ENGL 2341 - Course Syllabus
Instructor Contact and Course Information
Instructor's Name
Jacob Arnold
Email Address
jarnold@nctc.edu
Phone
940-498-6282 Ext. 6513
Office Hours
Monday and Wednesday: 11:00 - 2:00
If the above hours do not work with your schedule, don’t hesitate to reach out and set up a time to meet that does. We can email or chat at your convenience. The bottom line is that I am here for you. We will make it work.
Course Name & Number
ENGL 2341 - Forms of Literature
Semester & Year
Fall 2023 (2nd 8-week)
Course Description (NCTC Catalog)
The study of one or more literary genres, including but not limited to: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, and/or film.
Prerequisite
Passing Grade in 1301.
Last day to Withdraw
Last day to drop a class with a grade of “W” is November 27, 2023.
Withdrawing from a CourseLinks to an external site.
Grading Criteria
- Discussions
- Quizzes
- Unit Projects
- Weekly Challenges
- Participation
Major Assignments (unit projects)
All major assignments are required. If you fail to turn in one of the major tasks, you unfortunately cannot pass the course. I reserve the right to administratively drop any student who does not submit all major assignments so that they may receive a W instead of an F. All decisions regarding the course and our interactions will be discussed.
Class Attendance Policy
Regular and punctual attendance is expected of all students in all classes for which they have registered. All absences are considered to be unauthorized unless the student is absent due to illness or emergencies as determined by the instructor only after the student reaches out explaining the absence to the instructor of record. It is the student's responsibility to provide documentation as to the emergency for approval and judgment by the faculty member. Approved college-sponsored activities are the only absences for which a student should not be held liable and only when provided by a college official ahead of the absence.
Valid reasons for absence, however, do not relieve the student of the responsibility for making up required work. Students will not be allowed to make up an examination missed due to absence unless they have reasons acceptable to the instructor. A student who is compelled to be absent when a test is given should petition the instructor, in advance if possible, for permission to postpone the exam. A student will be dropped from a class by the Registrar upon the recommendation of the instructor who feels the student has been justifiably absent or tardy a sufficient number of times to preclude meeting the course’s objectives. Persistent, unjustified absences from classes or laboratories will be considered adequate cause for College officials to drop a student from the rolls of the College. From Board Policy FC (LOCAL)
After you miss a full week of instruction or a week’s worth of assignments, I will reach out and try to make contact. Please be responsive. If you do not respond in a timely manner, I will make the tough decision to remove you from the course to ensure that a “W” and not an “F” appears on your transcript. Please still reach out to me to let me know that you and yours are okay and safe. I ultimately want what is in your best interest to transpire.
The bottom line is, I want you to engage with our course, with the students inside, and with me. Do so, and you'll be golden. Reach out the second something comes up and let me know if there is going to be a conflict before they arrive. I am here to serve, and I can do so more effectively with information. You're never a bother. Keep me posted on what's going on and how I can best help.
Regarding absences for dual-credit students for school related activities. For our course, you are a college student attending NCTC. Aside from dire circumstances which we will handle case by case, there are no excused absences. So, if you are going to be missing a ton of class because of sports or FFA or DECA or Student Council or Theater or Band or anything else that is extracurricular, please know that those will be considered absences. There are online course options for students who lead obligation filled lives and there is no shame in attacking life in the most constructive way. We will work together to solve any issue that arises, but simply know that there is an expectation for you to be in class and to engage online all semester long.
Late work policy: A major writing task is due on the day listed on Canvas. However, I understand that life happens. I understand that life happens. There are certain circumstances where late work is necessary and will not affect your success in our course. Some of those reasons are as follows: the passing of a loved one, serious illness, birth/adoption of a child, alien invasion, apocalypse, etc. Some things that do NOT constitute a great reason are as follows: sporting event, FFA showing, another course's homework, super duper busy, forgot, traffic, a poorly constructed lie, mean people in the hallway, etc. I have built ample time into each challenge and will adjust the class's due dates as needed. It's your job to manage your personal time efficiently and get the work you've committed to turn in. More importantly, I want your best, most voice-filled, considerate work you've ever created. To do that, you cannot procrastinate or think the 3:00 AM dash to finish will work for the rest of your life.
