ENGL 101A F21 Siemerling

Introduction to Literary Studies 

Fall 2021

Instructor: Winfried Siemerling 

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to the study of literature as a discipline and a practice. It will introduce you to a selection of writings in poetry, prose, and drama, and to some of the key terms, concepts, and methods in contemporary literary studies. Assignments and class activities will give you opportunities to practice applying critical methods to textual interpretation and clearly organize and communicate your ideas.

This course will challenge you to think in multiple ways about any given piece of text: moving beyond the individual or emotive reaction to a text (“I don’t really like bugs, so I hated this book”), we will aim for critical interpretation of it (“Bugs in this text operate as symbols representing the undifferentiatedness of urban ‘hive’ life”). In this way you will be empowered to participate in an interpretive community of scholars as you pursue the rest of your studies in language and literature.

The final page of each module shows how the concepts from the module can be applied to a given text. You can use the "Putting it all together" page as a review at the end of the module, or turn to it after each lesson to see the methods in action. Or both.

Technical Note:

This is a hybrid LEARN/CMS course. That means the content links on the module pages will open up in a separate tab or window. Once you're in that tab or window, you can navigate back and forth through any of the teaching content by clicking on the Table of Contents link in the top left corner of the page. You'll need to click back on your original LEARN tab or window to complete any course activities or find specific information about assignments.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will have acquired and practiced fundamental tools and techniques of literary criticism. More specifically, students will:

• Describe the formal features of text using literary critical terms
• Choose and apply appropriate literary critical methods to analyze and interpret text
• Create persuasive interpretations of texts using tools of literary criticism

Course Schedule 

Important: ALL TIMES EASTERN - Please see the University Policies section of your Course Outline for details

*A Note about Class Activities

The Class Activities make up 20% of your final grade. You should work on them throughout the assigned week in order to maximize the opportunities for useful discussion and collaboration with others in your group. At the end of Week 2, you will be placed in a smaller group to complete these activities.

You are encouraged to do all the activities, but only the best five (5) out of seven (7) will count towards your final grade. See the Class Activities page for more information and detailed descriptions of each activity.

Grade Breakdown

Announcements

Your instructor uses the Announcements widget on the Course Home page during the term to communicate new or changing information regarding due dates, instructor absence, etc., as needed. You are expected to read the announcements on a regular basis.

To ensure you are viewing the complete list of announcements, you may need to click Show All Announcements.

Discussions

Post your course-related questions to the Ask the Instructor discussion topic*. This allows other students to benefit from seeing your question asked and answered, just as they would in a classroom. Your instructor checks the Ask the Instructor discussion frequently and will make every effort to reply to your questions within 48 hours, Monday to Friday.

A General Discussion topic* has also been made available to allow students to communicate with peers in the course. Your instructor may drop in at this discussion topic.

Course Authors

Some of the material in this course was designed for a course in literary criticism by Prof. Aimée Morrison. It was adapated and augmented by Prof. D.A. Hadfield and by Prof. Win Siemerling.

Textbooks

Required: There is no required textbook for this course.

Recommended:

Abrams, M.H. and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Eleventh edition, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2014.

For textbook ordering information, please contact the W Store | Course Materials + Supplies.

For your convenience, you can compile a list of required and optional course materials through BookLook using your Quest userID and password. If you are having difficulties ordering online and wish to call the Waterloo Bookstore, their phone number is +1 519-888-4673 or toll-free at +1 866- 330-7933. Please be aware that textbook orders CANNOT be taken over the phone.

Course Reserves

Course Reserves can be accessed using the Library Resources widget on the Course Home page.

Resources

Library services for Co-op students on work term and students taking online courses

Course Policies 

Late Submissions

All assignments are due at the date and time specified.

However, you can have up to 5 penalty-free extension days ("flex days") to use however you wish throughout the term for major written assignments (not class activities). You can use all 5 flex days on one assignment, spread them out over several assignment due dates, or not use any at all. Don't use these flex days as an excuse to procrastinate; they are intended to give you a little breathing space if you unexpectedly run up against one of life's little glitches. If you choose to use any flex days, you don’t need to ask permission or provide documentation other than a note with your submission stating how many days you are using and how many you have left. It's your responsibility to keep track of those numbers.

Once you use up your flex days, late assignments will incur a deduction of 2% per day, including weekends.

Flex days do not apply to in-class activities, but there are more activities than will count towards your final grade, so you can miss some activities if

necessary without affecting your grade.

Exemptions from this course policy can only be given where there are significant extenuating circumstances. In such cases, you must contact the instructor before (or immediately after) the assignment or activity deadline, providing appropriate documentation.

Course Etiquette

We want the course environment to be a positive one for everyone. You are expected to behave and communicate throughout this course in ways that promote mutual respect, positive discussions, the free exchange of ideas, and the productive use of time.

