|
ENG 102: Writing through Literature |
LaGuardia Community College |
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Essay Outline
DESCRIPTION:
This course extends and intensifies the work of
Composition I, including research methods and documentation procedures. Students
are introduced to close-reading techniques to develop critical thinking and
writing skills through the use of culturally diverse works in poetry and at
least two other literary genres. Writing assignments include a critical
research paper applying tools of literary analysis. Admission to the course
requires completion of Composition I.
See the Introduction
to English 102 Sheet (pdf) for
additional information.
It is assumed that students have successfully completed the prerequisite for this course, English 101 (or the equivalent). Therefore, students are expected to have the necessary background and experience in analyzing, discussing, and responding to written works, as well as the ability to conduct independent research and to write correctly documented research essays using MLA format.
Students are cautioned that this course requires extensive reading, writing, and discussions; students not prepared to read and to write on a regular basis and to take an active part in class discussions should not consider taking this course.
OBJECTIVES: Students will
1. Enhance their
ability to understand, appreciate and discuss works of literature through extensive reading and discussion.
2. Analyze short stories for plot,
setting,
characterization,
theme, and
point of view.
3. Carefully examine poetry for imagery,
diction,
tone,
speaker, language, and
structure.
4. Examine plays, focusing on character development, dramatic structure, and performance.
5. Compose essays, analyzing and/or responding to works of
short fiction,
poetry, and
drama (see
Topics).
6. Complete a critical research essay using
MLA format.
TEXTS:
Required:
Gardner, Janet E, et al., eds. Literature: A Portable Anthology, 2 ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009 (Available used starting at $20.25 at Amazon.com***).
Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers,
5 ed, with MLA
update and Exercise Book. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006
(Available
used starting at $6.45 at Amazon.com
A good college-level
(paperback) dictionary (Available
used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com
Recommended additional texts:**
Bloom, Harold. How to Read and Why. New York: Scribner, 2000. (Available starting at $1.00 at Amazon.com***)
Boose, Lynda E. and Richard Burt. "Totally Clueless? Shakespeare Goes Hollywood in the 1990s" from Shakespeare, The Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV, and Video. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. 8-21. (Available starting at $4.00 at Amazon.com***); reprinted in Corrigan.
Casagrande, June. Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite. New York: Penguin, 2006. (Available starting at $3.94 at Amazon.com***)
---. Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs—Even If You’re Right. New York: Penguin, 2008 (Available used starting at $6.61 at Amazon.com***).
Cathcart, Thomas and Daniel Klein. "Logic." Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes. New York: Abrams Image, 2006. 27-49. (Available used starting at $6.73 at Amazon.com**)
---. Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington: Understanding Political Doublespeak through Through Philosophy and Jokes. New York: Abrams Image, 2007. 27-49 (Available used starting at $10.85 at Amazon.com***).
Cohen, Paula Marantz. "Shakespeare Goes to the Movies." DOJ: The Drexel Online Journal.
Corrigan, Timothy, ed. Film and Literature: An Introduction and Reader. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. 340-356. (Available starting at $11.00 at Amazon.com***)
Crystal, David. Words, Words, Words. New York: Oxford U P, 2006 (Available used starting at $9.28 at Amazon.com***).
Denby, David. Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. (Available starting at $0.29 at Amazon.com***).
Dirda, Michael. Classics for Pleasure. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2007. (Available starting at $1.49 at Amazon.com***)
Feldman, Gail M. “Adapting Shakespeare to Film.” Inside Film Magazine Online.
Giannetti, Louis. Understanding Movies, 10 ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005. (Available starting at $54.00 at Amazon.com***)
Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004. (Available used starting at $1.91 at Amazon.com***).
Haig, Matt. The Dead Father’s Club: A Novel. New York: Viking, 2006. (Available starting at $0.59 at Amazon.com***)
Kliman, Bernice W. Hamlet: Film, Television, and Audio Performance. Rutherford, NJ: 1988. (Available starting at $40.00 at Amazon.com***)†
Kozol, Jonathan. Letters to a Young Teacher. New York: Crown, 2007 (Available starting at $12.15 at Amazon.com***).
Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. New York: Crown, 2005 (Available starting at $10.17 at Amazon.com***).
Lederer, Richard. Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language. Charleston, SC: Wyrick & Company, 1987 (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).
Lederer, Richard. More Anguished English: An Expose of Embarrassing Excruciating, and Egregious Errors in English. New York: Dell, 1994 (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).
Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books, 2004 (Available used starting at $2.70 at Amazon.com***).
