Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers, 6 ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009, or another current college-level handbook including 2009 MLA updates (Available used starting at $5.48 at Amazon.com***).

(see also Additional Textbook Options, below)

A good college-level (paperback) dictionary (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).

Bloom, Harold. Hamlet: Poem Unlimited. New York: Riverhead, 2003.†

---. 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.

Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. [New York: Harper, 2008 ?].†

---. How to Read Novels Like a Professor. New York: Harper, 2008.

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***).

---.  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***).

---. 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***).

Ray, Michelle. Falling for Hamlet. New York, Boston: Little Brown, 2011. (Available used starting at $3.51 at Amazon.com***).

Updike, John. Gertrude and Claudius: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2001 (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***).

** 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 arrive on time, be prepared, and take an active part in class (see Participation, below). Moreover, once students get to class, they 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. All essays and work completed at home must be typed (in 12-point Times New Roman font), double-spaced, and stapled when submitted; essays will not be accepted via email.

Revisions:
All failing essays, with the exception of the Diagnostic Essay and Final Essay, may be revised and resubmitted by the due dates announced, usually one week after 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 zero 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.

Diagnostic Essay (ungraded):
Students will complete an in-class Diagnostic Essay at the beginning of  the semester on a topic provided. This essay is for evaluative purposes only: it 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.

Midterm and Final (In-Class Essays) (2 @ 12.5 points):
Students will also complete two in-class essays of at least 600 to 750 words, 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, not for the objective portions.

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 (250-300 words) 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 format.

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-minute) quiz on the readings for the day, at the instructor’s discretion. Quizzes cannot be made up; if you miss a quiz due to absence or lateness, that grade will be recorded 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 11 quizzes/writing assignments are given (lowest grade dropped), each is worth up to one full point.

Poetic Recitation (2-4 points Extra Credit):
Students may select and memorize one of the selections below to be recited in front of the class for extra credit. Memorization serves to improve and reinforce student’s skills of reading lines carefully and making judgments about how particular passages can be interpreted. A single recitation is worth 2 points extra credit; a second or third recitation will earn one additional point each. There will be opportunities for recitation at least twice during the semester, on each of the exam dates; students must sign up for these dates at least one week in advance, as sufficient time must be allocated for completion of the exam.

 Blake, “London” (16 lines)

  Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur” (14 lines)

  Cummings, “in Just-” (24 lines)

  Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” (28 lines)

  Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (14 lines)

  Shakespeare, Hamlet III.1.63-97 (“To be, or not to be”) (34 lines)

  Shelley, “Ozymandias” (14 lines)

  Yeats, “The Second Coming” (22 lines)

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 will be announced in class, and they will also be posted online, so do not ask at the end of the semester for “extra credit” to bring up your average.

GRADING:
Final grades will be determined as follows:

Total Points earned (Final Average) will determine the grade received for the course, as follows:

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. Two poems (Cummings, “l(a” and Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”) are not included in Literature: A Portable Anthology, 2 ed. The first will be covered in class; the second must be accessed through the link provided, below. Please bring hardcopy (printout) of this poem to class on the day indicated on the schedule.

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). Readings from Rules for Writers are identified below by title and page numbers, e.g., “Documenting Sources” (Rules 426-463). Additional readings may also be assigned.

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. Additions or changes will be announced in class, and they will also be posted here as well as on the class Announcements page.