school of arts and humanities litr320 american fiction credit hours

STUDENT WARNING: This course syllabus is from a previous semester archive and serves only as a preparatory reference. Please use this syllabus as a reference only until the professor opens the classroom and you have access to the updated course syllabus. Please do NOT purchase any books or start any work based on this syllabus; this syllabus may NOT be the one that your individual instructor uses for a course that has not yet started. If you need to verify course textbooks, please refer to the online course description through your student portal. This syllabus is proprietary material of APUS.

School of Arts and Humanities

LITR320

American Fiction

Credit Hours: 3

Length of course: 8 Weeks

Prerequisite(s): ENGL101

ENGL200 Recommended

Table of Contents

Instructor Information Evaluation Procedures

Course Description Grading Scale

Course Scope Course Outline

Course Objectives Policies

Course Delivery Method Academic Services

Course Resources Selected Bibliography

Course Description (Catalog)

This course provides an examination of American society and culture through literature, using fiction that

covers different eras, personalities, and issues. Stress is placed on characterization and other literary

techniques, as well as on the nature of American society itself and fiction's place in that society.

(Prerequisite: ENGL101).

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Course Scope

LITR320 provides a chronological perspective of American fiction, from the main historical periods of

America, beginning with the precursors to the American short story, to the late 20th century and the

present.

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Course Learning Objectives

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After successfully completing this course, you will be able to

CO-1: identify the characteristics of American fiction and their correlation to historical,

economic, cultural, and social events of the period;

CO-2: compare and contrast a variety of texts with respect to periods, themes, and literary

technique;

CO-3: analyze primary and secondary texts in American fiction;

CO-4: examine American fiction in a properly documented (MLA) literary essay; and

CO-5: evaluate American fiction in terms of its literary, thematic, and historical importance to

American culture.

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Course Delivery Method

American Fiction is a B.A. in English course. It is delivered via distance learning. This enables students

to complete academic work in an entirely online and flexible manner. Course materials and access to an

online learning management system will be made available to each student. Online assignments must be

completed in their entirety by midnight Sunday EST of each week. Precursors to the assignment may be

necessary such as discussion forum initial posts, which are due midweek. Assigned faculty will support

the students throughout this 8-week course.

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Course Resources

Required Textbooks:

LITR320: American Fiction. McGraw Hill Education Create. Dubuque, IA: McGraw Hill, 2014.

This is an e-book. Instructions are mailed to you from EdMap to access the book online.

Required Software:

Microsoft Office (MS Word)

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Evaluation Procedures

Instructor Announcements:

Please ensure that you read the course announcements each time you log into your classroom.

Reading Assignments:

There is a great deal of reading for this course. You are asked to have your reading prepared

before each assignment.

Homework and Graded Assignments:

Instructors will determine your final grade based on the following assignments:

Discussion Forums:

A minimum of three posts each forum will consist of the initial post that is due by midweek

(Wednesday 11:55 p.m. EST) and at least two responses due by Sunday at 11:55 p.m. EST.





For full instructions, please see the weekly lesson and the forums.

Critical Thinking Essays:

Students will write two critical response papers in Weeks 3 and 5; each one addresses one of the

novels/works we will have read by the time the paper is due. A critical thinking essay is not

merely a summary of the text, an author biography, or a history lesson.

Please see Assignments for detailed instructions.

Literary Research Essay:

Each student will write an MLA-documented literary research essay in Week 7. Detailed

instructions can be found in Assignments.

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Grading Scale

Please see the Student Handbook (click here) to reference the University’s grading scale.

Grading:

Based on a point system, your final grade will be calculated as follows:

Assignments Percentage of Final Grade

Discussion Forums 40%

Critical Response Essays 40%

Research Essay 20%

Total 100%

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Eight-Week Course Outline

*HINT: PLEASE PLAN YOUR READING OUT WELL IN ADVANCE TO MEET

DEADLINES. THANK YOU*

Week 1 Learning

Objective(s)

Reading(s) & Web Activities Assignments


http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook

http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/grading/index.htm



Week 1:

Introduction

Native American

Creation Stories

1, 3

All assigned readings are in the e-

text

Exploration and the Colonies

“A Tale of the Sky World”

“Coyote and Bear”

“The Chief’s Daughters”

Read your announcement page for

any updates the instructor may need

to pass on to you.

(This will serve as the only reminder

for this task.)

Reading and Web

Activities

Discussion Forum 1:

Introduction

Week 2

Romanticism in

American

Literature

Characterization

1, 3, 5

Romanticism

The Romantic, The Real, and the

American Indian

Washington Irving:

Author Bio

“A History of New York”

“Philip of Pokanoket: An Indian

Memoir”

Reading and Web

Activities

Discussion Forum 2:

Washington Irving

Begin to plan for

Critical Essay 1 Week

3

Week 3

Theme and

Culture

The Supernatural

in Romantic

Fiction

2, 3, 4 Puritanism, Indians, and Witchcraft

Edgar Allan Poe:

Author Bio

“The Black Cat”

“The Imp of the Perverse”

Nathaniel Hawthorne:

Author Bio

“Young Goodman Brown”

“Rappaccini’s Daughter”

Begin to read Jack London’s Iron

Reading and Web

Activities


3 is due

Discussion Forum 3:

Poe, Hawthorne, and

Critical Essay 1 outline

Begin reading Iron

Heel for Critical Essay

2 Week 5


Heel for Essay 2. The novel is

located in chapter 3 of the e-text.

Week 4

Realism,

Naturalism, and

Regionalism

Dialogue and

Voice in Writing

1, 2, 5 Prosperity and Social Justice at the

Turn of the Century

Sarah Orne Jewett:

Author Bio

“The Town Poor”

Henry James:

Author Bio

“The Beast in the Jungle”

Kate Chopin:

Author Bio

“A Pair of Silk Stockings”

Stephen Crane:

Author Bio

“Maggie: A Girl of the Streets”

Complete reading of Iron Heel.

Obtain your novel and film for the

Week 7 final paper.

Reading and Web

Activities

Determine which

American novel and

film for final paper in

Week 7.

Discussion Forum 4.

A Dinner with the

Authors

Complete reading of

Iron Heel, review

literary criticism of the

novel in preparation for

Critical Essay 2 in

Week 5.

Week 5

A Literature of

Social and Cultural

Challenge

Historical and

cultural context of

the early to mid-

20th

century and

the American

fiction

1, 3, 4, 5 A Literature of Social and Cultural

Challenge

Willa Cather:

Author Bio

“Paul’s Case”

Sherwood Anderson:

Author Bio

“The Book of the Grotesque”

John Dos Passos:

Author Bio

“The Big Money”

F. Scott Fitzgerald:

Author Bio

“The Ice Palace”

Reading and Web

Activities


5 is due: Iron Heel

Discussion Forum 5.

Cather, Anderson, Dos

Passos, and Fitzgerald


You should be working on the novel

and film you are presenting in your

final paper in Week 7.

Week 6:

Second World War

and Its Aftermath

The Theme within

a short story

1, 2, 5 The Second World War and Its

Aftermath

Flannery O’Connor:

Author Bio

“Good Country People”

Shirley Jackson:

Author Bio

“The Lottery:

Philip Roth:

Author Bio

“The Conversion of the Jews”

You should be completing your

reading and viewing and drafting

your final paper, due in Week 7.

Reading and Web

Activities

Discussion Forum 6:

Post War America and

O’Connor, Jackson,

and Roth

Prepare for next week’s

final literary research

paper, due Week 7.

Week 7:

Literary Research

The Age of

Anxiety

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, The Age of Anxiety: Vietnam, Civil

Rights, and the Women’s Movement

Ann Beattie:

Author Bio

Literary Research

Essay Week 7 is due.

Reading Activity

Discussion Forum 7:

Literary Research

Week 8:

Banned and

challenged books

I hope you enjoyed

your experience

and continue to

gain a broader

perspective of

American fiction.

1, 2, 5 No reading is due this week Discussion Forum 8:

Banned and challenged

books.

Course wrap up.

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Policies

Please see the Student Handbook to reference all University policies. Quick links to frequently

asked question about policies are listed below.

