Upper-division Writing Requirement Review Form (12/1/08)
I. General Education Review – Upper-division Writing Requirement
Dept/Program
Course # (i.e. ANTH ENLT 320
English
Subject
455) or sequence
Course(s) Title
Shakespeare
Description of the requirement if it is not a single course
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office.
Please type / print name Signature
Instructor
John S. Hunt
Phone / Email
243-4062
Program Chair
Casey Charles
III Overview of the Course Purpose/ Description
Date
2/17/2009
A comprehensive introduction to the works of Shakespeare, including exposure to major genres
in which the playwright worked, film adaptations and possibilities of dramatic interpretation,
and avenues of critical interpretation. Formally and informally evaluated assignments will
promote a variety of learning goals: close textual reading, dramatic engagement with character,
construction of critical arguments, and familiarity with relevant critical and scholarly contexts.
IV Learning Outcomes: Explain how each of the following learning outcomes will be achieved.
Three papers will build sequentially, from a
Student learning outcomes :
foundation of close reading, through practice in
Identify and pursue more sophisticated
constructing a critical argument, to a
questions for academic inquiry
concluding exploration of an area of strong
personal interest. The final paper will require
students to research a line of academic inquiry
outside the play they are writing about, whether
in published literary criticism or theory,
historical scholarship, or film studies.
One class period will be devoted to a session
Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize
with the Humanities librarian.
information effectively from diverse sources
(see http://www.lib.umt.edu/informationliteracy/)
ENLT 320 is the next step in the literature
Manage multiple perspectives as appropriate
curriculum after ENLT 301, Applied Literary
Criticism. The subject matter lends itself to an
enormously wide array of productive critical
approaches: formalist, historicist, feminist,
psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, and so forth.
Many critical approaches will be explored in
class lecture and discussion, and students will
be encouraged to follow ones that interest them
in the second and third papers.
Recognize the purposes and needs of
discipline-specific audiences and adopt the
academic voice necessary for the chosen
discipline
Use multiple drafts, revision, and editing in
conducting inquiry and preparing written work
Follow the conventions of citation,
documentation, and formal presentation
appropriate to that discipline
Develop competence in information
technology and digital literacy
This work will be done one-on-one with
students, as necessary, in written responses to
papers and in conferences. Many students
reach this point in the major with a clear
understanding of the academic voice
appropriate to making critical arguments about
texts. Others need personalized help.
Students will be encouraged to revisit and
revise arguments made in the first two papers
when they write the third, longer paper. They
will also submit a short draft of the third paper
early in the process of writing it.
Students will be required to follow the
conventions of either the MLA or the Chicago
Manual of Style. Class lectures will detail the
conventions of quoting from and citing
Shakespearean texts.
Session with Humanities librarian.
V. Writing Course Requirements Check list
Is enrollment capped at 25 students?
If not, list maximum course enrollment.
Explain how outcomes will be adequately met
for this number of students. Justify the request
for variance.
Are outcomes listed in the course syllabus? If
not, how will students be informed of course
expectations?
Are detailed requirements for all written
assignments including criteria for evaluation in the
course syllabus? If not how and when will students
be informed of written assignments?
Briefly explain how students are provided with
tools and strategies for effective writing and editing
in the major.
Will written assignments include an opportunity for
revision? If not, then explain how students will
receive and use feedback to improve their writing
ability.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Every literature class in the major requires
extensive written engagement with literary
texts, in various forms: journal writing,
Blackboard and other informal response
writing, long essay questions on exams,
shorter highly focused exam essays, midlength argumentative papers, long papers
with extensive research expectations, and so
forth. Faculty members seek various
pedagogical aims in these diverse writing
exercise, and typically communicate them
explicitly to students
Yes.
Are expectations for Information Literacy listed in
the course syllabus? If not, how will students be
No. By class lecture and by meeting with the
informed of course expectations?
Humanities librarian.
VI. Writing Assignments: Please describe course assignments. Students should be required to
individually compose at least 20 pages of writing for assessment. At least 50% of the course grade
should be based on students’ performance on writing assignments. Clear expression, quality, and
accuracy of content are considered an integral part of the grade on any writing assignment.
Essay 1 (4-5 pp)
Formal Graded Assignments
Essay 2 (5-6 pp)
Essay 3 draft (6-7)
Essay 3 final (7-8)
Papers account for 70% of the grade.
