LITE 212 - American Literature

Spring 2009

Instructor:

Lin Marklin

Phone:

269-965-3931, ext. 2281

Office Hours:

Click for Regular Office and I am available by appointment
Email: marklinl@kellogg.edu

It is best to contact me via the course discussion board or email. I will respond to email within two working days.

Course Prerequisites:

Prerequisite: Compass score of 70 or Engl 120. LITE 212-American Literature, A survey of American literature from the early twentieth century to the present.

Textbook

Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volumes C, D and E. 5th Edition. Paul Lauter, General Editor. Boston: Houghton/Mifflin, 2006.

Online Course Features and Requirements

Number of tests: none of which 0 must be proctored.

Required on campus sessions: 0

Special labs or practicum: 0

Number of assignments:

45 discussion board posts

6 response papers

2 essays

Estimated time per week: 15 hours

Group interaction required: YES

Peer reviews and discussion board forums

Scheduled activities or self paced: Scheduled due dates

Students must have access to the following:

Equipment: You will need a computer that is able to access and interact with the Web. For best results, a Pentium or PowerMac with a 28.8 Kbps or faster modem and 64 MB or more of RAM should be considered the minimal system.
Software: You will need an Internet browser version 6 or higher, either Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. A word processor capable of saving and opening RTF (rich text format) documents is required (almost all popular word processing programs can do this).
Internet connection: Home users need Internet access through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that offers a reliable, direct connection to the Internet.

Other requirements:

Course Site:

http://bb.kellogg.edu/

Computer Access at KCC

It is assumed that students enrolled in this course have at their disposal appropriate equipment and software to complete the course work and communicate with other students. If there are problems with your equipment and/or software, it is possible to come the KCC's Campus and use the open computer lab in the Learning Resource Center. See KCC's web site for campus maps and lab times.

Submitting Class Materials

Students will be expected to use the blackboard site to submit class materials. (Before you are registered for the course you may look at the class site using guest as the id and guest as the password.)

Course Description

LITE 212 is designed to introduce you to literature analysis. The class is designed to help students develop a deeper understanding of literary forms and view them in a variety of contexts. Class analysis of texts will range from reader response to historical criticisms and issues of gender bias, cultural views, and authorial intent will be discussed.

Course Goal

1. Develop student knowledge of the creative process

2. Develop student ability to appraise the significance of the literary arts

3. Develop student competence in literature analysis

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, successful students will

Display familiarity with historical context in American literature in discussion posts and written assignments
Exhibit in written responses familiarity with literary analysis.
Identify and use literary terminology correctly in written assignments.
Practice close reading of various texts in American literature.
Present insights on various early American texts to a class.

Grading

There are no tests in this course. You have a midterm and final paper instead.
The response papers leading up to each larger paper are designed to prepare you for success on the midterm and final paper

Approximate Point Values of Assignments - 715 points in the semester

Three 25 point Responses	75	One 100 point Analysis Midterm Paper	100
Three 50 point Responses	150	One 150 point Analysis Final Paper	150
Course Orientation Activities	25	Discussion Board Posts	290
Posting of Drafts	25

Grading Scale

100-93% = A	86-83% = B	76-73% = C	66-65% = D
92-89% = A-	82-79% = B-	72-69% = C-	64-63% = D-
88-87% = B+	78-77% = C+	68-67% = D+	62% and below = F

Grading Criteria

LITE 212 is a second year college course in literature analysis and interpretation. Consequently, students are expected basic competency. Consequently, the grades your writing assignments receive represent your instructor's estimate of how well each assignment demonstrates your mastery of the composition skills appropriate at that point in the course. The following briefly describes the general requirements for each grade level.

To receive a grade of A, your writing should:

CONTENT - contain a central idea that is clearly defined, developed with originality and careful thought, and supported substantially and concretely
ORGANIZATION - follow a plan that progresses by clearly ordered and necessary stages
STYLE - contain paragraphs that are unified and developed with unusual effectiveness, transitions within and between paragraphs that are clear/effective, and paragraphs and sentences that are coherent and effective
DICTION - utilize language that is appropriate, fresh, accurate, concise, and idiomatic

To receive a grade of B, your writing should:

CONTENT - contain a central idea that is defined with more than usual care and clarity, developed fully and with consistent attention to proportion and emphasis, and supported with sufficient and consistently relevant detail
ORGANIZATION - follow a plan whose purpose and method are consistently apparent & completely fulfilled
STYLE - contain paragraphs that are well-developed and unified, transitions between paragraphs that are explicit and effective, and paragraphs/ sentences that are coherent and emphatic
DICTION - utilize language that is appropriate, clear, carefully chosen, and idiomatic

To receive a grade of C, your writing should:

CONTENT - contain a central idea that is adequately defined but trite, trivial, or too general; or that is developed adequately but with occasional disproportion or inappropriate emphasis; or that is supported adequately but with occasional repetition or sketchiness
ORGANIZATION - follow a plan whose purpose/method is apparent but fulfilled unimaginatively or incompletely
STYLE - contain paragraphs that are unified and coherent but occasionally ineffective in their development, or utilized transitions that are abrupt or mechanical, or contains sentences that while coherent are occasionally monotonous, un-emphatic, or ineffective in structure
DICTION - utilize language that is often inappropriate, vague, trite, or unidiomatic

Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling

Placement in LITE 230 presupposes a basic competence in English grammar, mechanics, punctuation, and spelling. An piece of writing will not receive a high grade merely because it is grammatically error-free. If the grammar in your work is so problematic as to obscure meaning, then you may be required to utilize some sources of help from outside the course.

Discussion Expectations

Discussion is an essential component of this class. A good way to think of the discussion board is as an ongoing conversation.
For this conversation to work well, we need to do four things:

1) Read and carefully think about the assigned readings

2) Prepare your answer carefully as you will not be able to edit or remove your posts.

3) Respond thoughtfully to the discussion thread I have posted, if there is one.

4) Respond thoughtfully and respectfully to the thoughts of classmates.

If we are going to feel free to share our interesting -- and therefore sometimes risky -- ideas, we need to know that our audience is not hostile, close-minded, or thoughtless. So we must dedicate ourselves to being friendly, open, and thoughtful. (I will immediately remove postings form the discussion board that interfere with the friendly, open, and thoughtful environment the discussion board should be.)

Each and every week, you are required to make at least two ORIGINAL thoughtful posting and four Replies within the appropriate forum for each week. Click for further discussion board expectations

Read through ALL the posts of other students before posting your reply. In your reply, state your ideas and acknowledge the ideas of students who have posted previously.

Attendance

Regular online participation is imperative. Important material is discussed in the bulletin board each week, and it is crucial that you plan to log on at least 4 times per week. The most successful students log on every day.

Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty is NOT permitted. Any students caught engaging in academic dishonesty will receive NO points for the exam, quiz, or writing assignment in which the cheating occurred, and/or will be subject to the disciplinary procedures of Kellogg Community College (at the discretion of the instructor).

Types of Academic Dishonesty
Un-permitted collaboration. A small amount of collaboration is permitted in this course, and guidelines for collaboration are given below. Students who work together in violation of the collaboration policy in this class are guilty of academic dishonesty and will receive the penalties outlined below

Plagiarism - Plagiarism is using another person's writing dishonestly. If you submit for a grade any writing that was written by an author (profession or non-professional) other than yourself, you are guilty of academic dishonesty, and you will receive the penalties outlined below.

Cheating – The most common form of general cheating is the sharing of answers on quizzes, tests, homework, or other assignments when the work is to be completed individually. If you cheat in this manner, you are guilty of academic dishonesty, and you will receive the penalties outlined below.

Fabrication- Fabrication is the falsification if information, sources, or citations in an academic exercise. "Invented" information may not be used in any academic exercise without authorization from the instructor.

Facilitating Academic Dishonesty - Students who knowingly or negligently allow their work to be used by other students or who otherwise aid others in academic dishonesty are violating academic integrity.

Penalties for Academic Dishonesty

The penalty for any form of academic dishonesty, at a minimum, is a zero on the assignment, which will often seriously jeopardize your semester grade. The incident will then be reported to the KCC’s Dean of Student Services who will keep a record of the incident in your permanent file. If, at this time, it is discovered that you have any other incident of academic dishonesty on file at KCC, you will be dropped from this course with an "F" and considered for suspension from the college. If you choose to cheat more than once in this class, you will be dropped from this course with an “F.”

Collaboration Policy

Students can talk with each other about the assignments, and this discussion is encouraged. In this class, collaboration is permitted when the assignment specifically indicates that working with another student is allowed. Always assume that collaboration is NOT allowed unless you are told something different.

Disclaimer

Information contained in this syllabus was, to the best knowledge of the instructor, considered correct and complete when distributed for use at the beginning of the semester. However, this syllabus should not be considered a contract between Kellogg Community College and any student, nor between any student and the instructor. The instructor reserves the right, acting within the policies and procedures of Kellogg Community College, to make changes in course content or instructional techniques without notice or obligation.

Make-up Policy

All assignments are due by midnight the date indicated on the pacing chart. Late assignments will be accepted only if they are completed by midnight of the next day, and this option is only available twice to each student. Assignments not submitted according to this policy will receive no credit, but students are still required to complete and submit the assignment to avoid being dropped from the course. It is strongly suggested that students set a personal deadline two days prior to the course deadline and complete all assignments by that deadline. This arrangement allows for unexpected life events and technology crashes.

Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 Statement

Kellogg Community College does not discriminate in the admission or treatment of students on the basis of disability. KCC is committed to compliance with the American Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.