Department Policies 

Intellectual Property

Students should be aware that this course contains the intellectual property of their instructor, TA, and/or the University of Waterloo. Intellectual property includes items such as:

• Lecture content, spoken and written (and any audio/video recording thereof);
• Lecture handouts, presentations, and other materials prepared for the course (e.g., PowerPoint slides);
• Questions or solution sets from various types of assessments (e.g., assignments, quizzes, tests, final exams); and
• Work protected by copyright (e.g., any work authored by the instructor or TA or used by the instructor or TA with permission of the copyright owner)

Course materials and the intellectual property contained therein are used to enhance a student’s educational experience. However, sharing this intellectual property without the intellectual property owner’s permission is a violation of intellectual property rights. For this reason, it is necessary to ask the instructor, TA and/or the University of Waterloo for permission before uploading and sharing the intellectual property of others online (e.g., to an online repository).

Permission from an instructor, TA or the University is also necessary before sharing the intellectual property of others from completed courses with students taking the same/similar courses in subsequent terms/years. In many cases, instructors might be happy to allow distribution of certain materials. However, doing so without expressed permission is considered a violation of intellectual property rights.

Please alert the instructor if you become aware of intellectual property belonging to others (past or present) circulating, either through the student body or online. The intellectual property rights owner deserves to know (and may have already given their consent).

Accommodation Due to Illness

If your instructor has provided specific procedures for you to follow if you miss assignment due dates, term tests, or a final examination, adhere to those instructions. Otherwise:

Missed Assignments/Tests/Quizzes

Contact the instructor as soon as you realize there will be a problem, and preferably within 48 hours, but no more than 72 hours, have a medical practitioner complete a Verification of Illness Form.

Email a scanned copy of the Verification of Illness Form to your instructor. In your email to the instructor, provide your name, student ID number, and exactly what course activity you missed.

Further information regarding Management of Requests for Accommodation Due to Illness can be found on the Accommodation due to illness page.

Missed Final Examinations

Your faculty determines academic accommodation; therefore we advise you to speak with your professor if you anticipate being unable to fulfill academic requirements due to illness or other extenuating circumstances.

Further information about Examination Accommodations is available in the Undergraduate Calendar.

Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. If you have not already completed the online tutorial regarding academic integrity you should do so as soon as possible. Undergraduate students should see the Academic Integrity Tutorial and graduate students should see the Graduate Students and Academic Integrity website.

Proper citations are part of academic integrity. Citations in CEL course materials usually follow CEL style, which is based on APA style. Your course may follow a different style. If you are uncertain which style to use for an assignment, please confirm with your instructor or TA.

For further information on academic integrity, please visit the Office of Academic Integrity.

Turnitin

Turnitin.com: Text matching software (Turnitin®) may be used to screen assignments in this course. Turnitin® is used to verify that all materials and sources in assignments are documented. Students’ submissions are stored on a U.S. server, therefore students must be given an alternative (e.g., scaffolded assignment or annotated bibliography), if they are concerned about their privacy and/or security. Students will be given due notice, in the first week of the term and/or at the time assignment details are provided, about arrangements and alternatives for the use of Turnitin® in this course.

It is the responsibility of the student to notify the instructor if they, in the first week of term or at the time assignment details are provided, wish to submit the alternate assignment.

Discipline

A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate Associate Dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Appeals

A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, (other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline. 

Grievance

A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Final Grades

In accordance with Policy 46 - Information Management, Appendix A - Access to and Release of Student Information, the Centre for Extended Learning does not release final examination grades or final course grades to students. Students must go to Quest to see all final grades. Any grades posted in Waterloo LEARN are unofficial.

AccessAbility Services

AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodation to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term and for each course.

Accessibility Statement

The Centre for Extended Learning strives to meet the needs of all our online learners. Our ongoing efforts to become aligned with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) are guided by University of Waterloo accessibility Legislation and policy and the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. The majority of our online courses are currently delivered via the Desire2Learn Learning Environment. Learn more about Desire2Learn’s Accessibility Standards Compliance.

UWaterloo’s Web Pages

All rights, including copyright, images, slides, audio, and video components, of the content of this course are owned by the course author and the University of Waterloo, unless otherwise stated. By accessing this course, you agree that you may only download the content for your own personal, non-commercial use. You are not permitted to copy, broadcast, download, store (in any medium), transmit, show or play in public, adapt, or change in any way the content of these web pages for any other purpose whatsoever without the prior written permission of the course author and the University of Waterloo, Centre for Extended Learning.

Other Sources

Respect the copyright of others and abide by all copyright notices and regulations when using the computing facilities provided for your course of study by the University of Waterloo. No material on the Internet or World Wide Web may be reproduced or distributed in any material form or in any medium, without permission from copyright holders or their assignees. To support your course of study, the University of Waterloo has provided hypertext links to relevant websites, resources, and services on the web. These resources must be used in accordance with any registration requirements or conditions which may be specified. You must be aware that in providing such hypertext links, the University of Waterloo has not authorized any acts (including reproduction or distribution) which, if undertaken without permission of copyright owners or their assignees, may be infringement of copyright. Permission for such acts can only be granted by copyright owners or their assignees.

If there are any questions about this notice, please contact the University of Waterloo, Centre for Extended Learning, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1 or extendedlearning@uwaterloo.ca.