Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | ENG-1310-VU01 - Introduction to Literature

In Person Class

Standard courses meet in person at CCV centers, typically once each week for the duration of the semester.

Faculty

Jeffrey Bickerstaff
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Ashraf Alamatouri

General Education Requirements

Arts and Aesthetics
Research and Writing Intensive

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 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.

Fall 2025 textbook details will be available on 2025-05-19. 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.

ENG-1310-VU01 Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

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.

Evaluation Criteria

• Papers 30%

three 3-4 page papers, one for each of the first three units

• Research Essay 20%

research-driven essay exploring an idea from your first three papers

• Classwork 30%

in-class work, responses, peer feedback, revision exercises, etc.

• Presentation 10%

roughly 10-15 minute presentation with your group on a poetry chapter from the textbook

• Final Exam10%

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.

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

Apply Now for this semester.