Image of Postcard of Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson spelled out with images of the city. Creative Commons attribution.
Course Introduction:
English 301 is the foundational course to most English major/minor courses. Consequently, students will
- develop literary analysis skills through exposure to various genres
- explore different theoretical positions to enhance understanding of literature
- and learn information literacy
By the end of the term, students will learn to synthesize these building blocks in order to craft a literary research essay. This course is an intensive writing course.
Course Objectives
- Students will learn critical close reading/analysis skills of literary texts verbally and in written form.
- Students will learn rudimentary differences between genres.
- Students will learn about various theoretical schools.
- Students will learn to apply theoretical approaches to literature, verbally and in written form, in order to expand their understandings of literary texts.
- Students will learn, through their applications of theory to literature, to write essays that employ organization, argumentation and style.
- Students will learn information literacy (the evaluation of and incorporation of scholarly sources).
- Students will learn the construction of the literary research essay.
- Students will write a 5-7 page critical research essay with attention to MLA citation style and with a minimum of three sources.
- Students will demonstrate the ability to effectively use the grammatical and stylistic conventions of Dominant Academic/professional Discourse (DAD) in writing.
Required Texts:
- Materials posted on Moodle (M).
Recommended Text:
- MLA Handbook, Ninth Edition. Copies of this book are in the English Program's Decker Studio (top level of Britt Hall).
- Teacher: Alma Alvarez