*Note: All of the individual stories, poems and plays to be read and discussed are available online; these are indicated on the schedule (below) as hyperlinks. However, students are still strongly cautioned that they must purchase the textbook for class use, as well as for the supplemental materials included. One additional poem (Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”) is not included in the textbook, but should be accessed through the link provided. Please bring hardcopy (printout) of this poem on the day indicated on the schedule.
** Recommended additional texts are not required purchases, and have not been ordered for the course; however, they provide—depending on the course— alternative readings, historical and cultural backgrounds, criticism, personal literary responses, or entertaining (irreverent, possibly sacrilegious) revisions. Students who find themselves becoming deeply interested in one or more of the required readings may find these interesting and/or useful. When indicated with a dagger (†), texts are only provisionally recommended, as I have not read these works yet, although they have received excellent reviews or recommendations.
*** Prices listed at Amazon.com do not include shipping, and are accurate as of original posting date only; no guarantees of prices or availability are express or implied§.
CLASS POLICIES:
Attendance:
Departmental policy allows no more than four (4) hours of unexcused absences in
ENG 102.
Students who do not meet the English Department’s attendance policy will not
pass the class.
Students must not only attend every
class, but also be on time, be prepared, and take an active part in class
(see Participation, below).
Moreover, once you get to class you are expected
to stay in the classroom until the class is over. Leaving class early or getting
up in the middle of class is considered disruptive behavior and should happen
only in extreme emergencies. Students may be required to sign in each class
session to verify their attendance. Students unable to attend class should
contact the instructor regarding their absence in advance or as soon as they
return to school.
Plagiarism and Cheating:
Plagiarism includes copying or paraphrasing another’s words, ideas, or facts
without crediting the source; submitting a paper written by someone else, either
in whole or in part, as one’s own work; or submitting work previously submitted
for another course or instructor. Plagiarism, cheating, or other forms of
academic dishonesty on any assignment will
result in failure (a grade of zero) for that assignment and may result in further disciplinary
action, including but not limited to failure for the course and expulsion from
the College. See the English Department’s
Statement
on Plagiarism and the
LaGuardia
Community College Policy on Academic Integrity (.pdf).
Homework/Essay Submission:
All writing assignments must be
received by the instructor on or before the due date, by the beginning of the
class period, as indicated on the
schedule, below. Late work will
not be accepted.
Revisions:
All failing essays, with the exception of the Diagnostic Essay
and Final Essay, may be revised and
resubmitted
by the due dates announced when the graded essays are returned. Essays receiving a passing grade
may also be revised and resubmitted, but only after the student has met with
the instructor during office hours (by appointment only) to discuss
revisions.
Revisions must be substantially revised, not merely “corrected” versions of the original essay (revisions should be based upon the Revising and Editing Checklist and relevant information from class and the textbooks), and must be submitted with the original graded essay attached. Evidence of substantial revision may result in a better grade for the assignment.
If you did not submit a completed essay on time, you will receive a grade of 0 and may not submit a “revision.”
Make-up Exams/Late Work:
All assignment deadlines and scheduled exam dates are provided at the
beginning of the semester; therefore, late papers will not be accepted nor will
make-up opportunities be offered, except under
extraordinary circumstances with appropriate documentation. Excuses such
as “crashed computers,” “lost flash drives,” or “empty printer ink cartridges” will not
be accepted. It is suggested that all computer work be saved both on your
computer’s hard drive and again on removable storage device.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Attendance and
Participation (5 points):
As this class will combine both lecture
and discussion, students are expected both to attend every session and to take
an active part in class—joining
in discussions and raising questions. Discussion is one of the best ways to
clarify your understandings and to test your conclusions. Open discussion always involves personal exposure, and thus the taking of
risks: your ideas may not be the same as your fellow students’ or even the
instructor’s. Yet as long as your points are honest and supportable, they will be respected by all of us in the classroom. Questions, discussion,
disagreement, and laughter are all encouraged in this class (However, ridicule
or scoffing is never tolerated).
Diagnostic Essay (ungraded):
Students will complete an in-class
Diagnostic Essay
at the beginning of the semester on
a topic provided; this essay will be evaluated and returned, but will not
receive a grade, nor will it affect your final average.
Essays (2 @ 12.5 points):
Students will complete two critical essays during the semester: literary analyses of
works of
fiction and of poetry,
on
topics selected from the list of suggestions provided (see
Essay Topics) or developed in
consultation with the instructor. Essays must be at least three
to five (3-5)
pages (750 to 1250 words), typed (12-point Times New Roman), double-spaced, and stapled
(once, upper-left corner) when submitted§. Essays should be
grammatically correct, free of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, spelling,
and documentation, and will be evaluated according to the
departmental Evaluation of Essays form.
Please refer to
Writing a
Literature Paper and
Getting an A
on an English Paper as well as the Paragraph Outline or
Essay Outline and
Revising and Editing Checklist for
additional assistance.
