English 399 Literature and the Environment (3 credits)
Spring 2006 Instructor: Dr. Linda Helstern
“Think globally. Act locally.”
Office: Minard 322C
Office Hours: MWF 10:00-11:00 and by appointment
Office Phone: 231-5387
E-mail:
Major Texts
Listed texts may be purchased at the NDSU Varsity Mart.
Additional texts may be made available through Dokutek. (See below.)
Required
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden; Or, Life in the Woods (Dover, 1995)
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses (Oregon
State, 2003)
Ehrlich, Gretel. The Future of Ice : A Journey Into Cold (Vintage, 2005)
Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge : An Unnatural History of Family and Place (Vintage, 1992)
Price, John. Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American
Grasslands (Nebraska, 2004)
Orion (Spring 2001) [also available on-line from the magazine archive: www.orionsociety.org]
Deming, Alison Hawthorne. The Monarchs: A Poem Sequence (Lousiana State, 1997)
Course Pack
Optional:
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. (Modern Language Association, 2003)
Course Bulletin Description
Milestones of American writing about nature and culture from Thoreau to the present. Reading and analysis of literary encounters with place and issues that arise when the local is global.
Student Learning Objectives
1. To apply the basic vocabulary of literary criticism to the analysis of texts.
2. To understand the implications of using specific literary genres and literary forms in telling the stories of science.
3. To understand American attitudes toward nature and wilderness.
4. To understand the link between nature writing and literary nationalism in an age of globalization.
5. To recognize the ways in which we, both as individuals and as a society, interact with our environment, locally and globally.
6. To understand the impact of nature writers on the growth of the conservation and environmental movements.
7. To appreciate the spiritual aspects of nature study.
8. To understand contemporary developments in literary environmentalism, including ecocriticism.
Grading: 1000 points maximum
900-1000 points = A, 800-899 = B, 700-799 = C, 600-699 = D, 599 or below = F
200 4 Short (500-600 word) Personal Exploration Essays
200 Creative Research Essay (7-8 pp., minimum 2000 words)
200 Group Presentation w/ annotated bibliography
200 Final Exam
200 Participation (class attendance, quizzes, daily assignments, class participation,
class project)
Participation points
A = no more than 3 absences, significant contributions to group and class projects + substantive, regular contributions in class and high quality regular daily work. Just being in the room is not enough!
B = no more than 4 absences, active contributions to group and class projects + active and regular contributions in class and good quality regular daily work
C = no more than 5 absences, contributions to group and class projects + regular participation in class and good quality regular daily work
D = no more than 6 absences, limited contributions to group and class projects + some participation in class and some daily work
F = automatic with 9 or more absences
Policies
Preparation: Students must be prepared to participate in each class meeting. Be ready to discuss assigned readings and bring writing materials, assignments, and texts to class with you every day!!!
Attendance. Students are expected to attend all class meetings. You are permitted three absences before your grade is adversely affected. If you miss nine classes, you will receive no participation points, which will likely lead you to fail the course.
Absent students are liable for any missed work and are expected to obtain assignments and class notes from a classmate. I will be happy to answer questions you may have about these assignments or notes, but please talk with a classmate first.
Late Assignments. No assignments will be accepted after the assigned due date except in the case of excused emergency absence when you have contacted your advisor (who will contact me). Acceptable documentation may be requested. (This would include a note signed by an emergency room nurse, funeral director, clergyman, or judge. E-mails from you to me do not constitute documentation.)
If you wake up sick the day an assignment is due, turn it in via email so that I know it has been completed in a timely fashion. I will not, however, grade this assignment until I have received a hard copy from you. If you know that you will need an extension to insure the successful completion of an assignment, be sure to speak with me well in advance of the due date (not just one or two days).
Documented Disabilities: If you need special accommodations/assistance due to a disability, please speak with me during the first week of class and share the appropriate paperwork from the Counseling and Disability Services Office.
Academic Honesty. All work in this course must be completed in a manner consistent with NDSU University Senate Policy, Section 335: Code of Academic Responsibility and Conduct http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/policy/335.htm).
If you are unsure about any aspect of citation or writer’s ethics, please feel free to ask me, and I will help you to remain within the university code. Blatant plagiarism (using words or ideas from another source without giving proper credit) will in every case result in an “F” for the assignment, quite possibly for the course, and may result in suspension from the university. In cases of careless plagiarism (citing sources in the text but forgetting to list them on the works cited page, not including page numbers in your parentheticl citations, or not using quotation marks around borrowed text, for example), you may fail the project or be asked to rewrite it for a reduced grade.
