ENGL 201: Introduction to English in the Humanities (5 Credits)

An asynchronous course. Totally online. No Zoom meetings unless requested for office hours.

Please note that you must register for the course when it is your turn. No add codes will be issued until the first day of the course.

ALSO: You must have both texts in hand by the third week. There will be a video assignment in which you will show yourself holding the books and giving us a tour of them!

Department: English
College/School: Arts and Sciences

Professor Frances McCue

Contact via: CANVAS Inbox or mccuef@uw.edu (for canvas outages or other emergencies)

Office Hours: by appointment

Credits: 5 (fixed)

General Education Requirements: Arts and Sciences and W (Writing)

A course for undergraduate majors and minors, as well as for non-majors

Course Description

This is a course designed for students to read literature and to see points of connection with other humanities disciplines.

Designed for UW students at the beginning of their college careers, English 201 offers a "deep reading" approach in which students map notes onto their texts and document their responses. Students will develop and deepen skills of thinking, speaking, listening, writing and collaborating as they address genre, perspective, metaphor, text, image, and context.

College prepares students for a lifetime of interactions with people of many cultures and with a multitude of career opportunities. The humanities offer opportunities for substantive encounters with culture, language, text, history, and civilization as well as for developing modalities of thinking and acting in a complex world. By reading, writing, thinking, speaking and collaborating, we learn discernment, judgment and perspective—thereby playing our parts in creating an informed citizenry.

Course Schedule/Assignments Summary

Click the "Syllabus" link in the menu at left and scroll down the page to see the Course Schedule (date ranges for the course modules) and the "Assignments Summary" (due dates for course assignments). For a calendar view of due dates click the Calendar icon at the far left.

Then, proceed through the modules for the course, beginning on the Home Page.

Please note that this is a fast-paced, intensive course that demands that you work on several projects in the same time-period: A paper, readings, discussions and quizzes.

Course Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

Show evidence of analyzing text, image, media through reading, conversation and verbal presentation.

Create written evidence of understanding materials from different points of view.

Create descriptions, arguments and inquiries in writing and in conversation.

Identify disciplines and activities from the broad field of the humanities.

Articulate individual learning and experience of reading closely.

Required Materials

No No Boy by John Okada, published by the University of Washington Press, with a Forward by Ruth Ozeki, 2014 edition.

We Had Our Reasons by Ricardo Ruiz, published by Pulley Press in 2022.

You must have these texts to succeed in the course.

Other materials are provided on Canvas.

Required Technology

You will need to make use of the following technology:

Reliable Internet access.

Computer specifications adequate for using the Canvas LMS hosting your course.

Audio speakers or headphones for listening to course videos and other files with audio.

A webcam or video camera for submitting at least one video assignment.

A word-processing program, such as Microsoft Word.

Quizzes:

Quizzes are multiple choice and set for five minutes. Quizzes are available for 24 hours and once you start a quiz, you may not re-take it. For equity purposes, there will be no make-up quizzes.

8 Quizzes at 5 points each = 40 points

Discussion Posts:

These posts are crucial to your learning. They are designed to help you display your work in the course, engage with your colleagues and practice for longer papers. Typically, responses to your colleagues will be due within two days of the initial post.

One Discussion is Complete/Not Complete

4 Discussions at 10 points each = 40 points

Video of You Holding the Two books for the term:

10 points

Reading Maps/Journals:

You are responsible for getting the text for the course in hard copy. Of course, you may want to supplement these texts with ebook versions, if you would like, but writing on the ebook may be challenging. But to complete the course, you must have physical texts assigned. You will need these to do the assignments. Some of these assignments will include writing directly in the books as you read, making lists of responses you had to what you read.

A Reading Map is a page of text on which you write personal responses. You will take a photograph of the page, with your handwriting on it.

A Reading Journal is a typed summary of what you notice from the reading maps. It includes speculations about humanities connections that you might research. Use the artifact wheel to help you construct these. Each reading journal entry is 250-500 words.

One Reading Map and Reading Journal entry for "Democracy Poem #1." 20 points

Six Reading Maps from NO NO BOY. 30 points total.

Two Reading Journals for NO No Boy 20 points

Eight reading Maps from WE HAD OUR REASONS. 20 points

Two Reading Journals from WE HAD OUR REASONS. 20 points

The Final Project:

Due at the end of the course is a submission of the Reading Journal and All Reading Maps with a One page, 500 word, reflection on the connections that you see between the texts.

Final Project Reading Journal and Overview 50 points.

Advocacy Statement:

Also due at the end of the course is an Advocacy Statement for the Humanities, one that you prepare. It's a two-minute video.

Advocacy Statement: 20 points.

Writing Requirement:

English 201 is a writing intensive (W) course. You must satisfactorily complete all writing assignments for the course, including the revision and peer-reviewing activities described in the Final Project. (See the “About the Assignments” section in the Syllabus and assignment instructions in the course for details.)

