English 2 - Winter 2009
Critical Analysis and Intermediate Composition

COURSE OBJECTIVES:  English 2 is Critical Analysis and Intermediate Composition. 

This course helps students to develop their critical thinking, reading comprehension, and writing skills beyond the level achieved in English 1.  The course emphasizes the application of logical reasoning, analysis, and strategies of argumentation in critical thinking and writing, using literature and literary criticism as subject matter.  You will learn how to apply skills of literary analysis and interpretation to our readings, and we will continue to apply MLA formatting to written assignments.

TEXTS:

Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing, Compact 6^th ed., by Kirszner &

Mandell

Master Harold and the Boys, by Allison & Athol Fugard

            The American Dream & The Zoo Story,  by Edward Albee

Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer, by Conrad (Signet Classic Ed.)

PAPERS & REWRITES: 

Three or Four essays, 4-6 pages in length, and two papers approximately 2 pages in length.  All papers are to be typed & stapled.  In addition, we will periodically write in class.  Late papers will be marked down one grade,and are not eligible for a rewrite.  Two of the graded essays may be rewritten one time. I will discuss the rules for rewrites in class, including when rewrites are due.

EXAMS & QUIZZES:

Midterm and Final: essay questions.  There will be regular in-class quizzes on the readings.  You are expected to have read the material and be prepared to discuss it on the date it is assigned for. 

ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION:

Regular attendance is expected.  More than 2 absences will lower your grade by one full grade. Participation is expected, and can be a factor in your grade.  Being tardy 3 times will equal one absence.

PLAGIARISM:

Plagiarism is the use of another’s ideas, words, or entire papers as if they were your own, and is a serious offense.  An essay that is plagiarized will receive an F for the assignment (with no possibility of a rewrite), and may result in an F for the course.  If you borrow the ideas or words of others, you must express them in language that is thoroughly your own and acknowledge the borrowing through documentation of the source.  We will examine the proper MLA procedures for quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing sources, and how to document them and create a Works Cited page.  

CLASS DECORUM: Turn off Cell Phones, No Text Messaging in class.

WITHDRAWL POLICY:  If a student wishes to drop the class, the student is responsible for officially dropping the class. To receive a guaranteed “W” in the course, you need to drop the class by Sunday, January 25, 2009, by 10 p.m. 

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: I am happy to make academic adjustments for students with documented disabilities. Please contact the Center for Students with Disabilities if this applies to you.  The Center for Students with Disabilities is located in Room 101 of the Admissions/Student Services complex. For more information, call 310.434.4265 or 310.434.4273 (TDD). 

GRADING:     Mid-term Exam:                                              10%                          

                         Final Exam:                                                   10%

Quizzes & Participation:                                10%

                         Essays:                                                          70%

SCHEDULE  FOR  ENGLISH  2    Winter 2009

 January           5          Introduction.  Bishop Tutu

6         Kate Chopin: The Storm

7          Athol Fugard: Master Harold and the Boys

                        8          Master Harold

                        12        Sophocles: Oedipus the King         

                        13        Oedipus

                        14        Edward Albee: The Zoo Story

                        15        The Zoo Story

                        19        No Classes: Martin Luther King’s Birthday

                        20        Pleasantville

                        21        Discussion of Albee & Pleasantville

                        22        Midterm Exam

                        26        Joyce Carol Oates: Where Are You Going, Where Have You

Been?

                        27        Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

                        28        Joseph Conrad:  Heart of Darkness

                        29        Heart of Darkness

February         2          Apocalypse Now

                        3          Heart of Darkness

                        4          Alice Walker: Everyday Use

                        5          Kate Chopin: Story of an Hour

                                    Ernest Hemingway: Hills like White Elephants     

                        9          Poetry: To Be Announced

                        10        Poetry: To Be Announced

                        11        Final Exam 

Current Assignments:

ENGLISH 2 STUDENTS:  some sites for Heart of Darkness

Electronic edition of H of D which includes links to vocabulary, themes, and study information:
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~csicseri/

Some good links and essays: just scroll down to the links: http://www.windnet.com/mki/books/h/heart_of_darkness.html

"Africa and Africans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness"  by Dr. Candice Bradley http://mural.uv.es/estferde/heart.html

English 2 Students:  :  For a history of apartheid: http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html

The Screenplay for Pleasantville:  but be cautious, not all the lines in the movie are the same as the ones in the script, so make sure you confirm your quotations--the film is the final arbiter unless you indicate which you are referring to.           http://www.screenplay.com/downloads/scripts/Pleasantville.pdf

Works Cited

Your Works Cited page is titled:  Works Cited.  This is a separate page.  Works Cited is centered, but not underlined; only the W and the C are capitalized.  In the following example, the 2nd line (and any other following lines) should be indented 5 spaces. Only the first line is flush left on your margin.

Sophocles. Oedipus. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 6th ed.  Ed. Laurie Kirszner and     

          Stephen Mandell.  Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt, 2007.  1509-1549.  

George Orwell:  "Shooting an Elephant"