English 380 Approaches to English Studies Fall 2007 Section 01: T TH 12:00 – 1:50 Room: LA-2 100 Dr. Sarah J. Arroyo Email: [email protected] Office: MHB 409 Phone: (562) 985-8517 Office Hours: T TH 10:00 – 11:00 (and by appointment)  Course Description: This upper-division class, intended for English majors, builds on fundamentals of composition and literary study provided by English 184 and offers vital preparation for senior-level English courses. It provides you with the research and critical tools that English majors should possess, regardless of your chosen area of concentration. We will discuss methods of reading, analyzing, writing about, and researching a variety of cultural texts. In short, this is both an advanced writing course and a course that familiarizes you with the broad range of possibilities the English major carries today. It is no longer a given, for example, that all English majors will teach or that all English majors study Literature. Rather, the English major has widened to include several areas of study, and we will interrogate these areas intensely. By the end of this course, you should be able to read primary and secondary texts thoroughly, with an awareness of their rhetorical strategies. You should be able to summarize such texts and present your summary in oral or written form. You should be able to argue effectively with a text and with your colleagues about a text. You should be able to bring appropriate support to your argumentation in the forms of quotation and paraphrase. Such support should be integrated seamlessly into your oral and written work. You should be able to write an extended academic study of a major text, with excellent writing style, accurate citation, and appropriate structure and form.  Required Texts: • Coetzee, J. M. Foe. New York: Penguin, 1986. • Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. • McComiskey, Bruce, ed. English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline(s). Urbana: NCTE, 2006. • Plato. Phaedrus. Trans. W.C. Helmbold and W.G. Rabinowitz. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1956. • Various articles and websites available through e-reserve and beachboard  Course Objectives: At the end of the semester, you should be able to: 1. research and write advanced, argumentative papers 2. demonstrate a working knowledge of appropriate disciplinary terminology 3. engage in current disciplinary arguments about English Studies fluently, convincingly, and compellingly 4. compile, annotate, and format an annotated bibliography 5. show awareness of different pedagogical methods and ways of teaching texts effectively 6. apply arguments from texts to different contexts and rhetorical situations 7. locate and evaluate relevant scholarship in both traditional and digital formats 8. use criticism and scholarship effectively by incorporating others’ works into your own arguments 9. discern the values and purposes of working in English Studies 10. draw connections among work done in this course and work done in other courses  Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Since the nature of this class largely relies on your participation, it is crucial for you to attend each class. While I will lecture from time to time, this is fundamentally NOT a lecture course; hence, if you miss class, there is no way to recreate much of the work experienced in class. Therefore, if you miss more than four classes, I will lower your course grade. In other words, you cannot get an “A” with five absences. If you are absent more than 6 times, I may ask you to drop the course. Chronic lateness is unacceptable, as is coming to class unprepared or unread. I will not grant incomplete grades unless circumstances are extremely dire.Dr. Arroyo Engl 380 Page 2  Course Requirements: The fundamental requirement for this course is that you come well prepared to actively participate in every class. Careful reading of the assigned texts, substantial class and beachboard participation, and satisfactory completion of all assignments are required to pass the course. The readings for this course represent a range of thinking from Antiquity to the present; therefore, skimming a reading and/or reading it carelessly will only frustrate and confuse you. I expect you to challenge yourself to “get” something from and make connections among all of the readings. All reading and writing should be completed before each class session, and you should be ready to make critical and interpretive comments about the texts assigned. This is best accomplished by taking careful reading notes, flagging pages, and underlining important passages to discuss in class. Your commentary should always center on the text under consideration: how you’re reading it, connections you’ve made, or questions you have. You should also devote chunks of time to your writing projects. Since this is an advanced writing course, I expect you to consistently work on improving your writing and learning new rhetorical strategies. After taking this course, you should feel confident and comfortable writing in any upper-division English course.  Grade Distribution: Two essays (approx. 6 - 8 pages each) 30% Presentation 5% Weekly BB posts 20% Annotated Bibliography 10% Position Paper 20% Participation (class and online) 5% Final Exam 10%  Explanation of Assignments: Two Essays: These papers will be based on our readings and will require you to make an argument concerning some facet of the text. While you all will be writing advanced arguments, you may choose to approach the paper from a literary, rhetorical, creative, or pedagogical manner. I will explain these papers in more detail throughout the semester. They will be 6 – 8 pages, MLA style, using sufficient and appropriate primary and secondary sources. Presentation: Each of you will prepare one presentation in response to the readings. Your presentation can take a variety of forms: a traditional presentation with visuals and/or handouts; a mini-lesson as if you are teaching us; a creative performance, etc. The topic will evolve from our readings in class, which range from histories of English Studies to fiction. Your presentation should add to what we all have read: not merely summarize what we’ve read. Additionally, I am not interested in simply a