Irvine Valley College

Online Literature Study of the School of Humanities and Languages

Literature 24 - Contemporary Literature

Summer 2010 - ticket # 62620

CLASS MEETS FROM 7/6/2010 to 8/15/2010

Marjorie Coverley Luesebrink, MFA, Instructor

Writing Assignments

Your grade in Contemporary Literature will be based on the written assignments for the class:  Discussion Posting, Research Paper, and Take-Home Final Exam. 

If you wish to take the class Credit/No Credit, you need only do the Weekly Written Posts [two times a week] and the Research Project.  If you wish to earn a grade in the class, you must Post Twice a Week, complete a Research Paper, and complete the Take-Home Final Exam.

[Note:  to obtain Credit/NoCredit status you must apply to Admissions and Records yourself!]

A.  A Research Project.

B.  A take-home, written Final Exam.

Reading Assignments

Unit 1:  Introduction:  The Floating Contemporary - What is Contemporary Literature?

Week beginning July 6, 2010.

Reading:  Joseph Heller, Catch 22.

Unit 2:  The Illusion of the Receding Past

Week beginning July 12, 2010.

Reading:  William Gibson, Neuromancer.

Unit 3:  The Future In and Out of Time

Week beginning July 19, 2010.

Reading:  Gabriel Garcia-Marquez:  Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Unit 4:  Echoes from the Margins

Week beginning July 26, 2010.

Reading:  Toni Morrison, Sula  

Unit 5: The Game of War and Control

Week beginning August 2, 2010.

Reading:  Joan Didion,  Democracy  

Unit 6: Enduring Consciousness and Culture

Weeks beginning on August 9, 2010.

Reading:  Richard Ford,  Rock Springs

Unit 7:  The Digital Now

Extra Lesson for those who are interested:

Reading:  The Electronic Literature Collection // Readings from the WWW

Review and Sharing of Research Projects:

Weeks beginning August 9, 2010.   

Research Papers and Take-Home Final Due August 13, 2010.

Required Written Work

A.  Twice-Weekly Posting.

Your grade in the class will be based partially on your Two Weekly Posts (minimum).  Of course, not every post will be a long, thoughtful text, but your posts should show that you are reading the texts, the lectures, and the posts of your classmates.

B.  The Research Project.

The Final Research Project is a mid-length paper (6-8 pages) that links an author you choose to one of the themes of the class.  As soon as you become acquainted with the class and the Discussion List, you should be looking for a contemporary author that you would like to write about.  You can discuss this with your classmates on the list, ask me for suggestions, or do some Web sleuthing about subjects that interest you.  Once you have chosen an author you would like to write about for your Research Project, you will use your research material to help you share information and shape your Weekly Posts to the Discussion List.  You will probably be able to use some of your Weekly Responses as the text for your Research Project about your chosen author.  

Description. 

This Research Paper is a documented essay that follows a specific thesis linking your chosen author to one of the main themes of the Class:  Changing Technology, The Supernatural, Marginal Voices, War and Control, Classic Themes. (Please see the Lecture List for more about these themes!)  Please note, then, that this paper is not supposed to be a book report or an author bio.  You will need to read several works by your chosen author.  You will, additionally, need to know about the author's life, work, and impact on literary development, but you will only use this information in your essay as it is needed to support your Thesis Statement.  The paper should be 6-8 text pages, have a bibliography and footnotes (or works cited), and have a title page.  

Documentation:

There are many resources on the web for format and documentation of your paper - a good guide to the MLA style for preparing papers is

A Guide for Writing Research Papers based on Modern Language Association (MLA) Documentation (Humanities Dept. & the Arthur C. Banks, Jr., Library, Capital Community-Technical C., Hartford, Connecticut)

and there are many other resources at Voice of the Shuttle - Style Guides are available at Voice of the Shuttle as well as links to many contemporary writers.

Due Date:

The hard copy or the e-mail version is due on Friday, August 13, 2010.

Requirements:

The Research Paper should be typed (I need a Microsoft word.doc), proof-read, and the grammar should reflect correct English usage.

The questions for the Final Exam are already up at our site.  You should choose TWO questions to answer with short essay responses.  Prepare these in a Microsoft word.doc and e-mail them to me by Friday, August 13, 2010.  Be sure to refer to the lectures and the reading in your answers!

Remember:  If you wish to take the class Credit/No Credit, you need only do the Twice-Weekly Posting on the Discussion List and the Research Project. For students seeking a letter grade, the Final Exam is a requirement.

The written, take-home exam may be started at any time after the fourth week of class.

Written Final Exam

Due Date

The take-home Final Exam will be due on Friday, August 13.  Also, during the last week, I will be available for consultation in my office about your progress in the class. 

If you have questions about how these two written assignments contribute to your grade in the class, please see Grading Policies.