CIF Writing Emphasis Development Grant

Report for Sophomore-Level Literature Courses

TO: Improvement of Learning Committee

FROM: Amanda Tucker, Kara Candito, Amy Parsons, and Laura Wendorff

This report includes the documents (detailed below) requested by the Improvement of Learning

Committee, in accordance with the CIF grant. As you suggested, we have only included the

materials for two courses, as we are still discussing and developing materials for some of the

other sophomore-level literature courses. We thought it was important, however, to show how

these courses might use different approaches and assignments to fulfill WE requirements.

Likely, not all six courses will use completely different assignments, but we feel that these two

courses represent two different, yet successful, strategies of creating a 2000-level WE literature

survey.

The following documents include

A syllabus for ENGLISH 2330: British Literature II, Romanticism through the Present

Day. This syllabus includes a list of student learning outcomes.

Guidelines for the three formal written assignments that students will complete in

ENGLISH 2330.

A summary of how the planned materials in ENGLISH 2330 will be incorporated into a

writing emphasis philosophy wherein: (1) students will be given formative writing

feedback with opportunities for revision of written work, and (2) the writing assignments

will be used within a “learning through writing” (writing-to-learn) framework that

complements the course content.

A syllabus for ENGLISH 2430: American Literature through the Civil War. This

syllabus includes a list of student learning outcomes.

Guidelines for the four written assignments that students will complete in ENGLISH

2430.

A summary of how the planned materials in ENGLISH 2430 will be incorporated into a

writing emphasis philosophy wherein: (1) students will be given formative writing

feedback with opportunities for revision of written work, and (2) the writing assignments

will be used within a “learning through writing” (writing-to-learn) framework that

complements the course content.

Other documents, including handouts and student examples of these assignments, are available.

Please let us know if you would like us to provide additional material.

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ENGLISH 2330

British Literature II: Romanticism through the Present Day

Instructor:

Class Time:

Section:

Office:

Office Hours:

Phone:

Email:

Course Description

This course serves as an introduction to British literature from the late eighteenth-century to the

present-day. We will pay particular attention to four literary movements: the Romantic and

Victorian eras in the nineteenth century and the Modernist and Postmodernist periods in the

twentieth century. Students in this course will read both canonical and peripheral authors in

order to become acquainted with traditional British literary history but also grasp the ways this

history has been challenged. In addition to examining the aesthetic qualities of the texts that

we will be reading, we will also place the works in the context of significant events and

ideologies of the time and will therefore be discussing issues like industrialism, class, gender

relations, empire, and race.

Textbook (available at the Textbook Rental Center)

Abrams, Greenblatt, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. D, E, and F (8th

Ed.)

Additional reading materials will also be distributed during class.

Course Objectives

Some of the objectives of this course include

the development of close and critical reading of texts

an increased ability to use textual evidence to support an argument or interpretation

a better understanding of literary terms and definitions

a greater knowledge of key social, political and cultural events of the late eighteenth

century through the contemporary moment (particularly as they are represented in the

texts we are reading)

University Statement on Learning Outcomes

This course fulfills a general education requirement for humanities. The purpose of the study of

humanities is to explore the range of human thought and experience—achievements and failures,

joys and sorrows, comedy and tragedy, life and death. It should challenge students to understand

and evaluate how others, past and present, historical and fictional, have struggled with these

issues. Through their study of humanities, students will:

understand some of the diverse approaches to questions of human meaning and

value;

demonstrate competence in critical thinking, reading, and writing;

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acquire tools for life-long learning in the humanities.

Writing Emphasis

This course may count towards the general education requirement for writing emphasis, provided

the instructor has completed writing emphasis training. If the course fulfills the writing

emphasis requirement, it will

include a minimum of two formal assignments, with drafts and revisions for each.

incorporate activities, lesson plans, and discussions to teach students the rhetorical

strategies and writing conventions of literary studies.

incorporate informal writing activities and exercises, some graded and ungraded.

At least 40% of the course grade will be determined by student writing.

Instructors will provide meaningful feedback on student drafts and papers. This feedback

will address writing and rhetorical issues as well as content knowledge.

Course Requirements

Reading is the most essential component of this course. If you will not keep up with the reading,

you will not be successful in the course. Nearly every week, I will ask you to spend ten minutes

or so addressing a short prompt on the given reading. The purpose of these is two-fold: to give

students extra incentive to keep up with the reading and to help foster class discussion. While

these brief exercises will be graded for reading knowledge (i.e. if you can demonstrate you’ve

read the required reading, you will do well), they’re also meant to help you develop your writing

skills, especially under time constraints.

The writing assignments are also meant to introduce you to the field of literary studies. For the

first essay, students will pick a specific passage from a literary work and analyze it in detail.

