Fall Semester 2008
English 223
Themes of Literature
WebCampus Course
Instructor: Susanne Bentley
Office Hours:
Office: Room: MH117
Phone: 775-753-2358
e-mail: susanneb@gwmail.gbcnv.edu
Course Overview:
Themes of Literature will focus on literature of the environment with three aims:
first to broaden and deepen your understanding and appreciation of literature,
second to foster an awareness of the complexity of the interrelationships of
environmental issues, and third, to build upon your critical thinking skills to help
you form your own ideas about complex issues. This course will investigate and
analyze humans’ relationship to nature through diverse works of fiction, poetry,
essays, documentaries, and other media.
Course Objectives:
“… in Wildness is the preservation of the World.” This quote by Henry David
Thoreau can provide a framework for our class--a reason for us to question and
study. Through literature, we will gain a better understanding of the meanings of
“wildness” in our pluralistic society; cultivate intellect, sensibility, and sensitivity
to environmental issues; and examine diverse thinking as illustrated in the
literature we will read.
Required Texts:
Literature and the Environment. Loraine Anderson, Scott Slovic, John P. O’Grady,
eds.
Two additional full-length books that you will choose from a which you will find
at the end of the syllabus.
You should also have access to and use a good handbook for MLA
documentation of sources, such as SF Writer or The Everyday Writer.
Enrollment in MyLitLab.
Prerequisite: ENG 102
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Method of Instruction: This class will take place in a variety of ways including email,
online lecture, online discussions, tutor feedback, instructor feedback, and student
question/answer.
Learner Outcome
1. Communication Skills
a. Written communication
Measurement
Formal Essays evaluated by rubric
Evaluation of communication with instructor
and other students in discussions
An oral communication component will be
evaluated through class discussions and a
presentation of the final project
b. Accessing information
Evaluation of the depth and breadth of outside
research
c.
Evaluation of essay assignments and
responses to texts.
Reading Skills
2. Critical Thinking
Students will use a variety of techniques
for literary analysis.
Evaluated through essays, journal entries, and
weekly assignments
3. Personal and cultural awareness
Evaluated through journal assignments, essay
assignments, and participation in class
discussions
Evaluation of student writings and class
discussions
4. Personal Wellness
Students will explore choices
and ethics discussed in texts
5. Technological Understanding
Students will use WebCT and conduct Internet
research.
Participation/Attendance: English 223 is a discussion-based class. You must
read all the assigned readings and be prepared to discuss them through
WebCampus when each discussion appears on the schedule. Your contribution
to this class is crucial to your success. Much of our learning will happen through
group discussions and your journal responses. When you miss the discussion,
you will not benefit or learn from this class; therefore, participation in weekly
online discussions is mandatory.
Your Commitment: As a student in this class, you should be prepared to spend
at least nine hours a week reading and preparing assignments. It is essential
that you commit yourself to this degree of involvement to be successful in this
course. The class transfers to major universities, such as the University of
Nevada, so you should be prepared for a workload and a level of intellectual
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engagement comparable to these systems. The specific assignments and
requirements for the class are explained in detail in the Assignment Drop box.
Writer's Journal: You are required to keep a writer's journal with dated and
numbered entries. You notebook will contain responses to the readings (not
summaries of the readings) that you can do in a number of ways, which we will
discuss as class progresses. These entries will help you clarify what you read,
record your questions for discussion, and possibly become the genesis for your
longer papers. You should write an average of two entries per week. You will
also write entries each on the full-length books you read. You should plan on
using your journal responses to prepare for the weekly discussions.
Paper Format: Use 12-pt. type, double space and check for
grammar and spelling errors for everything you do in class.
Papers must follow MLA format. NOTE: Failure to follow these format
guidelines may result in your paper being returned without an evaluation.
Writing projects: This class requires a big commitment from you. You must be
prepared to read and write for at least nine hours per week. Expect to read each
of the works more than once. There is no other way you can read critically and
prepare quality work. You will write three essays that will help you understand
your reading style and demonstrate your ability to express an interpretation of
literary themes. Requirements for these papers will be discussed at length with
each assignment.
Weekends/Holidays: Usually, I will not be checking the website on weekends
or holidays, so please plan accordingly.
Tutor Submission Requirement
Each student will work with a tutor for each essay. You have two tutoring
options. You may submit your essay to Smarthinking (through MyCopmpLab) for
online tutoring, or, if you live near the Elko or Winnemucca campuses, you may
make an appointment with the GBC tutors in the Academic Success Center. In
Elko, call 753-2149 and in Winnemucca call 623-4824 to make an appointment.
When you meet with a tutor or send your paper online, provide the required
information including your assignment description that can be copied and pasted
from your original assignment sheet. Once you get the comments from your
tutor, revise your essay.
When your essay is due to your instructor in the assignment drop box (see
course calendar), upload your revised essay. You will also have an assignment
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called “Tutor Review,” and you will upload the original file you received from the
Smart Thinking tutor here or indicate that you met with a GBC tutor and I will
check the GBC tutor’s report. I will not accept your essay without the
Smart Thinking file or a GBC tutor report. You must show that you have
followed the tutor’s suggestions and made revisions for your paper in
order to receive credit.
Submitting a complete essay draft to your tutor is required. Failure to do so will
result in failure of the essay. I will not accept partial or late papers, so it is
critical that you meet with the tutor or submit your essay by the stated date. If
you use the online tutor, the turn around time is two or three days, so strive to
get your paper to the tutor before the deadline so that you will have plenty of
time to make revisions to your final draft.
You must complete every journal response, thought paper,
essay, and tutor review in order to pass this course.
Late assignments will not be accepted. There is a due date
for each assignment. Once this date is past, you cannot turn
an assignment in to the Drop box.
Student Responsibility for dropping courses: If you are missing
assignments, it is your responsibility to drop the course at the Admissions and
Records Office. The last day to drop a course is April 18. Students who have
incomplete or late assignments who do not drop the course will receive a failing
grade.
Student Conduct Policy: Students are expected to follow the Student Conduct
Policy for students in the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) outlined on
pp. 28-32 of the 2007-2008 GBC Catalog. Because this is an online class,
students will specifically be held accountable for behaving in a civil and respectful
manner toward other students and the professor in their online communications
such as e-mail messages, discussion postings, and written assignments.
The college catalog states, “Messages, attitudes, or any other form of
communication deemed to be outside the bounds of common decency/civility as
judged by common standards of classroom behavior (determined, as they would
be in a regular classroom, by the instructor) will not be tolerated” (29).
Pay particular attention to those last four words. Any student who
behaves rudely to another student or to me will be dropped immediately. During
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the first week of class, students will be required to sign an acknowledgement
that they have read the Student Conduct Policy and understand that they will be
dropped from the class for violating it.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY
Academic dishonesty is defined as an act of deception in which a student claims credit
for the work or effort of another person or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated
information in any academic work. Academic dishonesty is a violation of the GBC
Student Code of Conduct and will not be tolerated in this class. Any evidence of
academic dishonesty/plagiarism in this course will result in a failing grade on the
assignment and/or a failing grade for the course. You should be aware that at other
schools you will risk failing courses and potential suspension/expulsion for academic
dishonesty, which is considered a very serious offense. If you are ever uncertain about
your use of another person's work (ideas, language, data, etc.), you must come to see
me about it.
Acts of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to, the following:
CHEATING--unauthorized copying or collaborating on a test or assignment, or the use or
attempted use of unauthorized materials;
TAMPERING--altering or interfering with evaluation instruments and documents;
FABRICATION--falsifying experimental data or results, inventing research or laboratory
data or results for work not done, or falsely claiming sources not used;
PLAGIARISM--representing someone else's words, ideas, artistry, or data as one's own,
including copying another person's work (including published and unpublished material,
and material from the Internet) without appropriate referencing, presenting someone
else's opinions and theories as one's own, or working jointly on a project, then
submitting it as one's own;
ASSISTING--assisting another student in an act of academic dishonesty, such as taking a
test or doing an assignment for someone else, changing someone's grades or academic
records, or inappropriately distributing exams to other students.
In this era of the Internet, it is always tempting to use others' ideas and words from the
vast resources on the available on-line. Do not give in to this temptation unless you are
willing to cite your sources completely. Remember, if you found something on the
Internet, chances are I can find it too.
Turn It In. Com: Your major assignments automatically are filtered through a
plagiarism prevention Website called Turnitin.com. If any portion of a paper is found to
be plagiarized, it will result in failure of the course.
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Grading Policy
Your effort and the quality of work you turn will determine your grade. The final
grade for the course is based on completion of all assignments. If you do not
complete all writing requirements, you will not pass the class! No exceptions. No
late work will be accepted.
Your final grade is based on the following:
Assignment
Point value
Writing Journal (20 minimum)
10 points each, 200 points total
Weekly Discussions
10 points each, 100 points total
Paper proposals (2)
15 points each, 30 points total
Essays (3)
Reading Biography
50 points
Literary Analysis Paper
100 points
Literature and Culture
Paper
200 points
Thought Papers
50 points each, 100 points total
Tutor review (2)
15 points each
Working Bibliography
25 points
Pluses and minuses may be figured into the final grade.
In order to receive full credit, an assignment must:
1. be turned in on time and follow proper MLA format
2. be complete and well thought out
3. reflect academic, college-level work/writing
4. incorporate critical thinking
5. be typed, double-spaced, with standard 12-point font (such as
Palatino or Times Roman) and 1-in margins
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English 223
Themes of Literature
Literature and the Environment
Fall, 2008 Calendar
All readings are from Literature and the Environment, unless marked otherwise.
