Course syllabus

 

 

ENGLISH 102/102G Great Books: Seduction and Betrayal

Semester 2, 2019: Course Information

 

Lecture times:                Tuesdays 11am - 12pm and Thursdays 10am -11am.

Lecture location:            401-401 (Engineering Block 1, Room 401)  

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Tutorial times: please consult Student Services Online and double-check location on day of your first tutorial in the second week of class.

 

Convenor:       Alex Calder, room 633, Arts 1

Email: a.calder@auckland.ac.nz 

 

Lecturers:      Prof. Tom Bishop     t.bishop@auckland.ac.nz      

                       Prof. Brian Boyd          b.boyd@auckland.ac.nz

                       Assoc Prof. Alex Calder     a.calder@auckland.ac.nz

                       Dr. Ania Grant       

Tutors:    Rachel O'Connor     rachelmargaretoconnor@gmail.com

                     Irene Corbett           icor770@aucklanduni.ac.nz

                 

Course Content

Great Books: Seduction and Betrayal is for people who enjoy reading, want to broaden their experience of imaginative writing, and want to develop their ability to read attentively and write interestingly about what they read. Reading is a fundamental skill in contemporary society. It is also a very flexible skill. It serves different purposes and can be deployed in different ways according to need. In this class, we will look at reading as a skill that can analyse, evaluate, and respond to the complex verbal worlds of works of fiction. This skill can be applied in many contexts where complex language occurs, as well as for its own sake.

The course examines a selection of exciting and influential fictional works from different periods in the history of English literature. It is organised around the theme of seduction and betrayal, a basic type of story found all over the world. In stories exploring attitudes to love and sex, to politics and ambition, to right conduct, and to the business and pleasure of reading itself, we look at how characters offer, accept, experience and lose pleasure. What sorts of seduction and betrayal the chosen works offer their characters and us will be a central question of the course.

As with all 'great books’ courses, a further aim is to broaden cultural, historical and literary knowledge. The works we will read all have rich histories of interpretation, all offer many avenues for discussion, and all promote increased awareness of complex language and human situation. The assessment for the course offers the opportunity to reflect on your experience as a reader with personal habits and practices, to learn about different ways and techniques of reading, and to develop and express your views about what you read.

We begin by looking at some aspects of the history and variety of reading, including the introduction of the different “voices” of our lecturers as they begin to read the works they have chosen for the class. Over the semester, each of these lecturers will explore with you how their chosen work is put together, how it achieves its effects, and the ways in which it creates the “world” of its characters, beckons you into that world, and asks you to experience and evaluate it.

 

Learning Aims and outcomes

Skills and capacities to be developed in English 102/102G include:

• how to appreciate, evaluate and enjoy complex works of fiction of different kinds;
• how to identify, interpret and respond to complex language and fictional narrative structures;
• how to navigate unfamiliar kinds of English, especially historical ones;
• how to think about the impact of fictions on other aspects of culture and history;
• how to write about works of language and cultural production.

 

Primary (required) Reading:

Jane Austen,                            Pride and Prejudice

Lord Byron,                             Don Juan (Canto 1) (provided online)

Geoffrey Chaucer,                    “The Miller’s Tale” (from Canterbury Tales) (provided online)

Charles Dickens,                      Great Expectations

Joseph Conrad,                        Lord Jim

William Shakespeare,               Richard III

Selected poets,                        “Poems of seduction and betrayal” (provided online)

 

Copies of Austen, Dickens, Conrad and Shakespeare can be obtained through the University Bookstore. The works of Byron, Chaucer and the “Selected Poems” will be placed on Canvas, the University’s Learning Management System. Important class notices will also appear on Canvas. Students should make sure they have access to it and can receive notices posted on it in a timely way.

Primary reading

You should aim to get a head start on the reading of each set work. Breaks have been built in to allow you to do this for most of the longer works. We recommend that you do not wait until the first lecture on a work before starting to read it – you will find it much easier to follow the lecture discussion if you have your own sense of how it is developing. You should pace your reading carefully and aim to be finished with each book by the time the final lecture on it is being given. You can follow the order of texts and lectures as they appear on the lecture timetable below, or on Canvas.

