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ENC 1102 Writing about Literature
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Summer B 2012
B08
MWF 12:15PM-1:30PM*
Building L-003
Dr. Daniel Brown
3000 NW 83rd Street, Gainesville, FL 32606
B-207i NW Campus
395-5090x6813
dan.brown@sfcollege.edu
http://plaza.ufl.edu/dsbrown/
http://danielsbrown.wordpress.com/
MWF 1:40-3:00PM
*As this is a hybrid class, you are also required to participate online every Tuesday and
Thursday. See below for more about online participation.
Requirements
The Bedford Introduction to Literature (Meyer)
The Bedford Handbook (Hacker)
Regular access to a reliable internet connection
Purpose of Course
Writing about Literature (ENC 1102) emphasizes critical discussion, interpretation, and writing
about complex texts. How and why—more so than what—are the essential questions that 1102
asks about literature. Rather than addressing the question of what a text is about, 1102
concentrates on how a work has been crafted and considers why its author made particular
choices in constructing it. Essay assignments go beyond observation and reporting to stress
analysis and synthesis of ideas.
In short, 1102 requires you to write about writing – a double act for which you must think
carefully about the words used by others and by you. You will even on occasion write about
what others have written about writing, analyzing many different voices and synthesizing them
into one. You should walk away from 1102 with a better understanding of how and why choice
and arrangement of words affect meaning and of how and why words are used differently for
different ends. Such understanding will help you in any future job that requires writing.
ENC 1102 Outcomes:
 Students will be competent in reading literary texts.
 Students will be able to write an essay analyzing a literary text.
 Students will be competent in using common rhetorical strategies.
 Students will be able to locate evidence within the text and present it accurately,
effectively and with proper in-text citations in their essays.
 Students will be competent at revising their own work.
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Grading: As a Gordon Rule class, you must turn in all assigned written work to pass the
class with a final grade of C or better. Your grade will be based according to the following
breakdown:
3 Essays written outside of class – 35%
2 Essays written inside of class – 20%
3 Graded blog entries – 15%
2 Examinations and a final – 15%
Response papers, collaborative exercises, homework, attendance, class participation, and nongraded blog entries – 10%
1 Presentation – 5%
Grading Scale:
A 3.7-4.0
B+ 3.3-3.6
B 2.7-3.2
C+ 2.3-2.6
C 1.7-2.2
D+ 1.3-1.6
D 1.0-1.2
F 0.9 and below
Essay Submissions and Revisions: All out of class essays will be submitted via turnitin.com by
the beginning of class on the days they are due. Late essays will be docked 5 points for every day
they are late including weekends. You may revise one essay with a grade of C or lower.
Revisions will be averaged with the original grade for the final grade.
Make up Exams: I give no make ups for exams, or other in-class writing assignments.
Departmental Attendance Policy: To receive credit for this course, you must attend
class. Because the exchange of ideas between students and a regular interchange between
instructor and student are crucial to the learning outcomes for this course, students will fail to
meet minimal course requirements if they do not attend regularly. With that in mind, the English
department requires that you attend at least 85% of the class meetings for this course. If you miss
more than 15% of scheduled class meetings, you will fail the course.
Since this is both an accelerated and a hybrid course, this means you may not miss more the 3
classes. Missing more than 3 classes will result in a failing grade for the course. Furthermore,
should you miss class you are responsible for getting homework assignments from your peers.
Class Participation:
Be in class and on time, ready to participate. If you have not done all of the required reading for
that day, you are not ready to participate and will receive a 0 for participation that day.
Furthermore, if you are texting in class, you are participating in something other than class and
will receive a 0 for participation for that day.
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Online Participation: As this is a hybrid class, you are required to participate online every
Tuesday and Thursday. You will be doing this using a Wordpress blog site, and will be shown
how to set up your account on the first day of class. Each Tuesday and Thursday I will post
information for you to read and a discussion prompt on my own blog site, to which you will
respond on your site. The requirements for each post will vary; you may occasionally be
expected to respond to peers’ posts as well. You must respond to any given day’s entry on that
day; failure to do so will result in a 0 for that entry.
Extra Help: Please feel free to come to my office—I am always ready to help and can
arrange alternate times outside of office hours if need be. Email or call to make an
appointment. At some point during the term, I may require you to do work in the Writing
Lab (G-06) or the ESL Composition Lab (I-01). Of course, I encourage you to make use of
these free college services even if I don’t specifically assign your attendance.
Plagiarism and Cheating: Plagiarism is not tolerated in this class. It is expected that the
work you submit in all of your courses is your own. Within the context of this course, we will
discuss appropriate text citation; incorrect use of outside sources is plagiarism and is
academically dishonest. Any academic dishonesty will result in the failure of that assignment
as the minimum punishment; it may result in dismissal from the college. Students should be
aware that the English Department uses Turnitin.com, a highly effective service for
recognizing plagiarized essay. See the Student Conduct Code at
<http://dept.sfcollege.edu/rules/studentconductcode.pdf >.
