Mon. / Wed.:10:45 A.M.–12:00 P.M.
Kiely 319

Instructor

Paul L. Hebert, Instructor
[email protected]

Office: KP 347
Office Hours: M/W, 12:15 P.M.–12:45 P.M.
(and by appt.)

From the Catalog

ENGL 130 fulfills the College Writing 2 requirement and builds on the work of English 110 (College Writing 1), in order to teach the conventions of writing in the discipline of English.The course focuses on the study of Anglophone literature and how to engage in scholarly conversations about literature by using close reading of primary and secondary sources, conducting original research, and developing analytical arguments about literary texts in different genres.

Course Overview

Do you believe in magic?

You’d probably say no. Magic is for children and fools. But you also likely have some habits which reveal an inclination towards magical thinking. Maybe you avoid pennies that have fallen tails up, or have a “lucky” piece of clothing, or make a wish at 11:11 o’clock. 

Magic has long been used to explain the unexplainable. When ancient people wondered what caused the thunder, they told stories of gods with rumbling voices. When the voices terrified them, they fancied they could divine the words with oracles. The thunder became legible and less scary. In this way, perhaps magical thinking offers an illusion of control. How much could the fate of a sports team in a critical game really depend on you wearing a particular shirt, anyway? 

If magical thinking is often an illusion, it is unusual that we talk about something as seemingly basic and universal as love in magical terms. Is love also an illusion? Is it also for children and fools, like magic? 

In this course we will be discussing magic and its relationship to possibility in texts. What kind of strange results are achieved by exploring the line between rational and irrational, magical and scientific, practical and impossible, romantic and dispassionate? How can magic be used to challenge authority and what political and institutional forces can be analyzed by conjuring them as embodied, magical elements. For example, when the ghost of a mother returns, do we dismiss her because she’s a ghost, or understand that the ghost is a symbolic projection of the daughter’s inner anxieties?

We will also consider the types of stories we tell that have these elements and the roles they are intended to fill by their authors or storytellers. We’ll often consider their impact—for both better and worse. We’ll define “story” widely,  to include traditional fiction, put also historical narratives, generational lore, rumor, myth, drama, poetry. . .

Over the semester,  you’ll be introduced to the conventions of professional literary criticism and practice the work of literary scholars. You’ll hone your skills of close reading, careful research, and argumentation.

Objectives

• Practice the basic elements of academic writing, including creating an original thesis, scholarly research, using evidence and professional style;
• Gain fluency in the specialized, professional vocabulary of literary scholars; 
• Identify and respond carefully and critically to elements of writing: including imagery, allusion, voice, tone, metaphor, meter, diction, figurative language;
• Identify and respond carefully to the themes, issues, and arguments various literary texts forward; 
• Draw and articulate substantive connections between diverse texts.
• Utilize a variety of rhetorical strategies to achieve deliberate ends in assignments and essays.

Course Site

2019hebert130.commons.gc.cuny.edu 

The course website is always the most accurate source for course materials, policies, and due dates. Check it often.

The Works page is password protected because it contains copyrighted materials. The password: queens

Your posts are public. Don’t post private information and consider using a pseudonym so that you can post more freely (witty literary names are welcome). If you have concerns speak with your instructor.

Required Texts

Most materials for this course are available for download on the Works page, however the two texts below must be purchased. Particularly with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the edition is important.

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. Doubleday, 1989. ISBN: 978-0385420174

Naylor, Gloria. Mama Day. Vintage, 1988. ISBN: 978-0679721819

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Simon and Schuster, 2004. ISBN: 978-0743482813

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Assignments

This is primarily a discussion-based course. In addition you be asked to write in response to discussion board questions, in-class writing assignments, and three formal essays. For homework deadlines, see the Schedule page.

Digital files should be emailed to your instructor as attachments (please do not “share” the document). Microsoft Word format is preferred (.doc, .docx).

Formal Essays

You will draft, revise, and edit three professional essays in this course. These essays must include a title and adhere to MLA style guidelines for format and citations. Works Cited pages do not count toward page requirements. Rough drafts and professional drafts must be printed, stapled, and ready to turn in at the beginning of the class on which they are due.

Annotated Bibliography

In preparation for your final essay, you will prepare a one-page annotated bibliography with at least six sources related to two of the texts we’ve read in class.

Blog posts

 At the beginning of the semester, you will sign up to write one or two blog post about the upcoming reading and serve as a discussion leader for one of our classes. Blog posts must be uploaded onto the course blog by Sunday evening, so your classmates have time to read and perhaps comment.. Responses should be thoughtful and organized, around 500-700 words (roughly 3 paragraphs), and should end with two robust discussion questions. 

Your blog should draw our attention to something specific about the assigned reading, helping us to see it in a new way. Your blog does not have to address every aspect of the assigned readings; instead, the best posts will have a main argument (thesis), make 1-2 observations, and elaborate on these observations: exploring their implications and using these observations to raise new questions. The deliberate use of images, music, video, and supplementary materials is encouraged. 

Some options for your blog post:

• Highlight a key takeaway from the reading;
• Illustrate an important connection between two texts, such as a common question they both take up
• Introduce additional examples that either support or complicate the author’s argument.
• Connect an example from the text to a current event aka something going on in the world beyond the classroom.
• Creative option: make an infographic, interactive game, or other multimodal composition that engages with the author’s argument.

Discussion Board

You will occasionally be required to post online responses. These are informal writing assignments and should generally be around 150 words. The discussion board is an opportunity to explore the texts and ideas that emerge during in-class discussion and at-home reading. You should feel free to ask questions, test arguments, and use colloquial language. The discussion board allows links and media, so it’s also a place to share resources and express ideas differently than in class. One purpose of these assignments is to share ideas, too, so while they can look and sound “like you,” they should also be understandable.

Evaluation

A syllabus is a kind of contract between students and instructors. The contract can seem especially one-sided when instructors define what is expected and students passively consent by remaining enrolled. 

To emphasize our shared stakes in the class, we’ll use contracts that define the responsibilities of students and instructors. Like all contracts, ours will be negotiated. Through discussions, we’ll shape a shared vision for this class and define the expectations for each letter grade. You’ll sign a copy of the finalized contract and  indicate the final grade towards which you’ll work. We’ll use this agreement to measure your success in the course. 

Notes

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using or imitating the language or ideas of another author without acknowledging it, usually in the form of a phrase or citation. One example of plagiarism is copying passages from a source and using them in your writing without quotation marks or citation. Another example is incorporating another author’s ideas but changing the words, without acknowledgement.  

If you plagiarize you risk receiving no credit for the assignment and failing the course. If you’re unsure whether language you are using in your paper is someone else’s, include a citation as best you can to be safe, and contact your instructor with your questions. 

Writing Center

The Writing Center helps students put together stronger, more effective pieces of writing. You can work with tutors in-person and online, on everything from the smallest pieces of writing (for example, free writes or outlines) to more complex pieces of writing (such as research papers or creative writing assignments). 

http://writingcenter.qwriting.org

Special Accommodation

Students needing academic accommodation should contact the Office of Special Services in 171 Kiely Hall at 718-997-5870