A separate assignment will be scored as a 100 for late work grade-wise at the beginning of the semester. If you decide to turn in work late, there will be a five-point deduction for each assignment that's tardy to the party. The assignment will be scored as it would have been, and the feedback will come after I have assessed and commented on everyone else's assignment. I also reserve the right to not accept late work over one week past the due date except in our discussed circumstances. These will be on a case-by-case basis. Here's the bottom line: Find a way to finish your work well. We're all busy and stretched thin. But we can do this! Reach out if I can be of any help at all. That's why I'm here.
Professionalism
Your college courses are also opportunities for you to learn what it means to be a “professional” in your field. Therefore, I expect you to act like a “professional” student in this course. Consider these suggestions:
- Prepare and participate meaningfully in online discussion boards.
- Be assertive. (An assertive student exhausts all available resources of information before contacting me. In other words, read the assignment sheet carefully before e-mailing me to ask how many sources are required in your paper, and if you are unsure how to cite a source, look it up in your handbook or a credible, online source—such as The Purdue Owl or a handbook.)
- Consider the quality (and effort) of required drafts, notes, and daily assignments.
- Turn in writing assignments on-time and as assigned.
- Mind the quality and tone of email correspondence.
Email Correspondence
I reserve 24 hours to respond to students’ emails. Emails sent to me become my personal property, and I may disclose them to third parties if I determine it’s necessary. Emails constitute correspondence between instructor and student; therefore, remember your audience when sending me emails. Email correspondence may contribute positively or negatively to your professionalism grade.
Gender Identity
This course affirms people of all gender expressions and identities. If you prefer to be called by a different name than what is on the class roster, please let me know. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records, and so I may call you by your accurate name and pronouns.
Basic Needs
Any student who faces challenges securing food or housing and believes this may affect their performance in the course is urged to contact the Dean of Students, Dr. Roxanne Del Rio (rdelrio@nctc.edu) for support. Furthermore, please notify me if you are comfortable doing so. This will enable me to direct you to additional resources for support.
Student Support Services
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USEFUL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES
Affinity Groups. Staff and faculty representing the Employee Resource Groups (ERG’s), along with academic advisors, counselors and success coaches, serve as mentors for NCTC’s student-centered Affinity Groups. An Affinity Group is a population of students who have specific needs, barriers, or systems they are needing to navigate not only within college but within life. Providing mentorship, support, and resources for identified Affinity Groups such as Black/African American students, veterans, and active military, single parents, students with disabilities, adult learners, Latinx, LGBTQ+ and students who have experienced foster care and/or homelessness, enables us to make more impactful, meaningful connections with students who are in dire need of equity and understanding. For more information, refer to this handout Download handout.
Basic Needs: Any student who faces challenges securing food or housing and believes this may affect their performance in the course is urged to contact the Dean of Students, Dr. Roxanne Del Rio (rdelrio@nctc.edu) for support. Furthermore, please notify me if you are comfortable doing so. This will enable me to direct you to additional resources for support.
Career Services Center. The NCTC Career Services Center is the place you can go for educational and career planning. Services include Career/Degree Exploration, Job Search Tools and Resources, Resume and Professional Portfolio Development, Interview Skills, and Preparation. Our Career Advisors partner with you in making your educational journey an efficient process toward a rewarding career. For more information, refer to this handout Download handout.
Completion Center. The NCTC Completion Center is a comprehensive student engagement program that increases retention and completion rates of first-time, low-income students. Services include Success coaching to address students’ academic and non-academic challenges and issues; Success Seminars, and centralized career readiness and job placement program. For more information, refer to this handout Download handout.
Counseling and Advising. Support Services, Counseling and Advising staff offer a variety of services to current and prospective students, such as College 101, placement testing, academic advising and course registration, transfer assistance, and College Success seminars (Time Management, Study Skills, Test Anxiety, Choosing a Major, Learning Style Strategies, Career Exploration) and much more. For more information, refer to this handout Download handout.
Course Content in Canvas: All course content is housed in this Canvas shell and all work must be submitted here. While dual credit students might use a different online course management system, all NCTC coursework must be submitted here.
