English 1010: Introduction to Prose and Fiction (section 02)
This preliminary coursepage is provided for general information only; the syllabus distributed in class is the official statement on requirements, policies, readings, etc.
office hours & contact information | texts | assignments |general guidelines & policies, including late assignments | assignment instructions | class and reading schedule
Contact Information:
Julia.Wright@dal.ca)Instructor: Dr. Julia M. Wright (
- Baldick, Chris. Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
- Brunner, John. The Sheep Look Up. 1972. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2003.
- Denisoff, Dennis, ed. Broadview Anthology of Victorian Short Stories. Peterborough: Broadview P, 2004.
- Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. 1726. Ed. Claude Rawson and Ian Higgins. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005.
- Wilde, Oscar. The Major Works. Ed. Isobel Murray. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000.
Strongly Recommended Text:
Aaron, Jane E. and Elaine Bander. Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers. 3rd Canadian ed. Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2005.Additional Online Resource on Writing and Documentation: OWL at Purdue
Additional Online Resource on Writing: http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/.
Essay #1 (900-1000 words; due Oct. 9)
- In-class Writing Assignments (5% each): 45 minutes each, Oct. 2 and Nov. 6
- Essay #1 (20%): 900-1000 words, due Oct. 9
- Research Assignment (15%): due Oct. 30
- Essay #2 (35%): 1500-1800 words, due Nov. 20
- Final Exam (20%)
Note: Both essays and the research assignment are due at the start of class and are subject to penalties of 5% per day of lateness, including Saturdays and Sundays. I reserve the right not to accept assignments more than one week late. (See the section "On Lateness," below, on possible exceptions.)
Course webpage:
The course webpage is <http://myweb.dal.ca/jl441155/En1010-2007.htm>. Students are required to check the course webpage regularly. Any changes to our normal routine--such as extended office hours around the time that essays are due or cancellation of class in the event of severe weather--will be announced there.
Essay-writing and Compliance with University Policies: If you have any questions or concerns as you work on your essays, please drop by during my office hours or e-mail me.
Students should consult "Undergraduate Resources" on the Department of English website (http://english.dal.ca) regarding essay writing and the requirements of documentation. It takes time to develop, organize, clearly articulate, and persuasively support an argument, so try to work on your essays early. Keep a grammar handbook and dictionary handy, and do not use a thesaurus without carefully checking your choices in a dictionary. Be especially wary of the thesaurus and grammar tools packaged with computer software; they are not designed to help with university-level writing and can lead you astray.
All assignments must be fully and properly documented in accordance with MLA style and the principles of intellectual honesty. This means that
a) every source on which you draw must be fully and properly listed in your Works Cited, including webpages, editor’s notes, textbook introductions, students’ comments outside of class, and printed materials (books, articles, and so forth);
b) all quotations must be placed within quotation marks and followed by a parenthetical reference that indicates the source and the page(s) or line(s) being quoted.
Note: There is no minimum length for quotations–even one- and two-word quotations are not unusual in a properly documented paper.
Paraphrase should always be avoided. Do not waste your time altering a few words: it is always best to quote directly and fully. In general, paraphrase should only be used to condense material (that is, to summarize two pages in a sentence); moreover, paraphrases must always be clearly identified as such and followed by the appropriate parenthetical reference. Changing a few words does not in any way diminish your responsibility to acknowledge your source and the words you have taken from it through a parenthetical page reference and a Works Cited entry, and can in fact often lead to documentation failures.
Make and keep a copy of the work that you submit, especially if you do not give it directly to me, as well as save your file (see University Policies, below). Each page should have 2.5cm (1") margins on all sides, be double-spaced throughout, and include page numbers in the upper-righthand corner. A single staple is the preferred binding.
In the event of significant extenuating circumstances that materially affect your ability to complete coursework, notify me as soon as possible over e-mail and quickly provide the proper documentation (e.g., a medical note that indicates you were unwell for the relevant period of time). I will provide alternate duedates and/or a make-up time for an in-class writing assignment, if required. Please note that it is your responsibility to notify me promptly, to provide the proper documentation, and to complete the work by or on the new date(s) provided.
If you have to submit your assignment late, you should a) drop it off in my essay drop-off box (see the metal set of drop-off boxes on the first floor of the McCain building, immediately to your right at the top of the righthand set of stairs in the main entrance); b) e-mail me right away to let me know that it is there, so that I can note the date it was received as soon as possible in order to minimize late penalties (5%/day).
Grade equivalents:
A+: 90-100%
B+: 77-79%
C+: 67-69%
D: 50-59%
A: 85-89%
B: 73-76%
C: 63-66%
F: 0-49%
A-: 80-84%
B-: 70-72%
C-: 60-62%
Important Notes & University Policies:
Students with disabilities should register as quickly as possible at Student Accessibility Services if they want to receive academic accommodations. To do so please phone 494-2836, e-mail <disabilities@dal.ca>, or drop in at the Killam, G28.
