American Literature I
Students survey American literature from 1608 to the Civil War, focusing on major writers and works.
By the end of the term, English 207 students will be able to:
Analyze works of American, including Native American and African American, literature from the pre-Civil War era by composing critical analyses (including typed essays, essay exams, and/or research papers) with clear thesis statements and specific, relevant support.
Compose unified, coherent essays (including typed essays, essay exams, and/or research papers) with minimal errors in Standard English grammar, mechanics, and MLA format.
This course uses open educational resources (OER) materials; no textbook purchase is required. Electronic copies of assigned readings will be posted in each of the respective assignments. The primary course text can found by following the link below:
The work for this course is mainly divided into two categories: participation/homework and essays/papers. The breakdown of your final course grade will be as follows:
40%—Participation/Homework
60%—Essays/Papers
Generally speaking, each assignment in the journal, participation, and homework category will earn full credit if it adheres to assignment instructions, is fully completed, and is submitted on time. Work that is incomplete or does not follow assignment instructions may earn partial credit.
Essays/papers are graded according to a rubric covering several criteria: Unity/Content, Coherence/Structure, Support/Development, Sentence Skills, and MLA formatting.
<70% = not passing (revise/resubmit)
70-79% = C
80-89% = B
90-100% = A
Please be aware that it is highly uncommon to receive a "perfect" score on an essay/paper submission in my class; this is not due to work being unsatisfactory, but rather because I believe there is always room for some improvement to any serious piece of writing. If you have earned a score of 90% or higher, that constitutes an A. In my class, if you have earned an A, you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing. Let go of any notion of "perfect" and try to embrace the idea of "better than before."
For most of the work submitted, I will provide written comments in the gradebook comment area for each particular assignment. (Some homework/participation grades may be submitted without comment if the score is fairly self-explanatory.) I strongly urge you to adjust your notification settings in Canvas to receive a notification when I add a comment to your submissions. This way, you should see my feedback in a timely manner. Any work that earns less than 90% may be revised based on my feedback and resubmitted for a new score. Please be sure to read my comments and/or consult the rubric score for an understanding of how each grade was calculated. If you would like to ask questions or discuss my feedback, I encourage you to schedule a meeting with me.