Term: Fall, 2009 TR 4:10-6:00, 10-115 (OR: on PRACTICUM days, in LIBRARY 35-111h) Office: 47-35G, tel. 756-2636  Office Hours: T 2:30-3:30, W 2:10-4:00, Th 6:30-7:30, and by appt.

Dr. Debora B. Schwartz  http://www.calpoly.edu/~dschwart Main English Office:  756-2597 e-mail: dschwart@calpoly.edu

Calendar of Assignments PLEASE NOTE that the on-line syllabus (not any print-out you may make) is authoritative.  Assignments may be modified in the course of the quarter.  Check the on-line syllabus regularly (before each class) to ensure that you are completing the correct assignment.  It is accessible at http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl501/501syllf09.html Dr. Schwartz's Guide to Research Tools Guided Research Exercises: Polycat (Kennedy Library Collections) LINK+ The MLA Bibliography and ILL Full-Text Journal Databases NetLibrary About Web-Based Resources MyCalpoly Portal (log-in for Blackboard Access)

Site Navigation STATE BUDGET CRISIS IMPACT:  Faculty FURLOUGHS M.A. Program Learning Objectives Course Description and Objectives Classroom Conversations: Theorectical Approaches and Disciplinary Perspectives  Library Practicum (Research Techniques and Tools) Required Texts, Films, and Electronic Reserves Film Screenings Communication: Email alias and Class Research Archive Attendance Policy Preparation Graded Work Discussion Board Postings (overview); Posting Instructions and Schedule of Designated Respondents Research Progress Reports Midterm Exam: Overview and Preparation Guidelines Prospectus/ Working Bibliography: Overview and Guidelines Research Paper: Overview and Guidelines Writing Evaluation Checklist Final Dinner Course Grade Calculation Course Reserve List  (see also information on e-reserves)

STATE BUDGET CRISIS CONSEQUENCE:  MANDATED FACULTY FURLOUGH DAYS.  As you are probably aware, the CSU Administration has imposed mandatory faculty furloughs for the 2009-2010 academic year.   This means that faculty salaries have been cut 10% and that faculty are obliged to take six furlough days per quarter:  involuntary "vacation" days on which faculty are legally forbidden to engage in any work-related activity.  While I have planned my furlough days to minimize their impact on my students, please be aware that I will be unavailable to you, by email or in person, on the following mandated furlough days:

1. Wednesday, September 30 (OFFICE HOURS CANCELLED; Dr. Schwartz unavailable for appointments or email consultation)
2. Friday, October 16 (no direct impact on ENGL 501 students, but I will be unavailable for appointments or email consultation)
3. Friday, October 30 (no direct impact on ENGL 501 students, but I will be unavailable for appointments or email consultation)
4. Tuesday, November 10:  *INSTRUCTIONAL DAY* (ENGL 501 WILL meet with an alternate activity TBA; office hours cancelled; I will be unavailable for appointments or email consultation)
5. Tuesday, November 24:  *INSTRUCTIONAL DAY* (ENGL 501 WILL meet with an alternate activity TBA; office hours cancelled; I will be unavailable for appointments or email consultation).  Note: this is the final instructional day before Thanksgiving break, but we have too few meetings to cancel class.  Please plan on attending, and make your Thanksgiving travel plans accordingly!
6. Monday, December 7 (no direct impact on ENGL 501 students, but I will be unavailable for appointments or email consultation)

ENGL 501 is described in the catalogue as an introduction to the "purposes and methods of literary research in literature."  Accordingly, it provides "acquaintance with printed and on-line materials of research and practical experience in collecting material, weighing evidence, reaching conclusions, and writing scholarly articles" (or at least a short research paper!), as well as "analysis of dissemination of scholarly information" and "discussion of ethics of scholarship." By the end of the quarter, then, you should feel confident of your ability to use various research tools to identify, locate and access useful secondary sources on a literary research topic, incorporate secondary sources into a research paper, and, of course, know how to document these sources correctly.

