• Individual instructors may assemble a group of texts that will allow students to meet the objectives and specifications of the course. No specific texts are required.

• An examination of the American literary arts based in an aesthetic of accurate, unromanticized observation/representation of life and nature that flourished in the post-Civil War era.
• Prerequisites: ENGL 1101 and 1102.
• A further specific description pertaining to this section of the course may be added.

Course Goals

• Students will be able to synthesize from the study of representative writers and their works the defining characteristics of literary realism and naturalism as well as distinguish the uniqueness of these writers and their works.
• Students will demonstrate an awareness of the nineteenth-century cultural context that gave rise to the practice of realism and naturalism in the United States.
• Students will demonstrate in both oral and written work a discipline-specific critical facility through convincing and well-supported analysis of related material.
• Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.
• Students will learn to use discipline-specific computer technologies related to the study of language such as listservs, word processing, and internet research.

Program Goals

• This course fulfills one of the departmental requirements for the completion of the English major.
• Students will develop the analytical, oral and written skills to pursue graduate study or careers in teaching, writing, business and a variety of other fields.
• Students will be able to define and pursue independent research agendas.
• This course contributes to the program goal of equipping students with a foundation in literary history and the issues surrounding literary study in contemporary culture.
• This course broadens students' desire and ability to take pleasure in their encounter with literature.

• To be determined by instructor.

• To be determined by instructor.
• Students will display their command of academic English and of the tenets of  sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose, including at least ten pages of research-based writing.

• Departmental plagiarism policies
• Other policy statements specific to this class should be included on the syllabus.
• A detailed calendar of readings and assignments should be made available to the class at the first class meeting. A copy should be posted electronically and kept on file in the English department office.
• Students should be expected to come to class, prepared and able to participate.
• MLA style should be emphasized and required on out-of-class essays.