ABOUT ENGLISH 210
"British Literature from 1798-the Present"

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

As you may already know, this is a survey course and the companion to English 209 ("British Literature from the Beginning to 1798"). Because these are chronological courses, it makes sense to do 209 first, although this may not always be possible. There are two prerequisites for taking this course:
* You should have taken the Composition I requirement (or passed the proficiency test for Rhetoric 105 through English Department or AP testing).
* You should have completed either English 200 ("Introduction to the Study of Literature") or English 101 and 103 ("Introduction to Poetry" and "Introduction to Fiction").
If you have not fulfilled these prerequisites, you should visit one of the Academic Advisors in the English Department (Adrienne Pickett and Bob Steltman in EB Room 200) and get their advice as to what to do.
Because this is a literary survey, most of your time will be taken in reading primary material (poetry, fiction, drama, and prose of the period) and attending lectures about that material. If you want to make the most of the course, you should:
* read all the assignments before coming to class so that you already have a sense of the literature discussed in the lectures.
* use the study sheets to prepare for and review the issues that are raised in the lectures.
* write your discussion response (described below) to consolidate what you have learned through the reading and lectures.
Overall, our purpose in this course will be to construct a reader's map designed to negotiate three principle periods of British literature: Romantic (1785-1830); Victorian (1830-1901); and Twentieth Century , and within these periods, various literary movements, such as Romanticism, Realism, Aestheticism, Modernism, and Post-Colonialism. We will consider ways in which specific literary forms and genres (for instance, the realist novel, the ode, the dramatic monologue, the treatise, the critical essay) function to reflect as well as produce or alter cultural perceptions within a specific period. We will devise some initial paths through this vast expanse of literature, on the understanding that we can return to make more thorough inroads into each period at a later date and in other courses.

LECTURES:
My aim in the lectures is to provide a cultural and historical context for the literature; to point to interesting intellectual problems raised by literary texts; to explain what kinds of characteristics we might expect to find in literature of a particular period; and to demonstrate techniques for interpreting different texts. There will never be time to cover all the assigned reading in detail, but the lectures should provide you with the tools to cope with those texts we do not cover in class.

The readings assigned for each lecture, and the lectures themselves will be the material tested in the mid-term and final exams. Take especial note of the dates of each author and the dates of composition of each work. Keep referring to the "Texts and Contexts" table at the front of each volume of the Norton Anthology to orient yourself in terms of the literary and historical context of each work.

NOTE:
* Because this is a survey course and the volume of primary reading is heavy, you will not be asked to do any secondary reading (although you would never be discouraged from doing as much extra reading as you like).
* In some weeks the reading is especially long (see Week 3-4 and Week 7-8) or especially dense (see Lectures 22 and 23, when we read T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf). Try to allow yourself extra preparation time for these sessions. For instance, you might want to start reading Jane Austen's Persuasion straight away.
* During the lectures, I'll be reading passages of the setworks closely. Do make a habit of bringing your text with you so that you can follow the reading and mark up specific passages.

DISCUSSION SECTIONS:
In general:
The object of the Friday discussion sections is to review and talk about the material assigned for the week, and the issues raised in lectures. This is your chance to express and clarify your own opinions, meet other students doing the course, and get individual attention from your Teaching Assistant.

Weekly responses:
It is imperative that you come to discussion sections having done the week's reading and formulated questions and queries about it. To show up for discussion unprepared is like coming to a potluck dinner without a contribution (or with a bag of stale pretzels)--you will be thought of as an intellectual freeloader who feeds off the good intellectual cooking of others! The Study Sheets available on the website are intended to help you with this preparation process.

Each week you will be required to hand in to your Teaching Assistant a brief response to the week's reading . The requirements of this writing are as follows:
* It should be roughly 250 words in length ( no more than half a page of double-spaced typing; remember, "less is more").
* It may raise a question; point to an issue that is particularly interesting or puzzling to you; make a connection with preceding reading; and so on.
* It may be humorous, but never frivolous or insulting.

Your TA will use these responses to check attendance. Every week, I will take in the responses of one section to find out what your thoughts are about the lectures. This means I should be able to read two responses from each person in the class in the course of the semester. I will post those that are of particular interest to the whole class (or extracts from them) onto the course website. Your responses will be evaluated and will contribute to your participation grade. They will be returned to you once they have been registered by your TA and/or read by me. Their purpose is to encourage you to read actively and inquisitively, give you a broad sense of the intellectual opinions of your fellows, and give me and the TAs feedback about your responses to the material. If you particularly do not want your response published, let me know by e-mail (saville@illinois.edu) and I will honor your wishes.

Attendance:
You are required to attend all lectures and all discussion sections. I will give unannounced attendance quizzes during lectures for which extra credit will be earned. Attendance at the discussion section is absolutely required. Anyone who misses four of these meetings without a very convincing medical [or equivalent] excuse* will automatically be asked to drop the course. This rule is not negotiable. If you miss sections because you join the class late, you should arrange with your TA a means of demonstrating that you have caught up the missing sections.
*(A medical excuse is a written document from a medical authority confirming that you have indeed been treated at the time of the absence. The generic McKinley form is not automatically adequate to support a request to be excused. Personal and family emergencies should be registered with the Emergency Dean.)