You may find the following websites helpful:
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html
http://ec.hku/plagiarism/introduction.htm
Electronic Reserves through Dokutek
Go to the NDSU library website to access assigned reserve readings for this class. First make sure that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer. This is a free download you can access on the library webpage where the readings are listed. (If you have Acrobat and still cannot open the document, call the library or the ITS Help Desk.)
To open the reading,
--Click on the Course Pack link.
--Click on Electronic Reserves and Course Materials.
--On the drop down menus, choose English and then my name, Linda Helstern.
--A list of courses should appear. Choose the course you are in.
--In the password box, enter the case-sensitive password I gave you in class.
--Click Accept.
--You should see a list of titles for the readings assigned for this class. Click on the current
assignment. You may now print the document. Be sure to bring it with you to class!
Format for Papers
You are expected to use the MLA format for citation, including web sources, and bibliography. Papers that do not follow this format will not be graded:
Typed or word processed in 12 point Times New Roman, 10 point Ariel, or equivalent, double spaced with one tab indent to begin each new paragraph
1 inch margins top, bottom, and sides
Page number in top right corner on all pages beginning with page 2
4-line, single spaced heading in top left corner:
your name
course number and section
my name
date
Title centered
Remember:
Titles of books, three-act plays, movies, and TV shows should be always be italicized.
(Underlining is a direction to the printer to set italics. Underlining is, therefore, an acceptable substitute for italics in handwritten documents or if word processor lacks an italic font.)
Do NOT set titles of short works in italics:
short stories, essays (including critical essays), and poems that are not book-length should be set off by quotation marks always.
Class Project in Literary Activism for Earth Day, April 22
Environmental writers understand how important it is to educate their audience. They give public readings, alone or as part of a group. They publish about subjects that need urgent attention. They present books to political officials. In this spirit, our class will organize, sponsor, and publicize a project with a literary connection for Earth Day. It might involve just class members or some larger community, but it should at the very least be open to the public. The point is to think globally, act locally, and get publicity. Maximizing our efforts means developing synergy with other campus/community organizations who may be sponsoring Earth Day events. We also need to make ourselves part of a larger action plan.
Here are a few ideas to get you started brainstorming: 1. An outdoor reading in a special place; 2. A 24-hour reading; 3. Reading to wild birds or animals in rehab: find an appropriate rehab center, coordinate and promote hours of out-loud reading by local elementary age readers; 4. Red River Zoo reading: adopt an animal, choose an appropriate selection, set up a schedule; 5. Red River poetry fishing: you supply the poem/fish and equipment, audience reads whatever they catch out loud; ????????
SCHEDULE
1
W 1-11 Intro
F Course pack, Leopold, “Thinking Like a Mountain”
Course pack, Owens, “The Hunter’s Dance”
2
M 1-16 HOLIDAY – NO CLASS
W Orion 56-63, Matthews, “Wall Street Loses, Wall Street Gains” OR
www.orionsociety.org click Magazine, click Archive, scroll down to Spring 2001 issue
Course Pack, Snyder, New York poems
F Course Pack, Nabhan, “Cryptic Cacti on the Borderlands”
Course Pack, Nabhan, “How Metaphors Can Serve to Conserve”
3
M 1-23 Thoreau, Walden, “Economy”
W Thoreau, Walden, through “Solitude”
F Thoreau, Walden, through “The Ponds”
4
M 1-30 Thoreau, Walden, through “Former Inhabitants, and Winter Visitors”
W Thoreau, Walden to the end
F Project group assignment/first group meeting
Essay #1 due
5
M 2-6 Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, Preface & 1-34
W Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 35-81
F Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 82-120
6
M 2-13 Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 121-162
W Ehrlich, pt. 1 The Future of Ice
Essay #2 due
F Ehrlich, pt. 2 The Future of Ice
7
M 2-20 HOLIDAY – NO CLASS
W Ehrlich, pt. 3 The Future of Ice
F Ehrlich, pt. 4 The Future of Ice
8
M 2-27 Williams, Refuge 3-57
Essay #3 due
W Williams, Refuge 58-119
F Williams, Refuge 120-178
9
M 3-6 Williams, Refuge 179-238
W Williams, Refuge 239-290
F Essay #4 due
GPR: environmental/health impacts of radioactive bullets
GPR: preserving Asia/the DMZ, the snow leopard, etc.