Disability Notification: If you are a student with a disability: In compliance with Santa Fe
College policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss appropriate academic
accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability. Requests for academic
accommodations need to be made during the first week of the semester (except for unusual
circumstances) so arrangements can be made. You must be registered with Disabilities
Resource Center (DRC) in S-112 for disability verification and determination of reasonable
academic accommodations.
Discrimination/Harassment Policy Statement: SFCC prohibits any form of discrimination
or sexual harassment among students, faculty, and staff. For further information refer to the
SFCC Human Resources Policies website at
<http://dept.sfcollege.edu/rules/content/media/PDF/Rule_2/2_8.pdf >.
Withdrawal: The last day to withdraw from the class with no record and receive a refund is
7/5. The last day to withdraw and receive a W is 7/31. If you stop attending but do not
officially withdraw, you will receive a failing grade.
Schedule of Assignments
*This schedule is subject to change.
**All page numbers are from the Bedford Introduction to Literature, unless otherwise noted.
***Essay assignments may involve additional reading beyond what’s listed on the syllabus.
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Unit I: Fiction
Week 1:
M 7/2: Introduction to the course; go over syllabus
T 7/3: “Reading Fiction” (13-23), “Critical Strategies for Reading” (2041-2043), “Reader
Response Criticism” (2060-2062); Annie Proulx, 55 Miles to the Gas Pump (568)
W 7/4: No classes
Th 7/5: Tim O’Brien, How to Tell a True War Story (346-355)
F 7/6: T. Coraghessan Boyle, Carnal Knowledge; In class essay #1
Week 2:
M 7/9: “Plot” (72-73), “Character” (121-122), “Setting” (184-186), “Point of View” (212-217);
Joyce Carol Oates, Three Girls (84-90); Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado (726-731)
T 7/10: “Style, Tone, and Irony” (329-33); Raymond Carver, Popular Mechanics (334-335);
“Encountering Fiction: Comics and Graphic Stories” (47); Gene Luen Yang, from American
Born Chinese (47-51); Edward Gorey, from The Hapless Child (117-119); Lynda Barry, Spelling
(182-183); Margane Satrapi, “The Trip,” from Persepolis (258-260); Matt Groening, Life in Hell
(376-377)
W 7/11: Assign Out-of-class Essay #1; Flannery O’Conner, A Good Man is Hard to Find (449459)
Th 7/12: “Theme” (294-297), “Symbolism” (262-265); Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman
Brown” (402-410)
F 7/13: Out-of-class Essay #1 due; Fiction Exam
Unit II: Poetry
Week 3:
M 7/16: “The Pleasure of Words” (746-748); William Hathaway, Oh, Oh and sample close
reading of Oh, Oh (746-750); “Suggestions for Approaching Poetry” (762-63); “Questions for
Responsive Reading and Writing” (791-792); “Poetry’s Appeal to the Senses” (837-38);
“Patterns of Rhythm” (946-951)
T 7/17: “Word Choice, Word Order, Tone” (799-804); “Figures of Speech” (864-869); “Sounds”
(916-928); Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market (online)
W 7/18: “Poetic Forms: Sonnet” (970-974); John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman’s
Homer (974); William Shakespeare, My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (976-977); Edna
St. Vincent Millay, I will put Chaos into fourteen lines and sample student response (977-978);
Gerard Manley Hopkins, God’s Grandeur (929-930)
Th 7/19: Chapter 31 “Combining the Elements of Poetry,” all inclusive (1028-1038); Mark
Jarman, Unholy Sonnet (980)
F 7/20: Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress (810-814); In-class Essay #2
Week 4:
M 7/23: “Symbol, Allegory, Irony” (888-889); Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach (843-844);
William Stafford, Travelling through the Dark (903)
T 7/24: Robert Browning, My Last Duchess (910)
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W 7/25: Assign Out-of-class Essay #2; Emily Dickinson Because I could not stop for Death –
(1066-67), Tell all the Truth but tell it slant – (1070), There is no Frigate like a Book (10701071); “Sample In-Depth Study [of Emily Dickinson]” (1083-1088)
Th 7/26: “Open Form” all inclusive (1000-1005); Charles Bukowski, The Genius of the Crowd
(online)
F 7/27: Out-of-class Essay #2 due; Poetry Exam
Unit III: Drama
Week 5:
M 7/30: “Reading Drama” (1363-1365), “Elements of Drama” (1381-1384) Naked Lunch (13841388); “Questions for Responsive Reading and Writing” (1408-1409)
T 7/31: “A Study of William Shakespeare” (1516-1527)
W 8/1: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act I (1584-1608)
Th 8/2: Hamlet, Act II (1608-1625)
F 8/3: Presentation
Week 6:
M 8/6: Hamlet, Act III (1625-1648)
T 8/7: Hamlet, Act IV (1648-1655)
W 8/8: Assign Out-of-class Essay #3; Hamlet, Act V (1655-1682)
Th 8/9: Watch film on your own
F 8/10: Discuss film in class
Final Week:
M 8/13 10:30AM-12:30PM
Essay #3 Due; Drama Exam
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GRADING GUIDELINES— The following guidelines provide a clear distinction between passing and non-passing work and discriminate
between competence and excellence. Understand that the following information runs along a continuum, and that my expectations will vary
throughout the term, depending on the number of drafts a student has written, the amount of time the student has to complete the essay, etc.
