Syllabus

Course Delivery

  • You will attend 14 weeks of classes (28 classes in total).
  • Each week will consist of one (1) asynchronous lecture (meaning you will watch a pre-recorded lecture on your own) AND one (1) discussion section which meets with me in-person.
  • You must read the required reading before watching the weekly pre-recorded lecture.
  • You must watch the prerecorded lecture and complete the associated quiz on Blackboard before our section meets in-person. Discussion sections will mostly be based around the study and writing prompts included with video lectures. Please engage with those carefully and prepare responses before the discussion sections.
  • You will produce a minimum total of 3,500 words in writing during the course, which will be delivered in the form of seven (7) critical reader journal entires (approx. 300 words each) and one (1) final essay (approx. 1,500 words with referent to two secondary sources). See “Writing Requirements” under “Course Policies” below for more details.

Course Outcomes

By the end of our 14 weeks together, you will have:

  • explored and analyzed a variety of classic texts from different cultural traditions, from ancient times to the renaissance;
  • developed strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing literary criticism;
  • learned and practiced using a range of literary terms;
  • understood and used print and digital technologies to facilitate the study of literature;
  • located research sources (including academic journal articles) in the library’s databases or archives, or on the internet, and evaluated them for credibility and bias;
  • composed texts that integrate your own views with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation.

Grade Breakdown

  • In-person Attendance and Participation: 10%
  • Weekly Online Quizzes and Discussion Boards: 25%
  • Critical Reader Journal: 40%
  • Final Essay: 25%

Course Texts

This is a Zero-Textbook Cost course, so all required texts will be provided to you as web links or PDFs through Blackboard; there are no additional books you are required to purchase with your hard-earned out-of-pocket money. That being said, I highly recommend you consider buying Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey (New York: Norton, 2018; ISBN: 978-0-393-35625-0); in case you are curious, here is the reason why.

Course Policies

Pre-recorded Lectures and Lecture Quizzes: you must watch the weeks’ pre-recorded lecture on your own before we meet for our in-person discussion. This is NOT optional/additional; rather, it is an ESSENTIAL part of this course delivered to you by an all-star team of CCNY English professors. Each video lecture includes a short multiple-choice quiz at the end, to review important information and check that you have been paying attention. To reiterate: you must watch the lecture and complete the quiz before the week’s discussion session.

In-Person Class Attendance and Missed Classes: You can miss one in-person class without any penalties and no questions asked. No explanations or notes of excusal are required. Consider this your “sick leave” allowance and use it judiciously as each additional absence, regardless of reason, will incur a three percent (3%) deduction from your final grade for each absence. If you miss more than four (4) classes, you will fail the course no matter what your current class standing is. Please note that both excused and unexcused absences function the same way. Two counts of lateness amount to one absence. Early exits or disappearing in the middle of class counts as an absence, too. You are responsible for keeping count of your absences. 

In-Person Participation and Discussion Starters: You have a responsibility to attend and actively contribute to our in-person discussion sessions. To encourage participation, each student will take on a role of a discussion starter once during the term. Discussion starters simply read a brief passage from the course reading not featured on that week’s discussion board and raise an interpretive question about it.

Writing Requirements: upon completion of each body of text, you will write a 300-word-long critical reader journal entry that will sum up points that sparked your curiosity during your individual readings as well as during our group discussion, and will explain your interest in those points. As an example, your entry could have the following structure: “The thing that intrigued me the most while reading Homer’s Odyssey is [XX]. I was particularly interested in [XX] because [YY]. It also reminded me of [ZZ] in Hunchback’s Tale, and I find it interesting that [AA].” At the end of the semester, you will compose a 1,500-word-long final essay, which could build upon one or more points you’ve identified in your journal entires; you will develop your points by referencing at least two (2) independently researched secondary sources (journal articles, reviews, additional texts, etc). We will talk more about all of this as the semester progresses. 

Submitting Assignments: all assignments must be submitted by 11:59 PM on the due date. You can submit via Blackboard or email it to me.

Paper Requirements and Grading: all finished assignments must be double-spaced, 12-point font, with one-inch margins, in MLA format. Title pages are unnecessary, though substantive titles are welcome at the top of page one in keeping with MLA format. Works cited pages do not contribute to the word counts of your essays. Late papers will be penalized one grade step (e.g., A- to B+) per day late.

Plagiarism: to plagiarize means to borrow exact language, opinions or expert information from another writer without acknowledging it. Such intellectual trickery undermines your development as a writer. On both essay assignments, you should commit to using MLA citation format responsibly. The assignments will automatically be checked for potential plagiarism by Blackboard’s SafeAssign function (I will review any concerning SafeAssign reports before determining a case of plagiarism). Please be aware that, if you plagiarize part of a paper, you will receive an “F” on that assignment. If you plagiarize an entire paper, you will receive an “F” in the course.

Office Hours

Office Hours will be held by appointment only.

Accessibility

In compliance with CCNY policy and equal access laws, appropriate academic accommodations are offered by the AccessAbility Center. Students who are registered with the AccessAbility office and are entitled to specific accommodations must arrange to have the Office notify the Professor in writing of their status at the beginning of the semester. If specific accommodations are required for a test, students must present the instructor with a form from the Accessability Office at least one week prior to the test date in order to receive their accommodations.

Other Resources and Support Services