ENGL 2111-P -- World Literature I

Contact Information:

Required Textbooks:

Course Description:

PROCEDURES & PROVISOS: 

1. The reading load will be quite heavy at times, so do not fall behind. To help you
budget your time, I have provided "Page Alerts" that explicitly state the amount of 
reading involved.

2. Participation in the on-line forum is expected on a weekly basis or better. I
will post a topic or question several days prior to the class disussion, and you must
respond no later than noon Tuesday, after which time the topic will
by locked and accessible only for reading, not writing. I reserve the right to
assign additional optional or required work to supplement the forum
participation grade. 
   
3. There will be a weekly graded quiz on the reading. The quiz will be
accessible on-line, and you will submit your answers through a Web
browser. Quizzes will be evaluated within five school days of submission.
Grading is pass/fail, with a pass consisting of ALL questions being correctly
answered. You will have the freedom to retake quizzes over the course of a 
two week period. 

4. There will be three exams, counting equally, each administered through the 
same Web application as the quizzes. There are no retakes for exams. Exams will
be graded (in the usual A to F fashion) within two weeks of submission.

5. The procedure for registering with my on-line software has nothing to do with 
WebCT. Except for the course evaluation at the end of the term, I don't use WebCT.
I will provide instructions near the end of the term to assist you in submitting 
a confidential course evaluation. 
  
6. Late assignments will not be accepted. Make arrangements to turn things in early if 
you plan to be away. 

7. Please note that Inquisition (the testing software we are using) and my backup regime 
make it pointless to claim that materials have been somehow "lost" after being delivered 
to me. It is your responsibility to make sure that they get to me in the first place. If 
they do, they won't get "lost." But since transmission problems are common on the Internet, 
you would be wise to make backups of your quiz and exam answers, or to write them in a 
word processor and cut-and-paste them into Inquisition. 

8. You are also responsible for reading and following the directions provided through 
Inquisition for safe and secure test-taking. If you follow these directions, you will
avoid network timeouts, security breaches, and other unpleasant outcomes yet to be 
imagined.

Grading Proportions:

Participation will be graded based on the on-line forum (See instructions
for details.) I reserve the right to assign additional quizzes or writing
exercises that will also contribute to the participation grade. Three
examinations will be given, each non-comprehensive. These will consist of 
identification questions: an excerpted piece of writing will be presented, and 
you must identify it and discuss it in detail, showing a knowledge of the 
entire work from which it was drawn. These passages will be ones that we
have specifically discussed. You will not be tested on the material in the 
headnotes of the reading assignments, but if you are interested in doing well, 
read the headnotes. The course grade will be calculated as follows:

	Exam I         		20%
	Exam II        		20%
	Exam III (Final)	20%
	Forum Participation 	20%
	Quiz Completion		20%
			      =100%

Tentative Schedule of Assignments:

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Tips:

Page reference "(1:2234)" means "beginning on page 2234 of volume 1 of the anthology."

"Page Alert" notifies you of the total number of pages to read for each assignment.

Quizzes will be due one-half hour before class on Tuesdays.
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WEEK 1 (Tuesday 1-6, Thursday 1-8)
Introduction. Discussion of literary terms and critical practice. 

WEEK 2 (Tuesday 1-13, Thursday 1-15)
The Epic of Gilgamesh (1:10) -- Page Alert: 31

WEEK 3 (Tuesday 1-20, Thursday 1-22)
Excerpts from the Hebrew Bible (1:52) -- Page Alert: 51 

WEEK 4 (Tuesday 1-27, Thursday 1-29)
Hebrew Bible continued

WEEK 5 (Tuesday 2-3, Thursday 2-5)
Homer, Odyssey (1:225) -- Page Alert: 305 

WEEK 6 (Tuesday 2-10, Thursday 2-12)
Euripedes, Medea (1:693) -- Page Alert: 30 

EXAM #1: Available on-line from 6 pm Thursday 2-12 to 6 pm Friday 2-13

WEEK 7 (Tuesday 2-16=7, Thursday 2-19)
Plato, "Apology" (1:779) -- Page Alert: 19 
Thucydides, "Pericles' Funeral Oration" 
and "The Melian Dialogue" (provided on-line) Page Alert: ca. 10

WEEK 8 (Tuesday 2-24, Thursday 2-26)
The Mahabharata (1:953) -- Page Alert: 49 
The Bhagavad-Gita (1:1010) -- Page Alert: 19 

WEEK 9 (Tuesday 3-2, Thursday 3-4)
Virgil, Aeneid (1:1052) -- Page Alert: 82 

WEEK 10 (Tuesday 3-9, Thursday 3-11)
Gospel of Matthew (provided on-line) -- Page Alert: ca. 40 

WEEK 11 (Tuesday 3-16, Thursday 3-18)
Koran excerpts (2:1426) -- Page Alert: 34 
1001 Nights (2:1566) -- Page Alert: 54 

EXAM #2: Available on-line from 6 pm Thursday 3-18 to 6 pm Friday 3-19

WEEK 12 (Tuesday 3-23, Thursday 3-25)
Tale of the Heike (2:2300) -- Page Alert: 24 
Motokiyo, Atsumori (2:2350) -- Page Alert: 6 

WEEK 13 (Tuesday 3-30, Thursday 4-1)
Dante, Divine Comedy (2:1826) -- Page Alert: 137 

WEEK 14 (Tuesday 4-6, Thursday 4-8)
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (provided on-line) -- Page Alert: ca. 50 

WEEK 15 (Tuesday 4-13, Thursday 4-15)
Montaigne selections (3:2632) -- Page Alert: 39 

WEEK 16 (Tuesday 4-20, Thursday 4-22)           
Shakespeare, Hamlet (3:2828) -- Page Alert: 175 
 
EXAM #3 (Final): Accessible on-line; time TBA

Note: Even though Exam #3 does not count more than the other exams, failure to turn 
it in will result in automatic failure of the course.