Women in Literature (ENGL 2353)

ENG 2353: WOMEN IN LITERAURE

Fall 2013 Section 63516

Dr. Sandy Jordan

E-mail: [email protected]

TEXTS

Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women,Volumes I and II. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007. (Yes, two books)  Recommended: a good grammar handbook, such as the McGraw-Hill or Penguin (Many works will also be provided on the site.)

 

Course Description:

The HCC Course Catalogue describes English 2353, a Core Curriculum Course, as “a comprehensive overview of the female literary tradition in English from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. A critical study of how women have responded to culture and society, personal relationships, and their inner selves through a variety of literary genres.” English 2353 will introduce you to a robust cross-section of literature by female authors who write across genres (including plays, short stories, plays, poems, and nonfiction essays).

 

Course Goals:

English 2353 is part of the Core Curriculum and, as such, emphasizes all of the Core Competencies: reading, writing, speaking, listening, critical thinking, and computer literacy. (See the HCC Student Handbook for a complete explanation of the Basic Intellectual Core Curriculum Competencies.)

 

The purpose of this course is to expand your awareness of the work of women writers. As you begin to examine the unique problems and accomplishments of women writers, you will continue to develop your critical thinking skills and grow as a researcher and writer yourself.

Many students will be surprised to learn that women have been writing great works for thousands of years, but too often have been uncredited for their works; as you see how audience is critical to creation, you can look around and realize that this applies to many works even today (PD James, of Fifty Shades of Grey and JK Rowlings, author of the Harry Potter books, both used their initials so that they might be mistaken for male writers, because men often refuse to read works written by women.) You may find yourself changing some of your views of history when you see it as perceived by the female perspective of developing relationships and gaining acceptance instead of the traditional male perspective of battles and territory and lines drawn on maps of conquered countries. We will look at poems, songs, plays, non fiction as well as fiction works, to try to get an overview of how women have worked "behind the lines" (a male metaphor of war) to change the world through writing.

 

Student Learning Outcomes

To successfully complete 2353, you will:

Explain and illustrate stylistic characteristics of representative texts by writers of the female literary tradition in English from the Middle Ages to the present.

 

Connect representative works of these writers to human and individual values in historical and social contexts.

 

Demonstrate knowledge of the works of writers from the female literary tradition in English.

 

Analyze critical texts relating to the works of writers from the female literary tradition in English.

 

Critique and interpret representative works of writers from the female literary tradition in English.

 

GRADING

Class participation (assignments and discussion posts) 25%

Paper One 25%

Paper Two 25%

Research Paper 25%

 

There will be no extra credit in this class. You may not work ahead because each week may change as we approach it. All papers and at least 70% of the participation points must be turned in and passed in order for the student to pass. Grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and punctuation greatly influence the meaning of sentences in writing. These will be graded accordingly. Avail yourself of a good grammar handbook or access resources on the internet before you do revisions if you need to rewrite the papers due to errors in these areas.

 

PARTICIPATION

Discussion posts cannot be made up or turned in late. They are worth 0—10 points each. These grades are all added together at the end of the semester and divided by the number of assignments. If 12 assignments are added together and equal 96, then the final participation grade would be 96/12 or 8, which is 80, which is a B.  Discussion responses, unless otherwise indicated, must be at least 250 word responses and cannot use first person. Always include a word count at the end of participation exercises.

GRADING RUBRIC:

Your work will be graded using the standard A-F system. EAGLE accepts only numbers in the grading boxes you will see. A 0 means no paper was turned in, and a 50 does NOT mean F, but is a symbol for REWRITE.  Ultimately the grade assigned to the paper will depend on the ideas a student has (content) and how well that student has communicated these ideas to the reader (mechanics). Each is vital to getting a good grade, because no matter how wonderful your ideas are, they must be presented in a way that the reader can understand what they are saying.

A (90-100%): Your work demonstrates superior ability and originality. Thorough knowledge of the material is displayed. The quality of submitted work is consistently high with no stylistic or rhetorical errors.

 

B (80-89%): The student demonstrates above average ability. Knowledge of the material exceeds basic requirements. The quality of submitted work contains few stylistic or rhetorical errors.

 

C (70-79%): The student presents work that adequately fulfills the assignment.  Errors in proofreading, mechanics, style, and rhetorical devices are present.  Often they are careless, reflecting that the student can do the correct grammar and sentence structure but did not proofread for errors.

 

D (60-69%): The student submits below average work that displays little skill or creativity. The work contains repeated mechanical and stylistic errors and poorly developed ideas.

