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English 520-001: 17^th-Century English Literature (exclusive of Milton)

Spring 2011, 3 credits

MW 5:00-6:15, Owens 201

Professor's Information

Name: Dr. Matthew Fike
Office: Bancroft 258 (803-323-4575)
Departmental Office: Bancroft 250 (803-323-2171)
Fax: 803-323-4837
Office Hours: MTWR, 3:30-4:30 and by appt.
E-mail: fikem@winthrop.edu
Web site: http://faculty.winthrop.edu/fikem

Course Description

English 520, offered for graduate and undergraduate credit, surveys the most important religious and secular poetry and prose of 17th-century England. Donne, Herbert, Jonson, Marvell, and Behn will receive special emphasis, as will three important historical events: the Civil War, colonialism, and the Great Fire of London. The course requirements include a midterm examination to be written in class, response papers, a longer researched essay, a final examination, and daily participation. The course will operate almost exclusively on the basis of small- and large-group discussion and reports by small groups. Prerequisites: Obviously WRIT 101 is a prerequisite for this course. HMXP 102, CRTW 201, and ENGL 203 are also strongly recommended.

Course Goals

We will…

Analyze selected masterpieces 17^th-century British poetry and prose exclusive of Milton, who is the subject of another course (ENGL 513).
Recognize the connections between literature and its historical context.
Promote learning through class discussion, writing assignments, and short presentations based on reading questions.
Note: These goals are in harmony with the department's goals for English majors at http://www2.winthrop.edu/english/englishgoals.htm#undergrad.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the semester, students will be able to

Discuss poetry and prose in relation to the history of the 17th century.
Identify the hallmarks of religious and secular (especially scientific) thought.
Demonstrate the ability to read critically and to write analytically about literature through successful completion of examinations and paper assignments.
Produce a research paper in multiple stages, including online research (MLA Bibliography and other databases).
Apply the skills of literary research, including MLA documentation and research sources (e.g., the MLA bibliography online and the OED online).
Analyze the details in key passages from 17th-century poetry and prose.
Appraise the place of 17th-century writers in the English canon.

General Education Goals

This course meets the following General Education Goals, available at http://www2.winthrop.edu/universitycollege/Touchstone/Touchstonegoals.htm:

#1: To communicate clearly and effectively in standard English.
#3: To use critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and a variety of research methods.
#4: To recognize and appreciate human diversity (both past and present) as well as the diversity of ideas, institutions, philosophies, moral codes, and ethical principles.
#6: To understand aesthetic values, the creative process, and the interconnectedness of the literary, visual, and performing arts throughout the history of civilization.
#7: To examine values, attitudes, beliefs, and habits [that] define the nature and quality of life.

Texts

Available at the Bookworm:

Rudman et al., The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Verse & Prose
Behn, Oroonoko (Penguin)

Course Requirements

20% - Response Papers: 4 are required @ 5 points (revisable if submitted not later than one week before the due date); minimum: 2-4 pages apiece
20% - Research paper (a draft is required); minimums: 8 pages for undergraduates (5 secondary sources minimum), 12 for graduate students (10 secondary sources minimum); the research paper may be a development of one of your response papers.
20% - Midterm examination to be written in class
20% - Final examination to be written during the scheduled examination period
20% - Class presence (presentations, discussion); for full credit, you will need to speak up more than once per day.
Grading scale for undergraduates: A, 95-100; A-, 90-94; B+, 87-89; B, 83-86; B-, 80-82; C+, 77-79; C, 73-76; C-, 70-72; D+, 67-69; D, 63-66; D-, 60-62; F, 0-59.
Grading scale for graduate students: A, 90-100; B, 80-89; C, 70-79; D, 60-69; F, 0-59

Notes on requirements:

