English 3200–OL; Early Modern Women in English Literary History
Professor Rebecca Laroche
Office: Columbine Hall 1051
Office Hours: 1:30–4:30, and by appointment

 

Course Description: This course is a consideration of the unique contribution of various women to the writing culture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. It also serves as introduction to the gendered modes of “hidden” scholarship that contribute to the study of texts.

Course Objectives: For students to gain:

• Some knowledge of the extensive contributions of women to the writing cultures of sixteenth and seventeenth-century England.
• An understanding of the gendered formations of the early modern canon.
• An orientation to a different side of scholarship in literary studies.
• An introduction to the emergent field of the digital humanities.
• Increased computer literacy.
• Beginning skills in transcribing seventeenth-century handwriting.

Course Texts:

The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Sixteenth Century / The Early Seventeenth Century. Volume B. Stephen Greenblatt et al., editors. Eighth or Ninth edition. You may use the full Volume 1—volumes A, B, and C—that has been assigned in other English courses (Eighth or Ninth edition).

While assignments from other websites are described within the syllabus, this course will also be drawing heavily from three online resources:

—Women Writers Online, in particular the portion of this database called RWO (Renaissance Women Online).

How to access the Renaissance Women Online database:

1. Go to the UCCS homepage.
   2. Double click on the Kraemer Family Library link.
   3.         Click on “Databases by A-Z list,” then “W.”
   4.         Click “Women Writers Online.”

–www.luminarium.org, in particular the link to the 17th century. You may want to turn the sound off when you are at this site, the flutes can be pretty piercing.

–http://www.textualcommunities.usask.ca/home. The work you are doing in this course is in coordination with the crowd-sourcing project.

Week 1: January 20–21 (and before).

*Read Syllabus and Introductory letter.
*Post concerns and questions about syllabus and introduction.
*Self-Assessment: Complete the Smarter Measure survey at the link, http://uccs.smartermeasure.com/. You will have to create a username and password. [Please complete it honestly and take the results seriously; you may find that this is not the right time for you for taking on online responsibilities, and it would be best to find this out now rather than later]. From the “first-time user” dropbox, choose “CLAS,” then enter the password “clasuccs” to create your account.
*Obtain the Norton Anthology (see above).
*If you have not already done so, establish a Library VPN with the Kraemer Library. Those at the Library Reference Desk/IT Help Desk can help you with this item.
*As this is an online course, we are hitting the ground running, so you also have the assignments described in Week 1.5 to complete.

Phase 1. Week 1.5–3: How is Literature Made?

Week 1.5: January 21–23
Seeing The Norton Anthology with New Eyes

*Watch introductory video posted in the Weekly Content Folder
*Read the Weekly Orientation Blog for week January 20–23 and post a response.
*Begin a new thread and label it with your name. Upload picture into Class Participants Introduction (in left sidebar) that relates your position as an English major.  Add a couple of sentences about your interest in the course. (More detailed instructions included in the Discussion Thread in the left sidebar).
*Read through the Table of Contents of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume B, and answer the reading questions for Week 2 (to be submitted at the assignment link in the Weekly Content Folder).
*Professor Laroche will have Analytical Assignment #1 posted to the Week 3 Content Folder by the end of the week.

Week 2. January 26–30

How is an author made? The Case of Mary Wroth

*Read the section on Mary Wroth in the Norton Anthology, both the introduction to the author and the works by her, and answer the questions that are in the Weekly Content folder.
*Post to the Forum about Mary Wroth (in section discussions). One of your comments should respond to one of my initial questions, and two others to your peers’ posts.
*Write a 100-word journal entry about your reading and discussion for the weeks 1&2 and post on journal page.
*Establish a Group Agreement with your Writing Workshop.

Week 3. February 2–6.
Writing Workshop #1

*Read the Weekly Orientation for the week and post a response/question.
*Work with your groups on the tasks posted in the First Writing Workshop. These have variable dates, so refer to these at the beginning of the week.
*Written Analysis #1 (Description in Assignment Folder) due on February 6 by 11:59 p.m.
*Receive Reading and Annotation assignments for Weeks 5 through 7 (Professor Laroche will assign these by the end of the week).

Phase 2. Weeks 4 through 6: Making a Work of Literature.

Week 4. February 9–13.
Selections from The World’s Olio.

