English 2326: Syllabus

English 2326: Survey of
American Literature
Course Syllabus
(Return to the English 2326 Table of Contents)

Click here for a PDF copy of the official syllabus for this semester.
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Table of Contents
Instructor Information
Course Description
Educational Outcomes
Books/Materials
Units of Instruction
Submission of Assignments
Evaluation
Drop Policy

Instructor Information
Name: Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes
Department: English
Office Phone: (214) 860-8747
E-mail: ggrimes@dcccd.edu
Mailing Address: Mountain View College, 4849 West Illinois Avenue, Dallas, TX 75211.

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Course Description
This course includes significant works of American writers from the Colonial period to the present.

Prerequisite: English 1302

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Educational Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1) build meaning by drawing inferences about literature from personal experience.
2) recognize stated or literal meaning by understanding vocabulary, recognizing content, and paraphrasing.
3) recognize implied concepts and motifs in literature.
4) discuss orally and in writing distinctive American themes and values addressed in the literature.
5) identify authors and their works addressed in the course.
6) apply critical thinking and literary terminology appropriately when analyzing selections of literature.
7) demonstrate patterns of writing appropriate to the analysis and evaluation of literature.
8) explain relationships of literary concepts studied to personal and contemporary social experience.

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Books/Materials
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Required Text:
George and Barbara Perkins
The American Tradition in Literature: Shorter Edition in One Volume, Eleventh Ariel Edition.
New York McGraw-Hill College, 2005.
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-312373

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Units of Instruction

Submission of Work
Read the following instructions carefully. Failure to observe these instructions will result in wasted time for both you and me and possibly misplaced or even lost work!

IMPORTANT!!!
For college security reasons, I will delete any e-mail message that does not include
1) your first and last name in the subject window,
2) a statement in the message window stating the course/section number, and
3) the name/number of the exercise attached.
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How to Send Me E-Mail Messages and Attached Exercises

When you send me an e-mail message include the following information exactly:

What to place in the "subject" window:
Place in the subject window the following information:
For a question to me: Question - (your first and last name)
For a comment to me: Comment - (your first and last name)
For an emergency message to me: Urgent! - (your first and last name)
For sending me an exercise: first name initial/last name/-/number of exercise.doc (see example below)

NOTE: I will open and respond to "Question," "Comment," and "Urgent!" messages on the day I receive them. Do NOT attach assignments to "Question," "Comment," and "Urgent!" messages. I will not open them or even download them!

What to place in the "message" window:
Place in the message window the following information:
1) Using correct grammar and sentence form, state your message as briefly and as clearly as possible.
2) Indicate in the first line of the message what you are requesting of me.
3) Follow your request or main point with whatever supporting information you think I need to know.
4) Sign off each message with your first and last name as you are registered!
5) Below your name, give me your student ID number (your official Dallas County Community College District Student ID number--NOT your social security number).

How to attach an exercise to your e-mail message:
1) Save your exercise as a MS Word file ONLY. Note: Be sure your full name, course/section, and assignment number are posted at the top left corner of each exercise before you save it.

Save your exercises using the following identification:

First name initial/last name/(hyphen)/exercise number .doc

Example:

jsmith-Ex3.doc

Note: If you do not save and label your assignments using this format, I will return them to you unopened and ask you to re-label, re-save and re-send them!

2) Near each e-mail message window, you will find a button labeled something like "Attachment" or "Attach." Place your cursor icon over that button and click once with your left mouse button. That action will open another window where you enter the name of the drive where your file is located on your hard drive or floppy drive and the name of the file (along with its extension). You may also see a "Browse" button which you may click and then select the drive and the correct file. By opening the directory where the file is located and clicking once or twice on the name of the file, the file name and path will be entered in the file name window.

3) Select "Okay" or "Send" or "Close"--whatever button indicates the submission of that file name. The window will then close and return you to your e-mail message window. Now, you should see posted in a visible place near your message window some notification that you have attached a document.

4) When you have finished composing your message, then click once on the "Send" button, and your message and attached document will be on its way!

How to Submit Assignments

You are encouraged to submit your work in any one of the following three procedures ONLY:

Submitting Assignments Electronically
You must send all exercises as e-mail attachments in either Microsoft Word.. Follow the instructions posted above for submitting your exercises. I will mark the exercises electronically and return them as email attachments to his replies.

Submitting Assignments by Regular Mail
If you do not have either software program, you should print out your work and mail it to:

Dr. Geoffrey Grimes
Department of English
Mountain View College
4849 West Illinois Avenue
Dallas, TX 75211

If you mail your assignments, you must included a stamped, self-addressed envelope with correct postage. Assignments received without the correctly stamped, self-addressed envelope will not be returned.

Submitting Assignments in Person
Students attending Mountain View College are welcomed to drop off assignments at Dr. Grimes's office in W273. Students should come to the office to pick up the graded works. If you want them returned, you must include a correctly stamped and self-addressed return envelope.

No work will be accepted after the final examination week for the current semester.
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Evaluation
The final course grade will be assessed as an average of the grades received on each of the five exercises plus the online final exam. Papers submitted on time may be revised once on each exercise. The grade for a revision will be added and then averaged for a final grade on the exercise. Click here for an analysis of standards used for evaluating essays.

Only those students who have completed all five of the exercises will be eligible to take the online final exam. Students will receive a password to enter the final exam document, a randomized objective test over the introductions and reading selections in the course. The final exam grade is worth 1/6th of the course grade.

Note that late papers will be graded for "C" credit only and may not be revised.

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Drop Policy
To drop a class or withdraw from Mountain View College or Dallas TeleCollege, students must write and sign a letter requesting that they be dropped or withdrawn. Letters must include the name and number of the course, the course section number, the student's ID number (or Social Security number), and an original signature. No faxes, telephone calls, or e-mails are accepted.

Each section has a specific drop date beyond which students may not withdraw. Failure to drop on or before the drop date will result in the awarding of a letter grade, ranging from "F" to "A." To determine the drop date for your section, contact the Registrar at Mountain View College at (214) 860-8600 or the Dallas TeleCollege office.

NOTE: Students who withdraw from a mandated remediation course as a result of THEA (or alternate instrument) performance must also withdraw from all college-level courses.

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This page was last modified on August 12, 2006,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey Grimes.
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