ENGLISH 200: Sherlock Holmes in Fiction & Film
Summer 2013 Maymester (3.0 credits)
Undergraduate Course Policies

Class meets MTWR 6-8 PM, Owens 210

Dr. Jo Koster

228 Bancroft Hall

803-323-4557

kosterj@winthrop.edu
Office Hours: MTW 4-5:30 and by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Ms. Erika Patterson
E-mail: pattersone2@winthrop.edu

Phone: 803-554-4898 (cell); you can text her if you identify yourself as a member of the class
Office Hours:

·         Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ISBN 978 1 849903677)

·         Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet (ISBN 978 1 849 903660)

·         Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles (ISBN 978 1 849 904094)

·         and online readings linked via the course calendar

Films and TV clips will be shown in class. If you want access to these films for yourself, you may want to get a free one-month membership to Netflix or a similar service. This is NOT required for the course but may be helpful.

http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/engl200Sherlock.htm

http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/engl200/Sherlock/calendarM13.html

The course policies posted on the class website and the calendar posted on this class website will be the official ones in case of dispute. This paper copy is provided to you as a courtesy and will probably change over the course of the term. Please check the online materials frequently to stay up to date.

All students will be graded on the plus/minus system. In this class, A  94-100; A- 91-93; B+ 88-90; B  84-87; B- 81-83; C+ 78-80; C  74-77; C- 71-73; D+ 68-70; D 64-67; D- 61-63; F  0-60.  You must turn in all assignments on time to pass the course.

Active and informed class & team participation & reading quizzes: 15%
Two short “weekend” papers: 15% each
Mostly open-book midterm: 15%
Research project including brief oral presentation: 20%
Open Book Final Exam: 20%

Winthrop policy is that students who miss more than 25% of the classes in a semester (in a C Term course, 4 classes) cannot receive credit for the course. In this class, if you miss more than 2 classes, you will be on attendance probation. Each absence after the second will lower your final grade by 3 points. If you arrive more than ten minutes late for class, you're counted tardy; two tardies count as one absence.

·   Hard copies of all assignments are expected at the beginning of class on the due date and must also be uploaded into turnitin.com by that time. No exceptions are made for this requirement in summer school because of the tight deadlines.

·   Under no circumstances will an assignment be accepted more than one class period after the due date; it will receive a grade of zero.

·   Failure to submit any graded assignment means failure for the course. No exceptions!

Students enrolled in this course will demonstrate

·   knowledge of the standard terminology of literary analysis as found in a glossary of literary terms or a handbook to literature

·   beginning knowledge of standard reference tools, methods, and forms of documentation in scholarly research

·   the ability to analyze critically and interpret written and non-written texts in terms of concepts such as historical period, national origin, content, cultural context, tone, implied meaning, humor, structure, style, language, themes, form and mode, and rhetorical strategies;

·   the ability to select and use various means of presenting their analyses and interpretations, in both written and oral forms.

·   The ability to identify, evaluate, and use appropriate peer-reviewed secondary scholarship in the development of their own academic arguments

·   Students will be able to discuss the basic literary components of the detective story and detective film

·   Students will recognize and identify major themes and motifs used in modern and contemporary detective fiction and film

·   Students will connect material discussed in class with their independent reading and viewing project

·   Students will improve their media literacy and their ability to critically view films

·   Students will reflect their understanding in various written and oral forms (papers, presentations, class discussion, critiques, essay exam)

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).  

If you have a disability and need classroom accommodations, please contact Ms. Gena Smith, Coordinator, Services for Students with Disabilities, at 323-3290, as soon as possible. Once you have your professor notification letter, please notify me so that I am aware of your accommodations well before the first accommodated assignment is due.

This classroom is 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 thoughts are appreciated and encouraged, provided you can agree to disagree. I expect that ALL students will contribute to making the classroom a safe environment.

I conduct most of my business with students using e-mail. If you do not have an e-mail account, go to 15 Tillman immediately to set it up. We will create an informal class listserv and I will be using it.

·         If you are not enthusiastic about being in this course, fake it. Four weeks is not forever. You must participate to succeed in this class.

·         Summer school is hectic. Allow yourself enough time to do the reading and writing; there won’t be time to “catch up” if you skip a few days.

·         If you need to make a certain grade in this class to maintain a GPA or keep a scholarship, the time to start working on it is at the beginning of the semester, not in the last week.

·         Multitasking is not appropriate during class time. Cell phones, laptops, and other communications devices must be turned off in class, unless you have specifically cleared their use with me. If they disrupt the class you will be graded absent for the day. Text messaging, unauthorized work on your laptops or other digital media, or checking personal messages is not permitted during class. Repeat offenses may earn you an "F" for class participation for the semester.  

·         I will do my best to keep my office hours but emergencies sometimes arise. If I can't keep hours I will e-mail the class discussion list and try to get someone to put a note on my office door.

·         Failure to prepare on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

·         I expect to see visible signs you are doing the work, such as bringing the required materials to class, annotations in your book, note-taking in class, notebook entries, reading notes, etc. I will give unannounced reading quizzes to make sure you are keeping up.  If you do not show visible signs of participation, your class participation grade will be affected, significantly.

·         Sleep in your rooms, not in my class.

·         If you are not prepared for class, I reserve the right to send you to the library for the class period to do your preparation. It’s not fair to other people who have done the preparation to have to drag you along with them. So be prepared!

·         I do not read minds. If something is going on that affects your work in the class, you need to tell me about it. I won’t just sense that "something’s wrong."

·         If some life crisis arises that will make you miss a lot of class, tell me as soon as you realize this—don’t disappear for a week, then come back and say, "Uh, did you miss me?" There are accommodations that can be made if you give reasonable notification but few or none if you don't.

·         Team participation is just that—working together to achieve a goal. Your team will be graded collectively on the work ALL of you do but it won’t reward slacking; if one person is pulling the weight and the rest of you are sliding, then that person will get an outstanding grade and the slackers won’t. So don’t sit back and wait for someone else to speak up or take the lead…work TOGETHER. Raise the IQ of the entire street.