This assignment allows students to practice the skill of close reading—a cornerstone of literary

studies—and prepares them for the second paper. The second paper is a thesis-driven literary

analysis in which students articulate and support an argument over one of the texts that we have

read. The third paper is both an intellectual and creative exercise in which students will

investigate and then fill in the rhetorical gaps and silences in a literary text. In class, we will

discuss the guidelines and look at examples for each of these assignments; we will also spend

time in class practicing the skill sets that will be measured by each assignment.

Finally, students will take a mid-term and non-cumulative final exam. I will provide you with

more detailed information about these exams as they draw closer.

Grading

Your final grade will be calculated by the following percentages:

Essay #1 15%

Essay #2 15%

Essay # 3 15%

Midterm Exam 20%

Final Exam 20%

In-Class Writing/Reading Quizzes 10%

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Grading Scale

A = 93 and up B+ = 89-86 C+ = 79-76 D+ = 69-66

A- = 92-90 B = 85-83 C = 75 -73 D = 65-60

B- = 82-80 C- = 72-70 F = below 60

Attendance and Participation

As you know, attendance and participation are vital to a student’s success in any class. This course is no

exception, and I expect you to show up to class on time, having read and thought about the reading

assignment. If you miss more than 2.5 weeks of class), you will receive an F in the course, regardless of

your grades on essays and exams. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out what you

missed. I suggest that you exchange e-mails and phone numbers with two of your classmates in order to

get notes for class periods you might miss. I am happy to provide you with any handouts that were

given in your absence, but I will not repeat everything that was said in class. If you have an emergency

situation that prevents you from coming to class, please let me know immediately. If you need to miss

for religious reasons or due to school functions, please let me know at least one week before your

absence in order for it to be excused.

This course is discussion-based: although I will at times lecture to contextualize our readings,

our sessions will be based primarily on conversation rather than lecture. I therefore expect you

to come to class with something to say about the reading, be it a question, an observation, a

desire to look at one particular passage, etc. I also expect you to regularly participate in class

discussions. If this is a component of the course that makes you feel uneasy, I highly encourage

you to make an appointment with me so that we can discuss ways for you to feel more

comfortable contributing.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism—taking someone else’s ideas and words as your own without giving that person proper

acknowledgement—is one of the most serious academic offenses that a student can commit. In the

second edition of Writings from Readings, Stephen Wilhoit lists the following forms of plagiarism:

Purchasing a paper

Turning in a paper that someone else has written for you

Turning in another student’s work with or without that student’s knowledge

Improper collaboration

Copying a paper from a source text (including the Internet) without proper acknowledgement

Copying material from a reading, supplying proper documentation, but without quotation marks

Paraphrasing material from a reading without proper documentation

If you remain uncertain as to what constitutes plagiarism, or if you are concerned that you may be

inadvertently committing plagiarism, please come see me immediately. If you intentionally plagiarize in

this course, you will face severe consequences: at minimum, you will receive a zero for the assignment,

and you may also fail the course.

E-mail

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I check my e-mail regularly and will be happy to answer any brief questions that you might have. Please

make sure to include your name on all e-mail correspondence. Although I will try to respond within

twenty-four hours, please be aware that there is no guarantee that I will get back to you the same day.

Therefore, I recommend that you do not send me urgent questions about a paper the night before it is

due. In general, I prefer to discuss your drafts and essays in person rather than via e-mail.

**Papers may not be submitted via e-mail unless I specifically tell you otherwise.**

American with Disabilities Act

Any student who may need an accommodation due to a disability should make an appointment to

see his or her instructor during office hours. A VISA from Services for Students with

Disabilities authorizing your accommodation(s) will be needed.

Important Dates to Remember (Academic Calendar)

Course Outline

**Please Note: Readings should be completed by the day they are listed.**

Week One

Course Introduction

Reading: William Blake, “The Lamb” (83), “The Little Black Boy” (84), “The Chimney

Sweeper” (85) and (90), “The Sick Rose” (91), “The Tyger” (92)

Writing: Discuss Essay # 1: Close Reading

Week Two

Reading: Mary Wollestonecraft, from “A Vindication of the Rights of Women,” 170-88

Maria Edgeworth, “The Irish Incognito” (228-242)

Writing: Close Reading Practice

Student Example, Close Reading

Week Three

Reading: William Wordsworth, “I travellled among unknown men” (277), “I wandered

lonely as a cloud” (305), “The world is too much with us” (319)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan” (446)

Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias” (768), “A Song: ‘Men of England’” (770),

“Ode to the West Wind” (772)

Lord Byron, excerpts from Don Juan (handout)

Writing: Close Reading Practice

Close Reading: Structure and Organization

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Week Four

Reading: Felicia Hemans, “The Homes of England,” (870) “Women on the Field of Battle

(handout)

John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (880), “Ode to a

Nightingale” (903) “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (905)

Writing: Peer Review for Close Reading

Week Five

Reading: Lord Tennyson, “The Lady of Shallot” (1114), “Ulysses” (1123), “Crossing the