§
On format, handwriting, and neatness, see Chase, Clinton I. “Essay Test Scoring: Interaction of Relevant Variables.”
Journal of Educational Measurement 23.1 (1986): 33-41 and Marshall, Jon
C. and Jerry M. Powers. “Writing Neatness, Composition Errors, and Essay
Grades.” Journal of Educational Measurement 6.2 (1988): 306-324.
Midterm and Final (In-Class Essays) (2 @ 12.5 points):
Students will also complete two in-class essays,
a Midterm and Final. The essays will draw upon
the students’ knowledge of material studied during the previous weeks, including short fiction, poetry, and drama,
and may also include an objective portion.
Students will be allowed
to use textbooks only for the essay portions of exams.
Research Essay (35 points total):
Students will also complete an argumentative (persuasive) Research Essay of
at least six pages (at least 1500 words), using a minimum of three
to five primary or secondary sources, correctly documented utilizing
MLA-style
citations, with a
cover page
and
Works Cited page (cover page
and
Works Cited do not count toward the six-page requirement).
The
research essay will be completed in stages during the semester; points will
accrue as follows:
Topic Selection (5 points):
Before beginning the research essay assignment, students will develop and
submit a clear, well-written, one-page explanation of the topic chosen from the
list provided and the reason for selection. This proposal should include a
preliminary idea of the plan of the paper, its intention or research question,
and a possible preliminary thesis.
Annotated Bibliography (5
points):
Students will develop and submit an annotated bibliography for the research
essay assignment, with a minimum of five to seven sources, correctly cited
according to
MLA style.
Research Paper: Preliminary Draft
(5 points):
Students will complete a preliminary draft of their completed research essay
for evaluation and comments.
Research Paper: Final Draft (20
points):
The final draft of the research paper must be submitted in a folder,
including copies of all sources used and all of the above assignments associated
with the research paper.
Quizzes (10 points):
With the exception of the first day, class may begin with a short (five- to
ten-minute) quiz or writing assignment on the readings for the day, at the
instructor’s discretion. In-class quizzes
or writing assignments cannot be made up; if you miss a quiz due to
absence or lateness, that grade will be regarded as a 0. At the end of the
semester, the lowest grade will be dropped. Total number of quizzes and writing
assignments during the
semester will determine the point value of each; that is, if 16 quizzes/writing
assignments are
given (lowest grade dropped), each is worth up to one full
point.
Extra
Credit (possibly various opportunities, at 1–2
points each):
Students may be notified of opportunities for
extra credit during the semester, including attendance at various cultural events related to the
class (“
Recommended Fieldtrips”). If students attend one or more of these
events, and provide evidence of attendance (ticket stub, program, et cetera)
along with a typed one- to two-page personal response (review, analysis,
reflection, critique, et cetera), they can receive up to two points per
event added to their final average. As a general rule, extra credit only helps
if you have already completed all of the assigned work, and will not make up for
missing an essay (or two, or three). Extra credit opportunities to date include:
Hamlet, directed by John Henry Davis, starring artist-in-residence, David Nash
BlackBox Theatre (M122).LaGuardia Community CollegeFriday, March 5 at 2:30 (opening performance)
Saturday, March 6 at 7:30
Tuesday, March 9 at 2:30
Wednesday, March 10 at 2:30
Thursday, March 11 at 7:30
Friday, March 12 at 7:30
Saturday, March 13 at 7:30The LaGuardia Performing Arts Center box office is handling individual reservations.
(All performances are, I believe, free to LaGuardia Community College students, staff, and faculty).
GRADING:
Final
grades will be determined as follows:
| Attendance and Class Participation |
5 points |
| At-Home Essays (2 @ 12.5 points) |
25 points |
|
12.5 points | |
| Final Essay (in class) |
12.5 points |
| Research Paper (35 points total) | |
|
5 points | |
|
5 points | |
|
5 points | |
|
20 points | |
| Quizzes |
10 points |
|
Extra Credit (if any) will be added to the final total. | |
Total Points earned (Final Average) will determine the grade received for the course, as follows:
|
Total Points |
Final Percentage |
Final Grade |
|
96-100+ |
96-100 |
A |
| 90-95 | 90-95 | A- |
|
87-89 |
87-89 |
B+ |
| 84-86 | 84-86 | B |
|
80-83 |
80-83 |
B- |
|
77-79 |
77-79 |
C+ |
|
74-76 |
74-76 |
C |
| 70-73 | 70-73 |
C- |
|
60-69 |
60-69 |
D |
|
0-59 |
0-59 |
F |
OUTLINE:
Projected Schedule of Readings and
Assignments
Note: All readings below are required, and must be completed by the day indicated; the only exceptions are those indicated with an asterisk (*), which are recommended additional readings or resources.
