ENGLISH 272: GRAPHIC NOVEL AS LITERATURE

Syllabus, Spring Quarter 2014 Cara N. Stoddard carast@bigbend.edu | Office # 1618 Office Hours: 1:00-3:00pm Mon-Thurs, or by appointment 9:15-10:20 AM | Room 2031 (gymnasium, 2nd floor)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
In 1846, English Romantic poet William Wordsworth called popular cartoons a dumb Art, a backward movementfrom manhood,back to childhood, and a vile abuse of pictured page! And Wordsworth was not the first, and certainly not the last, to scrutinize the genre for its childishness, immorality, and unintellectual popularity. In 1954, German-American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent which attributed the rise in juvenile delinquency to comic books and criticized the popular strips of the day for their supposed covert eroticism, homosexuality, and anti-American fascist themes. Although the book raised serious alarm at the time among parents and teachers, much has been done in the past fifty years to counteract the censorship of comics and promote the genre as a legitimate literary medium. In Herbert Marshall McLuhans Understanding Media (1964) he distinguished between hot and cool media, where hot media typically required less involvement from its audiencelike a lecture or radio broadcastand cool media (emerging from jazz) presented more complex stimuli and thus required higher levels of participation from its audience. McLuhan named television and cartoons as the two predominant cool media of his time. This course is an examination of the second mediumcartoonsin their booklength formgraphic novelsor as one of the founding fathers of American comics, Will Eisner, called them sequential art. This literature course is designed to improve your critical thinking, reading, and written communication skills in response to graphic novels. Via an immersion into graphic novels, this course aims to teach the terminology of comics, literary devices, strategies for close reading, and habits of critical inquiry and analysis as a basis for writing formal literary analysis essays. Additionally, this is a cultural diversity course with a heavy emphasis on reading and discussing narratives written from culturally underrepresented groups. Through an investigation of texts written by writers of a different race, religion, nationality, gender, and sexuality than yourself, you will be asked to re-examine your own cultural practices, constructs, stereotypes, and values and emerge with a strengthened concept of your own culture and how it fits in with others within your community, nation, and world.
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LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of the course, you should be very good at doing the following: 1. Comprehending graphic novels and identifying the themes presented using textual, critical, and social or historical analysis 2. Defining the graphic novel as a literary medium in terms of both its visual and textual elements 3. Identifying literary devices as well as literary elements unique to comics and analyzing their effect on readers 4. Understanding cultural difference and classifying a variety human experiences/narratives ac cording to their cultural contexts with the goal of speaking and writing with a nuanced sensitivity to multiculturalism 5. Developing a central claim (thesis) in response to a literary text and supporting/illustrating your central claim (thesis) clearly and logically 6. Situating your ideas as related to, but clearly distinguished from, the ideas of others (including the ability to paraphrase, summarize, and correctly cite and document borrowed material) and recognizing your place as a participant in an academic conversation about a particular text. 7. Accurately proofreading your own writing in order to produce writing that maintains the conventions of published English 8. Developing and improving habits of lifetime literacy Of course, I expect that you are able to carry out some of these tasks already.

REQUIRED BOOKS:

A Contract with God, 2006 By: Will Eisner | ISBN # 9780393328042 Black Jack, vol. 1 By: Osamu Tezuka | ISBN # 9781934287279 Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, 1994 By: Scott McCloud | ISBN # 9780060976255 Watchmen, 1995 By: Alan Moore | ISBN # 9780930289232 The Complete Maus: A Survivors Tale, 2003 By: Art Spiegelman | ISBN # 9780141014081
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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, 2007 By: Alison Bechdel | ISBN # 9780618871711

DEADLINES FOR MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS:

Friday, April 4 Monday, April 21 Wednesday, May 14 Thursday, May 29 Monday, June 2 Friday, June 13 LAST DAY TO ADD A CLASS Essay 1 due (@9:15AM) Watchmen Exam LAST DAY TO DROP A CLASS Essay 2 (Maus essay) due (@9:15AM) Final Exam 8am-10am

