Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

American Literature I (Face-to-Face)

ENGL 3210-01

Course: ENGL 3210-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: ENGL
CRN: 32268

Course Description

This section explores the intersection of Gothic and sentimental literary genres in American Literature before 1865. Students will examine how various writers combined Gothic elements with sentimental appeals to create uniquely American works of literature. Through novels, narratives, poetry, and short fiction, we'll investigate how these seemingly contradictory modes worked together to expose national anxieties, challenge social boundaries, and drive cultural change. Writers covered include Anne Bradstreet, Hannah Webster Foster, J. Hector St. John de Crevecouer, Victor Sejour, Charles Brockden Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Spofford, Lydia Sigourney, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Louisa May Alcott, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson.

Required Texts

  • Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette (Dover) ISBN: 9780486796192
  • Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland (Penguin Classics) ISBN: 9780140390797
  • Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Signet Classics) ISBN: 9780451531469
  • Other texts will be provided through Canvas.

Learning Outcomes

  • Students will be able to identify, describe, and compare the literary features of a variety of genres of American literature from its roots to the Civil War. (SUU ELO: Knowledge of Human Cultures: Students demonstrate knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world through study in the fine arts, humanities, social and behavioral sciences, life and physical sciences.)
  • Students will be able to articulate critical positions and interpretations through short-answer quizzes and essay exams. (SUU ELO: Communication: Students develop and express ideas and will be able to do so in a variety of ways, namely in writing, by speaking, visually, kinesthetically, through design or aurally.)
  • Students will be able to apply knowledge of literary conventions and genres in effectively imitating the style of pre-Civil War American writers in a creative project. (SUU ELO: Critical Thinking: Students demonstrate disciplined processes of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.)
  • Students will demonstrate an ability to conduct scholarly research and create an effective digital presentation on a pre-Civil War American author. (SUU ELO: Digital Literacy: Students strategically and responsibly employ appropriate technologies to explore, create, collaborate, and organize in a digital context.)


Course Requirements

Grading:
5% Quizzes
5% Weekly Check-Ins
25% Midterm Essay
25% Final Essay
15% Article Presentation
25% Creative Imitation Project

Grading scale: A= 90-100%; B+=87-89%; B=80-86%; C+= 77-79%; C=70-76%; D+= 67-69%  D= 60-66%; F= 59% or lower

Description of Assignments:
Quizzes:
Each quiz consists of four short-answer questions designed to make sure you are keeping up with the readings and attending class (and are at least somewhat paying attention). Each quiz will cover material introduced since the last quiz.

Weekly Check-Ins
The Weekly Check-In is a worksheet that will be due by the start of class every Monday (starting on Week 2). The Check-Ins will report on what you did and learned the previous week (attendance, participation, what you learned, what you’re confused about). This will allow you both to take stock of what you are learning in class, provide accountability for your attendance and contributions to the class, and offer you the opportunity to communicate to me any challenges or difficulties you may encounter. The check-ins will be graded based on completion (i.e. did you answer all parts of the worksheet honestly). These worksheets will take the place of an attendance or participation grade. I will still take attendance but it will not be built into the course grade.

Yes, this means that, theoretically, you could never attend, but still turn in all the Weekly Check-Ins and get full credit for that portion of your final grade. However, I would strongly advise against this for at least 2 reasons: (1) you will miss out on important information, discussions, and materials that will be vital for your success in the course, including peer reviews; and (2) at the end of the semester, if your grade is “on the bubble” (e.g. 68, 78, 88, etc.), your lack of attendance/participation will make it highly unlikely that I will bump your grade up to the next letter grade.

Midterm Essay:
Your Midterm Paper will be a minimum of 3 pages (12 pt., double spaced). For this paper, you will select one reading from the first part of the course (before Fall Break). For your selected story, you will write a literary analysis paper that focuses on the development of American identity considering questions such as: What are the features and characteristics of American identity that the writer chooses to emphasize? What factors shape that identity? To what degree is the writer’s concept American identity inclusive or exclusive of different groups of people? While your essay will be largely based on your close readings of the text, you need to include at least one secondary source of literary criticism on the text.

