Writing about Literature: Literary Forms
ENGL T125:W51 [a.k.a. LIT C260]
FALL 2008               
Tuesdays 6:20-9:00 p.m.

Dr. Barbara C. Ewell

All information here is provisional and subject to change: posted March 19, 2008.  Check for updates.

TEXTS
Required:

Recommended/Optional:

Some of these books may also be available for purchase at Maple Street Books (support your local bookstores!).  If you're trying to cut costs, many texts are also available secondhand through other commercial booksellers.

DESCRIPTION AND GOALS
This section of "Writing about Literature: Literary Forms" is designed for non-traditional (formerly City College) students, but open to all eligible Loyola students. COMP 119/ENGL T122 or their equivalent is a prerequisite. The purpose of this course is not only to learn how to analyze and interpret conventional literary texts (poems, plays, short stories and novels) but also to appreciate how literary language functions in everyday texts and contexts. Our goal will be to develop some tools for understanding how literary forms and language shape our experience as well as how they give meaning and pleasure to our lives.

REQUIREMENTS
--A final examination (15-20%)

--Four essays, varying in length (500-1200 words) (40-50%). At least one essay may require participation in the WAC Lab's Advise/Revise program. Essays should be typed and double-spaced and include a title page.  N.B.: These assignments are NOT acceptable in electronic formats, e.g., e-mail or fax.

--Writing Exercises submitted on the Discussion Board of Blackboard.com;  these assignments will be graded contractually. Each exercise submitted by the due date will be marked as superior (/+), satisfactory (/OK), or unsatisfactory (/-). Your grade for this portion of the course will then be based on the number and quality of the exercises you submit on time: 9 (A); 8 (B); 7 (C); 6 (D); 5 or fewer (F). Pluses and minuses will be included. Entries should typically range from 75 to 200 words--about 1-1 1/2 pages long (one or two screenfuls) . (25-30%)

--Special Assignments: Some assignments are strictly optional; the completion of special assignments can be applied to the WRITING EXERCISE grade at a "two-for-one" rate; that is, two special assignments will be equivalent to one regular assignment.

--Class participation. You are responsible for the work covered in classes you have missed and for submitting assignments on time. Please try to advise me of anticipated absences whenever possible, and call or see me about missed assignments. The penalty for each absence after the second will be one-half letter reduction in the final grade; more than four absences may result in failure of the course. (10-15%)

*Note on Loyola Email and Blackboard:

All students at Loyola are automatically given an email account (and server space for webpages--should you want to create them). Students enrolled in T-125 are expected to have an email account, either through Loyola or through some other provider. You also have access to Blackboard.com, Loyola's electronic course delivery system.
Announcements and any changes, as well as occasional writing or special assignments, will be posted on Blackboard. (Apart from announcements in class, Blackboard will be the default for any changes, so be sure you check the site regularly.) Be sure your email account is correctly listed in LORA or you will miss important announcements about this class.

College Policies on Intellectual Honesty
Intellectual honesty is simply acknowledging, through documentation, all those sources that the writer has used in preparing any written work. Any material that neither originates with the student nor is common knowledge among educated persons must be formally acknowledged.
The penalties for plagiarism are severe: a student who is found to have plagiarized or to have assisted another student in plagiarizing may be given a failing grade for the course on the first violation; a second offense may result in exclusion or dismissal from the university. For the complete details on standards and penalties, see "Integrity of Scholarship and Grades," Undergraduate Bulletin.

First Class Assignment: TUESDAY, AUGUST 26

Read the Text Book, pp. xiii, 1-13.
Complete exercise #5, p. 12--
Write a brief anecdote (about two pages) based about something that happened to you, or about something that happened to someone else that you witnessed. You might want to tell about a situation when you felt yourself to be in danger or when you were afraid, or just about some memorable event that was weird, wild, crazy, amusing, hilarious, or in some way interesting. This won't be graded, but it will be referred to in the course.

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