Lit 2100 Introduction to Literature
Spring 2007
Regina Sakalarios-Rogers
Office hours: Building 50 room 218
Tues & Thurs. 12:00 – 1:00
Office phone: 857-6073 English Dept. phone: 474-2923
Email: ras@uwf.edu
(this is the best way to get in touch with me)
Required texts:
James S. Brown & Scott D. Yarbrough. A Practical Introduction to Literary Study.
Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN#013094786
Italo Calvino. The Non-Existent Knight & The Cloven Viscount. Harcourt Brace.
ISBN#0156659751
Aristophanes. Lysistrata. ISBN# 0872206033
Shakespeare. Romeo & Juliet. Dympna C. Callaghan, ed. Bedford.
ISBN#0312191928
Vonnegut, Kurt. Galapagos. ISBN# 0385333870
UWF Catalog description of course:
Literature from various nations and historical periods chosen to reflect the evolution of the major genres of the Western literary tradition. Guides the student in defining the features which distinguish drama, fiction, and poetry.
Course objectives:
In this course to identify, examine, critique, and analyze the various ways in which we experience and find meaning in works of literature. We will read short stories, poems and plays from various cultures and time periods in our study this semester. The primary goal of this course is to help you to sharpen and refine your analytical and critical thinking skills. The study of literature is an excellent way to practice these skills. As you sharpen these skills in this course you will also find yourself exposed to great works of literature. In the process of examining the works you may find that you actually like them, that you learn something from them, or find some valuable insights in them. At the very least you should discover that there is more to literature than boring and decrepit texts that are far less stimulating than the latest reality t.v. or action adventure movie on screen.

Student Learning Outcomes:
Students in this section of LIT2100 will be able to:
+ Identify and interpret major elements of poetry, fiction, and drama.
+ Recognize social, political, and historical contexts in formation of and reception of literary texts
+ Exercise specific interpretive techniques used in study of literature
+ Identify various sub-genres of the three major literary genres (fiction, poetry, and drama)
+ Articulate their own critical assessment of the value of literature or of specific literary works.
Course policies:
Email – You must have an active Argomail account since some readings and course information will be distributed via email. Make sure that you check this account weekly (or link it to the email account you use most often). I do not
accept work by email, except by prior arrangement and approval. Do not send me your work if you miss class or if you are going to miss class. Get in touch with me first.
Late work – I will not accept any work assigned for out of class completion after
24 hours from the time the due date has passed. Work is late if it is not turned in when I ask for it in class; this could be the beginning of class, it could be the end of class. If you are going to miss class on a day when work is due, be sure you get it to me within 24 hours. Any work turned in late will be docked 10 points.
Do not turn the work in to me at the next class meeting and expect to get a grade;
I will review it, but I will not assign a grade. I will not accept work by email.
Too many things can presumably go wrong and when they do I have to determine whether or not to believe that work was sent which I never received.
Plagiarism – Any form of plagiarism is unacceptable in this course. The UWF catalog defines plagiarism as “The act of representing the ideas, words, creations or work of another as one’s own.” If you are caught cheating on an essay or any other course work, I will follow the steps outlined by the university for dealing with plagiarism. Plagiarism is an offence that at the least can result in a failing grade and at the worst result in expulsion.
Graded course components:
Essays – There will be 2 essays assigned. One before midterm and one between midterm and final exam. The essays will be graded according to the grading rubric attached to this syllabus. Each essay will be worth 100 points of your final grade.

Personal response journals – I will take up two personal response journals this semester. The dates I will collect these are listed on the schedule below. Each should include two 1 ½ page personal responses to two different works covered between journals. For the first journal, you will have written about two of the works we have discussed since the beginning of the semester. For the second journal, you will have written about two of the works between the first journal and the second. The journals should be comprised of your personal reactions, interests, complaints, insights, and etcetera on the works you have chosen. These are informal journals, but you should still attend to the mechanics (punctuation and so on) carefully. These will be worth 200 points of your final grade.
Presentation – This can be a group presentation or an individual presentation.
The presentations will be assigned right after midterm and given in class a week prior to the final exam. Presentation will be worth 100 points of your final grade.
Quizzes – You cannot make up missed quizzes. All quizzes will be in class quizzes and will most likely not be announced. If you are late for a quiz, you do not get extra time to complete the quiz. Some of these quizzes will be in the form of group work. There will be 8 – 10 quizzes accounting for 100 points of your final course grade. (10 points each if 10 quizzes; 12.5 points each if 8 quizzes).
Midterm exam – The midterm will be an in class essay exam. You will choose one from four possible topics to examine in your essay. The midterm will be worth 100 points of your final grade.
Final exam – This exam will be in two parts. Part I will be a take home essay question. The essay will be graded according to the rubric attached to this syllabus. Part II will be in-class definition, identification, and essay. More later.
The midterm will be worth 200 points of your final grade.
Attendance and participation - Excessive absences (over 3) will lower your participation grade for the course by 10 points. Missing a class discussion may seriously hinder your ability to produce an informed essay response to the subject in question. I will not be able to summarize missed class discussions for you so do not come to me after you’ve missed a class and ask me what you’ve missed! Attendance and class participation will factor in as 100 points of your final course grade, so don’t think I won’t notice when you miss class, sleep, don’t participate in a class discussion, or don’t do the reading!