But in addition to teaching Cal Poly Library-specific research methods, ENGL 501 is designed as an Introduction to Graduate Study which aims to highlight the richness of literary study at the graduate level, to (re)introduce Cal Poly's English department, and to familiarize you with a wider range of subdisciplines and theoretical approaches than you may have encountered as an undergraduate.  The objective of this portion of the class is to help you explore the discipline to which you are dedicating several years of your life, enabling you to discover those aspects which will allow you to flourish as a reader, writer, thinker and scholar.  In the course of the quarter, we will explore a number of fundamental questions:  how do graduate-level studies differ from the undergraduate curriculum? what do we mean by "literary research"? of what different aspects does our discipline consist?  what variety of professional engagement does it entail?

Classroom Meetings: Except as noted on the course calendar, we will meet in our assigned classroom  (10-115) for discussion of assigned readings, to hear guest speakers, and for other activities as listed on the course calendar. These meetings are CONVERSATIONS intended to help you explore the discipline of English studies; they will focus primarily on ideas rather than techniques.

• Some of our conversations will focus on assigned readings, a series of essays which approach Shakespeare's The Tempest from a variety of theoretical perspectives.  These conversations will begin outside class in a BLACKBOARD DISCUSSION BOARD, continue in small groups and then move to a full-class discussion.  A day before the class meeting, a Designated Respondent will post a one-page response to the assigned reading into his or her Group Discussion Board.  Other group members will read this response and post a brief (1-2 lines) pre-discussion reply to it before the class meeting at which the essay is discussed.  Finally, prior to the next class meeting, all students in the Discussion Board group (including the Designated Respondent) must post a brief post-discussion reaction of at least one paragraph which comments on some aspect of the assigned essay and responds specifically to both the Discussion Board postings of the designated Respondent and other group members and to the conversation about the essay which took place in class.  These Discussion Board responses will factor into the Participation component of your final course grade.
• Some classroom meetings will include Guest Spots by members of the Cal Poly English faculty.   Our conversations with these faculty members aim to familiarize you with the wide range of disciplinary perspectives represented by our faculty and to introduce you to individuals who can be resources to you as you explore the multi-facetted discipline of English Studies.  We hope that  learning about the intellectual and professional trajectories of our faculty will encourage you to explore those aspects of our discipline and its sub-disciplines which you find most appealing, and will open your eyes to aspects of our profession and to post-M.A. possibilities that may not have considered previously.

NOTE 1:  Prior to beginning each research exercise, you should familiarize yourself with the applicable section of Dr. Schwartz's Introduction to Kennedy Library Research Tools (accessible through the links on the course calendar, where it is listed as "homework" to be completed prior to the Practicum meeting).  You should also read through the instructions found in the Guided Research Exercise linked to the course calendar, and ask any questions you may have at the beginning of the Practicum meeting.  Chances are, if you find something in the instructions confusing, so do some of your classmates!

NOTE 2: Contrary to popular belief, reputable scholarly resources are NOT typically available for free over the Web to anyone. They are found in expensive, subscription-only databases which take an increasingly large bite out of the Kennedy Library's Materials Acquisition budget each year -- so you owe it to yourselves to use them effectively!  To access restricted resources from off campus, you can use the "Library Services" tab on the Cal Poly portal or  log in at MyPolycat when visiting the Kennedy Library site.  You may also be prompted to log in to your Library account using your PolyCard barcode (the 14-digit number beginning 20150 on the front of your PolyCard).  Be sure to bring your PolyCard with you to class meetings!

