ENGL 2300: Practical Criticism: Research and Methodology

Dr. Margaret E. Mitchell

Fall 2006 MW 5:30-6:50 Hum 208

Office: TLC 2235

Email: mmitchel@westga.edu

Website: http: //www.westga.edu/~mmitchel

Phone: 678.839.4852

Office Hours: MW 3-4; T 10-11 and 1-4; F 11:30-12:30; by appt.

This course is designed as an introduction to the English major, and will emphasize both critical and writing skills. You will become acquainted with some of the most important contemporary critical approaches to literature—including new historicism, gender criticism, and cultural criticism—and you will learn how to employ these approaches in your own thinking and writing.  You will also work both in and out of class to develop effective strategies for structuring, developing, and refining thesis-driven critical essays. Two novels and some contemporary short stories will provide rich material for analysis, interpretation, and critical writing.

Texts: Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, Ed. Jonathan Culler; Frankenstein: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, Mary Shelley (Ed. Johanna Smith, Bedford); The Grass is Singing, Doris Lessing (HarperPerennial); Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, Ed. Michael Martone; MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6^th edition, Ed. Gibaldi.

Requirements

This is likely to be one of the most challenging courses you take as an English major: you should expect to work hard. I expect you to keep up with your reading, both literary and critical, and to come to class ready to discuss or write about what you have read. Everyone needs to be an active, engaged participant in and contributor to the class. I expect you to take your own work and that of your fellow students seriously.

You should be prepared for occasional quizzes on your reading. More often, I will assign short writing exercises based on your reading; it will be impossible for you to complete these if you have fallen behind. We will alternate between literary and critical texts in order to encourage you to begin considering literature through a critical lens. You’ll write two 5-page essays (with one required revision) and a 10-page research paper; our emphasis will be on the process of writing, and therefore the exercises and workshops that accompany each assignment are mandatory, not optional, and failure to complete them will lower your paper grade. You will be required to substantially revise your first essay in response to my comments. In addition to the writing work we’ll do in class, I encourage you to come to my office hours to discuss specific concerns, drafts, etc.

You’ll give a short presentation on your research project at the end of the semester, and you will take a final exam on critical terminology and concepts relevant to the course. I encourage you to take good class and reading notes all along in order to prepare for this. If you apply yourself seriously to this class, you will have a solid foundation for the upper-level classes that make up the English major.

Policies:

Your active presence is essential to the success of the class. Quizzes and in-class exercises cannot be made up regardless of the reason for your absence unless we have made arrangements in advance. Long papers will drop a third of a letter grade for each day they are late (from a B to a B-, for instance)—including weekends. Papers will be accepted only in class; please don’t email them to me or leave them in my mailbox unless you’re specifically instructed to. If you miss more than three classes, your grade will suffer. There is no such thing as an excused absence. I assume that illness or other pressing circumstances may legitimately cause you to miss three classes in the course of the semester; I don’t need to know your reasons. Beyond that, however, absences will lower your final grade by half a letter grade each. If you do miss class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed and arrange to obtain handouts or reading questions. If you miss 6 classes, you will not pass. (If you have truly extraordinary circumstances documented by the university, you should look into obtaining a hardship withdrawal.)

Please come to class on time. If you are late three times it will count as an absence; lateness may also affect your ability to complete quizzes or in-class writings within the amount of time allowed. Please turn off cell phones and other potential sources of electronic disturbance before you enter class and remove them from your desk or your person. If such a device does go off during class, I will mark you late.

Assignments and information relevant to the class will be posted regularly on my website. It is your responsibility to check this

I check my email regularly; this is always a good way to contact me. Please note that, for legal and confidentiality reasons, I am not permitted to read or respond to emails from any non-westga accounts. Make sure to use your My Westga account when you write to me.

If you have special needs of which I should be aware, please meet with me as soon as possible to discuss satisfactory arrangements.

I expect you to preserve an atmosphere of courtesy, respect, and intellectual maturity in the classroom, to take your own work and that of the other students seriously. Very little is less respectful than napping: if you fall asleep, you will receive one warning; the second time you will be asked to leave and counted as absent.

Academic Honesty:

Presenting the language or ideas of someone else as your own constitutes plagiarism--whether your source is a friend, a relative, or a critic; whether the uncredited material is a phrase, a paragraph, or an entire paper; whether it is a formal or an informal assignment. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the class, and may have consequences at the university level. If you are ever concerned about what constitutes plagiarism, please consult me. You may also see the English Department website for more details.