COURSE TRAJECTORY:
Mon March 31Intros Tues April 1strips PDF + Seduction of the Innocent excerpt Wed April 2strips PDF Thurs April 3Understanding Comics, Chapter 1, McCloud Mon April 7A Contract with God, Eisner Tues April 8 Understanding Comics, Chapters 2 & 3, McCloud Wed April 9A Contract with God, Eisner Thurs April 10 A Contract with God, Eisner Mon April 14Black Jack, vol. 1, Tezuka Is There a Doctor & The First Storm of Spring Tues April 15Black Jack, vol. 1, Tezuka Teratoid Cystoma & Sometimes Like Pearls Wed April 16Black Jack, vol. 1, Tezuka Confluence & The Painting is Dead! Thurs April 17Black Jack, vol. 1, Tezuka Star, Magnitude Six & Black Queen Mon April 21Essay 1 due, Black Jack, vol. 1, Tezuka U-18 Knew, The Legs of an Ant, & Two Loves Tues April 22Watchmen, Moore, Chapter 1 Wed April 23Watchmen, Moore, Chapter 2 Thurs April 24Watchmen, Moore, Chapter 3 + Understanding Comics, Chapter 8, McCloud Mon April 28Watchmen, Moore, Chapters 4 & 5 Tues April 29Watchmen, Moore, Chapter 6 Wed April 30Watchmen, Moore, Chapter 7 Thurs May 1 Watchmen, Moore, Chapter 8 Mon May 5Watchmen, Moore, Chapter 9 & 10 Tues May 6Watchmen, Moore, Chapter 11 Wed May 7watch Watchmen the 2009 film, Cara in Colorado Thurs May 8watch Watchmen the 2009 film, Cara in Colorado Mon May 12finish watching Watchmen the 2009 film, Understanding Comics, Chapters 4 & 5, McCloud Tues May 13Sara Van Ness essay Wed May 14Watchmen exam Thurs May 15Maus, Spiegleman Week 1 Week 7 Week 6 Week 5 Week 4 Week 3 Week 2

Mon May 19Maus, Spiegleman Tues May 20Maus, Spiegleman Wed May 21Maus, Spiegleman Thurs May 22Maus, Spiegleman Mon May 26no class, Memorial Day Tues May 27Maus, Spiegleman Wed May 28Maus, Spiegleman Thurs May 29Maus, Spiegleman Mon June 2Essay 2 due, Understanding Comics, Chapters 6 & 7, McCloud Tues June 3Fun Home, Bechdel Wed June 4Fun Home, Bechdel Thurs June 5Fun Home, Bechdel Mon June 9 Fun Home, Bechdel Tues June 10Understanding Comics, Chapter 9, McCloud Fri June 13Final Exam 8-10am

ATTENDANCE:
Attendance in English 272 is mandatory. More than eight absences (two weeks) from class is grounds for failing the course. After 5 absences, your grade will be negatively affected. Anywhere from 6-8 absences will result in a 10% deduction from your overall score in the class. 9 or more absences equals an F (0.0) in the course. Thus, plan for unforeseen illnesses or travel plans later in the quarter. Only absences for bereavement, hospitalization, jury duty, or previously-scheduled college Sponsored Events or Activities (see Student Handbook for definition) are considered excused absences. Every other kind of absence including illnesses and doctors appointments are considered unexcused and count toward your eight allowed absences. Whenever possible, please notify me before the excused absence to be sure to get any handouts you might miss in class. In the case of a personal or family emergency, please be in contact with me via email about the situation, and I will do my best to accommodate you. In the case of bereavement leave or a mental/physical health emergency for you or one of your dependents requiring you miss more than one day in a row, you will be expected to keep up with your coursework via Canvas. Arrangements will be made on a case-by-case basis. Being in attendance means being physically present, awake, coherent, and fully prepared for class with the readings completed. If you do not meet all of these conditions you will be marked absent for the day. Coming in more than 10 minutes late, leaving early, and inappropriate use of cell phones, laptops, or tablets in class will result in an unexcused absence. You are responsible for making up all of the work that you missed during an absence. Please see me during office hours or schedule an appointment before the next scheduled class.

LATE WORK:
Blog posts, home quizzes (on Canvas) and essays are due by the beginning of class. You will receive a zero on the blog posts or home quizzes if you do not have them completed by class time they day they are due. The one exception to this no late work policy is when using your Stuff Happens coupon distributed on the first
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day of class. You may only use this coupon once per quarter, and it is only applicable on blog posts/comments and home quizzes (not on essays, journals, or exams). For the two essays in this course, I strongly discourage you from submitting them late. A late draft for Essays 1 and 2 will be graded as follows: Within 24 hours = 10% point reduction 2 days late = 20% reduction 3 days late = 30% reduction 4 days late = 40% reduction 5 or more days late = 50% reduction All writing assignments are to be typed and correctly formatted according to MLA standards (see the Purdue OWL website for details).