ASSIGNMENTS
I: PAPERS
There will be two papers, each approximately 1500 words (about five double-spaced typed pages) in length. A list of topics will be distributed two weeks before the due date of the paper and you are encouraged to discuss the topics with your TA or with me. There are four grounds for failing the paper:
* If your paper is significantly shorter than 1500 words.
* If your paper is late and you have neither a medical excuse nor a responsibly negotiated arrangement with your TA (such negotiations are entirely at the discretion of the TAs).
* If your paper was not on a topic set, or a topic arranged between you and your TA.
* If your paper was plagiarized.

PLAGIARISM:
In recent years, plagiarism has become a serious problem nationwide chiefly because there are now so many good websites and it is so easy to copy material from them. Our university has a very strict code for academic integrity called "Article 1; Part 4." According to that rule, using material from an uncited source as if it were your own is an inexcusable academic violation (it is considered a theft of ideas). Ignorance about the rule will not serve as an excuse for breaking it.

Please understand that plagiarizers are treated as violators of the code of academic integrity. They may receive a non-negotiable "0" for the assignment in which plagiarism occurred or may even fail the course outright. Their cases are recorded in the Department, their work is sent to the Dean's Office where it is kept on record, and repeat offenders are usually suspended or even asked to leave the university. Such cases are deeply distressing to everyone-please do not risk becoming one of them. For precise details about what "plagiarism" means and how it is dealt with, please consult the following web address http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/policy/code/article_1/a1_1-401.html. If, you're unsure about citation, feel free to consult with me or your TA, and if for some reason, you cannot use the internet, ask us, and we will happily get you a paper copy of Article 1; Part 4.

II: EXAMS
There will be two exams: one is a mid-term test, and one an end-of-semester test.
The Mid-term Test:
This is given on Friday, at the time and place of your usual discussion section (see the Syllabus). It will involve a range of exercises such as identification of extracts and the works they come from and authors who wrote them; questions testing comprehension of passages; short paragraphs on specific topics; short essays. There will be a handout "About the Mid-term" posted on the website well in advance of the test itself.

The Final Test:
This is a three-hour event, scheduled in the early morning, in our usual meeting room (again, see the Syllabus for details). A discussion of the contents of this test with an accompanying handout will be presented in the last week of class and posted on the website.

GRADING:
TAs will grade the papers, the midterms, and the final exams of all students in their sections. You should discuss any grading problem with your TA. Throughout the semester I'll be reading a number of papers and exams from each discussion section, as well as the weekly responses. I look forward to this very much and to seeing what ideas you yourselves can generate from your reading and discussions.

Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
term papers: [2 x 15%] 30%
midterm: 25%
final exam: 25%
participation grade (discussion section responses, attendance, quizzes etc.): 20%

OFFICE HOURS:
The TAs and I hold regular office hours and encourage you to come and meet us at least once during the semester. You will see that my hours are on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30-4:00 in my office in the English Building , Room 313. If these times conflict with your schedule, or if you want to avoid having to wait, e-mail me in advance (saville@illinois.edu ) for an appointment. I check my e-mail regularly so you can be sure to get me if you need to make contact or have questions you would like to raise. The TAs will provide you with their office hours in the first discussion section.

E-MAIL MODES OF ADDRESS:
Initially the following formal modes of address are requested:
"Dear" or "Hi" or "Hello"
"Professor" or "Prof." or "Dr." or "Ms. Saville"; "Ms. Dick" or "Norah"; "Ms. Dickison" or "Carrie"; "Ms. Jospeh" or Terra"; "Ms. Nadolski" or "Esther."
e.g. "Hi Professor Saville, I'm in your English 210 lecture class and need to see you about doing the course for Honors credit. I cannot make your scheduled office hours, so please could you suggest an alternative time. Thank you, Brita Taylor. "
After we get to know each other, you may feel comfortable being less formal.

EMERGENCY PLAN
Meeting requirements of the campus OCEP (Office for Campus Emergency Planning) this course has a two-fold emergency plan:
Plan A for Incident-Specific Emergencies:
Two designated cell phones in our classroom will remain on during lecture so that we are able to receive emergency calls from the OCEP. All other cell phones should remain turned off. In the event of such an incident-specific emergency, instructions will be relayed to us by cell phone and you are asked to remain calm, stay with the instructor and/or TA leading class, and be prepared to follow emergency instructions as they are relayed to you.
Plan B for More General Emergencies:
You will be asked to move to a safe place either indoors (for instance, to a basement in the case of a tornado) or outside (for instance, to the quad in the case of a fire, or gas or chemical leak). Remain with the instructor until a class register has been called, all students are accounted for, and class can either be resumed or dismissed. Students with physical disabilities who require assistance in leaving the room should consult with me at the start of the semester so that we can make the necessary advance arrangements to ensure your safety.

I look forward to meeting each of you personally, and hope we all have an enjoyable and productive semester together.