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The whole course is based on 1000 points. Each individual assignment will be marked on a four-point scale, the same as your GPA.

Thus, if a particular exercise is worth 40 points, and you get 30 on it, then you earned 75%, or a B.

• Papers (400 pts) -- Three formal papers (2-3, 3-4, and 6-8 pages in length).
• Exercises (120 pts) -- Homework assignments, some of which are collaborative. (These prepare you for the major papers.)
• Participation Portfolios (240 pts) -- Online and in-class informal writing assignments based on the assigned readings.
• Final Exam (200pts)

Disability Statement

If you have a disability that requires instructor consideration please contact the Director of Disability Services at 724-838-4295.  It is recommended that this be accomplished by the second week of class.  If you need accommodations for successful participation in class activities prior to your appointment at the Disability Services Office, you should offer information in writing that includes suggestions for assistance in participating in and completing class assignments.  It is not necessary to disclose the nature of your disability.

Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

Seton Hill University expects that all its students will practice academic honesty and ethical conduct. The University regards plagiarism, cheating on examinations, falsification of papers, non-sanctioned collaboration, and misuse of library material, computer material, or any other material, published or unpublished, as violations of academic honesty. Violators of the code may expect disciplinary sanctions, which are discussed in the Seton Hill University Catalog, page 30, Code of Academic Conduct.

Any unreferenced use of the written or spoken material of another, or of previously submitted work of the student's own, constitutes plagiarism.

Paraphrasing the thoughts or written work of another without reference is also plagiarism. Helpful information is available at the following web site: Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Recognize and Avoid It. Any plagiarism on a draft will result in a zero as the final grade on that assignment. Any plagiarism or cheating on an informal essay, paragraph, or grammar exercise will also result in a zero.

See also "Plagiarism (and Academic Integrity)."

Most of your work will be uploaded to Turnitin.com. If you have a problem submitting your work in the proper format, you may stop the late clock by e-mailing your word-processor file as an attachment or getting a printout into my hands.

Getting Credit for Late Work
If your online assignment is not in its proper electronic slot when I finish marking a stack of papers, I will record a zero for the assignment, and I may never even notice when you eventually do submit it. (If you submit your work before I've finished marking the stack of on-time submissions, I'll notice it and return your grade along with everyone else's. But if I finish the whole stack, I may never even notice when a late paper comes in. (There's no way for me to check "recently submitted papers from all courses" -- I would have to look at each assignment in each course, which would be very inefficient.)

In order to remove that zero and replace it with my assessment, follow this two-step process.

1. Submit the paper in the slot where it belongs.
2. Send me an e-mail that tells me I should look in the slot for your work. Include a subject line with your last name, the course name, the assignment name, and the word "Late". Example:

   "Smith EL267 Ex 1-2 Late"

3. (There's no need to make an extra trip to slip it under my office door.)

I am wiling to make exceptions in the event of extenuating circumstances, such as illness or conflicts caused by your mandatory participation in school activites. In the absence of an approved exception:

• By default, late assignments automatically lose one letter grade per day.
  
• By default, I will not accept any work that is more than a week late. (You may still have to submit, for zero credit, sequenced assignments such as a paper proposal or draft, before I will accept later assignments in that sequence. I will always be willing to meet with you during my office hours to help you catch up, but I cannot promise immediate turn-around if you submit a late assignment.)
  
• By default, a student who misses two class meetings in a row fails the course.
  
• By default, a student who misses any three class meetings during the semster fails the course.
  
• Late entries, early departures, disruptive behavior, and/or lack of preparation may accumulate as absences.
  

All Late Work

For all late work, contact me to tell me what I should find in the late drop box on J-Web -- otherwise I may never see it, and won't know that I should change the recorded zero. If you are asking that I waive the late penalty, upload a copy of your completed Absence Form into the J-Web late paper drop box, with a file name that follows this pattern: "Smith EL267 Ex 1-2 Absence Form".

