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Non-traditional Narrative and New Media

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E-mail: engl101 at heroicacademy dot org

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Required Materials

Course Description

This course provides you with consistent practice in narrative analysis and composition. You will encounter both traditional and non-traditional narratives in a variety of media that will enable you to exercise and grow your compositional abilities. In analyzing narratives in text, film and video games, you will explore the fundamental nature of narrative as it emerges in new ways, recording your analyses in a series of expository essays. Through these reading and writing assignments, you will explore narrative forms, and learn how to use both reading and writing as venues for inquiry, learning, thinking, interpretation, and communication. The course offers instruction and individualized feedback to help you advance as a thoughtful reader and as an effective writer.

Assignments

A major component of this course is gaining experience in writing; to that end, the majority of the assignments you will turn in for this course will involve writing in both shorter and longer forms. You will also be responsible for a final portfolio to include final drafts of all major writing assignments.

Minor Assignments

Participation

Your participation grade will be determined by your ability to contribute meaningfully to classroom discussions. Small group and individual exercises will allow the class to thoroughly explore each text. This will require that all members participate, responding to and interacting with both the instructor and their peers.

You will be required to bring a copy of the assigned reading for each class session to class. Given the limitations of the video game medium, you will record detailed notes as you progress through Chrono Trigger and bring those to class for discussion. If you do not have the assigned reading or your Chrono Trigger notebook (whichever is applicable) with you, you will receive a zero for that day’s participation grade.

Before each of the first drafts for the major assignments in this course are due, we will conduct a peer review session to allow you to make preliminary revisions to your paper. You and a classmate will exchange papers, and will offer commentary and suggestions for improving the paper in its current form. This is vital to the writing process, and failure to participate in this assignment will be reflected in your essay draft’s revision component.

Reading Quizzes

There will be 12 short quizzes based on the reading throughout the semester. These quizzes cannot be made up if you are late. Quizzes may be made up if arrangements are made with me beforehand to do so.

Major Assignments

Short Writing Assignments (SWA)

Essay Drafts

Portfolio

Course Policies

Grading

A “C” is the lowest passing grade in English 101/102. Grades are earned on a ten-point scale:

More detailed requirements are outlined in each assignment. Feel free to discuss any questions regarding grades with me in my office no earlier than 24 hours after receiving said grades.

Due to FERPA law, I cannot discuss grades via email. I am always willing to discuss them in office hours, or before or after class. As I do not post grades on Blackboard until the very end of the semester, you may wonder about your day-to-day grade. The easiest way to figure this out is to look at the grades you’ve gotten back, check the syllabus, and see how they are weighted. Do that before you ask me what your current grade is.

Electronic Communication

The easiest and most reliable way to contact me in this class is via email. I check my email daily; however, don’t expect an immediate response outside normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 9-5). I occasionally will send class-wide emails regarding attendance and assignments, and these go through your university-assigned email. It is your responsibility to check your email daily. “I didn’t check my email” is NOT a valid excuse. As we live in the age of the smartphone, I suggest you set up your account to push to your phone.

Paper Format and Documentation

All formal assignments must be in MLA format, typed and double spaced using 12-point Times New Roman typeface, with 1” margins all around. Use MLA style to cite and properly document any outside sources you use. All electronic submissions must be in .docx format. Remember, that a minimum page limit refers to a full page. You can use the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) to find more information about MLA formatting guidelines.

Academic Honesty

You are bound by the university’s policies on academic honesty, which bar you from presenting another person’s work or ideas as your own, allowing someone to write an assignment or part of an assignment for you, or neglecting to properly acknowledge source materials. First-Year English policy also prohibits you from recycling work—that is, from turning in a paper completed in another class for credit in this class. The university takes violations of these policies seriously; penalties include failing the course and expulsion from the university. You are also responsible for reading the Academic Responsibility section of First-Year English FAQs on the English Department Website. We will learn about and discuss strategies for research and source use, citation, and documentation throughout the semester. If you have any questions about academic honesty or use of source materials, please come to me before the assignment is due.

Calendar

Unit 1 - Close Reading

Week 1 - Syllabus Day

Week 2 - Rhetorical Analysis

Week 3 - Visual Texts

Week 4 - The Apocalypse

Week 5 - Narrative Putty

Week 6 - Writing Workshop and Narrative Structures

Unit 2 - Cultural and Historical Analysis

Week 7 - Narrative Structures

Week 8 - Time

Week 9 - Time

Week 10 - Heroism

Unit 3 - Comparative Analysis

Week 11 - Guilt and Perspective

Week 12 - Dystopia

Week 13 - Narrative Sandwich

Week 14 - Rhetoric and Argumentation

Week 15 - Writing Workshops

Week 16 – Small Groups