Course Navigation

You can access course content through various pathways:

Click "Modules" in menu at left to display the comprehensive, sequential list of course resources and activities. From this Modules display, click on the module item or resource you wish to view.

Click "Home" to return to the starting page. By clicking on a Module icon from Home, you will be taken to that module's links.

Click the Next or Previous buttons at the bottom of each page to move to the next or previous page in the module sequence.

General Discussion Forum

The General Discussion Forum is for use by students throughout the quarter to post their questions or comments about the course, including questions about course materials, assignments, learning objectives, or other course content. Feel free to respond to the comments of your fellow students. (To communicate privately with me, see Contact the Instructor.)

Always keep your posts respectful and constructive. For guidelines about effective posting, see this Netiquette page

Course Modules and Student Workflows

This course consists of five modules.

Each module is structured around coherent themes and topics, and accordingly, some modules are longer than others. For the course's due dates, consult the Course Calendar, or, alternatively, the click "Syllabus" in menu at left.

On each module's Overview page, you will find a "Workflow." This is a list of all the activities you must complete for the module. Although you can move back and forth among the modules and activities, assignments must be completed by their due dates, and we recommend you complete assignments in the recommended sequence.

As you begin each new module, take the time to review the overview page carefully.

Read and/or view the introduction to the module to orient you to what the module will be about.

Review the learning objectives to clarify what skills and knowledge you will be asked to demonstrate by the end of that module.

Refer to the "Workflow" to identify all of your learning activities for that week.

If you have questions about what your course responsibilities are, please contact me.

Grade Scale:

Total points: 250

A table that contains the grading scheme data. Each row contains a name, a maximum percentage, and a minimum percentage.
Letter Grade	Range
4.0	100%	to95%
3.9	< 95%	to94%
3.8	< 94%	to93%
3.7	< 93%	to92%
3.6	< 92%	to91%
3.5	< 91%	to90%
3.4	< 90%	to89%
3.3	< 89%	to88%
3.2	< 88%	to87%
3.1	< 87%	to86%
3.0	< 86%	to85%
2.9	< 85%	to84%
2.8	< 84%	to83%
2.7	< 83%	to82%
2.6	< 82%	to81%
2.5	< 81%	to80%
2.4	< 80%	to79%
2.3	< 79%	to78%
2.2	< 78%	to77%
2.1	< 77%	to76%
2.0	< 76%	to75%
1.9	< 75%	to74%
1.8	< 74%	to73%
1.7	< 73%	to72%
1.6	< 72%	to71%
1.5	< 71%	to70%
1.4	< 70%	to69%
1.3	< 69%	to68%
1.2	< 68%	to67%
1.1	< 67%	to66%
1.0	< 66%	to65%
0.0	< 65%	to0%

Grading policies

I do not typically accept late work. In some circumstances, with prior arrangement, I will accept it but will mark it down. I don't allow "do-overs" on quizzes. I don't allow late quizzes or rescheduling of quizzes. These are equity issues. I know that the course is challenging. But you have access to all of the assignments and should be able to plan to complete them.

Disability Accommodations

Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at https://disability.uw.edu.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The UW English Department aims to help students become more incisive thinkers, effective communicators, and imaginative writers by acknowledging that language and its use are powerful and hold the potential to empower individuals and communities; to provide the means to engage in meaningful conversation and collaboration across differences and with those with whom we disagree; and to offer methods for exploring, understanding, problem solving, and responding to the many pressing collective issues we face in our world--skills that align with and support the University of Washington’s mission to educate “a diverse student body to become responsible global citizens and future leaders through a challenging learning environment informed by cutting-edge scholarship.”

As a department, we begin with the conviction that language and texts play crucial roles in the constitution of cultures and communities, past, present, and future. Our disciplinary commitments to the study of English (its history, multiplicity, and development; its literary and artistic uses; and its global role in shaping and changing cultures) require of us a willingness to engage openly and critically with questions of power and difference. As such, in our teaching, service, and scholarship we frequently initiate and encourage conversations about topics such as race and racism, immigration, gender, sexuality, class, indigeneity, and colonialisms. These topics are fundamental to the inquiry we pursue. We are proud of this fact, and we are committed to creating an environment in which our faculty and students can do so confidently and securely, knowing that they have the backing of the department.

Religious Accommodation

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form at the registrar's office.

Academic Integrity

When quoting, paraphrasing, or referring to another writer’s words or ideas (including any you might find on the Internet), you must cite the source properly using MLA citation guidelines. Don’t hesitate to ask me if you have questions about proper attribution. I will hand over any plagiarized work to the Dean’s Committee on Academic Conduct, and plagiarism may result in a failing grade on the assignment or the course.