 

F (0-59%): The student submits sloppy, poorly organized works containing excessive stylistic and rhetorical errors. The work displays little student effort and/or interest. Essay follows closely an internet paper with the same information which may or may not be organized in the same way. Ideas are not original. Student uses first person when instructed not to, turns in a paper that is too short, or otherwise does not follow directions specific to assignment. Student uses papers from another class or simultaneously submitted.

 

FINAL GRADE OF FX

Students who stop attending class and do not withdraw themselves prior to the withdrawal deadline may either be dropped by their professor for excessive absences or be assigned the final grade of “FX” at the end of the semester. Students who stop attending classes will receive a grade of “FX”, compared to an earned grade of “F” which is due to poor performance. Logging into a DE course without active participation is seen as non-attending.  Please note that HCC will not disperse financial aid funding for students who have never attended class. Students who receive financial aid but fail to attend class will be reported to the Department of Education and may have to

pay back their aid. A grade of “FX” is treated exactly the same as a grade of “F” in terms of GPA, probation, suspension, and satisfactory academic progress.  Receiving a W in a course may affect the status of your student Visa. Once a W is given for the course, it will not be changed to an F.

 

How to Drop

If a student decides to withdraw from a class upon careful review of other options, the student can withdraw online prior to the deadline through their HCC Student Center. HCC and/or professors may withdraw students for excessive absences without notification (see Class Attendance below). Students should check HCC’s Academic Calendar by Term for withdrawal dates and deadlines. Classes of other duration (flex-entry, 8-weeks, etc.) may have different final withdrawal deadlines. Please contact the HCC Registrar’s Office at 713.718.8500 to determine mini-term class withdrawal deadlines.

 

ATTENDANCE

Absences: Although it is the responsibility of the student to withdraw officially from a course, the professor also has the authority to block a student from accessing Eagle, and/or to withdraw a student for excessive absences or failure to participate regularly. DE students who do not log into their Eagle class before the Official Day of Record will be automatically dropped for non-attendance.  Completing the DE online orientation does not count as attendance. You will log in at least three times a week (each log in is recorded in detail as to time and activities) to your Eagle class to receive details or the week’s assignments and to check instructor’s announcements. If I have not received any assignments or messages from you by the end of week 2, you may be withdrawn from the course and your access to the course website will be blocked. Students who do not participate in the class and do not do the work required will be given an F. You may NOT turn in all your work after the midterm of the semester; if you have not submitted any work before the midterm date, you will be dropped for failure to participate. The State goes by the percentage of absences indicated by not logging in, and I go by participation, which is not doing

assignments added to not logging in. Absences of 5 or more weekdays (consecutively) will be penalized with a reduction of one letter grade..

When communicating with me via email, please treat those messages like you would written correspondence with your employer. Use complete sentences with appropriate capitalization; be sure the subject line accurately reflects the subject of your message, and remember this is a formal writing class, not a text message class. Use of informal language is one of the major reasons students fail papers. One purpose of this course is to teach students that they are continually being judged by their writing skills, and should learn to adjust the level of their formality to the level of the assignment. In this course formal language is expected except in Discussion responses, which will not be graded for grammar, but for content.

 

DISABILILTY INFORMATION, DEADLINES, POLICIES NOT ADDRESSED IN THIS SYLLABUS

The Distance Education Student Handbook contains policies and procedures unique to the DE student. Students should have reviewed the handbook as part of the mandatory orientation. It is the student's responsibility to be familiar with the handbook's contents. The handbook contains valuable information, answers, and resources, such as DE contacts, policies and procedures (how to drop, attendance requirements, etc.), student services (ADA, financial aid, degree planning, etc.), course information, testing procedures, technical support, and academic calendars. Refer to the DE Student Handbook by visiting this link:

http://de.hccs.edu/de/de-student-handbook

PLAGIARISM POLICY:  DELIBERATELY PLAGIARIZED WORK WILL FAIL A STUDENT IN THE ENTIRE COURSE.

 

Review the plagiarism information on the home page. There are no second chances for plagiarists in this course, and that includes all discussion posts and assignments.  Never use the dictionary or Wikki anything as a source for a paper; the first is banal, and the second is unreliable.

 

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM CONDUCT

All students in HCC Distance Education courses are required to follow all HCC Policies & Procedures, the Student Code of Conduct, the Student Handbook, and relevant sections of the Texas Education Code when interacting and communicating in a classroom with faculty and fellow students. Students who violate these policies and guidelines will be subject to disciplinary action that could include being removed from the class.

 

THE INSTRUCTOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THIS

SYLLABUS AS NECESSARY THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER

A reading calendar will be provided within Eagle. This is not a self paced course; each week will open on Monday morning and close the following Sunday night. Handouts and literature handouts will be available at all times from the top menu selection above the toggle sections with dates indicating weeks of class.

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