Dr. Gerald R. Lucas • 81545 ENGL 1102.15 MW 12:30-1:45 H/SS-118

Welcome to English Composition 2

The objectives ENGL 1102 concentrate on the interpretation of literature in an at-tempt to develop critical-thinking, observation, analytical, and comprehension skills.Prerequisite: at least a “C” in ENGL 1101.

ENGL 1102 providesan introduction to tra-ditional literary forms — prose, poetry, anddrama — and an ex-amination of other cultural texts, likefilm, music, and vis-ual arts. This coursewill also introduce tostudents various approaches to textual interpretation,like reader-response, ethical, feminist, and psycho-logical modes of criticism. Through various read-ings, forum posts, research activities, and instructedguidance, students will further develop those writtenand verbal skills begun in English Composition 1.

Required Texts

•McCarthy, Cormac.

The Road

. New York: Vin-tage, 2008.•Sipiora, Phillip.

Reading and Writing About Lit-erature

. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.•Shakespeare, William.

Titus Andronicus

. NewYork: Bantam, 1988.These books should always accompany you to classwhen they are assigned, as we will make heavy useof it in our daily discussions. Please do not come toclass without your books: we need to reference themfor class activities, in-class writing, and all aspects of our study.

Humanities Online

You are required tohave an account onHumanities Online,the server that willsupport all of your work in this class.As a part of this re-quirement, youshould have accessto a computer withInternet capability and a current web browser, likeFirefox.

Pen and Paper

You should also bring an ink interface of some sort,as well as dead trees on which to take notes. Notesshould not only reflect good listening skills, but in-

English Composition 2

dividual interest in every topic discussed in class. Youshould not sit in class like you’re watching TV: learn-ing requires active participation.

Electronics

Materials, like cell phones, food, magazines, iPods,etc., should be left in your car. They are not neededfor our class and should, therefore, not accompanyyou. I understand our contemporary need to be incontact with everyone all the time, but do not let this personal need distract the rest of the class. If you an-swer a cell phone in my class, I will expect you toleave. In addition, I do not allow class discussions to be taped, so please do not bring any voice recordingdevices to class. You may use laptops unless I ask younot to bring them.

Rated R

Finally, since class lectureand discussion will oftentouch on the controversial,this college classroom isnot an appropriate placefor children.

Exams

A midterm and a final exam will be given that will test your knowl-edge of the subject matter (texts,lecture material, and vocabulary),your ability to synthesize this ma-terial, and your creativity in going beyond the discussion and lecturematerials.These exams will include vocabu-lary, identification, and interpreta-tion. All exam grades will be based upon objective knowledgeof the material, thoroughness,depth of insight, precision, andoriginality.

Writing

To get you thinking more criticallyabout the major works, you arerequired to respond to class read-ings in writing, usually once aweek in the class forum. All writ-ing should be thoughtful, refer tospecific portions of the text, usethe critical vocabulary, and citeusing MLA citation method.These written responses will be posted in an online forum on Hu-manities Online, so the entire classcan benefit from reading your thoughts. The forum will also giveyou a chance to respond to others’ideas. Your writing in the forumshould total at least 350 words per week.

Daily Work

Regular class attendance, question posing, and active participation inclassroom discussions are re-quired. Participation, effort, andattitude will count significantly inthis course.Quizzes, other class activities, andhomework assignments not explic-itly outlined above will be consid-ered daily work.Occasionally, I will give researchassignments and other librarywork; these, too, will be countedas daily activities.

Course Policies

Assignments

Your work represents you. There-fore, I expect everything you turninto me to exemplify the very bestof your professional self. Please proofread all writing before sub-mission.

Attendance

Attendance will be taken at everyclass meeting. If you come in late,it is your responsibility to informme of your presence that day. If you fail to do so, you are absent.Two tardies count as one absence.There are no “excused absences”in my class, but you are allowed tomiss one class before your gradesuffers. Each additional classmissed beyond the allotted onewill result in your final semester’sgrade being dropped one letter.

Deadlines

Late work is not acceptable andwill receive a zero. Technical,computer malfunctions are not ac-ceptable excuses for late work.Quizzes and in-class activitiescannot be made up for any reason.Pay particular attention to forumdeadlines; if you complete the fo-rum after the due date, you willreceive no credit.

The best and quickest way of con-tacting me is via email. Only usethe email address that I providedon this document for class busi-ness: <comp@grlucas.net>.

Grades

Letter grades are based upon a tra-ditional ten-point scale. If youwould like to know your officialgrade, you should see me duringmy office hours or make an ap- pointment.

Materials

Course readings are an integral part of the class and should be brought daily. When readings areassigned to be discussed in class, please bring a copy of the reading(assigned PDFs should be printedon dead trees) with your readingnotes ready to participate in thediscussion. Do not come to class without your books and somethingto write with and on. Everyday.Seriously.

Plagiarism

Any time you use ideas that arenot your own — be they para- phrased or copied verbatim — inanything that you write, you mustsupply a citation in an identifiablecitation method, e.g., MLA, Chi-cago, etc. Willful plagiarism willresult in automatic failure of thisclass and will be submitted to theDean for further potential conse-quences. Remember two things:If you use the language of your source, you must quote it exactly,enclose it in quotation marks, andcite the source using MLA citationstyle in all my courses. A para- phrase employs source material byrestating an idea in an entirely newform that is original in both sen-tence structure and word choice.Quotations and paraphrases must be cited to avoid plagiarism.If you use ideas or informationthat are not common knowledge,you must cite a source. Unsure asto what to cite, when to cite, andhow to cite? Check your handbook for the best information.The professor reserves the right touse Turn It In, a plagiarism pre-vention service, to evaluate anywritten work submitted for thiscourse. As directed by the profes-sor, students are expected to sub-mit or have their assignmentssubmitted through the service inorder to meet requirements for thiscourse. The papers may be re-tained by the service for the sole purpose of checking for plagia-rized content in future studentsubmissions.

Special Needs

Any student who has special needsshould contact Ann E. Loyd at theCounseling and Career Center (478-471-2714) and fill out theappropriate paperwork.

Technology Competency

Computer competency is an inte-gral skill in any discipline. Stu-dents should be familiar with thegeneral uses of a computer, par-ticularly using a web browser.Students should be willing to putforth the effort to learn what theyneed to in order to succeed in thecourse. Please see me for addi-tional assistance when necessary.