Bar” (1211)

Robert Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover” (1252), “My Last Duchess” (1255), “Fra

Lippo Lippi (1271)

Writing: Discuss Essay # 2: Thesis-Driven Literary Analysis

Assignment: Essay # 1: Close Reading Due

Week Six

Reading: John Ruskin, from The Stones of Venice (1324)

Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Old Nurse’s Story” (1222)

Ella D’Arcy, “The Pleasure-Pilgrim” (handout)

Writing: Formulating a Thesis

Textual Evidence: Supporting A Thesis

Week Seven

Reading: Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Writing: Student Example, Thesis-Driven Analysis

Week Eight

Reading: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Writing: Thesis-Driven Analysis: Structure and Organization

Assignment: Midterm

Week Nine

Reading: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

W. B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (2025), “September 1913” (2030),

“Easter, 1916” (2031), “The Second Coming” (2036)

Writing: Thesis Workshop/Peer Review: Thesis-Driven Analysis

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Week Ten

Reading: James Joyce, “Araby” (2168)

Katherine Mansfield, “Miss Brill” (on Blackboard)

T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (2289, “The Hollow Men”

(3289), W.H. Auden, “Musée de Beaux Arts” (2428), “September 1, 1939”

(2432)

Writing: Discuss Essay # 3: Perspective-Taking

Assignment: Essay # 3 Due

Week Eleven

Reading: George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant” (2370)

Louise Bennet, “Dry-Foot Bwoy,” and “Colonization in Reverse,” 2470-73

Writing: Character Analysis: An Overview

Week Twelve

Reading: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Writing: Student Example, Perspective-Taking

Structure and Organization: Perspective-Taking

Week Thirteen

Reading: Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Writing: Textual Evidence: Supporting Your Interpretation

Week Fourteen

Reading: Friel, Translations, 2496-2523

Writing: Peer-Review, Perspective Taking

Week Fifteen

Reading: Helen Oyeyemi, The Icarus Girl (handout)

Writing: Essay Exams, Tips and Strategies

Assignment: Essay # 3: Perspective Taking Due

Week Sixteen

Final Exam

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Guidelines for Essay #1: Close Reading

Date Due:

For your first essay, you will pick a short passage from one of the literary works we have read

and write an essay in which you analyze it in detail. This is not a thesis-driven essay but rather

one in which demonstrate your ability to read and write critically.

In your introduction, you will want to provide some context informing your reader where in the

larger work this short passage appears, but, beyond that, you will want to restrict your analysis to

the passage or scene on which you have chosen to work. While you may want to keep in mind

what we have discussed in class concerning the background information, you will not need to use

outside sources in this essay.

Since you are writing about a passage from a literary work, you will want to pay particular

attention to word choice, dialogue, and setting. Don’t choose just any passage or scene to write

about; choose one that catches your attention in some way and that you feel is important to the

entire work. Once you have made a decision on what to write about, I recommend that you read

the passage several times. The more familiar you are with your material, the more details you

will be able to pick up on.

In class we will look at and discuss examples of close reading, as well as spending time peer-

reviewing this assignment. We will also devote class time to practicing close reading as a class,

in breakout groups, and individually. I am also happy to discuss any aspect of the essay or the

writing process with you individually by appointment. If you have any questions or concerns,

please let me know.

Paper Format/Documentation Style

2-3 pages double spaced

12 point font, one inch margins all around

Page numbers and staple or paperclip

Internal documentation, according to MLA guidelines

An original title (do not underline, bold, or put quotes around your title)

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Guidelines for Essay #2: Thesis-Driven Literary Analysis Date Due:

For this essay, you will choose one of the literary works that we have read and write a thesis-

driven analysis that examines a specific element within it—a major issue or theme, the ways in

which the text presents a certain type of character, scene, idea or event, etc. This essay builds

upon the skills you’ve learned through the close reading assignment and your response papers.

While you are not restricted to a small, specific passage in this essay, you do need to focus on a

specific aspect of the works you are dealing with. A thesis statement for literary analysis

identifies a specific topic within the text and makes a direct claim about that topic’s importance.

Coming up with an effective thesis statement takes thought and time, for it requires a

combination of critical thinking, reading, and writing skills.

You will likely go through multiple versions of a thesis for a single essay. However, you do not

need to have a perfect thesis statement in order to begin writing a thesis-driven essay; you need

only know your specific topic and the particular aspects of the text that you want to discuss.

Rather than starting to write the essay from the introduction, you may find it easier to begin

writing the body paragraphs, especially since you have already practiced close reading in the first

essay. Once you work your way through several paragraphs, you will have a clearer

understanding of what it is you are trying to argue, making it easier for you to articulate a thesis.

In class, we will discuss look at an example of a thesis-driven analysis and go over general

guidelines for writing this sort of essay. I am also happy to meet with you individually to discuss

at any point to discuss your writing process for this essay, from thinking about which texts to

write over to fine-tuning your thesis.

