After completing this course, you will be able to
- Identify and apply a variety of critical approaches to literature.
- Identify the important literary periods and themes of American Literature from the mid-19th Century to the present.
- Demonstrate knowledge of a diversity of American cultures through the study of literature.
- Apply various reading strategies to text in order to summarize, synthesize, analyze, interpret, and evaluate the literature.
- Write a paper on a topic in American literature using MLA style and a variety of sources that shows original thought, research, and an ability to assimilate and synthesize the ideas of others on the topic.
- Enhance technological skills.
- Unit 1 – Romanticism: Whitman and Dickinson
- Unit 2 – The Frontier I
- Unit 3 – The Frontier II
- Unit 4 – Realism and Naturalism I
- Unit 5 – Realism and Naturalism II
- Unit 6 – Modernism I
- Unit 7 – Modernism II
- Unit 8 – Postmodernism I
- Unit 9 – Postmodernism II
- Unit 10 – Contemporary Trends
Your final grade will be based on the following breakdown. Please note that each instructor may choose to make modifications.
- Discussions and Participation – 25%
- Researched Essay – 25%
- Response Papers and Annotated Bibliography – 20% (5% each)
- Midterm Essay Exam – 15%
- Final Essay Exam – 15%