Participation in discussion is a crucial element of this class, and you are expected to speak up at every class meeting. If you do not volunteer comments, I will encourage you to share your thoughts. Obviously participation is hard to quantify, but the following scale will lend some structure: frequent contributions will be worth 18-20 points (A); regular contributions, 16-17 (B); occasional contributions, 14-15 (C); few contributions, 12-13 (D); rare contributions, 10-11 (F); near to complete silence (0-9). The substance of your remarks may also be a factor when I assign class participation grades. A helpful rule of thumb is that you should expect to receive a C for participation if you speak up once per class session.
I will give you the exam questions ahead of time so that you can prepare. You may use books and notes. You are welcome to have 5 extra minutes on either end of the examination sessions.
You have the option to revise your response papers and your research paper (but not your tests) provided that you submit your draft a week (response papers) or two weeks (research paper) ahead of time. The course calendar includes a due date for the draft of the long paper. Since there is an option to revise, there will be no rounding up at final grade time. Please note that revisions—with graded drafts—are due throughout the semester on specified dates.
You will be required to make mini-reports in class based on your response papers or on other topics. In such a case, you should prepare handouts for the rest of the class and/or bring enough copies of your papers for everyone: your response papers will play a key role in our course. Response papers should ideally be written prior to our discussion of the work in question. Revision, of course, may take place afterwards. You are very welcome to ask the class to read and comment on your work in progress. Under no circumstances should a response paper ever recapitulate lecture or class discussion.
You are encouraged to find an editing partner in the class and to critique each other's drafts prior to submitting them. You are likely to be required to work outside of class with a partner to prepare a response to a discussion question.

Departmental Policies and Procedures

"Unless your professor specifies otherwise on her or his syllabus, the following policies and procedures apply for all courses offered by the Department of English (ENGL, ENGE, and WRIT)." --Department of English

Goals: Goals for all courses in the Department of English, including those that meet requirements for NCATE certification, are described at http://www.winthrop.edu/english/goals.htm.

Touchstone/General Education Goals: This course meets General Education goals #s 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7; and counts toward the Humanities and Arts General Education requirement.

Syllabus Change Policy: The version of your instructor's policy posted on her/his website, WebCT site, or www.turnitin.com site is the official policy statement for your class. This page may change during the semester, so make sure you check it frequently to keep up with changes.

Resources: The English Department’s home page is http://www.winthrop.edu/english. Please check there for links to instructors' webpages, course materials, and The English Major's Handbook of useful links.

Office Hours: My office hours this semester are MTWR, 3:30-4:30. I will make every effort to be available during these hours or to notify you if I cannot be available.

E-mail List Serves: Winthrop automatically generates a listserv for each class using the Winthrop e-mail addresses of all students enrolled in a class on the first day of instruction. If you add the class late or if you prefer to use an alternate e-mail address, you must personally enroll in the listserv. You can find the instructions for doing so at http://www.winthrop.edu/acc/imailsrv.asp.

Contacting Your Instructor: All instructors in the Department have voice mail in their offices and Winthrop e-mail addresses. Make sure you write down your instructor’s phone number and e-mail address where you will not lose it. You can leave messages for your instructor in the department mailroom, 248 Bancroft, which is open from 8:30-5:00 each day.

Instructor Accessibility: You can expect me to be available as a resource from which to draw and to obtain feedback. I am very responsive to email questions as long as I know who the email is from and have all information necessary to provide a complete answer. Please be sure to “sign” your emails as oftentimes email names are confusing at best (e.g., brownb1@winthrop.edu could be Bob Brown or Beth Brown). Please make sure to speak slowly and comprehensibly if leaving a voicemail so that I can decipher the name, message, and return phone number as well.

What you cannot expect of me is to be available 24/7. While I do check my email and voicemail regularly, I do not necessarily check them more than once a day or late in the evenings. I do not check e-mail or voice mail on the weekend. Therefore, if you procrastinate on an assignment, you may not have the information you need to complete the assignment appropriately. Please plan your time accordingly to maximize the probability that you will receive a response in time for it to be useful. I do not meet with students on Friday mornings--this is my dedicated time for my own research.

Student Conduct Code: As noted in the Student Conduct Code: “Responsibility for good conduct rests with students as adult individuals.” The policy on student academic misconduct is outlined in the “Student Conduct Code Academic Misconduct Policy” in the online Student Handbook (http://www2.winthrop.edu/studentaffairs/handbook/StudentHandbook.pdf).

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s thoughts, words, ideas, or lines of argument in your own work without appropriate documentation (a parenthetical citation at the end and a listing in "Works Cited")–whether you use that material in a quote, paraphrase, or summary. It is a theft of intellectual property and will not be tolerated, whether intentional or not. It is also a violation of the Student Conduct Code (http://www.winthrop.edu/studentaffairs/Judicial/judcode.htm). The English Department has prepared The Correct Use of Borrowed Information to explain plagiarism (see www.winthrop.edu/english/plagiarism.htm .) You may be required to print out this statement, sign the last page, and bring it to class when required by your instructor. Ignorance or failure to consult this material is no excuse. Note: Plagiarism includes submitting work that you wrote in another class and using another author's words without putting quotation marks around them (even if you give a citation).