COURSE ETIQUETTE:
Classroom citizenship. The classroom is a learning community. Any behavior that disrupts this community will not be tolerated. This includes speaking to other students while I am talking, sleeping in class, passing notes, being rude or belligerent to me or other students, etc. This is a discussion-based course, and I expect you to treat each other with dignity and respect. We will be discussing sensitive topics in the context of the required texts, so please be considerate of others ideas and beliefs. In accordance with Big Bends Discrimination Policy, disrespect or discrimination towards students based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, citizen status, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or chosen gender, veteran status, age, or religion will not be tolerated. If you feel your well-being is being jeopardized or you have observed someone else being treated disrespectfully, please come speak to me about it privately after class or during my office hours. Readings. In accordance with Big Bends mission statement to encourage multiculturalism, this class has been intentionally designed to include contemporary graphic novels that represent a diverse set of cultures and peoples. In this class we may discuss, read, write about, or view texts that you disagree with or find offensive. Such texts are not necessarily condoned, but rather used to prompt discussion and explore ideas that may be outside of our individual preferences and comfort levels. In this college classroom you are required to engage maturely and academically with all texts, regardless of their content or rating. Please email or see me privately during office hours if you have any questions about this policy.
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Technology. In order to promote habits and skill-sets unique to scholars of the 21st century, this course has a heavy emphasis on the use of technology. You will be expected to check our Canvas page every day for a detailed description of the homework, and you will be completing some quizzes and exams on Canvas. This course also requires you to create and post regularly to an online (public) blog using Wordpress (http://bbccgraphicnovel.wordpress.com) and comment on your classmates blogs. There will be some direct instruction on using Wordpress during class time, but if you find you are struggling with the technology components of the coursework, please do not hesitate to seek help. I am available during office hours or by appointment to help with tech support, or you can be in contact with librarians Zach Wellhouse (zachw@bigbend.edu) or Tim Fuhrman (timf@bigbend.edu) for additional support. Having said that, more often than not, during class time, technological devices serve as distractions to you and the people around you, so please silence and put away your phones upon the start of class. There will certainly be exceptions to this rule, when I will allow you, even encourage you, to use your smart phone or device in class, but I will notify you when it is appropriate to take out your phone. Texting, taking calls, and checking the time on your cell phone is not permitted in class. Unless you have been given explicit permission to use your laptop in class, all laptops should be shut and stowed away. If you are planning to use your laptop or tablet for one or more of the texts this quarter, that is totally okay, just be sure to let me know at the beginning of the unit that is what you are doing. Email etiquette. I certainly welcome your emails if you have questions about the course, your work, meeting times, etc., please dont hesitate to message me on Canvas or at carast@bigbend.edu. However, you should treat this as professional correspondence: that is, it should have a greeting, complete sentences, and your name at the bottom.

PLAGIARISM:
I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume that you will do honest work and that you will work with me on improving writing that is your own. But plagiarism is a serious matter, and incidents of it have been on the rise nationally. So I feel that it is important to explain what the consequences are. The two basic kinds of plagiarism:
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1. Malicious or intentional. This is the most serious kind of academic theft. It involves using someone elses work as your own without citing the source, including direct copying, rephrasing, and summarizing, submitting someone elses paper as your own, or re-submitting your own work from a different quarter or different course. It also involves taking someone elses idea and putting it in different words. Even if several different sources were copied, it is still plagiarism. 2. Plagia-phrasing or mosaic plagiarism. Not indicating directly quoted passages or ideas within your essay even while citing the work as a general source at the end of the essay in a Works Cited. The consequences of plagiarism: If a paper involves plagiarism of the second kind, I may ask you to rewrite the essay or blog post, using correct forms of documentation. However, if you persist in committing this kind of plagiarism, even after I have explained it to you more than once, you will receive an F on the paper and could be subjected to a more severe penalty of the type described below. If an essay or blog post involves plagiarism of the first kind, I am empowered by the Student Code of Conduct to assign a grade of F for the course, a penalty that may be imposed in particularly serious cases. In most cases of plagiarism, I will also make a complaint to the Vice President of Student Services, which is responsible for enforcing the regulations in the Student Code of Conduct. So in addition to the academic penalty of receiving an F in the course, you may also be subject to other disciplinary penalties, which can include suspension or expulsion. Although such severe penalties are rarely imposed for first-time offenders, the Vice President of Student Services Office maintains disciplinary records as part of a students overall academic record. A final word on plagiarism: I understand the occasional temptation to plagiarizebut I am surprisingly good at recognizing plagiarism. My basic message is Do Not Do It. When you need to take something from another persons workan idea, a powerful statement, a set of facts, or an explanationcite your source.

