Course Information

Course Title:	Literature and the Art of the Narrative
Course Code:	None
Credits:	0 credits
Certificate Provider:	Westcott Courses
Grading Mode:	Standard letter grade
Proctored Final:	No

Textbook Requirement:
IMPORTANT! Make sure you order your books using overnight delivery! You are required to use your books on the first day of class for assignment #1. Not having your books on time means you will quickly fall behind in the course.

1. Joyce, James. Dubliners. Dover Thrift Publishing.
2. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Dover Thrift Publishing.
3. Brooks, Max. The Harlem Hellfighters. Broadway Books.
4. Bechdel, Alison. Funhome: A Family Tragicomic. Mariner Books.
5. Students will also need access to Netflix, similar streaming media services, or a video rental source.

Course Description

This course will survey various narrative techniques across a broad spectrum of genres, including novels, short stories, graphic novels and comic books, television, and the movies. The student will examine how we tell stories, but also ask the question why narrative is so integral to the human condition.

Prerequisite:   Suggested: English Composition with a grade of C or better.

Learning Outcomes

After this course, students should be able to:

1. Communicate effectively in both speech and writing.
2. Read, notate, and analyze narrative techniques used in a variety of texts.
3. Apply critical thinking to the reading of a literary text and discuss the relationship between form and content.
4. Conduct research using a wide range of college-level resources to find support for analysis and arguments in writing a variety of essays.
5. Initiate conversations based on observations and reactions to various narrative texts.
6. Identify when and where a source is required to support an argument. Justify why a citation's content gives depth and validity to the student's claims and/or thesis.
7. Compose various argumentative essays with proper sentence structure, punctuation, grammar, spelling and usage.
8. Evaluate arguments from both non-fiction and literary sources and write essays that are uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices.
9. Demonstrate an understanding of the responsibilities of an intelligent citizen in a world with diverse cultural views including environmental, global and cultural awareness.
10. Write an objective fully supported paper that not only demonstrates the ability to think critically but also supports a challenging thesis.
11. Assess and follow accurately MLA research and documentation guidelines as they pertain to various forms of media and texts.

Methods Of Evaluation

Discussion & Participation 25%
Essay 30%
Research Project 25%
Quizzes & Final 20%

Assignments

1. Readings from a range of texts from a wide range of genres and media forms, including novels, short stories, graphic novels, television shows, and movies.
2. Analyze a variety of written, audio, and visual texts.
3. Participate in online discussion boards and collaborative assignments.
4. Write argumentative and analytical essays using the techniques learned in the prerequisite class.
5. Complete an analytical or argumentative research project: 2500 word paper requiring library research on an extended narrative work, such as a television series or a film director's oeuvre.
6. Through writing and oral discussions, analyze texts to develop logical conclusions, original ideas and an analytical and investigative thought process.

Assessment

A 90-100 A Clearly stands out as excellent performance and, exhibits mastery of learning outcomes.
B 80-89 B Grasps subject matter at a level considered to be good to very good, and exhibits partial mastery of learning outcomes.
C 70-79 C Demonstrates a satisfactory comprehension of the subject matter, and exhibits sufficient understanding and skills to progress in continued sequential learning.
D 60-69 D Quality and quantity of work is below average and exhibits only partial understanding and skills to progress in continued sequential learning.
F 0-59 F Quality and quantity of work is below average and not sufficient to progress.

Time on Task

This course is online and your participation at home is imperative. A minimum of 8 - 10 hours per week of study time is required for covering all of the online material to achieve a passing grade. You must set up a regular study schedule. You have five months of access to your online account with a thirty-day extension at the end if needed. If you do not complete the course within this time line, you will need to enroll in a second term.

Schedule

Below is the suggested time table to follow to stay on a 17 week schedule for the course. The following schedule is the minimum number of sections that need to be completed each week if you would like to finish in a regular semester time frame. You do not have to adhere to this schedule. You have five months of access plus a 30 day extension at the end if needed. You can finish the course as soon as you are able.

1. Review of narrative types, including refractive, reflective, and linear narration; standard plot diagram; use of foreshadowing and flashbacks; unreliable narrators; and character development in written texts: 2 weeks
2. Review of narration in an extended work (James Joyce's Dubliners) : 3 weeks
3. Review and analysis of narration in the novel genre (Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness): 3 weeks
4. Review of narration in the graphic novel genre: 3 weeks
5. Review of narration in electronic media, including television and cinema: 3 weeks
6. Final project

Code of Conduct:

It is the student's responsibility and duty to read the information below and become acquainted with all provisions of what constitutes academic misconduct involving the topics below. Students are required to read each statement below, and the given repercussions. There are no exceptions to these policies, and the pretext of not reading each part will not be deemed as a reasonable excuse to contest the policies.

