English 231.03:
Interpretation of Literature
Spring, 2008, Coulter 301, TR 2:05-3:20, 29 class periods
Instructor: Dr. Terry Nienhuis (9-hice), Coulter 415, nienhuis@wcu.edu, 227-3926
Office Hours: MWF, 10 am; home phone: 293-7479
Web site: http://paws.wcu.edu/nienhuis
I. Rationale/Purpose: The WCU catalog description of this course is: “an introduction to the close reading of poetry, fiction, and drama, emphasizing theme, structure and form, figurative language, and style.” The course satisfies the P4 category for Liberal Studies and is required for the Literature, Professional Writing, Motion Picture Studies, and Education concentrations within the English Major.
II. Course Aims and Objectives:
Aims: to increase the student’s basic familiarity with literature and to build more confidence, ease, and joy in the reading of literary texts. I believe that being relatively familiar and comfortable with literature is one of the marks of an educated person; I hope that you believe this as well. Furthermore, I believe that we learn what we think we need and that we learn more easily what we find pleasurable. I hope to make our study of literature relatively pleasurable so that you will be able to learn more easily, but reading literature is always a challenge for everyone.
Objectives: by the end of this course, students will:
Be able to paraphrase literary passages (paraphrasing is putting into
completely new words the precise meaning of more difficult language)
Be able to write interesting profiles of literary characters
Be able to discuss thematic issues in literary works
Be able to discuss genre issues in literary works
Be able to respond to literary texts in writing and in discussion in an interesting and convincing way
III. Course Materials: Understanding Literature, book rental, free at bookstore
IV. Expectations of Students/Course Policies,
Statement on Accommodations for students with disabilities:
Statement on Academic
Integrity (including plagiarism),
WCU’s Academic Honesty
Policy:
Western Carolina
University, a community of scholarship, is also a community of honor.
Faculty,
staff, administrators, and students work together to achieve the
highest
standards of honesty and integrity. Academic dishonesty is a serious
offense at
Plagiarism—avoid it in Out-of-class
Writing:
To avoid plagiarism, use the “Look Away” method of note taking
“Malicious Plagiarism” (conscious cheating)--an immediate F in course
“Inadvertent Plagiarism” (sloppy note-taking)—a zero on the assignment
Attendance Policy: I adhere to the official WCU Class Attendance Policy (pp.82-83 of the WCU Undergraduate Catalog, The Record): all undergraduates are expected to attend all meetings of the courses in which they are enrolled; any absence is incurred at the student’s own risk. Coming to class is your “job” at this point in your life; therefore, coming to class every day is like showing up for work every day. I urge you to build good work habits now and to maintain these disciplined work habits throughout your working life. If, in missing a class, you miss an assignment, you will have one week from that event to complete any make-up work; students are responsible for initiating all make-up work. Any student who misses 20% of the semester’s course meetings (5.8. absences with 29 class periods), for any reason, will not be able to receive a passing grade in the course (this number will be adjusted whenever the class does not meet as a whole and the total number of class meetings changes during the semester). This semester, the regular W-Day is Wednesday, April 2; the medical W-Day is Wednesday, April 23.
V. Grading Procedures:
Grading Scale:
96-100 A+ (WCU
does not
record the A+)
91-95 A
88-90 A-
86-87 B+
81-85 B
78-80 B-
76-77 C+
71-75 C
68-70 C-
66-67 D+
61-65 D
58-60 D-
All final grade averages of .5 or better are rounded up
(notice that my grading
scale is 2 points lower that the typical 10-point scale; this is
because I
think that my academic standards tend to be higher than the average)
Final Grade:
Participation—25%
Out-of-class writing—25%
Midterm Exam—25%
Final Exam—25%
Participation:
There will be some out-of-class and many in-class exercises during the semester designated as Participation Exercises. Each will earn + or – Participation Points ranging from .0 to 1.0. The total number of Participation Points for each student will be used at the end of the semester to calculate a Participation grade based on a class curve.
Out-of-class Writing:
Please read carefully the “Writing Help” section on my web site (under “Additional Links”), as well as the “Tips on How to Read Shakespeare.”
Include for each out-of-class essay:
a description of your writing process (the steps you went through to create the essay),
a source narrative (a description of the sources you used, if any),
a self evaluation (your evaluation of the essay’s quality)
General Requirements for
Out-of-class Writing:
Staple
multiple
pages
No
“fuzzied” paper (torn out of notebook with spiral “fringe”)
Midterm
(TBA) and Final Exam (Monday, May 5, 12:00-2:30).
These in-class
writings will demonstrate how well you have met the course Aims and
Objectives.
Two Behavioral Rules for the
Classroom:
No
eating
No
cell phones
VIII. Tentative Course
Schedule
May change to accommodate student
needs
Week 1
Introduction to course and
participants; students choose first genre
Week 2
Continue work on initial texts;
focus on paraphrasing
Week 3
Focus on character profiles; essay #
1, Bringing a Character to Life
Week 4
Students choose the second genre
Week 5
Focus on thematic analysis; essay #
2,
What is the writer
saying about life?
Week 6
Students choose the third genre
Week 7
Midterm preparation, taking of
Midterm, debriefing on Midterm
Week 8
Spring Break
Week 9
Students choose the genre to return
to
Week 10 Essay
# 4, genre analysis, short week,
Easter Break
Week 11 Students
choose the next genre to
return to
Week 12 essay
# 5, TBA
(regular W-Day is
Wednesday, April 2)
Week 13 Return
to the remaining genre
Week 14 TBA
Week 15 TBA
(medical W-Day is Wednesday, April
23, Shakespeare’s birthday)
Week 16 Preparation
for Final Exam