English 204: Great Books of the Western World, Literature

MWF 10:00-10:50 in 125 Millett
Fall 1997 Syllabus

Lecturer:   Cathy Sayer            
Office: 082 Library
Mailbox:   441 Millett   
Office Hours:  MWF 11:30-12:30
               MW 1:30-2:30
               TTH 9:15-10:15
Phone:   775-2471 (my office)775-3136 (department office to leave message)      
email:   csayer@corvus.wright.edu

Required Texts and Materials

Sophocles.  Antigone.  Trans. Richard Emil Bruan. 
New York: Oxford UP, 1973.

Shakespeare, William.  The Taming of the Shrew. 
New York: Washington Square Press, 1992.
     

Shelley, Mary.  Frankenstein.  New York: Oxford UP,
1990.

Chekhov, Anton.  The Steppe and Other Stories.  New
York, Oxford UP, 1991.

Hurston, Neale.  Their Eyes Were Watching God.  New
York: Harper & Row, 1990.

Course Goals:

Like all courses in your General Education Program, this course seeks to:

• sharpen your critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills as a basis
  for lifelong learning;
• cultivate an awareness of the ethical and moral insight you will need for participation in the human community;
• increase your knowledge and understanding of the past, of the present
  world, and of how past and present have an impact on the future.

Course Description

In this course, you will be introduced to selected
works considered by many to be important in western
culture. Through close reading, discussions, research,
presentations, and extensive writing of and about these
works you will become familiar with the themes and
issues imbedded in them, learn more about the cultures
that spawned them, and judge their relative value in
western literature.

Additionally, this course has been designated by the
university as writing intensive. This means that you
will complete various writing tasks totaling 1500 words
that will be evaluated for content, form, style,
correctness, and overall writing proficiency and that
you will have the opportunity to revise and improve
your work. The possibility also exists that you could
earn a passing grade in the course without passing the
writing intensive component. However, this seems
highly unlikely since so much of your grade is
connected to the writing in the course.

Course Grade

Your final grade in the course will consist of: 

• A group presentation 30%
• Two 2-3 page papers (20% each) 40%
• Quizzes and in-class writings 25%
• Participation 5%

Group Presentations

On the second day of class, you will sign up to do
a group research project on one of the works we
will be reading this quarter. The projects will
culminate in a 20-30 minute oral reports. Groups
will consist of no more than 4 people, though a
group could be subdivided into 2 pairs. On the
class meeting following your presentation, each
group member will prepare a 2-3 page summary of his
or her part of the research and presentation and a
bibliography of sources used.

There will be 2 types of presentations on each
work, one on the cultural and historical contexts of
the piece, the other about the author and the text
itself. Once you are in your groups and know which
type of report you will be doing, I will give you some
search terms to help you get started with your research
and to give you some hints about areas that might be
important to cover.

Unless you make me aware of some severe dysfunction
within your group, all members will receive the same
grade, though there may be some variation based on
differences in the quality of writing in your
summaries. 

Projects will be evaluated on:

• the appropriateness of information to the assigned topic,
• the quality and accuracy of information,
• the clarity and organization of the presentation,
• the interest value of the presentation (creative? memorable? visual?),
• the equality of group members roles in the presentation,
• the quality of writing in the written report.

Papers

Also on the second day of class, you will sign up
to write your papers on 2 of the 5 works we will be reading. 
You will write your first paper on either The Taming of the
Shrew or Frankenstein and your second paper on either one of
Chekhov s short stories or Their Eyes Were Watching God. 
(No one will be writing papers on Antigone, as we will be
using it for the topic of an in-class workshop on writing
the papers.) 

In your papers, you will choose a word, phrase,
statement, or perhaps a longer quote and explain why
you believe it holds an important key to understanding
the work in question. How do these key words reflect
something characteristic or typical? How do they point
to a theme, character trait, or concept that is central
to the piece? How do they reveal the significance of
the central action? 

When you turn in your papers, I will assign them a
grade and turn them back to you with written comments. 
Then you will have the option of revising for a higher
grade. If you choose to revise, the grades for both
drafts will be averaged together. You will have one
week to complete your revisions, and you must submit
both your original draft and the revision.

A B paper must have a clear focus; clean
organization; appropriate, specific, detailed support
for its points; and clear and thorough explanations. 
It must have few mechanical errors and provide a
reasonable explanation of the work on which it is based.

Quizzes and In-Class Writings

From time to time, I will ask you to write brief
informal responses at the beginning of class in order to
stimulate discussion about the readings. At other times,
there willbe unannounced quizzes to check your progress in
the readings. There will be no make-ups for either missed
quizzes or missed in-class writings. However, at the end of
the quarter, I will drop your 2 lowest quiz and/or reading
response grades, including ones that you missed due to
absence.

Class Participation 

Class participation enhances not only your own
learning in the course but that of your classmates as well. 
Hence when you withhold your thoughts and reactions from the
discussion, you are, in a sense, being selfish. Of course,
it is possible to contribute often and at length in a way
that also is selfish, either by monopolizing the discussion
or by trying to appear informed when you have not read the
material. To participate fully, you must read all assigned
texts carefully and critically and make useful and
responsible contributions to small- and large-group
activities. The goal is for each class member to take part
in a way that is respectful of all other class members and
to receive that same treatment in return.

Late Work

All assigned work is due at the beginning of class
on the assigned date. Papers turned in late will be docked
one letter grade for every calendar day overdue. That means
if you have something due on a Friday and you do not turn it
in until Monday, you would not be able to earn higher than a
D on the paper. So plan ahead for unexpected emergencies
such as running out of printer ink or ribbon and call me
ahead of time to make arrangements if some situation
develops where you know you will not able to get your work
in by the deadline.

Plagiarism

Finally, plagiarism means taking credit for someone
else s words or ideas. The university considers plagiarism
an offense that warrants serious penalties, including the
possibility of receiving an F in the course. A fuller
discussion of plagiarism may be found on pages 8-9 in The
Passbook for College Composition.

Now, let's get to the fun part and have a great quarter!

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