These presentations will be informed by strategies of composition this course will help you develop.  In class, we'll cover the basics of composition from rhetoric to grammar.  Outside of class, students will use their developing critical vocabularies and composition skills to write essays about the literature we are reading.   And in the final weeks of the term, students will combine their reading, writing, and speaking skills to give personal PowerPoint presentations to the class.

The bulk of your mark will be determined by your performance on formal writing assignments. All students will write two short argumentative essays. Students will also be required to make meaningful written contributions to the course blog.

Participation is mandatory and has been assigned a modest mark.  Please note that showing up for class is not the same as participating.  If you don't feel comfortable participating in normal classroom discussion, try to compensate when you do group work and through meaningful contributions to the course blog. While you are receiving a separate mark for your contributions to the blog, I will count your attempts to engage in discussion with classmates on the blog as participation.  You can also participate informally by sharing your ideas with me during my office hours.

Essays will be submitted electronically, using assignment directories on the Plato server.  Students should pay special attention to the assignment policies listed below. 

Finally, students should feel free to bring their computers to every class. However, they will be expected to stay offline unless they are asked to connect for some reason. If you do not feel that you can resist the temptation to play on your computer while in class, you would be best to leave it at home because any sign that you are playing will result in severe deductions from your participation grade.

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• Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann)
• Casson, A Writer's Handbook (Broadview)
• Friel, Translations (Faber)
• Gaunce and Mayr, The Broadview Anthology of Short Fiction (Broadview)
• Rosengarten and Goldrick-Jones, The Broadview Anthology of Poetry (Broadview)

Weekly Outline

Week 1

Week 2

Sept. 14: Piercy's "Barbie Doll" (P); Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Kincaid's "Girl" (SF)

Week 3

Sept. 21: Browning's "My Last Duchess" and "Soliliquy of the Spanish Cloister"; A Writer's Handbook, Chapter 7

Week 4

Sept. 28: Common Grammatical and Rhetorical Errors; A Writer's Handbook, Chapters 5-6

Week 5

Oct. 5: Friel's Translations

Week 6

Oct. 12: Translations

Week 7

Oct. 17: Frost's "Mending Wall," "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" (P)

Oct. 19: Mansfield's "The Doll's House" and Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" (SF)

Week 8

Oct. 26: Auden's "In Memory of W.B. Yeats" and "The Unknown Citizen"; Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" (P)

Week 9

Nov. 2: Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues " (SF)

Week 10

Nov. 9:Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Week 11

Nov. 16: Things Fall Apart; Essay 2

Week 12

Nov. 21: Carver's "Cathedral" and Atwood's "Death by Landscape" (SF)

Nov. 23: PowerPoint Presentations: 

Hemmingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"

• Shannon Barnett
• Morgan Brown
• Mark Burrows
• Jillian Cox
• Sarah Crowell

Yamamoto's "Seventeen Syllables" (SF)

• Azura Goodman
• Edison Hanchell
• Edward Hicklin
• Denver Hiltz
• Courtney Jones

Week 13

Nov. 28: PowerPoint Presentations:

Ford's "Under the Radar"

• Jennifer Jukes
• Joseph Kimball
• Megan Konrath
• Dana Parmelee
• Robert Patton

O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" (SF)

• Stacy-Ann Reid
• Laura Shellnut
• Joanne Smith
• Christine Teed
• Michelle Tougas

Nov. 30:  PowerPoint Presentations; Discuss the final exam

Assignment Policies

Essay Policies

Students often find first year English very difficult and are often shocked by the low marks they initially receive.  For this reason, I have tried to spread the marks over a few relatively small assignments.  Rest assured that you have time to adjust to the demands of a university English course.  However, you must read all comments written or recorded on your papers if you wish to improve your average by term's end.   

My object is to alert you to significant problems in your arguments and your writing in the hopes that you will be able to make appropriate adjustments for future papers. I insist that that the papers come in on time so that I can get them back to you in a reasonable time and so that you can begin your progress on the rather steep learning curve characteristic of the literary studies at university.  For these reasons, your papers will receive a penalty of 2% per day for lateness, weekends and holidays included, unless your essay is accompanied by a doctor's note.  And I won't grant extensions without a doctor's note.

Note that all essays will be submitted electronically. I will show you how to submit in class on the due date of the first essay.

PowerPoint Policies

The PowerPoint presentations you deliver at the end of each term are an important component of the course, complementing the work you do in your papers.  But the important difference between the essay and the presentation is that the latter is meant to be delivered to an audience.  I expect everyone in the class to show up for every presentation out of respect for and in support of their fellow students.  

I consider this sign of respect and support so important that I reward students who show up and ask questions.  Students who continually participate in the question period following presentations will receive a boost of up to 5% on their own presentation grades, depending, of course, on the quality of the participation.

I take the opposite approach with students who don't show up for presentations.  For each presentation you miss, you will receive a penalty of -2% on your own presentation mark unless you can provide me with a doctor's note explaining your absence.

Finally, if you fail to show up for your own presentation, you will receive a grade of zero.

Plagiarism Policy

I have a zero tolerance policy on plagiarism.  Whether accidental or intentional, plagiarism will result in a zero grade on the offending assignment.  Depending on the severity of the case, it might even result in a zero on the course and a permanent black mark on your academic record.

Take care to cite all your sources in all your assignments, including PowerPoint presentations and hypertext journals.  While I don't require you to do research for most of your papers, I understand that you might wish to look in the library or at the web for some ideas on your various topics.  Be sure that if you look at anything, you cite it.  If you take any idea from anywhere, cite it.  If you paraphrase any point made by anyone else, cite it.  If you aren't sure, cite it!

Students are required to read pages from the Acadia University Calendar regarding academic integrity and the discipline.

I also highly recommend that you check out the following the following:

• Credible Sources Count from the Vaughan Memorial Library
• You Quote It, You Note It! from the Vaughan Memorial Library
• Statement on Plagiarism from A Guide for Writing Research Papers.

And by all means, drop by to see me during my office hours if you need clarification on any point of concern. 

Assignments