ENGL 113 WI Professor Franklin 1
Pittsburg State University
Spring, 2018
Professor Franklin
ENGL 113.98 &.99 (WI): General Literature: ONLINE
Office: 445 Grubbs Hall; phone: 620-235-4693; e-mail: <jfranklin@pittstate.edu>
Office Hours: M: 10—2; W: 8—9; 10—2; F: 8—9
This syllabus is subject to change due to unforeseen or extenuating circumstances.
Anticipated Student Learning Outcomes, Course Goals & Objectives: This course is
designed to provide novice readers with college-level approaches to literature that enable
synthesis of critical thinking skills and disparate opinions reflected in responses to lower &
higher order discussion questions, quizzes designed to gauge reader engagement with the
assigned reading at the level of text and experience, and cumulative comprehensive exams. The
course employs both a generic and a thematic perspective while attempting to raise awareness of
and appreciation for diversity in literature.
Discussion Questions: Each literary selection has discussion questions (found in its appropriate
module), designed to guide you toward analysis and interpretation. I do not grade discussion
questions; however, you may use your answers on exams.
General Education Goals:
Aesthetic Studies
*Demonstrate the ability to make informed critical responses when exposed to artistic endeavors.
*Understand the relationship between the arts and society in a multicultural environment.
Cultural Studies
*Demonstrate the ability to recognize the value of diverse cultural, national, and ethnic
backgrounds.
*Demonstrate an awareness of the rights of individuals and groups from diverse cultural,
national, and ethnic backgrounds.
*Demonstrate an understanding of the relationships of gender, race, and class within and across
cultures.
Human Heritage
*Demonstrate an appreciation for the range and diversity of humankind’s wisdom, values, ideas,
beliefs, and reasoning.
*Demonstrate an understanding of human behavior, the human condition, and human institutions
in the context of historical, literary, or philosophical inquiry.
*Demonstrate recognition of the inter-relatedness of the past, present, and future.
Grades: 3 Major Exams @ 100 points each=300;
exams are cumulative; there is no final exam for this course; 50% of each exam is a formal paper
submitted separately; essays will be submitted online via CANVAS; if you do not submit the
essay then you cannot pass the exam; you are free to use the book and your notes on an exam.
You cannot pass the course without passing the writing assignments.
Modules: There are three modules with discussion questions for stories (Module 1: Fiction), a
play (Module 2: Drama) and poems (Module 3: Poetry). Additionally, each module contains a
short introductory essay for the genre being read.
ENGL 113 WI Professor Franklin 2
Philosophy of Writing: Writing enables us to discover, examine and reflect our intellectual and
emotional, personal and social, creative and disciplined response to literature and to our
classmates’ reaction to both that reading and our response. Writing permits us to learn from our
peers, ourselves and our guides in a focused and an organized way.
You cannot pass the course without passing the writing assignments.
Statement of Intent: In order to implement our Philosophy of Writing, you will write:
*Discussion Question answers and notes, which are informal in nature and designed to share
your response to discussion questions based on reading selections; and,
*Out-of-class essays which are five to seven pages in length, formal explorations of literary
selections. These essays are typed according to MLA format and may be taken to The Writing
Center (located in Axe Library) or to me during office hours for help with revision before they
are due.
Academic Honesty: Because this is an English course, you will use MLA format for your
formal papers. If you are unsure about a source or a citation, then you may visit me during class
or office hours; you may also visit the Writing Center. USE OF SOURCES is a trait on the
grading rubric.
Discussing Writing, including feedback and response:
I have three steps in this process:
1. writing—including assignments and grades—will be introduced via modules in the weeks
before an essay is due;
2. additionally, during your writing process I encourage you to communicate with me via
CANVAS;
3. finally, I will use CANVAS to respond to your submitted essays; this response will include a
grade deconstructed according to the assignment’s rubric as well as the “comments” feature of
CANVAS
Rights: As an adult student you have a right to privacy; your grades, for example, are a matter
between you and me. Additionally, you may have the right to special accommodation. If you
believe that you qualify for special accommodation then please inform me—privately—so that
we may determine the best course of action to meet your needs while guaranteeing that your
rights have not been denied. Please see
(http://www.pittstate.edu/office/registrar/syllabus-supplement.dot)
to read University policy regarding matters such as academic honesty & integrity, deadlines,
severe weather, etc.
There is no textbook for this course: the literature for this course is accessible in Canvas Course
Modules and originates in OER sources. We thank Deborah White of PSU’s Axe Library for
serving our needs as a resource specialist.
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Weekly schedule:
Week: Date of: Materials
Module 1: Fiction
1: January 15: “Foundation of Fiction”; “A Rose for Emily”; “The Cask of Amontillado”
2: January 22: “The Lesson”: “The Lottery”
3: January 29: “The House on Mango Street”: “Two Kinds”
4: February 5: “Cathedral”: Major Exam 1: Fiction (includes Essay 1, submitted via Canvas)
Module 2: Drama
5: February 12: “In Some Ways Drama and Fiction Are Alike”; “Drama is Different from
Fiction”; “Tragedy for non-English Majors”
6: February 19: Macbeth Questions and Quotes
7: February 26: Macbeth Questions and Quotes
8: March 5: Major Exam 2: Drama and Fiction (includes Essay 2, submitted via Canvas)
Module 3:Poetry
9: March 12: Midterm Grades due; “Six Rules for Reading Poetry”; “Quoting Poetry”;
“Student”; “The Road Not Taken”
Spring Break March 20—24 Spring Break March 20—24 Spring Break
10: March 27: “Barbie Doll”; “Questions My Son Asked Me, Answers I Never Gave”
11: April 3: “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”; “The Peace of Wild Things”
12: April 10: “Ballad of Birmingham”; “Minor Miracle”
13: April 17: “When I consider how my light is spent”; “Richard Cory”
14: April 24: “What Work Is”; “The Death of the Hired Man”
15: May 1: Major Exam 3: Poetry, Drama and Fiction (includes Essay 3, submitted via Canvas)
16: May 7: FINAL EXAM WEEK (there is no final exam in this class)