Code of Ethics:

Regulations and rules are necessary to implement for classroom as well as online course behavior. Students are expected to practice honesty, integrity and respect at all times.
The definition of academic cheating is an act of dishonesty in order to obtain a higher grade in the course, and to gain an advantage over other students in the course.
Each of the infractions below represents a result of performing an act of dishonesty in order to obtain a higher grade in the course. The result of any of the offenses may result in an F in the course, and possible expulsion from Westcott. It is the student's responsibility and duty to become acquainted with all provisions of the code below and what constitutes misconduct.

Examples of academic misconduct:
(A)  Payments:
Student's who engage in fraudulent chargebacks for payments, will have their course(s) deactivated. Students who initiate chargebacks will not be able to take finals in their other courses until the courses with the chargebacks have been paid in full.

Westcott reserves the right to permanently expel a student from Westcott Courses for chargebacks.

(B) Cheating:
Any form of cheating is forbidden during exams and will result in an F in the class. By signing up for a course, you are legally signing a contract that states that the person who is named taking this course is the actual individual doing the course work and all examinations. You also agree that for courses that require proctored testing, that your final will be taken at a college testing center, a Sylvan Learning center or our one approved online proctor, and the individual signed up for this course will be the one taking the test. Thumb prints will be taken at the testing center and verified with the Department of Justice that the student taking the final, is the named student. Conspiracy to commit fraud is a federal crime, and any person attempting to take the final for another will be charged along with the student. Information about the federal charges will forever be available to other colleges and universities.

Unauthorized collaboration
By enrolling in a course offered through Westcott Courses, all students agree that they will do all of their own work. Students that engage in questionable behavior or suspicious activities will be deactivated and blocked from enrolling in future courses. This includes but is not limited to hiring a company whose business it is to do some or all the course work for the student and/or helping them remotely cheat on the final exam by using remote access. If a US student's account shows they have tests/quizzes taken by one of these companies, their work will not be accepted and will receive an F for cheating. If US students have tests taken outside the US, they may be asked to show proof that they have traveled outside the US to these destinations. This includes showing a stamped passport over a zoom meeting for full verification of the location(s). If the student cannot show they have traveled to these international locations, they will receive an F for having someone else complete their tests and quizzes.

While taking the final with the online proctor, the final will be shut down if it is found that the student is using or most likely using a third party to take their final. Depending on the evidence, the student will either be told they need to take the final at a physical testing center or if there is substantial evidence a third party was indeed involved, then an F for cheating will be posted. If digital cheating is suspected and/or confirmed, all other finals will need to be taken at a physical testing center.

Other forms of cheating that will result in receiving an F:
Other forms of cheating include receiving or providing un-permitted assistance on an exam; taking an exam for another student; using unauthorized materials during an exam; altering an exam and submitting it for re-grading; failing to stop working on the exam when the time is up; providing false excuses to postpone due dates; fabricating data or references. Working with others on graded course work without specific permission of the instructor, including homework assignments, quizzes and tests, is considered a form of cheating.
Fabricating false information to Westcott to conceal cheating in order to gain a grade that was not earned.
Fabricating false information in the context of an academic assignment.
Fabricating or altering information or data and presenting it as legitimate.
Providing false or misleading information to Westcott, an instructor or other staff member.
Fabricating false information to gain access to a higher grade.
Claiming that Westcott Courses lost their test and/or quiz scores.
Copying Westcott Courses content and posting it on the internet. This includes assignments, quizzes, and tests.
Final exams are secure tests and the intellectual property of Westcott Courses. Taking screen shots of a digital final or copying a paper test is stealing our intellectual property and cheating. It is equivalent to stealing a copy of the final exam off an instructor's desk.

Plagiarism: All of the following are considered plagiarism, and will result in a zero on the plagiarized assignment, and there are no opportunities to redo the assignment.

