CRN 21274 ENG 20101 Spring 1999
INTRODUCTION TO MODERN FICTION
"Our education should be such as to improve our minds
and fit us for increased usefulness; to make us of greater service to the
human family."
-Brigham Young
Required Background
To be successful in this class, you must have completed English 104
or its equivalent; you must have one or more active, accurate e-mail addresses;
you must have access to the WEB. You can do all of this from general purpose
computer labs on campus (try the new Computing Commons C5-12,13,14) or you
may want to sign up with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as ULTIMATE Internet Access, Inc. to ensure
that you have adequate access from home. AOL.com appears to have overcome
some of its problems, but I have no personal experience with AOL. Be sure
to ask any potential ISP whether you can create text files as large as 5-9
pages (about 50K) in your word processor and then copy, paste, and transmit
them as e-mail with the ISP's mail client. If not, move on.
And you should have a fair degree of familiarity with using the computer
to communicate with the members of the class and me. You must be
able to compose your posts, papers, and story in your word processor, and
paste them into the appropriate threaded discussion ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST for writing prompts and into Eng
201 Fiction Board Where You Post All of Your Work on Your Short Story for
all of your own fiction, your responses to the story prompts, as well as
in any other e-mail you may want to use--all in such a way that all of us
can read and understand. I believe that we learn much from each other given
the chance. Therefore, all written work--responses to story prompts and
to fiction prompts as well as the analytical papers and the original short
story--will be posted on the ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST . You should know or be willing to find out
what a URL is and how to "surf the net." Most of all, you should
enjoy reading and thinking about the worlds that fiction writers take us
into.
Explore this entire site thoroughly. Use the navigation bar to access the
other pages on this site. They all contain much useful and necessary information.
They are under constant construction.
I wish you all the best for an enjoyable and exciting experience. So click
on the CALENDAR
OF ASSIGNMENTS and start your reading engines!
Texts and Materials
About These Stories: Fiction for Fiction Writers and Readers, ed.
David Huddle, Ghita Orth, and Allen Shepherd. Available from the Bronco
Book Store and www.barnesandnoble.com but they say 4-6 weeks and $33.95
(no discount). I could not find it listed at www.amazon.com
Course Objectives and Goals To become proficient
at college-level reading, critical thinking, and effective writing through
the medium of contemporary fiction. To become an active and subtle reader.
To enhance one's powers of active learning. To carry out sustained, independent
inquiry while contributing to a community of other learners. To stimulate
one's own creativity. To understand the techniques, themes, and methods
of modern/contemporary short fiction. To use technology confidently to further
personal and course goals.
Writing
Since writing goes hand in hand with reading, we will do a lot of writing
in this class. Our discussion of these stories will begin in class but will
be extended and continued after class at the keyboard by writing in response
to the stories, posting those responses on the ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST , and engaging in "threaded" on-line
discussions with the members of the virtual discussion group to which I'll
assign each of you. Thus, your writing will be in response to the prompts
that I have posted on the calendar for each story on the day assigned for
discussing the story and to each other's postings. I encourage you to participate
fully in these "threaded" discussions and will evaluate that participation
carefully.
In addition, you will write one or two short (5 page) analytical papers
and post those according to the Calendar. Finally, we will each try our
hand at writing a short story to enhance our understanding of the
elements of fiction, posting these efforts on the Eng
201 Fiction Board Where You Post All of Your Work on Your Short Story .
You may do all of this writing on the school's computers
or our own personal computers and will post the analytical work on the ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST to share with the entire class. (If you wish
to discuss something with me privately simply drop
me a private note at tchumphrey@csupomona.edu!
Grading
My main concern in evaluating your work in this course will be the consistency,
depth, and quality of your engagement in the course judged by: the discussion
carried on using the ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST , a web-based threaded discussion list (75%)
the grades earned on the analytical paper(s) (15%) and the short story (10%).
I will read and evaluate your posted responses and the number and thoughtfulness
of your "threaded" discussions, "closing the books"
at midnight Sunday of each week, and e-mailing weekly grades to you. I will
read and evaluate your analytical paper(s) and your short story, and will
share my responses with you privately by e-mail. I will occasionally take
part in the threaded discussions.
Attendance
Attendance and in-class participation are important to the goals of
the class. Be there.
To post your responses simply click on the ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST and follow the instructions.
When should I post and what do I need to say to get an "A"?
Good question! I will expect to see your SUBSTANTIAL posts
within 24 hours of the class meeting as indicated on the ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST for the writing prompt. I keep very accurate
records because each posting is assigned a unique number or URL by the programs
I use to conduct the discussions. So, if you respond promptly to the prompts,
you will be on the right track. BUT to get the "A"
requires that your responses be substantial rather than
trivial, so let's take a look at Message Taxonomy
.
The Trivial Response Consists of
A Mere Question: a question that asks only on a point of fact, or asks
something that I know is in the story. A "Simple" Comment: parroting
what's in the book or another post, "I agree" comments that add
nothing, or a comment that there's this really neat reference on the Net.
A non-literary reply: someone answers a question about a story, but the
reply confuses elements within the story or confuses, for example, the author
with the narrator or the created world of fiction with the experienced world
of the writer. A "Gee Whiz" expression of amazement or surprise
(e.g., "Boy, that guy Hannah was sure crazy to write something like
that!" or, "I had no idea so many Indians believed in witches!").
An "Off-Topic" message (e.g., "the Web site appears to be
down," "there is some fiction-related show on TV."
The Substantial Response Consists of
A"Real" Question is one that shows that the student has read
the material carefully but still is unsure about something. A "Real"
Answer is one that analyzes literary evidence, e.g., makes a close
reading of the story or an aspect of the story at question. A "Real"
Comment is an observation or line of reasoning that uses material from a
literary web site, the text, or other literary or scholarly source, e.g.,
something you find in a scholarly journal or scholarly book in a university
library.
Special reminder: Activate your Cal Poly e-mail VAX account, get an
Intranet Account from the desk in 98-C4-13, or sign on with your own Internet
Service Provider (ISP) (See above) and learn how to post extensive texts
to the ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST . When you post to the ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST you must be sure to insert your name
in the "name" box and your complete (username@domain) e-mail address.
While this syllabus represents my best attempt to provide
a complete guide to the contents, expectations, standards, goals, and methods
of this class, I reserve the right to make changes in any part of this syllabus
should they become necessary in my professional judgment. I will post any
such changes to the class list and when so posted are incorporated into
this syllabus by reference.
DIGITAL TOOLKIT FOR STUDENTS!!!
LearntheNet:
From "getting started" Internet basics to the web, email, newsgroups,
searching, web publishing, and multimedia. Clear explanations and useful
links.
ENG
201 DISCUSSION LIST
Introduction
to English 201--A Virtual Version
The
Calendar: What You Need to Read, Write, and Do Day by Day
Details
on the Analytical Papers Assigned in This Class
How
to Write Excellent Analytical Papers
Some
Sample Analytical Papers Written by English 201 Students
Frequently
Asked Questions
Discussions
of ESL Problems at Dave's ESL Cafe!!
Stories
and Their Origins
Weekly
Prompts for Writing Your Short Story
Where
You Post Your Responses to Prompts for Writing Your Short Story
Some
On-Line Fiction Sites
Some
Sample Stories Written by 201 Students
Writers'
Gallery of Pretty Good Liknesses
Home
Page Resources
Dr. Theodore C. Humphrey created and maintains
this site. Last revised 5/06/99. If you find a problem, a "cool"
literary site on the web, or have suggestions for improving the site or
any of its pages please send me
a note.