Final Essay:
Your Final Paper will be a minimum of 4 pages (12 pt., double spaced) and will be completed individually. For this paper, you will pair a writer from the first half of the semester with a writer from the second half of the semester. You will construct a literary analysis paper that focuses on an argument/topic of your choice. Your essay must cite at least 2 secondary sources.

Article Presentation:
For this presentation, you will sign up for one of the selected articles listed on the course schedule. In your presentation you will summarize the article (highlighting the author’s main claim and supporting reasons), respond to the article (do you agree or disagree with the claim? Does it change your own reading/understanding of that week’s reading?), and provide one discussion question you’d like the class to consider based on your reading of the article.

Creative Imitation Project:
This project involves carefully studying an author’s writing style so that you can re-create or imitate it. You will select a “source passage” (1-2 paragraphs) from one of your favorite works of fiction published in the 21st century. Once you have selected your text, you will use AI to “translate” the source passage into the style of multiple writers we read this semester. You will produce 4 translations that imitate the style of 4 different writers assigned this semester. In addition to providing your translated passage, you will also include an explication (at least 500 words) for each translation that explains what you did in creating your translation and includes quotations from the model text to support your choices.

You will turn in your “source passage” for approval by Monday, Sept. 8. You will submit a draft of one translation and explication by Monday, Oct. 6. The final project with 4 translations and explications will be due on the final day of class, Monday, Dec. 1. 

Course Outline

Disclaimer: Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor. In the event that there are changes to the syllabus, I will notify you both in-person and electronically.

Course Schedule:

Week 1
W 8/27
Course Intro, Syllabus Review

F 8/29
Lecture Day: Early American Literature, Puritans, and Anne Bradstreet
Read: Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, “Prologue,” “"Before the Birth of One of Her Children", "A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment"

Week 2 
M 9/1
No class – Labor Day

W 9/3
Discussion Day: Bradstreet

F 9/5
Student Presentations on Bradstreet

Week 3 
M 9/8
Quiz 1
Read: Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette, pp. 1-70 (though letter XL)
Lecture Day: early American novels and the early republic

W 9/10
Read: Foster, The Coquette, pp 70-142)
Discussion day

F 9/12
Student Presentation day

Week 4 
M 9/15
Quiz 2
Read: Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland, pp 3-55, Ch 1-5
Lecture day: The Enlightenment

W 9/17
Read: Brown, Wieland, pp. 56-128, Ch 6-11
Discussion day

F 9/19
Student Presentation Day

Week 5 
M 9/22
Quiz 3
Read: Brown, Wieland, pp. 129-197, Ch 12-19
Lecture Day: Gothic literature

W 9/24
Read: Brown, Wieland, pp. 198-278, Ch 20-27
Discussion day

F 9/26
Student Presentation Day

Week 6
M 9/29
Quiz 4
Read: Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
Lecture Day: American short stories

W 10/1
Read: Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”
Discussion Day

F 10/2
Student Presentation Day

Week 7 
M 10/6
Quiz 5
Lecture Day: early African American literature
Read: Victor Sejour, “The Mulatto”

W 10/8
Discussion Day

F 10/10
Student Presentation Day

Week 8 
M 10/13
No Class – Fall Break

W 10/15
Due: Midterm Essay
Quiz 6
Read: selected poetry by Lydia Signourney and Jane Johnston Schoolcraft
Lecture Day: 19th-century sentimental literature

F 10/17
Student Presentations

Week 9 – Poe/Spofford
M 10/20
Quiz 7
Read: Edgar Allan Poe, “The Black Cat”

W 10/22
Read: Harriet Spofford, “Circumstance”

F 10/22
Student Presentations

Week 10 
M 10/27
Quiz 8
Read: Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, pp. 1-56, Ch 1-9
Lecture day

