English 114 (W01) Reading Culture - Reading Science Fiction Spring Term / 2024

Spring Term / 2024

Asynchronous

Start Date: May 6, 2024

End Date: June 21, 2024

Final Exam Period: June 24 – June 26, 2024 

Course Description

With each technological and scientific discovery, we seem to be living in increasingly science-fictional times. This class explores science fiction culture as it intersects with contemporary life. While the focus of the class is on written works, students can also incorporate their interests in other media (film, video games, animation, etc.). Throughout the term, we will engage in close readings of a variety of texts and discuss their relationships to aspects of contemporary culture that have been either inspired by or commented on by science fiction. Some of the topics will include artificial intelligence, virtual reality, race, alien life and "the other," nuclear war, technology, gender, transhumanism, love & fate, and humanity's place in nature.

You are invited to draw on your own range of cultural experiences — popular as well as academic — in order to enhance your literary knowledge and communication skills while exploring the culture of science fiction. Because language and literature are central to the production and consumption of culture, you will work with and beyond well-known texts and learn how literary models, terms, and techniques both shape and help us to understand a broad range of historical and contemporary cultural forms.

Learning Outcomes

After completing successfully ENG 114, students should be able to:

· read literary texts in different genres and from different centuries, identify the main ideas in those texts and recognize how their technical features function in meaning-making

· formulate a thesis about a literary work

· select information from a work that provides evidence in support of a thesis

· quote and paraphrase

· develop and structure a literary essay

· define what plagiarism is and understand how to avoid it

· differentiate primary and secondary sources and cite them in MLA style (see Requirements for Essays: artsandscience.usask.ca/english/documents/RequirementsForEssays.pdf)

· write essays that exhibit reasonable competence in the skills articulated in the “Standards for Composition” section of Requirements for Essays.

Required Texts

Cotts, Brian. ENG 114 Poetry Bundle (pdf in Canvas)

Evans, Arthur (et al). The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction.

Gibson, William. Idoru

Le Guin, Ursula.  “Author of the Acacia Seeds” (pdf in Canvas)

Online Materials:

Anderson, Leslie. “I understand Video Games Aren’t Real.” Link: http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/i-understand-video-games-arent-real/. (Poem.)

Arkenberg, Megan.  “The Curator Speaks in the Department of Dead Languages” Link: http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/the-curator-speaks-in-the-department-of-dead-languages/. (Poem.)

MLA Handbook (9th Edition). Available online through the U of S library at: https://mlahandbookplus-org.cyber.usask.ca/

Textbooks are available online from the University of Saskatchewan Bookstore: https://bookstore.usask.ca/students.php#MyTextbooks

Evaluation

ASSESSMENTS:

Essay #1 20%

Essay #1: thesis and first body paragraph 5%

Essay #2 20%

Midterm Exam 15%

Final Exam 30%

Discussion Board 10%

OLIP & AIT Complete / Incomplete

Total 100%

Attendance and Contribution (Discussion Board)

10% of your mark will be derived from discussion forum participation. The forum is structured like a classroom discussion and patterned on online forums. Throughout the term, the instructor will post questions on the board that students are encouraged to answer. The more you engage, the better your grade will be. You can compose discussion board “reports,” answer questions directly, or simply chat. You can discuss the material in any order. You can also begin your own threads and start your own discussions too. The instructor will also monitor the discussions and occasionally pop in with comments of their own, but students should feel free to explore their ideas about the material. Just be polite. The forum will remain open until the final exam due date.

Contributing to the forum will help you navigate through the material, and parts of the final exam may be derived from this content, so participating in the forum environment is highly recommended. It will also make things more interesting for everyone, so feel free to ask questions, etc. The breakdown is as follows:

Guidelines for contribution grades (University of Saskatchewan)

80-100: Contributed frequently and appropriately; demonstrated critical understanding of assigned reading; applied relevant material from readings and lectures to the issue; built on the comments of others; made integrative statements.

70-80: Contributed regularly; demonstrated understanding of main points of reading; occasionally employed relevant materials from readings and lectures to the issue; offered observations but did not integrate or build on other’s contributions.

60-70: Contributed a few times; demonstrated having read assigned material; employed some theory in understanding issues; made statements unconnected to main subject or repeated comments already offered.

50-60: Contributed minimally to discussion; little demonstration of having read or carefully read assignments; offered comments which did not advance discussion of the issues.

50-40:  Very little contribution/discussion.

40-30:  Even less.

(And so on.  You get the idea.  Until finally:)

No marks:  No contribution at all.

