Survey of American Literature

To introduce students to major periods, genres, authors, and works of American literature from Emily Dickinson to Toni Morrison and to consider the texts in relationship to social, cultural, and historical developments in America and beyond.

 Subject Matter

• Representative authors and their works (List distributed first day of class)
• Themes and motifs of individual works
• Literary terms and select vocabulary and etymologies
• Literary periods and their distinctive characteristics

Students will show mastery of the materials through a combination of the following:

• Major Exams—Three of equal weight. Each will cover a particular group of authors and works.
• Daily Quizzes—Given at the beginning of class. Scores on quizzes are converted to numerical grades, which then become a fourth major exam score equal in weight to the three in-class exams. No make-up quizzes allowed. (White loose-leaf notebook paper measuring 8 and ½” x 11” and having a 1 and ¼” top and left margin or from a white legal pad of the same measurements is required for quizzes. Quizzes written on other types of paper will not be graded and assigned a grade of 0.)
• One short out-of-class essay that uses MLA formatting
• An occasional short in-class writing

Note:  Unless the absence meets the standard of Excused Absences as defined in the MSU Student Handbook, students who miss an exam will be required to wait until the final exam period to take a make-up exam. Make-up exams are exclusively essay form.

Regular attendance is expected. To learn how regular attendance is a one key to success in the course, read “Guide to Performing Well in the Class” and “Daily Quizzes—How They Help” in subsequent sections. An accumulation of more than three absences or a pattern of tardiness may lead to a student’s being removed from the course with a grade of F. Excused Absences and procedures related to them are discussed in the MSU Student Handbook.

Electronic Devices   

No electronic devices may be operated in the classroom at any time. Turn them off before entering the classroom and place them beneath the desk in a backpack or purse. Do not have them on your body or the top of the desk. The in-classroom ban includes sending or receiving of text messages, listening to music or other audio material, allowing cellular telephones to ring or otherwise alert you that a call or message is being sent, and the use of laptops.  

Common Sense Guide to Performing Well

1. Read the day’s assignment. Concentrate on what you are reading, be observant, and ask yourself questions as you read. When possible, read a text a second time. Doing so will help you to perform well on daily quizzes.
2. Be in class each day and be on time. Absences lead to low quiz totals, low exam scores, and the possibility of earning a failing grade.
3. Take good notes. Reading assignments before class will enhance your ability to take good notes. Exam questions come directly from the readings and from class discussions of them. Good notes matter.
4. Take every assignment seriously. When homework assignments occasionally include typed homework, assume that it will be graded. It will be. Submit all work on time.
5. From your notes, create a list of words and phrases and terms given special attention in class. Organize your notes on them in such a way that you can review them easily in preparation for an exam. Include in your notes their meaning and word history as noted in class and an explanation of the relevance of them to our course materials as discussed in class. (Occasionally, the attention we give a word or phrase might relate to general information and not to a specific text or author.
6. Read handouts on literary periods, such as American Romanticism and Realism or Naturalism and particular writers or literary techniques. Be familiar with their contents and review them before exams along with class notes.
7. Give serious attention to learning the materials on the Study Guide in preparation for each exam. Not everything that is on the Guide will be covered on the exam, but everything on the guide could be.

Daily Quizzes—How They Help

1. Daily quizzes serve as an incentive to stay caught up.
2. Class discussions are followed more easily and time passes more swiftly when students are familiar with the lecture topic than when they are not.
3. Daily quizzes are a direct means through which students can boost their course grade simply by reading the assignment carefully and becoming an observant reader and questioner.
4. Persons who train themselves to read carefully and make mental notes about the reading materials improve their ability to perform well in other courses and in their working lives because they develop a level of precision, accuracy, care, and discipline that is typical of those who succeed at high levels.

Don’t forget that Daily Quizzes cannot be made up. Also remember that at the end of the semester pop quiz totals are converted into numerical grades, which then become a fourth major exam score of equal weight to the three in-class exams.