One performance of a memorized passage,
Informal Ungraded Assignments
and one research presentation.
VII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form. ⇓ The syllabus
should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus preparation
see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
Paste syllabus here.
ENLT 320.01, Spring 2009
Shakespeare
MWF 2:10-3:00, LA 306
Text:
John Hunt, LA 117, Voice Mail 243-4062
Office hours: M 11-12, WF 3-4, & by appt.
email: john.hunt@mso.umt.edu
The Necessary Shakespeare, ed. David Bevington
Schedule of assignments:
Jan.
26
28
30
Introductions
Passages (announced in class)
Passages
Feb.
2
4
6
Passages
As You Like It, act 1
As You Like It, act 2
9
11
13
As You Like It, act 3
As You Like It, act 4
As You Like It, act 5
16
18
20
No class (Presidents’ Day)
Measure for Measure, act 1
Measure for Measure, act 2
23
25
27
Measure for Measure, act 3
Measure for Measure, act 4
Measure for Measure, act 5
First paper due (4-5 pp.)
March 2
4
6
April
May
King Richard the Second, act 1
King Richard the Second, act 2
King Richard the Second, act 3
9
11
13
King Richard the Second, acts 4-5 (if this feels rushed, we’ll make more time)
King Henry the Fourth, part 1, act 1
King Henry the Fourth, part 1, act 2
16
18
20
King Henry the Fourth, part 1, act 3
King Henry the Fourth, part 1, act 4
King Henry the Fourth, part 1, act 5
23
25
27
King Lear, act 1 (two class meetings for this act, but read on)
King Lear, act 1
King Lear, act 2
30
1
3
No class (Spring Break)
“
“
6
8
10
King Lear, act 3
King Lear, act 4
King Lear, act 5
13
15
17
The Winter’s Tale, act 1
The Winter’s Tale, act 2
The Winter’s Tale, act 3
20
22
24
The Winter’s Tale, act 4 (a long act; we’ll take more time if needed)
The Winter’s Tale, act 5
Presentations
Draft of third paper due (6-7 pp).
27
29
1
Presentations
Presentations
Presentations
4
6
8
Presentations
Presentations
Presentations
12
Presentations (finals week meeting, Tuesday 3:20-5:20)
Second paper due (5-6 pp.)
Third paper due (7-8 pp.)
Extra reading: In addition to the scheduled reading, I’ll be making occasional additional
assignments in other plays, in the sonnets, in the introductory sections of our textbook, and
possibly in published criticism. None of these will be oppressively long, but all will be required,
usually on short notice, and if you have to miss a class meeting it’s your responsibility to
communicate with me or with someone else in the class to find out if you have missed an
assignment.
Memorization: In addition to the assignments listed above, I’ll ask you to memorize one passage
of about 20 lines (you can go a little under this target if it makes no sense to pad lines arbitrarily,
and you can certainly go over). You can either learn a long set speech, or pick some lines of
dialogue and ask one or more people in the class to read their parts while you recite yours. I’ll
pass out a sign-up sheet, one person per class meeting. You should pick a passage from the act
that we are reading for that day. (If you change your mind later on about what day you’d like,
you can offer to trade with someone.) At the beginning of every class meeting, I’ll ask the person
whose day it is to start us off by delivering the memorized lines as perceptively and as feelingly
as possible, following the rhythms of the character’s thoughts. If you can say a few words
afterward about why you chose the passage and how it interests you, that would be great. Our
discussion for the day will start from that point and move on.
Papers: The three papers this semester will gradually grow both in length and in freedom to
explore topics of special interest to you, the writer. Since I want you to gradually find your own
approach to Shakespeare, you should feel free to revisit and revise work you’ve done in the first
two papers when you write the longer paper at the end of the class.
First paper (4-5 pp., due Feb. 27): primarily a close reading assignment, although you
should advance some kind of argument about your topic. Identify someone who
particularly interests you in one of our first two plays, and select one or more scenes in
which that person figures prominently. Write an essay in which you analyze the
character’s self-presentation: how he or she seeks to be received by others and/or to
influence others. Your central task will be to put yourself inside the mind (and body) of
your chosen alter-ego and follow the course of his or her thoughts, imaginations, and
feelings; but you may have to consider the parts played by other people in the scene, as
well as details from other scenes that help make sense of what’s going on in this one. In
the course of re-creating your character’s self-dramatization, be as alert as you can to
everything that is happening in the language of the scene: imagery and metaphor, dialogic
thrusts and parries, the rhythm of the verse and other striking aural effects, rhetorical
tropes and strategies, and so forth. Do not shy away from passages that seem
challenging, obscure, or ambiguous; I’ll evaluate the paper partly on how well you make
sense of the text’s difficulties.
