Course Guidelines and Goals for the Semester

UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO – ARECIBO
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

INGL 3011, HONORS ENGLISH I, FALL 2009
PROF. JANE ALBERDESTON CORALIN

COURSE GUIDELINES

Office: Department of English, Room 10
Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 2:30 – 4:30 pm
Email: jane.alberdeston@upr.edu


The Department's course syllabus is posted on the following website: http://ingles.upra.edu

Please make sure you read both the course syllabus and the course guidelines.

Required Textbooks and Supplies:

40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology. Bedford St. Martin’s.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.
Online reserves, UPRA Library
A college-level English dictionary, such as Merriam-Webster or American Heritage
8 ½ x 11” lined loose-leaf paper


Welcome to Intermediate English 3011!

Important Course Information


Email:

Several times during the semester, I will send email messages to your university email address. Your university email inbox should be checked frequently for important messages from me.

Office Hours:

You are encouraged to meet with me throughout the semester. I realize class, work or life schedules might not allow for multiple meetings, however, I hope you will make an effort to talk with me about your work AT LEAST twice during the semester.


Student Responsibilities

Attendance:

At the beginning of every class, I will leave an attendance sign-in sheet at my desk. Every student in attendance should sign the sheet on entering and then return to their desks. The sign in sheet will remain on the desk for ten minutes after the start of class.

Missed Work (this includes missed assignments, exams):

It will be solely your responsibility to turn in missed work after an absence. All missed work and exams must be turned in one class week after the absence to receive credit. Work cannot be accepted via email. Work not turned in will receive a “0". Exams will need to be re-scheduled, at the request of the student.

Quizzes cannot be made up.

You should remember that the course involves a hefty amount of in-class assignments, group exercises and peer-instructor discussion. This work is valuable to your experience and cannot be made up.

Assignments:
All work written outside of class must be typed and submitted in hard copy, Times New Roman, 12 font, with one inch margins all around. I will not accept any electronic submissions.
All typed essays must have your name, date, class number and section, and assignment title. Essays without this information will not be accepted and will receive a “0.” Please follow the format below:
Paulina Rubio, Intermediate English, 3103-ME5
November 24, 2007
Assignment: Essay 3: Classification

Handwritten work will be limited to in-class writing assignments. In-class essays must be neatly handwritten, double-spaced on lined paper, with one inch margins all around. Your name should appear in the upper-right hand corner of each page. If the paper does not meet this format, the paper will be returned with a reduced grade.

Significant Revision:

Because revision is a vital part of becoming a strong writer, all essays will revised.
‘Significant revision’ will be the only revision accepted. All significant revisions must be turned in with the original graded essay. We will discuss significant revision early in the semester.

Electronic devices: Cell phones, PDAs and pagers MUST be turned off during class. If an electronic device rings during class, I will ask you to leave for the remainder of the class time. Additionally, please leave your laptop computers closed.

Classroom Behavior:
Your classmates and I expect you to conduct yourself in ways that create a safe learning and teaching environment, free from violence, intimidation, and harassment. This space is created by mutual respect.
I expect you to take full responsibility for your own learning, As an active (rather than passive) learner, you should ask relevant questions, share your insights, participate in small and large group discussions, take notes, and complete assignments. You should do your best to accomplish these goals without interrupting others or being physically or verbally abusive. I expect you to work collaboratively with other students to support their learning; when you do this, your own learning will benefit as well.

Academic Honesty:
If you use words or ideas from another source (a book, friend, relative, website, etc.) without crediting that source in your paper, you are committing plagiarism, which is a form of academic dishonesty. Typical penalties range from being asked to redo an assignment to failing the course. Further discussion of plagiarism and the proper ways to cite sources will come during the semester, but if you have doubts or questions, please ask me at any time during the semester.


3011, Honors English I / Requirements and Goals

Students will be asked:


To build on critical thinking, reading and writing skills through discussion in provocative and engaging topics.

To learn how to define, evaluate and critique the relationship between literary themes, and character and “real world” perspectives.

To understand the exercise and role of narrative or point-of-view in literature, fictive or otherwise, along with other elements, such as symbol, plot, theme, character, setting, and tone.

To learn about the various forms of poetry, such as the villanelle, sestina, sonnet and pantoum.

To understand the blurred lines between what is truth and what is fiction.

To build on the college-level English vocabulary through active reading.

To learn how to write a documented research paper, in which they provide critique of a particular work of poetry or fiction (genre will be announced at a later time). Students will learn how to cite their source material, using MLA or APA formats.

Essays (4 – 100 pts. each), (a minimum of 3 pages each), two of which must be documented. Essays will involve literary analysis.

Discussion questions – weekly, based on assigned readings, due in writing at end of class.

Participation – in-class discussion (inspired by peers and instructor) and participation at extra-curricular cultural events and lectures on campus.

Exam – Mid-term exam and final exam (in essay form).

Students will also:


v write an annotated bibliography of 15 sources

v write a documented research paper (minimum of 8 pages)

v present a brief conference paper, (10 minute oral presentation on a theme at an Honors' Colloquium (date, literary work and place to be announced at a later time).