English 102.009

Composition II

Dr. E. Curtin

Office: HH 339B

Phone: 410-548-5594

Office Hours:

MW 11a.m.-1 p.m.

T 11a.m.- 12:20 p.m.

Other hours by appointment

Texts:

Kirszner, Laurie G and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature: Reading, Reaction, and Writing. 5^th Edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace: 2004.

Maimon, Elaine P. and Janice Peritz. A Writer's Resource: A Handbook for Writing and Research. 2^nd edition. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2005.

A Manual/Casebook for Freshmen: "The Yellow Wallpaper." Salisbury Univer sity, Salisbury, MD., 2006.

General Note:

This course is the second of a two-part sequence of composition courses that aim at statewide guidelines for freshman writing standards. C level work in the two courses demonstrates that a student is able to:

1) formulate and support a thesis

2) inform, argue, and persuade

3) address a range of audiences effectively

4) employ advanced conceptual skills: analyze,

5) synthesize, evaluate , formulate

6) support claims with adequate and pertinent evidence

7) support generalizations with legitimate specifics

Course Objectives:

As outlined in the Manual/Casebook, the objectives for this course are:

1)to continue to improve expository writing skills

2)to acquaint students with the critical vocabulary used in the discussion of fiction, poetry, and drama

3)to help students to learn to read literature critically

4)to develop awareness of the benefits of studying literature

5)to enable students to write critical papers about literature

6)to acquaint students with the library and its resources

7)to teach students how to research, organize, and write a short documented source paper.

In other words by the end of the course, you should be able to

1)write about and discuss literature using the vocabulary associated with the study of literature;

2)write analytical and critical papers that defend a thesis with specific evidence;

3)read, interpret and synthesize literary criticism;

4)critically evaluate your arguments and the arguments of other writers;

5)explain how argument with textual evidence compares with argument in other areas of research.

Content:

You will be reading, discussing, and writing about fiction, poetry, and drama throughout the semester. Although you will need to learn and use the vocabulary associated with the study of literature, the major focus of the course will be the readings themselves and your reactions to them.

Requirements:

You must:

v read all assignments before class

v take two tests and one final exam

v write two formal essays (3-5 pages), one of which will be based on a team oral report

v write a documented source paper (4-6 pages)

v complete short writing exercises

Grading:

Essays 30%

Documented Source paper 20%

Tests, quizzes, and participation 30%

Final 20%

Additional considerations:

Grading for the formal essays will follow the criteria described in your Freshman Manual. Use a computer or word processor for all formal work and as much informal work as you can. Please turn off all cell phones.

Attendance

If you miss more than three classes, you are ineligible for an A in the course. Except in the case of lingering illness, if you miss more than nine classes, you will not earn anything more than a D in this class, a grade that for this class is a failing grade. If you do have a prolonged illness, I will consider giving you some leeway only if I have documentation of that illness. Keep in mind that if you are absent early in the semester and become ill for a week at the end of the semester, no special consideration will be granted.

Academic Integrity

The English Department takes plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of other people's ideas, very seriously indeed. As outlined in the Student Handbook under the "Policy on Student Academic Integrity," plagiarism may receive such penalties as failure on a paper or failure in the course. The English Department recognizes that plagiarism is a very serious offense, and professors make their decisions regarding sanctions accordingly.

Each of the following constitutes plagiarism:

1) Turning in as your own work a paper or part of a paper that anyone other than you wrote. This would include but is not limited to work taken from another student, from a published author, or from an Internet contributor.

2) Turning in a paper that includes unquoted and / or undocumented passages someone else wrote.

3) Including in a paper someone else's original ideas, opinions or research results without attribution.

4) Paraphrasing without attribution.

A few changes in wording do not make a passage your property. As a precaution, if you are in doubt, cite the source. Moreover, if you have gone to the trouble to investigate secondary sources, you should give yourself credit for having done so by citing those sources in your essay and by providing a list of Works Cited or Works Consulted at the conclusion of the essay. In any case, failure to provide proper attribution could result in a severe penalty and is never worth the risk. Allowing another student to turn in your work as his or her own is also considered academic dishonesty.

At the University Writing Center at Herb’s Place, trained consultants are ready to help you at any stage of the writing process. It is often helpful for writers to share their work with an attentive reader, and consultations allow writers to test and refine their ideas before having to hand papers in or to release documents to the public. In accordance with Salisbury University’s mission to foster a student-centered learning community, the writing center is a student-centered place; therefore, visits are not mandatory. However, all undergraduates are encouraged to make use of this important student service.

Final Exam Policy: The final exam is a common exam that all English 102 students take at the same time. It is scheduled for December 12, from 4:15-6:45. Anyone who does not take it at that time and has fulfilled all other requirements for the class will receive an incomplete and will take a make-up exam in the first week of classes spring 2007. In the event that students are out of town with a university-sponsored event, special arrangements need to be made by the event’s faculty sponsor with the English department.

NOTE: You must receive C in this course to pass.

Tentative Schedule: All readings are in the Kirszner and Mandell book unless otherwise noted. These selections will undoubtedly change.

Please be alert to changes. I put the assignment on the board every class.

Date

Aug 28

Class

Introductions

Reading Assignments Due

Reading and responding to imaginative literature.

Trifles

Sept 5

Introduction to drama

Oedipus the King

Classical Tragedy

Oedipus the King

Writing about drama

Death of a Salesman

Plot

Death of a Salesman

Character

Fences

Workshop on papers

Fences; complete draft of paper due

Drama test

Introduction to fiction

Drama essay due

Oct 3

Plot, Setting

"I Stand Here Ironing"

"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Character, Point of View

"The Things They Carried"

"A Rose for Emily"

Mar 10

Symbolism, theme

""Battle Royal"

"The Cask of Amontillado"

Style, Tone and Irony,

“The Storm”

“The Yellow Wallpaper”

Fiction Exam

Incorporating critics; summaries and quotations

Critical Articles due

Reading poetry responsively

"Marks" Langston Hughes selections

Word order, diction and tone

'We Real Cool" "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” "Ex-basketball Player"

Images

TBA

Figures of Speech

TBA

Sounds and Patterns

TBA

Poetic Forms

"When, in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes," "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night," TBA

Workshop on Essay

Draft of essay due, TBA

Dec 5

Poetry Test

Wrap-up

Poetry Essay Due

Final Exam December 12, 2006- 4:15-6:45