Second paper (5-6 pp., due April 10): a more purely argumentative essay, focused on
one or more of the first five plays in the course. As with any thesis-driven paper, you
should make a claim that will not seem self-evident to anyone who has just casually read
the play; indeed, the more surprising and even unlikely-sounding your argument, the
better. But your argument also needs to be one that you can make a persuasive case for,
by abundant citation of well-read textual details. This paper need not have a bibliography
or Works Cited page; you may, if you wish, construct your argument solely out of your
own close reading of the text. But if you prefer to develop your ideas in dialogue with
published criticism or with film productions, give full citation of the works that have
influenced your thinking.
Third paper (7-8 pp., due May 8; rough draft, 6-7 pp., due Apr 24): a paper in which
your argument about one or more of the plays we’ve read is informed by study of some
extra-textual concern. Possibilities include (but are not limited to) film adaptations,
acting methodologies and staging possibilities, social or political history as context for
practices represented in the plays, the history of an idea, the conventions of a literary
form or mode or genre, metrics and prosody, music, and any concerns addressed in
published criticism. Although this paper will require some research beyond the primary
texts of the class, you should not approach it as a “research paper.” The page length is
far less than most such papers; you need consult only a few outside sources; and I’ll
expect you to construct your own critical argument about the play or plays you’re
focusing on, rather than simply surveying work that other scholars or artists have
undertaken.
Presentations: In the final three weeks everyone will be responsible, either singly or as a member
of a small group, for verbally presenting some work to the whole class. You may want to present
some of the research that you’ve been doing for the long paper, but you don’t have to do this.
Another possibility is to perform one of the scenes that we’ve read. We will talk more about the
presentations as the semester goes on.
Course grade: I’ll decide your grade for the course by the following formula:
20% first paper
20% second paper
30% participation, including class discussion, memorization, and presentation
30% third paper
Attendance: Regular attendance is a requirement of the class. I will allow everyone four
unexcused absences, no questions asked—though I hope you will not use them all. Past that
point, only a very good reason (death in the family, documented illness, etc.) will excuse your
absence; and any unexcused absences will start lowering your course grade. So be aware that if
you sleep through a couple of classes, or decide to go to that concert in Seattle, you are using up
your reserve of sympathy for when you may really need to be away from class. If you have to be
absent for a very good reason, let me know in advance or soon afterward (within a day or two). I
won’t chase you down, and I won’t look kindly on you when you show up at my door four weeks
later. (Except for that situation, I try to look kindly on everyone all the time!)
Departmental Assessment: The English Department’s ongoing process of assessing its curriculum
requires professors to read student papers to learn how students in general are progressing
through the program. I may choose a copy of one of your papers or ask for an electronic version
of it to use in this assessment process. If so, all identifying information will be removed and
evaluation of your work for assessment purposes will play no role whatsoever in determining
your grade in the course. If you do not want your work used in such a way, please inform me and
I will not forward it to the Assessment Committee. Otherwise, we appreciate your tacit consent.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is an affront to the fundamental values of an academic institution,
indicating a lack of respect for intellectual labor and a lack of responsibility for each student¹s
part in sustaining academic community. Acknowledge, by citation of name, title, and page
number, all work that has influenced your thinking. The University’s official warning can be
found on pg. 22 of the Catalog, which refers you to the Student Conduct Code (Academic
Conduct), available on the web: http://www.umt.edu/SA/VPSA/index.cfm/page/1321.
Add-Drop deadlines and Incompletes: For information on these topics, please see the back page
of the Class Schedule for add-drop dates and p. 23 in the Catalog for incompletes.
Disability Accommodation: Students with disabilities will receive reasonable accommodations for
coursework. To request accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible in the semester. I
will work with you and Disability Services in the accommodation process. For more information,
visit the Disability Services website at http://www.umt.edu/dss/ or call 243-2243.