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This online course will be broken into three major units each built around a major paper. Each unit seeks to accomplish the following:
This unit will start with a traditional monster tale, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Students will do the following:
The final draft of this unit's paper is worth 200 points.
- Read and mark the entire novel.
- Post a reading reaction to the novel and respond to the comments of two classmates.
- Review the paper assignment, ask questions about it, and float a few possible topics that would satisfy the writing prompt.
- Compose and revise multiple drafts of a paper, consistent with a revision-based writing process.
- Engage in peer review of other students' papers.
- Learn the basics of MLA style, including quote mechanics and documentation.
- Develop a strong thesis statement presenting a specific interpretation of the novel.
- Analyze textual evidence to substantiate a thesis.
- Employ proper MS Word commands to layout document.
- Avoid plagiarism.
This unit provides both a novel (I Am Legend) and a film (28 Days Later) as monster texts. Students will then read three scholarly texts about the role of monsters in culture to provide several theoretical lenses through which students will then build their unique interpretations of one of the two monster texts. Students will do the following:
The final draft of this unit's paper is worth 200 points.
Our final unit supports a major research paper on one of two subjects: a fictional monster or related horror phenomena not discussed in the course or a "real" monster from history or current events that demonstrates how a culture deems actions, individuals, or groups as "Monstrous." Students will do the following:
The final draft of this unit's paper is worth 300 points.
The course is not self-paced, so expect to work almost every day on some aspect of the class. Similarly, remember that this course must contain almost all of the content of a 15-week course within a six-week framework, so the pace is accelerated and may not be suitable for all people. The first paper will receive extensive commentary, while the second and third papers will have somewhat less because comments will refer back to the first paper's issues. Finally, this course will, at some point, present some disturbing ideas that may not always be comfortable to confront.
Those issues aside, most students report learning a lot about their writing process and having fun with course despite the workload. I hope you have a similar experience in my first fully online version of the course.