*Read the Orientation Blog for the week and post a response.
*Read the Introduction to Margaret Cavendish from the Norton, and these selections (everyone reads) from The Worlds Olio found on Women Writers Online: Sigs. A1r–A4v and Sigs. E2r–E4v.
*Answer the reading questions in the assignment folder.
*Watch video “Early Modern Pagination.”
*Read closely the two pages assigned to you during the previous week. These will be from signatures (Defined in video. Even pagination was different in the 17^th century!) that are to be determined. Consulting the Oxford English Dictionary (NECESSARILY the OED, available through the Library VPN online reference) determine and provide 5–8 footnotes (numbered sentences at the end of your selection, which are aligned with bracketed [] numbers in the text) for the two pages of The World’s Olio (see assignment sheet; remind yourself of the discussion/reading questions from week 2).
*Transcribe and translate your passage into Norton-Anthology English and post with footnotes to your section’s Cavendish Edition Wiki in the appropriate slots for your signature.
*Professor Laroche will have Analytical Assignment #2 posted to the Week 6 Content Folder by the end of the week.

Week 5. February 16–20.
Selections from The World’s Olio, Part 2.

*Read the Weekly Orientation and post a response.
*(Re-)Read the Wiki edition in its completion and add 3 further footnotes as you see fit to any of the pages in your sections edition. You may also look for duplications and amend accordingly. Individual editions can be seen through looking at a page history.
*Make changes according to Professor Laroche’s suggestions if someone else hasn’t already done so. These final edits are required in order for your grade to be finalized.
*Write a 100-word journal entry about your reading and discussion for weeks 4 and 5 and post on journal page.

Week 6. February 23–27.
Writing Workshop #2.

*Read the Weekly Orientation for the week and post a response.
*Work with your groups on the tasks posted in the Writing Workshop 2. These have variable dates, so refer to these at the beginning of the week.
*Make changes according to Professor Laroche’s suggestions if someone else hasn’t already done so. These final edits are required in order for your grade to be finalized.
*Written Analysis #2 (Description in Weekly Content Folder) (February 27).

Phase 3. Weeks 7–16: Starting from Scratch.

Week 7. March 2–6.
Learning to Transcribe.

*Read Weekly Orientation for the week and post a response.
*Read the posts from the Fall 2103 participants in the course.
*Establish a group agreement with your Transcription group.
*Complete Cambridge English Handwriting Online Course Lessons 2, 9,12— http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/—on your own.
*Work on Lesson 9, Follow-up assignment #1 (click the pointing hand at the bottom of the page) with your assigned Transcription group (not your writing workshop) in the Wiki format.

Professor Laroche will have Analytical Assignment #3 posted to the Week 16 Content Folder by the end of the week.

Week 8. March 9–13.
Online Transcription and Editing Projects, and Learning XML.

*Read the Weekly Orientation Blog and post questions.
*Read all of the handouts about online transcription included in the hand-out folder.
*Complete Cambridge English Handwriting Online Lessons 15, 18, 25 on your own.
*Work on Lesson 18, Follow-up assignment #1, with your assigned Transcription group in the page.
*Look at the Lady Catchmay manuscript on the Wellcome Medical Library Database by entering “Catchmay” in to the online catalog and clicking on “view this opening” in one of the entries:
http://archives.wellcome.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Search.tcl

Honestly answer the question to yourself, “Can I begin to read this?” If the answer is “no” pursue more Cambridge lessons in the 3 and 4 range.

Week 9. March 16–20.
Introduction to The Recipe Project Transcription Database.

*Read the Weekly Orientation and post any questions you may have.
*Read entries from The Recipe Project Blog: http://recipes.hypotheses.org/
*Answer these questions and hand them in at the Week 10 assignment folder: What kind of work does The Recipe Project Blog reflect? Who are the scholars that engage recipe manuscripts? What can we gain from engaging these texts? (March 20)
*Watch Video on Transcribing Catchmay (March 20).
*Take Transcription Quizzes (March 20).
Week 10. Spring Break.

Relax a bit, but you may want to practice. Professor Laroche will have your Catchmay assignments posted by Thursday of this week for those who think they will need the extra time.

Week 11. March 30–April 3.
The Recipe Project Week #2.

*Read the Weekly Orientation and post any questions you may have. I will also create a separate blog for any questions you may have about the Catchmay hand (Under Group Blogs). The latter will serve as a resource for everyone, as all may have similar questions (throughout the week).
*With your group, transcribe the first four lines on each of the pages assigned to the individual members of your group (that is, you will have help starting your page from the Catchmay manuscript) per the transcription guidelines (see handouts) within the Wiki, and submit one page with these lines to Prof. Laroche for feedback.
*Work on your individual page of transcription as you can.
*Collaboratively determine at least one word for each person in your group that needs glossing from your pages and submit the definitions with your transcriptions.
*Take note of the most helpful hints you can give about transcription (for Week 15).
Week 12. April 6–10.
The Recipe Project Week #3

*Read the Weekly Orientation Blog and Post questions. I will also create a separate blog for any questions you may have about the Catchmay hand. The latter will serve as a resource for everyone, as all may have similar questions (throughout the week).
*Continue to lend support to your peers through the online forum.
*Take note of the most helpful hints you can give about the transcription task (for Week 15).
*Submit your solo transcriptions as .docx file (without XML) to Professor Laroche by Friday, April 10.

