Welcome to English 132—Spring 2009
My name is Dr. Gary McIlroy, and I will be your instructor for this
course. As a 95% online course, most of our work will be done on our
website (henryford.ucompass.com) at your convenience (although all assignments
have deadlines).
PLEASE NOTE: You will not be able to
access our course UCompass site until the first day
of the semester. At that time, go to henryford.ucompass.com
and follow the instructions for logging in. However, in order to prepare for
the start of class, please read the abbreviated course description and
instructions below.
If you are unfamiliar with the
UCOMPASS website, there is a tutorial ("UCOMPASS ORIENTATION") at henryford.ucompass.com .
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IMPORTANT: This English class will
require a lot of your time, perhaps more of your time than any previous English
class you have taken. We will read one novel and numerous short stories,
essays, and poems. We will have multiple quizzes as well as write four
essays and one research paper, and we must do all of this work in 7 and a half
weeks unlike the 16 week Fall and Winter semesters.
(Since this is the same course that
you would take in the fall or winter semesters and you receive the same credit
for it, you must do the same amount of work.)
Although most of our work will be online, I will schedule a session on campus
on writing the research paper.
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Here are the things that you need to do to get started:
Purchase the novel Jack Maggs, by Peter Carey,
and the anthology Making Literature Matter, fourth edition (ISBN: 10:
0-312-47491-1). Both of these books are available in the bookstore.
In Making Literature Matter
we will be reading many of the selections in the “Families” and “Journeys”
sections.
Specific reading assignments will be
given on the first day of class.
There will be a five-question
multiple choice quiz (each counting for 5 points) on
each of the stories, poems, and essays we read in Making Literature Matter.
There will also be three 25 point quizzes on Jack Maggs
and a final essay quiz on the selections from Making Literature Matter.
One of the most helpful things you
can do when reading these books is to underline important passages or makes
notes in the margins. This will help you remember information and find it if
you need to use it.
It would be a good idea to start reading Jack Maggs.
It will not only be the major focus of our research
paper, but, as mentioned above, there will be three 25 point quizzes on this
novel.
Here is the reading schedule for Jack Maggs:
Weeks 1-2--Read through chapter 25
Weeks 2-3--Read through chapter 57
Weeks 4--Finish the novel
While reading this novel, we will also
be reading the selections in Making Literature Matter.
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As an online student, you will need regular, almost daily access to a reliable
computer and Internet connection. If you do not have such access, you should
not take this course. This would be similar to a student who signed up to
a traditional class but couldn’t find the transportation to get to campus.
Additionally, since most of our work is done online (including timed quizzes
and essays), please note that a malfunctioning computer or internet connection
IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO REDO AN ASSIGNMENT.
If you get logged off in the middle
of a quiz or your screen freezes up, you will not be able to have a second
chance to complete any graded or timed assignment. I cannot allow students to
take a quiz who may have already seen the questions. Only if there is a
malfunction of UCOMPASS software, confirmed by our UCOMPASS course
administrators, will any allowances be made.
Please keep in mind that this is a
“second semester” college writing class, which by its nature is more demanding
that any previous writing class you may have taken.