Unless I grant you an extension in advance, all other assignments are penalized one letter grade for each day they are late (including Saturdays, but not counting Sundays or holidays when the university does not offer classes). (Students who have had me before should note, this is stricter than my previous policy.)

Special Cases

RRRR Items: These time-sensitive assignments (see the RRRR section of the FAQ page) earn no credit if they are late. (You should still complete any items you missed in order to get full credit for your class portfolio.)

Class Participation: The way to get credit for a missed in-class activity is to contribute substantially to the online discussion. Post thoughtful comments on the course website, your peers' websites, and/or your own. To make sure that I see and record credit for this alternative work, paste the URLs of your online contributions into a word processor file, and upload the file into the J-Web late paper box in order to make up a missed set of discussion prompts.-----
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Students are expected to contribute actively to a positive classroom environment, both in person and online. Students who dislike public speaking may wish to invest more effort in their online writing, and vice-versa.

Late arrivals and early departures, disruptive or inattentive behavior, and lack of preparation will impact your participation grade.

Those who participate above and beyond the call of duty will receive a bonus.-----
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Students are expected to attend every class. (See Seton Hill University Catalog, p. 28-29, “Class Attendance” and “Excused Absences”.)

Seton Hill University recognizes that extra-curricular activities of all sorts are important components of a liberal arts education. Students with legitimate excuses, and students who don't have good excuses but who want to keep from falling even farther behind, should follow the procedure described below.

• Students who miss a class period for any reason are still responsible for the material covered that day. (It will be outlined on the sylalbus, and you should ask a classmate to take notes for you.)
  
• An excused absence does not automatically grant an extension for any work collected or assigned that day. (There is no penalty for submitting work early.)

If you are absent from class without an excuse approved by the dean of students, on a day when a major assignment is due, I reserve the right to assess, on top of the unexcused absence, a late penalty of one extra day. (You might as well go to bed without finishing the paper, come to class so you don't fall farther behind, and then turn in the paper the next morning.)

5.1.1. Emergency Absences

Those who miss class due to an unplanned emergency should submit an “Absence Form,” with proper documentation, as soon as possible.
For each class that you miss, download the word processor version of my “Absence Form” (available at http://jerz.setonhill.edu/teaching/Absence.doc). After you initiate this contact, we will start working out whether or what kind of assignments would be appropriate. (I ask that you resist the impulse to ask me to e-mail you a summary of what you missed. I welcome the chance to help you get caught up, but please consult the syllabus and a classmate's notes first, and then bring any specific questions to me.) For some classroom activities, such as listening to peer oral presentations, there may be no appropriate make-up assignment. (See 5.2 Participation.)

5.1.2. Scheduled Absences
Those who miss class due to a scheduled activity must plan to complete all make-up assignments before the missed class. This means that you must submit an acceptable “Absence Form” (see above) at least 2 class periods before the missed class.

If there is insufficient time for us to agree upon an acceptable suggestion for making up missed work, or if an approved make-up assignment is late or unsatisfactory, then I may record the absence as unexcused.

The class format will be a seminar, with lots of discussion and some lecture. Your job is not to walk into the classroom as a blank slate, ready to write down what I say the literary works mean, so that you can spit it back in an exam. Rather, you will be asked to develop the capacity to present and defend your own original thoughts about the assigned readings. There are many "right answers" in literary interpretation, and some of them conflict with each other. This does not mean that "anything goes," nor does it mean that our job is simply to look up what the author says he or she wanted to accomplish.

Just because it's *possible* to read "Puff, the Magic Dragon" as a celebration of marijuana culture does not mean that other readings are impossible. And just because the lyricist denies that he *intended* any drug reference does not mean that the drug reading is off-limits.

Because the author's original words are the primary source for any literary interpreation, it should goe without saying that students should keep up with the readings. You will need some time to reflect on the readings in order to particpate meaningfully in a collaborative learning environment, and to that end, some assignments are designed to encourage to you start you reading early.

I will often send out bulk e-mails to the address on file for you in the GriffinGate system. If you check a different address more regularly, please use SHU's e-mail forwarding service so that you don't miss important updates.

The most important requirement is that you carefully read the assigned texts. Writing the required papers will be much more difficult if you aren't familiar enough with the texts to come up with something interesting to say about them.

Any survey course has a particular set of meanings for students who are taking them in order to fulfill a general education area requirement, an education certification requirement, or purely as an elective. The Seton Hill University Learning Objectives (found on page 2 of the 2008-1010 course catalog) lists several skills that this course is especially designed to help you develop:

• Use technological skills to access information, organize knowledge, and communicate.
  
• Express arguments or main points clearly, in written and oral communication.
  
• Assess privilige and oppression from the perspective of culture, race, class, and gender.
  
• Find, evaluate, and apply information.
  
• Locate and analyze expressive media to gain information or comprehend the significance of an issue or event.
  

A literature survey course has an additional meaning for English majors and minors, who will be expected, in their other courses, to demonstrate familiarity with the scholarly techniques (how to read and write about a literary text) and subject matter (major authors and themes of American literature since 1915).

The course has be expected to have familiarlity EL 267 has been designated a writing-intensive course. This means less emphasis on listening to the instructor talking and regurgitating it on tests, and more emphasis on developing your own thoughts and crafting them into high-quality papers.

These goals of the English program all apply directly to EL 267:

1. Examine a wide range of genres, styles and cultural literatures.
2. Examine the traditional canon and innovative nontraditional writers and writing.
3. Demonstrate analytical skills of reading literature.
4. Demonstrate a high level of research and writing skills.
5. Write and speak in a wide range of formats appropriate to major emphasis: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, critical essay, oral presentation.
6. Speak and write about issues in the discipline and how they interact with the culture at large.
7. Articulate the ongoing relation between personal habits of reading and writing and the evolving study of English.

Your objectives for this course are to

1. Deeply and critically read complex literary texts
2. Demonstrate familiarity with the social and political forces shaping American culture during the time period
3. Use textual evidence to support your claims in oral and informal written discussion of assigned texts, without oversimplifying or ignoring views which differ from yours
4. Organize and develop your initial reactions to assigned texts, through informal writing, peer critiques, and discussion
5. Write a college-level research paper that appropriately uses primary and secondary sources (including basic literary theory)
6. Contribute actively to a positive learning environment

To help you reach those goals, you will need to:

• read all assigned texts and reflect meaningfully on them (a process that includes re-reading parts of large texts or the whole of shorter texts) before class,
• complete exercises, quizzes, and exams in order to offer me opportunities to assess your achievements,
• write three formal papers (see section 6, Assignments)

At the end of this course, you should be able to demonstrate

1. Competence in the critical reading of complex literary texts
   
2. Intellectual engagement with your peers (in person and online)
   
3. Awareness of the historical, cultural, and formal issues that influence your developing responses to texts on the syllabus
   
4. Ability to plan, research, draft, revise, and polish college-level literary research essays, appropriately ussing primary and secondary sources to defend a non-obvious claim about your chosen text

Explores a diverse body of twentieth-century literature, including fiction, poetry, narrative, and essays, written in different regions of the United States by men and women of various cultural groups.

Dennis G. Jerz (jerz.setonhill.edu)
403 St. Joseph, Box 461
E-mail: My last name, (at) setonhill.edu.
Phone: 724-830-1909 (but I prefer to be contacted by e-mail)

Office Visits: I generally leave my door open. If you should happen to drop outside when my door is closed:

• If it is during my office hours, I may be with another student; please knock so I know you're waiting.


• If it is not my scheduled office hour, I'm probably trying to concentrate on something; please send me an e-mail or leave me a note with contact information, so that we can schedule a time that's convenient for both of us.

Office Hours: Monday: 3pm; Tuesday 2pm; Wednesday 11am; Thursday 3pm; M-F, by appointment.

Occasionally I step out of my office briefly to run errands during my scheduled office hours. When I do, I usually leave a note on my door. If my light is still on, then I'm probably not far away.

Mon, 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM (1/21/2009 - 5/8/2009) Location: SHU ADMIN 410

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