Each section from the required text, American Passages: A
Literary Survey is accompanied
by a video. You are required to read, watch, and consider
all 16 Chapters in the text. After
you read each segment in the text and view each of the
accompanying videos, you will review
the “Overview Questions” and “Video Activities.”
For this course, you will craft three 5-page papers on
literature and the expression of
American identity. Choose the three units that speak most
directly to your passions and
interests. Use the “Overview Questions” and the “Video
Activities” to guide your preliminary
writing. Then choose an author or a literary movement to
research in greater depth, using
internet and Gil library resources
(http://www.cnr.edu/gill-library).
For each of these papers, you will be required to identify
and read at least one poem, essay, or
short story by an author mentioned in the video streaming
course. In your papers, you will
summarize and report on what you learned from the videos and
online readings. You
will also analyze how one author and/or literary text
address(es) the theme of identity in
the United States of America and fits into a particular
literary movement. Merely
summarizing the video(s) is not enough. You must use primary
sources to support your
claims.
All sources used for your answers must be properly
documented in MLA format and all
citations credited to their source. All of your responses
should be based on the video tapes
you have reviewed and the excerpts in the study guide. You
will also meet with your Mentor
three times over the semester to review your work and
discuss what you have learned.
