English 102: Myths and Mythology

English 102 - 10: Folklore and Mythology
Instructor: Sarah Newhouse
Instructor email: snewhous@camden.rutgers.edu
Office: Armitage 467
Office hours: T Th 12:00-1:30
Class meets: T Th 1:30-2:50 ATG 105
Welcome to English 102! In this course we will build upon the writing skills that you
learned and utilized in English 101, now adding research skills that will enable you to
create a polished, college-level researched paper. Essential to this process will be your
ability and willingness to use the library’s resources (in person and online), construct
open but directed research questions, analyze primary and secondary sources, and
correctly integrate secondary material into your own analytical argument. You will also
be required to make heavy and thoughtful revisions to your papers throughout the writing
process, and to submit writing at every stage of the research process. The class – and thus
your graded performance -- may also include any of the following: peer review of written
work, class workshops, individual and group presentations of research, group work in
class, short in-class writing assignments, quizzes, research-based homework assignments,
library trips, and instructor conferences.
As the subject matter for this course, we will be reading fairy tales, myths, and folklore,
along with scholarship on these stories. The primary readings we do (the stories
themselves) will cover a wide ranger of cultures and formats, including Japanese ghost
stories, Scandinavian epic poetry, Disney movies, Marvel comic books, and American
folk heroes. The secondary material we cover will mostly be scholarship about folklore
from different disciplines, but students are encouraged to investigate scholarship from all
fields while constructing their independent research projects. Central to this class will be
the themes that pervade all folklore and types of stories that are found around the world
and throughout the centuries. The stories that fascinated your ancestors are likely the
same ones that continue to fascinate readers, moviegoers, and consumers today, and as a
class I hope we can discuss and investigate why people continue to be so fascinated with
the same stories.
Required Texts:
Faigley, Lester. The Brief Penguin Handbook. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson Longman,
2009.
Cole, Joanna. Best-Loved Folktales of the World. New York: Anchor Books, 1982.
Graded Assignments
Paper 1 (5-7 pages): 20%
Paper 2 (8-10 pages): 30%
Annotated Bibliography and Research Proposal: 10%
Presentation: 5%
Participation: 10%
Informal Writing and Quizzes: 10%
Final Portfolio: 15%
Grading Scale: A, B+, B, C+, C, D, F
Course Policies
Attendance: In this course, you are allowed to miss five classes without any penalty to
your final grade. For every class period missed after five, your final course grade will
drop by a full letter grade. For example, if you have six unexcused absences and a B at
the end of the semester, your grade will drop to a C. If you miss 10 classes but receive an
A on every assignment, you will earn a D for the course. These absences do not, of
course, include excused absences like documented illness, band trips, sports games and
tournaments, and other important events. If you are participating in an event of which you
have prior knowledge, then I need to see documentation, with an official Rutgers
University letterhead, at least a week before the class you will miss.
During this course we will have two one-to-one conferences and each of these counts as
two days of attendance. If you miss a conference without a legitimate excuse, this takes
up two of your five allowed absences.
Also note that tardiness is disruptive to the class and disrespectful to me and to your
classmates. Please make an effort to be in the classroom on time. Excessive tardiness will
bring down your participation grade. If you arrive late and miss all or part of an in-class
quiz or assignment, you will not be allowed to make it up or be given extra time to
complete it. If you are more than 30 minutes late you will be marked absent for the day.
Classroom behavior: Any disruptive student will be asked to leave class for the day and
marked as absent. Disruptive behavior is anything that interferes with my capacity to
teach or your classmates' capacity to learn. This includes behavior like text messaging,
talking on cell phones, playing computer games, checking email, snoring loudly, talking
to classmates, reading newspapers, and doing homework assignments for other classes.
I'm investing myself in our class during the time we are there, as are your classmates.
You are expected to do the same. Turn your cell phone ringers off before class starts.
Any student who comes to class unprepared (without reading material or note-taking
material, hasn’t read the assigned text, etc) will also be asked to leave and marked absent.
