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Contact Info | Syllabus | Schedule |
ESSAY #1 | Essay Gradesheet (PDF) | |
ESSAY #2 | MLA Tips & Template (WORD doc.) | |
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[OFFICE: | 346 Andrews Hall] |
[MAILBOX: | 227 Andrews Hall] |
ZOOM OFFICE HOURS: | W, TH, & FR: 2:00-3:00 p.m. (access ZOOM via Canvas) . . . and email, of course:::: |
EMAIL ADDRESS: | tgannon2@unl.edu |
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"There is nothing outside the text." —Jacques Derrida
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The four informal written RESPONSES will be graded holistically, and be assigned a point total (out of 50 possible) comparable to the final-grade schema above: e.g., an A- = 45 or 46, a C = 37 or 38, etc. For the formal ESSAY assignments, each component of the assignment (content, organization, and grammar/mechanics)—the detailed guidelines of which will be eventually spelled out below on this web syllabus—will be assigned a grade (translated into a point total) based upon the following rubric:
DUE DATES, PAPER LENGTH, & ESSAY FORMAT: Unless special arrangements have been made, LATE written responses & essays will be docked 10% (= one letter grade) of their assigned point total for EACH DAY LATE, including all non-class days. . . . While there is no "short" penalty per se, a paper that obviously fails to meet the assignment's minimum length guidelines will no doubt fail to gain a goodly number of points in criterion areas such as adequate development and support. Note, too, that a page padded with margins > 1" and a font > 12 pt. type does not equal "one page." Essays should follow the MLA stylesheet format, including the documentation of sources via parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page (which, however, doesn't count as a "page" towards the length requirement). (See my WORD template linked on this SYLL page as a guide, if you're new to MLA.)
Students may not make or distribute screen captures, audio/video recordings of, or livestream, any class-related activity, including lectures and presentations, without express prior written consent from me or an approved accommodation from Services for Students with Disabilities. If you have (or think you may have) a disability such that you need to record or tape class-related activities, you should contact Services for Students with Disabilities. If you have an accommodation to record class-related activities, those recordings may not be shared with any other student, whether in this course or not, or with any other person or on any other platform. Failure to follow this policy on recording or distributing class-related activities may subject you to discipline under the Student Code of Conduct.
(—see this course's Canvas Assignments at any time for the next assignments immediately due—)
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[--but make up your own title!] ENGL 270:001—Spring 2021 —My Essay Gradesheet, if you're interested! ASSIGNMENT: For your first Lit. Crit. essay, I ask you to select ONE poem*, brief short story*, or pop-culture "artifact" (e.g., TV show/episode, song w/lyrics, YouTube vid, internet meme, political speech, etc.) and discuss that "text" from the point of view of at least THREE critical approaches on our syllabus. (Obviously, the approaches we've covered by midterm should be easier, but I'm allowing ambitious students to "jump ahead" and employ postcolonial theory, "race studies," and/or ecocriticism.) Arrange your approach treatments in some intentional ORDER—for example, least useful to most enlightening—and summarize your findings regarding your approaches' varying degrees of usefulness in your conclusion, as a "thesis"/controlling framework for your essay. (Of course, your use of even the "worst" of the three should be a fair effort at application, not based upon a gross over-simplification or misunderstanding: that is, don't create a "strawman" to reject out-of-hand, just because I've been slammin' it [e.g., New Criticism?] all semester.) . . . Here's another organization/argumentation possibility: use one or two of your approaches as support for your climactic/third approach; for example, I can easily conceive of doing a psychoanalytical reading of your text, and then a deconstructive reading, and then have both "lead up to"/ lend support to, say, a feminist reading. Likewise, moving from a structuralist (or New Crit) reading to a deconstructive reading is a fairly straightforward move. In other words, using your three approaches as "cooperative" rather than "antagonistic" may be the superior strategy, ultimately—and more in accord with real-world contemporary lit-crit practice, which is often eclectic in its use of critical schools/approaches.
—SECONDARY SOURCE REQUIREMENTS: I'm just asking for at least one "outside" secondary source** in support of each approach—that is, at least three 2ndary sources. (While many critical essays use more than one approach, such "hybrids" will only count as one of your three required sources.) Using a fourth approach?—need four sources; etc. These may well include the essays in the texts on reserve, PDF essays on Canvas, or "reputable" web pages (see the many links on my LitCrit web page). Sources that are (originally) "print"/academically published texts will earn your essay a more sympathetic & positive reader/grader (me). (Online articles from EBSCO, etc., also qualify here.) Your secondary sources may be either useful "general theory" texts about the approach, or—better, if available—critical works that actually involve your primary text. Finally, on your Works Cited page, document not only all your 2ndary sources, but your primary source, too, if citable (your poem, story, owner's manual, cookbook, YouTube vid, or whatever). . . . **LATER ADD: To make things easier, I'm hereby defining "secondary source" as any text that isn't Lynn or Bressler. So this now includes any of the PDFs on Canvas, even if assigned for class (such as Jakobson, Derrida, etc.). **LATER/LATER ADD: There are a couple online "crit/theory" sites that offer one- or two-paragraph summaries of the various approaches. Avoid these as sources, please, since they say nothing about the approach that Lynn or Bressler don't say already. Their use screams, in fact, "I've just getting a 2ndary source out of the way, and not helping my essay development one bit." **LATER/LATER/LATER ADD: I now recommend a "NEW" Great SOURCE, for most of our crit. approaches: I've recently discovered that the Eagleton intro-to-theory text is now online, complete. I've uploaded it as a PDF on Canvas, in the top "Course Orientation & Resources" module. Best of all, it's a searchable PDF file. (Though aimed at grad students, I find many of its treatments of our approaches to be clearer than either Lynn's or Bressler's.)