OLIP and AIT

The OLIP (Online Library Instruction Program) and the AIT (Academic Integrity Tutorial) are two brief online courses that will familiarize you with the University Library and aid you in finding sources (OLIP), and outline issues involving academic integrity (AIT). Neither the OLIP nor the AIT are awarded numerical grades but are instead graded on a complete / incomplete basis. Both OLIP and AIT must be completed before a passing grade for this class can be awarded. Doing the OLIP and AIT does not automatically ensure a passing grade (you still have to do well in the course work), but not doing the OLIP and AIT will result in a failing grade of no more than 49%. So make sure you do the OLIP and AIT as soon as possible; these are in the class Canvas site.

EVALUATION COMPONENTS

Essay 1 thesis paragraph and first body paragraph

Value: 5% of final grade

Due Date: May 21, 2024

Essay 1

Value: 20% of final grade

Due Date: May 27, 2024

Minimum length: 4-5 pages; approximately 1300 - 1500 words

Topics: See Essay #1 assignment sheet

Essay 2

Value: 20% of final grade

Due Date: June 17, 2024

Minimum length: 4-5 pages; approximately 1300 - 1500 words

Topics: See Essay #2 assignment sheet

OLIP and AIT

Value: Complete/Incomplete

Due Date: May 15, 2024, for both assignments

Midterm Exam

Value: 15% of final grade

Date: June 5, 2024

Length: 120 minutes

Type: Take-home / open book

Modules Covered: 1, 2, 4

Description: Short answer / short paragraph and / or essay questions

Final Exam

Value: 30% of final grade

Date: TBA

Length: 48 hours (online)

Type: Take-home / open book

Modules Covered: Comprehensive

Description: Short answer / short paragraph and / or essay questions

Participation / Discussion Forum

Value: 10% of final grade

Due Date: TBA (no later than the date of the final exam)

Description: Discussion / Ongoing / Asynchronous

Criteria That Must Be Met to Pass

You must complete both essays, the midterm, the OLIP, the AIT, and the final examination. Note: completion of assignments alone is not sufficient for you to be awarded a passing grade in this class — in addition, your overall average grade must be 50% or higher in order to be awarded a passing grade. An end-of-year average below 50% will be considered a failing grade. Also:  In cases of incomplete course work, absence from the final exam, and late withdrawal, students will be assigned a numeric grade not exceeding 49%, regardless of the weighting of marks indicated on this course outline. The University regulations concerning examinations are available at

http://students.usask.ca/academics/exams.php 

Late Assignments

If your essay is going to be late, please let the instructor know as soon as possible. They will not always be able to give extensions, but in certain situations (e.g. medical reasons, death in family, etc.) we may be able to work something out.  Otherwise, the instructor reserves the right to penalize late essays 5 marks for each day late, and not to mark any work handed in after the final exam due date. Penalties exclude statutory holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

The Final Exam

The Final Exam may be scheduled for any point during the exam period (June 24, 2024 - June 26, 2024). The final exam will be released in Canvas 48 hours before the time and date set by the university. More information about the final exam will be forthcoming near the end of the term.

Other

Information on literal descriptors for grading at the University of Saskatchewan can be found at:  https://students.usask.ca/academics/grading/grading-system.php. Please note: There are different literal descriptors for undergraduate and graduate students.

More information on the Academic Courses Policy on course delivery, examinations and assessment of student learning can be found at:  http://policies.usask.ca/policies/academic-affairs/academic-courses.php

Other Notes / Expectations

Submitting Assignments 

Your work should be submitted in Canvas on the appropriate due date, and it must be in .doc or .docx format.

Backups

Make backups of your essay work. While it is rare, sometimes the unforeseen happens and you may be asked to re-submit another copy of your work. You should be keeping multiple copies of your work. Also, make sure you keep some backups on a secondary medium —hard drives fry and die, and you will want to have copies of your work elsewhere.

Reconciliatory Writing Practice

In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the Department of English seeks to reconcile relations with Indigenous peoples by encouraging Reconciliatory Writing Practices. We acknowledge the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples by capitalizing the words Indigenous, Aboriginal, and Native when they are used as nomenclatures for groups of nations and peoples, and by rejecting the use of patronizing references like “our native/aboriginal/indigenous people.” We acknowledge cultural diversity by discouraging pan-Indigenous references to a singular body of culture, and by thus recognizing the numerous culturally distinct bodies of Indigenous cultures in Canada. We recognize that scholarly accuracy and excellence require the rejection of essentialized notions such as “Indigenous people believe” or “Indigenous people think” as faulty claims that undermine reconciliation.