Grading:
I am going to use a points scale that will enable you to keep track of your grade from essay to essay without having to do any guesswork.
Paper #1
Paper #2
100 points
100 points
Quizzes (8 or 10 total)
Presentation
2 Personal response journals
Midterm exam
Final exam
Participation
100 points (worth 10/12.5 pts each)
100 points
200 points
100 points
200 points
100 points
1000 points total
Class participation is the only area where you will have to do some guesswork.
You know if you are messing up! As stated above under attendance policy, excessive absences (over 3) will lower your participation grade by 10 points per absence.
The scale looks like this:
950 - 1000 A
900 - 949 A-
880 - 899 B+
840 - 879 B
800 - 839 B-
780 - 799
750 - 779
730 - 749
700 - 729
699 - 0 F
C+
C
C-
D
100 point Departmental grading scale: (for essays 1 & 2)
A (100-93) A-(92-90) B+(89-88) B(87-83) B-(82-80)
C+(79-78) C(77-73) C-(72-70) D+(69-68) D(67-60)
Grading rubric:
90-100 (A) essays respond to the assignment clearly, directly, and fully. These papers approach the text analytically and illustrate their points with numerous textual references and/or quotations. They show subtlety in their use of the text, and their own style indicates flexibility and mastery. They need not, however, be free from errors.
89-80 (B) essays respond to the assignment clearly, directly but with less development than 90-100 essays. They indicate a good understanding of the text and suport their points with appropriate textual references and/or quotations.
While their approach is analytic, the analysis is less precise than in 90-100 essays,

and the use of text is competent but not subtle. The writing in these essays is forceful and clear, but need not be free from errors.
79-70 (C) essays typically address the assigned question intelligently, but do not answer it fully and specifically. They are characterized by a good but general grasp of text and by the ability to use the text to frame an apt but imprecise response to the assignment. They may use textual references and quotations sparingly or without clearly enough supporting their points. The style of 79-70 essays is characterized by adequate clarity and organizational divisions, but may be mechanical or banal.
69-60 (D) essays fail in some important way to fulfill the assignment. They may omit some part of th question, fail to provide minimal textual support for their points, or base their analysis on a misreading fo some part of the text.
Nevertheless, these essays normally present one or more incisive points among others of less value. The writing may be similarly uneven in development with lapses in organization and clarity.
59-0 (F) essays commonly combine two or more serious failures: they may not address the actual question; they may indicate serious misreading of the text; they may not use textual support – or may use it in such a way that suggest failure to understand the text; they may be unclear, badly written, or unacceptably brief. The style of these papers is usually marked by egregious errors or by abruptness that suggests the student did not finish; but some may be smoothly written but devoid of content.

Schedule (consider this tentative; things can change):
Readings available on e-reserve in the library are noted reserve in the margins.
Readings available online are noted online in the margins and have hyperlink included. All other readings are from the required texts.
August 28th Introduction to the course
August 30th
September 4th
September 6th
reserve
Read Chapter 1, 2, & 3 p.1-18
Read Chapter 4 & 5 p.19-33
Read Ernest Hemingway “Hills Like White Elephants”
Read Chapter 6 p.34-38
Read Byron “Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed from a
Skull”
Read Sappho “To Me He Seems Like a God”
September 11th Read Chapter 8 p.49
Read Chapter 9 p.50-68
Read Chopin “The Storm” p.268-271
September 13th Read Chapter 10 p.69-75
Read Langston Hughes “The Negro Speaks” p.300 &
“Theme for English B” p.301
1 st personal response journal due
September 18th Read Chapter 15, 16 & 17 p.112-147
Read Sample essay that I will email to you
September 20th Read Shakespeare sonnets on p.39 & 41
Background on Elizabethan Theater & History
September 25th Essay #1 due
Watch film version Romeo and Juliet
September 27th Watch film version Romeo and Juliet
October 2 nd Read Romeo and Juliet The whole thing!
October 4 th Read Romeo and Juliet “Introduction” p. 11-32
“Loving & Marrying” 245-248 & 260-272

October 9 th
October 11 th
October 16th
October 18th
reserve
October 23rd
October 25th
October 30 th
Read Romeo and Juliet “Between Men” 186-200 & 217
“Friars” 380-387
Discuss Midterm
Midterm Exam
Read Italo Calvino The Non-Existent Knight
Read through Chapter 6
Read Existentialism
The Non-Existent Knight Finish the novella
The Non-Existent Knight
Read Kurt Vonnegut Galapagos up to Ch. 22
Personal response journal 2 due
November 1 st
November 6 th
November 8 th
Read Galapagos up to Book 2
Read Galapagos Book 2 (this finishes it)
Existentialism & Social Commentary and Vonnegut
Read Harlan Ellison “Ecowareness”
November 13 th Historical Criticism
Historical Context of Lysistrata
November 15th Read Lysistrata p. 19 -35 (up to Lysistrata)
November 20th Read Lysistrata p. 35-54
November 22nd THANKSGIVING BREAK
November 27 th
November 29 th
Class cancelled for final presentation preparations
Presentations
Presentations December 4 th
December 6 th Preparation for the Final Exam

December 13 th Final Exams on Thursday section 1002 (1:00 classs) final from 11:00 – 1:30 section 1003 (4:00 class) final from 2:00 – 4:30