In this course, we will introduce you to a range of literary genres including poetry, fiction, drama, creative nonfiction, and other cultural texts, as well as continuing to develop your college writing skills. This course in particular prepares students for writing in the humanities, and for reading and responding to a variety of texts to develop an understanding and appreciation of human ideals.  

This course has mid-week and weekly deadlines.

Entry Level Competencies:

• You must have taken English 111 or an equivalent first semester college writing course before you may take English 125.
• You must be proficient in word processing software.

The following are the course objectives of English 125:

1. Learning basic literary terms: Students will be taught the language they need to approach literature meaningfully. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• use the standard terms of plot development;
• use the standard terms that describe figurative language;
• identify varieties of point of view; and
• understand and apply a vocabulary of basic conventions.

2. Recognizing conventions of genre: Students will be taught to recognize significant similarities between texts. By the end of the course students will be able to:

• define major dramatic types, such as tragedy and comedy
• recognize the development of themes;
• recognize a variety of poetic techniques and forms; and
• understand the relationship between structure and meaning.

3. Using interpretive methods: Students will be introduced to different ways of reading and interpreting literature. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• examine a single work from a variety of interpretive methods;
• engage in discussions using interpretive methods
• write an analysis using some or all of these methods
• recognize the validity of different perspectives as representing human diversity and universal themes.

4. Writing skills: Students will continue to improve their writing skills. By the end of the course, students will have:

• written a minimum of 3500 words of graded text, in the form of discussion forums, weekly assignments, creative writing, a midterm exam essay, and a final exam essay;
• engaged in all forms of the writing process;
• employed a clear focus that guides their choice of evidence, language, and organization.

Possible Assignments Include: (Subject to change each semester. The actual assignments are available in the Syllabus in the Blackboard course site on the first day of classes.)

Your final grade may be based on the following scale. Please note that you might also need to pass one or both exams in order to pass the course, regardless of your scores on the other assignments.

There are 2 exams in this course.

Last Updated: September 1, 2011