English 341.01 Survey of British Literature [10th c. - early 18th c.]                  Fall 2018                          
Dr. Stephan Flores (sflores@uidaho.edu)                                                      
11:00 am -12:15 pm TR College of Ed. 243                                                                       
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~sflores/                                                  Main office of Department of English: 885-6156
Office hours: W 2:30pm-4:00 p.m. & by appt.                                             Office: Brink 125

Prerequisite: English 102 or equivalent, and pre-or-co-requisite of Engl 175, or 257, or 258; English majors must in addition have completed Engl 215, or enroll by permission of instructor.

The course surveys the wonderful, varied history of medieval and early modern British poetry, drama, and prose fiction, including haunting early English elegiac poetry, violence and lament in Beowulf, selections from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the anti-heroic? romance of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one late 17th-century non-Shakespearean play--Wycherley's Restoration sex comedy The Country Wife--selections from Shakespeare's sonnets, Aemilia Lanyer's and Mary Wroth's poetry, John Donne's erotic lyrics and religious verse, nearly all (!) of Milton's epic, magnificent poem Paradise Lost, Aphra Behn's verse (she is among the first professional female writers) and the Earl of Rochester's satiric verse as well as Behn's debate-provoking novella Oroonoko (is it a proto-abolitionist work?), and Eliza Haywood's provocative short fiction Fantomina. These and other selected works represent but a portion of the rich literature over these centuries; we'll proceed at a steady, fairly brisk pace that enables us to consider substantial texts and secondary critical essays in some depth while also sustaining an overview that extends into the eighteenth century.

Our aim is to work and converse together to explore the social, sexual, political, and formal issues these texts represent as well as the continuities and discontinuities of literary history. Assignments include weekly Inquiry-Starter entries on Bblearn, a Critical Essay, a Term Essay, and a Final Exam.

The quote that follows serves as a general guiding premise/claim for the course and its outcomes (also see expected learning outcomes noted further below, following the semester schedule): Literature provides 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).

This class counts toward/satisfies several different elective possibilities in the different emphases in the English major, such as the "one upper-division course in literature before 1900 (3 cr)" requirement in the Literature emphasis, or as one of the options in the 9 credits of 300-level literature surveys, or in the Creative Writing emphasis the "Shakespeare or another course in literature before 1800 (3 cr)" requirement, or as one of two required electives among the 300-level literature surveys, and similar options/requirements in the Teaching emphasis or in the current Professional emphasis.

Broader contexts for desired course outcomes are situated within the department's goals for the English major and the university's learning outcomes. In addition, as the course progresses, see further below learning outcomes specific to this course and level.

Required texts:

The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Tenth edition, Volume(s): Package 1: Volumes A, B, C. Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company (June 2018) Paperback. ISBN: 978-0-393-60312-5

Alternate text option: The Ninth edition also is acceptable: The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. 1, Ninth ed.(2012), Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Paperback: ISBN: 978-0-393-91247-0

Note: the Norton anthology, tenth or ninth edition, is required for the course--do not plan to use a different anthology/edition. For now, the page numbers on the schedule refer to the 9th edition.

Other primary and secondary works on library reserve and PDF documents (including scholarly articles/essays on many of our texts) in folders/course Bblearn site.

Login to Bblearn in advance of our first class meeting, by using your UIDAHO NetID. You can update your password at http://help.uidaho.edu/. If you haven't already, setup your NetID at www.vandalsetup.uidaho.edu. If you continue to experience problems accessing BbLearn after changing your password, please contact the ITS Help Desk by email helpdesk@uidaho.edu, or phone (208)885-HELP.
Student Help using BbLearn

Requirements:

1. Thirteen near weekly written Inquiry Starters (ISs): a combination of citation (summary-review) with thesis/problem-driven response (at minimum 230 words each), due by 10:00 a.m. on your choice of either Tuesday or Thursday. Note that over the course of the semester, plan to post some of your ISs on Tuesdays and some on Thursdays: each IS should demonstrate a reflective engagement with that day's reading assignment(s), to include finding a couple of points of interest that enable you to take a stance/make a claim, state a point of view/thesis about the texts/ideas--see two examples via this weblink). Eight or nine of your Inquiry Starters should respond quite directly and specifically to the literary text under discussion (be sure, however to read the introductory headnotes in the Norton anthology); four or five of your Inquiry Starters should respond directly to a substantial scholarly article/resource from Bblearn (PDF), typically an article that pertains directly to that week's discussion/texts.