Please note that searching the Web with a standard search engine (such as Google, Lycos, etc.) will NOT typically turn up resources appropriate for citation in a research paper; you will do better using more specialized search engines (e.g. Google Scholar) and/or sites indexing links specific to an academic discipline (e.g. The Voice of the Shuttle).  With the exception of genuine scholarly work made available on a reputable scholarly website  by a recognized, academic author (e.g. unpublished conference papers, previously published essays, book chapters or journal articles), most material found online is HIGHLY UNLIKELY to be suitable for citation in your research paper.  If you DO choose to look for other resources on the web, be sure to consult Finding and Evaluating Websites for tips on how to evaluate the scholarly validity of a website or resource found online.  One sign of a reputable scholarly source MAY be a URL (web address) ending with ".edu"; but keep in mind that such web-sites may also be student-authored work (posted on his or her own or a professor's website) which is not typically suitable for citation in a research paper.  A work cited in an academic research paper should typically be peer-reviewed and published in a recognized publication (whether in a print or online).

Required Texts:

William Shakespeare, The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy, ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan, 2nd ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009); ISBN-10: 0-312-45752-9; ISBN-13: 978-0-312-45752-5  Joseph Gibaldi and Walter S. Achtert, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed. (New York: Modern Language Association, 2009); ISBN-10: 1603290249; ISBN-13: 978-1-60329-024-1 Ross Murfin and Supryia M. Ray, The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 3rd. rev. ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009); ISBN-10: 0230223303; ISBN-13: 978-0230223301  Some required readings are on ELECTRONIC RESERVE as .PDF files in the Library Resources section of Blackboard. To access Blackboard, log in at MyCalpoly, go to "Blackboard Access" and select "ENGL 501" from the classes you are taking. Click on the link in the Electronic Reserves section (under "Library Resources") to download and PRINT OUT the file using Acrobat Reader. (Note: For copyright reasons, I cannot make these texts available on my website; under "Fair Use" guidelines, they can be made available only to students enrolled in my class, hence their availability through the "e-reserve" tab in the Library Resources section of Blackboard.) Other required readings include texts which I have created myself and can therefore make available on my website (listed as "Online readings"); these text are in .html files which you can access by clicking on the link on the Calendar of Assignments.  Finally, there may occasionally be a required reading from a subscription-only databases in Kennedy Library collections.  To access such readings, click on the link or follow instructions on the Calendar of Assignments; you may be prompted to type in your last name and library barcode (the 14-digit number beginning 20150 on the front of your PolyCard).  You can then download, read and/or print the file using Acrobat Reader.  Please note that ALL electronically accessed required readings should be PRINTED OUT, placed in a binder, and brought with you to class.

Videos:

Required Viewing:  Prospero's Books, dir. Peter Greenaway (1991). On reserve in Kennedy Library: 822.33 T246A 1996 (Vid.C.) Recommended Viewing:  The Tempest, dir.John Gorrie (BBC Shakespeare, 1980).  On reserve in Kennedy Library: 822.33 T246B2 (Vid.C) Group screenings in Library 202 can be arranged upon request.

Communication: You are expected to have an email account and to check it regularly.  Important announcements will be sent over the class email alias:  engl-501-01-2098@calpoly.edu .  The class email alias is automatically generated using the email address of each enrolled student found in the Cal Poly Directory server. If your Cal Poly email account is NOT your preferred email address, you must

• Log into http://my.calpoly.edu/ and click on "Personal Info" (the "Personal Information Channel") to change your Email Delivery Address. Once you have done so, any email sent to your <username@calpoly.edu> , including all postings to the class alias, will be forwarded to the address you have designated.

You are also expected to submit regular research progress reports and records of works ordered via LINK+ or ILL to the class research archive, located in a Blackboard "Discussion Board."  To access Blackboard, log in at MyCalpoly, go to "Blackboard Access" and select "ENGL 501" from the classes you are taking; then click on "Discussion Board" and link to the "forum" for the topic you are researching.  There will be a "forum" for each student in the class.  Keep a copy of your research reports in case of technological glitches. Be sure to check after each posting to verify that your submissions have made it into the archive.  If you have trouble posting to the archive, contact the Help Desk (756-7000) and let me know at our next class meeting. Your complete set of Research Progress Reports will factor into the participation component of your final course grade.

Attendance Policy:  Due to the twice-weekly seminar format, any absence causes you to miss a substantial chunk of material. Regular attendance is required.  Please note that EVERY absence will have an effect (however slight) on the participation component of your final course grade.

