English Composition 2

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 provides These books should always accompany you to class
an introduction to tra- when they are assigned, as we will make heavy use
ditional literary forms of it in our daily discussions. Please do not come to
— prose, poetry, and class without your books: we need to reference them
drama — and an ex- for class activities, in-class writing, and all aspects of
amination of other our study.
cultural texts, like
film, music, and vis- Humanities Online
ual arts. This course You are required to
will also introduce to have an account on
students various approaches to textual interpretation, Humanities Online,
like reader-response, ethical, feminist, and psycho- the server that will
logical modes of criticism. Through various read- support all of your
ings, forum posts, research activities, and instructed work in this class.
guidance, students will further develop those written As a part of this re-
and verbal skills begun in English Composition 1. quirement, you
should have access
Required Texts to a computer with
Internet capability and a current web browser, like
• McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Vin- Firefox.
tage, 2008.
• Sipiora, Phillip. Reading and Writing About Lit- Pen and Paper
erature. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002. You should also bring an ink interface of some sort,
• Shakespeare, William. Titus Andronicus. New as well as dead trees on which to take notes. Notes
York: Bantam, 1988. should not only reflect good listening skills, but in-

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dividual interest in every topic discussed in class. You leave. In addition, I do not allow class discussions to
should not sit in class like you’re watching TV: learn- be taped, so please do not bring any voice recording
ing requires active participation. devices to class. You may use laptops unless I ask you
not to bring them.
Electronics
Materials, like cell phones, food, magazines, iPods, Rated R
etc., should be left in your car. They are not needed Finally, since class lecture
for our class and should, therefore, not accompany and discussion will often
you. I understand our contemporary need to be in touch on the controversial,
contact with everyone all the time, but do not let this this college classroom is
personal need distract the rest of the class. If you an- not an appropriate place
swer a cell phone in my class, I will expect you to for children.

Exams Writing Daily Work

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 lecture
materials.
These exams will include vocabu-
lary, identification, and interpreta-
tion. All exam grades will be
based upon objective knowledge
of the material, thoroughness,
depth of insight, precision, and
originality.
To get you thinking more critically
about the major works, you are
required to respond to class read-
ings in writing, usually once a
week in the class forum. All writ-
ing should be thoughtful, refer to
specific portions of the text, use
the critical vocabulary, and cite
using MLA citation method.
These written responses will be
posted in an online forum on Hu-
manities Online, so the entire class
can benefit from reading your
thoughts. The forum will also give
you a chance to respond to others’
ideas. Your writing in the forum
should total at least 350 words per
week.
Regular class attendance, question
posing, and active participation in
classroom discussions are re-
quired. Participation, effort, and
attitude will count significantly in
this course.
Quizzes, other class activities, and
homework assignments not explic-
itly outlined above will be consid-
ered daily work.
Occasionally, I will give research
assignments and other library
work; these, too, will be counted
as daily activities.

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Course Policies
Assignments
Your work represents you. There-
fore, I expect everything you turn
into me to exemplify the very best
of your professional self. Please
proofread all writing before sub-
mission.
Attendance
Attendance will be taken at every
class meeting. If you come in late,
it is your responsibility to inform
me 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 to
miss one class before your grade
suffers. Each additional class
missed beyond the allotted one
will result in your final semester’s
grade being dropped one letter.
Deadlines
Late work is not acceptable and
will receive a zero. Technical,
computer malfunctions are not ac-
ceptable excuses for late work.
Quizzes and in-class activities
cannot be made up for any reason.
Pay particular attention to forum
deadlines; if you complete the fo-
rum after the due date, you will
receive no credit.
Email
The best and quickest way of con-
tacting me is via email. Only use
the email address that I provided
on this document for class busi-
ness: <comp@grlucas.net>.
Grades
Letter grades are based upon a tra-
ditional ten-point scale. If you
would like to know your official
grade, you should see me during
my office hours or make an ap-
pointment.
Materials
Course readings are an integral
part of the class and should be
brought daily. When readings are
assigned to be discussed in class,
please bring a copy of the reading
(assigned PDFs should be printed
on dead trees) with your reading
notes ready to participate in the
discussion. Do not come to class
without your books and something
to write with and on. Everyday.
Seriously.
Plagiarism
Any time you use ideas that are
not your own — be they para-
phrased or copied verbatim — in
anything that you write, you must
supply a citation in an identifiable
citation method, e.g., MLA, Chi-
cago, etc. Willful plagiarism will
result in automatic failure of this
class and will be submitted to the
Dean 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, and
cite the source using MLA citation
style in all my courses. A para-
phrase employs source material by
restating an idea in an entirely new
form that is original in both sen-
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tence structure and word choice.
Quotations and paraphrases must
be cited to avoid plagiarism.
If you use ideas or information
that are not common knowledge,
you must cite a source. Unsure as
to what to cite, when to cite, and
how to cite? Check your handbook
for the best information.
The professor reserves the right to
use Turn It In, a plagiarism pre-
vention service, to evaluate any
written work submitted for this
course. As directed by the profes-
sor, students are expected to sub-
mit or have their assignments
submitted through the service in
order to meet requirements for this
course. The papers may be re-
tained by the service for the sole
purpose of checking for plagia-
rized content in future student
submissions.
Special Needs
Any student who has special needs
should contact Ann E. Loyd at the
Counseling and Career Center
(478-471-2714) and fill out the
appropriate paperwork.
Technology Competency
Computer competency is an inte-
gral skill in any discipline. Stu-
dents should be familiar with the
general uses of a computer, par-
ticularly using a web browser.
Students should be willing to put
forth the effort to learn what they
need to in order to succeed in the
course. Please see me for addi-
tional assistance when necessary.
Schedule Overview
This schedule represents the ideal outline for our semester, but it is
tentative and subject to change. It reflects only an overview of
readings and assignments, but does not always indicate other spe-
cific class session assignments or activities. See litmuse.net for the
most accurate information on reading and assignments. This
schedule is up-to-date as of August 12, 2009 2:01 PM.

Week 1 (8/17 & 8/19) Week 9 (10/12 & 10/14) Exam (12/7)
Course Introduction Midterm Conferences 1-3pm
Sign up for HO account
Week 10 (10/19 & 10/21) Notes
Week 2 (8/24 & 8/26) Shakespeare
Sipiora, Chapter 1

Week 3 (8/31 & 9/2) Week 11 (10/26 & 10/28)

Sipiora, Ch. 2 Shakespeare

Week 4 (9/9) Week 12 (11/2 & 11/4)

Sipiora, Ch. 10 Shakespeare/Taymor

Week 5 (9/14 & 9/16) Week 13 (11/9 & 11/11)

Sipiora, Ch. 7 Sipiora, Ch. 4

Week 6 (9/21 & 9/23) Week 14 (11/16 & 11/18)

Sipiora, Ch. 6 Sipiora, Ch. 8

Week 7 (9/28 & 9/30) Week 15 (11/23)

McCormac Sipiora, Ch. 8 (Cont.)

Week 8 (10/5 & 10/7) Week 16 (11/30 & 12/2)

McCormac Catch up

Dr. Gerald R. Lucas LitMUSE

Associate Professor of English
Email: comp@grlucas.net
Office: H/SS-117
Office Hours: MW 11a-12:30p; by ap-
pointment
Phone: 471-5761
Web: http://litmuse.net/
http://litmuse.net/
This sever contains all the information
presented in this document. It also houses
resources that go far beyond this syllabus.
I would recommend that you spend some
time familiarizing yourself with these.
They are designed to help you help your-
self to produce stellar work both in this
class and those you will subsequently
attempt.