PURPOSE
DEVELOPMENT
ORGANIZATION
LANGUAGE
USAGE
Paragraphs have fresh, Grammar and
The A paper excels in all of Thesis is strong, Paper’s central idea is Paper presents a
revealing some
supported with
carefully planned
precise, economical,
mechanics contribute
the major areas: purpose,
originality and
concrete, substantial, organization that
and idiomatic diction; to the overall purpose,
development, organization,
language, and usage. It is a
insight in its
and consistently
progresses by logical
the sentences are
even though the paper
coherent, convincing piece of expression.
relevant details.
stages and is developed skillfully crafted. They may exhibit an
writing that reveals a writer in
with originality and with are unified, coherent, occasional error. In
command of ideas and evidence
consistent attention to forceful, and effectively all, the writer
and who chooses language and
the writing situation and varied.
commands language.
sentence structures that
to the audience.
contribute to the meaning of the
essay.
Grammar and
The B paper is competent in Paper has a well- Paper’s central idea is Paper progresses clearly Paragraphs have
all the major areas. Although focused thesis or solidly supported with and logically.
appropriate, clear,
mechanics are
lapses may appear in the paper, central idea.
relevant details
Paragraphs are unified idiomatic diction, as
generally correct.
they are usually minor and
and coherent, and
well as effective and
Errors, when they
infrequent. Skill is displayed in
transitions, where
varied sentence
appear, do not distract
organizing and supporting ideas,
necessary, are effective. structures.
from the overall
in selecting words, and in
The introduction and
effectiveness of the
handling mechanics. Mere
conclusion are
essay.
significant parts of the
absence of errors does not
essay.
merit a B.
Paper has an
Passages may contain a Paper averages up to
The C paper is a competent Paper has a clear Paper provides
introduction, body, and few lapses from good three errors per
effort that exhibits no serious central idea. Thesis sufficient details to
or frequent deficiencies. The sentence is narrow support its central
conclusion. Paragraphs diction. Essay has a
paragraph and six per
C paper may be somewhat
enough to indicate idea; however, this
have topic sentences,
few idiomatic problems, page. Few of these
predictable or mechanical, but the essay’s scope support may be
transitions, and some
but overall the
errors may be serious.
the content and language use are but broad enough obvious or general.
sort of development.
sentences are correctly
clearly college level.
to allow for
The paragraphs may be constructed. Sentences
presentation of
mechanical and
may be simple and lack
extraneous
monotonous.
variety.
material.
Diction may be
Errors in sentence
The D paper is deficient in one Thesis or central Paper exhibits weak Paper has no clear
support or drifts away method of development. inappropriate, vague, or structure, usage, and
or more of the major areas. idea is weak or
The essay has numerous errors general.
from the central idea. Paragraphs follow no
unidiomatic. Sentences mechanics frequently
in mechanics, organization or
Paragraphs have few special order and often may be poorly
interfere with the
paragraph development. It may
details; often the
lack support or unity.
constructed or
writer’s ability to
fail to provide sufficient support
details are inaccurate Transition, if present, is monotonous.
communicate
for generalizations. Despite its
or irrelevant.
ineffective.
purpose.
deficiencies, this paper should
exhibit some features that
demonstrate an understanding of
the essay, its components, and
their functions.
Paragraphs lack
Paper often contains
Diction is frequently
Errors in sentence
The F paper is deficient in two Thesis is vague,
or more major areas. F papers confusing, or
support, are
numerous short
inappropriate; sentences structure, usage, and
often contain faulty logic and absent.
undeveloped, or drift paragraphs or one or two are confusing and lack mechanics frequently
distracting grammatical
from the topic.
long ones; topic
variety.
interfere with the
problems, such as fused or
Introduction and
sentences are vague or
writer’s ability to
comma-spliced sentences,
conclusion are weak absent. Transitions are
communicate
fragments, or errors in
or absent.
inappropriate or missing.
purpose.
agreement or tense. These
papers also exhibit a poor grasp
of the essay, its components,
and their functions.