Each student starts out with a 4.0 for attendance.  This component of your final grade drops by .3 for the first UNEXCUSED absence; the penalty increases by .1 for each subsequent unexcused absence (from A [4.0] to A- [3.7] to B+ [3.3], to B- [2.8], etc.).  Additionally, it drops .1 for the first EXCUSED absence (4.0 to 3.9) and .2 for the second excused absence (3.9 to 3.7).  Excused absences in excess of two (a full week, 10% of the class) count the same as unexcused absences.

Please note that only absences resulting from illness, a family emergency, or circumstances truly beyond your control count as excused.  Absences taken for personal convenience are a matter of choice rather than necessity; they will be recorded as unexcused. Please note that deadlines for other courses, work conflicts and job interviews are NOT valid reasons for missing class.

FOR ANY ABSENCE TO BE EXCUSED, YOU MUST SUBMIT A SIGNED, WRITTEN NOTE with course number, date missed and an explanation of the circumstances leading to your absence.  (Although I do appreciate your courtesy in letting me know why you have missed a class, an Email or a phone message will not suffice; a written statement with your signature is required for an absence to be excused.)

Preparation:

Please keep in mind that while ENGL 501 is not primarily a "content" course, it is still a required, 4-unit, 500-level seminar for which you will need to set aside adequate preparation time.  Because a Carnegie Unit at the undergraduate level is supposed to require two hours of out-of-class preparation for every contact hour, you should typically expect to put in at least four hours to prepare for any two-hour meeting of a graduate seminar.   ENGL 501 will not require as much preparation time as other graduate classes, and will certainly average less than four hours per class meeting over the course of the quarter.  That said, please be aware that if you come to ENGL 501 unprepared, you will get little out of it -- and you will detract significantly from the seminar experience of your classmates.

To prepare for ENGL 501:

For classroom discussions:  On any day for which a reading has been assigned, be prepared to DISCUSS the readings in class. Note that length and complexity of assignments vary, so look ahead when planning your time.  Please note that you are responsible for all assigned readings, whether fully discussed in class or not. Designated Student Respondants must post a one-page response to the reading in a Blackboard Discussion Board no later than 6 PM the day before class.  Prior to class, classmates must read the Respondant's thoughts and post a brief response to them and/or the reading (a few lines will suffice).  Students who are not designated Respondants should bring a copy of the designated Respondant's posting with them to class, where conversation will begin with small-group discussion led by the Respondants, prior to a full-class discussion.  Finally, within forty-eight hours after class, all students (including the Respondant) must submit a paragraph-long post-discussion reaction which responds to the reading, the full-class conversation and/or to their classmates' Blackboard postings.
• For the Research Practicum:  please be sure to look through the Guided Research Exercise assignment and try out the tools BEFORE you come to class; bring your questions with you to the library.   Additionally, you should have completed the research assignment introduced in the previous week's tutorial AND SUBMITTED ALL REQUIRED REPORTS TO YOUR PERSONAL RESEARCH ARCHIVE no later than 6 PM on the Monday following the practicum meeting for which the Research Exercise was assigned, so that I can address common problems in the previous week's exercieses or speak to individuals about their previous week's research reports during the practicum meeting.

Graded Work:

-- Discussion Board Postings about Assigned Readings:  as outlined above, each student will serve as a Designated Respondant to one or more assigned readings, posting a page-long Reader Response to the reading in a  BLACKBOARD DISCUSSION BOARD.   Other students must post a line or two in response to both the reading and the Designated Respondent's page-long Reader Response before the class meeting.  Prior to the next class meeting, all students, including the Designated Respondent, must post a paragraph-long  post-discussion reaction which comments on some aspect of the assigned essay and responds specifically to both class conversation and the Discussion Board postings of his/her Discussion Group.  Graded holistically, these Discussion Board responses will factor into the Participation component of your final course grade.

