English 167, Introduction to English Studies (3 credits)

Instructor: Eunice Johnston

Office: South Engineering 318 H Office Phone: 231-7153

Office Hours: 9:30-10:30 M-F or by arrangementEmail:

Course Description and Objectives

Bulletin Description: An introduction to the different areas of English studies including literature, writing studies, and linguistics and the ways in which they are studied.

Course Objectives: In this course, students will do the following:

  • Define their subjective goals for wanting to study English.
  • Develop reading, writing, and research strategies used by students in English studies.
  • Become familiar with theoretical and critical perspectives.
  • Become familiar with issues currently being discussed in the field.
  • Discover how skills and knowledge acquired in the study of English can be used in various professions.

Resources Required by Students

These textbooks are required and may be purchased at the Varsity Mart:

  • Carpenter, Scott. Reading Lessons: An Introduction to Theory. Prentice Hall, 2000.
  • Clark, Virginia P., Paul A. Eschholz, and Alfred F. Rosa. Language: Readings in Language and Culture, Sixth Edition. Bedford, St. Martin’s, 1998.
  • Dalglish, Cass. Nin. Spinsters Ink, 2000.
  • Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. Modern Language Association, 2003.
  • Schilb, John, and John Clifford. Making Arguments about Literature: A Compact Guide and Anthology. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000.

Students must have a valid NDSU email account and be able to access the Blackboard site for the course.

Academic Honesty

All work submitted in this class must be done in a manner consistent with NDSU's Code of Academic Responsibility and Conduct, which states that "Students are responsible for submitting their own work" (see <http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/policy/335.htm>). Specifically, whenever a writer uses a fact, statistic, idea, or opinion from a source, the writer must cite that source appropriately. Using information from a source without giving credit to that source is plagiarism, which the university considers an act of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism includes handing in a whole paper or parts of a paper written by someone else as well as not using quotation marks when copying the text of a source word-for-word and/or neglecting to cite the source of information used.

This course will offer instruction on how to comply with this requirement. However, if a student consciously plagiarizes part of an assignment or a whole assignment, that student will be given a failing grade for the assignment or for the entire course depending on the extent and intent of the plagiarism.

Students with Special Needs

Any student with special needs is encouraged to contact the instructor as soon as possible so that accommodations can be made.

Requirements

  1. Portfolio: 50%

Four major projects will be assigned, and you will write drafts of them throughout the semester. At the end of the semester you will submit two (2) copies of your final versions of these papers along with a reflective letter on the process. Save your portfolio from this class as you will need it when you take English 467, English Studies Capstone Experience.

  • Assignment 1: Define your goals: explain why you decided to become (or are considering becoming) an English major or minor and what objectives you hope to achieve by studying English.
  • Assignment 2: Analyze a story, poem, or essay using the techniques described in Chapters 4, 5, or 7 of Making Arguments about Literature.
  • Assignment 3: choose an author and research him or her; create an annotated bibliography that records your research and categorizes the types of information that you found. .
  • Assignment 4: Analyze a work of literature using one of the theoretical approaches found in Reading Lessons (Chapters 3-7).
  1. Exercises: 25%

These assignments are shorter, more informal types of writing. Some will be completed as group activities. Most will be shared with other members of the class. These assignments are described in the schedule for the course.

  1. Class participation: 15%

You are expected to be prepared for and to attend class and to contribute to the discussions.

  1. Exams: 10%

There will be a midterm exam and a final exam, each worth 5% of the final grade. These exams will provide practice in writing essay exams in English.

Grading

All papers and quizzes are graded on this basis: A=90-100%; B=80-89%; C=70-79%; D=60-69%; F=59% or less. Final grades will be assigned on the same basis.

Specific evaluation criteria will be distributed for each assignment. However, letter grades are assigned on these general criteria:

A = Outstanding work. Shows a superior completion of the assignment. Excellent selection of content, organization, and working of material to fit the rhetorical needs of the particular situation. Uses a style that is fluent and coherent. Has few if any mechanical errors. Shows clear understanding of readings, insight, perceptiveness, originality, and thought. Has value over and above fulfilling the requirements of the course. Range: 90% to 100% of the points possible.

B = Good work. Significantly above level necessary to meet course objectives. Has a thorough, well-organized analysis of the assignment. Shows judgment and tact in presentation of material appropriate for the intended audience and purpose. Supports ideas well with concrete details. Has an interesting, precise, and clear style. Is free of major mechanical errors. Strong, interesting work. Range: 80% - 89% of the points possible.