Secondary reading

In addition to the material covered in lectures, lecturers will offer short lists of recommended secondary material for those wishing to explore further, particularly in relation to the assigned longer essay and to exam preparation. These will be posted on Canvas and may be drawn on in tutorial at the discretion of individual tutors. Work with some secondary reading will be required for the course essay (see below).

Teaching Format

This course is taught via two lectures per week (weeks 1-12) and one tutorial per week for ten of the weeks in the course (weeks 2-12 inclusive with one week off nominated by your tutor).  Please note that there are no tutorials in Week 1. Tutors and lecturers are also available for consultation at their deisgnated office hours. Lectures are recorded and available for review, however, you are strongly urged to attend lectures rather than relying on the recordings, which lack delivery in person and, as studies have shown, are poor substitutes for engaged and direct learning. You will recall and understand more and do better if you attend the lectures live and in person.

 

Expectations of Students

The Faculty of Arts has stated that ten hours work a week (including contact hours) is required in order for an average student to obtain an average pass in a course.  Students are expected to attend all lectures and tutorials, and to read texts in advance of the lectures and tutorials. Different works require different primary readings times, though a shorter work does not therefore require less attention. You should note the lengths of works assigned and the dates and outlines given below of due assignments and plan accordingly.

ENGLISH 102/102G ASSESSMENT INFORMATION:

Assessment in this class has the following components:

10 x Tutorial Quizzes (10 x 1 = 10%)

1 x Short Response #1 (500 words = 10%)

1 x Short Response #2 -- Close Reading (500 words; 10%)

1 x Essay outline (1-2 pages; 5%) working towards:

1 x Longer Essay (1500 words; 15%),

1 x Two-hour exam (2 hrs = 50%)

 

TUTORIALS QUIZZES (10%)

Tutorial preparedness is assessed by the performance of a series of tasks: quizzes and/or short written answers (worth 1%) in each tutorial. These will usually involve answering a question to test your reading of the relevant text for that week. There is no way to make up a task from a missed tutorial. However, absences for good reasons will be taken into consideration in borderline cases at the end-of-semester examiners’ meeting. Please note, the difference between one letter-grade and another, or sometimes even between passing and failing, has in the past often depended on regular attendance and participation in tutorials, as evidenced by tutorial quizzes. Again, and even more strongly: your tutor is your primary point of contact and the principal advocate for your work in the class. If she does not know who you are, how can she argue on behalf of your work when grades are being finalised?

 

SHORT RESPONSES (10% each = 20%)

Two short written responses of about 500 words each (+/- 10%), as follows:

 

         SHORT RESPONSE #1 (due 12 noon, Friday August 9^th):  10%  

Write a short description and discussion of yourself as the reader of a favourite book in relation to one quotation chosen from the following website (N.B. there is more than one page to choose from!): http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/reading

• This assignment is a chance to think carefully about and to present your experience as a reader, including how you read, where and why and for what purposes, and what your own history as a reader has been.
• Assessment of this assignment will be based on:

• the lively, interesting and effective presentation of self-portrait as a reader;
• the clear and cogent engagement with your chosen quotation (you may agree, disagree, use it as a springboard; or take up some other stance).
• marks will be deducted for errors of grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting, so proofread carefully and check rules.

 

         SHORT RESPONSE #2 – CLOSE READING (due 12 noon, Friday August 30^th): 10%

Write a “close reading”, as discussed and modelled in lecture, on one of the passages given on the assignment sheet (available after the first response).

• This assignment is a chance to practice and display skills in attending closely and in detail to the language of what you read and in arguing for your view of how it works to communicate with the reader.
• Assessment will be based on:

•  your attentiveness to details of language and style in the passage chosen;
• your clarity of argument about how that language works on the reader;
• your effective presentation of your work.

 

LONGER ESSAY (5% + 15% = 20%):         

This assignment comprises two parts, a plan and an execution, due on separate dates and assessed separately, but forming one project.

 

ESSAY PLAN (1-2 pages MAX; due 12 noon, Friday September 27^th): 5%

Present a plan for the essay you propose to write in response to one of the posted topics (available after the second response). Your plan should indicate in outline form:

• your main approach to the chosen topic;
• the points you want to make;
• the passages or sections of the work you plan to use as evidence;
• the secondary sources informing your argument and how you propose to use them;
• your main conclusions.

Your plan will be assessed on its coherence, clarity of structure, and proposed use of materials. This is a chance to get direct feedback from your tutor on the progress and shape of your larger piece of writing for the semester. Of course, your plan will likely change before you turn it into an essay.

 

CRITICAL ESSAY (1500 words; due 12 noon, Friday October 11^th): 15%

Using your (revised) essay plan, write a 1500-word essay which addresses one of the given topics on a primary text studied on the course.

• Remember: you cannot write on the writer or text in the exam that you choose to write on in this essay.
• You are invited, but not required, to undertake critical reading for your essay. Some of the topics specifically direct you to a secondary source. Lists of recommended secondary reading will also be made available on Canvas.
• Assessment of this assignment will consider:

                  - Innovation and creativity (thinking for yourself);

                  - Argument supported by textual evidence (close reading skills)

                  - Effective writing in developing your argument (writing skills);

                  - Presentation, including proper referencing of sources.

• If you are not confident about your essay-writing skills or you feel you need extra support, book a place as soon as possible in a Learning Services workshop on “Essay Writing” at https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/booking/. You can also consult the departmental guide to Essay Writing, posted under ‘Resources’ on Canvas.
• There will be a Targeted Learning Session in the library on Tuesday 24 September, in the Arts Students Centre,  to assist you with developing your plan and/or working on drafts of your essay. A Targeted Learning Session is an assignment ‘one-stop drop-in’ opportunity for you to talk with subject librarians, library writing tutors, lecturers and tutors to help you improve your essay – and hence your grade. At the session, you can get help with:
• Understanding the assignment
• Finding and evaluating sources
• How to start writing
• Referencing and bibliography
• Assignment structure
• Content and ideas

 

Bring your ideas, questions, and your essay plans to the session.  Specific details will be available later in the semester.

The longer critical essay must be submitted in hard copy to the hand-in reception desk in the Arts Student Centre by 12 noon on 11 October. You must ALSO submit your essay electronically through Canvas.

For the shorter essays, submission is via Canvas and no hard copy is required.  

Please note that Canvas automatically actions a turnitin check on all work submitted for this course. 

 

Exam (50%; date TBA):

The exam will offer a series of questions covering the material of the course. You will be required to answer TWO essay-style questions in two hours. There is no requirement to refer to or discuss secondary material in the exam, however, such material can deepen and refine your appreciation of the works under discussion as you prepare for examination. (NB. For the purposes of the exam, any one or more of the whole group of poems lectured on in Weeks 4 and 5 count as a single “text” – that is, comparing them counts as one text.)

Notes on the exam:   You must not write on any text or writer more than once in the exam. You must not write in the exam on the writer or text you addressed in your longer essay. You MAY write again on the text you considered in your Response #2, the Close reading exercise; however you may not substantially repeat what you said in that piece.

NOTE: IT IS A REQUIREMENT THAT YOU SIT THE EXAM FOR THIS COURSE. For information on Aegrotats and compassionate consideration visit the University Examination website:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/for/current-students/cs-academic-information/cs-examination-information.html

 

POLICY ON LATE WORK: IMPORTANT

The English policy on extensions and late work should be noted:

LATE WORK SUBMITTED WITHOUT AN EXTENSION WILL NOT BE MARKED

 

English requires the timely submission of all coursework.

If you are unable to hand in an assignment by the due date, you must put your case for an extension directly to your tutor or to the convenor (Alex Calder). If an extension is granted, you must attach to your submitted essay a formal approval document such as an email from the tutor or convenor addressed to you and giving the extension, or otherwise provide clear evidence of an extension granted. Extensions are available for compelling reasons, such as illness, or other unforeseen emergencies or emergent circumstances, and a Doctor’s certificate (or its equivalent for other circumstances) may be required as evidence. Wherever possible, an extension should be requested in advance of the due date for the assignment, unless there is a genuine cause preventing this, in which case the extension should be sought as soon as is practicable after the due date. Silence should always be avoided, and communication kept open.

