LSC – Tomball
Syllabus for ENGL 1302 Composition and Rhetoric II
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Instructor: Van Piercy, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English
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Sections: 3017
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Class Days and Times: MW 12:30PM - 1:50PM
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Classroom: S159
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Office: S153J
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Office hours: Office Hours: M: 12:30-1:30; T: 11-12:30PM and 2-3PM; W: 12:30-1:30PM & Th 11-
12:30. (Note: I am on campus most days. Feel free to knock at my door or catch me in the hall.)
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Faculty Web-page : http://faculty.lonestar.edu/vpiercy
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Telephone: (281) 401-1814 (office and voice mail); (281) 351-3384 (fax); (281) 351-3300 (Tomball College
Information)
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Email address: van.a.piercy@lonestar.edu
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Trillian and Yahoo! Instant Messengers: vpiercy1
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Mailbox: S150 at Tomball College
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Mailing address: 30555 Tomball Parkway, Tomball, TX 77375-4036
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Credit hours: 3
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Prerequisites: Successful completion of freshman English I
Required Textbooks
Schilb, John, and John Clifford, ed. Making Literature Matter . 5 th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2009.
Fante, John. Ask The Dust. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006.
Recommended A writing guide/handbook or an MLA Handbook . A computer, MS-Word compatible word processor, USB drive, internet access. (We have a number of computers on campus. If you need to know where one is, ask me.)
Evaluation and Letter Grade Assignments
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Diagnostic essay 5% Short story analysis (1 st analysis) = 15% (2 nd analysis) = 15% Draft of 2nd analysis = 5% Draft of research paper = 5% Drafting Workshop, typed draft = 5% Research paper
= 25% Final exam = 20% Quizzes, draft of first essay (quiz grade) = 5%
Classroom expectations:
1. While class is underway, please refrain from chatting up your neighbor or texting on cell phones, checking PDAs, laptop computers, netbooks, or reading other non-class related materials or devices. If you must mess about with these things during class, please excuse yourself and go into the hallway. Phones and pagers are to be silenced and put out of sight. If you insist on fiddling with your cell phone or other device during class, inputting messages, etc., or if I have to tell you repeatedly to stop talking to your neighbor I will mark you absent for that day and I will ask you to sit somewhere else, probably the other side of the classroom. If you continue to disrupt class, I will ask you to leave. You will then need to meet with me and possibly the vice president for student development before you can return to our class. See http://www.lonestar.edu/conduct.htm
.
2. Avoid coming to class late. If you come to class late, please get class notes from someone besides me. Coming to class late three times counts as one full absence.
3.
If you leave early frequently (more than four times) or come to class late frequently (more than four times), I may drop you for excessive absences.
4. Please come to class prepared. Read the assignments before class. Do the assigned homework so that you may participate fully in class discussion. It’s your education, not mine.
Attendance Policy:

One of the keys to success in this course is consistent attendance. You have three “personal” or
“free” days. After missing three classes, your course grade total will be reduced by two points per absence. Three tardies equal one absence.
Advisory Statement on the content of this course
This course treats and analyzes material containing adult themes and situations. English 1302 is an introduction to fiction, usually including but not limited to short stories, novellas, novels, plays, poetry, and films (often used to substitute for dramatic performances we cannot otherwise witness). These materials touch on many aspects of the human condition . Obviously, serious artistic writers may feel the need to hint at or examine the human darkness, or what they may deem to be “natural desires,” that can leave audiences both disturbed and fascinated. Hence, the material in this course may be too graphic, sexually explicit, psychologically
“confined” (in the sense of claustrophobic and paranoiac) or otherwise psychologically distressing for some readers
—thematic treatments of depression, suicide, forms of abuse, unusual sexual attractions, criminal behavior, disheartening diseases, or loss of faith, for example, are not uncommon. I urge those who may be over-troubled, offended, or even unusually inspired by such fictional treatments of adult themes to consider taking another course.
ADA Statement
If you require reasonable accommodations because of a physical, mental, or learning disability, please notify the instructor of this course as soon as possible and preferably before the end of the first two weeks of class to arrange for reasonable accommodations.
ENGL 1302 Tentative Schedule (Spring 2013) Note : All reading and writing assignments
are to be completed for the date on which they appear on the schedule (completed on or before the date on which they appear on the schedule.). In other words, be prepared to discuss those readings on that class day. Also, expect a quiz over any assigned work. Finally, it is a good idea to mark the due dates of major assignments from all your classes so that you can see what weeks will be especially
busy. Also, bring your book to class whether or not reading is assigned for a particular day.
See course website at http://vpiercy.wordpress.com/english-1302/ for updated course schedule.
Weeks 1, 2, and 3 — Review of ENGL 1301; Draft of Essay #1; Intro to Short Stories;
Theme and Setting
Jan 15 o
Introduction to the class; course website and policies o
Five paragraph theme paper: the tattoo > | | | < o Fables. “The Zebra Storyteller” o
PREVIEW: OWL. Titles for Academic papers, Critical Analysis assignment, syllabus, grade sheet.
Jan 17 o
First draft of Critical analysis #1 (Bring a “bluebook.” This IN-CLASS draft will give me a sample of your writing--here worth a quiz grade. I will comment about its qualities. This is the basis of your final copy.) o Literature pp. 321 “What is literature? How and Why Does It Work?” Read in preparation for the in-class writing. o Literature pp. 699-704. Kate Chopin, “The Storm.” Read in preparation for the in-class writing. o Literature pp. 130-131 “Setting.” Read in preparation for the in-class writing.
Week 2
Jan 22

