Phone: 703-450-2506, Ext. 37198

Office Hours
by appointment at ELI or the Loudoun Campus

English 267, The Modern Novel, will acquaint you with trends in the development of the novel in the last quarter century or so.

Before you begin the course proper, please read over all of the information contained below, plus all of the information in the Assignments document.

When you are ready to start the course, go to the Calendar of Activities. Choose Week 1 from the menu and complete the assigned tasks as described.

You must have successfully completed one of the following courses before you can enroll in Eng 267: The Modern Novel:

• Eng 112, College Composition II
• Any comparable college level course on how to read, analyze, and write about literature

If you are not sure whether you have the proper prerequisites, please email me at ataormina@nvcc.edu.

If you successfully complete this course, you will be able to:

• Read and understand representative novels of the modern period
• Identify structural and thematic patterns of the novel
• Complete writing assignments which analyze structural and/or thematic patterns in selected novels

I expect you to:

• Do your own work and complete all assigned tasks in order.
• Check your VCCS email regularly for messages from me.
• Check the Blackboard Announcements regularly for additional information about any aspect of the course.
• Write clear, concise, well-organized, standard English prose.
• Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style documentation to cite all references to outside sources.

Required reading will consist of 10 novels (including one two-volume work) and supplementary material and reading guides I have created myself and posted online.

All of the following titles are available for online purchase through the NVCC Campus Bookstores.

• Fforde, Jasper, The Eyre Affair
• García Márquez, Gabriel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold
• Hornschemeier, Paul, Mother, Come Home
• Lightman, Alan, Einstein's Dreams
• McEwan, Ian, Atonement
• O'Brien, Tim, The Things They Carried
• Ondaatje, Michael, The English Patient
• Rushdie, Salman, Haroun and the Sea of Stories
• Simmonds, Posy, Gemma Bovery
• Spiegelman, Art, Maus I and Maus II

Go to the Distance Learning Bookstore for ordering information.

All of these novels are currently in print and also available in commercial area and online bookstores. Most are probably also available in local public libraries.

All other reading material is available online.

You have been assigned a VCCS (Virginia Community College System) email address for use in this and other courses that you take through NVCC or other colleges in the VCCS system. The VCCS requires that you use this email account for any course-related email communication so that we can ensure your privacy as required by law.

Please check your email regularly. I will use your VCCS email to inform you of grades, approaching due dates, and all other course-related information. Although I will respond to email sent by you from any other account, I will use only your VCCS account to initiate any communication with you. Please remember to check this account at least once a week.

For information on how to obtain your VCCS email address and check for mail, go to the Blackboard Start Page at http://www.nvcc.edu/bbstart.

I am a professor emerita and an adjunct professor of English at the Loudoun Campus of Northern Virginia Community College. I normally keep office hours at the Extended Learning Institute. However, I also have a mailbox in the Communication and Human Studies Division (LR 304) at the Loudoun Campus and I can also meet students by appointment at the Loudoun Campus.

The easiest and most reliable way to contact me is by email.

Office Hours are by appointment only. You can arrange to meet me at the offices of the Extended Learning Institute or at the Loudoun Campus.

Voice Mail: 703-450-2506, Ext. 37198

Email: ataormina@nvcc.edu

I usually check email at least once a day Monday through Friday. Unless otherwise noted in the Blackboard Announcements,  I will respond to email messages within two business days of receiving them. 

I try to check the Blackboard Forums at least once a day Monday through Friday. Unless otherwise noted in the Blackboard Announcements, I always respond to Forum postings within a week.

Allow at least one week from the date you notify me that you have taken an exam or posted an activity essay for me to receive and complete the grading your work.

Your grade for the course will be based on the following criteria:

You will also have the opportunity to earn extra credits by correcting errors that might crop up in my online course materials.

No student may earn more than 100 total extra credit points.

I use the following grading scale:

This is an Extended Learning Institute (ELI) course. ELI courses differ from campus courses in several important ways, including enrollment and withdrawal dates.  You must follow ELI's policies and procedures if you take this course.  Read (or review) ELI Policies and Procedures  at http://eli.nvcc.edu/elipps.htm before your begin the course.

If you do not complete the following three assignments:

• introductory email to your instructor
• introductory Blackboard posting
• Exam #1

within 4 weeks of your official start date as shown in the Quick Start syllabus sent to you by the Extended Learning Institute, you will be automatically withdrawn from the course; you will not be eligible to receive a tuition refund.

If you do not complete all course work through Week 6 before the last day to withdraw without grade penalty as shown in the Quick Start Syllabus sent to you by the Extended Learning Institute, you will be automatically withdrawn from the course; you will not be eligible to receive a tuition refund.

Please consult the Quick Schedule that I will sent to you in response to your introductory email for the exact dates of these deadlines.

To qualify for an Incomplete in this class and an 8-week extension of enrollment, you must fulfill the following two conditions:

1. You must have successfully completed at least 75% of the class work. Specifically, you must complete all assignments through the end of Week 12.

2. You must request an Incomplete from me in writing.

When you send me your introductory email, I will respond with a personalized schedule that will provide you with suggested due dates for each week's activities.

Please consult the full Calendar of Activities for a list of the specific tasks you will complete each week. You can also print out a full copy of the Calendar of Activities at Print Calendar.

There are two exams in this course.

Since ELI courses are self-paced, you take exams when you are ready. You should complete all the work required in the syllabus up to the point of any exam before you take that exam. You must take the exams at one of the five NVCC campus Testing Centers. 

See ELI Policies and Procedures for Testing Center locations and phone numbers. Before you take an exam, please call the Testing Center of your choice to make sure it will be open and stay open long enough for you to complete your exam. Take along your EmplID, a photo ID, and the appropriate Exam Pass. Exam Passes can be found in the Exam Passes document.

Once you take an exam, you will post it in the Digital Drop Box in the special Eng 256 Testing Blackboard. The testing center proctor will forward your notes to me at the Extended Learning Institute through campus mail. I check my ELI mail at least once a week. However, because of the vagaries of the campus mail system, it is possible that I will not receive your notes and finish grading your exam until about two weeks after you actually take it.

When you finish an exam, email me to let me know that the exam is available for grading. I will comment on and grade your exam, then upload it to your Digital Drop Box (accessed through the Tools button) on the regular Eng 267 BlackBoard. Only you will be able to see your exam.

If you live outside the geographic area served by the campuses of Northern Virginia Community College, go to the information on arranging for an examination proctor on the ELI Policies and Procedures page.

Details about the content of the exams can be found on the Assignments page.

I have created a web site--Novels--that you will use throughout this course.

In Novels are all the reading materials related to definitions and history of the novel.

Also in Novels are author profiles and reading guides for all the works you have been assigned to read.