Paper Guidelines:

three to five pages, double-spaced

Twelve-point font, one-inch margins all around

Stapled with page numbers

Internal documentation, according to MLA guidelines

An original title (do not underline, bold, or put quotes around your title)

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Guidelines for Essay # 3: Perspective-Taking Due Date:

In your first essay, you practiced close reading, which is a foundational skill in the academic

discipline of literary studies. In your second paper, you used close readings to support a thesis-

driven analysis of a literary work. This assignment asks you to view literature in a different way:

rather than closely examining a particular passage in a text, you’ll be filling in the rhetorical gaps

and/or silences in a literary work. For this paper, you to write from a specific character’s point

of view. The character should be from one of the literary texts we have read and be someone

without interiority (that is, the reader never gets to access their interior thoughts and feelings).

The objective of this assignment is two-fold: first, it offers a creative exercise that provides you

glimpse into the process through which literature is written and 2.) second, it helps to develop

your empathetic abilities because it forces to you to occupy someone else’s position.

In order to fully understand your character’s position, you must understand the time and place in

which he/she lives: after all, we’re all products of a particular culture. As with the first paper,

you’re occupying a very narrow world—the world of the literary text (I don’t want to hear about

Oroonoko or Belinda running rampant in the PSC). You therefore want to take into account my

lecture notes on the social and cultural history of Great Britain from the late eighteenth century

through the early twenty-first century. You’ll also need to read a minimum of one chapter from

one of the books listed below (which have been placed on reserve in the main floor of the

library) to get a fuller account of life for your character. You should, at minimum, directly

utilize this source twice and parenthetically cite the page numbers that you’ve used. Your essay

should also have a works cited page with that cites the chapter(s) you have read.

The paper should begin with a frame paragraph that explains which work you’re looking at and

from which character’s perspective. You should also explain how the narrator treats this

character and why understanding his/her point-of-view is important. Your reasoning should not

be evaluating the character---you don’t have to like the character, but you do have to try to

occupy their position.

The rest of the paper should be written from the character’s perspective and must include the

following:

a basic character sketch that reveals the character’s key personality traits, beliefs, and

values and how these relate to the beliefs and values of their particular time period

an exploration of a specific scene that provides the motivation and rationale for that

character’s actions

a response to another character in the literary text, with an explanation of that rationale.

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Each section should be roughly one- to one-and-a-half pages. All sections should directly

engage with the literary text (i.e. use direct quotes) and page numbers should be cited

parenthetically.

Paper Guidelines:

four to six pages, double-spaced

Twelve-point font, one-inch margins all around

Stapled with page numbers

Internal documentation, according to MLA guidelines

A Works Cited page, according to MLA guidelines

An original title (do not underline, bold, or put quotes around your title)

References (selected)

Brown, Judith.; Louis Roger, eds. Oxford History of the British Empire: The Twentieth Century.

New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.

Cannadine, David. The Rise and Fall of Class in Britain. New York: Columbia University

Press, 1999.

Hall, Catherine. Defining the Victorian Nation: Class, Race, Gender and the British Reform Act

of 1867. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Hobsbawm, Eric. Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day. New York: New Press,

1999.

Royle, Edward. Revolutionary Britannia?: Reflections on the Threat of Revolution in Britain,

1789-1848. New York: Manchester University Press, 2000.

Woodward, E.L. The Age of Reform, 1815-1870. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1962.

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Summary of Writing Emphasis Philosophy

Students will be given formative writing feedback with opportunities for revision of written work.

For each formal writing assignment, students will read, analyze, and provide feedback for one

another’s drafts. This peer-review process will take place approximately one week before the

paper is due and will be primarily student-led. Additionally, as I stress throughout the semester,

I am available outside of class to read student drafts and to provide feedback. Once a formal

writing assignment is due, I provide both marginal and global comments along with a grade.

Students have the option of revising the first two essays, after they have been graded, provided

they make an individual appointment with me and that they turn in the revision within three

weeks of receiving the paper back. The purpose of the first conditions is to make sure that

students are on the right track and that they understand how to revise and rewrite—and that both

of these involve more than merely fixing a comma splice or adding a sentence. The second

condition ensures that students have grasped the skill set measured by the paper before we move

on to another paper that builds upon this skill set.

The writing assignments will be used within a “learning through writing” (writing-to-learn)

framework that complements the course content. The formal and informal writing assignments

are an integral—and integrated—part of the course. Informal writing assignments are a great

incentive to ensure student reading and give students practice writing under time constraints.

Moreover, they provide a foundation for class discussions, especially for more reticent students

who might feel uncomfortable suddenly being called upon in class. Thus informal writing is

connected to broader student learning outcomes, including an increased ability in both verbal and

written communication.