o
MLA style at http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/ and at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
o
Review the websites linked from our course homepage on these MLA topics: Capitalizing titles and subtitles; Underlining or Italics; Quotation marks and short titles; Outlining,
Theses, Drafting o
Literature pp. 614-620.
Updike, “A & P” o
Literature pp. 705-707 Chopin,
“The Story of an Hour” o Draft Paper returned.
Jan 24 o
Literature pp. 3-
21 “What is literature? How and Why Does It Work?” Continued, esp. pp.
7-15. o
Literature pp. 699704. Kate Chopin, “The Storm.” Continued. o
Literature pp. 614-
620. Updike, “A & P” Continued. o Literature pp. 705707 Chopin, “The Story of an Hour.” Continued. o
Literature pp. 1059-
1071 Russell, “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” (for next class)
Week 3
Jan 29 o
Draft workshop; peer editing.
Bring three copies of a typed draft of your paper to receive credit . o
MLA ( refer to the OWL and Capital Community College MLA sites’ URLs above for all future “MLA” topics in this syllabus
): Integrating sources into your text; Brackets and
Ellipsis Marks o Literature pp. 10591071 Russell, “Vampires in the Lemon Grove”
Jan 31 o Chitra B. Divakaruni ,“Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter” at o http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/98apr/dutta.htm
Literature pp. 5769 “Strategies for Making Arguments about Literature ”
Week 4
Feb 5 o o
Literature pp. 138142 “Final Draft of Student Paper”
Critical Analysis 1 due
Feb 7 o Ask The Dust, pp. 11-55
Week 5
Feb 12 o
Literature chapter 2: “How to Read Closely,” 22-48. o Ask The Dust. pp. 56-121
Feb 14

o Ask The Dust. pp. 122-165
Week 6
Feb 19 Ask The Dust, wrap-up discussion.
“What Makes Literature ‘Literature’?” pp. 7-17—read Wadler and read Kumin. Also, read “Why Study Literature in a College
Writing Course?” pp. 17-19.
Feb. 21 Alice Walker, “Everyday Use,” pp. 314-322.
Week 7
Feb 27 Read pages 532550, to include “A Conflict of Values: A Story in the News,” Hanif Kureishi, “My Son, the Fanatic,” Haroon Siddiqui, Knoxville
News-Sentinel, Andrew Norfolk, and Barbara Hagerty
Feb 29 Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery,” pp. 867-874 & Aimee Wilson,
“Under the Guise of Tradition: ‘The Lottery’ and Female Circumcision,” pp. 883-
886.
Week 8
Mar 5 Midterm Review.
Mar 7 Midterm .
SPRING BREAK WEEK – NO CLASSES MAR 11-16
Week 9
Mar 19 "Trifles" (in our textbook), pp. 941-953.
Mar 21 Christopher Durang, “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls,” 411-424
Week 10
Mar 26 Robert Browning
, "My Last Duchess,” pp. 1206-1209; Gabriel
Spera, “My Ex-Husband,” pp.1209-1212.
Mar 28 Céline handout.
Week 11
Apr 2
Apr 4
Week 12
Apr 9
Research paper assignment
David Foster Wallace handout
Poetry

Apr 10
Apr 11
Week 13
Apr 16
Poetry LAST DAY TO DROP AND RECEIVE A “W”
Poetry
Poetry
Apr 18 Poetry
Apr 23
Apr 25
Week 15
Apr 30
Partial annotated bibliography due; poetry discussion.
Partial annotated bibliography due ; poetry discussion.
Full annotated bibliography due; Draft of research paper due
May 2
noon - 12:59 pm May 7 noon - 1:50 pm