Survey of British Literature I

Class website:
Syllabus: 
http://www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/202/s02202syl.html
Schedule:
http://www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/202/s02202sched.html

Texts and Materials
Damrosch, David, General Editor. The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume I New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999. 
(Books are available at Campus Book and Supply, 46 Martha L. Collins Blvd, Cold Spring--near Kroger, Subway, and Blockbuster off of Alexandria Pike--see me if you need a map)

Learning Objectives. Students will do the following:

• Read and analyze rhetorically (primary sources) poetry, drama, and prose  from the Anglo-Saxon period through the 18th century. 
• Understand the cultural contexts within which literature arises
• Synthesize their analyses verbally and in writing through class discussion, groupwork, presentations, and written examinations, critical analyses, and papers.
• Practice library and internet research skills, consulting secondary sources and formulating results into classroom presentations
• Review ethical use of information through plagiarism & citation workshops

Course Policies and Components

Policies

Late work. All work is due at the beginning of class on the date posted on the course schedule . I will not accept late work except in extraordinary circumstances. If you cannot attend class on a due date, send your work along with one of your classmates, or make arrangements with me to turn it in before the due date. I will distribute a voluntary student contact sheet to help you contact one another should it be necessary. 

Attendance. Although I do not take attendance, daily in-class writing and frequent in-class assignments make attendance mandatory (see In-class Writing component below). 

Cheating & Plagiarism. All work submitted must be written exclusively for this course. The use of sources (ideas, quotations, argument structures, and paraphrases) must be properly documented in MLA format. Any plagiarism, whether on a regular assignment or on an extra credit assignment, will result in failure of the entire course. Please see me if you have any questions about your use of sources. 

Study Questions. Before most reading assignments, I will post definitions, notes, study questions, and assignments on the class schedule at http://www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/202/s02202sched.html . These study questions will help you think about the passages you read, to prepare for quizzes, and to prepare for exams. You need not turn in formal answers to these questions, but you are encouraged to think about and respond to them on your own. 

In-class writing. At some point during most class sessions, I will ask you to respond in writing to a question pertaining to the reading assigned for that day. These responses help us to focus collectively on the material at hand and provide me with important insight into your needs as a class. Although these responses are not graded for content, they must attempt to address the question posed and demonstrate engagement with the assigned reading (that is, off-topic or contentless responses will not count). I will keep all of your responses in my files until the end of the semester. Your grade on in-class writing will be assigned based upon the number of appropriate responses you turned in. In-class writing assignments are collected immediately and cannot be made up, even the same day.

Essays. Essay assignments are linked to the course website. Essays are to be 2-3 pages in length, in a standard 10 or 12 point font, and formatted with 1 inch margins all around. Please give your essay a title, but dispense with cover sheets. Please refer to the grading criteria for essays, which is linked to the course syllabus.

Quizzes. I will give several short unannounced quizzes on reading during the semester. Quizzes typically cover factual material in a text; if you read the assignment for the day and think about the study questions, you should be able to do well on the quizzes. Quizzes cannot be made up or turned in late. 

Short Assignments. At several points during the semester, I will ask you to complete a short assignment inside or outside of class. These assignments will be due in writing either at the end or that class meeting or at the beginning of the class meeting following their assignment. These assignments will usually linked to the class website; if you must miss a class, you should make arrangements to print out the assignment from the website. 

Participation. You are expected to participate regularly and thoughtfully in class discussions and group activities. 

Exams. This course includes 2 midterms and a final exam. Each exam covers a specific literary period (Medieval, Renaissance, or Eighteenth-century). All exams consist of identifications of terms, significant characters , and quotations from the materials assigned during the term, as posted on the course schedule; in addition, the 2nd midterm includes a poetry explication component. To do well on the exams, you will need to take careful notes on any materials we discuss in class and refer to the materials provided on the course website for your benefit. Students who read carefully and pay particular attention to the cultural contexts discussed in class tend to do well. Detailed information about exact point breakdowns for term, character, and quotation identifications are as follows: 

Quotations

• 1 point--title of the work
• 1 point--author of the work
• 3 points--context of the quotation within the work (i.e., the speaker(s), if any, and what is happening in the story where the quotation appears)
• 3 points--significance of the quotation and the ideas it expresses to the period

Terms

• 2 points--complete definition of the term
• 2 points--example from the texts we read (author and title)
• 2 points--explain how the example you gave illustrates the term (give specific details)

Characters

• 2 points--title of work in which the character appears
• 2 point--name of the work's author
• 2 points--explain the character's significance to the work

Please take into account the exam requirements as you read the materials, attend class, and take notes. If you wait until just before the exam, you will be unprepared. 

Extra Credit. If you find that you need to make up some points because you miss a quiz, a short assignment, or points on an exam, you may complete up to 20 points of extra credit . Opportunities for extra credit are located at http://www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/202/202_extra_credit.html.

Grades will be calculated as follows