The formal writing assignments are sequential in nature; that is, each one builds upon the skill

set that students learned from the previous assignment. As a sophomore-level course, ENGLISH

2330 aims to teach students the basic writing skills associated with literary studies. To give an

example, close reading is the foundation of literary studies, but it is not a skill with which

students have much experience. In particular, the five-paragraph essay format, emphasized

repeatedly through a student’s public education, provides a stumbling block for students

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understanding how to close read: this format teaches students that there are only two ways to

think about complex, multi-layered issues (yes or no) and that these issues can be adequately

discussed in 500-750 words. By paying careful and sustained attention to one passage from a

literary text, without having to concern themselves about an argument, students learn an entirely

new way of thinking, reading, and writing critically. The second written assignment teaches

them how to formulate an analytical thesis—as opposed to an evaluative or persuasive one—and

how close reading can be used to support such a thesis.

Moreover, the writing assignments are not just about students’ basic content knowledge. In other

words, if a student attempts to replicate a class conversation about a literary passage in his close

reading, he will not have successfully or productively completed the assignment, and the grade

will reflect as much. In class I will teach, model, and then have students practice (as a class, in

groups , and individually) the skill sets that the written assignments cover. Of course, we will

also discuss literary texts. But the formal writing assignments (detailed above) require students

to offer their own more focused and supported analyses of literary works, independent of our

class sessions.

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ENG 2430: American Literature through the Civil War Spring 2012

Instructor:

Email:

Office:

Office Hours:

Course Description and Policies

ENG 2430 is a survey of American authors and literary trends from the earliest colonial

encounters through the Civil War. Authors, trends and texts never exist in isolation, and so we

will place our readings within larger cultural and historical contexts. For example, we will

examine Puritanism and its legacies, varieties of American Romanticism, debates over slavery

and gender roles, the formation of national identities, and the role of the United States within

early networks of world trade. Discussions will focus on three persistent themes in our cultural

history: the meaning of the land, the role of religion in public life, and the changing definitions

of citizenship.

Literary production has been central to the development of America’s political and social

history; through readings that begin with early Native American creation stories and end with

nineteenth-century poems, we will analyze various, and often conflicting, constructions of

national identity. We will work to put different literatures in conversation. That is, we will see

how matters of race, gender, and class are part of both dominant and resistant cultural

productions. We will also examine how issues from the past have continued relevance in

contemporary political and popular culture.

The course also challenges contemporary definitions of what we think of as “literature.” The

work of the early explorers and settlers does not fit easily into the categories of fiction and

poetry; in fact, our current ideas about novels, short stories, and poems as literature did not

develop until the late eighteenth century. For much of the semester, we will read travel journals,

diaries, sermons, political tracts, and speeches. These will require patient and attentive reading,

along with careful attention to images, tone, and context.

Required Texts:

Lauter, The Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol. A: Colonial Period to 1800, 5th

edition

Lauter, The Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol. B: Early Nineteenth Century

1800-1865, 5th

edition

University Statement on Learning Outcomes

This course fulfills a general education requirement for humanities. The purpose of the study of

humanities is to explore the range of human thought and experience—achievements and failures,

joys and sorrows, comedy and tragedy, life and death. It should challenge students to understand

and evaluate how others, past and present, historical and fictional, have struggled with these

issues. Through their study of humanities, students will:

15

understand some of the diverse approaches to questions of human meaning and

value;

demonstrate competence in critical thinking, reading, and writing;

acquire tools for life-long learning in the humanities.

Writing Emphasis

This course may count towards the general education requirement for writing emphasis, provided

the instructor has completed writing emphasis training. If the course fulfills the writing

emphasis requirement, it will

include a minimum of two formal assignments, with drafts and revisions for each.

incorporate activities, lesson plans, and discussions to teach students the rhetorical

strategies and writing conventions of literary studies.

incorporate informal writing activities and exercises, some graded and ungraded.

At least 40% of the course grade will be determined by student writing.

Instructors will provide meaningful feedback on student drafts and papers. This feedback

will address writing and rhetorical issues as well as content knowledge.

Course Requirements:

A take-home midterm exam

Seven in-class reading quizzes (identification and analysis)

In-class final (Monday May 14, 3-4:52. Seniors are not exempt from this exam)

Regular attendance and active participation in class discussion and writing exercises.

Grade Distribution:

Midterm Exam: 20%

Final Exam: 20%

Journals: 20%

Comparative Analysis: 20%

Reading Quizzes: 10%

Attendance/Participation/In-class Writing: 10%

Course Policies:

Attendance:

Repeatedly coming to class

late will also negatively affect your participation grade.

Participation: Come to class with the necessary texts, having read the assigned material

carefully, with at least one thoughtful comment or question to share. A significant part of your

grade depends on active and respectful participation in class discussion, and having a good-

natured willingness to engage in group activities. You should be prepared to spend a great deal

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of time with each assigned reading, taking notes and making preliminary analysis so that you can

be an active member of the class. Taking notes on class lectures and noting the specific passages

we discuss during class is essential to your success on exams. I will also periodically assign in-

class writing exercises to encourage accountability and discussion. These are graded assignments

that could toward your Participation grade.

