http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/int/intsyl98.html

ENG 250-02 The Internet for English Majors Fall 1998 Mr Furr

Syllabus

The full course title is: "The Internet for English Majors: Using the Internet in Literary Study and Research." The course is intended to introduce students to both simple and more sophisticated uses of the Internet, concentrating on those features and techniques useful for literary research and study.

Though open to all students, this course is designed for English and other literature and, more broadly, humanities majors, from sophomores to seniors. Students will be trained to use the Internet as a valuable research tool and adjunct to a research library.

The Internet is already an invaluable tool for literary discussion and research, and its use for those purposes is still expanding rapidly. Careful and slphisticated use of the Internet for literary research makes it possible to do better research, in a much shorter time, than only a few years ago.

The course has the following main objectives:

• To train students to use all current Internet featues: Email, FTP, the WorldWide Web, Internet Relay Chat (IRC); Usenet Newsgroups; Telnet; and Gopher (still necessary, though rapidly being replaced by the Web).
• To train students in the aspects of these features more useful to literary research.
• To train students to integrate the Internet into overall strategies of good research methods;
• To make students conversant with those Internet features which may be of most use to them in their teaching careers.

Procedures, Techniques, Methods

There will be some lectures. But most of the class will consist of discussions in small groups and in a "large group" (whole class) format. Discussions will be based both on readings and on specific assignments distributed by email and, after the first few days of class, on a special WorldWide Web page devoted to the course.

The class will have a class Threaded Web Discussion Forum and a group Mailing List (Email Distribution List ), set up by the instructor, and will be required to post their own assignments and to discuss, critically but supportively, the assignments of others.

In addition, the course will have an anonymous Threaded Web Discussion Forum where students can post questions, answers, comments, and suggestions anonymously, so that anyone can ask any question any time and not be afraid to "look stupid." The instructor will monitor and receive copies of all distribution list posts; review all discussion forum posts; save all student assignments electronically; and also post anonymously to the anonymous Discussion Forum, to make sure that erroneous information does not get disseminated by students trying to help each other.

It should be possible, eventually, to hold several classes remotely, using the CHSS IRC server, so that students can have the experience of real-time chat. At the very least, some office hours will be conducted by IRC. Much instructor-student consultation will take place by email and, eventually, by real-time chat as well. Ideally, one contact hour per week might, after a suitable introductory period, be conducted through the Internet itself.

Assignments:

• Each week students will generally have two written assignments, of 200-300 words each. These will be emailed to the instructor, who will grade and file them. Sometimes they will be posted on a Newsgroup or the Discussion Forum as well.
• Students will complete a semester project, consisting of a research paper, in traditional format. This may be a research paper done for another literature or humanities class, but in which Internet research methods have been used at every step of the way.
• Any student who is not doing such a research paper for another course will be assigned to do such a paper, on a subject in his or her major, for this course.
• An additional, shorter essay in which the student explains and critically discusses how s/he has used the Internet for that research paper will also be required.
• An optional mid-term exam will be due, by email, on .
• An optional Final Exam will be due at the time and place set aside for our course in the Fall 1998 Course Schedule Booklet, but again by email.

Instructional Materials

• Researching On-line, adapted by Christopher Busiel and Tom Maeglin. NY: Longman, 1998. This is a basic introduction to the use of the Internet for research purposes.
• "How to Use the Internet To Do Your Research Paper", a short manual, available on-line, which I have written. This will provide a general guide to both research methods and to the use of the Internet for those purposes.
• Links to important on-line research resources and methods in my
• Research Page.

One of my goals in teaching this class is to use student criticism, and what we have learned in the course of the semester, to greatly improve and expand this free resource.

Most of the required readings for the course will be on-line. I will provide links on the Homework Page and on the Links Page to these materials.

Basic Requirements for Successful Completion of the Course: Students will be graded upon the following:

• Class participation
• Biweekly assignments
• Group assignments
• Term project - the research paper
• Optional mid-term and final examinations, if any
• Less penalty for unexcused absences, if any.

http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/int/intsyl98.html | furrg@alpha.montclair.edu | last modified 8 Sep 98