Mulholland Drive screen shot

Syllabus


Requirements

Class Participation

Class discussion constitutes one key method of developing your analytical skills. Thus, I expect prompt, regular attendance and active participation in discussions of films and readings. You should come prepared for each class session with assigned reading completed. Moreover, you should plan to ask questions, make comments, summarize critical arguments, analyze clips, paraphrase your electronic postings, or contribute to small-group discussions. Students should also expect me to call on them, as I want everyone to earn full points for class participation. Like all skills, speaking in class becomes easier with practice. I do not expect fully polished analyses in class discussion; rather, your contributions represent ideas for further development.

The wireless classroom and presence of student laptops present the temptation of email and the web; therefore, students must follow basic ground rules:

  • Students should switch off and stow their cell phones before class begins.
  • Students will not text, check email, electronically chat, update their social networking status or surf the web during class, unless instructed to do so.

Lack of engagement in class activities, inadequate preparation, and failure to adhere to classroom rules will substantially lower your participation grade for the course.

Electronic Discussion

Students will use the class discussion board Each week, I will pose questions on course texts. In a 250- to 300-word response, you may address one of my questions or introduce another point. Feel free to engage your classmates’ ideas as you write. The electronic postings allow us to extend class conversations, raise issues for in-class discussions, and develop ideas for presentations, the clip annotation and essays.

Your postings receive points on a credit/no credit basis, with full points granted to on-time postings that meet the length requirement and demonstrate serious engagement with the questions provided. Please note that you are excused from submitting a response on your presentation film, although you may do so for extra credit.

Clip Annotation

During the fourth week of the term, you will create an online text and/or video analysis of how elements of editing, cinematography, mise-en-scene and sound function in a clip from Easy Rider, Faces, sex, lies and videotape, or Shadows.

Clip Presentation

Students will work together in groups of two or three to create a 20- to 25-minute collaborative analysis of a selected course film. The presentation should focus on the formal, thematic, or ideological significance of the film and should apply concepts from the reading due on the presentation date. Presenters must use visual aids (PowerPoint, Prezi, film clips, screen shots, transparencies, handouts) to structure their remarks and underscore key points. Groups should conclude their presentations with two or three questions for class discussion.

Because our course texts are quite challenging, groups should meet with me to discuss their ideas before the presentation date.

Essays

You will compose two five- to six-page essays on assigned topics. Students may participate in optional draft workshops; furthermore, I will be available to discuss ideas-in-progress and drafts. You can also seek feedback from consultants at the CLUE Writing Center in the Mary Gates Commons; or the Odegaard Writing and Research Center in Odegaard Undergraduate Library.

Please title, paginate, and double-space your essays, and set margins at one inch. In the upper left hand corner of the first page, include your name, the course number, the assignment, and the due date; this information should be single-spaced. Please use a 10- or 12-point Arial, Bookman, Century Schoolbook, or Times New Roman font for your papers. When citing sources, use MLA format. You will submit the essays via the course Canvas sitel.

Policies

Lateness Policy

I will not accept late electronic postings or presentations. Late clip annotations and essays will receive a 10-point deduction per day late, including weekends and holidays. I will make exceptions to the lateness policy only in cases of documented illness or family emergency.

Technology glitches do not constitute valid excuses for lateness. To avoid computer problems, you should save frequently while working, and you should back up work saved to a hard drive on a flash drive or an online file archive(Dante, Dropbox, iCloud, UW Google Docs). If Canvas breaks down, email your work directly to me.

Plagiarism Policy

English 345 adheres to the University of Washington’s policies on academic honesty, which prohibit unacknowledged use of another’s words or ideas. When you draw upon sources in your electronic film responses, clip annotation, essays, and presentation, you must make clear to your audience that you are incorporating another’s work by placing quotation marks around exact words and citing the author’s name whenever you quote, summarize or paraphrase. We will use MLA format, which requires in-text parenthetical citations and a list of works cited.

Failure to credit sources may result in a failing grade for the assignment, a failing grade for the course, or other disciplinary action by the university’s Committee on Academic Conduct.

Email and Access to Course Web Site

You must have a UW Net ID, a working email account and a way to access the course Canvas site. I frequently upload schedule changes, assignment guidelines, grading criteria and sample student work to the both sites. You will also submit class work using Canvas’s assignments and discussion features

Grading

Grades in English 345 will be computed by points, with 400 points equaling a 4.0, 300 points a 3.0, and so on. If your total falls between grades, I will round up if you score one to five points below the higher grade and round down if you score one to four points above the lower grade. For example, 274 points equals a 2.7 and 275 points a 2.8. Students who score less than 65 points total will receive a 0 for the course, as the UW grading system does not scale grades lower than .7.

Apart from postings, which are graded on a credit/no credit basis, points for each assignment will be awarded based on quality of work submitted. I will distribute grading criteria with all assignments.

Each component of the course is worth the following number of points:

  • Essays: 160 points
  • Class Participation: 60 points
  • Presentation: 40 points
  • Electronic Film Responses: 80 points
  • Clip Annotation: 60 points

Links to assignment grading criteria: