English 102: Language and Literature -- Online Special Accelerated Summer Edition
Professor: Dr. Andrew L. Smith
Office Hours: by email (asmith@hcc.mass.edu )
Catalog Description English 102 covers the ability to communicate with others, to think critically, and to comprehend readings. Emphasis in the second semester of the two-course writing sequence will be on reading and analyzing fiction, poetry, and drama. Frequent short essays are assigned, amounting to a total of approximately three thousand words each semester.
Prerequisite: English 101
Required Texts
DiYanni, Robert. Ed. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008. (ISBN: 9780073124452)
Raimes, Ann. Ed. Keys for Writers. 5th ed. New York: Heinle, 2007. (ISBN: 0618753869)
American Heritage Dictionary (optional)
USB flash drive or data disk
New and used books can also be ordered directly from Amazon. Amazon may offer a better price on textbooks.
Objectives The major objectives of English 102 are to teach the student, through directed readings and writing, to compose successfully his or her own unified coherent essays that support and prove a central idea, and to develop critical-reading skills that will contribute to the student’s skills at assessment, evaluation, and synthesis of literature, and (more significantly) the world at large. To that end, students will:
read and discuss works by a number of writers, undertake the study of writing structures, learn the methods and conventions of preparing essays and papers, edit and rewrite compositions.
Instruction and Assignments Exams, essays, lectures, bulletin board discussions, textbook exercises, peer editing, individual presentations, online study groups, student-teacher conferences, informal and formal writing assignments are all methods and materials of English 102. Student work may be used as a basis for class discussion and peer editing. Reading material for the course will be taken from DiYanni’s Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama , Web resources, and from other supplementary materials as supplied by me and sometimes you. Major papers should be composed and typewritten outside of class.
Special Online Course Considerations Note: This particular online course is an intensive summer course! Students will be required to participate in asynchronous (bulletin board) instruction at least four times each week during the summer session. Participation involves reading and responding to postings from other students, as well as composing original postings about issues associated with the current week's discussions.
A special note about the course bulletin board
Some students wonder why the bulletin board is not set up with a forum for each "discussion topic," as is the case with certain other online courses. The reason why there is only one forum is because the course pedagogy is not topic-driven. Rather, the course readings and assignments are built around the introduction and discussion of literary devices, many of which have overlapping characteristics. To compensate for the relatively high volume of bulletin board postings, students should set their bulletin boards to "show unread." Should students need to reread an earlier posting from a member of the class, the bulletin board "search" function can be employed.
There will be no set meeting time, but students need to be actively involved every week. Students who do not login to the course for 4 consecutive days will be dropped from the course with a grade of "AW." Participation in synchronous (chat room) communication with other members of the course is optional, but encouraged. For example, you may wish to meet with your peers in the chat room at a certain date and time to talk about matters pertaining to the course.
Students in English 102 must submit assignments by WebCT private email by Microsoft Word (.doc) files. Failing that, I will also accept .rtf files.
Editing We may have the opportunity to exchange papers with fellow peers to evaluate one another's work. Generally, I will give you several questions or points to look for as you read through another student's prose. Editing offers you the chance to help other writers, to learn from their strengths and weaknesses, to apply what you learn to your own writing, and to be a more careful, analytical reader. This exercise will give you a very real sense that the writing audience is much more than that course's teacher. Be prepared to give more than you get in return. You will be permitted to revise and resubmit your essays during the course of the semester, provided that your first submission of a given assignment is not late.