Inquiry Starters present a means for you and your peers to share close critical analysis, enthusiasms and questions as you delve into the text’s significance, methods, and effects, and to learn from others' comments (a version of Graff's "They Say, I Say" exchange, see Bblearn). No late entries —Inquiry Starters are due/posted on the Bblearn discussion thread no later than 10 a.m. and must address a scheduled text or relevant piece of scholarship for that day (in other words, do not post about a Tuesday text on Thursday). See left side menu on Bblearn, click on that, then find appropriate thread for each IS, and post an entry and provide a "title" for your entry. Entries posted later than 10 am will lose five points--that is, your semester point total will be reduced by five points for each late or missing Inquiry-Starter entry. Come to class prepared to talk about your ISs/ideas; at times we'll spotlight individual ISs, using the projector to introduce the ISs via Bblearn to facilitate discussion, so keep in mind that you may be called upon in class to comment further upon your IS.

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 entries that are too brief and/or mainly descriptive rather than analytical. Remember: Missing or late inquiry-starter entries will be counted against your semester grade, and if your grades are on a borderline between grade ranges then missing even one entry may reduce your semester grade (see below); moreover, along with in-class participation, the quality of your Inquiry Starters forms part of the points awarded for Participation (at midterm and at the end of semester).

Special option/note: you have one opportunity at the end of the semester--by 10 a.m. on Dec. 4 or Dec. 6th--to post a substantial Inquiry Starter (minimum 250 words) on a piece of criticism on Wycherley’s play The Country Wife that will make up for any points deducted for one prior Inquiry Starter. In your IS, respond to one of the essays on play, as listed in  the Bblearn folder on The Country Wife. You should include some summary or focus on some aspect of the article/book chapter's thesis/argument, and as with other ISs this semester, have some point of focus and hypothesis in your own critical reflections on the article and the play. For those whose grades might be borderline, this enables you to 'regain' 5 points that were deducted. This option is not available to anyone who is not missing any Inquiry Starters (because this is not a bonus point situation, only a chance to make up for one missing IS).

2. In-class two-hour Final Exam (final exam 10:15 a.m.-12:15pm Wednesday December 12--be sure to make holiday travel arrangements so that you may take the exam on this scheduled date and time). This focused exam will entail/require two essays on your choice of texts structured as follows:

You shall write two in-class essays during the exam; each essay will be in response to a choice among several options over different selected texts, as described below. Your choice of topic will depend in part on what you wrote your Critical and Term Essays on—you cannot write on the same text(s) as your Critical or Term Essay.

Bring “blue” or “green” booklets or ruled paper, your Norton anthology/edition text, and also you may bring one standard (8.5"x11") piece of paper (with your name on it) on which you have written two to six quotes from scholars/critics, and several lines (a quote) from each of the literary texts that you plan to write upon. This piece of paper will be turned in with your exam.

The first half (Part 1) of the exam presents four options (with framing problems/questions; options A or B or C or D)—choose one option to write one essay on

(A) on Haywood's Fantomina (608)

(B) on Marvell's "Upon Appleton House" and/or Jonson's "To Penshurst" and/or Lanyer's "The Description of Cookham"

(C) on the poetic exchange/argument between Jonathan Swift's "The Lady's Dressing Room" (p. 636) and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's "The Reasons That Induced Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Called the Lady's Dressing Room," (p. 640) or

(D)  on the poetic exchange/argument between Pope's "Epistle 2. To a Lady" (p. 643) and Anne Ingram, Viscountess Irwin's "An Epistle to Mr. Pope" (p. 650)

the second half (Part 2) of the exam consists of one essay that you shall write in response to a question selected from these options (A, B, or C)

(A) on Wycherley's The Country Wife ( you may bring a hard copy of this PDF/play to the exam or access it, if needed, by laptop or phone

(B) on Behn's Oroonoko

(C) on Behn's and/or Rochester's poetry (such as "The Disappointment," "The Imperfect Enjoyment" and/or other poems by Behn or by Rochester)

(D) on Milton’s Paradise Lost

For example, if your Term Essay was on Fantomina, then for Part 1 you will need to write on option B, or C, or D and so on, or if your Term Essay was on Paradise Lost, then you would need to choose options A or B or C for Part 2.

