Course Description & Requirements

Description

ENG 144L is an introduction to the variety of Shakespearean genres�comedy, history, tragedy, romance, tragicomedy, narrative poetry, and sonnets�in light of both their Renaissance context and their relevance to contemporary issues. This course is intended for non-majors and underclassmen planning on becoming English majors.  The course will begin with an introduction to the life and times of the author.  Then we will read six or seven of his major works.  Students will be required to read assigned primary and secondary readings (obviously), perform group-scene projects, write a creative piece using characters from the plays we read in class, become familiar with the library and literary periodicals, write a research paper, take periodic reading quizzes, and complete any daily assignments (e.g., 1-2 page response papers, discussion questions, etc.).  Works that we will explore include Midsummer Night's Dream, Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, The Tempest, and select sonnets.

General Education Requirements

ENG 144L fulfills the General Education requirement for the Humanities.  As such, it meets the following criteria:

Characteristics of all General Education Courses

1. General Education courses offer introductions to the central topics of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields.
2. General Education courses offer explicit rather than tacit understandings of the procedures, practices, methodology and fundamental assumptions of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields.
3. General Education courses recognize multiple perspectives on the subject matter.
4. General Education courses emphasize active learning in an engaged environment that enables students to be producers as well as consumers of knowledge.
5. General Education courses promote critical inquiry into the assumptions, goals, and methods of various fields of academic study; they aim to develop the interpretive, analytic, and evaluative competencies characteristic of critical thinking.

Learning Objectives for General Education Humanities Courses

Humanities courses teach students to analyze and interpret texts, ideas, artifacts, and discourse systems, and the human values, traditions, and beliefs that they reflect.

1. Humanities courses enable students to demonstrate knowledge of the assumptions, methods of study, and theories of at least one of the disciplines within the humanities.

   ENG 144L will enable students to demonstrate the following:

2. an understanding of the objects of study as expressions of the cultural contexts of the people who created them
3. an understanding of the continuing relevance of the objects of study to the present and to the world outside the university
4. an ability to employ the terms and understand the conventions particular to the discipline
5. an ability to analyze and assess the strengths and weaknesses of ideas and positions along with the reasons or arguments that can be given for and against them
6. an understanding of the nature of the texts, artifacts, ideas, or discourse of the discipline and of the assumptions that underlie this understanding, including those relating to issues of tradition and canon

Texts

Students are expected to have the specified text.  Please note that there are a myriad of different texts available.  I very specifically chose the Norton Shakespeare.  Readings from that text will be assigned that do not appear in any other Shakespeare collections.  Additionally, different collections of Shakespeare present students with variations in the texts.  This affects page and line references, but it seriously affects certain plays rather than others.  Specifically, we will be reading the Folio version of Lear.  Most Shakespeare collections do not include this particular text.

Student Expectations

Students are expected to adhere to the following basic requirements:

Attendance

Attendance is mandatory and will be taken at the beginning of every class period.  If you are not in attendance at the time I take it (never before the scheduled start time), then you are absent.  Absences are absences. ←(note the period)  Students are allowed five (5) absences without penalty.  The sixth (6th) will result in the automatic loss of a full letter grade (e.g., an A becomes a B).  A seventh (7th) absence will result in automatic failure of the course.  In the case of excused absences (e.g., athletic events, religious commitments, etc.), these count as absences but cannot result in grade penalty or failure.  That is to say, missing class for 3 track meets, a religious retreat, and a documented trip to the doctor still counts as six (6) absences, but this will not result in a grade penalty.  However, 3 track meets, a religious retreat, a documented trip to the doctor, and an unexcused absence will result in the full penalty enforcement.  It's seven (7) absences and an automatic failure.  Likewise, five excused absences and one unexcused is still six, and the student's grade will be lowered.  The point here is that you are expected to attend each class.  If there's a valid reason for not attending, then that's fine.  Otherwise, you are here.  Six absences is two weeks of class!  If you have questions about your ability to attend class per the stipulations outlined in this syllabus, then I strongly suggest you find another course.

Grading

Grading for this course is A-E.  In conjunction with the attendance policy outlined above, grading can be broken down into the following components:

The creative writing project, group-scene project, annotated bibliography, and research paper each have specific due dates.  If they are not submitted on their respective due dates, then a grade of zero will be assigned.  Any extenuating circumstances must be addressed BEFORE (i.e., not after) the date that the respective projects are due. 

Plagiarism

Don't let plagiarism happen to you!

The following spiel on plagiarism comes straight from the University at Albany's Undergraduate Bulletin.  Students should familiarize themselves with these guidelines because they apply unilaterally to ALL University at Albany students whether the students are aware of these guidelines or not:

The University at Albany expects all members of its community to conduct themselves in a manner befitting its tradition of honor and integrity.  They are expected to assist the University by reporting suspected violations of academic integrity to appropriate faculty and/or administration offices.  Behavior that is detrimental to the University's role as an educational institution is unacceptable and require attention by all citizens of its community.

Plagiarism is presenting, as one's own work, the work of another person (for example, the words, ideas, information, data, evidence, organizing principles, or style of presentation of someone else).  Plagiarism includes paraphrasing or summarizing without acknowledgment, submission of another student's work as one's own, the purchase of prepared research or completed papers or projects, and the unacknowledged use of research sources gathered by someone else.  Failure to indicate accurately the extent and precise nature of one's reliance on other sources is also a form of plagiarism.  The student is responsible for understanding the legitimate use of sources, the appropriate ways of acknowledging academic, scholarly, or creative indebtedness, and the consequences for violating university regulations.

EXAMPLES OF PLAGIARISM INCLUDE: failure to acknowledge the source(s) of even a few phrases, sentences, or paragraphs; failure to acknowledge a quotation or paraphrase of paragraph-length sections of a paper; failure to acknowledge the source(s) of a major idea or the source(s) for an ordering principle central to the paper's or project's structure; failure to acknowledge the source (quoted, paraphrased, or summarized) of major sections or passages in the paper or project; the unacknowledged use of several major ideas or extensive reliance on another person's data, evidence, or critical method; submitting as one's own work, work borrowed, stolen, or purchased from someone else.

For a more detailed explanation of the Standards of Academic Integrity at the University at Albany, see the following link: https://www.albany.edu/undergraduate_bulletin/regulations.html.