Dalhousie University subscribes to Turnitin.com, a computer based service which checks for originality in submitted papers. Any paper submitted by a student at Dalhousie University may be checked for originality to confirm that the student has not plagiarised from other sources. Plagiarism is considered a serious academic offence which may lead to loss of credit, suspension or expulsion from the University, or even the revocation of a degree. It is essential that there be correct attribution of authorities from which facts and opinions have been derived. At Dalhousie there are University Regulations which deal with plagiarism and, prior to submitting any paper in a course, students should read the Policy on Intellectual Honesty contained in the Calendar or on the On-line Dalhousie website. The Senate has affirmed the right of any instructor to require that student papers be submitted in both written and computer readable format, and to submit any paper to a check such as that performed by Turnitin.com. As a student in this class, you are to keep an electronic copy of any paper you submit, and the course instructor may require you to submit that electronic copy on demand. Copies of student papers checked by this process will be retained by Turnitin.com. (Memo from Vice President Academic and Provost, August 7, 2002)
All students in this class are to read and understand the policies on plagiarism and academic honesty referenced in the Policies and Student Resources sections of the plagiarism.dal.ca website. Ignorance of such policies is no excuse for violations.
Building on one of the topics below, write an essay on a short story in the Broadview anthology that is not on the list of readings for the course (if you write your essay on any short story listed in the Class Schedule below, your essay will be subject to a penalty of up to 20%). These topics are starting points: you will have to develop your own argument about your selected short story and that will require focussing the topic to suit the material and your interest in it.
1. Discuss the significance of narrative perspective and setting to your selected short story. (You might consider, for instance, the credibility of the narrator, or the appropriateness of the setting to the theme of the work.)
2. Discuss the significance of the relationship between the literal and the non-literal in your selected short story. (You might consider, for instance, the descriptive vs the figurative elements of the text, or the relationship between the realistic and the imaginative.)
Research Assignment (due Oct. 30)
Write a one-page introductory paragraph for an essay on either The Picture of Dorian Gray or Gulliver’s Travels. focussing on one of the two topics listed below. Also attach an annotated Works Cited of four critical sources on your selected novel and topic: three good sources and one inadequate source (e.g., unreliable, unanalytical, etc.--this will be discussed further in class). Each of the four critical sources must be annotated: first, in 2-3 sentences, outline the overall argument of the source; then, in one further sentence, explain why the source is either good or inadequate. You do not have to write the full essay: this is an early rehearsal of a research paper, with just an introduction outlining the approach and a Works Cited of relevant sources.
1. Discuss the form of the work: on which genre(s) does it draw (satire, fantasy, science fiction, realism, etc.)? what is its narrative structure?
2. Discuss the protagonist of the work. What kind of character is he? How does his characterization relate to the larger themes of the work?
Essay #2 (due Nov. 20)
Discuss either three short stories or one novel from the course readings on one of the assigned topics (you may, if you wish, substitute one short story of the three with a text that is in a class textbook but a) not on the class reading list; AND b) not the story on which you wrote your first essay). Topics will be distributed in October.
In-class writing assignments
These will test your knowledge of the elements of writing, literary terms, and class readings, with an emphasis on short-answer questions. You will have a choice of questions. They will take place in the first 45 minutes of class (class lecture and discussion will follow).
You are responsible for reading required texts and definitions of literary terms before the class in which they will be discussed; class discussions and lectures are designed to deepen your knowledge of the material beyond the basics of plot, theme, characterization and so forth that you will pick up on a first reading. Except for "setting," all terms are in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms; all short stories are in the Broadview Anthology.
Sept. 6: Introduction
Sept. 11-13: Introduction to Broadview Anthology of Victorian Short Stories; "The Happy Prince" (Broadview edition)
terms: short story, first-person narrative, figure
Sept. 18: Wilde, "Poems in Prose"
terms: poetry, third-person narrative, imagery
Sept. 20-27: Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
terms: satire, Enlightenment, novel, setting
Oct. 2-4: Gulliver’s Travels (cont.); in-class writing assignment (October 2)
terms: science fiction, fantasy, essay
Oct. 9: Carleton, "Wildgoose Lodge"; essay #1 due (class cancelled Oct. 11)
term: gothic novel, protagonist
Oct. 16-18: Shelley, "The Mortal Immortal"; De Quincey, "The Vision of Sudden Death"; Wilde, "The Decay of Lying"
terms: criticism, Romanticism, realism
Oct. 23-30: Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray; research assignment due (October 30)
terms: decadence, anti-hero, in medias res
Nov. 1: Gaskell, "The Great Cranford Panic"
Nov. 6: in-class writing assigment; Braddon, "Eveline’s Visitant"
Nov. 8-15: Brunner, The Sheep Look Up
terms: postmodernism, bricolage
Nov. 20: Hardy, "Interlopers at the Knap"; essay #2 due
Nov. 22: "The Critic as Artist Part I"
term: Aestheticism
Nov. 27-29: Stevenson, "Markheim"; Doyle, "A Scandal in Bohemia"; review for final exam