SLU Introduction to Literary Studies ENG X202
University Of Missouri-St. Louis ENG1120 Literary Types
Parkway South High School
Course: Advanced Placement English Literature
Course Syllabus
Spring 2015
Instructor: Mrs. Tracy Bouslog
Contact Information: Room 2406, 5th and 8th planning periods
Phone number: 314-415-5749
Email address: tbouslog@parkwayschools.net
Web page information: Accessible through South High’s website
http://www.edline.net/pages/ParkwaySouthHS; click on “Homework”
Text Information:
Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson, eds. Perrine’s Sound and Sense. 11th ed. Boston:
Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.
Beatty, Jerome ed. The Norton Introduction to the Short Novel. 3rd ed. New York:
Norton, 1999.
Trimmer, Joseph F. and C. Wade Jennings, eds. Fictions. 4th ed. Fort Worth, TX:
Harcourt Brace and Company, 1998.
In addition to these texts, single copy works such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Brecht’s
Mother Courage and Her Children, Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, Huxley’s Brave New
World, and Morrison’s Sula.
Overarching Essential Questions:
How can the human spirit manage to triumph?
How is writing a means of discovery?
Topical Essential Questions:
What are the social, political, historical, and/or philosophical arguments presented in a
literary work?
How does literature reveal these arguments through artistic skill and/or artistic beauty?
What is the value of respecting and reflecting upon another’s spoken or written ideas?
Course Objectives:
1. Analyze and interpret poetry, drama, short stories, novels, and nonfiction,
2. Read closely and critically, making careful observations about textual detail.
3. Identify and explain the author’s use of literary techniques and stylistic strategies
appropriate for the author’s genre and form.
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4. Connect observations and inferences about literary techniques to formulate a
thesis about a literary work.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of critical, cultural, and theoretical approaches to
the study of literature.
6. Apply effective rhetorical strategies to construct well-supported literary analysis
essays.
7. Demonstrate mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in
students’ own writings.
8. Move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful
attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review.
Calendar for Significant Course Content and Learning Activities for the second semester*:
Week 1:
Vladimir Nabokov’s “Good Readers and Good Writers” lecture
and review of close-reading and writing skills for AP English
Literature
Assessment: Quiz over Nabokov lecture
Week 2:
Rhetorical analysis of persuasive nonfiction: Dr. Martin Luther
King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”—pathos, logos, ethos, and
syntactical choices.
Assessments: Rhetorical strategies process paper for “Letter from
Birmingham Jail” and in-class rhetorical strategies essay focusing
on syntax, analyzing a persuasive nonfiction piece
Weeks 3-6:
Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the analysis of speaker, situation, tone,
figurative language, and syntax to achieve dramatic purpose
Assessments: In-class essay analyzing the characterization and
language choices to convey Hamlet in a soliloquy, literary analysis
essay, close reading analysis essay of 40-50 lines from Hamlet,
performance group project and presentation of close reading
analysis passage
Weeks 7-9:
Pre-and Post-20th Century Short fiction (excerpts) and the analysis
of point-of-view, syntax, irony, tone, and structure to achieve
thematic purpose
Authors for analysis include Dickens, Austen, Hawthorne, Conrad,
Soto, Morrison, and Tan
Assessments: Prose elements quiz, process literary analysis paper,
timed, in-class literary analysis paper, group prose presentation
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Weeks 10-12: Form and style analysis of satirical works
Works include Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” Golding’s “Thinking
as a Hobby,” and film clip from Yes Men
Drama: Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children
or Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband or novel: Huxley’s Brave New
World
Assessments: Satirical elements test, literary analysis essay
analyzing a writer’s use of satirical elements to achieve thematic
purpose, original “Modest Proposal” essay on contemporary issue
Weeks 13-14: Pre-20th Century and Post-20th Century Poetry and the analysis of
speaker, situation, tone, and figurative language to achieve poetic
purpose
Works include poems from Perrine’s Sound and Sense—Assigned
poets include Shakespeare, Donne, Herbert, Marvell, Herrick,
Dickinson, Frost, Larkin, and Sexton
Assessments: Poetic elements quiz, group presentation and paper
over assigned poem, and timed literary analysis: comparing two
poets’ use of literary techniques to reveal theme or meaning
Weeks 15-17: Form, lyricism, and thematic purpose of Toni Morrison’s Sula
Assessments: Paper analyzing the work for the essential question
“How can the human spirit manage to triumph?” and the literary
features or stylistic techniques the author used to convey the
answer to this question.