** LENGTH & FORMAT: At least 1,250 words (approx. 5 pages) [not counting Works Cited page]; double-spaced throughout according to MLA specifications; uploaded to CANVAS (as an MS WORD doc)
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[--but make up your own title!] ENGL 270:001—Spring 2021 ASSIGNMENT: For your second Lit. Crit. essay, I'd like you to select the ONE approach you find the most promising/amenable to your own concerns & interests & "ways of reading." Eligible approaches are as follows: New Criticism (but realize you'll be deemed incorrigibly "old-fashioned"!), Structuralism, deconstruction (poststructuralism), psychoanalytic theory, feminism and/or queer theory, Marxist theory, Postcolonial theory and/or critical race theory, and ecocriticism. (For starters, you might consider the approach that worked best for you in Essay #1?) Probably required is some decent expenditure of outside-of-class time more truly familiarizing yourself with this approach.Your task will be to 1) PRESENT your approach by way of introduction: Where is this approach "coming from"? What are its assumptions & methodology? Its strengths and weaknesses? (try to go beyond Lynn & Bressler here); and 2)—the bulk of your essay—APPLY the approach to ONE of the following topic choices: A. TWO of the following short-short stories [on Canvas, as PDFs]— B. TWO or THREE poems by the same author . . . C. TWO or THREE songs/lyrics (or "entire" CD) by the same band/recording artist . . . D. TWO or THREE other related (& short!) pieces of discourse (advertisements, videos, political speeches, etc.; feel free to mix genres; and by "short" I mean that I should be able to read/view each "text" entire with a few minutes' effort) As you critique your text(s), DON'T worry about straying a bit into other approaches; most "professional" critical essays do (see the Spivak essay as an exemplary model of that). Finally—organizationally speaking—DO return to general considerations regarding your chosen approach by way of a conclusion. E. [2021 ADD!:] After reading your extra-credit responses to the "Blackface" colloquium, I've seen the wisdom of adding as a "topic choice" a current social ISSUE that involves either CLASS, RACE, GENDER, or the ENVIRONMENT. (The relevant critical approach for each should be obvious!) For your "primary sources," simply select TWO to FOUR "texts" that involve your selected issue from the popular media (web page article, YouTube video, Facebook meme!?, etc.). Your job here, then, is to "analyze" these several discourses on your issue via your critical approach. (Yes, your "primary" texts may agree or disagree with each other on the issue, and your critical approach should allow you to take either one or both or all of these "texts" to task.) The 2ndary source requirements remain the same. SOURCE REQUIREMENTS: At least FIVE secondary sources (but document your primary source[s], too, on your Works Cited page). Secondary sources may include our class-assigned essays, this time including the chapters in Bressler and Lynn on your particular approach. Document the latter as an individual chapter; e.g.: Bressler, Charles E. "Feminism." Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ed. See also the essays under "Recommended Reading" in your approach's Canvas module. And again, Eagleton's book may have a BETTER, clearer, and more in-depth chapter on your approach.) Your 2ndary sources can be applied to either your general commentary on your approach and/or your specific readings of your text(s); but at least one (and assumedly more) is required for the latter. (In other words, don't just "get 'em all outa the way" in your general treatment of the approach.) Also, sources that are actually culled from "outside" research will earn your essay a more sympathetic & positive reader/grader. And, of course, sources that are actually by critics who practice your approach (and better yet, deal with your "text"!) are highly recommended. . . . (Finally, avoid "uselessly brief" wiki-like web sources that merely rehash generalities about your approach that are already obvious in Lynn & Bressler.) * Great SOURCE #1: again, the Eagleton text is on Canvas, complete. It's in the very first module, "Course Orientation & Materials." Best of all, it's a searchable PDF file. So do a search, or check the index, even if there isn't a chapter on your approach: Eagleton doesn't have a chapter on feminist crit, for instance, but there are several great paragraphs on literary feminism in the last two "summary" chapters. * Great SOURCE #2: M. H. Abrams' essay criticizing Derrida, Fish, and Bloom ("How to Do Things with Texts," also a PDF under "General/Miscellaneous") is actually a good (& pretty fair?!) summary of Derrida's deconstruction, LENGTH & FORMAT: At least 1,250 words (approx. 5 pages) [not counting Works Cited page]; double-spaced throughout according to MLA specifications; uploaded to CANVAS (as an MS WORD doc)
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