ENGL 3346
The Romantics
January - April 2019
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General course information

Required Texts

Course Expectations or Outputs

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

  1. understand various types of Romantic literature, culture, and society, and the habits of mind that correspond with the Romantic period.
  2. recognize and report on the politics of Romantic literature by developing an understanding of its sociological and cultural contexts.
  3. actively read Romantic literature identifying assumptions of sexual, political, and cultural normalcy, and develop arguments based on active reading.
  4. theorize Romanticism’s rejection of template thinking and received ideas.
  5. define, record, arrange, explain, classify, explicate, organize, and analyze Romantic literature in its historical contexts.
  6. communicate ideas and analyses clearly and coherently in class discussion.

Course Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this course will demonstrate:

  1. a detailed knowledge of Romantic literature, including an ability to unpack its ideological underpinnings.
  2. an ability to develop and sustain analytical arguments, including an ability to employ different critical and theoretical approaches.
  3. an ability to communicate logical, analytical arguments in clear, correct, and persuasive prose.

Lectures and preparation

Note that the content of the lectures is meant to stimulate your own thinking: the lecturer’s thoughts about a work do not represent the only way to think about that work. You should develop your own opinions and theories and learn how to express and defend them. You should prepare for the lectures by reading the assigned material (before the lecture), spending some time thinking about the material, and preparing insights and analyses that you would like to share during class time.

Participation

You are expected to participate in class in an informed manner. At the very least, you are expected to come to class regularly, having read all assigned reading. You are expected to participate in class discussions. Keep in mind that participating in class is usually a highly rewarding experience, greatly enhancing your ability to understand the course material and helping ensure your success in the course. Everyone is expected to be courteous and professional at all times in class.

Lateness

Essays must be submitted in paper. They must also be submitted on Blackboard, through SafeAssign. Essays must meet the minimal length requirements, explicitly stated for each assignment. If an essay does not meet the minimal length requirement, including after the essay’s margins, fonts, spacing, etc., have been standardized, the essay will be returned ungraded or with a failing grade. Essays will not be graded until they have been submitted through SafeAssign. Note: essays usually take two to three weeks to grade. If an essay is not submitted in paper, it will be graded without feedback.

Assignments are due in class, on the date indicated by the assignment. A 2% penalty will be applied to the graded assignment for every day the assignment is late. This will include weekend days and public holidays. The maximum lateness penalty will be 20%; essays that are ten or more days late will be graded without feedback. Extensions may be granted for exceptional circumstances, especially for serious medical reasons: in such cases, you should talk to the instructor as soon as possible and be prepared to submit medical documentation about the problem (that should include a statement about the beginning and duration of the issue). No assignment will be accepted after the start of the final exam.

All students are welcome to a seven-day extension on the tern essay assignment.

Plagiarism

The Department of English Studies and Nipissing University maintain a strict policy on all forms of academic dishonesty. Each assignment must be original work produced by the student only for this course. All referencing and documentation must be complete and accurate for both direct and indirect quotations. The Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines for essay preparation are the standard in English Studies. Ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism will not be accepted as an excuse: if you are uncertain about any of this information, see your instructor immediately. All essays and tests are subject to an additional oral and/or written test at the instructor’s discretion. All suspected plagiarism will be reported to the chair of the department, the dean of the faculty, and the registrar of the university.



Marc R. Plamondon, Ph.D. Department of English Studies Nipissing University