English 5.301: Writing about The Novel
Spring 1998--University of Pennsylvania
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 12:00-1:00
Through a series of readings, discussions, and writing assignments, this course will develop your writing and analytical skills while exploring Victorian novels. The novels selected for this course will give us a variety of locations to examine, and the rapidly changing industrial society of Nineteenth-Century England will provide the context for our exploration. Some novels will concentrate on cities, some will concentrate on the countryside, and some will move back and forth. The novels will serve as the basis of many of our discussions, but our ultimate focus will be on creating interesting and well-executed papers about the literature.
Books: available at A House of Our Own, 3920 Spruce St.
Please bring to each class the book assigned for that day.
Assignments and Class Policies:
Reading Assignments: We shall take our time going through the four books on the syllabus. The Reading Syllabus below will divide each novel into individual reading assignments. Students should come to class prepared to discuss the book as far as the current reading assignment permits.
Writing Workshops: On many days, we will spend time discussing writing or taking part in writing workshops in which we explore subjects like argument, organization, grammar, or other topics which might come up during the course of the semester. Depending on our progress with a book, whole days will be set aside for this purpose at some points of the semester, while at others, portions of class will be devoted to writing.
Papers: You will write three 4-5 page papers, and revise at least the first two (unless they are already at the "A" level). Only the revisions will be graded. Since there is only so much that can be accomplished in one revision, you may rewrite your papers again if you want the grades to be reconsidered. This is not required. Whenever you turn in a revision of a paper, you need to include all earlier versions of the paper.
Schedule (all papers due on time at beginning of
class):
Late Papers: I will subtract 2/3 of a letter grade for each day, including weekend days, that papers are late--whether it be the original paper or the revision. So if your first paper ends up at "B" quality, but you hand in either version a day late, you will receive a C+ for that paper. There are no exceptions to this policy without prior arrangements. If you are having any trouble meeting any deadline in this class, please contact me before the paper is actually due.
Avoiding Plagiarism: All essays submitted for Writing Seminars--or for any course at Penn--are expected to be original. All borrowed material must be acknowledged. Neglect to acknowledge indebtedness for facts, ideas, or expression will be interpreted as plagiarism. The University of Pennsylvania requires that any paper containing plagiarized material receive an F. There are no exceptions to this rule. Be sure, therefore, that you know exactly what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
"Plagiarism" is a word defined from the Latin term for "kidnapper." Plagiarism involves taking someone else's words or ideas and pretending that they are your own. It is literary theft. To avoid the charge of plagiarism, then, you must use quotation marks to identify phrasing borrowed from others and you must know how to paraphrase and acknowledge borrowed ideas adequately. This includes ideas that I or your classmates bring up in class or on the listserve which you wish to use in your own work. If you are unsure about whether or not you need to acknowledge a source in your writing, make sure that you ask me, or the teacher who will be reading your work. Better safe than sorry!
Student Conferences: We will meet individually to discuss the revisions of at least two of your papers, and I'll always be happy to meet with you at any point during the semester. I have set office hours on Wednesday afternoons (2-4), but I am also free at other times during the week.
The Peer Review: The Peer Reviews scheduled during the semester will help writers focus on their individual strengths and weaknesses by giving classmates the opportunity to critique each essay and offer advice for its revision. During the Peer Reviews, you will meet in groups in class to discuss each other's papers. These reviews will help you hone your own reading and critical skills, teaching you to look with precision not only at other students' writing, but also at your own. Important note: Your course grade will drop by one letter for every Peer Review absence. Furthermore, coming to the Peer Review without your copy of the paper, or a copy of the paper on which you have not commented, is considered an absence, and your course grade will drop by one letter. The reviews will be held on Mon., Feb. 9 and Mon., March 16.
Class Participation: I expect everyone to take part in class discussions. We can all benefit from what others in the class have to say, and I anticipate learning a lot from each of you. The classroom is a place to test out ideas and comments that may find a place in a paper later on, so speak up! Class participation will figure into your final grade.
