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Required Texts and Materials: Faulkner, Light in August Morrison, A Mercy Norris, McTeague Wharton, The Age of Innocence Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn INTERNET ACCESS A college-level dictionary A manila folder for the submission of your work An 80-page spiral-bound notebook Course Goals: Just Who Are We, America? Following the Civil War, America continued to grapple with its on-going identity crisis, with Americans, particularly its authors, refining, defining, and redefining the concept of who we are as a people and who we should be. Who should be our models when our history is so short? Are we an outpost of Europe or a whole new thing? How do we reconcile the ideal of equality with fact of profound ineqalities between the races, the classes, and the sexes? How important is the freedom of the individual when it comes compromise the collective? Are we one nation or a confederacy of regions? Are we a moral country or materialistic one? How has our art and literature answered these questions since 1870? This course is a survey of American literature, a chronological exploratiion of the voices that have articulated our national conscience, concerns, and identity. At the end of LIT 202 OR LIT 824 you will be able to:
Group Project 10 Term essay 20 Responses 10 Midterm 15 Participation/Attendance 15 Quizzes 1o Final 20 total: 100 ESSAY SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: You will submit your final essays in a STANDARD MANILA FOLDER that has been marked clearly with your name and the class you are enrolled in. The folder will contain, in the order in which the work was completed, all the steps toward the completion of the assignment, including prewriting, outlines, drafts, final draft, and reflective writing. Missing portions will result in a lowering of your grade. All essays must be typed in 12-point standard font (I suggest Palatino or New Century Schoolbook), be double-spaced, and have 1-inch margins. (Nothing else is acceptable.) Write your name, the class, the date, and the essay number (e.g. 2.1) in the top left-hand corner of the first page. Center the title below the heading. Use MLA style for documentation. For each typed essay, you will write at least two (2) versions, one for peer workshop and one that is revised for final submission. You will be given guidelines for a self-evaluation or reflection before the final version is due. ALL INTERNET SOURCE MATERIAL MUST BE PRINTED OUT, ORGANIZED, AND INCLUDED AS PART OF YOUR PACKET. ALL QUOTATIONS MUST BE HIGHLIGHTED ON THE PRINT-OUTS. THE Reader's NOTEBOOK: Bring it with you to class everyday. This will be a place where you will be able to take notes develop your own ideas, record and respond to the ideas of others in the class, and practice your writing. Here you will perform all in-class writing activities. I will check it two times, once at mid-term and once at the end. USE IT TO RECORD NOT ONLY WHAT I SAY BUT ALSO WHAT YOUR PEERS SAY. Use it also as a reading journal, to record your thoughts as you read. RESPONSES: TBA GROUP PROJECT: TBA COURSE POLICIES: ATTENDANCE Because this course makes use of writing activities, in-class workshops, and small-group discussion, your consistent attendance is crucial to your success. If you must miss a class for religious holidays, medical reasons, or other valid reason, you must let me know as far in advance as possible of the absence and obtain information about the work you must do to keep up in class. If you miss a class for any other reason (sudden illness, family emergency, etc.), you MUST get in touch with me as soon as possible and arrange to make up the work missed. Note: To be "excused" an absence must be accompanied by documentation. If you do not take responsibility for communicating with me about absences, I will contact you by phone or email and issue a warning about your standing in the course. Should you miss a FIVE classes unexcused, your work in the class will be seriously compromised and a continued pattern of absences WILL jeopardize your enrollment in the class. FIVE UNEXCUSED ABSENCES MAY RESULT IN YOUR GRADE BEING LOWERED OR IN YOUR FAILING THE CLASS AND HAVING TO START ALL OVER AGAIN. THREE TARDIES WILL COUNT AS ONE ABSENCE. The best policy, therefore, is to be in class, on time, every day! LATE WORK AND MAKE-UP POLICY: You CANNOT make up any lost points for in-class work or quizzes that you missed because you were tardy or absent. Essay grades are reduced 20 points for every day they are late past the due date. If you miss an in-class peer review essay workshop day, you automatically earn a Òcheck minusÓ for your final essay grade. The only exceptions to these rules are made for absences and missed deadlines due to personal or immediate family medical emergencies. If you have a legitimate reason to be granted an extension on an assignment deadline, you must let me know as soon as possible, and I will request for you to bring in a doctorÕs note or excuse. LATE PAPERS will be penalized, unless previous arrangements have been made. (Not being in class does not excuse you from doing the work due to be turned in that day.) You are, however, allowed one late assignment. In lieu of the paper that is late, submit a "late paper certificate " on which you state the nature of the problem resulting in the lateness and the date you will complete the work (within two weeks). GRADE DISPUTES: If you have a complaint about this course or wish to question a grade on an assignment, please write me a memo explaining the problems you are having with the course or my evaluation of your work. If you are not satisfied by my response or if you would like to discuss the matter further with me, we may meet. You may ask me to read an assignment again, reconsidering your work in light of points you have made about it. Many misunderstandings or problems can be worked out in such a meeting. INCOMPLETES: I will give a student an Incomplete in this course ONLY in this very special case: when the student has completed all of or the vast majority of the work in the class but, for some valid reason, cannot complete the course. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, COPYRIGHT, AND PLAGIARISM: Students are responsible for maintaining honesty in scholarship. Work submitted for a course must be the student's own (or a group's work, if students have collaborated on an assignment). The use of someone else's words or ideas without acknowledgment constitutes cheating or plagiarism. Remember, if I suspect plagiarism, I have the means of discovering your sources. I end up doing it far too often. Don't commit this mistake. It's not worth it. The following is Official Policy on plagiarism: CSM English Department’s Plagiarism and Cheating Policy The English Department finds plagiarism and cheating unacceptableÑboth ethically and pedagogically. Therefore, the English Department rigorously enforces the College of San Mateo policy on plagiarism and cheating outlined in the student handbook, which is found in the college catalog. College policyAccording to college policy, an instructor may respond to proven or admitted plagiarism in the following ways: 1. Warn the student, if the infraction is not intentional or flagrant, that any future violation will be dealt with in a more severe manner. 2. Assign the student an “F” grade (no credit) on that exam or assignment. Students should also be warned that a more serious sanction will be applied should another violation occur in the future. 3. The college policy requires the instructor to inform the Vice President, Student Services of a violation if sanction 2 is applied, identifying the student by name and identification number and outlining the specifics of the violation. After receiving the report via the Dean of Language Arts, the Vice President will check confidential records to determine if the student has been previously reported for a violation and, in that case, may determine that sanctions should be taken at the college level, such as suspension or expulsion. English Department policyThe English Department adopts the position that in cases of proven or admitted plagiarism, the first sanction above will NOT be used. Rather, the student will receive an “F” on the assignment for the first violation, and that violation will be reported to the Vice President, Student Services using the standard reporting form. In other words, only the second and third sanctions will be used by the English Department. See the accompanying definitions of cheating and plagiarism, based in part on those in the college catalog, for more information. The following definitions of cheating and plagiarism are based in part on those in the College of San Mateo catalog but focus on the sorts of dishonesty most likely to occur in English classes. Cheating means receiving unauthorized help on an examination, homework assignment, report, essay, or other work. Students must not
Plagiarism, a form of cheating, refers to presenting someone else’s ideas and/or words as one’s own. It is most likely to occur on writing done out of class, for example, on reports and essays. Students must not
Note: An examination, report, or paper which contains some cheating or plagiarism is still a dishonest or plagiarized piece of work, just as a thief who has earned some of the money found on him or her and stolen the rest of it is still a thief.
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