W 10/29
Quiz 9
Read: Jacobs, Incidents, pp. 57-109, Ch 10-17
Discussion day

F 10/31
Student Presentation day

Week 11
M 11/3
Quiz 10
Read: Jacobs, Incidents, pp. 109-160, Ch 18-27
Lecture Day

W 11/5
Quiz 11
Read: Jacobs, Incidents, pp. 161-228, Ch 28-41
Discussion Day

F 11/7
Quiz 12
Student Presentation day

Week 12 
M 11/10
Quiz 13
Read: Herman Melville, Benito Cereno, first half
Lecture day

W 11/12
Read: Herman Melville, Benito Cereno, second half
Discussion day

F 11/14
Student Presentation day

Week 13
M 11/17
Quiz 14
Read: Louisa May Alcott, “My Contraband”
Lecture Day

W 11/19
Discussion Day

F 11/21
Student Presentation Day

Week 14 
11/24-11/28 – No Class – Thanksgiving Break

Week 15
M 12/1
Quiz 15
Read: Walt Whitman, Calamus sequence, from Leaves of Grass; selected poetry of Emily Dickinson
Lecture and discussion day (link in Canvas)

W 12/3
Student Presentation Day

F 12/5
Last Day of Class
In-class work on Final Essays
Due: Creative Imitation Project

Finals Week:
Wednesday, Dec 10, 5 pm: Final Essay Due

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

You will turn in most of your major assignments online. It is your responsibility to make sure that your submission goes through, which means going back after you have uploaded your assignment to double check that it is there. Computer problems are not a valid excuse for late or missing work. If you are having trouble uploading an assignment from your home computer, go to the library and upload it from there. Plan ahead.
 
Major assignments that are turned in late will be deducted 10% for each 24-hour-period after the stated deadline. Late Weekly Check-ins will not be accepted. In-class work cannot be made-up.
 
Extensions are negotiable. If you anticipate needing more time for an assignment, you must get in touch with me at least two days before the assignment is due. Together we will arrive at a later due date. I will hold you to that new due date and deduct points if you miss it. Do not email me the day before something is due to ask for an extension; I will refuse. Plan ahead. I reserve the right to refuse extensions.

Attendance Policy

While regular attendance is expected and is crucial to your success in the course, there is no explicit grade or penalty for attendance.

AI Policies

AI Writing Policy:
Use of AI (artificial intelligence) writing programs (such as ChatGPT, Bing AI, and Claude) is allowed in this class. Please note that successfully writing a paper using AI will involve just as much (if not more) work as writing the paper without AI. AI cannot write your paper for you.

For each essay, you need to decide whether or not you want to use AI writing tools to help you write the essay (either in part or in whole). It will make no difference to your standing in my class which option you pick; however, telling me which option you pick will allow me to provide more helpful, targeted feedback and assistance to you. This is because writing an essay with AI is a very different mode of writing than writing an essay without AI. 

The same grading standards will be in place for each essay regardless of whether or not you are using AI in your writing process. To set the bar for outpacing AI, submitted writing that exhibits the characteristics of AI-generated writing is the standard for a failing grade in this course. AI-level work is defined as any assignment that is vague, generic, poorly researched, includes factually inaccurate information, and offers little relevant textual evidence. Submitted work that exhibits these characteristics—whether you wrote them with AI or not—will earn a maximum of 50% credit.

AI and Factual Accuracy:
AI is prone to writing factually incorrect statements, inventing fake quotes from real sources, and inventing entirely fake sources. It is your responsibility to double-check that any AI-assisted work you submit is free from these errors. Work containing obvious factual errors or fictitious quotes or sources will receive a grade of zero (0) with the option for a one-time revise and resubmit. Submitting more than one assignment with these types of errors will result in you failing the class.

Disclosure of AI-Assisted Writing:
As there is no penalty for using AI in this class, there is no benefit to lying about or trying to conceal your use of AI in this class. Concealing or lying about your use of AI will result in your work being given a zero and there will be no opportunity for re-submission.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.