GPR: environmental/economic impacts of the 2004 tsunami
SPRING BREAK March 13-17
10
M 3-20 Price, Not Just Any Land, ch. 1
W Price, Not Just Any Land, ch. 2
F Price, Not Just Any Land, ch. 3
11
M 3-27 GPR: Buffalo Commons
GPR: Rain Forest beef
GPR: Amish farming
Research essay proposal due/meeting as scheduled
W Price, Not Just Any Land, ch. 4
F Price, Not Just Any Land, ch. 5
12
M 4-3 Price, Not Just Any Land, ch. 6
Course pack, Silko, poems
W Course pack, Hasselstrom, poems
F Course pack, Frost, poems
Essay #5 due
13
M 4-10 Orion 16-25, Pyle, “ Las Monarcas: Butterflys on Thin Ice” or www.orionsociety.org
GPR: international ecotourism (focus on Central America)
W Orion 32-41, Brower, “Canary in the Cornfield”
Orion 42-50 Sauer, “The Monarch vs. the Global Empire”
GPR: indigenous corn/genetically modified corn
F NO CLASS - HOLIDAY
14
M 4-17 NO CLASS - HOLIDAY
W Class field trip TBA
F* Earth Day: A Celebration of Literary Activism as scheduled
15
M 4-24 Deming, The Monarchs, poems 1-15
Research essay due
W Deming, The Monarchs poems 16-30
F Deming, The Monarchs poems 31-45
16
M 5-1 Deming, The Monarchs, poems 46-60
W Course pack, Snyder, poems
F Course pack, Abbey, “The Serpents of Paradise”
Last day to turn in revised research essay
17 FINAL EXAM AS SCHEDULED
Appendix A
English 3-- Literature and the Environment
Spring 2006 Instructor: Dr. Linda Helstern
PERSONAL EXPLORATION ESSAYS
LENGTH: 500-600 words
DUE: Fri, Feb. 3 Walden
Wed, Feb 15 Gathering Moss
Mon., Feb 27 The Future of Ice
Plus one of the following (whichever does not conflict with your small group presentation):
Fri., Mar. 10 Refuge (students scheduled to present Mar. 27, Apr. 10 or 12)
Fri., Apr. 7 Not Just Any Land (students scheduled to present Mar. 10)
Essays are always due the first class period following the last discussion of each text.
STANDARD ESSAY FORMAT: see syllabus
GRADING: 50 points each x 4 = 200 points total (20% of your final grade)
These four personal exploration essays will give you the opportunity to examine and think through an idea, attitude, or literary technique in the assigned texts in a structured way. You might choose to write about an aspect of the text that puzzles you, one that makes you think in a new way, or one that is especially successful in connecting with you as a reader.
In other words, the assignment goes beyond why you might like or dislike this text as a “good read” or a “bad read.”
This assignment asks you to be a responsive reader so you will find that making notes in your text (even simple notes like ? or !) will help you see patterns of ideas that strike you as puzzling or important. Keeping a reading journal—jotting notes to yourself while your ideas are fresh--might also be helpful.
While you may find that our class discussions plants the seed of an idea that you want to explore further, please remember: the essay is not a rehash of our class discussions but more like opening a new discussion in which you take an idea in a new direction, both asking and attempting to answer a discussion question or reflecting upon a specific issue. You may agree or disagree with the author, but you need reasons.
This is not a research assignment. The ideas you express and develop should be your own. You may, however, discover material that you wish to develop further in your longer Creative Research Essay. Your grade will be based on your ability to introduce, state, and develop your thesis into an essay in standard English using appropriate university-level vocabulary.
Appendix B
English 3-- Literature and the Environment
Spring 2006 Instructor: Dr. Linda Helstern
Group Project: Oral Report
With Handout and Annotated Critical Bibliography
LENGTH: 10-15 minute oral presentation
1-page bibliography class handout
7-8 page annotated critical bibliography
1-page final project report (due the first class period after presentation)
DUE: F 3/10 GPR: environmental/health impacts of radioactive bullets/modern warfare
GPR: preserving Asia/the DMZ, the snow leopard, etc.
GPR: environmental/economic impacts of the 2004 tsunami
M 3-27 GPR: Buffalo Commons
GPR: Rain Forest beef
GPR: Amish farming
M 4-10 GPR: international ecotourism (special attention to Central America)
W 4-12 GPR: indigenous corn species/hybrid seed & genetically modified corn
FORMAT: MLA bibliography format. See attached examples. For more complicated entries, refer to Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. (Modern Language Association, 2003) or to www.owl.english.purdue.edu and click on research and documenting sources.