| Butler Community College |
English Department |
| Humanities/Fine Arts Department |
Spring 1998 |
Course Outline
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
LT230. Women in Literature. 3 hours credit.
Women in Literature consists of readings in fiction, poetry, essays, and
drama written by and about women. Students will read assigned work and
discuss the significance of concepts, characters, and events relating
to women's issues.
TEXTBOOK:
Ferguson, Mary Anne, Images of Women
in Literature. 5th Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
Walker, Alice. Possessing the Secret of Joy. New York: Harcourt, 1992.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The primary objective of Women in Literature
is to provide reading, writing, and discussion experiences that will allow
students to improve their knowledge, analysis, and understanding of women's
issues as they are dealt with in fiction, drama, poetry, and essays, both
contemporary and historical.
- At the completion of this course, the student will demonstrate the following skills:
- Identify the elements of literature in various genre.
- Analyze an author's purpose, writing strategy, audience, and viewpoint as these appear in literature written from a woman's perspective.
- Apply critical thinking about women's historical and contemporary roles and situations to reading and discussion.
- Recognize issues relating to women in literature written by, for, and about women.
- Respond analytically in class discussion and journal entries to issues raised by the literature that are relevant to women.
- Expand vocabulary and use appropriate diction, particularly the vocabulary and diction specific to literature by, for, and about women.
Identify Elements of Literature
- To show how the use of plot, characterization, theme, point of view, and setting as devices for developing a literary work.
- To identify how the structure of an essay is used to formulate and develop ideas related to issues.
- To develop ad use vocabulary and diction defining concepts relevant to women's issue in literature.
- To analyze the traditional images of women as wife, mother, woman on a pedestal, sex object, and single women as they are presented in literature.
- To study how these literary images raise issues relating to women in general.
- To relate these images to stereotypes and expectations that women have faced throughout history and face currently.
- To identify full-developed women in literature.
- To identify and discuss what stands in the way of self-actualization for women.
- To gain knowledge of the process of self-actualization for themselves as depicted in women's literature, and to discuss and develop methods of self-actualization.
At the completion of Women in Literature, students will have read 25 to 30 short stories, poems, and essays, read one novel and view one movie on the theme of women's issues. Students will keep a journal, take two exams and complete a final project, which will vary from semester to semester.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION:
Methods of instruction may include lecture;
class discussion; daily exercises; tests, including quizzes and chapter
or unit tests; handouts; audio-visual aids; study guides panel discussions;
observation reports; writing assignments, including essays and journal
entries; field trips; and individual conferences.
Telecourses: Independent study of audio/video materials augmented by text and study guide; collaboration and participation with class members and faculty via available means. Faculty role is facilitator of learning experiences.
METHODS OF EVALUATION:
Methods of evaluation may include the
following: tests, both essay and objective; daily work; written composition;
class participation; and other methods of evaluation at the discretion
of the instructor.
Miscellaneous:
Students with impaired sensory, manual
or speaking skills are encouraged and have the responsibility to contact
their instructor, in a timely fashion, regarding reasonable accommodation
needs.