GRADING:
The majority of the points for this course come from reading quizzes, so be sure to keep up with the daily readings. Simply turning in the two essays and two exams will not result in a passing grade in this class. Your percentage in the class is based out of 520 points (subject to change). You must turn in both essays and complete both exams as well as receive at least 310 points to pass this class. Grading Scale:
% 95-100 94 92-93 91 A = GPA = 4.0 = 3.8 = 3.7 = 3.6 B % 89-90 87-88 86 85 84 83 82 81 80 = GPA = 3.5 = 3.4 = 3.3 = 3.2 = 3.1 = 3.0 = 2.9 = 2.8 = 2.7 % 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 70 = GPA = 2.6 = 2.5 = 2.4 = 2.3 = 2.2 = 2.1 = 2.0 = 1.9 = 1.8 = 1.7 C % 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61 60 <60 D = GPA = 1.6 = 1.5 = 1.4 = 1.3 = 1.2 = 1.1 = 1.0 = 0.9 = 0.8 = 0.7 = 0.0 (F) 7

Re-doing Final Drafts. I will allow you to re-submit Essay 1 and 2 if you received a D or F (except in the case of a grade reduction for tardiness, plagiarism, or academic dishonesty), and I will average the two Final Draft grades. All revised Final Drafts must be turned in on or before Monday, June 9th.
Represents achievement that is outstanding or superior relative to the level necessary to meet the requirements of the course. B Represents achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet the requirements of the course. Grades of A or B are honors grades. You must do something above and beyond the min. requirements in order to earn an A or B. Represents achievement that meets the basic requirements in every respect. It signifies that the work is average, but C nothing more. Represents achievement that meets some but not all of the basic requirements. It signifies that a significant amount of D coursework is either missing or received not-passing grades. If you receive less than 554 points in the course or fail to hand in one of the 3 major writing assignments, you will automatically earn an F. If your average grade is a D but you did not complete one of the major components of the F course (one of the 3 major papers or all of the homework assignments or drafts), you will automatically earn an F in the course. Accumulating more than eight absences also will result in an F. There is no reason for receiving an F in this course unless you simply fail to submit the required work. Stands for Incomplete. Under very unusual circumstances you could be assigned an Incomplete in the course if I something happened to you within the last two weeks of the quarter that made it impossible to complete the course (a serious accident or illness that left you hospitalized and very significant personal tragedy, etc.) A

RESOURCES:
English Skills Lab: If you would like another reader for any of your essays or if you would like help on an essay in between your first and final drafts, you may schedule an appointment with a tutor at the English Lab. The English Skills Lab is Located the 1800 Building, Room 1832. Spring Quarter Hours: Monday - Wednesday....8:00am - 8:00pm Thursday........................8:00am - 4:00pm Friday.............................9:00am - 4:00pm The English Lab doesnt make an appointments, you just need to simply stop by. The English Skills Lab can help with all stages of the writing process and all levels of writers, so it is not always necessary to have a completed draft prepared for your tutoring session. Student Success Center: If you need to use a computer, to check out a laptop, or if you are struggling in any of your classes, you can sign up for peer mentoring or supplemental instruction, contact Diana Villafana at 509.793.2369. The Student Success Center is located in the 1400 Building and is open Mon-Thurs 8am-5pm and Fri 8am-2:30pm. Disability Services: Big Bend Community College is committed to providing reasonable accommodation in academic programs to ensure maximum participation by all students with disability and to minimize the functional limitations their disabling condition has on their education. Proper procedures are in place to obtain equal access wherein the student and college staff work together to facilitate reasonable accommodations. The Disabled Student Services Office is located in the 1400 Building. Loralyn Allen is the disabled students liaison. Her office, located inside the Counseling Center, is open Monday - Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. To schedule an appointment contact her at 509.793.2027. For the hearing impaired TDD is available in the Registration/Admissions Office for incoming and outgoing calls at telephone number 509.762.6335.
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