Grades: The Department has established a Rubric for Freshman Writing Courses that is found at www.winthrop.edu/english/rubric.htm. A formal description of letter grades used by Winthrop instructors can be found in the Undergraduate Catalog.

Grading Policy: This class will/will not use the plus/minus grading system. In this class, the following numerical equivalents for grades are used: A, 95-100; A-, 90-94; B+, 87-89; B, 83-86; B-, 80-82; C+, 77-79; C, 73-76; C-, 70-72; D+, 67-69; D, 63-66; D-, 60-62; F, 0-59.

Minimum Grades in Classes: "All English Education majors must have a cumulative 2.75 GPA in ENGL 203, 208, 211, 300, 303, 305, 507; ENGE 391, 392, 519; and WRIT 350 prior to the internship" (The Undergraduate Catalog 2009-2010, page 28).

Attendance: The official Winthrop attendance policy is found on p. 8 of The Undergraduate Catalog 2009-2010 "Academic Regulations" section (http://www.winthrop.edu/uploadedFiles/recandreg/Catalogs/09-10/2009_10_catalog_Acad_Regs.pdf). The policy for attendance at final examinations is also found on page 8. See also "Attendance" and "Tardiness" below.

Final Examinations: Winthrop University policy requires that all classes meet during their scheduled final examination period. This schedule can be found on the Records and Registration website at http://www.winthrop.edu/recandreg/calendars/default.htm. Winthrop University policy specifies that personal conflicts such as travel plans and work schedules do not warrant a change in examination time. You are responsible for checking the time of your final examination and for making arrangements to be there.

Expectations for Classroom Behavior: The classroom environment should provide a safe environment for exploring ideas and challenging assumptions. Students are expected to listen respectfully to the voices of other individuals and to share their own opinions and values in a positive, respectful manner. Students and the instructor are expected to treat each member of the class with respect and civility. Classroom behavior that a reasonable person would view as substantially or repeatedly interfering with the conduct of the class will not be tolerated in this course. Students who engage in disruptive behavior will be subject to sanctions as specified in the Student Conduct Code. You must turn off all electronic devices during class.

Students with Disabilities: Winthrop University is dedicated to providing access to education. If you have a disability and need classroom accommodations, please contact Gena Smith, Coordinator, Services for Students with Disabilities, at 323-3290, as soon as possible. Once you have your Professor Notification Form, please tell me so that I am aware of your accommodations well before the first assignment, test, or paper.

Winthrop’s Academic Success Center is a free resource for all undergraduate students seeking to perform their best academically. The ASC offers a variety of personalized and structured resources that help students achieve academic excellence, such as tutoring, academic skill development (test taking strategies, time management counseling, and study techniques), group and individual study spaces, and academic coaching. The ASC is located on the first floor of Dinkins, Suite 106. Please contact the ASC at 803-323-3929 or success@winthrop.edu. For more information on ASC services, please visit www.winthrop.edu/success.

Safe Zones Statement: The professor considers this classroom to be a place where you will be treated with respect as a human being – regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, political beliefs, age, or ability. Additionally, diversity of thought is appreciated and encouraged, provided you can agree to disagree. It is the professor’s expectation that ALL students consider the classroom a safe environment. Note: I have taken the Safe Zones orientation and currently display a SZ decal on my office door.

Handheld Devices: You may not use any electronic devices in class unless I give you specific permission or unless you have official accommodations from Services for Students with Disabilities. See the College of Arts and Sciences' policy on handheld devices at http://www2.winthrop.edu/artscience/AppropriateUseApprovedPolicyMar2010.pdf. Turn all electronic devices off before the start of class.

Duplicate Submission of Papers: You may not submit a paper for a grade in this class that already has been (or will be) submitted, in whole or in part, for a grade in another course, unless you obtain the explicit written permission of your English instructor and the other instructor involved in advance. This is to conform to the Student Code of Conduct, §V, which states: "Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to … presenting the same or substantially the same papers or projects in two or more courses without the explicit permission of the professors involved." (Student Code of Conduct §V: http://www.winthrop.edu/studentaffairs/Judicial/judcode.htm).

