English 240 is a course in critical thinking and comparison. Yes, I love books and films, and if some of you do too, then that will make this a much more pleasant experience, but be prapared to go beyond "like" and "dislike"; we are going to be exploring ideas here. We will be looking at different works of literature, at a range of films, and at some films alongside the writings on which they are based. Most of our time will be spent discussing works assigned; there will also be writing assignments (emphasizing literary analysis, film analysis, and comparative analysis) relating to the different readings and movies. Oh, and there will be some creative options as well.

This 3-unit course is fully transferrable to CSU and UC.

The online version of English 240 involves the same readings, writings, exercises and information as the traditional English 240 course; only the delivery system has changed.

NOTE: there is a prerequisite for this course. You must either have completed English 101 (or its equivalant) with a grade of "C" or higher For more information, please contact the counseling staff at LAHC.

General Nature of the Course

This course functions very much like a correspondence course; the chief difference is the electronic environment and your relatively immediate access to your instructor (me). Also instead of students submitting work on paper, assignments are submitted, commented upon and returned via e-mail; lecture material, course deadlines, assignment information are available via the internet.

Lectures: There are a series of online Lectures on topics related to your reading and writing. Be sure to read the lecture material for each week listed because this should help you to understand what some of my expectations and special concerns are about your reading and writing.

Class Schedule: You will need to regularly keep track of assignment (reading and writing) due dates by referring to the Class Schedule. It is up to you to keep up with assignment deadlines.

Essays: Much of your grade is based on your written assignments. There are detailed instructions on how to produce and submit essays on the class Writing Assignments page. Specific paper topic instructions can be reached through the links on the Class Schedule page or the Writing Assignments page.

Class Discussions: The rest of your grade will be based on class discussions of certain questions relating to the readings. Discussions will be conducted with the entire class on an Canvas message board (more information is available on the Discussions page).

Student Learning Objectives

Student who complete this course successfully should, minimally, be able to

Student Responsibilities

Your responsibilities for this course are really the same as those of any student taking any course with the following addition: you have to keep reminding yourself what is required (assignment dates, rules, etc.) because you don't have an instructor in the front of a room reminding you every class.

If you do not agree to all of the above requirements, do not take this course.

Textbooks

Getting Textbooks

Most of the texts can be found in libraries and live bookstores; you can also get them online.

A lot of what we will be using is available in public domain on the internet too.

Required Texts:

Recommended Text:

Films

OK, here is where this course gets a bit unusual. Don't fret; "unusual" is often a good thing.

You need access to a number of films throughout the semester. Most will not be playing at the local theater or even on AMC or Turner Classics (though some might). You will need some source for your films (DVDs). There are several possibilities. I recommend a service like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video or some other online DVD and/or video streaming service. Red Box works too! If you do decide to use something like Netflix, there are often deals you can get if you recommend other customers, so you might consider putting one another down as recommenders to get a month or two off your fees. These in-mail services are generally quick, not too pricey, often offer "view now" streaming versions of some of the films. A few months of Netflix would cost you about $30 (depending on the level of service you want).

There are, of course, still some brick-and-mortar options (places like Blockbuster are downsizing, but they do still exist; the physical stores don't have as much selection, but they're typically pretty good. And don't overlook local public libraries. The larger ones often carry a lot of DVDs that you can check out for free or for a very slight charge). Many of the movies are available in annoying eleven-minute chunks on YouTube; I personally can't stand watching movies this way (and it's not really respecting copyrights), but the choice is yours. I wouldn't recommend buying the DVDs (that could be slow and expensive), but just look at your options.

This has created some interesting problems and forced me to cast around for inventive solutions, and here's what I've come up with: most weeks we will look at a common written work (which you can get from a bookstore, sometimes find online, that will be the basis for part of our class discussion. Matched with the reading I will try to give you a number of film options that somehow relate to the reading and the discussion topic. For example, if we are reading Plato's "Parable of the Cave," we will be discussing his idea of forms and reality and perception (don't panic; it will be fun). The obvious choice for comparison is The Matrix, by the Wachowski brothers (the first one, not the sequals). Unfortunately, even Netflix is unlikely to have 30-40 copies of the DVD on hand at the same time, and it is not available on demand from them. It's not a problem. It also makes sense to match Christopher Nolan's Inception or Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-up or Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall to Plato's short dialogue. Typically, I will offer you several film choices that you can watch and bring to the discussions.

At the very least, this should be interesting.

Grading

Each assignment will receive a point score; letter grades are based on percentages (90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; etc.); for example, if a discussion is worth 20 points possible, and if you score a 16, then you have scored 80% which equals a B for that assignment.

At the end of the semester, your overall score will be converted into a percentage of the points possible for the entire course to determine your letter grade for the course.

Once posted grades will be available for view on Canvas.

For more information about what constitutes an "A" paper (or not), click here.

Note: always keep copies of scores and comments that I send you; I do not store them all.

And for specific information on extra credit, revisions, essay requirements, visit the class Writing Assignments page; for more details on how to score high on class discussions, visit the class Discussion page.