Attendance

L EARNING OBJECTIVES 

Students will:
-- develop the ability to recognize and identify significant points of commonality between the graphic novel and "academic" genres of literature. 

-- develop greater awareness of word/image relationships, interartistic collaboration, and the growing field of word/image studies.
-- increase familiarity with resources for research in word/image studies.
-- understand the relevant social, historical, and aesthetic contexts of graphic novels.
-- appreciate the implications of theoretical and critical approaches to this art form.
-- develop enhanced cultural awareness and analytical skills.
-- demonstrate their command of academic English and of the tenets of sound composition by writing thesis-driven analytical prose. 

REQUIRED TEXTS --All these titles are available used or at the University Bookstore.  

NOTE:  I expect that students will acquire and bring each book to class on the day we're scheduled to discuss it.

Barry, Lynda. One! Hundred! Demons!   ISBN: 0060789735. Harper Paperbacks.
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home:  A Family Tragicomic.   ISBN:  0618871713.    Mariner Books.
Eisner, Will. Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories.   ISBN: 1563896745. DC Comics.
Spiegleman, Art. The Complete Maus:  A Survivor’s Tale .  ISBN:  0679406417.  Pantheon.
Miller, Frank, et. al. Batman:  The Dark Knight Returns .  ISBN:  1563893428.  DC Comics.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics, the Invisible Art.   ISBN:  006097625X.  Harper Paperbacks.
Satrapi, Marjane.  Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood .  ISBN:  037571457X.  Harper Perennial.
Straczynski, J. Michael et. al.  The Amazing Spiderman:  Revelations .  ISBN:  0785111468.  Marvel Comics.
Wagner, John and Vince Lock.  A History of Violence.   ISBN:  1563893673.  Vertigo.
Ware, Chris, ed. McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern Issue 13.   ISBN:  1932416080.  McSweeney’s.
Engleberg, Miriam.  Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics.  ISBN: 0060789735.  Harper Paperbacks.

Film--available on Netflix or Blockbuster.com--you must watch this movie in time for class assignment and discussion on 3/11:                            American Splendor.  Shari Springer and Robert Pulcini, dir.  Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Harvey Pekar, perf.  Fine Line Features, 2003.

Maimon, Elaine P. A Writer's Resource: A Handbook for Writing and Research (First or Second Edition)  NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

**Assorted brief articles and various comic samples, the links to which I have provided on the syllabus—please print, read, and bring hardcopies to class on the dates I’ve noted below.**
 
REGARDING TEXTBOOK COSTS: Comics are expensive, and the graphic novels I've chosen for this course tend to be costly.  I will provide you with handouts and online resources whenever possible, and I assure you that we will use all our books extensively in and out of class, and I expect you to know them and to have them with you on the days that we discuss them in class.   If money is tight, just buy McCloud and McSweeney at the University Bookstore for the first three weeks' classes, and get the rest (right away!!) via AmazonMarketplace or Alibris.com.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

1. Class Participation (5%)
This will include attendance, preparedness, contributions to discussion, and participation in various class activities (such as work in small groups, reflective writing and drawing exercises). 
Interdisciplinary Aim:  Active class participation is vital to the success of the course, and will necessitate reflection and analysis in verbal, written, and graphic form.
 
2. Reading Responses—30% cumulative; 5 total
These essays, which comprise the largest portion of your semester grade, will consist of brief (1-1/2 to 2 pages, typed, MLA formatting) informal responses to our readings.  You must turn in FIVE of these during the semester between Week 2 and Week 15—I don’t accept multiple submissions.  In other words, you have 13 weeks in which to complete five separate reading responses.   Refer to the syllabus for submission schedule/deadlines.

Please see my comments below regarding the quality I'm expecting in these important writing/learning assignments.

Interdisciplinary Aim:  We will accomplish four important learning outcomes with these responses: (1) to insure that students read consistently, carefully, and on time; (2) to help you prepare for in-class discussion of the readings; (3) to learn and apply the terminology that art and literary critics employ in analysis; (4) to give you sustained practice in polished college-level critical writing.
 
4.  Adaptation Project—20%
Select a poem that’s particularly rich in imagery or narrative, and adapt it to comic form.  You must accompany this sequential art adaptation with a 2-1/2 to 3-page contextual essay (2 to 3 pages, typed, MLA format; see below)  explaining the choices you made in the process—why did you choose a particular medium and style?  What elements did you have to add or subtract in adapting it?  How do the visual elements communicate your interpretation of the poem?  In what ways does the poem’s meaning change/deepen when it’s expressed with both words and illustrations.   NOTE —you must “sign up” for the poem of your choice no later than February 15th, because: 1)  I want to make sure that I’ve read it before you turn in your projecton March 15th; and 2) only one student may adapt and write about a particular poem.   Feel free to visit me during office hours—I’m happy to help you with your poem selection.

 
5. Mini-Comic Project—20% 
This will be a creative project, in which class members will create their own (short) autobiographical comic based on a particularly significant event/milestone in their lives. A key component of this project will be a contextual essay (2 to 3 pages, typed, MLA format; see below) describing the process of its creation.  Interdisciplinary Aim:  (1) To encourage a hands-on appreciation of comic art as a creative practice; (2) to apply the critical terms that McCloud explicates in Understanding Comics).  