C = Acceptable work. Meets all basic requirements of the assignment. Accomplishes its purpose with adequate content and detail. Uses details, organization, and expression appropriate for the rhetorical context. May have minor mechanical problems or an occasional major mechanical problem. Nothing remarkably good or bad about the work. Range: 70% to 79% of the points possible.

D = Meets the assignment but is weak in one of the major content areas (content, organization, or style) or offers a routine, inadequate treatment. Shows generally substandard work with some redeeming features. Range: 60% to 69% of the points possible.

F = Unacceptable work in one or more of the major areas. Fails to meet one or more of the basic requirements of the course or the assignment. May fail to cover essential points, or may digress to nonessential material. May have inadequate development, may lack adequate organization, may show confusion or misunderstanding of the rhetorical context, may use an inappropriate tone, poor word choice, excessive repetition, or awkward sentence structure, may be unclear, or may fail to adequately document sources.

Schedule

Week 1

Tuesday: Introduction to the course. Exercise 1: describe one reading experience and one writing experience that were important to you and explain why. Post this short essay to the Discussion Board on Blackboard.

Thursday: Exercise 2 (group project): compare current requirements for English major at NDSU with the requirements at what was then NDAC in 1950 which I will furnish; also compare requirements at other institutions (everyone searches for and brings one) with the current requirements at NDSU. Post the responses to the Discussion Board on Blackboard.

Week 2

Tuesday: Read these selections from Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature: Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily,” p. 576; Houston, “How to Talk to a Hunter,” p. 611; Arnold, “Dover Beach,” p. 662; Sexton, “The Farmer’s Wife,” p. 717; Momaday, “The Way to Rainy Mountain,” p. 899; Staples, “The Runaway Son,” p. 904.

Exercise 3: rank these six readings based on which you liked best and which you liked least and explain why. Next, choose three of the six readings and rank them on a scale of “most literary” to “less literary” and explain your order. Post your response to the Discussion Board in Blackboard.

Thursday: Read Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature, pp. 11-42 (“What Is Literature: What Is Argument?” and “Developing Arguments about Literature”) and Carpenter, Reading Lessons, pp. 1-20 (“Monkeys at the Typewriter: Signs/Meaning/Communication”). Guest: Dr. Dale Sullivan, Head of the English Department.

Week 3

Tuesday: Read these selections from Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature: “Romantic Dreams, “ pp. 255-72 (Silko, “Yellow Woman”; Joyce, “Araby”; Updike, “The A & P”) and “True Love,” pp. 345-50 (Shakespeare, “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds”; Bradstreet, “To My Dear and Loving Husband”; cummings, “somewhere i have never traveled”; Millay, “Love Is Not All”). Exercise 4: Compare the perspectives of the characters in the stories with regard to the existence of true love: which of the three main characters in the short stories has the most mature view of romance; which has the least mature view of romance? Post your response to the Discussion Board in Blackboard.
Thursday: Exercise 5 (group project): analyze the class’s responses to Exercise 3. What criteria did the class propose of “literariness” and what are the strengths and weaknesses of each position? What is the relationship between people’s liking apiece of writing and their judgment of it as literary or not? What definition do you support and why? Assignment 1, Draft 1, due; writing workshop on this draft.

Week 4

Tuesday: Read Carpenter, Reading Lessons, pp. 21-36 (“Rounding Up Some Usual Suspects: Formalism and Structuralism”).
Thursday: Read Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature, Chapter 2: Developing Arguments about Literature, pp. 10-39 and Chapter 3: Writing an Argument, pp. 40-78. Guest: faculty member who teaches American or British literature survey class.

Week 5

Tuesday: Read Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature, Chapter 4: Making Arguments about Stories, pp. 79-114.
Thursday: Exercise 6 (group project): critique the sample student paper on pp. 109-113 of Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature. Guest: faculty member who teaches a 300 or 400 level literature class.

Week 6

Tuesday: Read Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature, Chapter 5, Making Arguments about Poems, pp. 115-135.
Thursday: Exercise 7 (group project): critique the sample student paper on pp. 133-36 of Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature. Guest: faculty member who teaches poetry.

Week 7

Tuesday: Read Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature, Chapter 7, Making Arguments about Essays, pp. 171-194. Also discussion of how to write essay exams answers.