Readings from Literature: A Portable Anthology are identified below by author and title as well as page numbers, e.g., Lawrence, “The Rocking-Horse Winner”(145-157) or, where the text’s critical apparatus and additional information are intended, by author and page number, e.g., Writing About Literature: Introduction, The Role of Good Reading (Gardner 1177-1191). Additional readings, including material from Keys for Writers, may also be assigned; they will be identified below by chapter number and page numbers, e.g., Keys 1 and 2 (pp. 3-39).
Red text indicates due dates or links to assignments; Blue text indicates links to assignments, resources, or online versions of texts; LitIQ Quizzes are additional, optional online exercises for review purposes only. (Note: While every effort is made to verify the accuracy and usefulness of these links and their contents, no guarantees are made. Please notify me of any broken or outdated links at bmurphy@Brian-T-Murphy.com).
Note: This schedule is subject to revision according to the instructor’s discretion, the Academic Calendar for the semester, school closings due to inclement weather or other reasons, and the progress of the class. Students will be notified in class of additions or changes, and they will also be posted here as well as on the class Announcements page.
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Important Dates: SPRING SEMESTER 2010 SESSION I |
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| Dates: |
Readings and Assignments: |
|
Friday, March 12 |
First Day of Class:
Writing About Literature: Introduction, The Role of Good Reading (Gardner
1177-1191); |
|
Friday, March 19 |
Character;
Setting: *Recommended additional reading:
Downes, Lawrence.
“In
Search of Flannery O’Connor.”
New York Times 4 Feb. 2007. sec. 5: 1+. *See also, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (audio recording)
*LitIQ
Quiz A: A Good Man Is Hard to Find;
LitIQ Quiz B: A Good Man Is Hard to Find |
|
Friday, March 26 |
Research Essay
Topic Due
Point of View &
Narration;
Theme,
Symbolism,
Motifs: Writing About Literature: The Writing Process (Gardner 1192-1218), Writing About Stories (1231-1237); Writing About Literature, A Student’s Literature Paper (Keys 79-87) *Recommended additional reading: Blumberg, Jess. “A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials." Smithsonian.com. 24 Oct. 2007 <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/10769816.html>. “Freemasonry”: Wikipedia entry King, Stephen. “Dolan’s Cadillac” from Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993) Morressy, John. “The Resurrection of Fortunato.” Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, March-April 2003. The super-short “Young Goodman Brown” from Book-a-Minute Classics *Possible (optional) Field Trip: Mayor LaGuardia’s ceremonial trowel
*LitIQ
Quiz A: The Cask of Amontillado;
LitIQ Quiz B: The Cask of Amontillado *LitIQ Quiz A: The Rocking-Horse Winner; LitIQ Quiz B: The Rocking-Horse Winner |
|
Friday, April 2 |
No Class (Spring Break March 29–April 4) |
|
Friday, April 9 |
Essay One Due (Fiction) Jackson, “The Lottery” (242-249); Walker, “Everyday Use” (368-375) (also here, or here in .pdf) *Recommended additional reading:
Blumberg, Jess. "A
Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials." Smithsonian.com. 24 Oct.
