English 2319 British Literature Spring 2010 Instructor: Dr. Imrana Iqbal Office Hours: TTh 8:55 a.m. 9:25 and by appointment Office: 408 Carlisle Hall Office Phone: X 0164 Email: IMRANA@uta.edu Textbook: The Longman Anthology of English Literature. Volume Two. 4 th ed. 2010 Course Description and Objectives This course will explore significant British works in the context of the development of British social, cultural, political, and ideological thought and sensibility in various historical eras. The course seeks to develop students critical reading and writing skills. The assigned readings are centered on various themes representative of Romantic, Victorian, and modern eras. Course Goals: To foster and sharpen students skills in critical and analytical reading of imaginative or literary writing; To help students understand that literature is a product of social and cultural events and that it reflects and furthers cultural dialog as it presents issues from the writer s perspective as the writer becomes the spokesperson of his/her times; and To help students to look at literature both as art and as rhetoric. Course Outcomes: Upon completion of this course, the students should be able to Produce college-level prose that demonstrates critical reading of texts and an awareness of audience; Clearly and respectfully express their opinions about matters of political and social importance and understand how to join the societal conversation about these issues with focus on specific works of literature; Know what resources to consult with questions about grammar, writing, and literature; Understand the difference between proper use of a source and plagiarism and be able to responsibly incorporate resources into their own arguments; and Know the methods and vocabulary of literary analysis. Grading: Paper 1: 10% Paper 2: 20% Midterm: 10% Final: 20% Quizzes: 10% Journals: 10% Group presentations/discussions: 10% Attendance and participation: 10% 1
Quizzes: Follow the class calendar for tentative dates for quizzes on assigned readings. The quizzes will test your knowledge of the content rather than seek opinions or analytical responses. Missed quizzes cannot be made up. Generally, expect a quiz scheduled in the syllabus during the last class session of the week. Midterm Exam: Short essay answers to questions. Missed midterm exam cannot be made up. Only a serious and documented medical emergency or death in the family will be considered in not counting this grade toward your final grade. Final Exam: Short essay answers to questions. Missed final exam cannot be made up. Class Participation: Intelligent and meaningful participation in class discussion entails prior reading and preparation for class. Please complete your reading assignments before each class and come prepared to ask questions or share your reflection of the reading materials. It is important that you bring your textbook to class, contribute to discussions, ask pertinent questions, and take notes. Failure to attend class on regular basis will lower your grade under this head of the grade calculation. For assigned topics, groups of students will be asked to be discussion leaders. Please wait for more information in this regard. Journal entries: You will write 1-2 double spaced responses (typed) to each of the short assigned reading texts. Write longer responses to longer assigned texts. If a piece of literature is divided into small sections to be discussed during more than one class session, you should have different journal entries written for each class session. Your journal entry should be a reflection stimulated by the ideas. Document your ideas with reference to the text and supported by short quotations from the text. Although it is informal writing, recording your thoughts as you read, I would like to see evidence of your critical thinking about the text and independent thinking arising from there. You may be asked to share your journal writings with your class in small or large groups. You should have your journal in front of you for the assigned reading for each class. Your journal writings will be collected at the end of the semester. WRITE YOUR JOURNAL ENTRIES AS AND WHEN YOU READ THE TEXT AT HOME. THIS MEANS THAT YOUR JOURNALS MAY INITIALLY BE HANDWRITTEN. HOWEVER, TYPE THEM OUT BEFORE TURNING THEM IN. Lateness: Late papers will not be accepted. Generally, you will turn in your paper during the last class session of the week in which the paper is due. Plagiarism: It is the philosophy of The University of Texas at Arlington that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with the university regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University. Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or material that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts. (Regents Rules and Regulations, Series 50101, Section 2.2) You can get in trouble for plagiarism even if you do not intend to cheat by failing to correctly indicate places where you are making use of the work of another. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the conventions of citation by which you indicate which ideas are not your own and how your reader can find those sources. See the UTA library tutorial on plagiarism at htttp://libraries.uta.edu/infolit/plagiarism/plagiarism.htm, or talk to me, if you have any questions about how to document a source properly or if you are unsure about what constitutes fair usage of someone s else s words or ideas. 2