Unless you are using an electronic version of our anthology, you cannot use a smartphone, tablet, or laptop during the exam. In addition to rereading/reviewing what you anticipate to be the literary texts that you may write about for the exam, I advise that you review a couple of scholarly articles on the works that you may plan to write about, selected from the Bblearn folders on these writers. 

Your essays are (to be) relatively concise, but I encourage you to develop and to support your ideas as clearly and as cogently as space allows, including brief citations of specific lines that illustrate your understanding, and use of summary and paraphrase in support of each analysis. It is helpful for your argument (advisable) to include a statement that makes a claim or presents a thesis with explanation and support. Aim to get to the points that you want to make without lengthy introductions, plot summary, or observations that may be too general rather than more focused and specific. Your interpretations are to be explanatory and implicitly argumentative: an occasion for you to clarify and advance your understanding. Do plan to refer to specific characters and passages from the texts to support your argument and your generalizations. If you quote from the text, do so briefly. Develop your thesis clearly and logically and offer support that includes some attention to the text's formal and linguistic qualities (e.g., diction, imagery, narrative or poetic or dramatic structure, point of view, rhyme, tone, etc.) and the relation of these elements to your interpretation. You may refer to your text during the exam. Please write as legibly as possible, preferably in ink.

3. Critical Essay , with title, (see highlighted weblink for fuller advice on writing critical essay as well as the 'advice on writing' folder in Bblearn--electronic copy due by noon on Monday October 22 uploaded to Bblearn--be sure to include your last name as part of the document title, such as Smith_341F18_CE).--also drop off a hard copy in Brink 200 or bring one to class on Tuesday) on either Beowulf, or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, or one (or more) of The Canterbury Tales, or Wyatt's poetry, or Lanyer's poetry or Wroth's poetry, or Donne's poetry, or Spenser's poetry (Epithalamion), or Shakespeare's sonnets, or Jonson or Marvell (or for instance, an essay on Lanyer's, Jonson's, and Marvell's country house poems); approximately 1600 words/six pages for main body of essay, double-spaced (e.g. 12-pt. Times New Roman font, with one-inch margins), with reference to at least one piece of “instructor-specified” secondary criticism from Bblearn folder(s) beyond our assigned reading in the Norton edition (also cite that text), according to selections (refer to/cite/draw upon at least one substantial article/book chapter in Bblearn folder for the corresponding literary text (I advise against drawing upon other scholarly articles or books via our library/database) posted on our class website for criticism on each text. I encourage you to send me by email a brief description of your provisional topic and thesis, by Wednesday October 17. The primary aims of this thesis-seeking/problem-posing exploratory essay assignment is to engage with the text and its critical interpretation/reception by identifying problems, developing claims and arguments, and enriching your literary understanding, interests, and commitments. I am not necessarily interested so much in whether your analysis is 'original' as I am in whether you address an interesting topic, explore interpretive/analytic issues productively, and demonstrate understanding that proceeds from your own reading as well as your research. You may draw upon/incorporate/revise one or more of your Inquiry Starters as a means to discover and to develop a topic, but you are not required or expected to do so. Use/learn Modern Language Association format for any notes and works cited (see, for instance, guidelines in the Advice on Writing Essays folder in Bblearn). For this assignment I encourage you to write an essay in response to one or more specific questions/problems of understanding and interpretation. See also University of Idaho Guidelines on Academic Dishonesty (including plagiarism). In accordance with the UI Student Code of Conduct, I report instances of academic dishonesty/plagiarism, to the office of the Dean of Students. Note: also see requirement #12 below. See rubric for evaluating the critical and the term essay below.

