English 52B Fall 2001 Melville & Pynchon

Course Requirements

 Regular attendance: because the class meets just once a week, more than 1 unexcused absence over the course of the semester will hurt your grade.

 Come to class having studied the readings and other materials assigned for that day, and with specific topics, questions, and passages youd like to discuss.

 Participation in class discussions and other class activities, including list-serv discussions and in-class discussions as requested.



 Completion of writing assignments on time. Late papers and other assignments will be penalized. Completion of any assigned revisions to papers may also part of the course requirements.

Assigned writing for English 52B will be of three kinds: class list-serv discussions . Except for the first week of the semester, each student is required to post a substantive comment on the assigned reading on the English 52B list-serv by Tuesday at 5pm. Postings may be responses to other comments or autonomous opinions and observations. Class members use list-serv lists in their regular email programs. No passwords are needed. Send to majordomo@swarthmore.edu the following request in the body of the email, not the subject-line: english52b@swarthmore.edu

. Except for the first week of the semester, each student is required to post a substantive comment on the assigned reading on the English 52B list-serv by Tuesday at 5pm. Postings may be responses to other comments or autonomous opinions and observations. Class members use list-serv lists in their regular email programs. No passwords are needed. Send to majordomo@swarthmore.edu the following request in the body of the email, not the subject-line: english52b@swarthmore.edu short typed focus papers , concentrating on a particular passage. Due dates are on the syllabus.

, concentrating on a particular passage. Due dates are on the syllabus. 2 papers of medium length, double-spaced, due on the dates indicated on the syllabus. The second paper is a research paper requiring the use of some secondary sources; further details later this semester.



 Grading: Quality of class participation counts 25%; Papers 75%. Poor attendance and class participation and late papers will negatively affect your grade, just as poor written work will. Clear improvement in your writing over the course of the semester will help your final grade, as will thoughtful class participation.



A note about honesty and coursework: All writing that you turn in for this English class should be yours alone and done solely for this course. When you are borrowing ideas and language from others it is your responsibility to acknowledge these sources accurately; anything less constitutes plagiarism and severe penalties may be involved (including flunking the course and suspension for a semester) regardless of whether you intended to plagiarize or not.

For more information about citations, see the Swarthmore English Literature Departments Web Page: (www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/english). Students should also consult the Swarthmore College Student Handbooks section on Academic Honesty, which has advice relevant for all your classes at Swarthmore.

Plagiarism penalties do not mean you should be afraid of consulting with others or of borrowing good ideas: it is very simple to acknowledge these in a bibliography at the end of the paper. I will be happy to confer with you about any issues involving citing sources properly.