Disability Accommodations: The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) provides accommodations for students with disabilities. OSD counselors and advisors also provide strategies for academic success; individual, career, and academic counseling services as well as referrals to campus and community services and assistance with admission and registration. It is not necessary that a student with a disability disclose his/her disability to college officials if he/she is not requesting any accommodations. OSD is federally funded through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Federal Grant. NCTC is committed to making its degree and certificate programs accessible to all qualified persons in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA Amendments Act, and The Rehabilitation Act (1973), Section 504.
New Students: Accommodations require advanced preparation. Please make your request before the semester begins. Documentation is required before any accommodations can be provided. Depending on your diagnosis, this documentation should come from a medical doctor, psychologist, or other licensed or properly credentialed professional.
Current Students: Contact the OSD at the beginning of each semester well in advance of registration.
Contact Us: Please reach out to us to schedule an intake or if you have questions or concerns. Wayne Smith, OSD Manager, kwsmith@nctc.edu, (940) 498-6207 Yvonne Sandmann, OSD Advisor, ysandmann@nctc.edu, (940) 668-3300
Early Alert and CARES. The NCTC Early Alert program assists students who are at risk of failing or withdrawing from a course. Faculty and staff may refer students through the Early Alert process at any point in the semester in an effort to provide appropriate intervention and access to support services. Examples of behaviors that could prompt an Early Alert referral could be missing assignments, failing tests, excessive absences, or personal circumstances impacting academic performance. A student submitted as an Early Alert will be contacted by an academic advisor or success coach through text, phone, and/or via their NCTC e-mail address to discuss any current challenges, as well as helpful resources and success strategies-we, want our students to finish strong and know that education is a partnership! The NCTC CARES (Campus Assessment Response Evaluation Services) Team is concerned not only about our students' academic success, but also their emotional and physical well-being. The CARES Team promotes a safe learning environment for students, faculty, and staff and is committed to taking a proactive approach in helping our students succeed by addressing the mental, emotional or psychological health and safety of the NCTC community. As a student, you have the ability to report concerning behavior that could impact your own safety or the safety of another NCTC student, such as stalking, harassment, physical or emotional abuse, violent or threatening behavior, or self-harm. Visit the NCTC CARES site to also locate campus and community resources, or email counseling@nctc.edu to get in touch with a member of the CARES Team directly. As always, if you feel there is an immediate threat to your own safety or welfare (or to another student), please call 911 immediately. For more information, refer to this handout Download handout.
Tobacco-Free Campus
NCTC restricts the use of all tobacco products including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, electronic cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco on campus property. NCTC is aware that tobacco use influences underage students, which cumulates unsightly tobacco litter and interferes with assuring clean air for all who come to NCTC. NCTC recognizes the health hazards of tobacco use and of exposure to second-hand smoke. Information on a tobacco cessation program is available for students, faculty, staff who wish to stop using tobacco products. We would like to "thank you" for your help in making our campuses Tobacco-Free. For questions or concerns, please contact the Office of Vice President of Student Services at 940-668-4240.
Additional Information
Scholastic Integrity – Plagiarism
Scholastic dishonesty shall include, but not be limited to cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion. See Student Handbook “Student Rights & Responsibilities: Student Conduct [FLB- (LOCAL)]” #18.
Disciplinary Actions [Student Handbook, #5] “When cheating, collusion, or plagiarism has occurred beyond any reasonable doubt, the instructor may give the student or students involved an “F” on a particular assignment or in the course. [See Scholastic Dishonesty FLB (Local)] The instructor shall make a written report of the incident and the planned action to his Department Chair. The Department Chair shall report the incident and action to the appropriate instructional dean who shall review the case, notify the student and, if necessary, take further action. This may involve either probation or suspension of the student or students in question. If such disciplinary action is deemed necessary, the Dean of Student Services shall be notified, and the action shall be taken through that office.”
Plagiarism, which should be avoided at all costs, includes the following student actions:
- Turning in someone else's ideas, opinions, theories, or work as your own;
- Unintentionally or inadvertently turning in someone else's ideas, opinions, theories, or work as your own as the result of failing to document sources both internally and in the Works Cited;
- Copying words, ideas, or images from someone without giving credit; Failing to put a quotation in quotations marks;
- Giving incorrect information about the source of information, quotations, or images;
- Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit;
- Copying so many words, ideas, or images from a source that it makes up the majority of the student's work, whether or not the student gives credit.