Presentation of paper, using IB oral presentation rubric
Week 18:
Final Exam
Assessments: Major essays with a rough and final draft for each, in-class timed essays, class
presentations, journal writing, pop-quizzes, and final exam
Grading Scale and Policy:
HS Honors Traditional
H
97-100
A
B+
87-89
B
C+
77-79
C
D+
67-69
D
F
59 or Below
93-96
83-86
73-76
63-66
ABCD-
The final exam is 15% of your semester grade.
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90-92
80-82
70-72
60-62
I do not round grades up automatically. If you have earned an 89.8%, you will get a B.
However, if you have no more than two absences per term (NO UNEXCUSED ABSENCES),
no more than one tardy per term (NO GROSS TARDIES), and have contributed daily to
classroom activities and discussions, then I will round the 89.8% to a 90% A. Only semester
grades are rounded, and you must have a .5 or higher to be considered for the rounded grade.
Excused Absences
-Students are to exchange phone #’s and/or email addresses with a homework buddy in
this class. If you doubt your buddy’s competence at any time, check my homework
website and email me to see what you missed. (I will ask you if you checked with your
buddy first). Any handouts you missed will be available to you in the crates on the table.
-You have as many days as you missed to make up your work. For example, if you were
absent two days from our class, you have two days to make up missed assignments
-Please write “Absent” on your work and then put it in the “Late/Absent” bin for your
class.
Unexcused Absences: For full day absences, parents have 24-hours to call the school and
excuse the absence. If a student misses a single class during the day, parents must call to
excuse the absence PRIOR to the class that will be missed; otherwise, the absence is
considered “unexcused.”
-If homework or assignments for 30-points or higher are missed due to an
unexcused absence, whether it can be made up will be at the discretion of the
teacher after discussion with you and your parents/guardians. You must talk to me
after your unexcused absence before your 30-point+ work will be considered.
Assignments or homework for 29-points or less may not be made up if you have an
unexcused absence.
-I will email or call home and talk to your administrator if you are unexcused from
class.
Citizenship grades:
“O” Outstanding
“S” Satisfactory
“I” Needs Improvement
“U” Unsatisfactory
--0 unexcused absences
--0 unexcused absences
--1 unexcused absence
--2 unexcused absences
Tardies (in accordance with school policy)
-Be in your seat and ready to work to avoid tardies.
-1st tardy—warning
-2nd and subsequent tardies—a detention per tardy and calls/letters home
-excessive tardies—detentions and discussions with your administrator
Three or more tardies will also result in an “I” or Needs Improvement for Citizenship
Materials: (Be prepared by bringing the following to class.)
 blue or black pens
 loose-leaf
 one highlighter
 packet of post-it notes
 one spiral notebook labeled “Reading and Writing Notebook” for binder
 books or textbooks
 1 ½ to 2-inch binder with binder dividers labeled
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 Key Handouts 2) Reading and Writing Notebook 3) Assignments in Progress 4) In-class
timed writing/practice tests, 5) Graded Work/Past Assignments
Campus Technology Access Policy (CTA)—Electronic Devices
Students may only use electronic devices in the classroom with teacher approval and when
teacher instruction requires electronic devices for learning. Other uses are prohibited. Students
using the devices inappropriately will be asked to put the device away the first time; students will
be asked to give devices to the teacher the second time. The teacher may keep the device until
the end of the block or may send the device to the student’s assistant principal.
