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English 4540 Modern American Literature 
Requirements

ATTENDANCE: I expect regular and punctual attendance. Regular attendance will enable you to make regular contributions to our discussions. The more you contribute, the better—both for the intellectual climate of the classroom and for your own learning curve. The discussion format of the class should allow you to speak freely. You will receive an attendance grade for your participation in group and individual activities. By not showing up (on time), you deprive yourself of valuable class discussion, just as you deprive your classmates of your own contributions. So: If you know that you're going to have to miss more than 3 classes, you should drop the course this semester and enroll at another time. I can't accept "excused" absences.


NOTEBOOK: I will ask you to keep a notebook, which should prepare you for class discussion by allowing you to write in advance about our material: At the end of most classes, I will pose a question or suggest a topic that is related to your assigned reading, in which case you should demonstrate that you have thought about a text critically at some length. Alternately—what I really encourage you to do—I want you to explore the readings on your own and develop your own insights, provisional, fleeting, and tentative, as they may be. — I will ask you to hand in your typed and stapled notebook three times during the semester. You cannot submit it electronically. Your weekly notebook output should be about two double spaced pages in a reasonable font.  Bottom line: notebooks are not essays, but a space of exploration and experimentation. Please take risks! I will read all of your entries in their entirety each time, but please indicate at least one entry (with a big *, for example) to which you would like me to respond in detail.
Here is a Sample Notebook #1,  Sample Notebook #2


ORAL REPORT: Since this course builds on the exchange of insights and viewpoints among class members, the development of your speaking skills is central to its (and your) success. I will ask you (perhaps in groups of 2 or 3) to give an introductory presentation of about 15-20 minutes on a writer/artist or group of writers/artists, which we will not have time to "cover" in class (including library research, film footage and web resources). Your presentation should serve as a point of departure for further discussion and must be accompanied by a typed handout that you distribute in the class period before your report. The handout should not exceed two pages (one sheet, front and back) and contain the following information:


title of presentation/name of presenter(s)
text(s) you expect your fellow students to study		 a summary of your major ideas and observations
the sources/web sites you have consulted

This way we can all think through your report in advance and formulate helpful questions and responses. A sign-up sheet for these presentations is posted on my door. To enhance your learning (and, let's be honest, to kill two birds with one stone, different as these birds may be), I encourage you to build upon your oral report for your paper. Use the class as a testing ground for your ideas!

FINAL ESSAY: You are required to write one 5-7 page paper on any of the texts on the syllabus that ought to include a library research component.  Please avail yourself of the Toolbox and the Writing Center if you feel you are "comma-tose" or grammatically challenged.  Naturally, you may (and graduate students must write a longer paper if you wish . . . . Message: let’s talk!
Here is an undergraduate Student Sample Essay


FINAL EXAM. An in-class or take-home essay question exam that will allow you to demonstrate what you have learned this semester. Your final grade will be made up as follows:


Participation  —  20%
Oral Presentation  —  10%
Final Exam  —  20%		 Notebooks  —  30%
Final Essay  —  20%

Please note that you will have to fulfill all of these requirements to pass the class.  Master's Students: Please talk to me about your individual requirements.

It is your responsibility to become familiar with the standards of academic integrity at WSU.  Passing off someone else's work or ideas as your own is grounds for failure.


The Prime Directives, a.k.a The Golden Rules

  • Assignments must be typewritten and are due on the date specified—no exceptions.
  • For reasons of class integrity, and out of consideration of others, do not come late or leave early.
  • The captain has requested that you please disable your cell phones and other electronic devices that could interfere with our intellectual flight

Bottom line: Be there or be square = Be there in body and mind!

Midmorning bonus (but no bonbons): This is a midmorning course, with many of you, perhaps, still hovering in various stages of dormancy (and without breakfast).  Please feel free to bring a snack or beverage to (re)charge your intellectual batteries and to ward off hypoglycemic fantasizing, but munch and imbibe with discretion.


Disability Accommodation: PPM 3-34 notes: “When students seek accommodation in a regularly scheduled course, they have the responsibility to make such requests at the Center for Students with Disabilities (SSD, #181 of Student Services Center) before the beginning of the semester in which the accommodation is being requested. When a student fails to make such arrangements, interim accommodations can be made by the instructor, pending the determination of the request for a permanent accommodation."


Core Beliefs:  According to PPM 6-22 IV, students are to “determine, before the last day to drop courses without penalty, when course requirements conflict with a student's core beliefs. If there is such a conflict, the student should consider dropping the class. A student who finds this solution impracticable may request a resolution from the instructor. This policy does not oblige the instructor to grant the request, except in those cases when a denial would be arbitrary and capricious or illegal. This request must be made to the instructor in writing and the student must deliver a copy of the request to the office of the department head. The student's request must articulate the burden the requirement would place on the student's beliefs."


Emergency Closure: In the unlikely event of an extended campus closure, we will conduct our course electronically via email and virtual discussion groups. In this case, please make sure that you check your email account regularly for messages and attachments (in Word, PowerPoint, or audio) coming from me and/or your fellow seminar participants. Such messages may function as lecture substitutes, provide directions for reading and writing assignments, and contain other relevant information. Also make sure that your account has adequate storage capacity for transmitting documents. I will collect your email address and verify its availability during the first week of class. Please let me know by the end of the first week of the semester if you do not have access to a computer and/or the Internet from your home.
Thanks.