ENGL 123: Introduction to Fiction
| Course Home Page | Blackboard | Instructor's E-mail |
| Course Structure | Required Texts | Expectations/Requirements |
| About the Discussion Forum | Writing Assignments | Grading and Final Exam |
| Course Schedule | Course Mechanics | Lesson Schedule |
Course StructureOne of the goals in this class is to help you understand and articulate more precisely why it is that you can be so moved, gratified, challenged, or frustrated by a particular writer. The task of covering the incredibly broad scope of "fiction" is a very difficult one, and you'll notice that the course focuses heavily on twentieth-century American authors. A slightly narrower focus allows us to see the trends and developments in style and substance through the course of a single century and, the truth is, it still can't do justice to the wide array of literary voices that have emerged over time. And yet, it will give us a good starting point. The course itself will be divided into nine individual units as follows:
Several of these authors, like Chekhov, Hemingway, and Carver, seem at first glance to tell rather simple stories, so you'll need to work very hard to read intensively and truly cull out the important images, themes, and styles that emerge only on closer inspection. Toni Morrison, on the other hand, may seem nearly impenetrable at first. Just keep reading carefully and closely—once you grow accustomed to her beautiful language, you'll follow the narrative without any trouble. The lesson plans will prepare you for each work so you can know ahead of time what to expect. Required TextsTexts can be purchased from Friday Center Books & Gifts at The Friday Center either online or by printing out a book order form. Several works are also available online although in different editions. These are the required texts to purchase:
Expectations/RequirementsYou are required to read two novels (Toni Morrison's Beloved and Susan Minot's Monkeys), one short-story collection (Raymond Carver's Where I'm Calling From), and selected short stories to be assigned from an anthology called the The Story and Its Writer. In addition, you must read all of the online lessons, contribute at least three times a week to the discussion forums, submit all paper assignments on time, and take a final exam. In the Lesson Schedule you will find a detailed list of the nine lessons that will be offered this semester. Each lesson includes introductory material, relevant links, questions for the discussion forum, and a writing assignment that will be submitted via e-mail. You must read every lesson, explore every link, post to the discussion forum every week, and submit writing assignments on schedule. The writing assignments vary in length, but they tend to get longer as the semester goes on, so be sure to schedule in a bit more time at the end of the semester for these. The assignments are explained in detail in each lesson. Please e-mail your papers as attachments in Microsoft Word document format (.doc), not simply as text pasted into the body of an e-mail message. Papers must be in my inbox by midnight on the day they're due. About the Discussion ForumIn this class, we will use an electronic discussion forum to discuss the works we'll study during the term. You can use the forum to post comments and/or questions, read the comments of other students, post responses, and read comments from me. Plan to visit the discussion forum several times a week; you are required to post a minimum of three times a week (note, not 3 times a lesson). If everyone contributes regularly to the discussion forum, we will have a great class! I expect a wide variety of responses on the discussion forum, because the pleasure of reading and interpreting comes from the interesting debates, not an adherence to the "standard" (and often "old hat") readings. Don't be afraid to put forward a bold or unusual idea—those are often the most worthwhile! Writing Assignments
Please study the worksheet entitled Questions for Reviewing a Draft. It offers a detailed list of questions that will help you (a) conduct a thorough revision before handing in an assignment and (b) understand the criteria I use to evaluate writing assignments. Grading and Final ExamYour grade for the course will be determined as follows:
For the final exam, you will be responsible for all assigned readings, including the biographical information of the authors, all introductory and supplementary materials, all materials from assigned Web sites, and the discussion forums. I will e-mail the exam to you a few minutes before 7:30 pm and you will have until 9:30 pm to complete it and e-mail your response to me. The exam will consist of essay questions. More details will be given in Lesson 9, and through the discussion forum as we get nearer to the final exam period. Remember that as a student of UNC-Chapel Hill, you are bound by the University's Honor Code: "It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University students or academic personnel acting in an official capacity." This code applies to all lesson assignments, discussion forum postings, and to the final exam. Course ScheduleWe will follow the regular UNC calendar. You are not expected to participate in class during major holidays (including school breaks). This schedule gives us about fourteen weeks. For each "week" in the course pages, you should log on at least three times and spend the equivalent of nine hours of "outside" study time in addition to reading time. This timetable is only a guideline, not a rule, designed to help you judge your involvement in class. The Lesson Schedule list includes the starting dates for each text (finish the assigned readings in time to start discussion; ideally you will have finished the reading no later than the end of the first week of each lesson). You can link from the Lesson Schedule to any lesson in the course. Course MechanicsBlackboardSome of your class components (discussion forums, exams, and announcements) are accessed through a software package called Blackboard, and you will need to log in to Blackboard using a unique identifier known as your UNC Onyen (Only Name You'll Ever Need) and Onyen password. There is a link to the Blackboard site in the gray navigation bar at the top of every page in this course. Click on that link, and then use your Onyen to log in to Blackboard. Click on the "ENGL 123" link, and you will see navigation buttons on the left side of the screen labeled Announcements, Discussion Forum, and so on. If you experience problems accessing Blackboard, this is what you should do:
Library Services and E-reservesStudents enrolled in Carolina Courses Online can access online library resources from the UNC Library System by linking to Library Services for Distance Education Students. This site includes information on using general online reference works as well as accessing e-reserves. If you are using an off-campus computer, you will need to consult this page for instructions on how to access the resources. The UNC library staff is available to assist any students who have difficulties accessing online library resources. All communication from your instructor will go to your UNC Onyen e-mail
address (the one that appears when you post to the discussion forum).
Off-campus users can access their UNC e-mail using Webmail.
You can have your e-mail forwarded to a different e-mail address by
clicking “Forward e-mail” at the Onyen
Web site. Submitting AssignmentsIt is extremely important for you to save copies of any work you send to me via e-mail. If I don't receive your work, you must have a duplicate copy, indicating the date sent, to prove that you submitted the assignment on time. It is your responsibility to maintain copies of your sent e-mails, as there is no way to guarantee that any e-mail message will be delivered. Please check your e-mail software to see how it manages sent and saved messages. Some software automatically deletes messages one month after they have been sent; others only save messages if they are filed in folders; others save messages received but not those sent. You may need to send yourself a copy of your e-mailed assignment at the same time you send it to your instructor, or you may need to print a copy of the e-mail message and any attachments to keep in your paper files. No matter how your system works, make sure you know how to save a copy of all work that you submit to your instructor and that you save the copy for several months beyond the end of the course. Other QuestionsContact your instructor with questions regarding the content of the course and your progress. There is an e-mail link to your instructor at the top of every lesson page. Please include "CCO ENGL 123" in the subject line of your e-mail. Contact the Instructional Designer at the Friday Center about problems with this Web site, including bad links. If you have any logistical questions as you work through the course (enrollment, Onyen, credits, withdrawal, and so on), contact the Student Services staff at the Friday Center for Continuing Education (phone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669). Lesson ScheduleLesson 1: Introductions and the Development of Voice
Lesson 2: Pioneers of the Short Story
Lesson 3: Modernism
Lesson 4: Black Male Experience and Feminism
Lesson 5: Postmodernism and Toni Morrison's Beloved
Lesson 6: Minimalism and Raymond Carver
Lesson 7: Cross-cultural Experience
Lesson 8: Contemporary Literature
Lesson 9: Final Exam Preparation
Final Exam Lesson 1 |