Course Syllabus

Spring 2024 | ENG-1310-VO03 - Introduction to Literature

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

James Barton
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Collin Lee

General Education Requirements

VSCS Arts & Aesthetics
CCV Writing and Research

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

In this course, students read a culturally diverse selection of fiction, poetry, and drama with an emphasis on how to study literature: understanding plot and character, identifying themes and the author's point of view, and analyzing techniques in prose and verse. This course fulfills the research and writing intensive requirement. Students must complete a final research paper with a grade of C- or better in order to pass this course. Prerequisite: English Composition.

Essential Objectives

1. Describe the formal elements of the novel, short fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and drama.
2. Define literary elements such as theme, character, plot, imagery, setting, point of view, and symbolism.
3. Analyze how writers use formal and literary elements to express ideas, emotions, and cultural values.
4. Identify figurative uses of language such as irony, metaphor, and personification from a wide range of literary works.
5. Describe the cultural and historical context of selected works of literature and explain the impact of global and/or cultural diversity on the development of these works.
6. Discuss the contributions of selected works of literature to social change, thought, and/or well-being on an individual or collective level.
7. Write short reaction papers and analyses of a wide range of selected literary works, critically editing drafts for precision and clarity as well as correct mechanics.
8. Demonstrate information literacy skills: distinguish between and utilize both primary and secondary sources; perform library and web-based literature searches; and evaluate data and resources for credibility, reliability, and validity.
9. Demonstrate the ability to apply either APA or MLA citation styles in academic writing by parenthetically citing sources in the text and correctly compiling them in the relevant end sources page.
10. Compose, revise, and edit a final paper that includes a thesis, integrates five or more scholarly and professional sources, including primary and secondary evidence as needed, to address an academic research question and demonstrate writing proficiency by achieving a grade of C- or better.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

*** This is a no cost textbook or resource class. ***

This course only uses free Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials. For details, see the Canvas Site for this class.

Methods

Sample Teaching Methods

• small and large group discussions
• interactive projects and/or activities
• readings, writing, and inquiry-based research

Evaluation Criteria

Explanation of Course Grading System

I value your questions so don’t hesitate to ask about any aspect of this grading system at any time. You can check your grades each week in the Grade Book on our Canvas course site, and we can arrange individual Zoom meetings at any point in the semester you’d like to check in about your progress in the course and ensure we are on the same page about grading. I appreciate you caring enough to ask for help and clarification.

In this course I want to focus on a few big things together:

#1 -- We’ll try out a different thinking activity geared to each of the nine stories we’ll read. I’ll set you up to complete these different activities with a weekly video posted on our Canvas course site each Tuesday morning and supply a clearly labeled spot to submit your work. These thinking activities – which I’m hoping you will enjoy – will apply analytic tools to help you become a stronger interpreter of literature. The goal here is to help you notice and appreciate things in stories you might have missed out on in the past.

Each thinking activity you submit (9 in all) will be worth 6 points toward your course grade, for a grand total of 54 points.

These submissions will be due on Friday nights by midnight. I’ll respond back to you each time with feedback and a grade before you have to submit your next activity.

#2 -- I’ll ask for your brief reactions to each story we’ll read.

We’re doing this because I’ll be really curious to find out which readings you like more and which ones you like less. I promise you’ll have the freedom to tell me what you really think – even if you really dislike a particular text it won’t hurt your grade (or my feelings) to tell me so. I’m thinking this process will help you get even more in tune with what it is you like in a good story. Plus, you’ll get to see how your tastes match up with your classmates’ opinions.

Each story rating (9 in all) will be worth 1 point toward your course grade, for a grand total of 9 points. I’ll ask you to wait to submit these ratings until the weekend after you’ve read each story to give them a chance to marinate in your mind. The window to submit your ratings will be from Saturday mornings through Sunday nights by midnight.

#3 -- At three different points during the semester we’ll be composing brief essays instead of reading and responding to a particular story. Each essay will pull together your experience with the ways of thinking we’ve been trying on for size in the different activities. I’ll explain each essay in detail when we get to it, and each one will be worth 7 points (for a grand total of 21 points). These 3 essays will be due on Friday nights by midnight.

#4 -- In addition, I’ll also be asking you to critique a story of your own choice using the analytic tools we’ll practice in the weekly activities. You’ll receive 6 points for selecting a story to critique by the established deadline (during the week of November 1^st) and a maximum of 10 points for your written critique (due during our very last week of class). I’ll set you up with clear guidelines and a reasonable time frame for this final writing assignment. The weekly activities we’ve done together should make this piece of writing pretty manageable.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

Full participation requires active and thoughtful engagement in class each week. The following habits and skills are important. You'll have the opportunity to self-assess and receive instructor feedback on each of these areas at the mid-point and the end of the semester.

Missing & Late Work Policy

For your sake and mine, I’m hoping you’ll move right along beside me throughout our on-line semester together. It’s going to be a different kind of learning experience for all of us. I’m committed to coming through for you and am asking you to come through for me by submitting everything on time. We can always work out a deal if you get stuck for time and contact me before an assignment is due. Otherwise, I’ll be deducting a point a day for late assignments.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity