01POLSF

E.K. Sparks
Engl 356
Spring 2001
MWF 9:05
Dan 216/409

Policy Statement
Engl 356: Science Fiction

Course Activities

Reading

There will be a lot of it. You gotta love to read to take this course. Everyone will read:

1. the six core novels (Time Machine, Herland, Starship Troopers, Blade Runner, Left

Hand of Darkness, Red Mars)

2. various handouts, excerpts, and short stories (about 30), contained in the xerox book (which may be purchased in installments from Campus Copy; ready by Jan 12)

3. Bunches of stuff in The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, on the Web, and elsewhere (on reserve, in the library) as preparation both for class and for creating your websites.

Writing

There will also be a lot of this; most however, will be informal responses to the reading and stages in the process of writing your websites.

Everyone will write:

1. An on-line reading journal: 2 entries, 250 wds per entry, per week; 25% of course grade. Your journal must be online by 7:00 P.M. every Friday and should also be posted as web pages on your class portfolio page. Journals should focus on literature; questions etc. may be asked about computer matters, but won=t be counted as part of your page total. Look at Study Guides on the web for ideas for what to write about. Post your journal on the class listserv by replying to the first message you get from me. I have set it up so that everyone in class will be able to read everyone else=s journal entries, so don=t say anything you don=t want to be public knowledge. You can get in touch with me privately at my e-mail address, listed below. Be sure to pay attention to whether you are replying to the list or to an individual person, or you may wind up embarrassing yourself!

2. AFinal Exam: 20%. The final will be long-answer I.D.'s of writers, terms, and historical designations. I will distribute a list of possible I.D.'s the week before the test; I will not ask you to identify anything not on the list. The ID test will be closed book, except that you may use the chronological list of core works I will also provide.

The final exam will also have long thematic essay, discussing a major concept developed throughout the course. Again, I will give you the list of possible questions early in the last week of classes. A sample of an old list of essay questions will be included in the xerox book and on the web site. This part of the test will be open book.

The Computer Projects: Individual and Group Websites

Individual Pages (25%)
Every student will be required to create two small web sites as an introductory exercise in mastering HTML.

The first page (10%) is a simple portfolio page for the course -- a place for you to post your journal entries, list your favorite books and authors, post links you've found and links to your classday and group sites.

Portfolio pages should include:

Intro which identifies you as author, explains course, lists your knowledge of SF if any

Links to your journal entries

a link to your class day page

a link to your group project page

Specified colors for background, links, active link, activated link

At least one graphic of some kind

Link to student portfolios for Freshman Comp

The second individual project (15%) involves choosing a class day from the syllabus and, after consultation with me, producing a web page that supplements whatever we are studying on that day. This could include doing research on the web and finding links about the author or topic we are discussing, collecting journal entries from fellow students, taking notes on class discussion, building Campbell Charts, formatting bibliography which I have compiled.

Group Projects and Presentations (30%)

By the second week of the semester, I will ask you to start forming research groups, linking up with people in class who are interested in the same SF subject or theme. Groups should contain 3-6 people. I particularly encourage you to investigate areas which I have not yet fully researched and to create or extend bibliographies of these topics which can be included on the class web site. Promising topics might include: (These are only suggestion; feel free to come up with other topics on your own)

anthropological themes in SF,
generation starships,
the intersections of SF and detective fiction,
the treatment of nuclear energy in SF,
American Indians in SF,
varieties of religion in SF,
Enviornmental Issues in SF

You might also think about doing a fully developed aauthor site on new author, particularly people you can correspond with on e-mail. Possibilities include:

Michael Bishop
David Brin
John Brunner (I have extensive biblio and book collection here)
Octavia Butler
Andre Norton (I have extensive biblio and book collection here)
Marge Piercy (two books: Woman on the Edge of Time and He, She and It; I have extensive biblio)
Joan Slonczewski (I have most of her books)
Bruce Sterling
Sherri Tepper
John Varley

. Projects from the last class are still on the web.

