Course Description

600 Requirements | Assignments | Assessment Criteria & Contracts | Syllabus | Links to Resources

Instructor: Moira P. Baker

406 Young Hall

831-5352 (O)

731-4104 (H)

mpbaker@runet.edu

 

 

 

The task of producing literary scholarship that matters is extraordinarily demanding. Indeed, it is a life's work. We can make but a beginning in this course. To this Foucault says, "AAARGH!" And Morrison says, "Well, who ever said it was going to be easy?" And I say, "Throw yourself into the work. Trust the process." Let us, then, make a beginning.

Objectives, Procedures and Policies:

The work of literary scholarship is complex.  The best scholarship requires the capacity to interpret literary, historical and cultural texts; the ability to find, analyze, and document information; ease in using a range of literary critical approaches; and a command of clear, concise, and graceful prose.  Hence, the goals for this course are also complex. One goal is to master traditional research methods for finding bibliographic and historical information. Another goal is to develop ease in using electronic research tools including the World-Wide Web and various on-line resources and databases. Yet another goal is to review a variety of contemporary critical approaches so you may develop a repertoire of ways to analyze literature. In order to understand the philosophical assumptions grounding various modes of literary criticism, we will study a number of important contemporary theorists. So we will be hearing more from Foucault and Morrison as the course progresses. A final goal is to develop your scholarly writing so that it is not only rigorous and well reasoned, but also compelling. In pursuing this nexus of goals, the ultimate end of this course is to produce a piece of scholarship that matters--something that matters to you personally and to other scholars in the field; something that may even make a difference, in its own way, to our world.

To achieve its goals the course will immerse us in the activities, concerns, and issues that characterize the work of scholars in the increasingly diverse field of English Studies. The course emphasizes bibliographic methodology as well as contemporary approaches to literary criticism and the theories that ground them. Because technological innovations in the last ten years have created an exciting range of new opportunities for literary studies, we will use electronic technology extensively. We will collaborate as colleagues to build a foundation of research skills, to refine habits of thinking and working, and to establish standards of judgment for our work as scholars and critics of literary and cultural texts. Through our readings we will confront issues that have challenged the scholarly profession in the last twenty years and have redrawn the boundaries of literary scholarship, transforming English and American literary studies; these issues raise questions concerning literary value, textuality, historical context, meaning, and the politics of reading and interpretation. Our position on these questions necessarily has a bearing on the scholarly work each of us chooses to do.

Evaluation of Work:

I would like to use a system of contract grading and self-assessment for each activity in the course. Students who do not wish to choose this option for grading do not have to do so, and may receive grades in the conventional way.  I assume that contract grading will afford you a higher degree of participation in every phase of the course, including those ordinarily reserved for the "teacher." The success or failure of this course depends much more on you as teacher than on me. Each of us is a teacher in this course, and each a learner. And that role cannot suddenly shift at evaluation time. Therefore, I am inviting each of you to contract for the grades you feel you can reasonably work toward in each of the course activities, and to complete a self-assessment of each activity as part of the contract.

For each of the three graded course activities, I have prepared a set of assessment criteria and grade contracts describing what I believe necessary to achieve various levels of performance in that scholarly task. If you opt for contract grading, you will complete a self-assessment of each activity. In this assessment you determine the grade-level of your work in view of the stated criteria, and you write a statement justifying your self-assessment. When you submit each activity, you should explain the grade for which you have contracted by addressing each of the criteria for performance and justifying why your work meets the level for which you are contracting.

If you do not wish to contract for a grade in course activities, please let me know that and I will use conventional grading methods for your work.

MLA Documentation Format:

It is a given in graduate-level scholarship that MLA documentation format be flawless. No work will receive a grade of A, no matter how strong it is in every other regard, unless it is scrupulous in its adherence to MLA guidelines. Work that is seriously flawed in its documentation format is not acceptable on the graduate level; it cannot receive a passing grade. If you opt for the self-assessment contracts, you must take into consideration your use of MLA format. To receive the highest grades you must master MLA format. I have ordered the MLA Style Manual as one of our course texts. The only way to insure flawless format is to use it.

Attendance and Participation:

I need you here in class. We will proceed by dialogue; each of us will share the responsibility for the teaching and learning that will occur in this course. We will learn through conversation with each other and with the writers whom we read. Indeed, the course is best conceived of as an extended conversation among ourselves and other scholars in the field. When you miss class you not only miss out on the conversation; you fail to accept your responsibility for enriching and shaping the course.  Therefore, more than one absence will lower your final grade.  Excessive absences will result in automatic failure of the course.  

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism:

 The University Affairs Council has asked all faculty to include the following statement in our course policies: 

"By accepting admission to Radford University, each student makes a commitment to understand, support, and abide by the University Honor Code without compromise or exception. Violations of academic integrity will not be tolerated. This class will be conducted in strict observance of the Honor Code. Please refer to your Student Handbook for details."  

Plagiarism, including the use of work submitted to another course without the consent of both instructors, the use of work by another person, or the use of someone else's words, ideas or arrangement of ideas without giving proper reference to the author, is a serious violation of the Honor Code. This applies to any materials on the World-Wide Web and electronic sources in the library. Please see the section on plagiarism in your Student Handbook.

Required Texts:

Baker, Moira, ed. Readings for Eng. 600. Three copies of this collection of readings are available on reserve in the library.

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory. New York: Manchester UP, 1995.

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality: An Introduction. Vol. 1. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Random House, 1990.

Kaufman, Moises. Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. New York: Vintage, 1998.

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Ed. Joseph Gibaldi. Fifth Edition. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1999.

Richter, David H. Falling into Theory. Boston: Bedford, 2000.

600 Requirements | Assignments | Assessment Criteria & Contracts | Syllabus | Links to Resources