English 308 Laura Laffrado
Seminar: Early Modern Office: Humanities 379
Texts: The Heath Anthology of American Literature, 7th edition (Vol. A)
English 308 is a research and writing intensive course in the context of the literary history of the
Early Modern period. In this course, students will develop the skills to research and write about
literary texts and participate in the critical conversations about them.
CONTENT: Using texts from the late fifteenth century through the early eighteenth century, this
course focuses on writings of exploration, conquest, and European imperialism in colonial
contact zones. We will draw on a wide range of genres such as journals, poems, narratives,
sermons, and diaries. We will consider how these various genres challenge our definition(s) of
"American" literature(s) and we will examine roles of female discourse, race, religion, and class.
We will explore various ways in which America and American identities are defined, wonder
about tensions between power and discourse, and attempt to arrive at deeper understandings of
influences that shaped American writings during the early modern era.
RESEARCH ESSAY: Students will write one twelve-page critical research paper that engages
with current scholarship on a text or texts assigned for class. The essay will be revised through
multiple drafts and you will receive feedback from your peers on these drafts. Your final version
of the essay will be 12 pages, double-spaced. It will include an annotated bibliography as well as all
major drafts of your paper discussed in class. We will discuss the research essay at length in
class. However, for the moment, please recognize that you will be writing a series of shorter
drafts that will ultimately be revised over time to become the final draft of the twelve-page
finished product.
In addition to our work on drafts of the research essay, class will frequently involve
shorter writing assignments in response to the reading. Please be prepared to write five or six
shorter essays as the course goes on.
In all reading and writing for this class, students should engage in textual analysis,
employ textual evidence, and refer to assigned readings. Getting into the practice of
implementing contextual material in your reading of literary texts will allow you to compose a
successful final paper, and the thinking you do here may also lead you in the direction of a
potential topic for your final essay.
READING AND DISCUSSION: As students in a five-credit 300-level literature course, you are
expected to complete the reading assignments for each class meeting and consider your
responses to that reading. Much of the reading will be time-consuming and will require
significant focus and concentration.
This is not a lecture course. The majority of each class period will be devoted to
discussion. Students should come to class prepared to discuss the assigned texts. In order for
our conversations to be fruitful, everyone must be reading actively. Please be respectful of
others’ thought and opinions, but feel free to disagree with me and with the other students in the
class. I expect you to participate regularly and thoughtfully in class discussion. We all have our
off days and some material will move some people more than others, but in general I look
forward to questions, comments, and answers.
ATTENDANCE: Regular mental and physical presence in class is required. (This means that
bringing your body here isn't enough; you have to be here and be awake and engaged.)
Attendance will be taken at every class meeting. You are limited to a maximum of four
absences. If you miss more than four classes, your knowledge, participation, and essay grade