Grading

Essay #1: 0%

Revision: 20%

Essay # 2: 20 %

Writing exercises, quizzes, participation: 20%

Research paper: 30%

Final Exam: 10%

Schedule

Week 1

M Aug 14 Introduction

W Aug 16 Culler’s Literary Theory, chapters 1 and 2

Week 2

M Aug 21 Frankenstein, 20-101

W Aug 23 Culler, Chapters 3 and 4

Week 3

M Aug 28 Frankenstein, 101-189

W Aug 30 Culler, Chapters 5 and 6

Week 4

M Sept 4 Labor Day—no class

W Sept 6 Frankenstein: Feminist Criticism and Gender Criticism sections, including articles

Week 5

M Sept 11 Frankenstein: Marxist Criticism.

W Sept 13 Cultural criticism. First essay assigned.

Week 6

M Sep. 18

W Sept 20 4- page draft of essay #1 due. Writing workshop.

Week 7

M Sept 25. Frankenstein: Psychoanalytic Criticism and Combining Perspectives

W Sept 27 Culler, chapters 7 & 8. Essay #1 due.

Week 8

M Oct 2 Short story TBA.

W Oct 4 Short story TBA

F Oct 6 Last day to withdraw with a W.

Week 9

M Oct 9 Fall break--No Class!

W Oct 11 Individual Conferences in my office: bring your papers

Week 10

M Oct 16 Short Fiction Anthology: "Meneseteung," Alice Munro; "Errand," Raymond Carver.

W Oct 18 Critical reading Showalter, Bakhtin. Revisions due.

**critical readings have been emailed to you as 2 separate PDF files. Make sure you access them, print them out, and read them before Wednesday's class. **

Week 11

M Oct 23 Critical readings: Foucault. Short story: Charles Baxter, "Gryphon" (from anthology)

W Oct 25 The Grass is Singing (1-57). Writing exercise (in-class). Essay # 2 assigned (see link, main web page under 2300)

Week 12

M Oct 30 The Grass is Singing 57-114.

W Nov 1 The Grass is Singing 1-191. 5-page draft of essay # 2 due. Writing Workshop.

Week 13

M Nov 6 The Grass is Singing, finish.

W Nov 8 Critical reading. Distribute guidelines for research paper (see link, main web page). Essay #2 due.

Week 14

M Nov 13 Bring one-page description of paper topic. Be prepared to discuss the Roberts article and Lessing's novel. Sign up for conferences.

W Nov 15  Individual conferences. Bring a rough outline and a couple of potential sources with you, at the very least.

Week 15

M Nov 20 5-page rough draft. Writing workshop.

W Nov 22 Thanksgiving—no class

Week 16

M Nov 27 Short presentations on research projects. Prepare to speak for a few minutes to the class about your research project, explaining your approach and your central conclusions. You may read a bit of your paper, if you like, or simply speak informally. Be ready to field questions or suggestions.

W Nov 29 Conclusion.

F Dec 1 Research papers due (in my office, or in the box on the wall outside my office, by 5:00).

Final exam on critical concepts and terminology—Mon. Dec 4, 5:30. Study questions.

*This schedule is subject to adjustment or alteration. Changes will be announced in class and online.

Course Goals

• Students will cultivate skills in reading, writing, and critical analysis appropriate for the advanced English major.
• Students will understand major critical approaches that are employed in the field of literary studies.
• Students will be able to read, discuss, and analyze literary works using a variety of critical perspectives.
• Students will articulate how these perspectives both inform and direct our understanding and appreciation of literature.
• Students will develop competence in literary analysis from at least three different critical perspectives.
• Students will organize and complete a substantive research paper that demonstrates the ability to engage effectively in critical research and writing.
• Students will demonstrate in both oral and written work a discipline-specific critical facility through convincing and well supported analysis of course-related material.
• Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and of the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.

Program Goals

• Oral and written communication will be characterized by clarity, critical analysis, logic, coherence, persuasion, precision, and rhetorical awareness (Core Curriculum learning outcomes I)
• Cultural and Social Perspectives: Cultural and social perspective will be characterized by cultural awareness and an understanding of the complexity and dynamic nature of social/political/economic systems; human and institutional behavior, values, and belief systems; historical and spatial relationship; and, flexibility, open-mindedness, and tolerance. (Core Curriculum learning outcomes III)
• Aesthetic Perspective: Aesthetic perspective will be characterized by critical appreciation of and ability to make informed aesthetic judgments about the arts of various cultures as media for human expression (Core Curriculum learning outcomes V)
• This course fulfills an Area F requirement for English majors (all tracks) in the core.
• This course is required for the major in English as a prerequisite to upper-division study. It is designed to prepare students for their work in the major.
• This course will contribute to the larger goal of equipping students with a  foundation in literary theory, research, and methods, with an emphasis on the issues surrounding literary study in contemporary culture.
• 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.