Quizzes, Midterms, and Finals: There are no quizzes, midterms, or finals assigned for this class. I do, however, reserve the right to start giving quizzes if you appear to have trouble reading the daily assignments carefully and completely.
E-Mail and the Internet: It will be necessary for you to have an
e-mail account to participate in this class. If you already have an
account, then you have probably been automatically subscribed to the
listserve for this class (jacobson5@english.upenn.edu). For those of you
who have not been automatically subscribed, you need to get an e-mail
account and subscribe right away (see me). You are responsible for
checking your e-mail regularly, as there might be announcements about
changes in the assignments. I will always post such announcements by 8:00
p.m. the night before a class.
More importantly, the list is intended for discussions. Some of this
will be self-generated, for you will undoubtedly want to continue class
discussions or discuss issues we are unable to cover in class. I will
also frequently ask you to respond to the reading or give mini-reports to
your classmates using the listserve. When replying to a message that was
sent to the whole group, please make sure that you indicate whether you
are sending your mail to the whole group or to the individual who sent the
message. (Often, we don't want everyone to see a private reply.)
Tardiness, Absences, Sleep: Please be on time for each class. Attendance is required. Because I know that emergencies and accidents do occur during the semester, I allow you two absences. I don't want to know why you miss class, and I don't want you to tell me why. These absences are your business. (The one exception to this rule is that everyone must be present on the days that we are meeting in groups to discuss each other's writing.) Missing more than two classes is equally your business, but it will also affect your grade. Your final grade will drop by 2/3 of a letter grade for each absence beyond the first two. More than 12 absences will constitute failing the course. If you have extreme emergencies--such as a death in your immediate family, or an extended illness requiring hospitalization or more than 10 days of bedrest--please contact me. For every class missed, you are responsible for finding out what you missed and making up the work. Finally: no sleeping in class! Please see me if you have any questions about these policies.
Finally: Please talk to me if you are having trouble at any point during the semester--and let me know in advance of any problems you anticipate. I can't stress this enough.
Date Assignment (number of pages in parentheses) January 12: Introduction 14: Cranford, 1-60 (59), first short assignment due 16: Cranford, 60-118 (58) ============================================================= 19: Cranford, 118-178 (60) 21: Cranford, Thesis introduction 23: Cranford, Thesis discussion, second short assigment due ============================================================= 26: Wuthering Heights, 1-62 (61), schedule conferences for this week, paper topics passed out 28: Wuthering Heights, 63-119 (56), third short assignment due 30: Wuthering Heights, 120-168 (48), first paragraph discussion ============================================================= February 2: Wuthering Heights, 169-285 (116), stylistic discussion, first paragraph due 4: Wuthering Heights , 286-338 (52), paper tips 6: Wuthering Heights , First Paper Due ============================================================= 9: Peer Review, schedule conferences for this week 11: Wuthering Heights, revision discussion 13: Wuthering Heights ============================================================= 16: Mary Barton, 1-62 (61), First Paper Revision Due 18: Mary Barton, 62-129 (67) 20: Mary Barton, 130-183 (53) ============================================================= 23: Mary Barton, 184-251 (67) 25: Mary Barton, 251-298 (47), fourth short assignment due 27: Mary Barton, 298-345 (47), introduction/conclusion workshop ============================================================= March 2: Mary Barton, 345-408 (63) 4: Mary Barton, 408-464 (56) 6: Mary Barton, Second Paper Due ============================================================= 9-13: Spring Break! ============================================================= 16: Peer Review, schedule conferences for this week 28: Mary Barton 20: Mary Barton, Gender neutral language discussion ============================================================= 23: Bleak House , Second Paper Revision Due 25: Bleak House 27: Bleak House ============================================================= 30: Bleak House , fifth short assignment due April 1: Bleak House 3: Bleak House ============================================================= 6: Bleak House , sixth short assignment due 8: Bleak House 10: Bleak House ============================================================= 13: Bleak House , seventh short assignment due 15: Bleak House 17: Bleak House ============================================================= 20: Bleak House, Draft of final paper (not required) 22: Bleak House 24: Bleak House ============================================================= 29: Final Paper Due