4. Term Essay on text or texts and topic of your choice due Tuesday December 4 by 11am with electronic copy uploaded to Bblearn (late essays will not be accepted beyond 11a.m. Thursday December 6, with a deduction of four points for each day late), from our schedule of readings/syllabus this semester (excluding topic and text analyzed in prior Critical Essay, double-spaced (12 pt, Times New Roman, 1-inch margins, MLA format, approximately 8-10 pages for main body of essay), with significant reference to at least two secondary works of criticism in addition to/beyond our Norton anthology (selected only from folders on Bblearn, that include substantial recent articles or book chapters--note that there are folders for Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer, Spenser, Lanyer, Wroth, Wycherley, Paradise Lost, Behn and Rochester, including essays on Oroonoko as well as poetry, Donne, and Fantomina).

This critical essay develops ideas prompted by our study and conversation, by recent scholarship, and by your perspectives. If you wish to write on a text that we have considered but find that there are not two substantial critical essays on that text/writer in a Bblearn folder, please let me know as soon as possible. I shall attend to the ways that you select, define, and engage questions and contradictions, and to the clarity, imagination, and grace that you demonstrate in presenting your topic, (hypo)thesis, and argument, and the extent to which your work engages with, explains, and contributes to the larger "conversation" of scholarship on the topic and text(s) under analysis. I do not always expect essays to conclude by "solving" such problems or by "proving" your thesis; I hope that you address interesting topics (questions for debate, interpretation, and analysis) in thoughtful and useful ways. Please feel invited to confer with me during the writing process. See also general advice for critical essays similar to prior advice on the Critical Essay that pertains as well to this Term Essay--also see folder in Bblearn. See also University of Idaho Guidelines on Academic Dishonesty (including plagiarism). In accordance with the UI Student Code of Conduct, I report instances of academic dishonesty/plagiarism, to the office of the Dean of Students. Note: also see requirement #12 below.

Concise Advice for this assignment: Work to present a clearly written argument and analysis, based on evidence, about the meaning, power, or structure of the literary text(s) that you select. Aim to produce a narrative that offers an explanation for the effects of the work—these effects, for instance, include (arguably) the ideas and feelings produced by the text. You will need to describe the evidence you are using, state your interpretations of this evidence, and bring those insights together into a claim (thesis) about the way the work of literature works, what it means, and how and why it has the effects that you claim (such as its emotional impact).  Such an argument aims to analyze examples in order to come to broader conclusions—your argument therefore should demonstrate inductive reasoning that moves logically and persuasively from particular pieces of compelling evidence to broader generalizations that advance, deepen, and enrich understanding. The evidence that you cite and analyze may include, for example, elements of narrative/poetic/dramatic structure and techniques as well as attention to the work's narrative arc, including its representation of specific cultural, historical, ideological issues, identities, and relationships. The text typically engages with conflicts, contradictions, and questions or problems, and your analysis may consider to what degree the literary text seems to answer or to resolve such issues, and how it might open up new perspectives for understanding and experience.

5. 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. The Inquiry Starters will support our discussions: you should be prepared to comment on the day's reading for each class session--that is, complete the reading and be ready to contribute to each class meeting, including periodic occaions where I may ask you to write about (in class) some aspect of the reading under discussion for that day and call upon you individually to learn your sense of what is under discussion, and to ask you to guide us through your Inquiry Starter entry for that day. We may form small groups from time to time primarily for discussing/sharing Inquiry Starters, as noted above. It is helpful, if you wish, to keep a weekly log in which you track your participation in class discussion, by jotting down in several sentences during or following each class meeting a brief notation of what you contributed to each class meeting, then submitting those typed or legibly handwritten 'journal entries' in one document to me prior to the midterm (email to me in MS Word doc by noon Oct 13) and again by Friday noon of the last week of regular class meetings. Review the Participation Guidelines and Rubric at this weblink.

6. All required work is due at the beginning of class 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 weekday late (not just days classes meet but counting just one day for a weekend); note, however, that the Term Essay cannot be turned in late--it is due in class on December 4 and no later than Dec. 6 in class, with four point deductions for each day late for the Term Essay. Work submitted more than a week late will not be accepted. I will grant short extensions for medical and family emergencies—but talk with me as soon as possible to request an extension. Always keep copies of your work.