Week 13. April 13–17.
*Read the Weekly Orientation Blog and post questions.
*Submit four vocabulary words with definitions to the group Wiki entitled Definitions Wiki. You should also include any variant spellings from the OED, as those will be relevant. *Write a 100-word journal entry about your experience for the Phase and post it.

Week 14. April 20–24.

*Read the Weekly Orientation Blog and post questions.
*Watch videos on XML coding.
*Make corrections per Professor Laroche’s suggestions to your solo transcription in your Word Document.
*Add the appropriate XML coding to your solo Word Document and submit it to Professor Laroche along with your corrections to your transcriptions (in one document) (April 24).

Week 15. April 27–May 1.
Finishing Touches.

*Read the Weekly Orientation Blog and post questions.
*Post to the Future. Write a 200-word post to future students in the next iteration of ENGL 3200 with helpful hints for survival and success. Do not replicate the post you received from 2013, but rather build upon that experience (May 1).
*Complete Course FCQs.

Week 16. May 4–8.
Writing Workshop

*Read the Weekly Orientation and post a response.
*Submit the FINAL document of your entire Catchmay page with corrected XML (per Professor Laroche’s suggestions) and you corrected transcriptions. If you do not, you will not receive credit for the assignment. With your final submission, submit also submit one of the following statements: “I give Professor Laroche permission to submit this work as an anonymous contribution to the Textual Communities Recipes Project”; “I would like to submit my work personally in to the Textual Communities Recipes Project and have my name registered with in it. Please assign me the task. My gmail account is [your gmail account here]. I agree to have submitted this work within a month after the end of the course; “I do not want this work entered into the Textual Communities Recipes Project.”
* Work with your Writing Workshop groups on the tasks posted in the Writing Workshop 3. These have variable dates, so refer to these at the beginning of the week.
*Written Analysis #3 (Description in the Weekly Content Folder).

Course Assignments:

Orientation Questions (5 pts.): Every week you will be asked to insure that all is clear with the assignments by reading the “Weekly Orientation” blog and by posting concerns/questions. I will be looking for 5 substantive posts in at least as many weeks, but you must read these blogs EVERY week as a means of taking responsibility for your individual success (and our collective success) in the course.

Phase 1: 26 pts.

Introductory Post with Picture (1 pt.): An easy point, it’s essential that all class participants recognize that there’s a person behind each entry and each assignment.

Reading Questions (4 pts.): Also, as indicated in the syllabus, some weeks you will have questions that you will have to answer in 1-2 sentences to be submitted at the beginning of the week. In these, the professor will be looking for evidence that you engaged the readings. One of these may be an assignment assigned that will have you fulfill an exercise using the Oxford English Dictionary. If you do not know how to access the OED online via the Library VPN, you may call the library reference desk.

Mary Wroth Forum: Making Literary History (3 pts., 3 posts): In Week 2, you will be participating in a discussion-format forum on the reading materials. You will be responding to prompts I post and to the comments of your peers. Your comments will be assessed by their thoughtful engagement with both the reading assigned and the questions asked.

Journal Entries (1 pt.): For some of the weeks of the semester, you will submit a brief (100-word) journal entry to be seen only by your professor. The purpose of these entries is for you to develop a personal relationship with the materials. What struck YOU as most important about the phase’s lessons? What will YOU take away from the materials? These should be thoughtfully constructed and mechanically careful. They will be assessed according to the thoughtfulness and depth of their engagement and the clarity of their presentation.

Writing Workshop (at least two posts) and Written Analysis (800-1000 words) (17 pts. total): During the last week of each phase, we will spend time reflecting on the previous lessons and discussing elements of what it is to write about literature. You will be expected to engage the workshop seriously and to take the conversation into consideration while completing your assignment. The assignment for each Written Analysis along with the criteria for assessment will be posted in the due date weekly content folder on blackboard during the beginning of each phase.

Phase 2: 26 pts.

Wiki Posting and Editing (8 pts.): The full description of this assignment will be posted in the assignment folder. Your participation in this assignment will also be the basis of your written analysis for this phase. Simply put, there is no “blowing it off.”

Journal Entries (1 pt.): See description of like assignment under Phase 1.

Writing Workshop (at least 2 posts) and Written Analysis (800–1000 words) (17 pts. total): See description of like assignment under Phase 1. Full description will be posted in the Week 6 content folder.

Phase 3: 44 pts.

Cambridge Handwriting Workshop (5 pts.): Your successful completion of the longer transcription assignments (see below) will depend on your careful engagement of the assigned lessons from the Cambridge University site: http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/. Give yourself plenty of time to explore the site and complete these lessons and be prepared to complete more than the assigned lessons if you find that you are not yet up to reading the recipes assigned later. Your professor will not be looking over your shoulder, but the work you put in at this point in the semester will pay off in the long run.

Recipes Project Reading Questions (1 pt.)

Transcription Assignments (20 pts):
Quizzes (5pts.) Group Work (3 pts.) and Individual work (12 pts.)

Transcription can be both rewarding and frustrating work. If at first these manuscripts seem incomprehensible, give it time. It becomes easier in practice, but then there are always challenges (think of the best video games, but in slow motion). In this course, you, both with a group and on your own, will be bringing works from seventeenth-century hand into the modern era of xml and searchable databases. This experience will be the basis for your Analytical Assignment for this section.

Post to the Future and Definitions Wiki (5 pts): Because transcription can be both frustrating and rewarding work, these assignments will be available both for your current support and for the support of future generations of this course. Your professor regularly asks others and is asked by others for help with particular tangles. Through the posts to the future, which will be handed on to the next iteration of the class, and through the Definitions Wiki around obscure vocabulary, you will witness the give and take that is scholarship. Your contributions will be assessed on their helpfulness and the extent of your engagement with the process.

As part of this work, we will be creating a Definitions Wiki for the Catchmay manuscript, in which you will be responsible for identifying particularly sticky words and providing their definitions and variant spellings from the Oxford English Dictionary (1 in group work, at least 3 in individual work).

Journal Entry (1 pt): See the description of the like assignment under Phase 1.

Writing Workshop (2 posts) and Written Analytical Assignment (700–800 words)(12 pts.): See the description of the like assignment under Phase 1. Full description will be posted in the Weekly Content Folder for the week that it is due.

Total points for the course: 101

Course Policies:

Disability Accommodation Statement: “If you have a disability for which you are requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact Disability Services within the first week of classes. Disability Services is located in Main Hall # 105. DS phone # is 255-3354.”

Copyright Statement: The materials of this course have been accumulated with fair use and copyright laws in mind. I ask that you reciprocate accordingly, recognizing that intellectual work is work.

Plagiarism Policy: This course follows the LAS Dean’s Office’s definition of and policy toward plagiarism: http://www.uccs.edu/las/students/current-students.html
If you are found to plagiarize an assignment in this course, you will receive 0 credit for that assignment and your professor will submit your name to the Department chair and, if extensive enough, with the Dean.

Late Assignment Policy: As in any break from the syllabus, communication is key. Late work MAY be accepted if the student communicates with the professor in a timely manner, has clearly articulated reasons for the lateness, and if the assignment is submitted before the professor has returned that corrected assignment to the other students. Obviously, the window for shorter assignments is smaller than for longer ones. In extenuating circumstances with documentation, longer extensions will be considered.

This being said, “Computer Problems” do not constitute extenuating circumstances UNLESS they are being experienced by everyone (Blackboard collapses or the like). In the case of shared problems, I will, of course, rearrange our assignment schedule. Each person, however, should have a back-up plan if his/her personal computer suddenly goes wonky (the technical term). UCCS has extensive computer resources, but so do public libraries.

Technical Support: I am not your tech support. My training is in English Literature, Manuscript Studies, and Medical History. If you are having troubles with Bb do let me know, as you may not be alone, but then contact the IT or Bb support immediately. For tech support with Blackboard and on campus computers, you should follow the “Technology Support” link on Blackboard or contact the IT helpdesk (255–3536) directly. You should also find the contact info for your computer’s tech support. If you decide to contribute to the Textual Communities project after the course, however, I will be the contact person, as I will need to know what problems arise, and immediately.

E-ettiquette and Online Decorum:¹

Your success in this course, as well as that of your classmates, is dependent on how you conduct yourself in online discussions and interactions. I ask that you:

• Play well with others — avoid dominating discussions, offensive words, and personal criticism of others
• Communicate in an intelligible manner — use plain English and flawless spelling and good writing mechanics
• Be respectful of others — consider alternative perspectives while expressing your own opinion
• Be “interesting” and “interested” — that is, share your insights while seeking the views of others
• Follow “the” rules — Abide by the UCCS student code of conduct (http://www.uccs.edu/oja/student-conduct/student-code-of-conduct.html)
• Seek help — clarify important points and questions with your instructors
• Act deliberately — review carefully any communications before sending them to your instructors and classmates.

¹Adapted from Mintu-Wimsatt, A., Kernek, C., & Lozada, H. R. (2010). Netiquette: Make it part of your syllabus. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(1), 264-267. My thanks to Roger Martinez in the History Department for help with this “Nettiquette” item.