SPRING 2007
ENG 340: ENGLISH LITERATURE I, MEDIEVAL & EARLY RENAISSANCE
COURSE DESCRIPTION
A survey of English and related literature from its beginnings in the Anglo-Saxon
(Old English) period through the early Renaissance. 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, and others.
TEXTBOOKS (available at Creighton Bookstore):
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1) Two Exams (25% each)
The exams will include objective questions and an essay exercise. Exams will engage historical and cultural information, events, dates, authors, texts, genres, characters, plots, and interpretation. The objective portion of the examinations may include multiple choice, short answer and other questions covering the information covered in lectures and in the course's web outlines (available through the links in the online syllabus). Objective questions will also test students comprehension of the assigned reading. Essay portions of the exam will ask students to analyze, interpret, and comment on the significance and implications of a given issue or textual passage related to the course's materials and concerns.
2) Term Project and Presentation (25%)
Each student will design and complete a term project (a paper, drawing, painting, piece of sculpture, song or other musical composition, dance, performance piece, short story, set of lyrical poems or longer narrative poem, film, website, documentary, 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 (around 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, insight, and understanding/incorporation of historical/cultural facts and the course's ideas and materials. Projects may be undertaken individually or in groups (group projects need to be substantial and extensive enough to justify the participation of two or more people). 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%)
Class participation, attendance, effort, attentiveness, preparation, responsibility, and, in general, active and constructive involvement in all aspects of the course will also be taken into consideration in the course grade.
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), inattentiveness, 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, as well as all web outlines linked through the entries in the schedule in the online syllabus.
Mon Jan 15
Mon Jan 22
Mon Jan 29
Mon Feb 05
Mon Feb 12
Mon Feb 19
Mon Feb 26
Mon Mar 05
Mon Mar 12
Mon Mar 19
Mon Mar 26
Mon Apr 02
Mon Apr 09
Mon Apr 16
Mon Apr 23
Wed May 2, 1:00-3:00 PM
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