Procedures for Submitting Essays
For every essay assignment, students must type and submit to me a copy of the essay and submit
the essay to the website http://www.turnitin.com before turning the hard copy in the day it is due.
IF AN ESSAY IS NOT SUBMITTED TO TURNITIN.COM, IT WILL NOT BE GRADED
AND WILL BE DESIGNATED AS “MISSING” or “M” IN THE GRADEBOOK. “M’s” count
as zeroes. STUDENTS WHO SUBMIT LATE PAPERS TO TURNITIN.COM MUST PRINT
OUT A TURNITIN.COM RECEIPT AND PLACE THIS RECEIPT IN THE ABSENT/LATE
BIN OR EMAIL ME STATING THE PAPER HAS BEEN SUBMITTED.
I do not consider computer and/or printer malfunctions excuses for late work. The college
professors you will have in the future will not accept these as excuses either. Begin typing your
essay ahead of time and save it in on the hard drive of your computer, create a Google Doc of the
assignment, and/or save it to a flash drive. If your printer at home is not working, save the essay
as a Google Doc or on a flash drive and print it at school. Make sure you save your essays in at
least 2 places!!!
Printing Essays:
You will not be permitted to print the essay during class, so if you have to print your essay at
school, you should do so the day before it is due, during Ac Lab, or before school starts. You
cannot use my computer to print essays during class time!
Academic Integrity
Students who choose to violate the principles of academic integrity by plagiarizing in the
following ways will receive a 0 for the assignment:
 Cheating on a test or quiz.
 Copying from another classmate’s homework. Note that both the student who
copies and the student who offers his/her work for copying will be penalized.
 Taking the credit for another writer’s writing and accepting it as one’s own work.
 Failing to give proper credit when borrowing information from another source.
When students quote, paraphrase, or summarize from another source, they need
to include parenthetical reference and a Works Cited entry for that source on the
Works Cited page.
Key Information Essential for Student Success in Course:
*Inspire me with YOUR words; I don’t want to read plagiarized essays.
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Please read and follow the plagiarism polices in the Patriot Planner.
ACC 1818 students, please read the following SLU statement.
Academic Integrity Statement:
This class holds the same standards of academic integrity as other classes as Saint Louis
University. Complete, specific college guidelines are available at
http://academicintegrity.slu.edu/.
AP College Credit
Many colleges and universities offer AP exam policies through College Board’s website,
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/
Go to this website and click on “Students” on the top of the page. Then, click on “AP Credit
Policy Info” on the left side of the page. Follow the instructions from there.
Be sure to verify the website’s information with an admission’s counselor at the college or
university.
This website also has test prep help and profiles of colleges/universities you may be interested in.
If you cannot find a college’s or university’s AP exam policy through the College Board website,
contact your high school counselor or the admissions department at the university you’re
interested in.
SLU Credit and Advanced College Credit Information
SLU 1818 Advanced College Credit students should visit SLU’s “Student Handbook” web page
at http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/1818acc/student_handbook.html.
UMSL Credit and Advanced Credit Program information
http://www.umsl.edu/~acp/
Helpful Tips
*Students are expected to attend all class periods and to participate in all class discussions and
activities.
*Come see me before, during, and after school if you need help with your assignments. I enjoy
conferencing with students and often stay at school quite late. Smart students take advantage of
this opportunity.
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AP English Literature 4
Instructor: Tracy Bouslog
Guardian and student,
Please sign after reading the statements below. Student, please bring this signed
sheet to the next class period and submit when Mrs. Bouslog collects it.
Student:
I have read this PSH AP English Literature 4 syllabus and am aware of what is expected
of me this year.
___________________________
Student’s printed name
___________________________
Student’s signature
Parent/Guardian:
I have read this letter and am aware of its contents.
___________________________
Guardian’s printed name
___________________________
Guardian’s signature
Please feel free to record any notes or comments
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