Please be aware that plagiarism is taken seriously. You may not have another person write, type, edit, or revise any parts of your Writing Assignments. You may not use someone else’s Writing Assignment or buy one from a “professional” source. You may not use the material on the internet or in print sources without documenting it. Failure to follow the proper guidelines for documentation constitutes plagiarism.
Considering the severity of the issue, if you ever have any questions or concerns regarding plagiarism, please consider this an open invitation to visit with me about the issue. If I discover that a student has committed intentional plagiarism, the Writing Assignment that has plagiarized materials will receive a zero, and I will recommend to the English Department Head that the student fails the course.
Please please please please don't cheat. Your brain is incredible. Use it well.
General Guidelines for Evaluation of Most Assignments
- “A” Work: This writing is excellent and demonstrates excellence in development, organization, style and tone, and mechanics. There is clear evidence of the writing process (invention, drafting, revision, editing, and proofreading).
- “B” Work: This is good work and delivers substantial information—that is, substantial in both quantity and interest-value. It is well-developed and unified around a clear organizing principle that is apparent early in the piece. There is evidence of the writing process.
- B = 85
- B- = 82
- B-/C+ = 80
- “C” Work: This is an average piece that is generally competent in its development, organization, style, and tone, and mechanics. It meets the needs of the assignment, has few mechanical errors, and is reasonably organized and developed. This piece also shows some evidence of the writing process.
- C = 75
- C- = 72
- C-/D+ = 70
- “D” Work: This is below-average work that lacks development and is not effectively organized to facilitate the reader’s understanding. The paper also shows little or no evidence of the writing process.
- “F” Work: This work fails in all aspects of the evaluation criteria. There is no evidence of the writing process, and the paper fails in all aspects of development, organization, style, and mechanics.
- F (work submitted and attempted) = 55
- F (no work submitted or attempted) = 0
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion, students will be able to:
- Identify key ideas, representative authors and works, significant historical or cultural events, and characteristic perspectives or attitudes expressed in the literature of different periods or regions.
- Analyze literary works as expressions of individual or communal values within the social, political, cultural, or religious contexts of different literary periods.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the development of characteristic forms or styles of expression during different historical periods or in different regions.
- Articulate the aesthetic principles that guide the scope and variety of works in the arts and humanities.
- Write research-based critical papers about the assigned readings in clear and grammatically correct prose, using various critical approaches to literature.
Foundational Component Area
Communication
Core Objectives
Courses in this category focus on developing ideas and expressing them clearly, considering the effect of the message, fostering understanding, and building the skills needed to communicate persuasively. Courses involve the command of oral, aural, written, and visual literacy skills that enable people to exchange messages appropriate to the subject, occasion, and audience.
- Critical Thinking Skills (CT)- to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information
- Communication Skills (COM)- to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication
- Teamwork (TW)- to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal
- Personal Responsibility (PR)- to include the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision-making [Rev. 5-2014 THECB]
Institutional Learning Goals
A quality general education curriculum in all associate degree programs.
- Quality freshman and sophomore level courses in arts and sciences which parallel the lower division offerings of four-year colleges and universities.
- Quality technical programs leading directly to careers in semi-skilled and skilled occupations, and quality technical education programs up to two years in length leading to certificates and associate degrees.
- Quality programs and services in support of adult literacy and basic skills development as a means of workforce enhancement and expanding access to higher education.
Course Type
Academic General Education Course (from Academic Course Guide Manual but not in NCTC Core). Academic NCTC Core Curriculum Course. WECM Course
Program Purpose Statement
NCTC seeks to implement its goal of providing quality freshman and sophomore level courses in arts and sciences that parallel the lower division offerings of four-year colleges and universities by offering a coherent sequence of courses with appropriate breadth and depth to prepare a student for transfer to a university.
Departmental Purpose Statement
The Department of English, Speech, and Foreign Language provides quality instruction to students pursuing their academic and career goals.
EEOC Statement
North Central Texas College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, or disability in the employment or the provision of services.
Grade Appeals and Incomplete Grades
Students can read more by visiting the Academic Catalog: