English 175 Literature and Ideas: Introduction to Literary Genres and Literary Analysis
10:30 a.m. -11:20 a.m. MWF TLC 223 Fall 2019
Dr. Stephan Flores (sflores@uidaho.edu)
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~sflores/
Office: Brink Hall Rm. 122
Office hours: Thursday 2:30pm-4:00 p.m. & by appt.
Course description:
UI Catalog: “Gen Ed: Humanities. Introduction to the terminology, techniques, and formal characteristics of literary genres. Intended to provide the general student and the beginning English major with basic experience in literary analysis.”
Welcome to English 175. First I want to express that despite the extraordinary length and specific directions and detail of the following course description and requirements—which you need to read closely—please know that I look forward to our work together to explore different fiction, drama, and poetry as we converse to consider a range of ideas about literature and culture.
This semester we’ll discuss a highly acclaimed novel (The Sympathizer), short stories (16), plays (10), and poetry (many poems!) as well as readings about critical perspectives on literature and society. The topics/subjects/actions in some of these literary works include challenging, provocative materials that represent and examine in expressive, explicit, and critical ways different cultural and ideological perspectives, hierarchies of power, violence, sexuality, race, and ethnicity, in and with past and current/contemporary historical contexts and language.
Our work over the semester is to enable you to develop strengths in understanding literature in different genres and across different contexts and settings: these texts are noted for their literary and cultural-historical significance. Your reading, writing, and exchange of views also are intended to strengthen competencies of knowledge vital to the goals of general education—see the list of specified learning outcomes below. I hope that you find these works of literature and our conversations compelling, and that exploration and thoughtful exchange may foster a continuing enjoyment and deepened sense of the pleasures and power of literature for an open future and in a sense, an open past of discoveries yet to come.
Written work includes the following: a weekly Inquiry-Starter (230 words) and a weekly Peer Response-to-an-Inquiry Starter (100 words)—posted to Bblearn discussion threads—these posts respond to and reflect upon the assigned reading and upon your peers’ perspectives; a midterm essay exam (three parts, one concise summary and one concise essay out-of-class, and one essay in class); a short critical ‘memo’-essay that reflects upon some aspects of your reading and revision of your compiled/cumulative weekly posts in Bblearn as well as your other written work and studies over the semester; and an in-class final essay exam. This evaluated work is substantial, manageable, and varied.
Required text (s):
Nguyen, Viet Thanh. The Sympathizer: A Novel. New York: Grove Press, 2015. Pbk. 385 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8021-2494-4 [Note also that you may want to have access to your ‘own’ print copy of this novel to consult during the in-class portion of the midterm exam.]
May, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter 13th ed. (2019)
• E-Book: ISBN: 978-0-393-69117-7 (starting at $40.00)
https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393664942
• Pbk. ISBN: 978-0-393-66494-2 (80.00+)
Other assigned reading and options/resources are available in scanned/PDFs in folders and weblinks via the course Bblearn site (know that scanned PDFs, however, are not amenable to text-to-speech availability).
Print or e-book versions of many/most of the primary texts, if you prefer those E-reading and/or text-to-speech formats:
The Sympathizer: A Novel (2015) by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Kindle Edition $9.27
David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross (also available on film via class weblink) Kindle Edition $9.64
Robert Eaglestone, Literature: Why It Matters (2019) Kindle Edition, $12.30
Bruce Norris, Clybourne Park: A Play (Tony Award Best Play), Kindle Edition, $9.99
Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog Paperback – 2001, Kindle, 9.50
Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House and Other Plays – 2006, Kindle, 9.99
Total for e-book formats: $101.49
(excluding Robert Dale Parker’s, How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies, Fourth Edition, Oxford UP, 2019. –this is supposedly available as an e-book but I can’t seem to find one via Amazon or the publisher)
Here are two statements that may serve as guiding premises/claims for this course and its outcomes:
(1) “Film and literature provide us with a way of understanding how our social life works. Human social life consists of narratives for living, with ‘narratives’ being understood here as an actual life experience spread over time and guided by cultural stories that justify it to participants. Both the cultural and real-world narrative can change; both use frames to exclude norm-dissonant perspectives and values and to ensure that the meanings that support the continuity and homogeneity of the lived process are stable, predictable, and enforced. Who tells the stories in the culture thus largely shapes how that cultural world will be organized. Stories are what people believe and how they believe, and how people believe determines how they act and how they live. Stories can change how people think, perceive, believe, and act. The analysis of the work they perform is thus an important endeavor. And that is what criticism is all about.” (An Introduction to Criticism: Literature/Film/Culture--Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).
(2) Robert Eaglestone argues that literature is best experienced as a “living conversation”: both literature and its study are creative, dialogic activities. “Knowledge about literature overflows the more constrained categories of knowledge in other subjects because you are central to your reading of literature. This is why the study of literature is revealing; this is why it can change us; this is why some people don’t like it or find it dangerous or risky, and why others embrace it. It should be an exciting and perhaps disconcerting process: literary studies should challenge you not only in what you read but also through the ideas of the others reading with you.” –Eaglestone, Literature: Why It Matters (2019)
Desired course learning outcomes [for English 175.02 Fall 2019] are situated primarily within state-wide learning outcomes for general education in the competency area “Humanistic and Artistic Ways of Knowing," as listed immediately below; please note also that I will use the three-part Midterm Exam as well as the Concise Reflection on Goals and Learning Outcomes assignments to assess students' competencies in meeting these outcomes--results will be kept anonymous and reported in aggregate percentages as part of the university's assessments of student learning.
General Education Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to demonstrate the following competencies [particularly within the specific context of English literary studies]:
1. Recognize and describe humanistic, historical, or artistic [literary] works within problems and patterns of the human experience.
2. Distinguish and apply terminologies, methodologies, processes, epistemologies, and traditions specific to the discipline(s) [English literary studies].
3. Perceive and understand formal, conceptual, and technical elements specific to the discipline [of literature].
4. Analyze, evaluate, and interpret texts, objects, events, or ideas in their cultural, intellectual or historical contexts.
5. Develop critical perspectives or arguments about the subject matter, grounded in evidence-based analysis.
6. Demonstrate self-reflection, intellectual elasticity, widened perspective and respect for diverse viewpoints.
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See specific advice embedded within our Bblearn site regarding opening PDFs.
Course Requirements:
1. Fifteen Bblearn Inquiry Starters (ISs, weekly)—minimum 225 words each—that is, one Inquiry Starter is due each week by 9 a.m. on Monday, or Wednesday, or Friday—vary your choice of MWFs so that your posts are divided (almost) equally among those days (five for each M, or W, or Friday over the course of the semester):
Each Inquiry Starter should combine a brief account of and response to some aspect of one or more of the readings assigned for a particular day, with a thesis/problem-driven reflection. Your aim is to present a thoughtful, focused/concise reflection about some aspect of a particular day’s reading assignments—for example, write anywhere from two sentences to a concise paragraph about the assigned critical reading, with quotation to illustrate, and write at minimum a concise paragraph about the assigned literary text: find a couple of points of interest that enable you to take a stance/make a claim, state a point of view/thesis, to include--if possible at times--connecting a specific passage/concept/perspective from our readings that week with the assigned literature to enable you to make sense of our readings through illustration and analysis of an aspect a particular work of literature (e.g., poem, story, play). That is, your Inquiry-Starter should demonstrate that you are keeping up with and engaging with our weekly texts in significant ways, particularly as instances of inquiry that may promote further conversation and study.
Inquiry Starters present a means for everyone to share enthusiasms and questions as you delve into the significance, methods, and effects of our study of literature, and to learn from others' comments; the work of completing these also are designed to help you to develop critical competencies and analytic strengths at somewhat lower-risk stakes than the midterm and final exams.
Each Inquiry Starter is due no later than 9 a.m. either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday: direct your attention to aspects of the reading for that particular day of the week--in other words, if you post on a Friday, examine and comment on something 'fresh' for that day’s class rather than returning to texts and discussion from the prior Wednesday or Monday, and follow this practice during the semester as you vary your posts among Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
No late entries—Entries posted any later than 9am will result in a three-point reduction in your semester point total for each missing or late entry; keep in mind that you must cite/address specific aspects of both the critical material as well as the literary text: insufficient posts are subject to point penalties/deductions as part of the evaluation of your accumulated Inquiry Starters. Come to class prepared to talk about your ISs/ideas. Note: you may make up for one prior missing Inquiry Starter by posting an Inquiry Starter on a literary text from Bblearn folders that we have not discussed in class, in the “Make-Up” discussion thread for Friday 22 November.
I attend to the ISs as part of my evaluation of your performance in the course--strive each week for a full and thoughtful/analytical entry--avoid posting too brief and/or mainly descriptive entries. Additional note: from time to time I may take opportunities to highlight different ISs, so come prepared to talk about your post with a peer group and with the class as a whole. For examples of solid-to-strong IS posts, see examples in Bblearn. For those who repeated miss posting ISs, I will likely send an email to you earlier than mid-October, as a note of advice, caution, and inquiry.
Note: the 15 Inquiry-Starters along with the weekly shorter Peer-Response Entries are part of what you are to compile in one document (12-12 ISs and PRs) to form part of materials for the Concise Reflective Essay (see #4 below). I advise that you compose your posts in a separate document, then copy/paste into Bblearn (you also may be able to enter your name in a search window to gather all your posts, in Bblearn). I also encourage you to read and keep track of Peer Responses to your own Inquiry Starters. Missing or late Peer-Responses also will each be counted against your semester point total, with 2 points deducted for each missing or late entry.
2. Fifteen Peer-Responses (PRs)—minimum 100 words each—that ‘reply’ to a peer’s Inquiry Starter, in a way that identifies what you found compelling or of interest in your classmate’s observations, and that aims to continue the implied conversation/exchange of views prompted by the Inquiry Starter and texts and ideas under discussion. That is, one Peer-Response is due preferably by 10 a.m. but no later than 5pm each week on Monday, or Wednesday, or Friday in response to a peer's Inquiry Starter that was posted for that particular day (you do not need to post the PR on the same day that you post your own IS)—vary your choice of MWFs so that your posts are divided among those days (five for each M, or W, or Friday over the course of the semester) and divided among 15 different peers. The intention/purpose here is to foster and develop interpretive competencies and ways of knowing through deliberate exchange, in part to supplement classroom discussions, especially given the larger 40-student class size of English 175. And as with the Inquiry-Starters, plan to keep a copy of each Peer-Response entry—in a separate document (see #4 below). I also encourage you to read and keep track of Peer Responses to your own Inquiry Starters. Missing or late Peer-Responses will each be counted against your semester point total, with 2 points deducted for each missing or late entry.
3. Three-part Midterm Essay Exam (Wednesday 16 October, 100 points possible).
The exam directs you to write (as specified in detail further below)
A.1.) in advance of the in-class portion of the midterm, one concise summary on one of several critical-theoretical perspectives on literature and culture, and
(A.2.) in advance of the in-class portion of the midterm, a brief reflective essay on some aspect of what you have found significant in studying literature in this course, with citations/quotes from what we have studied (also to include comments on a specific story, play, or poem), and
(B.) during the in-class midterm, one essay on Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer.
Note: A.1 Summary and A.2 Reflective Essay are to be combined/placed into one document, uploaded to the Bblearn assignment for the Midterm by 10:30 a.m., and if later than 10:30 a.m.--but if late to be uploaded no later than 10:30 a.m. the following day Thursday October 17--will incur a three-point deduction.
(A) in advance of the in-class part B of this midterm exam, write a Summary (A.1.) of what you consider to be the most important/significant claim/argument in one of the following accounts of theoretical perspectives from our assigned reading and/or resources in Bblearn: Parker/Ch. 8 Marxism and/or Ryan, Ch. 5 Marxism and Political Criticism; Parker, Ch. 10 Postcolonial and Race Studies and/or Ryan Ch. 8 Ethnic, Post-Colonial, and Transnational Criticism; Parker, Ch. 6 Feminism and/or Ryan Ch. 7 Gender Criticism; Parker, Ch. 7 Queer Studies; Parker, Ch. 4 Deconstruction; Parker, Ch. 5 Psychoanalysis and/or Ryan Ch. 4 Psychoanalysis; or some important distillation/aspect of Eaglestone’s book, Literature Why It Matters.
A.1. Summary (350-450 words, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, one-inch margins, preferably also with header that includes your last name and page numbers): Focus your summary to present a straightforward account of the chapter/theory’s primary, most important or engaging ideas and points of argument and interpretation.
Process (for summary and looking ahead to the A.2 Reflection essay): After reading the chapter/critical theory closely, you might explore to what extent and how the reading has influenced your views and understanding, to include aiming to determine points of agreement or doubt, significant questions, important ideas you "take away" from the reading, and by reflecting on what you might "say back" to the author in sharing your perspective on the theoretical approach. However, this does not mean that you are required to reference the essay you summarized as part of your A.2 Reflection essay.
As you write the summary, work from your sense of the reading’s structure and content, (what each part of the chapter/essay "does" and "says," usually a response to an implicit question)—recognize that you will need to select among such points because your word limit will force you to choose what ideas and arguments to focus on.
Your summary should strive to be accurate, direct, and concise; aim for a fair, nonpartisan stance and tone, and except for brief quotes use your own words to express the author's ideas, use attributive tags (such as according to Parker or Eaglestone argues that) to keep the reader informed that you are expressing the writing and to some extent the ideas of another (such as Parker or Eaglestone, or Ryan), and focus the summary to produce a cohesive, coherent account. You might begin the summary by identifying the question or the problem that the critical theory addresses, then state the reading’s purpose or thesis and summarize its main argument or primary analysis.
A.2. Reflection essay (approximately 400-500 words, double spaced, 12 point font, with one-inch margins, preferably also with header that includes your last name and page number(s): write a reflective, question -and problem-posing essay that explains and explores what you consider to be one of the most important/compelling/useful and/or problematic interpretative issues/ideas//theories in our study of literature thus far: that is, focus your critical reflection and inquiry on some aspect of what you have learned about studying a particular literary work (excluding The Sympathizer which you will write about in Part B) and if you can make a broader generalization, about studying literature (citing Eaglestone or NIL, for example, and/or the theoretical piece that you summarized). Given the brevity of this essay, you may find it useful to quote only briefly from one or more passages from a literary text or theoretical perspective in order to support your inquiry with a specific illustration. You also may find it effective to compose a thesis for your essay that encapsulates the most significant point/issue that you want to express and address. Take care to articulate clearly your inquiry into the material, especially problems or contradictions that seem difficult to resolve.
Note again: A.1 Summary and A.2 Reflective Essay are to be combined/placed into one document, uploaded to the Bblearn assignment for the Midterm.
B. During the in-class midterm exam write one essay (approximately 450-550 words) about The Sympathizer, in response to one or more questions about the novel that you will receive at the start of the exam--our class discussions and the discussion-study questions in the Bblearn folder on Nguyen provide some guidance for preparation for the exam, and you are invited to contribute potential questions for the exam in the discussion thread for Monday Oct. 14 in Bblearn. You will be permitted to consult your text of the novel and to mark pages or passages that you consider significant or potentially helpful, but (you are to bring or consult )no other notes during the exam. Again, I suggest that as you review the novel, also review the discussion questions on the novel (and think about our class discussions) in the Bblearn folder on Viet Thanh Nguyen, and start to consider what you might argue to be the most significant aspect or effect or question addressed and perhaps answered in the novel, in terms of what it represents and achieves, and how it does so. You might also review Inquiry Starters and Peer Responses on the novel as a way to strengthen your understanding and reflections on The Sympathizer. Bring a green or blue exam booklet to write in or bring ruled notebook paper.
I will evaluate the Summary, Reflection, and Essay on The Sympathizer and assign a point total out of the 100 points possible for the whole exam, rather than indicate strict points for each of the three subsection parts of the midterm.
In the critical-reflective essay on The Sympathizer, seek to create an argument and present analysis that may include close attention to a particular passage from the novel but that also moves beyond close analysis to address/understand the novel’s overall narrative arc and its modes of representing, engaging, and working through problems/questions—this analysis may address both issues of structure or narrative voice/technique (how the novel works) as well as cultural/historical/social problems and questions prompted by the novel’s ‘story/narrative’ (what it means or achieves, what questions it seems to address/raise), and to consider to what degree the novel seems to answer or resolve such questions and aims. Also aim to advance or supplement--move beyond--our class discussion and analysis.
In other words, what (in your view/analysis) does The Sympathizer accomplish or perhaps aim to accomplish and how does it do so? What makes this novel significant and of import and interest? Is there a particular angle of interest or issue that you want to analyze and discuss—do so!
4. Concise Reflection on Goals and Learning Outcomes (50 points possible)—due 22 November by 10:30 a.m., uploaded to Bblearn assignment (titled, minimum 500 words, or longer, plus compilation of ISs and PRs): this assignment directs you to write a relatively brief essay/letter that reflects upon what you have learned, done, and sought to accomplish in your studies of literature this semester, including as demonstrated in the midterm exam essays as well as in the weekly Inquiry-Starter and Peer-Response posts, and as you reflect upon selected aspects of your class participation, reading, and studies, up through mid-November, including as related to at least two of the course’s stated/desired Learning Outcomes (specified further above). Along with your Reflection, include the document that compiles/copies each of your 12 (or even 13 if you have posted for this week) Inquiry Starters and 12 (or even 13 if you include this week) Peer-Responses, with dates and subject line titles (such as [Inquiry Starter, 9-18-19, NIL-7 Theme (429-433); Danielle Evans, “Boys Go to Jupiter” (83-101)]—for copies of Peer Responses, indicate which/whose Inquiry Starter you responded to, for each entry. Place this compilation in an Appendix at the end of your Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes. I also encourage you to read and keep track of Peer Responses to your own Inquiry Starters, and to consider what you may be learning from others' responses to your perspectives.
In your Reflection, aim to address such questions as how—in what specific ways—have your thinking, reading, and writing about literature, ideas, and culture developed or changed over your studies and conversations this semester? To what extent (and how) might any others (writers/peers, for example) have played a role in your developing competencies, including in-class group conversations, discussions? What particular goals or aims guided or figured in your choices and practices/efforts? To what degree do you think that you have demonstrably met at least two of the stated Learning Outcomes for the course—how so, and perhaps, why (so)? If you had an opportunity to revisit, for example, one of your Inquiry Starters to revise and to expand upon your observations, which would it be and what might you seek to write, achieve further? Anything else that you wish to express in this Memo? You might keep in mind the title and import of Eaglestone’s book-length claim/argument: “Literature: Why It Matters.” Also see two examples of such Concise Reflective Essays (though from 300-level courses) in PDFs at the bottom of the list of folders and files in the Literary and Critical Texts folder.
5. During the in-class final exam (Tuesday Dec. 17 from 10:15AM-12:15PM, in our regular classroom) write two essays (approximately 450-550 words each) about two different texts from our schedule of readings (or from any other texts included in/via our Bblearn folders or from our main text, the Norton Introduction to Literature), including at least one play, but excluding any play that you may have written about in the Midterm Exam (A.2) or in the Concise Reflective Essay. Use a green or blue exam booklet to write in or bring ruled notebook paper to the exam, which I may examine/initial prior to start of exam. You may bring a device to consult a PDF/digital version of the texts, or a printed copy, but you cannot consult/view other materials during the test.
To explain further, in
(1) one essay, you must write about a play, selected from any of the plays available in our Bblearn materials/folders or from the Norton Introduction to Literature text; in
(2) the second essay, you may write about a different/additional play, or a short story or perhaps even two stories if you are doing a comparison (from any point in the semester or from our resources excluding what you may have written about in the midterm (A.2) or Concise Reflective Essay), or one to several poems (excluding any poem that you may have written about in the Midterm Exam (A.2) or in the Concise Reflective Essay), or any of the films from the film folder.
You will be permitted to consult texts of these written works but you cannot bring or consult other notes during the exam.
As you prepare for the essays, consider what you might argue to be the most significant aspect or effect or question addressed and perhaps answered in the respective specific text, in terms of what it represents and achieves, and how it does so. You might also review Inquiry Starters and Peer Responses on your selected texts as a way to strengthen your understanding and reflections.
I will assign a point total out of the 100 points possible for the whole exam, rather than indicate strict points for each essay.
For each essay, seek to create an argument and present analysis that may include close attention to particular passages but that also moves beyond close analysis to address/understand the literary text’s overall narrative arc and its modes of representing, engaging, and working through problems/questions—this analysis may address both issues of dramatic structure or narrative voice/technique/language (how the text or film works) as well as cultural/historical/social problems and questions prompted by the text’s ‘story/narrative’ (what it means or achieves, what questions it seems to address/raise), and to consider to what degree the work of literature seems to answer or resolve such questions and aims. Also aim to advance or supplement--move beyond--our class discussion and analysis.
In other words, what (in your view/analysis) does each literary text (play, and play, story, poem, or film) that you have selected to write about accomplish or perhaps aim to accomplish and how does it do so? What makes this work significant and of import and interest? Is there a particular angle of interest or issue that you want to analyze and discuss—do so!
6. Participation: Please take advantage of opportunities to share your insights and to listen and reply to others' ideas. I hope that questions and discussions will enable you to move the class in directions you find most helpful, give you opportunities to develop critical skills through collaboration, and provide for a productive, interesting exchange of perspectives among the class. You shall meet periodically in small groups in class primarily for sharing Inquiry-Starters and Peer-Response posts, and to prompt our class discussions. I expect you to contribute productively to class discussion, and I will make an effort to call on you directly, especially if you tend not (!) to pitch in to share your views and questions. In sum, aim to come to class prepared, to contribute readily to conversation in thoughtful ways that advance the discussion, to attend to others' views in ways that promote productive dialogue and exchange, and to participate actively in class and online. Engaged participation also is taken into consideration as I evaluate the Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes (#4 above).
7. Required work—particularly the midterm Summary and the Reflection essay as well as the Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes—is due at the specified time on the due date—work turned in late will be graded accordingly. Required graded written work will be downgraded one notch (for example, B+ to B, converted to points for each assignment) for each day late. Work submitted more than a week late will not be accepted. I will grant short extensions for medical and family emergencies—talk with me as soon as possible to request an extension. Always keep copies of your work.
8. Attendance: always attend class (unless you are sick). One to three absences--excused or not--will not affect your semester grade; a fourth absence will lower your semester point total by two points only if you reach five absences, with a two-point reduction for each additional absence (five absences=minus four points, six absences = minus 6 points); eight or more absences is sufficient cause for you to receive a failing grade for the course, regardless of your semester point total. All absences will be counted—excused or not—if something extraordinary occurs, talk to me. I note absences in the Bblearn Grade Center by entering -.1 for each absence—as a minimal notation/placekeeper—until five absences have occurred, then the larger deduction is shown. It may be helpful near the end of the semester for you to remind me which absences were due to illness, preferably with a doctor's note. Once your absences reach five or higher, I will start to note the point deductions in the Bblearn Grade Center.