Students with Disabilities: If you require an accommodation based on disability, please see me in private during the first week of the semester to be sure that any special needs are met appropriately. A disability requiring accommodation must be documented by the Office of Students with Disabilities (817-272-3364). Student Support Services: The University of Texas at Arlington supports a variety of student success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve academic success. These programs include learning assistance, developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and transition, and federally funded programs. Students requiring assistance academically, personally, or socially should contact the Office of Student Success Programs at 817-272-6107 for more information and appropriate referrals. Absences and latenesses: If you arrive in class after I have taken the roll call, please leave a note for me on the teacher s table before you leave indicating your name and the approximate time at which you arrived in class. Any lateness more than 15 minutes will be counted as an absence. More than 4 absences in a two-days-a-week class and more than 6 absences in a three-days-a-week class will bring your final grade down by one letter grade. For example, an A will become a B and an A- will become a B-. If there is a medical or family emergency reason for your absences, you should present excuse. Please do not begin to pack your books, etc., before I explicitly dismiss the class. If you miss a class, contact a fellow student first to find out what you missed. Finally, if you are struggling, please come and see me in my office during my office hours or by appointment, or contact me via e-mail before you are hopelessly lost. University Writing Center: The Writing Center on the fourth floor of the Central Library offers its services free of charge to all UTA students on either a drop-in basis or by appointment. Its tutors can discuss any aspect of writing with you, from preliminary analysis of a text to organizing your ideas to meet the expectations of an audience. The Writing Center is not an editing service; tutors will not correct your grammar or rewrite your essay for you, but they are qualified to teach you how to do it yourself. Tutors will not predict what grade you will earn on your assignment. I highly recommend using the Center s services to assist you in this class (or any of your other courses), no matter what your writing level. Please be aware that tutoring sessions do take time, so be sure to allow sufficient time to complete a tutoring session and incorporate appropriate suggestions into your essay before it is due. Drop Policy: For information on the UTA s Drop Policy visit the Office of the Record s website at http://www.uta.edu/uac/studentsuccess/schedule-changes-adddrop-policies. Tentative schedule Week 1: Jan 19 23 Week 2: Jan 24-30 Introduction to the class; discussion of the syllabus. Receive a handout on critical reading strategies. In-class writing (writing sample) Ambition and Courage/ Cruelty and Corruption Discussion of reading strategies Elizabeth Browning: The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim s Point 1148 The Cry of Children 1140 Quiz on critical reading strategies Discussion of Paper 1 Week 3: Jan 31 Feb 6 Tennyson: The Lotus-Eaters 1185 Browning: My Last Duchess 1328 Quiz on Elizabeth Browning 3
Week 4: Feb 7 13 Engels: The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 1101 Carlyle: Captains of Industry 1083 Quiz on Tennyson and Browning Paper 1 draft due: conferences Week 5: Feb 14 20 Faith and Science Darwin: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection 1272 Strauss: Life of Jesus Critically examined 1296 Quiz on Engels and Carlyle Week 6: Feb 21 27 Huxley: Evolution and Ethics 1313 Paper 1 Due Week 7: Feb 28 Mar 6 Midterm exam (Part 1 and Part 2) Week 8: Mar 7 13 Governance, Colonialism, Post-colonialism, and modernity Kipling: The White Man s Burden 1777 Wilde: The Soul of Man under Socialism 1824 Quiz on Huxley Discussion of Paper 2 (Spring vacation Mar 15-19) Week 9: Mar 21 27 Orwell: Shooting an Elephant 2566 Gordimer: What Were You Dreaming? 2654 Quiz on Kipling and Wilde Week 10: Mar 28 Apr 3 Owen: Dulce et Decorum Est 2160 Eliot: Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 2287 Quiz on Orwell and Gordimer Paper 2 draft due; conferences Week 11: Apr 4 10 Paine: Rights of Man 127 Quiz on Owen and Eliot Week 12: April 11 17 Week 13: April 18 24 Human soul and aspiration Stevenson 1778 Quiz on Paine Stevenson continued Week 14: April 25 May 1 Coleridge: The Rime of Ancient Mariner 567 Quiz on Stevenson and Coleridge Week 15: May 2-8 Week 16: May 8 14 (May 7 is the last day of classes) Review for Final Paper 2 due Final exam Take-home essays due Reading journals due 4
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