Merriam-Webster defines plagiarism as “the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person” Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

• having somebody else write your assignment for you
• turning in an assignment that contains work that is not your own
• changing words in phrases, sentences and/or blocks of text without giving credit to the source (paraphrase)
• copying ideas, phrases, sentences or entire blocks of text without giving credit to the source
• not crediting the correct source by providing incorrect information

Plagiarism is an act of fraud, and can usually be avoided by using quotation marks and citing the source of the material. Instructors apply plagiarism software to find assignments that contain plagiarized material. Again, assignments that contain one of the above infractions will receive a zero on the assignment and the student will not have the opportunity to redo the assignment.

Westcott Courses takes cheating very seriously and will pursue all means available to make sure student's caught cheating face the full consequences for their actions. Westcott reserves the right to permanently expel a student from Westcott courses for cheating and/or fraudulent chargebacks.

(C) Respectful Communication & Anti-Bully Policy
When contacting Westcott Courses, you agree to be considerate and respectful. Communications from a student which are considered by our staff to be rude, insulting, disrespectful, belittling, harassing, threatening or bullying via telephone, email, or otherwise will be considered a disrespectful communication and/or bullying and will result in a formal warning. Further disrespectful communications will result in a second and final violation of the policy, and the student will immediately and permanently be expelled from Westcott. These students will not under any circumstances, be permitted to continue with their course(s). Westcott Courses has zero tolerance for this type of behavior towards instructors and staff. A third disrespectful communication will result in a legal cease and desist order, the halting of further communication between our staff and the person(s) speaking on behalf of the student or the student themselves. Further disrespectful communications and/or bullying after a cease and desist order will result in legal action.

Bullying is defined by the CDC and DOE define as:
-Unwanted aggressive behavior
-Observed or perceived power imbalance
-Repetition or high likelihood of repetition of bullying behaviors

Additional unacceptable behaviors that fall under bullying policy, but are not limited to:
-Informing the instructor not to apply the regular grading system to their assignments, but to mark all their assignments with A’s.
-Discrediting the instructor’s authority and educational ability to set up the course content correctly. (Note: All our instructors hold a graduate degree in their field of study and teach at a California Community College and/or a California State University. They all have 20+ years teaching experience.)
-Playing the victim while concurrently bullying staff and/or instructors, and insist this justifies the behavior. This includes calling Westcott's staff or instructors racist, even though we don't know the student's race and they don't know ours. Or playing the victim after being issued the first violation of the Respectful Communications & Bullying Policy, and blaming others instead of taking responsibility for their unacceptable behavior.
-Threatening lawsuits because they are angry that we will not permit their violations of our policies. All threats of this kind will result in no further communication with the student.

We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who violates our polices. If Westcott Courses receives disrespectful communications or bully tactics from person(s) representing the student, or the student themselves, the student will be expelled from Westcott Courses.

(D) Grading information and proctored final policies:
The grading rules are put in place to protect the integrity of online education by stopping grade inflation, which is done by demanding a display of competency in exchange for a grade.

By agreeing to the terms of service agreement, you agree to read the 'Grading and Course Directions' page within your account, and the 'Proctored Final Information' page, if applicable. You have within your 7 day refund period to notify Westcott Courses that you do NOT agree to the grading policy and/or the proctored final policies that are outlined in the pages inside of your account. If you do not agree with these policies, please let us know and we can start the drop and refund process. Otherwise, once you are past your 7 day refund period, you agree to our policies and cannot contest them.

There are no exceptions to these policies, and the pretext of not reading the pages will not be deemed as a reasonable excuse to contest the policies. Before students take the final, they sign a grade disclaimer, which gives them the exact grades on the final and the overall course grade that those grades produce. Depending on the course discipline, students either have to get a 50% or 60% on the final to get a C or better in the course. The grade disclaimers will state the threshold for each course.

Student's who contest this grading policy after they have signed their grade disclaimer and taken the final, will be considered trying to cheat in order to obtain a higher grade and will receive an F. These students will not be permitted to take any other finals, until they have fully complied with grading policy and agree they will not contest the policy with any other courses. The grade disclaimer is a legal and binding contract and should be read carefully before signing. The pretext of not reading this document is not an excuse for contesting the policies.

If you have questions, please read more information about plagiarism at plagiarism.org, or ask your instructor.

Important Notes:

This syllabus is subject to change and / or revision during the academic year. Students with documented learning disabilities should notify our office upon enrollment, as well as make sure we let the testing center know extended time is permitted. Valid documentation involves educational testing and a diagnosis from a college, licensed clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.