In order to facilitate class participation, laptops and especially cell phones may not be used

during class time. And while it seems like it should go without saying, please refrain from using

chewing tobacco during class time as well.

Journals: Throughout the semester, students will turn in three, two-page journals. These journals

are meant to develop both your skills and literary analysis and your empathetic abilities. We will

discuss each journal assignment separately and look at a successful example in class, as well as

practicing the skill sets needed to successfully complete them.

Comparative Analysis: Students will write a thesis-driven analysis (5-6 pg) in which they

compare two literary texts’ representations of one of the course’s major themes—land, religion,

and citizenship. We will discuss the guidelines for this assignment in class and look at a

successful student example. Additionally, we will talk about how to formulate an analytical

thesis in literary studies and have a thesis workshop.

Reading Quizzes: Approximately every two weeks, I will give a reading quiz. I will give you

three or four short passages – you must identify the passages and write a short paragraph

connecting the passage to the rest of the reading. These quizzes will help you keep up on the

reading and will sharpen your close reading and analysis skills for the longer take-home exams. I

will drop your lowest quiz score at the end of the semester. Reading Quizzes cannot be made

up due to absence for any reason.

Late Assignments: All written work is due at the beginning of class period. If you are not able to

make a deadline, contact me ahead of time. In certain cases an extension can be arranged, but

only with prior approval. Alternate deadline arrangements will only be accommodated in cases

of illness or emergency.

Academic Honesty: The following is from UW Platteville’s Policies Governing Student Life:

“Students are responsible for the honest completion or representation of their work, for the

appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others' academic endeavors. Students who

violate these standards must be confronted and must accept the consequences of their actions.”

The most common form of academic dishonesty in literature classes is plagiarism, which can

take many forms such as failure to cite sources, or failure to appropriately paraphrase source

material. If you are cutting and pasting someone else’s language without quotation marks and

proper attribution, you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism on any assignment will result in an automatic

zero on the assignment and a disciplinary meeting with me and the Chair of the English

Department about a possible failing grade for the whole course.

Email/D2L: I will often send important course information to the class over the mailing list

provided by D2L. You must check your uwplatt.edu account regularly. Not getting an

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announcement because you failed to check your messages is not an excuse for missing an

assignment. I am also happy to respond to any questions or concerns you have over email,

usually within 24 hours. I do not accept assignments over email without prior approval.

Resources: I hold weekly office hours as a resource to clarify any questions or concerns you

have about the course.

If you have any disability that may impair your ability to successfully complete this course,

please contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities located in 103 Warner (608-

342-1818). Academic accommodations are granted for all students who have qualified

documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the SSWD.

Schedule of Readings

Writing discussions and assignments are listed in italics.

Unit One: Early Encounters and Exploration Week One

Monday

Course Introduction

Journals: An Overview

Wednesday

Cluster: America in the European Imagination 106-112

Native American Oral Narrative: “The Origin of Stories” 51-53;

“Iroquois or Confederacy of the Five Nations” 54-57;

“Raven and Marriage” 59-63;

“The Creation of the Whites” 65-66.

Friday

Christopher Columbus, “Journal of the First Voyage to America” 119-

128

Assign Journal # 1: Close Reading

Week Two

Monday

Cabeza de Vaca, “Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca” 139-152

Introduce Close Reading (throughout the week)

Unit Two: Colonist and Puritans

Wednesday

Thomas Harriot, “A Briefe and True Report…” 237-246

Friday

John Smith, “The General Historie of Virginia…” 255-259; “A

Description of New England” 264-266

Week Three

Monday

Close Reading Practice (throughout the week)

Introduction of Puritan Philosophy + Reading Quiz #1

Student Example, Journal # 1

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Wednesday William Bradford, “Of Plymouth Plantation” 324-333

Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear Children” 410-413

Friday

Anne Bradstreet, “The Prologue [To Her Book]” 396; “The Author to

Her Book” 402; “A Letter to her Husband, Absent on Public

Employment” 407

Week Four

Monday

Mary Rowlandson, “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of

Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” 437-452 (end of Eight Remove)

Breakout Discussion: Passage Selection (throughout the week)

Wednesday

Mary Rowlandson, “A Narrative of the Captivity…” 452-468

Friday

Cotton Mather, “The Wonders of the Invisible World” 507-514

Week Five Monday

Cotton Mather “The Negro Christianized” 527-532

Journal # 1 Due

Unit Three: Great Awakening and Revolution Wednesday Sarah Kemble Knight, “The Journal of Madam Knight” 584-597 +

Reading Quiz #2

Friday

Cluster: On Nature and Nature’s God, 633-644;

Assign Journal # 2: Character Sketch

Week Six

Monday

Textual Evidence and Support (throughout the week)

Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” 666-677

Wednesday

Thomas Paine, “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs”

959-965;

Toussaint L’Ouverture, “Proclamations and Letters” 1042-1048

Student Example, Character Sketch

Friday Assign Take-Home Midterm

Tips and Strategies for Essay Exams

Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” 990-999, 1003-

1007,1009-1010.

