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Student Learning Outcomes -

• Student will demonstrate knowledge of research methods, including proper citation and documentation; student will also demonstrate information competency.
• Students will be able to formulate an arguable thesis.
• Students will be able to identify and analyze rhetorical devices in written texts.
• Students will be able to make logical inferences to arrive at an interpretation.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to draw comparisons between written works and the contexts (historical, social) of those works.

Description -

Further development in the technique and practice of analytical, critical, and argumentative writing through critical reading of literature. Course focuses on literary works from major genres to promote appreciation of literature and represent a broad spectrum of opinions and ideas, writing styles, and cultural experiences. Formal instruction in composition and critical thinking. The honors section offers a challenging intellectual environment for students intending to transfer to a four-year college or university. Class discussion and assignments focus on literature as a reflection of multiple perspectives, social constructs, and cultural values. Course fosters an understanding and appreciation of various literary genres and includes logic and literary theory. Emphasis on rhetorical strategies and stylistic refinements for effective persuasive writing across the disciplines. Enrichment activities include attendance at plays, author readings, public lectures, and independent or collaborative study on a contemporary author.

Course Objectives -

1. Analyze literature from major genres: at minimum poetry, drama, and fiction (novel and short story). Nonfiction supplemented where necessary.
2. Identify and analyze literary and rhetorical devices in connection with a text's main themes.
3. Recognize differences in value systems based on culture in a given text.
4. Draw comparisons to other works and contexts.
5. Read and analyze texts to demonstrate critical thinking skills.

1. Write extended compositions based on class reading and demonstrate interpretive as well as critical thinking skills.
2. Formulate an arguable thesis and substantiate it through analysis, logical and systematic organization, supporting evidence, and clarity of expression.
3. Use diction and tone appropriate to the academic community and the purpose of the specific writing task; proofread for errors in language and mechanics to the degree that the nature and frequency of errors do not become distracting.
4. Use techniques of research, especially textual citations and proper documentation.
5. Demonstrate through extensive application in written assignments the ability to distinguish fundamental concepts of critical thinking.
6. Apply theoretical models or schema (such as sociological or historical criticism) to a text.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment -

1. Private messages within the Course Management System
2. Personal email outside of the Course Management System
3. Telephone contact/weekly announcements in the Course Management System
4. Chat room within the Course Management System
5. Timely feedback and return of student work (tasks, tests, surveys, and discussions) in the Course Management System by methods clarified in the syllabus
6. Discussion forums with appropriate facilitation and/or substantive instructor participation
7. ePortfolios/blogs/wiki to share student works in progress, provide feedback from fellow students and faculty in a collaborative manner, and to demonstrate mastery, comprehension, application, and synthesis of a given set of concepts

 

Course Content (Body of knowledge) -

1. Read and analyze literature totaling at least two book-length college-level texts in separate or anthology form, covering at minimum the major literary genres: poetry, drama, and fiction, but not excluding non-fiction
1. Comprehend and evaluate a text's main themes
2. Draw reasoned inferences based on careful reading of a text
2. Rhetorical analysis
1. Analyze varieties in voice, rhetorical style and purpose, genre
2. Identify and analyze literary devices in connection with a text's main themes
3. Establish cultural and historical contexts for a text and determine how those contexts shape that literature
4. Draw connections that synthesize:
1. Two or more texts
2. The text(s) and the student's individual experiences and ideas
5. Read and analyze texts to demonstrate critical thinking skills
1. Distinguish denotation from connotation, the abstract from the concrete, and the literal from the inferential (including analogy, extended metaphor, and symbol)
2. Identify logic and logical fallacies such as syllogistic reasoning, abstractions, undefined terms, name-calling, false analogy, ad hominem, and ad populum arguments
3. Recognize and evaluate assumptions underlying an argument
4. Draw and assess inferences and recognize distinctions among assumptions, inferences, facts, and opinions

1. Written work totaling 8,000 words or more:
1. Five or more text-based compositions of 1,000 words or more, requiring analysis of complex issues/situations, textual ambiguity, and multiple perspectives
2. Responses to assigned reading
2. Writing as process (discovery and synthesis):
1. Invention, generation, collection of ideas
2. Formulation of arguable thesis
3. Organization, development, proper use of textual evidence
4. Drafting, revision, editing
5. Synthesis of texts and student ideas
3. Writing as product
1. Attention to technical detail
2. Rhetorical features (structure, analysis, insight)
4. Research methods
1. Proper use of quotations and documentation
2. Focus on variety of sources (print/nonprint/electronic) with evaluation of credibility and relevance of same
5. Critical thinking and writing
1. Demonstrated awareness of logic and reasoning in course writing, including awareness of logic and logical fallacies, assumptions, inferences, and opinions
6. Application of literary theories and critical schools (gender studies, reader-response, new historicism, psychoanalytic criticism, etc.)

Methods of Evaluation -

1. Write a total of at least 8,000 words: a minimum of three untimed, formal essays (in-class or online) and two timed, informal essay exams (in-class or online).
2. Final examination: a clearly reasoned composition within a limited period of time.

Representative Text(s) -

Disciplines -

Method of Instruction -

Lab Content -

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing and Outside of Class Assignments -

1. Reading essays, poetry, short stories, drama, novels, and/or nonfiction books and articles which focus on topics appropriate to the practice of critical thinking
2. Writing informal journal responses to readings
3. Writing formal analyses of readings in college academic essay format