Paper format: Papers written for this class should be written in New Times Roman 12 pt
font, double spaced, with 1 inch margins. They should all have your name, the course
name (English 102), my name and the date in the upper left-hand corner. Papers should
follow MLA format for grammar and citations as it is outlined in your Penguin
Handbook. You must staple your papers before you come to class.
Please note that whenever you turn in a final draft you must also hand in your rough draft
(whichever version has my comments on it). If you fail to write a rough draft at all, your
final paper grade will be reduced by one letter grade.
Late papers will result in a full letter grade deduction for every day that they are late.
For example, an A paper turned in one day late will receive a B. And an A paper turned
in four days late will receive an F. Please note that these are weekdays and not class
periods. If you do not turn your paper in during our class on Tuesday, I expect you to
make arrangements with me to turn it in on Wednesday. I do not accept any papers by
email.
If you have any questions about a grade you earned, I will be happy to discuss the grade
and my grading process with you. My only requests are that you wait at least 48 hours
after the papers have been returned before you come to see me, and that you bring to our
meeting a written (typed) argument for why you think the grade should be altered.
Revisions and re-writes: I have an “open re-write” policy. Revisions will be accepted
throughout the semester, until the date on which your final portfolio is due. The only
requirement is that you meet with me to discuss your paper. If you are willing to take the
time to consider my comments and put the effort into a thoughtful revision, then I am
more than happy to take the time to grade it. Please note somewhere on the revised paper
that it is a revision and turn it in with the original graded version.
Participation and discussion leaders. At the beginning of the semester, you will sign up
for three days during which you will be one of the class discussion leaders – at least one
must be after Spring Break. In our second class we will go over how to create productive
discussion questions, a skill that will serve you well in your college career. The day you
lead our discussion of a text you will bring 3-4 questions to class, and be prepared to
present them to the class in some format (write them on the board, printed on an overhead
transparency, in a PowerPoint presentation, etc). You will also turn in a 250-300 word,
type-written response to one of these questions. The quality of your questions, how well
you are able to engage the class in discussion, and the quality of your written response
paper will determine your grade for this activity.
Participation in the class on a daily basis is an important part of your grade. Participating
means asking questions, contributing to discussion, and being prepared for class by
bringing the required books, homework, writing utensils, etc. If you are uncomfortable
speaking in class, please see me at the beginning of the semester.
During the second half of the semester, you will give a presentation on the research you
are conducting for Paper 2 to share your findings with your classmates. We will discuss
the requirements for this presentation after Spring Break.
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Plagiarism in any form and
assignments with any plagiarized content will not be accepted and will result in
immediate failure the assignment. Examples of plagiarism include passing another
student's work off as your own; failing to report your source for a fact, quotation, or idea;
and receiving too much help on an assignment (to the point that the words and ideas are
no longer your own).
Any apparent academic dishonesty will be reported to the Judicial Officer in the Office of
Student Affairs and may result in your failure of the course.
Computer and internet access. Most of our primary reading material will come from
our book, Best-Loved Folktales, but all of our secondary material will come from online
sources, including journals available through the Rutgers Libraries website and e-reserve.
I will also frequently notify you of homework assignments, new readings, and revised
schedules via email. You must have regular access to the Internet, Rutgers webmail, and
a printer in order to take this class. If any of these requirements will be a problem, please
see me as soon as possible.
Daily Schedule
Tuesday, January 20th
Introduction
First-day essay
Thursday, January 22nd
Handout on research
Using library website and JSTOR demo
Reading: PHB Ch 1 “Think as a Writer,” Ch 2 “Plan and Draft”
Tuesday, January 27th
Reading: “Cinderella” (e-reserve), “Beauty and The Beast” (8-23) “Sleeping Beauty”
(137-139), “Hansel and Gretel” (145-151)
Handout: Propp’s 33 Tale Types
Thursday, January 29th
Reading: (JSTOR) Lieberman, Marcia R. “Someday My Prince Will Come: Female
Acculturation Through the Fairy Tale.”College English, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Dec.,
1972), pp. 383-395.