Week Seven

Monday

Benjamin Franklin, “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North

America” 821-824; “On the Slave Trade” 825-827 + Reading Quiz # 3

Wednesday

Charles Brockden Brown, “Somnambulism” 1373-1387

Unit Four: Fiction of the Early National and American Romantic Period

Friday

Take Home Midterm Due

Breakout Discussion: Character Analysis

Week Eight Introduction to 19th

Century, transition to Volume B;

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Monday Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 2165-2175

Journal # 2 Due

Wednesday

Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 2175-2184

Friday

Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”

Assign Journal # 3: Comparing Perspectives

Week Nine

Monday

Introduce/Practice Comparative Analysis (throughout the week)

Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” 2276-2287

Wednesday

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Raven” + Reading

Quiz #4

Friday

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” 2472-2485

Unit Five: Literature of Abolition and the “Woman Question” Week Ten

Monday

Introduction of Slave Narratives

Student Example, Comparing Perspectives

Continue to Practice Comparative Analysis

Wednesday

+ Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an

American Slave” 1882-1892, 19095-1908, 1917-1921

Friday

Harriet Jacobs, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” 2029-2041, 2047-

2049

Week Eleven

Monday

Breakout Groups: Comparative Analysis Complete Jacobs and

Introduction to “Woman Question”

Wednesday

Sarah Grimke, “Letters on the Equality of the Sexes” 2082-2088;

+Reading Quiz # 5

Friday

Angelina Grimke, “Letters” 2089-2091

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of Sentiments” 2113-2115

Unit Six: American Transcendentalism Week Twelve

Monday

Introduction to Transcendentalism and the Sublime

Journal # 3 Due; Introduce Comparative Analysis Essay

Wednesday

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature”1578-1584

Friday

Student Example, Comparative Analysis

Emerson, “Self-Reliance” 1621-1628

Week Thirteen

Monday

Henry David Thoreau, Walden “Where I Lived and What I Lived For”

1753-1762

Formulating a Thesis (throughout the week)

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Wednesday

Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”

Friday

Emily Dickinson, “Tell the Truth but tell it slant” 3076;

“I started Early – Took my Dog” 3063; “My Life had stood- a Loaded

Gun” 3072 + Reading Quiz #6

Week Fourteen

Monday

Breakout Discussion: Comparative Analysis (throughout the week)

Dickinson, cont; introduce Whitman

Wednesday

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” sections 1-10 (2937-2944 top). Section numbers are in brackets [] in the left-hand margin of the page.

Friday

Whitman, “Song of Myself” 15 (2946-48), 20-21 (2950-2952), 24

(2954-2956), 48-51 (2980-2982)

Week Fifteen

Monday

Thesis Workshop (throughout the week)

Whitman, continued

Wednesday Reading Quiz #7

Whitman, continued

Friday Final Review of Course/Prepare for Final Exam

Week Sixteen: Final Exam

Comparative Analysis Due

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Journal Assignment # 1: Close Reading

The goal of this first journal assignment is to deepen your observational and textual analysis

skills. You will examine a short passage (less than one page of prose/drama; fifteen lines or less

of poetry) from one of the literary works we have read. This passage should involve a

character—through dialogue, description, acts, etc. The objective is not to write a thesis-driven

analysis over the passage but rather to pay close and considered attention to its details and their

meaning.

Since you are writing about a passage from a literary work, you will want to pay particular

attention to word choice, setting, characterization and other literary elements (see handout for

further suggestions). Don’t choose just any passage or scene to write about; choose one that

catches your attention in some way and that you feel is important to the entire work. Once you

have made a decision on what to write about, I recommend that you read the passage several

times. The more familiar you are with your material, the more details you will be able to pick up

on. In your journal assignment, you should be able to explain not only the importance of these

details in understanding the literary work but also their effect on the reader’s experience of the

text.

We will practice close reading in class—as a class, in breakout groups, and individually. We

will also look at a successful student example of this journal. This journal assignment should be

typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The required length is two pages.

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Journal Assignment # 2: Character Sketch

For this journal, you will write a character sketch that reveals the character’s key personality

traits, beliefs, and values and how these relate to the beliefs and values of their particular time

and place. The character should be from one of the literary texts we have read and be someone

without interiority (that is, the reader never gets to access their interior thoughts and feelings).

Additionally, you will write from this specific character’s point of view—which means that you

will be using “I” throughout the paper.

