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Students taking this
course should read all the material on this syllabus and information page
(and the links related to it), as well as the material on the right side of
my photograph on my home page. The material is pertinent to your course with
me, and you will be responsible for its content.
Texts
Dickinson, Emily. Emily Dickinson's Poems. Little Brown. 0316184152.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the LIfe of Frederick Douglass. Bedford Books. 031207531.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Selected Essays. Penguin. 0140390138.
Faulkner, William. The Unvanquised. Vintage. 0679736522.
Hacker, Diana. The Bedford Handbook. Bedford/St. Marrtin's. Seventh Edition.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Penguin 0140481389.
Paine, Thomas. Common Sense. Penguin. 9780140390162
Course
Description
Honors English 111, 020A, must be taken with Honors History 121, 002A. The two courses are linked, and the readings in the English class will follow the historical period under discussion in the history course. In addition, Honors English 111 is
an in-depth course in critical reading, thinking, and writing. Due to its
nature, this course will not be a lecture-driven; rather, I will encourage
you to express your opinions about the literature we will be reading—all of
it provocative literature. You may say anything about that literature as long
as you can support your views. The writing for the course will allow you to
form your own interpretations of these books and to argue that your views
are valid. You will read the texts thoughtfully and use specifics from them
to create convincing arguments. In addition, we will study research
skills to prepare you to document these papers. And, by the way, we'll
also have some fun in class.
Course
Objectives
Upon successful
completion of this course, you should be able to accomplish the following
tasks:
Placement Testto create thoughtful, intelligent essays about the topics assigned in class to create a firm thesis statement that reflects an opinion about a topic to support a thesis with specific facts and opinions, connected logically to write clear, complete sentences consistently throughout an essay to use standard grammar and American usage consistently to document research material according to the MLA guidelines
To be eligible for this class, you should have taken a placement test and been specifically recommended for Honors English 111. You should also be enrolled in Dr. Windham's History 121, 002A course. In addition, you should have also filled out an Honors Program application and been interviewed by Ms. Marjorie Kinnaman, the honors counselor, by the assistant dean of English (Jon Burton), or by me. If you have not taken this test, have not registered for History 121, 002A, and have not gone through the other procedures, you should see me after the first class.
Evaluation
You will write five
essays this semester. These will develop the topics you choose from the literature
under discussion. (I will, however, make suggestions about the scope of those
topics.) For each paper, you will create a firm thesis that expresses an opinion
about your topic, and then you will use specific passages from the texts to
support the thesis. The papers will be a minimum of one thousand words apiece,
and each will be documented according to standard MLA format. You will have
approximately three weeks to write each paper, and each must be typed.
Conferences
For each essay,
you will want to show me a thesis and stages of the rough draft. I will
then make suggestions to help you improve the essay. After you have completed
each paper, I will evaluate and return it. You should then study my remarks,
look up the errors in the handbook, and then, if you wish, arrange a conference
with me to discuss your response to my evaluation. The first meetings,
which will take place in class before the paper is due, are required; a
conference after the essay has been evaluated is not required. An evaluated
essay may be revised but not for a different grade.
The
Readings
The following is a list
of readings, along with the weeks they should be ready for discussion. If
no author’s name appears before the page number, it refers to the Hacker text,
the handbook for the course. The material preceded by an author’s name refers
to the supplemental texts listed above.
8/25 |
Introduction to the course; Bradstreet, poems handed out in class; Generate Ideas and Sketch a Plan: 2-29 |
|---|---|
9/1 |
Bradstreet, continued; Rough Out an Initial Draft: 30-42; Make Global Revisions; then Revise Sentences: 42-71 |
9/8 |
Miller, The Crucible; Build Effective Paragraphs: 76-99; Repair Sentence Fragments: 238-247; Revise Run-on Sentences: 248-257 |
9/15 |
Miller, continued; Writing about Literature: 667-697; The Apostrophe: 408-413; Quotation Marks: 413-421; Integrating Information from Sources: 597-608 |
9/22 |
Paine, Common Sense; Repair Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers: 168-177; Emphasize Key Ideas: 185-199; Balance Parallel Ideas: 152-158 |
9/29 |
Paine, continued; Make Pronouns and Antecedents Agree: 271-278; Make Pronoun References Clear: 279-285 |
10/6 |
Douglass, Narrative; Eliminate Distracting Shifts: 178-184; Emphasize Key Ideas: 185-199; Provide Some Variety: 200-204 |
10/13 |
Fall Break -- No Class on Monday, but Class on Wednesday, Douglass, continued |
10/20 |
Emerson, "The American Scholar," "Address . . . in Divinity College"; Tighten Wordy Sentences: 206-212 |
10/27 |
Emerson, continued: "Self-Reliance," "The Poet,"; Choose Appropriate Language: 212-226; Find the Exact Words: 226-236; Numbers 438-440; Italics: 441-445 |
11/3 |
Emerson, continued: "The Poet,"Constructing Reasonable Arguments: 489-504; Managing Information; Avoiding Plagiarism: 572-579 |
11/10 |
Dickinson: The following numbers refer to the first number above each poem in your text: 43, 427, 447, 46, 542, 389, 116, 509, 322, 523; MLA Documentation: 609-654; MLA Manuscript Format: Sample Research Papers: 654-666 |
11/17 |
Dickinson, continued: 168, 11, 28, 95, 112, 525, 120, 202, 203, 403, 335, 130, 58 |
11/24 |
Dickinson: 39, 265, 307, 563, 7, 290, 209, 184, 177 |
12/1 |
Faulkner: The Unvanquished |
12/8 |
Faulkner, continued |
12/15 |
Faulkner, continued. Due to final exams, we do not meet on Monday of this week--only on Wednesday |
The Essays
Your first essay will focus on Arthur Miller's play The Crucible; it is due on 9/22.
If you choose not to turn in the paper on that date, you may submit it as
a late paper on 9/24. Late papers are penalized one full letter grade; that
is, instead of receiving a possible "A" for the paper, you are only able to receive
a possible "B." All other grades would be reduced by the same margin.
Your second essay will deal with Thomas Paine's Common Sense or with Frederick Douglass' Narrative . That essay is due on 10/15. The late date is 10/20.
Your third essay will deal with Ralph Waldo Emerson; that essay is due on 11/5. The late date is 11/10, with the same stipulatons as mentioned above.
Your fourth essay will deal with Emily Dickinson's poetry; that essay is due on 11/24. The late date is 12/1, with the same stipulations mentioned above.
Your fifth essay will focus on William Faulkner's novel The Unvanquished. That essay is due on 12/15, even though we do not have class on that day. Simply place the essay in my mailbox in room AA252 by noon. The late date is 12/17.