2007 The super-short “Young Goodman Brown” from Book-a-Minute Classics Hoel, Helga.“Personal Names and Heritage: Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use.’” Reading and Discussion Questions on Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery"
*LitIQ
Quiz A: The Lottery;
LitIQ Quiz B: The Lottery |
|
Friday, April 16 |
What is Poetry?;
Introduction to Poetic
Analysis;
Writing About Poems (Gardner 1238-1247)
Cummings,
“l(a”
(not in textbook: to be covered in class); *See also, Understanding and Explicating Poetry
*LitIQ
Quiz A: Theme;
LitIQ Quiz B: Theme |
|
Friday, April 23 |
Midterm
Exam (Essay Two—In-Class Essay)
Marlowe,
“The
Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (464-465);
*See also “Philomela” (Encyclopedia Mythica),
“Philomela” (Ovid Metamorphoses Resource Page), and
“Philomela” (Wikipedia);
*LitIQ
Quiz A: Imagery;
LitIQ Quiz B: Imagery |
|
Friday, April 30 |
Owen,
“Dulce
et Decorum Est”
(570);
*See also |
|
Friday, May 7 |
Shelley,
“Ozymandias”
(500); Cummings, “in Just-” (571); Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow” (557-558); Yeats, “The Second Coming” (544-545); Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur” (540) |
|
Friday, May 14 |
Research
Draft DueWriting About Plays (Gardner 1248-1253);
Glaspell,
Trifles (958-969) *See also, "A Jury of Her Peers" (short story) and "A Jury of her Peers" (audio recording)
*Recommended viewing: |
|
Friday, May 28 |
Shakespeare,
Hamlet (777-898)
*see also, No
Fear Shakespeare:
Hamlet; Ed Friedlander, Enjoying
Hamlet by William Shakespeare; *Recommended additional reading: Boose, Lynda E. and Richard Burt. “Totally Clueless? Shakespeare Goes Hollywood in the 1990s” from Shakespeare, The Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV, and Video. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. 8-21. (reprinted in Film and Literature: An Introduction and Reader. Ed. Timothy Corrigan. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. 340-356) Cohen, Paula Marantz. “Shakespeare Goes to the Movies.” DOJ: The Drexel Online Journal. Feldman, Gail M. “Adapting Shakespeare to Film.” Inside Film Magazine Online. Haig, Matt. The Dead Father’s Club: A Novel. New York: Viking, 2006. Kliman, Bernice W. Hamlet: Film, Television, and Audio Performance. Rutherford, NJ: 1988. Wall, Rebecca. “Study Questions for Hamlet.” ENG2301. 20 Oct. 2005. 7 Jan. 2009. http://myweb.wssu.edu/wallr/ENG2301/eng2301hamlet.htm *Recommended viewing: “Tales from the Public Domain: Hamlet.” (Episode DABF08) The Simpsons. Twentieth Century Fox, 2002. *Recommended cartoon: Ziegler, Jack. “An Early Draft .” The New Yorker 4 Aug. 2008: 36.*Additional Quizzes, from TeachersFirst.com:Introductory Quizzes - Who's Who • Denmark and Norway Act I - Quotations Quiz • Quiz on Scene 1 • Quiz on Scene 2 • Quiz on Scenes 3, 4, and 5 Act II - Quotations Quiz • Quiz on Scene 1 • Quiz on Scene 2 Act III - Quiz on Scene 1 • Quiz on Scene 2 • Quiz on Scene 3 Act IV - Quiz on the Act Act V - Quiz on Scene 1 • Quiz on Scene 2 |
|
Friday, June 4 |
Research Paper Due: Complete, final project (in folder) Shakespeare, Hamlet continued: Read through Act V (or, possibly, viewing of Hamlet). |
|
Fri. 11 June |
Final Exam (In-Class Essay) |
For each of the assigned essays and projects, a topic or list of topic choices is provided. Your work must be on one of the assigned topics for that assignment or developed in consultation with the instructor, or it will receive a grade of “F”. All work must be submitted on or before the due date, by the beginning of the class period; late work will not be accepted. Failure to bring the required essay will result in a zero for the assignment, without opportunity for revisions.
For each of the essays, select one of the topics to discuss in a well-developed, coherent, and thoughtful essay. Be sure to focus carefully on the topic, and remember that these are formal essays: they must have an appropriate, original title; contain an introduction, body, and conclusion; have a clear, explicit, assertive, objectively worded thesis statement (thesis statements must be underlined); and (unless otherwise indicated) avoid use of I or you throughout.
Essays 1 (fiction) and 3 (poetry) must be at least three to five pages (750 to 1250 words), the Midterm and Final (in-class) essays (Essays 2 and 4) must be a minimum of 600 words, and the Research Essay must be at least 1500 words (roughly six pages minimum), argumentative (persuasive), with a clear, explicit, and assertive thesis statement. Research Essays must use a minimum of three to five reputable critical or scholarly sources, properly documented (utilizing MLA-style citations for documentation), with a cover page and Works Cited page (cover page
and Works Cited page do not count toward the five-page requirement). See specific instructions (below) for other assignments.All at-home work must be typed (in
12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, and
stapled when submitted.
In-class work must be neatly printed in blue or black ink on composition paper or in bluebooks provided by the instructor and double-spaced§.
All essays should be grammatically correct,
free of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage,
spelling, and documentation, and will be evaluated according to the departmental
Evaluation of Essays form.
Please refer to the Paragraph Outline or
Essay Outline and
Revising and Editing Checklist for
additional assistance.
§ On format, handwriting, and neatness, see Chase, Clinton I. “Essay Test
Scoring: Interaction of Relevant Variables.” Journal of Educational
Measurement 23.1 (1986): 33-41 and Marshall, Jon C. and Jerry M. Powers.
“Writing Neatness, Composition Errors, and Essay Grades.” Journal of
Educational Measurement 6.2 (1988): 306-324.
Please feel free to communicate any concerns or questions to me before the essays are due; I will be available to meet with any student who needs assistance or additional instruction. Please speak to me before or after class or email me to set up an appointment during my office hours.
