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This course refines and
enhances the skills of writing developed in English 101 and English 102
using a selection of representative works of important English writers.
(Prerequisite: English 102)
Course
Description
As its title indicates, Writing about American Literature is a course
with two primary aims: 1) to discuss and exercise the practice of
writing critical essays and 2) to introduce and examine the literature
produced in the United States. To perform these two functions, the
course will ask students to engage in discussions about assigned texts,
and to produce a number of different written essays in response to
teacher prompts
The Text
The
Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter edition),
edited by Nina Baym, et al.
Norton's Textbook
Companion Website
Assignments
Students must write approximately 20 pages of graded work (drafts do
not figure into that number), and they must be given written
assignments for each of the essays they are to write. These assignments
must clearly articulate a question for students to consider and answer,
and the question must relate to a specified reading which will be
discussed in class. It is preferable to give out the assignment
question before the students do the reading - and, in fact, even more
preferable to give students thought-provoking questions which can help
them become "strong readers" of the text.
Essays
The essays written for 203 will be done according to the writing
process. This means that students will write drafts of each essay and
bring them - typed and completed - to class on a designated due day.
They should work on these rough drafts in class in some way - on their
own, in peer groups, in review pairs - to learn how to revise and edit
another writer's work, and eventually their own. Papers will be typed
and double-spaced, and will have appropriate margins and fonts. There
should be one in-class essay.
Essays should begin with a clear, coherent statement of purpose which
is then developed into a logical, clearly organized essay.
By the
end of English 203, students should be able to:
- think critically, and rely on
their inferential skills as a way of making meaning from written texts
- use language in correct and
appropriate ways
- understand that writing is a
process that begins with the comprehension of an idea, and moves
through a number of revised drafts toward a completed product
- produce summaries and paraphrases
and understand how and why those are useful skills
- understand that, more than a
cultural product, literature reflects moments in history as well as
themes that can be relevant to them in their own lives and times
- appreciate that works of
literature can offer many opportunities to compare and/or contrast
ideas and concepts from a variety of cultures and backgroundswrite
coherent essays that demonstrate an awareness of the rules of English,
and quote from external texts for support of their point in appropriate
and analytical ways.
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