Writing Center: The Writing Center provides support for all students in all Winthrop classes free of charge. It is located in 242 Bancroft (x-2138). Check its web page (http://www.winthrop.edu/wcenter) for current hours.

Other Course Policies

Attendance: We will follow Winthrop's standard attendance policy: "If a student's absences in a course total 25 percent or more of the class meetings for the course, the student will receive a grade of N, F, or U, whichever is appropriate" (Undergraduate Catalog). There are 28 scheduled class meetings; therefore, a seventh absence means that you have failed the course. In order to make up a missed assignment, you must provide some kind of official paper documentation (e.g., doctor's note, obituary, letter from the athletic department). I will keep the documentation in a file until the end of the semester. Our attendance policy holds for all absences, regardless of the cause; this includes absences for Winthrop-sponsored activities like athletic competitions and Model UN. Remember: An "excused" absence means that you may make up work that was due on that day, but the absence still counts toward the total number of absences. If you do not provide documentation, you will not be allowed to make up missed work without a grade penalty. If you will be absent on a due date because of university business, you must submit your work in advance. See also "Attendance" above. Makeup work is due not later than one week from your return to class and should be accompanied by your paper documentation.

Tardiness: Please remember that coming in late disrupts everyone and may even stop the class for a few moments. I expect you to arrive at least a few minutes early and to be ready to begin right at the start of the hour. Get out your book, notebook, and pen or pencil BEFORE the day’s activities begin. Arriving 10 or more minutes late (or leaving 10 or more minutes early) will be considered a full absence. I will count every three tardy arrivals (less than 10 minutes late) as a full absence. Tardy-generated absences will count against the university's 25% attendance policy. ***Finally, if you come in late, you MUST see me after class so that I change your absence mark to a tardy mark. If you do not see me after class, your tardiness will count as an absence***. Note: "Late" means "after I close the door."

Illness: Save your absences for days when you are ill. If you are ill, it is best not to come to class. If you are coughing so loudly and frequently that you are disrupting class, or if you are sneezing or in any other way compromising others' health, I will ask you to leave. So it is better to stay home on days when your health is poor. Similarly, do not come to my office when you are sick, especially if you are coughing or sneezing. I will ask you to come back another time.

Format for Papers:

Word-processed double-spaced papers are required.
Only black print will be acceptable.
Print only on one side of the page and do not use the "draft" function on your computer: give me a good-looking, easy-to-read copy.
The margins should be 1¼ inch. Use a ragged right margin.
If you use MS Word, the font you must use is called Courier New, 12-point, which you are reading right now--this whole section is in the required font. It is NOT called Courier.
Put your name and course number at the top of page one, number your pages, give your paper a title, underline your thesis statement like this, and boldface your topic sentences like this. Note: The introduction and conclusion do not contain topic sentences.
Staple your pages together ½ inch from the upper left corner; make sure that the staple is at a 45-degree angle ½ inch from the corner; do not use paper clips or bend the pages over at the top. Absolutely do not bend and tear the corners of your pages!
Use the MLA format in the Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage (this means that you must have parenthetical citations and a list of work(s) cited at the end of every paper. I may ask you to redo a paper if it is not in the proper format.
You are required to bring large blue books for in-class examinations and to write only with a blue or black ballpoint pen. You may NOT use your own paper when you write the examinations!

Late Assignments: Written work is due in class on the days designated in the Calendar. Late work will be penalized 1 point for each 24-hour period it is late. I am willing to give brief extensions for written work if you are ill, provided that you call me in advance and provide official written documentation from the Health Clinic or your physician when you turn in your work. If you are responsible and well organized, I will be flexible. If you will be absent on a due date or on the day of the midterm examination because of university business, you must submit your work in advance (written work) or make arrangements with me in advance (midterm examination). I do not accept papers submitted over e-mail. ALL MAKEUP WORK IS DUE ONE WEEK FROM THE DATE OF YOUR RETURN TO CLASS FOLLOWING A DOCUMENTED ILLNESS. SUBMIT YOUR MEDICAL EXCUSE WITH YOUR LATE WORK (don't just give me a look at it after class; paper clip it to your assignment). I will not allow you to overlap assignments. In other words, if you miss an assignment, you will not be allowed to make it up after the next assignment is due.