Diagnostic
Essay: Friday, March 12
Select one of the following topics, and compose a formal essay. Your
essay will not receive a grade, not will it affect your final average; this is
for evaluative purposes only. You will have approximately one hour to complete
this essay.
(Use of
“I”
is allowed for both choices.)
1. What is your favorite text or who is your favorite author, and why? Defend your choice with specific examples.
2. According to Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, “people don’t read anymore” (see “The Passion of Steve Jobs”). With radio, television, cable, and personal computers and the Internet, we are living in a post-literate world. That is, reading—for pleasure or for knowledge— is no longer necessary or important. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
Essay One—Short
Fiction: Due Friday, April 9
After reading
” and the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” are privileged, protected individuals driven to madness by circumstances beyond their control. Despite these obvious similarities, however, their tragic stories are resolved in very different ways. Consider the characterization of Paul and the narrator: how is he or she developed or revealed? What do we learn about him or her, and how? In addition, what other specific factors account for the two stories’ different outcomes? Consider class, gender, setting, or any other relevant factors, as well as what each work might be suggesting.
Both Paul in “The Rocking-Horse Winner
Write an analysis of the
symbolism used
in either Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” or Jackson’s
“The Lottery.”
What specific symbols occur in the story, and how do they function in the
story? Do they form a unified pattern, or
motif? (Be sure to discuss more than just one main symbol in each story!)
Discuss the
theme of either “The Lottery”
or “Everyday Use”; what is the central idea, thesis, or message of the story, and how
is it revealed or developed?
Discuss the
setting (or settings) in either “The
Lottery” or “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”;
what is the effect of the
setting, what is its purpose, and how does it function in the story? Be sure
to discuss both time and place, and be careful to distinguish between major and
minor settings.
“The
Necklace,” “The
Lottery”
and “The
Rocking-Horse Winner”
can all be read as indictments of materialism, capitalism, or consumerism.
Selecting any two of these stories, compare and contrast the ways in
which the authors suggest that the desire for material “success” is, in fact,
unhealthy or dangerous.
Please refer to the following as well:
English Department Style Sheet (class handout)
Incorporating
Sources (class handout)
Class Plagiarism Policy (on syllabus), as well as the
English Department’s
Statement
on Plagiarism (.pdf, also previously distributed in class) and the
LaGuardia
Community College Policy on Academic Integrity (.pdf).
General Essay Instructions (on syllabus)
You might also find the following additional resources useful:
Works Cited page (Instructions & Sample)
(Microsoft Word document)
Avoiding Plagiarism (Houghton-Mifflin web site)
Practice Incorporating Sources into Your Work (Houghton-Mifflin web site)
MLA Documentation Style for
“Works Cited” (LaGuardia Community College Library web site)
Also, one would think that this would not even need to be stated, but read the story about which you are writing, and read it carefully! Do not rely upon your general impressions based on what you think was said in class, or on what you read online. There is no reason for your essays to contain factual errors about the story.
Essay Two—Midterm (In-Class Essay): Friday, April 23
You have two hours to write an essay of at least six hundred (600) words, on one
of the following topics. Before you begin to write, take time to plan your essay
carefully. Essays should focus on the selected topic, contain a clear beginning
(an introduction, with a thesis, underlined), a middle (the body paragraphs),
and end (concluding paragraph), and use appropriate topic sentences and
transitions to guide the reader.
Remember that you are not summarizing the works, but responding
to them in a critical manner. Be sure to include evidence or examples from the
specific text(s) that you are writing about, but do not copy directly from the
textbook unless you are quoting. When quoting, remember to incorporate sources
correctly: use signal phrases and document with parenthetical citations.
Your essay will, as always, be evaluated in terms of Main Idea, Organization,
Support, and Mechanics (Words and Sentences). Therefore, make certain your essay
is not only well organized and developed, but also grammatically correct, free
of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, and spelling. Double-space, so you have
room for corrections.
You may use both your book (or printouts) and a dictionary or thesaurus for this essay. Good luck.
Topics to be announced
Essay Three—Poetry:
Friday, May 7
After reading
Keys for Writers 5b and 5c (“Writing
about Literature” and “A
Student’s Literature Paper”), select one
of the following topics to discuss in a well-developed, coherent, and thoughtful
essay. Be sure to focus carefully on the topic, and remember that these are
formal essays: they must have an appropriate, original title; contain an
introduction, body, and conclusion; have a clear, explicit, assertive,
objectively worded thesis statement (thesis statements must be
underlined); and (unless otherwise indicated) avoid use of I or you
throughout. . Note: This is not a research essay; the only sources
utilized or quoted should be the texts themselves. Use of secondary sources,
whether credited or not, will be considered grounds for failure. See also
Writing a
Literature Paper and
Getting an A
on an English Paper for additional assistance.