Working with this group, you will go through several stages in preparing, presenting, testing, then publishing your website; the group's grade will make of 30% of your grade for the semester :
Parts of the Assignment

Proposal 5%
Final Presentation of Site to Class 5%
Grade on Site Itself 2O%

For more info on parts of assignment, go to Activities Page

While visual design and knowledge of computer programs certainly help web pages look better, grades on web sites are primarily based on content. A flashy site full of Java and animations that adds nothing to the sum of knowledge on the web will not get a good grade.
In addition, all sites must avoid:

Anything that violates anyone=s copyright (if you want to use photographs, you must write --hopefully e-mail-- to sources for permission)
Any errors, mistakes of grammar or fact
Any graphics that take too long to load, programs that work only on some computers, images that only appear at certain resolutions, fonts too small to read, text that blinks, or other bits of flash that serve to annoy visitors.
Must I say this? Any pornographic, suggestive, or otherwise demeaning images -- of women or men.

Evaluation

Grade for the course will be based on:

Journal 25%

Class Portfolio Page 10%

Class Day page 15%

Group Website 30%

Final I.D. 10%

Final Essay 10%

Borderline grades will be decided on the basis of class attendance (more than 6 absences and you are history; dropped or failed, depending on how soon you do it; after 4, your grade starts suffering), preparedness, participation in class and group work.

Texts and Other Books

All books for the are available at the Clemson Newsstand, on N. Clemson Ave, behind the Lutheran church and Nick's, next to Sunshine Cycle and White Rabbit. The Xerox book is only available at Campus Copy. For students who have to use Tiger Stripe, the Universisty Bookstore has ordered some books for you. I urge you to buy books at the Newsstand for the following reasons:

Support local owned, independently operated buiness

They have a really good selection of SF books

Fara and Stephen, the owners, are knowledgeable about SF and fun to talk to. They can make good recommendations of other books to read based on your taste, and can even help you with reseach for projects.

You can contact them on-line at: clemsonnewesstand.com

The library's SF holdings are pretty slim, although they do have a good selection of reference and critical works which can be an immeasurable aide to your research. A list of books in reference and on the shelves is included in the Xerox book. I have a fairly large collection of SF books which I am willing to lend. However, I keep careful record of who has what books and expect them to be returned to me. My basic policy is "no books; no grade."

Some of the texts and many of the outside readings are available in used bookstores. However, please try to buy the same edition as the rest of the class so we=ll all have the same page numbers. There is a fairly good selection of SF at the used book store just this side of Anderson.

Texts for Course (in order of use) 1. Nicholls and Clute, The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, 2nd. Ed. BUY THIS!
2. Xerox Book from Campus Copy (1st installment available Jan 12, Fri PM)
3. H.G. Wells, The Time Machine (Ace)
4. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (Signet)
5. Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers (Ace)
6. Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner (Del Rey)
7. Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (Ace)
8. Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (We may decide to read something else)

Computer Lab

Engl 356 will meet on most Fridays in the Multi-Media Lab, Daniel 409. During the early part of the course, I will be doing demos of various computer skills such as using E-Mail, surfing the Web, writing HTML files, and designing graphics. Later, Web Teams will be giving their presentations in the Lab. Students will need to pay a $25 fee to use the lab. This will not only cover the class sessions, but will also allow them to use the lab during normal operating hours, providing access to a wide range of equipment and software not readily available elsewhere.
The lab is PC-based; however, by now most of the programs we will use are almost the same on Mac and PC. And the whole point of HTML is that it works on any platform. Students need to buy several High Density (1.44MB) disks formatted for IBM. Pay lab fees to Becky Teixeira in the English Department Office, Strode 801.

Getting in Touch with Me

My office is 613 Strode; the number there is 656- 5410.
My office hours are MW 10:15-11:45, 4:00-5:00; T/Th 4:00-5:00; F 10:15-11:15
My e-mail address is: sparks@hubcap.clemson.edu
My homepage is: hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks
The Website for the SF Class is at: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks/sfindex.html
My home phone is 646-6232. There is an answering machine, but please be courteous about when you call.