Drop/Withdrawal Policy

Plagiarism Policy

Extension Process and Policy

Disability Accommodations

WRITING EXPECTATIONS

All written submissions should be submitted in MLA format. Please see the MLA style guide in

the APUS library for details.

CITATION AND REFERENCE STYLE Assignments completed in a narrative essay or

composition format must follow MLA guidelines. This course will require students to use the

citation and reference style established by the Modern Language Association (MLA).

Students are expected to submit classroom assignments by the posted due date and to complete

the course according to the published class schedule. Should you need additional time to

complete an assignment, please contact me before the due date, so we can discuss the situation

and determine an acceptable resolution. Routine submission of late assignments should be

eschewed.

NETIQUETTE

Online universities promote the advancement of knowledge through positive and constructive

debate – both inside and outside the classroom. Forums on the Internet, however, can

occasionally degenerate into needless insults and “flaming.” Such activity and the loss of good

manners are not acceptable in a university setting – basic academic rules of good behavior and

proper “Netiquette” must persist. Remember that you are in a place for the rewards and

excitement of learning which does not include descent to personal attacks or student attempts to

stifle the Forum of others.

Technology Limitations: While you should feel free to explore the full-range of creative

composition in your formal papers, keep e-mail layouts simple. The classroom may not

fully support MIME or HTML encoded messages, which means that bold face, italics,

underlining, and a variety of color-coding or other visual effects will not translate in your

e-mail messages.

Humor Note: Despite the best of intentions, jokes and especially satire can easily get lost

or taken seriously. If you feel the need for humor, you may wish to add “emoticons” to

help alert your readers: ;-), : ),

DISCLAIMER

http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook

http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/withdrawal/index.htm

http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/writing-standards/index.htm#Academic_Dishonesty

http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/extension/index.htm

http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/rights-responsibilities/index.htm#Disability_Accommodations


Course content may vary from the outline to meet the needs of this particular group.

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Academic Services

The Online Library is available to enrolled students and faculty from inside the electronic

campus. This is your starting point for access to online books, subscription periodicals, and Web

resources that are designed to support your classes and generally not available through search

engines on the open Web. In addition, the Online Library provides access to special learning

resources, which the University has contracted to assist with your studies. Questions can be

directed to [email protected].

Charles Town Library and Inter Library Loan: The University maintains a special

library with a limited number of supporting volumes, collection of our professors’

publications, and services to search and borrow research books and articles from other

libraries.

Electronic Books: You can use the online library to uncover and download over 50,000

titles, which have been scanned and made available in electronic format.

Electronic Journals: The University provides access to over 12,000 journals, which are

available in electronic form and only through limited subscription services.

Tutor.com: AMU and APU Civilian & Coast Guard students are eligible for 10 free

hours of tutoring provided by APUS. Tutor.com connects you with a professional tutor

online 24/7 to provide help with assignments, studying, test prep, resume writing, and

more. Tutor.com is tutoring the way it was meant to be. You get expert tutoring whenever

you need help, and you work one-to-one with your tutor in your online classroom on your

specific problem until it is done.

Request a Library Guide for your course (http://apus.libguides.com/index.php)

The AMU/APU Library Guides provide access to collections of trusted sites on the Open

Web and licensed resources on the Deep Web. The following are specially tailored for

academic research at APUS:

Program Portals contain topical and methodological resources to help launch general

research in the degree program. To locate, search by department name, or navigate by

school.

Course Lib-Guides narrow the focus to relevant resources for the corresponding

course. To locate, search by class code (e.g., SOCI111), or class name.

If a guide you need is not available yet, please email the APUS Library: [email protected].

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Turnitin.com


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.tutor.com/colleges/landing/apus

http://apus.libguides.com/index.php

http://online.apus.edu/educator/temp/ls1850/nsec501b002sum10/[email protected]



APUS/AMU requires assignments be submitted to Turnitin.com. Assignments will submit

automatically to Turnitin, and the reports will be available to both students and instructors.

Turnitin.com will analyze a paper and report instances of potential plagiarism for the student to

verify and edit (if necessary) before the student submits any assignment for a grade.

Selected Bibliography

See weekly lessons for any additional course materials.

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school of arts and humanities litr320 american fiction credit hours

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