Effective Date of this Description/Syllabus: Fall 2012
Prepared by: Dr. Rhonda Wilcox
Office: Honors House 104
Phone: (678) 359-5296
email: rhonda_w@gordonstate.edu
Spring office hours: TR 12:30-1:45, 3:30-4:30;
W 12:30-2, 3:00-5:00
COURSE DESCRIPTION/SYLLABUS
Course Designation: English 4600
Course Title: Foundational Authors [Shakespeare]
Class hours per week: 3
Credit hours: 3
Division offering course: Humanities
Prerequisite for the course: A grade of C or better in
English 1102 and completion of a 2000-level English course
If
you need academic accommodations for a disability, you should contact the
Office of Counseling Services, in the Student Center (second floor). Call Dr.
Laura Bowen of that office at 678-359-5585.
Course description for college
bulletin:
A close study of a single foundational author such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, or
Milton. The authors will vary.
Teacher’s Course objectives:
For
students to gain a thorough knowledge and genuine enjoyment of a selection of
Shakespeare’s best works;
For
students to gain understanding of Shakespeare’s life and the cultural milieu in
which his works were produced;
For
students to acquire a background for appreciating the values and concerns of
modern literature by studying the traditions which preceded it;
For students to be confident that they can appreciate
Shakespeare outside the classroom.
Course Content:
The
course plan is to focus on the following plays and a selection of the sonnets: Much Ado About Nothing,
Twelfth Night, Henry IV part one, Henry V, Hamlet, and The Tempest.
We
will be reading world-famous plays and poems; people have enjoyed them for
centuries. However, if you do not budget enough time for your reading, you may
start to view them as a burden rather than a pleasure. Instead, expect to take
a great deal of time—then relax and enjoy yourself. The best pleasures cannot
be hurried.
Required
Text:
The Complete Pelican Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller.
New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.
Grading: Class
participation/pop quizzes: 15%
First Paper: 10%
Second Paper: 20%
Midterm Exam: 25%
Final Exam: 30%
Standards:
A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69 (B+=88; B=85; B-=82, C+=78, etc.)
Your
failure to do any assignment listed above (except a limited number of pop quizzes) will result in your
failing the course. If you believe you have a good reason for being excused
from a pop quiz or other in-class work, discuss it with me promptly; I will
decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to keep the zero, excuse the
quiz, or give a make-up with or without grade penalty.
Your
first paper (1000 words) should not
have outside sources: it should represent your own response to the reading,
supported by copious specific
evidence from the reading, including multiple quotations. The subject should be
a theme, character, or pattern of imagery from one of the plays we are reading;
the specific subject choice must be approved by me beforehand. A planning
conference is required. Your second
paper (2000 words) will be a researched assignment--a traditional term
paper. Again, the subject must be approved. Again, you will express your
opinions about one of the plays, but for this assignment you will also include
the views of scholars on the subject. MLA form for quotation, bibliography,
etc., should be used for both these assignments. I will give further details
when the assignment approaches.
Your exams (midterm and final) will
include some “objective” questions (e.g. identifying quotations); they will
also include some discussion questions. Each will cover approximately half the
course work.
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. Furthermore, 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 even during class if need be); 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.
Student Evaluation of Instruction: Near the end of this course, you
may be asked to evaluate the instruction of the course. Your honest responses
will help make this a better course. Also, please feel free to make suggestions
during the course. Remember, I want
to hear from you.
Plagiarism,
Cheating:
The
English faculty of Gordon College views any form of cheating as a serious
violation of commonly accepted standards of honesty. (I. e., don’t be a dirtbag.) 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; a zero on the work is another
possible consequence; if justified by aggravating circumstances, the matter may
be referred to the Academic Dean or (according to a rule approved by the
Faculty Senate in Fall 2009) the Dean of Students. See the Academic Dishonesty
Policy in the Academic Catalog (pp. 62-63).
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 the text. 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)
Furthermore, you must avoid collusion.
Here is a definition from the Humanities Division Chair: 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 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.
In general, if you have a question, feel
free to ask it. Also feel free to come by and talk to me about Shakespeare during
office hours. My goal is for you to learn and to enjoy learning.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Week
1 (8/14-16) Introduction; Much Ado About Nothing Act 1
Week 2 (8/21-23) Much Ado Acts 2-4
Week
3 (8/28-30) Much Ado Act 5; Twelfth Night, or What You Will, Act 1
Week
4 (9/4-6) Twelfth Night, Acts 2-4
Week
5 (9/11-13) Twelfth Night, Act 5; The First Part of King Henry the Fourth,
Act 1
Week
6 (9/18-20) I Henry IV, Acts 2-4
Week 7 (9/25-27) 1 Henry IV, Act 5; Midterm
Week
8 (10/2-4) Paper One due; The Life of King Henry V, Act 1
[10/4: Last day to drop classes without WF]
Week
9 (10/9-11) Fall Break Mon-Tues; Henry V, Acts 2-4
Week 10 (10/16-18) Henry V Act 5; The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act 1
Week
11 (10/23-25) Hamlet, Act 2
Week 12 (10/30-11/1) Hamlet, Acts 3-4
Week
13 (11/6-8) Hamlet, Act 5; The Tempest, Act 1
Week
14 (11/13-15) The Tempest, Acts 2-4
Week
15 (11/20-22) The Tempest, Act 5; Thanksgiving holiday Thu-Fri
Week 16 (11/27-29) Paper Two due Tuesday
The last day of regular classes is Dec.
3, but since this is a Monday, it will not apply to our schedule. The college
exam schedule runs from Tuesday through Friday, with each class’s exam time
being assigned by the college according to the time of day the class is taught.
Final Exam :
Tuesday Dec. 4, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
Throughout
the semester, additional readings and writing may be assigned. You will also be
expected to select one Shakespeare sonnet to read aloud.