| Requirement | %[1] |
|---|---|
| Reading | 30% |
| Writing | 50% |
| Lesson Tests | 20% |
| Attendance | 10% |
This course is composed of three general requirements: reading, writing, and lesson tests. The two former requirements will be on-going throughout the semester, will require regular contributions, and may be comprised of various assignments. Lesson tests will conclude each unit and quiz your knowledge of the reading and your ability to analyze and interpret the literary works.
Reading
Each lesson’s major focus will be reading primary texts (the literature) and secondary texts (critical response to the literature). Reading quizzes will test your knowledge of the materials, focusing on factual details like plot points, rather than interpretative readings. Students should take thorough notes as they read—like character names, plot points, and other details—that will help them on quizzes and later analysis of the texts in their writing.
Reading quizzes and in-class assignments cannot be made up for any reason.
Writing
The major portion of students’ grades will derive from four (4) interpretative essays that will both: address works of literature we have read for and discussed in class and apply a critical approach that we have discussed in class to interpreting those works.
Essay 1
The first essay will be a reader-response on any work (short story, poem, song, etc.) we have read for class, or one approved by me, up until the due date. You should select a work and interpret it according to your own forestructure and informed view of the piece.
Essay 2
Essay 2 will be a Short Lit Crit Response. Choose one of the texts we have read so far this semester and find two (2) secondary sources that seem to employ similar interpretive methods, like feminist, cultural, psychological, or another, and make connections between the critics’ and your own interpretation of the primary text.
Essay 3
This essay will address Melville’s novella Bartleby, the Scrivener (or any other work we read since the second essay) and employ one of the interpretative methods we have studied so far this semester to write about it. You must cite at least two critical sources in your paper. Indicate somewhere on your paper the interpretative method you employ.
Essay 4
Comparative essay—play and film. This essay applies any interpretative method we have discussed this semester (any you have not already employed) to August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Netflix’s recent adaptation in a comparative essay. Like essay 3, this essay must use at least two critical sources cited in correct MLA style—critical reviews of the film or play may also be used. Indicate somewhere on your paper the interpretative method your essay employs.
Tests
Students’ knowledge of the course texts, both primary and secondary, will be tested at the end of each lesson. These short-answer tests will quiz your knowledge of the subject matter (texts, lecture material, and vocabulary), your ability to synthesize this material, and your creativity in going beyond the discussion and lecture materials. The tests could include vocabulary, identification, and interpretation. Test grades will be based upon objective knowledge of the material, thoroughness, depth of insight, precision, and originality.[2]
Required Materials
Our introduction to college literary studies this semester will have two required texts:
- Sipiora, Phillip (January 1, 1994). Reading and Writing About Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Wilson, August (2020) [1984]. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. New York: Plume. ISBN 9780593184967.
Your course book(s) or readings should always accompany you to class, as we will make heavy use of them in our daily discussions. Please do not come to class without it: we need the texts for class activities, in-class writing, and all aspects of our study. PDFs must be printed if they are used in class—this includes exams. Failure to do so will earn you an absence .
You should also bring an ink interface of some sort, as well as dead trees on which to take notes. Notes should not only reflect good listening skills, but individual interest in every topic discussed in class.
notes
- ↑ This is the general percentage breakdown for these requirements. As I use a point system for evaluation, the percentages are just an estimate.
- ↑ See the various resources available on this web site to help. They should assist in exam prep and provide guidance for your study throughout the semester.
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