-- Research Exercises:  Found on the Practicum listings in the right-hand column of the calendar of assignments, this series of exercises ensures that you are familiar with and have in fact used the most important bibliographic research tools in preparing your oral presentation and research paper.  Research Progress Reports are to be submitted to the class research archive no later than one week after the day for which they are assigned.  Please endeavor to complete the various assignments on time.  Research Exercises will be graded for accuracy and completeness; please follow directions!

-- Prospectus and Working Bibliography, due in class on Th 11/6, or (with prior permission only) by email to me as an attachment with the filename "yourname.doc" no later than 6 PM on Sunday 11/9.  The Working Bibliography will allow me to check that you have mastered the various research tools presented in Practicum exercises and to verify that you can write correct bibliographic citations for your primary text and for all required types of secondary source; the Prospectus and Outline will allow me to give you feedback (on organization and argumentation rather than content) to help you write a stronger final paper.

-- Midterm Exam (in class, closed book, on Th 11/12) will consist of short answers, objective questions (matching, T/F, multiple choice), and an essay on one or more of the approaches to The Tempest covered in class.  It will cover both general issues and specific research methods/tools introduced in class, e.g. various ways of approaching a literary text; the use (and usefulness) of different research methods and tools; the correct bibliographic format for different Works Cited entries; different critical approaches to The Tempest as presented in the essays assigned for class.  It may also have a "paper preview" section asking about your final project (so review your paper prospectus when preparing for the exam!)

-- Research paper of 8-12 pages on a literary work or author of your choice from the M.A. Exam Reading List which has been the focus of your research exercises.  The paper must present an analytic argument based upon close reading of passages from the text you are researching.  Your analysis will be backed up by carefully chosen passages from the secondary sources identified during the Research Practicum component of the class.  The secondary sources included in the paper must demonstrate your mastery of the research tools and methods covered in this class.  Unless an extension has been arranged in advance, the paper is due no later than Monday of Exam Week (12/7).

-- "Final Exam": our Final Conversation of the quarter replaces the usual Final Exam. I will ask you to share your suggestions for improving ENGL 501 and your thoughts on how we can better help entering graduate students feel at home in Cal Poly's M.A. Program in English.  Finally, I am interested in learning whether and how your vision of the profession and/or your personal goals in the graduate program have evolved over the course of the quarter. While this conversation could take place in our usual classroom at the scheduled exam time -- from 7:10-10:00 PM on Thursday, 12/10 -- I would much prefer it to take place in conjunction with a Class Dinner at my home, to be scheduled at a mutually convenient time on either the week-end before finals or during exam week.  Although it will be "graded" Pass/Fail (with only No-Shows failing!), this final conversation is a required component of the course, taking the place of a final exam. Failure to participate will result in an "F" (0) being averaged into the exam component of your final grade.

Grading:
 

25 %	Participation, based on Attendance(5 %); Blackboard Discussion Board postings (15%, equally divided between Designated Respondant postings and the complete set of required pre- and post-discussion reactions); and the complete set of Archived Research Reports (5%)
15 %	Paper Prospectus (5%) and Working Bibliography (10%)
30%	Midterm Examclosed book; approximately 2/3 objective questions (on research methods and tools covered in practicum exercises, on bibliographic citation formats, and on required readings) and 1/3 essay (on a choice of topics dealing with critical perspectives on The Tempest).  NOTE: failure to participate in Final Conversation will result in a "0" (F) being averaged into this component of the course grade!
30 %	Research paper , 8-10 pages, due at last class meeting or no later than Monday of Exam week (12/7)

NOTE:  I reserve the right to reinstate quizzes in ENGL 501, should I perceive that students are not mastering the research tools and bibliographic material as it is assigned.  In that case, the course grade would be calculated as follows:

• 25% Participation (Attendance + Archived Research Reports, as weighted above)
• 10 % Quizzes
• 15% Paper Prospectus and Working Bibliography (as weighted above)
• 25 % Midterm Exam
• 25 % Research Paper

Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 2004-9

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