Effective Date of this
Description/Syllabus: Spring 2018
Prepared by: Dr. Rhonda Wilcox
Honors House 104, 678 359-5296
Spring Office hours: MW 11:00-12:15,
4:30-5:30;
TR 12:30-1:45, 5:00-5:30
Course
Description/Syllabus
Course Designation
(discipline abbreviation & number): COLQ 2991
Course Title:
Colloquium in the Humanities
Class hours per
week: 3
Laboratory hours per
week: 0
Credit hours: 3
Division offering
course: Humanities
Course description
for college catalog:
A colloquium on selected topics in the humanities emphasizing the development
of critical thinking skills
Course Topic:
Detective Fiction: From Poe to Paretsky and Beyond
Prerequisite: ENGL 1102
Course
objectives and description: Students will become familiar with seminal works of
the significant literary genre of detective fiction, beginning with the work of
Edgar Allan Poe and covering authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha
Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Sara
Paretsky. This course will involve a great deal of reading—but it is reading of
some of the most popular authors the world has ever known. These authors make
using your mind a pleasure. Detective fiction by its nature invites critical
thinking (a major component of the course): How is the mystery solved? Are
readers fairly given clues? We will also consider differences of subgenre, such
as hard-boiled vs. cosy. Why do we enjoy these tales? We will use J. G.
Cawelti’s classic Adventure, Mystery, and
Romance to guide understanding of the form. Additionally, we will discuss
the social context of the stories, including socioeconomic class, ethnicities,
and gender.
Required
texts:
John G. Cawelti, Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula
Stories as Art and Popular Culture. ISBN 9780226098678
Edgar
Allan Poe, “The Purloined Letter,” available free online through Project
Gutenberg
Arthur
Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet,
available free online through Project Gutenberg
Agatha
Christie, The Mysterious Affair at
Styles. ISBN 9781434404374
Dorothy
Sayers, The Nine Tailors. ISBN
9780156658997
Dashiell
Hammett, The Maltese Falcon. ISBN
9780679722649
Raymond
Chandler, The Big Sleep, available
free online through Project Gutenberg
Sara
Paretsky, Blood Shot. ISBN
9870440204206
Louise
Penny, Still Life. ISBN 9780312541338
Jim
Butcher, Storm Front. ISBN
9780451457813
Grading:
Essay One (Unresearched)--10%
Essay Two (Term Paper)--25%
Pop tests / class participation—15%
Midterm Exam--20%
Final Exam--30%
Standards:
A=90-100; B=80-89; C=70-79; D=60-69; F=below 60; B+ =88; B =85; B- = 82; C+
=78, etc.
Essay One will be 600 to 800 words long and will involve
analysis of the literature but no secondary research.
Essay Two (the Summary Project) will be 1200 to 1500 words
long and will involve analysis of the literature and application of the ideas
of Cawelti’s Adventure, Mystery, and
Romance.
Students will be required to produce essays, and possibly
other assignments, on a computer (available in the Instructional Complex and
the library; or students may use their own).
A student must pass the in-class final exam essay to get a C
or better in the course.
ADA
and 504
If
you have a documented disability as described by the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, you may
be eligible to receive accommodations to assist in programmatic and/or physical
accessibility. The Counseling and Accessibility Services office located
in the Student Center, Room 212 can assist you in formulating a reasonable
accommodation plan and in providing support in developing appropriate
accommodations to ensure equal access to all GSC programs and facilities.
Course requirements will not be waived, but accommodations may assist you in
meeting the requirements. For documentation requirements and for
additional information, contact Counseling and Accessibility Services at
678-359-5585.
Title
IX
Gordon
State College is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of
discrimination and sexual harassment, including sexual assault, domestic
violence, dating violence and stalking. If you (or someone you know) has
experienced or experiences any of these incidents, know that you are not alone.
All faculty members at Gordon State College are mandated reporters. Any
student reporting any type of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating
violence, domestic violence or stalking must be made aware that any report made
to a faculty member under the provisions of Title IX will be reported to the
Title IX Coordinator or a Title IX Deputy Coordinator. If you wish to
speak with someone confidentially, you must contact the Counseling and
Accessibility Services office, Room 212, Student Life Center. The
licensed counselors in the Counseling Office are able to provide confidential
support.
Gordon
State College does not discriminate against any student on the basis of
pregnancy, parenting or related conditions. Students seeking
accommodations on the basis of pregnancy, parenting or related conditions
should contact Counseling and Accessibility Services regarding the process of
documenting pregnancy related issues and being approved for accommodations,
including pregnancy related absences as defined under Title IX.
Student evaluation
of instruction (Your
chance to grade the teacher!)
Near the end of
this course, you will be asked to evaluate the instruction of the course by
filling out a standard form that is used college-wide. Your honest responses on
the form will assist the faculty of the college in providing the best possible
educational experiences for Gordon students. In other words, your evaluation of
my work can help me to improve, just as my evaluation of your work can help you
to improve.
Plagiarism, Cheating:
The English
faculty of Gordon College views any form of cheating as a serious violation of
commonly accepted standards of honesty. All student work must be solely that of
the person submitting the work. Any giving or receiving of unauthorized help
from others or from notes or other materials during the course of taking a
quiz, test, or exam or in writing a paper will result in an F on the work; any
use of forbidden materials such as rough drafts during the course of in-class
writing will also result in an F for the assignment. Note that an F on the work
involved in cheating is the minimum punishment; if justified by aggravating
circumstances, the matter may be referred to the Academic Dean and/or the Judicial
Committee or (according to a rule approved by the full faculty in Spring 2010)
the Dean of Students.
Moreover, when source materials are
used in the writing of papers, the student must document such use of sources
both by clearly indicating material being used as quotation and by giving
proper recognition when ideas or information has been paraphrased or
summarized; the following principles enunciated in the section on avoiding
plagiarism in James D. Lester's Writing
Research
Papers: A Complete
Guide, 8th
edition, should be scrupulously observed:
1. Acknowledge borrowed material by
introducing the quotation or paraphrase with the name of the authority. This
practice serves to indicate where borrowed materials begin.
2. Enclose within quotation marks all quoted
materials.
3. Make certain that paraphrased
material has been rewritten into your own style and language. The simple
rearrangement of sentence patterns is unacceptable. [It is unacceptable to
simply rearrange sentence patterns.]
4. Provide specific in-text
documentation for each borrowed item. For example, MLA [Modern Language
Association] style requires name and page for all in-text references.
Requirements differ for other fields.
5. Provide a bibliographic entry on the
Works Cited page for every source cited in the paper.
6. Omit sources consulted but not cited
in [your paper]. This point is important. You do not want your instructor
leafing back through the paper trying to find your use of a source that, in
truth, was not cited. (140-41)
Note that the indention of the six rules above is another
method of indicating that material is quoted from someone else; when you have a
long section to quote, then instead
of using quotation marks, according to MLA rules, you indent. My indention of
the six rules indicates that they are the exact wording by James D. Lester on
pages 140-41 of his book. Overall, carefully follow MLA documentation rules.
Furthermore, you must avoid collusion. Here is
a definition from the head of the Humanities Department:
Collusion
is defined as receiving excessive help to the point that a work can no longer
be considered the product of a single author and therefore cannot be accurately
assessed an individual grade. If I suspect a submitted work to be the result of
collusion, I reserve the right to refuse credit for that work if the claimed
author is unable to demonstrate sole authorship. A good way to avoid this
problem is to get help from the Student Success Center rather than from family
or friends.
I may or may not decide to have you submit some
of your work to Turnitin.com. Terms and Conditions of Use may be found at
http://www.turnitin.com/static/usage.html.
LIBRARY HOURS: Mon-Thu 8:00 am--10pm; Fri 8:00 am--5 pm; Sun
2--10 pm; Saturday 10 am—2 pm
Attendance policy: Without class discussions and
lectures, you might as well read this literature on your own. You will find
that experiencing a group’s reaction to a piece of writing is something that
cannot be recreated through merely reading class notes. This is not just a
lecture class. (The root of the word “colloquium” refers to conversation.) You
can contribute to the class: thoughtful questions can be just as valuable as
insightful comments (though they should be the questions of a person who has
read the material). Missing classes will reduce your ability to contribute and
will therefore lower your class
participation grade. (Significant tardiness will do the same.) Furthermore,
specific in-class activities will be used to help establish your participation
grade, and in most cases these activities must be carried out during a
particular class period. People that miss more than three weeks of classes
normally cannot keep up and fail the course as a result. If you must miss a
class, let me know beforehand if you can (or leave a phone or email message as
soon as possible); ask me or a classmate about assignments so you can prepare
in case there is a pop quiz when you return to class. My home phone number is
(404) 373-5328. If you cannot contact me or a classmate, then read the next assignment on the syllabus.