Select one of the following topics.
Select two poems* written or published at least twenty-five years apart
that are both about the same subject matter: Nature, Art, Love, Sex, Age, Death
or Mourning, War, Race, Gender. Compare and contrast the way the two treat the
same theme. Your analysis should establish a clear connection between the two
poems, beyond merely “They both discuss love”
or “both refer to death”; rather, the
connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language,
imagery, theme, et cetera.
For example,
Randall Jarrell’s “Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” and Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” both feature first-person narrators who recount the circumstances of their own deaths; however, while the former poem presents an image of death as violent and pointless, the latter suggests that death may actually be a welcome end to the struggles and obligations of life.
Your essay should explore the poems’ tone, speaker, language (including figurative language or imagery, diction, and allusions) and structure (including meter and rhyme scheme, or the lack of them), and explain how these are interrelated and how they shape or influence meaning.
Select
a poem* and a short story other than one read or discussed in class that
treat the same subject matter: Nature, Art, Love, Sex, Age, Death or Mourning,
War, Race, Gender. Compare and contrast the way the two treat the same theme. As
above, your analysis should establish a clear connection between the two works,
beyond merely “They both discuss love” or
“both refer to death”; rather, the connection
should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery,
et cetera.
* Poems for either of the above topics should be selected from the textbook but not be listed on the syllabus. If the textbook does not have sufficient selections for you, try one or more of the links below. Note: if the poems you use are not in the textbook, you must include photocopies with your essay!
BP: British Poetry 1780-1910: A Hypertext Archive
CP: A Compendium of Poetry
ME: Modern English Collection, E-Text Center (U VA)
PA: Poetry Archives @ eMule.com
PB: Project Bartleby
PL: Poetry Archive at Plagiarist.com
PO: Poetry Online
RPO: Representative Poets Online
Please read or reread the following before beginning your essays:
Keys
for Writers 5b and 5c: “Writing about Literature” and
“A Student’s Literature Paper”
English Department Style Sheet (class
handout)
Incorporating
Sources (class handout)
Class Plagiarism Policy (on syllabus), as well as the
English Department’s
Statement
on Plagiarism (.pdf, also previously distributed in class) and the
LaGuardia
Community College Policy on Academic Integrity (.pdf).
General Essay Instructions (on syllabus)
You might also find the following additional resources useful:
Works Cited page (Instructions & Sample)
(Microsoft Word document)
Avoiding Plagiarism (Houghton-Mifflin web site)
Practice Incorporating Sources into Your Work (Houghton-Mifflin web site)
MLA Documentation Style for
“Works Cited” (LaGuardia Community College Library web site)
Also, one would think that this would not even need to be stated, but read the story and/or poem or poems about which you are writing, and read them carefully! Do not rely upon your general impressions based on what you think was said in class, or on what you read online. There is no reason for your essays to contain factual errors about the works.
Research Paper:
Compose a clear, well-written, properly documented
(MLA
Style) argumentative essay of at least
1500 words (roughly six pages minimum), with a
cover page and
Works Cited page (cover
page and Works Cited do
not count toward the six-page requirement).
The paper must be argumentative (persuasive), with a clear, explicit, and
assertive thesis statement, and must use a minimum of three to five reputable critical or scholarly
sources (books, periodicals, or online sources). You
must include at least one short quotation, one long—block—quotation, and
one paraphrase, and these
sources must be properly documented (utilizing
MLA-style citations), and integrated into your writing smoothly and
correctly. See also
Research Paper checklist.
Topic
Selection: Due Friday, March 26
Before beginning the research essay assignment, you must develop and submit
a clear, well-written, one-page explanation of the topic you have chosen and
your reason for selection. This proposal should include a preliminary idea of
the plan of the paper, its intention or research question, and a possible
preliminary thesis. Select one of the following three topics:
1. Contrast Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles with her short story, “A Jury of Her Peers” (not in textbook—available here or here). While the “story” itself (the plot or action) remains essentially unchanged, how does the prose fiction version differ from the dramatic version, and why? What necessary and significant differences between the two versions reflect the requirements of the different genres?
2. Compare/contrast two different screen versions of Hamlet and their treatment or adaptation of the play. How does each adapt, change, or edit the play? What is changed or left out, and why? Good versions for this assignment include Laurence Olivier’s 1948 version, Franco Zeffirelli’s 1990 film starring Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 film, and Michael Almereyda’s 2000 version starring Ethan Hawke.
3. Select one of the authors listed below, and find one longer work or up to three short works by that author, ones that are not listed on the syllabus, to analyze and discuss in your essay. For example, if you enjoy Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” select another two or three poems by Frost (but please, not “The Road Not Taken”!). Your essay should be a close, critical analysis of the work or works, including an assertive thesis. Do not provide a biography of the author or a summary of the texts; instead, your thesis must be a claim about the work or works that represents your interpretation and that is supported with textual evidence. Note that while all of the following authors are listed on the syllabus, not all authors from the syllabus are acceptable choices for this assignment: you may not choose an author other than one of those listed. Author Choices:
|
E. E. Cummings |
Shirley Jackson |
Flannery O’Connor |
|
Emily Dickinson |
Randall Jarrell |
Wilfred Owen |
|
Robert Frost |
D. H. Lawrence |
Alice Walker |
|
Charlotte Perkins Gilman |
Edna St. Vincent Millay |
William Carlos Williams |
Annotated Bibliography: Due Friday, April 30
You must submit an annotated preliminary bibliography with a minimum of
five to seven sources, including copies of all sources, correctly cited according to
MLA style. This may include up to three primary sources and a minimum
of three to five secondary sources; secondary
sources must be scholarly criticism or analysis, not summaries, reviews,
or “analysis”
from sites such as Wikipedia, 123HelpMe, or Gradesaver.com;
instead, use the library (CUNY
Plus) or the available databases such as
EBSCOHost or
Lexis-Nexis to locate appropriate sources. In addition
to a correct citation for each source, you must include a description or summary
of the source, at least one paragraph long, and an explanation of how you
foresee incorporating it into your essay. For additional information on
Annotated Bibliographies, see the Purdue
University Online Writing Lab (OWL).
Preliminary Draft: Due Friday, May 14
A finished, typed preliminary draft of the completed research essay must be
brought to class for evaluation and comments.
Be sure you are familiar with the following before
beginning your essays:
Keys
for Writers 5b and 5c: “Writing about Literature” and
“A Student’s Literature Paper”
English Department Style Sheet (class
handout)
Incorporating
Sources (class
handout)
Class Plagiarism Policy (on syllabus), as well as the
English Department’s
Statement
on Plagiarism (.pdf, also previously distributed in class) and the
LaGuardia
Community College Policy on Academic Integrity (.pdf).
General Essay Instructions (on syllabus)
You might also find the following additional resources useful:
Works Cited page (Instructions & Sample)
(Microsoft Word document)
Avoiding Plagiarism (Houghton-Mifflin web site)
Practice Incorporating Sources into Your Work (Houghton-Mifflin web site)
MLA Documentation Style for
“Works Cited” (LaGuardia Community College Library web site)
Also, one would think that this would not even need to be stated, but read the story or stories and/or poem or poems about which you are writing, and read them carefully! Do not rely upon your general impressions based on what you think was said in class, or on what you read online. There is no reason for your essays to contain factual errors about the works.
Final
Draft: Due Friday, June 4
As per departmental policy, the final research paper must be
submitted in a research folder, including copies of
all sources used. Be sure to print out or photocopy not only the works
themselves, but also all secondary sources used, and highlight all relevant
passages, whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. In addition, you must
include all supporting documents as well: your
previously submitted Topic,
Annotated Bibliography, and
Preliminary Draft.
Failure to submit a complete research essay in a folder
according to these instructions will be grounds for failure on the assignment. In
addition, plagiarism, either in whole or in part, will result in automatic
failure (a grade of zero) for the assignment, and therefore failure for the
course as well.
Essay Four—Final In-Class Essay: Friday, June 11
You will have two hours to write an essay
of at least six hundred (600) words, on one of the
following topics. Before you begin to write, take time to plan your essay
carefully. Essays should focus on the selected topic, contain a clear beginning
(an introduction, with a thesis, underlined), a middle (the body
paragraphs), and end (concluding paragraph), and use appropriate topic sentences
and transitions to guide the reader.
Remember that you are not summarizing the works, but responding to them in a critical manner. Be sure to include evidence or examples from the specific text that you are writing about, but do not copy directly from the textbook unless you are quoting. When quoting, remember to incorporate sources correctly: use signal phrases and document with parenthetical citations.
Your essay will, as always, be evaluated in terms of Main Idea, Organization, Support, and Mechanics (Words and Sentences). Therefore, make certain your essay is not only well organized and developed, but also grammatically correct, free of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, and spelling. Double-space, so you have room for corrections.
You may use both your book (or printouts) and a dictionary or thesaurus for this essay.
Topics to be announced
|
Grammar, Writing, and Research Papers: |
Last Revised: Wednesday, 3 March 2010
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Main page: www.Brian-T-Murphy.com