Thursday: Exercise 8 (group project): critique the sample student paper on pp. 190-193 of Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature. Proposals for Assignment 3 due: what writer do you want to research, why, and what do you already know. Guest: faculty member who teaches creative non-fiction.

Week 8

Tuesday: Draft of Assignment 2 due; writing workshop.

Thursday: Meet with AHSS librarian in a cluster; begin searching for materials for Assignment 3.

Individual conferences will be scheduled with the instructor at mutually agreeable times throughout this week to discuss progress in the course. Assignment 1, Draft 2, is due at the time of your conference.

Week 9

Tuesday: Read Carpenter, Reading Lessons, pp. 37-88 (“Mssng Lttrs: Poststructuralism and Deconstruction,” “The Remembrance of Things Past: Psychoanalysis”). Exercise 9 (group project): you will be given several short pieces of writing about literature; match the article to the theoretical approach being used.

Thursday: Read Carpenter, Reading Lessons, pp. 89-134 (“Gender Gaps: Feminism and Gender Studies,” and “The Importance of Context: New Historicism and Cultural Studies”). Exercise 10 (group project): you will be given several short pieces of writing about literature; match the article to the theoretical approach being used.

Week 10

Tuesday: Read Carpenter, Reading Lessons, pp. 135-158 (“Click Here: Hypertext and Reader Response” and “For Eclecticism: The Role of Theory”). Also read Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature, pp. 919-40 (“Making Arguments Using Critical Approaches”). Assignment 3 due.

Thursday: Exercise 11 (group project): critique the sample student essay on pp. 937-39 of Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments About Literature. Guest: faculty member who teaches English 271, Literary Analysis.

Week 11

Tuesday: Read Dalglish, Nin, pp. 1-119. Exercise 12 (group project): analyze obituaries (these will be supplied): who writes them; for what purpose; who is the audience; what type of information is included, what is left out, and why.

Thursday: Read Dalglish, Nin, pp. 120-201. Draft of Assignment 4 due; writing workshop.

Week 12

Tuesday: Read Dalglish, Nin, pp. 202-289. Exercise 13 (group project): categorize the references in Dalglish’s bibliography.

Thursday: Read Clark, Eschholz, and Rosa, Language: Hughes, “Languages and Writing,” pp. 705-22; and Crystal, “Language and Thought,” pp. 629-33. Guest: faculty member who teaches English 275, Introduction to Writing Studies.

Week 13

Tuesday: Read Clark, Eschholz, and Rosa, Language: Roberts, “A Brief History of English,” pp. 420-29; Aitchison, “Language Change: Progress or Decay?”, 431-40. Guest: faculty member who teaches English 209, Introduction to Linguistics.

Thursday: Read Clark, Eschholz, and Rosa, Language: Roberts, “Speech Communities,” pp. 267-75; Shuy,”Dialects: How They Differ,” 292-312; and Labov, “The Study of Nonstandard English,” pp. 313-20. Exercise 14 (group project): using some of Shuy’s checklist items, identify dialect differences among group members.

Week 14

Tuesday: Read Clark, Eschholz, and Rosa, Language: Algeo, “What Makes Good English Good?”, pp. 723-732; Larson, “Its Academic, or Is It?”, pp. 734-36; O’Conner, “Like I Said, Don’t Worry,” pp. 737-39.

Thursday: Exercise 15 (group project): search several online databases of job openings (e.g. monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, ajb.com, hotjobs.yahoo.com) for job openings that specify a major in English. What types of positions are these? What knowledge and/or skills do they stress (e.g. communication skills, computer knowledge, project management skills). Also have one person look at the websites for several law schools: what do they say about applicants having an undergraduate degree in English? Post your findings to the Discussion Board in Blackboard.

Week 15

Tuesday and Thursday: Attend presentations given by students in English 467, English Studies Capstone Experience. Also work on revisions of papers to go into the final portfolio.

Individual conferences will be scheduled with the instructor at mutually agreeable times throughout this week to discuss progress in the course.

Week 16

Tuesday and Thursday: Attend presentations given by students in English 467, English Studies Capstone Experience. Also work on revisions of papers to go into the final portfolio.

Thursday: Submit two copies of your final portfolio. Exercise 16: which presentation did you find most interesting? Why? Post your response to the Discussion Board in Blackboard.

Final Exam: this exam will be given during the scheduled final exam period. Portfolios will be returned at this time.

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