RALPH BAUER
2115Susquehanna Hall
Department of English
University of Maryland,
College Park, MD 20742

Phone: (301) 405 3797
E-Mail: bauerr@umd.edu
website: "http://www.mith2.umd.edu/fellows/bauer/home.html"
ENGL 430 HOMEPAGE | ABOUT THE COURSE | ON-LINE ANTHOLOGY | ON-LINE DISCUSSION FORUM | SCHEDULE | RESOURCES
 

ENGLISH 430
LITERATURE OF THE AMERICAS TO 1810

A. Description

Readings from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century dealing with the discovery, conquest, and settlement of the Americas as well as with European imperialism, the American independence movements and the early American nation states. We will read texts by men and women in the various British colonies, such as John Smith, Mary Rowlandson, Ebenezer Cook, Thomas Jefferson, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, and Phillis Wheatley, and in Spanish America, such as Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Carlos Sigüenza y Góngora, and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. Apart from reading narratives, poetry, and oratory by these and other authors, we will also study visual and material artifacts by means of presentations and film screenings. The primary required texts should be obtained in the editions indicated below. Moreover, there will be an apparatus of recommended secondary readings to provide a historical background and to assist you in the process of writing, expanding, and revising of papers.

B. TEXTS:


C. LOGISTICS AND POLICIES

A. ASSIGNMENTS

1. READING ASSIGNMENTS

Assignments are to be completed by the beginning of the class period assigned for discussion of a given text.

2. WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS***IMPORTANT: KEEP ALL YOUR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS (you will have to turn it in at the end of the semester)

a. e-mail discussion
Once a week, on a day specifically assigned to you, you will contribute to a discussion which you will be having with three or four other students in the class throughout the term. In your e-mail group conversation, you will discuss any observations you or your peers can make about the literature or any connections you may find between texts or between the primary and the secondary materials. In class, you will sometimes be asked to report on your group discussion. The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to build a community with your peers and to further collaborative learning.
b. papers
There will be THREE PAPERS in this class, two 4-5 pages and one 8-10 pages in length. Each paper will involve: (a) at least one informal PRELIMINARY DRAFT (typed) and (b) one DRAFT, which is expected to be up to professional standards (typed, double-spaced, referenced, edited, etc.). PRELIMINARY DRAFTS are not graded individually. Instead one grade will be assigned on you drafting and revising process at the end of the term. (The idea is to assess how much improvement you have made from one draft to the next draft. FINAL DRAFTS are graded as individual performances, regardless of how much you have improved. They are expected to be prepared in accordance with a Citation Styles customary in the Humanities.. You may revise one final paper for a better grade after talking to me first. The grade assigned to the revision will be averaged out with the original grade.
c. quizzes
Short quizzes (essay and/or multiple choice) will periodically be given at the beginning of class in order to review the out-of-class reading assignments.
d. final exam
On Final's Day, a two-hour essay exam will be given. The Final Exam Study Page contains questions from which the exam questions will be drawn.

3. ORAL ASSIGNMENTS

Class participation: Every student will be expected to participate in class discussions.

B. CONFERENCES

Although you may be able to clear certain questions over e-mail, you are still strongly advised to see me frequently in order to talk about your work in general during office hours. If you cannot see me during my regularly scheduled office hours, arrange other times with me. During weeks when papers are due, you will be encouraged to sign up for extra conferences specifically intended to assist you in the writing process.

C. ATTENDANCE:

A substantive part of your learning experience in this class will depend on your participation in class discussion, as well as receiving and giving responses to the written work which students bring in. Therefore regular attendance is imperative and required. Attendance will be taken at every meeting. Tardiness disrupts the class and will not be tolerated. Three tardies will therefore count as one absence. If you have more than three unexcused absences at the end of the semester, your participation grade will be negatively affected. Obligations to teams, sororities or fraternities, clubs, jobs, other courses or appointments with professors/advisors will not be considered as valid excuses.

D. GRADING:

  1. Paper I (10%)
  2. Paper II (10%)
  3. Paper III (20%)
  4. Final Exam (15%)
  5. Drafting/Revising (10%)
  6. Participation (20%)
  7. E-mail Discussion (15%)

E. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The policies with regard to academic integrity in this course follow the Code of Student Conduct adopted by the University of Maryland.

Back to ENGL 430 Homepage