Syllabus
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Engl 4630 British Literature:
Neoclassical and Romantic (3 credit hours)
Instructor: Levi S. Peterson, Ph.D., Professor of English Emeritus
Recommended Procedure:
I recommend that you first read this syllabus. Then proceed to preview the Course Work section which is organized into Assignment Blocks numbered 1, 2A, 2B, etc. The course work includes Discussions, Essay Assignments, and Reader's Logs.
Accommodation for Students with Disabilities:
If you have a disability that requires a special accommodation, please let me know at once. I will do my best to help you. However, according to university policy, you should also immediately contact the Services for Students with Disabilities office. The university asks that I post the following statement on my syllabus:
"Any student requiring accommodations or services due to a disability must contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) in room 181 of the Student Service Center. SSD can also arrange to provide course materials (including this syllabus) in alternative formats if necessary."
The SSD office may be reached by phone at (801) 626-6413 or e-mail address ssd@weber.edu. Also consult the following website for an orientation to university policy for persons with disabilities: http://departments.weber.edu/ssd/handbook/hb_01.htm#Statement
Text:
The text for this course is M.H. Abrams et al. editors, The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors, single volume version, seventh edition, 1990. ISBN 0-393-97619-X. It is available at the WSU book store, from WSU Online, and from online book vendors. You will have numerous reading assignments in this text. You will need it close at hand while completing the Reader's Log sections. If possible, get your text in person. Mail and internet orders are sometimes filled slowly.
Overview of the Course:
This course covers British literature from 1660 to 1830. It is customary to call the period from 1660 to 1785 the Neoclassical Era and the period from 1785 to 1830 the Romantic Era. For convenience, we will further divide the two eras as follows. As you might expect, the years 1740 to 1798 are a period of transition. It is good to remember, moreover, that the following dates are arbitrary. Certain Romantic traits can be seen as early as the Renaissance era which precedes the Neoclassical, and Neoclassical traits may be found well into the Romantic era.
The Restoration Period, 1660 to 1700
The Augustan Age, 1700 to 1740
The Waning of the Neoclassicism and the Rise of Romanticism, 1740 to 1798.
Romanticism, 1798 to 1830
Assignments Schedule:
This course is paced with the regular campus semester schedule. According to university policy, no assignments will be given during spring break. You are not required to submit work during this period. However, if you wish to avail yourself of the extra time for working on this course, I will respond to your submissions and messages as usual.
There are nine assignment blocks to this course. Most of them are divided into two parts, making a total of fifteen Reader's Log units, one for each week of the semester. The Reader's Log units are composed of immediate assignments, lectures, and detailed questions to be answered in order to demonstrate that you have read the assigned material
Because I try to improve this course constantly, I will value your correction of obvious errors, your questions, and your commentary about any aspect of the course.
Deadlines are flexible. You do not need to ask permission to submit assignments several days following a given deadline. However, you should not chronically fall behind as much as an entire week without discussing your problem with me.
You can access the assignment blocks from the course home page. The assignment blocks will give you detailed instructions on course requirements.
Sample Assignment Schedule:
Assignment Interval Days/Dates Block One One week Mon, Jan 10 to
Sun, Jan 16Block Two A Two weeks Mon, Jan 17 to
Sun, Jan 30Block Two B Block Three A Two weeks Mon, Jan 31 to Sun, Feb 13 Block Three B Block Four A Two weeks Mon, Feb 14 to Sun, Feb 27 Block Four B Block Five A Two weeks Mon, Feb 28 to Sun, Mar 13 Block Five B Spring break One week Mon, Mar 14 to Sun, Mar 20 Block Six A Two weeks Mon, Mar 21 to Sun, Apr 3 Block Six B Block Seven A Two weeks Mon, Apr 4 to Sun, Apr 17 Block Seven B Block Eight One week Mon, Apr 18 to Sun Apr 24 Block Nine One week Mon, Apr 25 to Sun, May 1
Assignment Blocks, Reader's Log Units, and the Assessments Portfolio:
The assignment block, is the basic learning instrument of this course. As you are told above, there are nine assignment blocks to this course. Six of them are divided into two parts, making a total of fifteen units, one for each week of the semester. These are numbered Assignment Block 1, Assignment Block 2A, Assignment Block 2B, Assignment Block 3A, etc. You will access these units from the course home page.
Most of the assignment blocks contain a Reader's Log unit, which will be composed of immediate assignments, lectures, and detailed questions to be answered in order to demonstrate that you have read the assigned material
Your responses to my questions about these assigned passages of reading will be posted on the discussion board. You will prepare your responses in advance from the Reader's Log units. It will be necessary to have your text book at hand while posting your responses.
Both Reader's Log units should be completed within a particular assignment block before you post your comment on the Discussion Forum and submit your interpretive essay to me.
Discussion Forum:
The Discussion Forum is a course bulletin board accessed through the Discussion function. A separate unit for each assignment block may be accessed in an organizer called Discussion Forum, posted on the coure home page. You and your classmates will post comments read by the entire class. One comment is required with each of the nine assignment blocks. You are urged, though not required, to post responses to your classmates' comments. Please make sure that your responses are polite.
Bulletin Board:
A course bulletin board, appropriately given the simple title of Bulletin Board, will serve as a site for quick communication between you, your classmates, and me. I will access this site at least once and usually twice a day, seven days a week, and will respond to your questions and comments. You are urged, though not required, to visit this site daily. I hope you will use this site particularly when you have a question or problem whose answer would benefit your classmates. If you have matters of a private nature, you may communicate with me by e-mail.
Essay Assignments:
You will be asked to write five interpretive essays and one Internet research report during the semester. The five interpretive essays will not require research outside the text book. The assigned topics require a treatment of at least two single spaced pages. You are urged to write more than the required minimum. Your essays should show the conventional qualities of sound exposition: a thesis statement, logical outline, topic sentences at the beginning of transitional paragraphs, and ample reference to specific passages from the assigned works of literature, and expressive, correct sentences. I will weight your performance on the interpretive essay heavily in arriving at a final grade. You should therefore spend a good deal of time in preparing it.
You will submit your interpretive essays and your Internet research report by e-mail. You may submit them as an integral part of an e-mail message or as an attachment in either Word or WordPerfect. In either case, I will return an e-mail message with a comment and grade for each writing assignment. You will be directed to identify your essay number and the number of our course on the subject line of your e-mail message. My e-mail address for this course is.
Instructional Objectives
The course is designed with the following objectives in mind:
To orient you to the broad outlines of British literature in the Neoclassical and Romantic eras.
To acquaint you the major authors of these eras and with some of their principal masterpieces.
To reinforce your grasp on the tools for analyzing literature, particularly poetry.
To reinforce your ability to write logically organized, coherent, and well developed essays.
Basis for Grades:
A grade of C or higher is required for a course which counts toward the English major or minor.
This online course has no formal examinations or term paper. Grades will be based upon a prompt, thorough completion of the following requirements. By prompt I mean a general keeping up with the course schedule. I will repeat from above that deadlines are flexible. Students do not need to ask permission to submit assignments several days following a deadline. However, they should not chronically fall behind as much as an entire week without discussing their problem with me. Drastically late submissions will receive a lower grade than they would have received if they had been more timely. I expect that all assignments will be submitted. Unsubmitted essays will be graded as E, substantially lowering a student's final grade.
Course requirements:
1. Reader's Log responses
2. Required comments on the Discussion Forum
3. Interpretive essays and Internet research report
As I say above, I will weight your performance on the interpretive essay heavily in arriving at a final grade. You should therefore spend a good deal of time in preparing your essays, organizing them logically and supporting generalizations and concepts by reference to specific passages from the assigned works of literature. You should particularly demonstrate that you have mastered the generalizations and concepts to which your reading from the text and my explanations in the Reader's Log have initiated you.
Avoiding Plagiarism:
The standards of academic ethics and honesty established by the Weber State University Student Code will be in effect in this course. This code, which is a summary document for the Student Policy and Procedure Manual, will be found in the university's Policy and Procedures Manual at http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/6-22.htm. I recommend that you read the code in its entirety. A section of this code states: "By enrolling at Weber State University , students agree to maintain certain standards of conduct which, if violated, may result in the imposition of sanctions or other forms of University discipline."
Of particular importance in a course which emphasizes writing, as this course does, is plagiarism, which the Student Code defines as "the unacknowledged (uncited) use of any other person or group's ideas or work. This includes purchased or borrowed papers." I will add that it also includes material from web sites. I will grade an essay demonstrating intentional plagiarism as an E and will lower a student's final grade to the same degree that I would lower it for an unsubmitted assignment.
I am happy to say that I have rarely encountered intentional plagiarism during my many years of teaching at Weber State . If I judge that an essay shows signs of unintentional plagiarism, I take it as my policy to ask the student who has written the essay to rewrite it. I also try to assist the student by offering suggestions for rewriting. Furthermore, my essay assignments are tailored in such a way that they help students avoid unintentional plagiarism.
Submissions (for credit students):
Post your Reader's Log responses on the Assessments Portfolio
Post your Discussion Forum comments on the Discussion Forum, accessed from the course home page.
Submit your interpretive essays and Internet research report directly to me via e-mail as an integral part of an e-mail message or as an e-mail attachment in Word or WordPerfect. You will be directed to identify your essay number and the number of our course on the subject line of your e-mail message.