Each section of the book has an introduction, which you will read. Each chapter
also has an introduction. The chapter introductions are a short sentence or two
that appear in italics at the top of the first page of the chapter selection. Please
read these introductions as thought starters for the chapters.
For example, the chapter introduction for Chapter 1, “What is wild and instinctual
in our nature, and how do we respond to it? How does this response influence
our relations with the outer world?” appears on p. 3.
Choose at least two texts to respond to in your
journal each week.
Week 1
8/25: Reading for this week: “To the Student” pp. xxi – xxii, section introduction
for Part I, “The Human Animal,” p. 1.
Oliver, p. 3, Dillard p. 4, Snyder p.14, Williams p. 27, Appendix, p. 504509.
8/30: Due: Syllabus Quiz
Due: Two journal responses (J1, J2)
Complete Discussion 1
Week 2
9/1: Reading for this week: London p. 31, Thoreau p. 47, Chapter intro p. 63,
Levertov p. 63, Wright p. 64. Appendix, p. 509-515.
9/6
Due: Two journal responses (J3, J4)
Complete Discussion 2
Book one assignment
Week 3
9/8: Reading for this week: Stafford p. 79, Silko p. 109,
chapter intro p. 115, Wintu tribe p. 117, Nelson p. 119, Shepard p. 141,
Appendix p. 515-518.
Work on Reading Biography
Begin reading your supplemental book
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9/13: Complete one journal response for book. (J5)
Complete one journal response for this week’s readings. (J6)
Complete Discussion 3
Reading Biography due
Week 4
9/15: Readings: Leopold p. 148, Jewett p. 150, Bishop p. 160, section intro p.
163 and chapter intro 166, Hughes p. 168, Muir p. 178.
9/20: Complete Discussion 4
Two journal responses due (J7, J8)
Week 5
9/22: Readings: Ortiz p. 189, Kingsolver p. 199, Chapter intro p. 222, Berry p.
222, Dodge p. 230, Charles, et al. p. 239.
9/27: Complete Discussion 5
Complete one journal for your book (J9)
Complete one journal response for this week’s readings. (J10)
Week 6
9/29: Readings: Bass p. 249, Carver p. 264-273, Kittredge p. 284, Sanders p.
290, Lopez p. 75. Appendix p. 520-529.
10/4: Paper proposal for Literary Analysis paper due.
Complete Discussion 6
Two journal responses due. (J11, J12)
Week 7
10/6: Chapter intro p. 297, Williams 347, Chapter Intro p. 353 and 355, Baca p.
365. Watch Baca interview.
10/11: Thought Paper One for your first book is due.
Complete Discussion 7
One journal entry due (J13)
Week 8
10/13: Use this week to complete your Literary Analysis paper.
10/18: Paper due to Smarthinking for tutoring
Book Two assignment due
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Week 9
10/20: Readings: Roszak p. 367, Chapter intro 402, Limbaugh 439,
Stegner 442.
10/25: Literary Analysis Paper Due
One journal entry due (J14)
Week 10
10/27: Readings: Chapter intro p. 450, Union p. 457, McKibben 464, Durning
11/1: Complete Discussion 8
One journal entry for this week’s reading due. (J 15)
One journal entry for Book Two due. (J 16)
Literature and culture project proposal due. Conferences as
needed.
Week 11
11/3: Reading: Jeffers p. 474, Carson p. 477, Awiakta p. 482, Anaya p. 486
11/8: Complete Discussion 9
Two journal responses due. (J 17, J 18)
Week 12
11/10: Reading: Bruchac p. 492, U.S. Bishops p. 498
11/15: Complete Discussion 10
One journal entry for this week’s reading due. (J 19)
One journal entry for Book Two due. (J 20)
Work on final project
Week 13
11/17: Work on projects.
11/22: Thought Paper Two due.
Week 14
11/24: Happy Thanksgiving this week. Work on your final paper.
11/29: Submit final project to Smarthinking for tutoring.
Week 15
12/4: Work on final project
12/6: Final project due.
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English 223
Fall 2008
Choose one book from this list for supplemental book 1. You should have the book
finished by 10/4.
Bass, Rick. Why I Came West, 2008.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. 1854
Ehrlich, Gretel. The Solace of Open Spaces. 1985
Lopez, Barry. Crossing Open Ground, 1988 or Arctic Dreams.
Muir, John. My First Summer in the Sierra. 1911.
Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac, 1949.
Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire. 1968.
Choose one book from this list for supplemental book 2. You should have this book
finished by 11/17.
McKibben, William. Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable
Future, 2008 or The End of Nature. 1989.
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring.
Hawken, Paul. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, 2008.
Suzuki, David. The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature.
Tempest Williams, Terry. Red. 2005
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