 

5 Important Notes on this policy:

• If something has genuinely gone wrong in your life, let your tutor or convenor know and judge whether or not your circumstances merit an extension, including after the due date where necessary. If you don’t get in touch, there’s nothing we can do to help.
• Co-incidence of deadlines for assignments does not constitute grounds for extension. You are expected to plan your time across a semester. If you know you have several assignments due in the one week, you are expected to plan your work timetable accordingly. If you have planned, however, and something unexpected or unpredictable occurs, you should consult your tutor.
• Computer and printer meltdowns (unless the university is without computer access on the due date) do not constitute grounds for extensions in this course. It is your responsibility to back up your work and to have it printed out well in advance of the deadline.
• Electronic submission of your essay to a tutor does not count as having met the deadline for this course, except in specific emergencies or under notified circumstances discussed beforehand. The hard copy of your essay must be marked as received by the hand-in office in Arts One by the due date.
• The worst possible strategy is to submit work late without obtaining an extension. No marks can be awarded for unexcused late work. It is always better to submit whatever you have by the deadline, even if it is unfinished or of poor quality, than to submit nothing at all. A failing grade (except in cases of plagiarism) will still generate some non-zero marks, and these can be the difference between a pass and fail grade at the end of the semester.
• Again: if you have missed a deadline and wish to make a case for a retrospective extension for late work based on your particular circumstances, you must consult your tutor or the convenor as soon as possible.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Some tips for effective time management at University:

• Always have a diary or wall planner or a working electronic calendar.
• At the start of the semester enter all the due dates for assignments in all your courses.
• Working with your course documents, enter which texts need to be read by when, and how long each text is.
• Consider how many hours you need to read each text and diarise for when that reading will be done. 
• View the assignment due dates in relation to one another, and then itemize (with a time estimate) each piece of work that needs to be done in order for you to meet your deadlines. Do this also for other classes and note any bottlenecks.
• Estimate how much time you will need to read the relevant texts, to undertake secondary reading, to plan your assignment and to write the assignment; then, count backwards, so that you know which assignment needs to be started when, in order to ensure that all deadlines are met. Remember, an assignment may not be due until week 9, but depending on what else you have due, you might need to have completed that particular assignment well in advance of the due date in order to meet other deadlines in the same week. Consider also that no-one will object if you hand in a completed assignment a day or two early!

 

Requirements for the presentation of coursework

• Written work must be submitted with the appropriate signed cover sheet (you will be able to generate these yourself from Canvas).
• Essays must be referenced in accordance with the English Essay Writing Guide (pp. 36-44), also available on Canvas.
• All coursework is to be submitted in hard copy via the Arts Student Centre AND on-line via Canvas to Turnitin. 

 

Some tips for learning from lectures:

Lectures are an active listening space. If your objective is a transcription of every word said, you are probably going to end up with unfinished sentences and not much sense of what is actually being said. Even if you are a typing whiz, you won’t end up understanding the gist of an argument merely by transcribing it.

One of the learning aims of lectures is the development and honing of listening skills. The goal is to pay attention to what is being said, to learn to identify key ideas, and to actively process material in the lecture space. It’s very hard to develop these skills if you are focused solely on writing everything down.

We recommend the following to get the best out of lectures:  Listen Actively. You’ll get more out of lectures if you privilege listening over writing, and you’ll ensure you’re engaging with the lecture if you make yourself summarise key points succinctly as they are completed. This takes practice, but give it a go!

We recommend trying NOT to take copious notes. Note-taking in lectures is best when you listen for and develop connections between ideas rather than wholesale transcription. Since lectures are recorded and available on Canvas after the session, you might even consider simply listening to and following the argument, then making specific notes from the recording later. The WORST POSSIBLE use of the lecture recordings is as a regular failsafe excuse allowing you to miss or skip lectures.