Cell phones, Blackberries, and other electronic
devices: So that we can make the best use of our limited time together, silence your cell phones and any other
electronic devices before class begins,. Exception: Emergency personnel may
leave theirs on and slip out of class to take phone calls in the hall when
necessary. If you have a job as an EMT
(or similar work), notify me during the first week of classes and be sure
to sit near the door. Also, if you have some other sort of emergency situation
for which you wish to stay in cell phone contact, speak to me about the problem
before the relevant class period in order to be granted an exception. All
students should remember that they will receive a class participation grade,
and cell phone interruptions disturb discussion. Furthermore, texting during
class implies that you don’t really think our class needs your full attention.
What kind of impression do you think that will make on the teacher? On the
other hand, on some occasions I may ask students to pull out cell phones to
search for information. Be mindful about your cell use.
Late
papers: Late
papers are penalized five points per calendar day. I am very strict about this
policy. On the other hand, I am very reasonable about giving extensions
(without grade penalty) for good cause IF you arrange the matter in a timely
fashion before the due date. If you do not get an extension beforehand, then
the penalty will stand unless you can produce evidence of flood, earthquake,
avalanche, or other natural disaster intervening in the composition process.
(I.e., you must provide evidence of a serious problem).
Feel free to visit me to talk about the
course (whether you have a problem or just an interest). You may also leave
messages on or under my door. You may call me at my office at 678-359-5296. My
email address is rhonda_w@gordonstate.edu.
If you find yourself involved in an English Emergency, you may also call me at
home (404-373-5328). That is the landline I have kept for my students’ convenience.
In general,
LET ME KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON! And –ASK
FOR HELP IF YOU NEED IT!
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Read the assignments before the date on which they are
listed (except for the first class period, of course).
Week 1 (1/10) Introduction; “The Purloined Letter” (first
published in 1844)
Week 2 (1/15) MLK Holiday; (1/17) A Study in Scarlet (1886); Cawelti Ch. 1
(pages 5-36)
Week 3 (1/22) The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), Ch. 1-8 (pages 5-99);
(1/23) Ch. 9 to the end (page 155)
Week 4 (1/29) The Nine Tailors (1934) through “A Full Peal” second part
(pages 1-127); (1/31) through “A Full Peal” fifth part (pages 128-204)
Week 5 (2/5) Through “A Short Touch” first part
(pages 205-308); (2/7) to the end (page 397)
Week 6 (2/12) Cawelti Ch. 4 (pages 80-105); (2/14) Essay One due at start of class
Week 7 (2/19) The Maltese Falcon (1941), Ch. 1-14 (through page 139); (2/21) Ch.
15-20 (pp. 140-217, end)
Week 8 (2/26) The Big Sleep (1939), Ch. 1-22 (through page 141); (2/28) Ch. 23-32
(through page 231, end)
Monday 3/5: Last day to drop classes
without WF
Week 9 (3/5) Cawelti Ch. 6 and part of Ch. 7 (pages
139-182); (3/7) Midterm Exam
Week 10 (3/12) Blood Shot (1988) Ch. 1-12
(through page 114); (3/14) Ch. 13-22 (pages 115-192)
Week 11 (3/19-23) Spring Break
Week 12 (3/26) Ch. 23-35 (pages
193-298); (3/28) Ch. 36-end (pages 299-376)
Week 13 (4/2) Cawelti Ch. 5 (pages 106-125); (4/4) Still Life (2005) Ch. 1-3 (through page
76)
Week 14 (4/9) Ch. 4-8 (pages 77-187); (4/11) Ch. 9 (pages
188-208)
Week 15 (4/16) Ch. 10-14, the end
(pages 208-318); (4/18) Storm Front (2007)
Ch.
1-6 (through page 70)
Week 16 (4/23) Ch. 7-19 (pages 71-226);
(4/25) Ch. 20-27, the end (pages 227-308)
Week 17 (4/30) Essay Two (Term Paper) due at beginning of class
Final Exam (30%, in-class):
Tuesday, May 8, 10:15 am—12:15 pm
Throughout the semester, additional readings, writing, and
tests may be assigned.
Any variation in syllabus policy is at the instructor’s
discretion.