SPRING 2006
ENG 340: ENGLISH LITERATURE I, MEDIEVAL & EARLY RENAISSANCE


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STUDENT PROJECTS

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A survey of English and related literature from its beginnings in the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) period through the early Renaissance (c. 1603). Texts studied include Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malory's Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Shakespeare's King Lear and others.

TEXTBOOKS (available at Creighton Bookstore):

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1) Two Exams (50%)

The exams will feature objective questions as well as short essay exercises. Exams will engage historical and cultural information, events, dates, authors, texts, forms, plots, and interpretation. The objective portion of the examinations will include multiple choice, short answer and other questions covering the information in the course's outlines (available through the links in the online syllabus) and/or featured in lectures. Objective questions will also test students comprehension of the assigned reading. Essay portions of the exam will ask students to analyze and comment on a given issue or textual passage related to the course's materials and concerns.

2) Term Project and Presentation (25%)

Students will design and pursue a project (paper, art, creative writing, music, film, web site, etc.) related to any aspect of the course materials. All projects must be original and will be presented to the class at the end of the term. Projects may be analytical or research papers (5-10 pp., MLA format) on any subject relevant to medieval or Renaissance literature. In general, students are encouraged to choose material and media which are interesting and stimulating and should not feel limited to traditional academic topics or techniques. All projects however must demonstrate substantial effort, thought, and understanding/incorporation of the course's ideas and materials. All projects must be approved by the instructor in advance (see deadline for project proposal in the schedule below).

3) Participation, Involvement, and Other Performance (25%)

Students will also be graded according to preparation, effort, participation, development, and involvement in the course.

4) Other Policies

Deadlines: Make-ups/extensions for a missed deadline will only be given in cases of documented serious illness or other valid, non-frivolous excuse such as documented participation in official University academic, service or sports events (it will be up to the instructor to determine and decide on the acceptability of an excuse). Otherwise, students must meet all deadlines specified in the syllabus.

Academic Honesty and Class Conduct Policy: All students in the class are expected to observe the University's guidelines on student conduct as described in the Code of Conduct and Creighton University's Student Handbook (especially the section on "Academic Honesty Policy" dealing with problems of plagiarism, cheating, etc.). All work turned in for credit in this course must be personal and original, produced during the course of the semester and for the specific purposes and according to the guidelines of the given assignments. Any misrepresentations, concealments, or distortions of source, origin, collaboration or authorship of such materials will be considered forms of academic dishonesty and will result in failing the given assignment or, at the discretion of the instructor, the entire course. Problems such as repeated lateness arriving to class (or departing early), inatentiveness, or disruptive behavior may adversely affect attendance and/or the class participation grade. Seriously disruptive behavior can also result, at the discretion of the instructor, in more severe penalties, including failing the entire course.

Attendance Policy: An attendance measurement will be calculated equal to the percentage of total class time attended. The course grade may not exceed that percentage (i.e. if a student attended only 75% of the total class time, the course grade may not be higher than 75 or C). Notice also that, at the discretion of the instructor, any student missing more than 30% of the total class time may fail the course.

Email Communication: The University considers a student's Creighton email address the official means of communication with faculty and administrators. All students are responsible for checking their email messages as they might contain important and time-sensitive information relevant to the course, including notifications on changes to reading and other assignments, deadlines, class cancellations or reschedulings, etc. A student who prefers to receive email at a different address must inform the instructor.

Grading: All aspects of the course will be graded on a 100-point scale where 90-100 = A, 87-89 = B+, 80-86 = B, 77-79 = C+, 70-76 = C, 60-69 = D, and 0-59 = F. At the discretion of the instructor, a normative curve may be applied to the grades at the end of the term. The course grade will be calculated according to the following formula:


 Exams

50%
 Term project
25%

 Participation and other

25%

 Total

 100%

 

SCHEDULE

Students must complete the reading by the date indicated. Read both the text and any introductions provided in the textbooks.

Thu Jan 12

Tue Jan 17

Thu Jan 19

Tue Jan 24

Thu Jan 26

Tue Feb 31

Thu Feb 02

Tue Feb 07

Thu Feb 09

Tue Feb 14

Thu Feb 16

Tue Feb 21

Thu Feb 23

Tue Feb 28

Thu Mar 02

Tue Mar 07

Thu Mar 09

Tue Mar 14

Thu Mar 16

Tue Mar 21

Thu Mar 23

Tue Mar 28

Thu Mar 30

Tue Apr 04

Thu Apr 06

Tue Apr 11

Thu Apr 13

Tue Apr 18

Thu Apr 20

Tue Apr 25

Thu Apr 27

Thu May 04

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Last updated: 05/10/2006