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2025-26

Essential Objectives

Course Syllabus


Revision Date: 08-Jan-25
 

Introduction to Literature




Credits:
Semester Dates: Last day to drop without a grade: 02-03-2025 - Refund Policy
Last day to withdraw (W grade): 03-24-2025 - Refund Policy
This course has started, please contact the offering academic center about registration

Faculty

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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 APA citation style 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 computer recommendations Support page.

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 course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations.

Spring 2025 textbook details will be available on 2024-12-06. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.


Methods

  • Close reading of short stories, a novel, non-fiction literature, poetry, and a play.
  • Class discussion of reading materials.
  • Instructor explication of formal literary elements including point of view, imagery, figurative language, setting, theme, character, plot, and voice.
  • Screening of films with literary elements.
  • Five Writing Activities.
  • Two online Discussions.
  • A final Long Paper with a literary topic.

Evaluation Criteria

  • Five Writing Activities - 10 points each
  • Two online Discussions - 5 points each
  • One Long Paper - 40 points

Grading Criteria

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

 HighLow
A+10098
A Less than 9893
A-Less than 9390
B+Less than 9088
B Less than 8883
B-Less than 8380
C+Less than 8078
C Less than 7873
C-Less than 7370
D+Less than 7068
D Less than 6863
D-Less than 6360
FLess than 60 
P10060
NPLess than 600


Weekly Schedule


Week/ModuleTopic  Readings  Assignments
 

1

Week One, January 23, 11:45 am – 2:30 pm

  • Introduction to the course, including Syllabus and Canvas
  • Readings:
    • Excerpt, The Blue Star by Robert Ferro
    • Poetry, Robert Frost
    • “Caught Napping” by Nicole Holofcener
  • Introduction to James Baldwin
    
  • Homework for January 30

Read “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin (handout)

Writing Activity 1, Robert Ferro

 

2

Week Two, January 30

  • Discussion of “Sonny’s Blues”
  • Screen Baldwin-Buckley Debate, 1965
  • Readings:
    • “My Dungeon Shook” by James Baldwin
    • Poetry, Archibald MacLeish, Billy Collins, Meghan O’Rourke
  • Introduction to Kristen Roupenian
    
  • Homework for February 6
    • Participate in Discussion 1, James Baldwin
    • Read “Cat Person” by Kristen Roupenian (handout)
 

3

Week Three, February 6

  • Discussion of “Cat Person”
  • Introduction to Tim O’Brien
  • Readings:
    • “Boyfriend” by Junot Diaz
    • “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell
    • Poetry, Dylan Thomas
    
  • Homework for February 13
    • Writing Activity 2, Kristin Roupenian
    • Read “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien (handout)
 

4

Week Four, February 13

  • Discussion of “The Things They Carried”
  • Readings:
    • “Baguettes and the Forever War” by Roger Cranse
    • Excerpt from The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh
    • Excerpt from Brave Men by Ernie Pyle
    • Poetry, Wilfred Owen, Randall Jarrell, Marilyn Nelson Waniek
  • Screen Tim O’Brien and Morley Safer
    
  • Homework for February 20
    • Writing Activity 3, Tim O’Brien
 

5

Week Five, February 20

  • Screen Pride and Prejudice
    
  • Homework for February 27
    • Read pages 1 – 59 in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American
 

6

Week Six, February 27

  • Discussion of The Quiet American
  • Readings:
    • Poetry, Sharon Olds
    • “Marrakech” by George Orwell
    • “Looper” by Roger Cranse
    
  • Homework for March 7
    • Read pages 63 – 125 in The Quiet American
 

7

Week Seven, March 6

  • Discussion of The Quiet American
  • Readings:
    • Poetry, Sharon Olds
    • “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift
    
  • Homework for March 13
    • Read pages 129 – 180 in The Quiet American
    • Participate in Discussion 2, Sharon Olds
 

8

Week Eight, March 13

  • Discussion of The Quiet American
  • Readings:
    • “Education of a Knife” by Atul Gawande
    • “Los Angeles Notebook” by Joan Didion
    • Poetry, William Butler Yeats
    
  • Homework for March 20
    • Writing Activity 4, The Quiet American
 

9

Week Nine, March 20

  • Screen The Quiet American
    
  • Homework for March 27
    • Read “I Was a Playboy Bunny” by Gloria Steinem (handout)
 

10

Week Ten, March 27

  • Discuss “I Was a Playboy Bunny”
  • Introduction to the Long Paper
  • Readings:
    • “Buried Homeland” by Aharon Appelfeld
    • Poetry, Matthew Arnold
  • J. S. Bach birthday, March 31, 1685 – screen video
    
  • Homework for April 3
    • First draft of Long Paper due April 3
 

11

Week Eleven, April 3

  • Screen A Room with a View
    
  • Homework for April 10
    • Continue work on Long Paper
    • Writing Activity 5, A Room with a View
 

12

Week Twelve, April 10

  • Flipped session – revise your Long Paper
  • Introduction to Tennessee Williams
  • Readings
    • Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    • Poetry, A. E. Housman
    
  • Homework for April 17
    • Final Long Paper due April 17
 

13

Week Thirteen, April 17

  • Readings:
    • Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    • Poetry, Walt Whitman
    
  • Homework for April 24
    • TBD
 

14

Week Fourteen, April 24

  • Readings and discussion, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • Screen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    
  • Homework for May 1
    • May 1 is the iron deadline for all class work.
 

15

Week Fifteen, May 1, final class

  • Screen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • Final discussion and farewells!
    
 

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

Attendance at every class is required. If you must be absent for personal emergency or serious illness, contact me ahead of time by email or in-person. More than three unexcused absences will result in a grade of "F."If you are experiencing cough, fever, or shortness of breath, do not come to class; your absence will not count against you. Email me and I will work with you to devise a plan to make up the missed class work.



Missing & Late Work Policy

To be determined individually.


Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:


CCV strives to mitigate barriers to course access for students with documented disabilities. To request accommodations, please
  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


CCV has a commitment to honesty and excellence in academic work and expects the same from all students. Academic dishonesty, or cheating, can occur whenever you present -as your own work- something that you did not do. You can also be guilty of cheating if you help someone else cheat. Being unaware of what constitutes academic dishonesty (such as knowing what plagiarism is) does not absolve a student of the responsibility to be honest in his/her academic work. Academic dishonesty is taken very seriously and may lead to dismissal from the College.

Apply Now for this semester.

Register for this semester: November 4, 2024 - January 17, 2025