Mount Saint Vincent University
English 1170

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Policies

Language:
Correct use of language is one of the criteria included in the evaluation of all written assignments. Students are also expected to make an effort to use language correctly in all non-graded written materials that they submit, including e-mails to the instructor.

Plagiarism and Cheating:
University regulations on plagiarism and cheating will be strictly enforced.  These regulations can be found under Academic Offenses in the Calendar, pages 30-31. You are held responsible for informing yourself about the definition and the penalties outlined in the Calendar. In addition, I will explain to you in class what constitutes plagiarism and cheating, but if you have any doubts at all, you are required to consult with me before handing in any assignment or excuse. Also, please note regulation number 8 listed under "Cheating", which defines one aspect of cheating as: "misrepresenting or involving others in misrepresenting one’s personal circumstances in order to obtain special consideration in one’s academic work" (Calendar, page 31). Excuses for absences or late assignments that cannot be verified will be reported to the Registrar as misrepresentations of circumstances with the intent to obtain special consideration, and penalties will be assigned.

Attendance:
Academic regulations of this university state "Regular attendance is expected of students at all classes ....It is the prerogative of the instructor to determine when a student’s scholastic standing in any course is being affected adversely by absence. The instructor then, in consultation with the appropriate dean, will determine whether or not the student should be dismissed from the course. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor of any justifiable reason that causes an absence from class" (Calendar, page 28). It is very important that you read the complete regulations on Class Attendance in the Calendar. Students will be expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and to notify the instructor if they cannot come to class. Students will be held responsible for knowing what discussion topics or assignments were announced in class, whether they attended the class or not. If students are going to miss only one or two classes in a row, all that is required is a voice mail or e-mail message notifying the instructor in order to avoid any penalties for missed class assignments. If students will be missing more than two classes in a row, they will be expected to provide appropriate documentation such as a doctor’s note to verify their absence and to excuse them from receiving a grade of 0 for any class work given during the period of absence.

Deadlines:
Late assignments will have one grade level deducted for every 24-hour period beyond the deadline. In other words, if an essay is due on November 15 at 10:30 a.m. and it is handed in on November 15 at 5 p.m., the essay will have one grade level deducted from its mark – for example, an A- would turn into a B+, a B+ would turn into a B, and so on. Weekends will count the same as weekdays. Students who are not handing in essays directly to me in class must ask a faculty member or secretary to sign their essays and to include the date and time the essay was brought in. Without this information, essays will be considered to have been handed in whenever I happen to pick them up. Students who have a valid excuse for being late, which has been discussed with me before the deadline, and which is backed up by appropriate documentation such as a verifiable doctor’s note, will be exempted from the late penalty. In return for students meeting the assignment deadlines, the instructor will undertake to return all graded assignments within two weeks of receiving them. Any failure on the part of the instructor to meet this marking deadline will result in the postponement of the next assignment deadline. 

Workload:
Students should be aware that for every hour spent in class an average of two hours of preparation will be required outside of class. Please read Normal Course Load in the Calendar, page 26, for a more complete explanation.

Consultations:
I will be pleased to discuss with students any concerns or ideas about the course work and to go over rough drafts of assignments or to review graded work, either during my posted office hours on a drop-in basis or at other specific times by previous appointment. I will also answer questions by e-mail or telephone, but I cannot guarantee immediate and 24-hour service – students should note that it may take up to two working days to receive an answer by e-mail or phone (although I usually am able to respond faster than that). Students who come to see me for essay consultations must bring their own copy of their writing handbook with them in order for the consultation to proceed.

Cell phones and other equipment:
All phones and beepers must be adjusted so that they will not make any noise during class time. No recording equipment is allowed in class except by prior permission of the instructor.

Class cancellation line:
If a class has to be cancelled for reasons other than general university closure, a message will be sent to the class cancellation line as soon as possible: 457-6566.
Cancellation notices will also be posted in the Syllabus on this web page as soon as possible.

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Syllabus
The following syllabus is subject to change according to the needs and progress of the class.  The selections listed below are those which must be read before coming to class. In addition to these selections, you may be asked to read sections in the Harbrace Anthology of Literature and in A Canadian Writer's Reference as background reading.  This syllabus lists sections in Writer's Reference that you will be expected to look at before coming to class; however, you are also expected to refer to relevant sections of this book on your own whenever you need to look up a point about writing.  

 

September 9	Course Requirements and policies
September 14	Short stories: Harbrace: Short Fiction: Introduction Kate Chopin, "The Story of an Hour" Katherine Mansfield, "Bliss" Writer's Ref.: C1. Planning
September 16	Harbrace: Thomas King, "Borders" Amy Tan, "Two Kinds"
September 21	Harbrace: Alice Walker, "Everyday Use" Alistair MacLeod, "The Boat" Writer's Ref.: W. Word Choice
September 23	Class cancelled
September 28	Harbrace: Greg Hollingshead, "The Naked Man" Writer's Ref.: P5. The Apostrophe       Harbrace: Evelyn Lau, "Family" Writer's Ref.: C2-C6. Composing and Revising
September 30	Harbrace: Margaret Atwood, "The Resplendent Quetzal"
October 5	Peer-editing session
October 7	Essay #1 due The Novel: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
October 12	Pride and Prejudice Writer's Ref.: B1. Parts of Speech
October 14	Pride and Prejudice Writer's Ref.: G3. Problems with pronouns and G1. Subject-verb agreement
October 19	Class cancelled
October 21	Reading Day
October 26	Pride and Prejudice Writer's Ref.: R. Researching and MLA papers
October 28	Pride and Prejudice
November 2	Poetry: Harbrace: Poetry: Introduction William Wordsworth: "I wandered lonely as a cloud" Louise Bernice Halfe: "Body Politics" Writer's Ref.: P1=P2. The Comma - Unnecessary Commas and P3. The Semicolon; G6. Run-on Sentences
November 4	Essay #2 due Harbrace: Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess" Michael Ondaatje: "Elizabeth"
November 9	Harbrace: Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" George Elliot Clarke, "Salvation Army Blues"
November 11	Remembrance Day -- no classes
November 16	Harbrace: Margaret Atwood, "you fit into me" Theodore Roethke, "My Papa's Waltz" Marlene Nourbese Philip, "Meditations on the Declension of Beauty by the Girl with the Flying Cheek-bones" Writer's Ref.: B2-B4. Parts of Sentences - Sentence Types; G5. Sentence Fragments
November 18	Essay #3: in-class essay
November 23	Drama: Harbrace: Drama: Introduction Harbrace: Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Writer's Ref.: S3. Problems with Modifiers and S1. Parallelism
November 25	Harbrace: Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
November 30	Harbrace: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
December 2	Exam Review
December 9	Final Exam 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

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Links

Here are some links to web sites you might be interested in browsing through for more information about a few of the authors that we will be reading:

Jane Austen Information Page. Henry Churchyard, University of Texas-Austin.

Writer's Reference home page. Includes links to exercises.

Greg Hollingshead home page

Luminarium: Alice Walker

Michael Ondaatje Information



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