**I have placed Scott McCloud’s Making Comics and Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Arts on reserve at Ingram Library—please consult these resources early in the semester in order to avoid the last-minute rush!**

REGARDING THE CONTEXTUAL ESSAY: This writing assignment is essentially a discussion of your thinking and decision-making in your creation of a comic:  why did you  select your particular text for the adaptation or mini-comic?  In what ways does the original lend itself to graphic adaptation?  How did you decide what to include or omit in the finished product?  Upon what did you decide to focus?  Why?  Finally, how has expressing the ideas/telling the story via sequential art changed or enhanced the meaning of the original text? 

REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL PAPERS
I consider your response papers and your contextual essays to be formal, college-level writing assignments, and I hope you will take them as seriously as I do.  They must meet or exceed the following standards in order to earn a passing grade (or higher):

• You must type and format all out-of-class papers in MLA style (see Writer's Resource Tab 6).  
• Papers must demonstrate that you care about their quality:  stretch your imagination in order to find complex and innovative topics upon which to
   write, spellcheck, proofread (read your paper aloud), integrate comments/corrections I've noted on previous papers in all your subsequent writing,
   cite your sources thoroughly, look up correct punctuation and grammar, etc.
• Essays must have adequate in-text citations and a Works Cited page.
• All your papers must be stapled in the top left corner.
• Successful college-level essays must demonstrate that you're synthesizing and analyzing class materials.  Response papers should focus on one
    or two elements of a text, and must go deeper than a simplistic "I liked this comic because..." type of reflective response.
 
• In assessing your writing assignments, I will apply the English Department grading rubric for courses 2000-level and above. 

In all your out-of-class assignments, I will expect you to refer to your Writer's Resource in order to write polished, grammatically-precise, MLA formatted, college-level essays.

Please note:  I do not accept electronic submissions of any out-of-class work.

6.  Informal Student Presentations—10%
Students will prepare a brief presentation (tem minutes max) that includes an analysis of a selection from our McSweeney’s comic sampler.  Accordingly, you must bring your copy of this text to each class meeting for which we have presentations scheduled. 

I will assess these ten-minute presentations with respect to the following criteria: 
•  Coherence of your analysis—go deeper than just, “Here’s a comic that I think is pretty good…”  Rather, find the artist’s message, identify his/her themes, and explain how he or she executes these elements (use the McCloud text as a resource/guide).
•  Basic presentation skills (i.e. can everybody hear you? Can you sustain eye-contact with the audience?  Can you overcome your nerves and deliver an interesting, informative, pleasant—maybe even fun—presentation? ).
•  Efficacy of any additional visual examples you bring to class (you’re welcome to use our classroom computer/projector if you want to add your own visuals to the presentation).
•  Integration of course concepts in your analysis:  connect your selection to McCloud and any other works we've discussed prior to your presentation.
Grade sheet you'll receive after your presentation.    

7. Final Exam—15% 
This will be a take-home final exam, consisting of short essay questions. 
Interdisciplinary Aim:  The final will provide a comprehensive assessment of how well students understand the course material and how attentively they can read a comics text. One of the two essays will test students’ ability to analyze and interpret a comic of their own choosing; the other will ask students to reflect on a topic of general importance to the comics field. Both essays will test their ability to organize their thoughts into a coherent paper with a strong thesis, and insightful analysis.

 
A FINAL NOTE: 
We’re going to have fun this semester, but earning high grades in this class will require lots of effort and discipline on your part.  With this in mind, please

read the following excerpt, "Five Habits of Mind," from From Students to Citizens and Workers: An Interview with Deborah Meier   by Janice Molloy, which briefly outlines the intellectual skills you'll need to continue cultivating in order to succeed in this (and any other) college course:

http://www.pegasuscom.com/levpoints/meierint.html

ATTENDANCE
The only way we can achieve our course objectives is through your consistent attendance and participation in class.  However, I know that occasional emergencies arise, so I allow FOUR no-questions-asked absences—please use them wisely, and keep me informed!   NOTE:  I count "lates" (i.e. arriving after class has begun) as 1/2 an absence...so please be on time!

I don't distinguish between "excused" and  "unexcused" absences; you owe me no explanations nor documentation for your absences; all I ask is that you use these absences wisely. 

If you must be absent, I expect you to keep up with the assignments; if you’re absent on the day an assignment is due, I will still expect you to make arrangements to get it to me on time. Students who are absent receive a zero for in-class work missed; more than four absences will result in a 5 point reduction of your final grade. Excessive absences (six or more) will result in administrative withdrawal from class.

I will ask any student who falls asleep during class to leave my classroom, and will count that student absent for the day.

LATE WORK
I will not accept late work (I know this policy is challenging—but I really do mean it, and I don't make exceptions).   Being late with assignments hinders your progress—and often, that of the entire class! Although it's far easier just to hand in your paper at the beginning of class on the due date, my definition of a late paper is one that  you haven't placed in my hands before I leave campus on the day the assignment's due.   

PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC HONESTY
The Department of English and Philosophy defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they are presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources; an equally dishonest practice is fabricating sources or facts, which is another form of misrepresenting the truth.  I expect, therefore, that students will accurately and thoroughly credit sources in all their assignments.   

I will give an automatic "F" in this course to any student who plagiarizes or excessively collaborates on any assignment (quizzes, out-of-class essays, and journals). . . no exceptions.  In order to be crystal clear on what I, the English Department, and the University expect of you in regard to academic honesty, please review all the links below--I hold each of my students responsible for having read and understood these policies:

WEEK 11—Spring Break!!  Woo hoo!!