Evaluation Important note about the assignments below: This online course IS NOT conceived in restaurant-menu style where you can pick and choose assignments that strike your fancy; ALL assignments must be submitted to me in order for you to pass the course . Even if you have high grades on other assignments, if you do not submit ALL required work, I will have to give you an "F" for your final course grade. The final grade for the course will be determined according to the % scale below:
Exam 1 -- Fiction
15%
Exam 2 -- Poetry
15%
Exam 3 -- Drama (exam may also encompass other genres)
15%
Essay 1 – Elements of Fiction (topic TBA)
15%
Essay 2 – Elements of Poetry (topic TBA)
15%
Smaller essays, assignments, quizzes, participation
25%
Late Work All assignments must be completed on time. Although this is a distance-learning course, I will give you specific deadlines for reading and writing assignments. Late work is highly discouraged. If you submit a written assignment to me up to two days after the due date, the highest score that can possibly be earned on that particular assignment is a 65%, even before deductions for conceptual and structural errors are taken into account. If you've submitted a late paper to me, please do not expect significant feedback from me. Furthermore, you may encounter an extended delay in receiving your graded late work from me. After two days beyond a given due date, I will not accept late work; thus, you will be given a 0% on that particular assignment, which will result in a course grade of "F" (again, all writing assignments must be submitted in order to pass this course). Students who submit late papers are ineligible to resubmit those papers for a re-evaluation. Be sure to make regular diskette back-up copies of your work.
Attendance Requirements Regular attendance in class is not required in a traditional sense because we will never meet in an on-campus classroom. However, your ongoing active participation WEEKLY is crucial to your success and the success of the course. You should visit the course Web site at least 4 times each week. You are required to participate in bulletin board discussions each week. You may be asked to post your own questions on the bulletin board for other members of the class to respond to. The software that we use for this course allows me to track your involvement in every area of the course. I will know precisely when you log onto the course Web site, which items your read online, and how long you spent reading each item. This is all to say that ENG102--online is a demanding course, perhaps even more so than a traditional course because you will need to be self-motivated, prompt, and detail-oriented.
Students who do not login to the course for 4 consecutive days will be dropped from the course without warning with a grade of "AW."
Plagiarism Policy Plagiarizing, which is defined as the taking and using as one's own the writings or ideas of another (definition adapted from the American Heritage Dictionary) is unacceptable. The course’s teacher administers discipline for the first offense. Please see the HCC plagiarism policy in the college catalog under "Academic Integrity." There is a particular danger to students in having so many new resources available on the Web. It is easier than ever to copy someone else's work. Please be very careful that all ideas and quotations of others are properly documented in your papers.
The College has recently acquired new plagiarism-detection software that helps instructors to screen student assignments for signs of intellectual property theft.
If you ever have a doubt about whether you are documenting other people's work correctly in your assignments, please contact me BEFORE you submit your assignment. Ignorance is no excuse for stealing.
Guidelines for Submitting Written Work
Type all papers, saving them with multiple diskette backups. Make certain that you have a margin of one inch on all sides of the paper. Put your name, the name of the course, the section number, the name of the teacher, the date, and the type of assignment at the top left corner of the first page. Do not use a cover page. Number all pages at the top, either in the center or at the right-hand side. Print out a hard copy for yourself, then attach a .doc or .rtf file to a WebCT private email message to me. Make sure that you BROWSE , then ATTACH , then SEND . There are THREE steps involved.
Computer Requirements Because crisp, professional work is mandatory to receive an approving nod from your instructor and future employers, it is expected that all work produced for the course will be computer generated, without exception. All work should be submitted by hard copy and 3.5 diskette.
Students with Disabilities Policy Every effort will be made to accommodate those students with special needs. Students who need assistance should contact the Office for Students with Disabilities before beginning their first semester so that services can be provided in a timely manner. Please call 552-2417 for information, or see me immediately.
Class Schedule Our summer session runs for seven weeks. Below is a calendar of projects and workshops for this class through the final exam week of the summer session. Note that each of the seven weeks is divided into Parts 1 and 2. You will soon see how this structure will help you organize your reading and writing responsibilities. You will complete all assignments in preparation for our meeting times as indicated below. As needed, I will distribute weekly syllabi throughout the summer session (I reserve the right to modify projects and dates at any time during the run of the course. With any given assignment, I will make every effort to keep you apprised of schedule changes at least a week before its due date).
Key : Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay (LIT)
Week Number and Assignments
Page Numbers
This section of the course syllabus is being updated. Check back soon.