7. Attendance: One to three absences will noted in Bblearn in a minimal way for recordkeeping (-.1 point for each of up to three absences, so for instance, -.2 means that I have noted two absences); a third absence will count more substantially (- 3pts) only if you have four or more absences; a five-point reduction for each absence starts with four absences (four absences=minus 8 points, five absences = minus 13 points); six 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 as soon as possible. Please try to schedule appointments with doctors or advisors outside of class time, when possible.

Exceptional circumstances: Another category of absence has to due with conflicting university commitments that are academic (such as a theater majors' trip to a regional conference) or a required UI athletic trip etc.—that is, absences that are due to a departmental or team trip (with supporting note from an academic adviser or the athletic department), or a doctor's appointment, or if absences due to illness begin to accumulate to three or more (if this develops, again, talk to me as soon as possible in order to arrange to make up, if possible, for missed work), or an extraordinary personal/family event/crisis. You may use this option for such make-up work up to three times.
To make up for (up to three) such absences on an absence-by-absence basis in a timely fashion/time frame, choose a scholarly article or substantial headnote/chapter from our text(s) or from a Bblearn folder—select one that can be related in some way to the text under discussion for the day for which you will be absent due to a university academic or sports commitment/conflict.

Write a concise summary (275-300 words) of some main aspect of the scholarly article/source—such as the primary, most important or engaging idea(s) and point(s) of argument and interpretation—also include some brief reflection (75-100 words) on the article’s main ideas/argument: for example, what  you find most valuable or problematic. Strive to be accurate, direct, and concise in the summary; 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 Smith or Smith argues that) to keep the reader informed that you are expressing another's ideas, and focus the summary to produce a cohesive, coherent account. You might begin the summary by identifying the question or the problem that the essay addresses, then state the essay's purpose or thesis and summarize its argument or primary analysis.
Post your entry as 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). Missed classes and work cannot be made up at the end of the semester.

8. Grades: Final Exam (50 pts); Critical Essay (100 pts); Term Essay (125 pts); Participation in class and online (15 pts--see #5 and #1 above, including weblink to additional guidelines/rubric for in-class participation). These required assignments add up to a maximum of 290 points. Thus 261-290 points equals an A, 232-260 equals a B, 203-231 equals a C, 174 -202 equals a D, and below 174 equals an F. Incomplete or missing Inquiry-Starter entries will be counted against your semester grade, with the loss of five points for each missing or incomplete entry--make every effort to complete each week's ISs on time, in part because such penalty points add up all too quickly.

I update Bblearn with grades/points or deducted points as those accumulate. Be sure to keep track of your assigned work and points received, and especially by mid-Novembe review your point totals for the graded assignments, 'midterm' participation grade, and any accumulated penalty points to date for missing/late ISs, and absences. It is helpful, if you wish, to keep a weekly log in which you track your participation in class discussion, by jotting down in several sentences during or following each class meeting a brief notation of what you contributed to each class meeting, then submitting those typed or legibly handwritten 'journal entries' in one document to me prior to the midterm and again in the last week of class.

9. 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 125), we’ll arrange another time. I also welcome communicating with you by E-mail (sflores@uidaho.edu). If you know that you plan to stop by my office, please let me know in advance by email, and include the desired or likely time frame, and what you'd like to discuss.

10. Use of laptops and cell phones during class is prohibited; occasional use of laptops—typically for group work and to access the online components of the class—may be permitted with instructor’s approval.

11. 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, this includes not only formal citation of secondary resources/scholarship for the primary, graded written assignments but also informal commentary, such as in the Inquiry Starters (do not, for instance, copy/revise material from such sources as SparkNotes, to substitute for your own critical observations and insights). 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. See also University of Idaho Guidelines on Academic Dishonesty (including plagiarism). In accordance with the UI Student Code of Conduct, I report instances of academic dishonesty/plagiarism, to the office of the Dean of Students.

12. 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. Scott Slovic, 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).

13. 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.