Another category of absence has to do with conflicting university commitments that are academic (such as a theater majors' trip to regional conference) or perhaps directly related to next steps in your professional life/career (such as a job interview) or if you are a UI athlete, absences that are due to a team trip, or for documented and timely notice of illness that creates an occasional absence, or for an important family commitment that compels you to miss class. To make up for such university academic, sports absences, or occasional absences due to illness--on an absence-by-absence basis--please select an assigned text for the day on which you have an absence (again, usually due to a university academic or sports commitment/conflict such as a class field trip, with supporting note from instructor, or an athletic trip/competition, with supporting note/letter from the athletic dept.), and post an extra Inquiry Starter for that week (to be posted no later than a week following the missed class), and send an email to me with the content of that post (sflores@uidaho.edu
9. Grades: Midterm Exam (100 pts); Concise Reflection on Goals and Learning Outcomes, with compilation of ISs and PRs as well as overall participation/engagement (50 points); Final Exam (100 points); (100 pts). These required assignments add up to a maximum of 250 points. Thus 225-250 points equals an A, 200-224 equals a B, 175-199 equals a C, 150—174 equals a D, and anything below 150 receives an F. As noted above, Incomplete or missing inquiry-starter entries and peer-response entries will be counted against your semester grade, with -3 points for each missing or incomplete Inquiry Starter, and -2 points for each missing or late peer response entry. Please consider that the weekly reading and writing and attendance/participation comprise a vital aspect of building cumulative, sequenced competencies and understanding prior to the midterm, the memo of goals and learning outcomes, and through the end of semester. If you are falling short of basic, competent work prior to the midterm, you will know that both through the Bblearn Grade Center and in some cases of great concern, by individual emails from me. If you want my sense of how you are doing, just ask.
10. Office hours. I encourage you to confer with me—especially before assignments are due—to talk about your interests, intentions, and writing strategies. If you cannot make my regular hours (in Brink 122), we’ll arrange another time. I also welcome communicating with you by E-mail (sflores@uidaho.edu).
11. Use of laptops, tablets, and cell phones during class is acceptable only for accessing course materials: our assigned reading/texts. Do not participate online during class on email or other social media/forums.
12. Do not submit work for this class that you have submitted or intend to submit for a grade in another course; as always, be careful to cite anyone else's work that you draw upon. I report all such instances to the Dean of Students Office and do not offer the option to re-do a plagiarized assignment, which will receive zero points. See highlighted link on the class website to a useful guide to avoiding plagiarism, and a link to information on the university's policies regarding plagiarism and academic dishonesty, in relation to the UI Code of Student Conduct. University of Idaho Guidelines on Academic Dishonesty , including plagiarism:
Plagiarism includes the using of ideas, data, or language of another as one’s own without specific or proper acknowledgement or citation, lack of knowledge of proper citation is not valid excuse for plagiarism as it is the responsibility of the author writing the material to know the proper methods for appropriate citation and/or seek guidance/help when using another’s work.
Plagiarism can be committed in any type of assignment and includes, but is not limited to, the following behavior that also does not include the full, clear and proper acknowledgement of the original source:
The copying of another person’s work, published or unpublished;
The paraphrase of another person’s work, published or unpublished;
Using another person’s ideas, arguments, and/or thesis from a published or unpublished work;
Using another person’s research from a published or unpublished work;
Using materials prepared by a person or agency in the selling of term papers or other academic materials.
13. Classroom Learning and Civility: To support learning and discovery in this course—as in any university course—it is essential that each member of the class feel as free and as safe as possible in his or her participation. To this end, we must collectively expect that everyone (students, professors, and guests) seek to be respectful and civil to one another in discussion, in action, in teaching, and in learning. Because knowledge and learning are constructed and construed through social inquiry and exchange, it is vital that course dialogue and debate encourage and expect a substantial range of reasoned, expressive, and impassioned articulation of diverse views in order to build a stronger understanding of the materials and of one another's ways of knowing. These practices strengthen our capacities for understanding and the production of (new) knowledge. As with the critical writing assignments for this class, our primary aims include engaging with texts and their varied critical interpretations by identifying problems, developing claims and arguments with supporting lines of evidence and explanation, and enriching our literary understanding, interests, and commitments.
Should you feel our classroom interactions do not reflect an environment of civility and respect, you are encouraged to meet with me during office hours to discuss your concern. Additional resources for expression of concern and avenues of support include the chair of the Department of English, Dr. Jodie Nicotra, the Dean of Students office and staff (5-6757), the UI Counseling & Testing Center’s confidential services (5-6716), or the UI Office of Human Rights, Access, & Inclusion (5-4285).
14. Disability Support Services: Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have documented temporary or permanent disabilities. All accommodations must be approved through Disability Support Services (885-6307; dss@uidaho.edu; www.uidaho.edu/dss) located in the Idaho Commons Building, Room 306 in order to notify your instructor(s) as soon as possible regarding accommodation(s) needed for the course.