Here are some of the basic questions that your character sketch should address. Please

remember that your answers/claims to these questions should be based on textual support: that is,

you should be able to justify your responses with specific lines and dialogue from the text.

What does the character look like?

How does the character act?

What do other people think of this character?

How does this other character think of other people?

What are the character’s key personality traits?

How does this character’s beliefs and values relate to those of their particular time

period? (It will be helpful to refer back to your notes about the historical/cultural context

of the literary work).

We will practice character analysis in class—as a class, in breakout groups, and individually.

We will also look at a successful student example of this journal. This journal assignment should

be typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The required length is two pages.

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Journal Assignment # 3: Comparing Perspectives

Your third journal builds on the skills you’ve learned in the first two. Like your first journal, it

requires you to carefully select a specific passage to analyze. And as in your second journal, you

will need to be able to occupy another character’s position. As a result, you will need to call

upon your intellectual, creative, and emotional abilities to successfully complete this assignment.

All literary works involve conflict. For this assignment, you will choose a moment in a literary

text in which there is a conflict or confrontation between two or more characters. For each

character involved, you will explain his/her point-of-view, which will involve the following

questions:

How is this character feeling? What is h/she doing?

Is there a discrepancy between what this character is thinking and what h/she is doing?

What causes them to behave as they do? In other words, what’s their motivation?

How does this character view the others who are involved in this conflict?

How does this conflict affect his/her relationships with other characters?

As with the second assignment, you will use first-person. However, you will use first-person for

each character that you discuss (there should be separate headings to indicate when you shift

from one character to another.) You will also need to use specific lines and dialogue to support

your interpretation.It may be helpful to try visualize the scene as though it were a film or a play.

Please keep in mind too that each character will most likely believe that he/she is right: your job

isn’t to pick sides but rather to show how and why each character acts the way that he/she does.

We will practice comparing perspectives in class—as a class, in breakout groups, and

individually. We will also look at a successful student example of this journal. This journal

assignment should be typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The required length is

two pages.

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Essay: Comparative Analysis

For this essay, you will choose two of the literary works that we have read and compare and/or

contrast their methods of treating ONE of the major themes we’ve been discussing throughout

the semester: the meaning of the land, the role of religion in public life, and the changing

definitions of citizenship. Although you may write over any of the texts that we have read, please

keep in mind that certain works pair better with some than others

This essay builds upon the skills you’ve learned through the journals. Your close reading

and character sketch assignments taught you how to focus on the details of the text and to use

those details as support for a broader interpretation. You have also practiced comparison in your

third journal. However, in this essay, you will need to formulate a thesis in which you state the

significance of looking at these two works together—even if you end up emphasizing one text

over another. How can you make these works converse with or critique each other?

In class we will spend time discussing how to write a thesis for literary analysis. We will

also practice comparative analysis—as a class, in breakout groups, and individually. Finally, we

will read a successful student example of this assignment. The paper should be between five and

six pages, typed, and double spaced.

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Summary of Writing Emphasis Philosophy

Students will be given formative writing feedback with opportunities for revision of written

work. The week before every written assignment is due (each of the three journals, the

comparative analysis), students will work in breakout groups to discuss and provide feedback

for one another’s drafts. During this time, I will circulate amongst groups in order to provide

guidance. I am also available outside of class to read and comment on student drafts.

Once a formal writing assignment is due, I provide substantive feedback about the writing as

well as the content. Since each writing assignment is sequential, the formative writing

feedback providing on a assignment is meant to help students succeed on the their next

assignment. For example, before students write their “formal” paper, they will have written

three smaller assignments that teach them how to write a more extended analysis.

Therefore, even though I do not assign the comparative analysis until later in the semester,

students have been preparing to write a thesis-driven analysis since the first week of the

course.

The writing assignments will be used within a “learning through writing” (writing-to-learn)

framework that complements the course content. One way that students “learn through

writing” in this course is through in-class writing, represented by the reading quizzes.

However, the bulk of the course writing assignments concentrates on out-of-class writing.

The journal assignments introduce students to the reading and writing practices used in

literary studies. These assignments might best be described as “semi-formal”: while they are

not formal essays—and thus the expectations for diction, structure, and other writing

elements are different than the final paper—students must also pay attention to the writing,

not just the content. Therefore, we discuss student examples of every journal, so that they

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can think about issues like structure and organization. The focus, nonetheless, is having

students practice through writing the skills I introduce and model in class.

The journals also prepare them for the final essay. Towards the end of the semester, students

will be asked to write a formal essay often used in literary studies—a thesis-driven

comparative analysis. This paper represents the culmination of the students’ engagement of

the course, for it asks them to synthesize different types of reading and writing. Students

will have to carefully examine specific passages within literary texts (i.e. close reading), but

they must also be able to think broadly about changing attitudes towards cultural and

national identity. The goal is to have students think about the study of literature as the

study of (American) culture and life—a type of thinking that they can use well beyond this

course.