Schedule/Syllabus; If we fall behind, then on occasion we may defer or spill over discussion to next day, and adjust accordingly--for works that we discuss only one day, you are to have finished reading the work prior to class discussion; for works that we discuss over several days, make an effort to have finished most of the work prior to the first day of discussion (with the exception of Paradise Lost) but recognize that for the first day we'll likely focus our analysis/conversation on the first half or so of the text under discussion. For many of the texts, see PDFs of criticicim, study guide/questions in folders on class Bblearn site. Note that for now, when there are page numbers on the schedule below that reference writers/texts in the Norton anthology, unless otherwise noted, they refer to the 9th edition, not the 10th edition (so if you are using the 10th edition, simply look up the writer/texts in the corresponding volume and table of contents!).

Student Learning Outcomes (see this link for longer list and contexts for desired outcomes, that supplement the three outcomes stated below)
In English 341 students will learn, develop, and strengthen abilities
- to understand and to explain the historical dimensions of literary characters’ desires for and relation with others, including social negotiations and ideological debates over valued identities and principles, particularly as these desires and relations are understood as rhetorical functions and effects of the literary text in its particular language/form/structure and its contexts
-to explore the extent to which the culturally-inflected and historically-situated desires and power relations and identities in literary works are shown to be in flux, narrated and dramatized as being put into question or engaged in a debate among different social, political, class, gender, ethnic, religious/ideological arrangements
-to write a substantial critical essay that engages with a literary text and its critical interpretation/reception by identifying problems, developing claims and arguments, and enriching literary understanding, interests, and commitments

Examples of Contexts/Topics included in the Norton Anthology of English Literature website (related to student learning outcomes listed above--this outline suggests some of the texts/issues or 'content' of what students will explore/learn about)

Evaluation/Assessment Rubric for Critical Essay and Term Essay, with check mark along a scale, including specific comments to supplement my notations on the texts of the essays themselves:

Rubric for Initial Criteria for Evaluating Critical Writing/Essays:   Excellent    Very Good-Good    Competent-Fair    Weak
Note: Ultimately the evaluation of your work is holistic,
and therefore also intends to register the different, nuanced,
unexpected and evocative effects of your analysis,
exploration, creative expression/affect, and engagement
with learning and discovery.

1. Strength and clarity of (hypo)thesis/focus,
this may include your introduction to the problem to be
addressed, the critical/scholarly question and
conversation that your essay will contribute to,
intervene in …

2. Intellectual/conceptual strength and persuasiveness of
main claim as well as ensuing argument (including
counter-argument to respond to differing or opposing views
/logic/premises/critical analysis/theory/ideas         

3. Cohesive and coherent development, logical
 organization, including well-structured paragraphs with
clear points and compelling, specific support/evidence

4. Analysis of text’s/topic’s relevant cultural/historical
 contexts and if deployed, of related scholarship/criticism;
analysis of text’s rhetorical/persuasive strategies, structure
(narrative/dramatic/poetic structure, aspects of performance)

5. Topic’s depth/complexity, including explanation of
problem to be addressed, recognition of text’s
conflicts/contradictions (ideological/rhetorical),
creativity and sense of discovery/affective engagement
conveyed—the articulated sense of “what’s at stake, why
it matters” —what difference your essay makes

6. Significance/ conclusion

7. Effective sentences, syntax, verbs, diction,
punctuation, complexity, and suitable style: academic,
critical, appropriate to your understanding of the
materials/subjects; avoids clichés and trite expressions, avoids
overusing prepositional phrases, appropriately concise

8. MLA style—parenthetical citation of sources,
Works Cited; formatting; spelling not graded but noted
at times in body/text of your essay

University of Idaho Guidelines on Academic Dishonesty (including plagiarism)

Advice on Writing Critical Essays

Lessons on Style (general advice/quited dated handout but perhaps worth looking over) [pdf]

Quick Advice on Punctuation (also dated) [pdf]

Summary/Overview of Perspectives on Critical Theory

Online Writing Center Resources (from writing essays to grammar and usage advice):

http://wiki.english.ucsb.edu/index.php/The_Craft_of_a_Literature_Paper

Purdue OWL workshop/guidelines on using MLA for citation

MLA Quick Guide to Works Cited/citation