English 200:

Introduction to English Studies

Fall 2003

Stephen C. Behrendt
319 Andrews Hall
Phone: (402) 472-1806
FAX:   (402) 472-9771
Office Hours:  11:00 - 12:00 TR and by appointment

sbehrendt1@unl.edu
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COURSE INFORMATION

TEXTS

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Richard Brinsley Peake, Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein (on-line edition)
Ha Jin, The Bridegroom
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
selected poems, provided by the instructor and students

THE COURSE

Please note: this course was developed and is intended primarily for English majors and Plan A English minors. Much of our work assumes that you plan to do significant work in English Studies after this course ends. If you are uncertain whether this course is a good "fit" for you, please talk with me as soon as possible.

This course is designed to help you explore and better understand the complicated and varied field of English Studies, with particular attention to the options for study in English at UNL. This course is neither a literary survey nor a quick "tour" of the activities associated with English Studies, since neither of these is practical (or probably even possible) within a single term.

We will concentrate our efforts on two related areas that should be of particular interest to each of you:

1. The field of English studies. Some questions we will consider: What do we mean by "literature"? Is "literature" different from other kinds of writing? Or do we just read it differently somehow? What about "writing"? What varieties of writing are there, and how (and why) do we write for different types of situations or objectives? These questions imply that there are not only writers and texts but also audiences. What can we say about the nature of the audiences for writing of various sorts? And what relationships exist among writers (authors), readers (audiences), and "texts"?

2. Where do you fit in all of this? That is, given your own individual interests, abilities, goals, and dreams, what does it mean to you to be thinking about spending a large part of your undergraduate career – and perhaps even your life – working in a field in which challenging questions like these are so important? What do you hope to gain from being in this field? And what do you hope to contribute?

As we work our way through the semester we will examine these questions in a variety of ways, sometimes by studying texts and sometimes by examining our responses to them and to one another as readers, writers, and thinkers. Always we will be studying – by doing – some of the things that majors in English Studies do, both in their coursework and in their lives.

THE COURSEWORK

Elsewhere on this website is a "tentative schedule," which tells you approximately what we will be doing at various points in the semester. I will distribute more detailed reading and writing assignments as we move along.

Reading. We will read and discuss a variety of texts, including some of our own. I expect you to read the assigned readings before class, so that you will be ready to discuss them in an informed fashion. This means not just skimming through the readings but looking carefully, and also taking notes, writing informal (and occasionally formal) responses, and formulating both general and specific questions.

Writing. I will expect you to be writing throughout the semester, producing both informal notes, responses, and questions for your own use and also more elaborate texts to share with your study group and perhaps with the class, and to include in your Course Portfolio. You will also produce three "finished" projects, each of which you will share with your group in draft form and then submit to me in final, polished form at the points indicated on the schedule. I will give you detailed instructions for each of these projects.

I will read all the writing that you give me, and will occasionally make brief comments. I will grade the three formal projects and will give you more detailed comments on them. These grades will figure heavily in your overall course grade, although all the writing you do will factor into your Portfolio grade (see below).

Research and Presentation(s). Part of what goes on in English Studies is "research" of various sorts. Some of it is fairly simple and straightforward, and some of it is more complicated and demanding. I will talk about research from time to time, and I will offer a variety of examples. I will also ask you to conduct various types of research, both individually and as part of a study group, and to include the results of these research tasks in your Course Portfolio. At about the mid-point of the semester I will ask you to take part in one of several study group presentations relating to Frankenstein. Near the end of the semester I will ask that you contribute to a round-table discussion specifically addressing matters related to the major in English Studies as it exists here at UNL.

Course Portfolio. Your Course Portfolio is a sort of documentary "snapshot" of your entire semester's work. This is where you save (and submit) all the written work you produce over the course of the semester, whether it is graded or not and whether I have seen it previously or not. The Portfolio will also include your own comments on what it contains; that is, I will expect you to reflect on what you write during the semester and what you have learned. When you submit your Portfolio at the end of the semester I will ask that you write an accompanying cover letter in which you discuss your Portfolio as an indicator of the nature and scope of your work – and your thinking – in this course as a whole.

Although you may keep your Course Portfolio in any form you choose, you may find it most practical to set it up in one of those pocket folders containing dividers and a fold-over flap; this will allow you to keep various kinds of writing separate from one another and perhaps to index contents when you submit the Portfolio.

GRADING

The Course Portfolio will count for 80% of your overall course grade. Although I will formally grade only the three major course writing projects, I will be happy to give you a rough estimate at any time of the status of your course grade based on the work you have done to that point in the semester. If you wish, I can also give you a mid-semester estimate as well. The grade I assign for the Portfolio as a whole will reflect these criteria, in the following order of weight:
• The overall quality of the three writing projects.
• The quality and consistency of your other written work, including all reading notes, research notes, response writings, and the Course Portfolio cover letter.
• The quality of your contributions to the two presentations in which you participate.
The remaining 20% of your grade will reflect your participation in classroom discussions.

All written assignments are due in class on the days indicated on the schedule. Out of fairness to everyone, I will lower the grade on any such work that you turn in late.

A note on attendance: According to the official university regulations as published in the Schedule of Classes and the university Bulletin, the University has no policy that permits absences from classes under any circumstances. While I expect you to be in class – and to contribute meaningfully to our work as a group – I also know that things go wrong, people get sick, tires go flat, and people occasionally simply need a "mental health day." My policy is to ask no questions, and to allow each of you as many as three absences without penalty. Absences beyond two, however, will affect your grade: it will get lower.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

You need to know that I take very seriously indeed the fundamental ethical issue of academic honesty. In any profession, just as in your university career, there are severe penalties – and often irreversible consequences – for any sort of academic dishonesty, whether it is a matter of plagiarism (deliberately claiming someone else's work as yours – the word "plagiarism," by the way, comes from the Latin verb plagiare, which means "to steal someone's slaves") or of assisting someone else in academically dishonest or unethical behavior. Even UNL, an institution by no means known for rigorous standards, has begun to take an increasingly tough stance on academic dishonesty (see the university Bulletin); people who violate the standards of academic honesty are liable to be disciplined or expelled – something which I support wholeheartedly. You may assume, therefore, that if you engage in academic dishonesty in this course I will set the appropriate machinery in action. If you get yourself into a situation in this course – or in any other – in which you feel you have no viable alternatives to cheating as a way of satisfying any particular course requirement, by all means spare yourself the personal grief (and the public embarrassment) of prosecution for academic fraud: talk to me (if it's this course) or to the instructor (if it's another).

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, COMPLAINTS

My door is open to you, and I'll be happy to chat with you at any time. I will keep my announced office hours unless something arises unexpectedly, in which case I (or someone else) will post an explanatory note. Because I spend a good deal of time on campus, we can often arrange for an alternative time to chat if you contact me in advance.