Best-Loved Folktales: “The Indian Cinderella” (694-696)
Tuesday, February 3rd
Reading: “Snow White” (53-61), Neil Gaiman’s “Snow White” (e-reserve)
PHB Ch 5 “Read and View with a Critical Eye,” Ch 6 “Write to Analyze,” Ch 12 “Write
About Literature”
Thesis statements: how to write ‘em
Thursday, February 5th
Reading: (JSTOR) Stone, Kay. “Things Walt Disney Never Told Us.” The Journal of
American Folklore, Vol. 88, No. 347, Women and Folklore (Jan. - Mar., 1975),
pp. 42-50.
PHB Ch 17 “Find and Evaluate Sources in Databases”
Tuesday, February 10th
Ghost Stories
Reading: TBA
Thursday, February 12th
Reading: (JSTOR): “Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Ritual Reflection of Pre-Pubescent
Anxiety.” Western Folklore, Vol. 57, No 2/3 (Spring-Summer, 1998), pp 119-135.
Rough draft Paper 1 due
Tuesday, February 17th
NO CLASS – Individual mandatory conferences with instructor
Thursday, February 19th
NO CLASS – Individual mandatory conferences with instructor
Tuesday, February 24th
Tricksters
Reading: “Anansi’s Hat-Shaking Dance” (615-617), “Anansi and His Visitor, Turtle”
(618-619), “How the Spider Obtained the Sky-God’s Stories” (620-623), “Señor Coyote
and The Dogs” (687-688)
Thursday, February 26th
Reading: (JSTOR) “The North American Indian Trickster,” Mac Linscott Ricketts.
History of Religions, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Winter, 1966), pp. 327-350.
PHB Ch 8 “Write to Inform,” Ch 9 “Write Arguments”
Tuesday, March 3rd
American Folklore
Reading: “Paul Bunyan’s Cornstalk” (668-671)
Online reading from www.americanfolklore.net: Johnny Appleseed, The Birth of Paul
Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox, Davy Crockett and the Frozen Dawn
Online reading from http://www.jerseyhistory.org/legend_jerseydevil.html
Thursday, March 5th
Final draft Paper 1 due
Library workshop
Hand out Paper 2
PHB Ch 16 “Plan Your Research”
Tuesday, March 10th
Urban legends
Reading from snopes.com: Swap Meat, Death of Little Mikey, The Microwaved Pet, Pins
and Needles, Bloody Mary
HW for Thurs: pick three (untrue) urban legends from snopes.com and identify the fears
or issues that they represent
Thursday, March 12th
Reading: (e-reserve) “New Legends for Old,” The Vanishing Hitchhiker. Brunvand, Jan
Harold. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1981.
PHB Ch 18 “Find and Evaluate Sources on the Web,” Ch 19 “Find and Evaluate Print
Sources”
March 14th-March 22nd Spring Break
Tuesday, March 24th
Annotated Bibliography and Research Proposal Due
How to Read a Book
Thursday, March 26th
Reading: “The Tinderbox” (358-364)
Reading: PHB Ch 21 “Incorporate Sources and Avoid Plagiarism”
Tuesday, March 31st
Reading: PHB Ch 27, “Write with Power,” Ch 28 “Write Concisely,” Ch 29 “Write with
Emphasis”
Thursday, April 2nd
Presentations
Tuesday, April 7th
Presentations continued
Grammar review day
Thursday, April 9th
Reading: PHB Ch 30 “Find the Right Words,” Ch 31 “Write to Be Inclusive”
Rough draft Paper 2 due
In-class peer review
Tuesday, April 14th
NO CLASS – Individual mandatory conferences with instructor
Thursday, April 16th
NO CLASS – Individual mandatory conferences with instructor
Tuesday, April 21st
Reading: PHB Ch 22 “Write and Revise the Research Project”
Thursday, April 23rd
Reading: (e-reserve) “Irish Tales and Story-Tellers.” Seamus O Duilearga
Tuesday, April 28th
Reading: Students’ Choice (TBA)
Thursday, April 30th
Wrap-up, Evaluations, and Final Thoughts
Final draft of Paper 2 is due during finals week, during our assigned “exam” time:
Friday, May 8th 2:00 – 5:00 pm (Armitage 467)
Please contact me before exam week if you need to make special arrangements to turn the
final paper in before the assigned date.