A note on laptops:  There is now considerable evidence from educational studies that the use of laptops and other devices for verbatim note-taking is noticeably worse in outcomes than the older practice of hand-written notes. This is for two main reasons: first, wireless-connected laptop users tend to be easily distracted by email, pop-ups, tweets, and so on. Second, and more importantly, long-passage verbatim copying, while it generates more material, is less discriminating about what is important and less engaged in actively working through argument. Transcription typing is NOT active listening. We recommend longhand notes. If you simply must work on a laptop, turn notifications off to reduce distraction! (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/)

Remember also: a lecturer, even one in full flight, prefers to be interrupted by a question and to explain a point again than to wrongly assume the point has been grasped. If you don’t follow, chances are the rest don’t either! So ask.

Also: lecturers are always happy to answer questions or clarify anything at the end of a lecture – just come on down and ask!

Last – as a matter of courtesy to others in the room, please make sure to turn all devices to silent during lecture. Both lecturers and your neighbours really hate the noise of cellphones and computer activity while they are trying to concentrate. Please Don’t Do It!

 

Important and Useful Information

Plagiarism

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence.  The work that you submit for grading must be your own work, reflecting your learning.  Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced.  This requirement also applies to sources on the internet.  A student’s assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

For further information see:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/teaching-learning/academic-integrity/tl-about-academic-integrity.html

Complaint procedure

In the first instance, you or your class representative should take any concerns you have with the course delivery or assessment to the lecturer or tutor or convenor concerned. You may also approach the Student Advocacy Network at any time for assistance. In the event that the matter is not resolved satisfactorily at an informal level, students or the class representative should approach the Head of English with a formal statement of the complaint.

For more detailed information, see the University guidelines regarding Student Learning and Grievance procedures at:

http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/teaching-learning/policies-procedures

AUSA also offers advice on grievance and harassment issues. See the AUSA website’s ‘Need Help?’ section for further information.

 

Other Sources of Learning and Assistance

 

Canvas

YOU MUST HAVE CANVAS ACCESS FOR THIS CLASS

The responsibility for receiving CANVAS announcements lies with you. 

Canvas will send messages to your university email account. Remember, email is an official source of communication between the University and students. 

The University does not accept the excuse that you did not receive messages. You are required to check your university email account regularly. If you use a non-University account, check both regularly, or set the University one to forward.

Computers are available for your use in the Kate Edger Information Commons.

 

Copyright Warning Notice

Copyright material is protected by copyright and has been copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under licence for use in course readers, tutorials, lectures and on Canvas. You may not sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of this material to any other person. Where provided to you in electronic format, you may only print from it for your own private study and research. Failure to comply with the terms of this warning may expose you to legal action for copyright infringement and/or disciplinary action by the University.

Internet Sources

The Internet is no substitute for Library research. The Library collection (e-books, e-journals as well as hard copy items) is carefully chosen and filtered whereas the Internet is not subject to quality control and frequently contains erroneous material.  Stick to websites recommended in lectures.  Remember:  Use the Library. You are a researcher when you are at University.

  

Additional Resources

Library and Learning Services offers workshops on all aspects of essay writing and exams. Check out their workshops (search under “essay”) as soon as possible. https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/booking/

 

ELE – ENGLISH LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT

If you have difficulty with your English, with writing essays, understanding lectures, doing presentations or any other aspect of English, then the English Language Enrichment Centre (ELE) – located on level 1 of the Kate Edgar Information Commons - is the place for you. Have a look at their website for further information.

http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/ele/

 

TUAKANA ARTS

The aim of the Tuakana Arts Undergraduate Mentoring Programme is to provide a mentoring service that assists first year students to achieve to their full academic potential.  This programme is for Maori and Pacific students and all other students who think they would benefit from working in a collaborative study environment.

http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/en/for/maori-and-pacific-students/tuakana-arts.html

The Tuakana programme and its mentors can be contacted at: tuakana.english@auckland.ac.nz

 

LASTLY

Please contact Alex Calder with any additional queries about the course. Welcome and good luck. We look forward to meeting and working with you.