Section outline

  • General

    Collapse all Expand all

  • Course Resources

    • Conference Week Resources

    • Conference 1 Sign-up Sheet URL
    • Conference 2 Signup Sheet (Sept 29th) URL

    • Group Presentation Resources

    • Presentation Rubric File DOCX

      Key things that will be considered when grading the Team/Group Presentations

       

      Team Presentation Overview

      Each student must speak for approximately 5 minutes total (between the mini-lecture and leading the discussion).

      • Prepare a mini-lecture (with each group member speaking for at least 3-5 minutes) and an accompanying visual presentation. You may include an activity, but it is not required. Possible topics:
        • research the author and provide a brief biography,
        • demonstrate the use of a digital tool in relation to the text,
        • offer context regarding the assigned material
        • anything you find relevant to the assigned material and the theme of this course that encourages a deeper critical understanding of the material

      You may use newspapers, websites, the library database, etc. to collect the information needed and might provide a handout with major points to accompany any visual presentation you include.

      You must cite your sources on a slide at the end of the presentation!

      You must at least email me the file to upload to Moodle.

      SCORING RUBRIC FOR PRESENTATION

      PRESENTATION (10%) ____/10

      Organization of Ideas- 2.5%  

      The ideas progress in a clear logical manner.

      Part 1: A brief lecture with each student presenting for a minimum of 3 minutes.

      Part 2: Questions and visuals that inspire critical though and discussion

      Visual Presentation:

      Key points on slides should have a nice hierarchy:

      ·       Main ideas in bold

      ·       Supporting ideas indented and/or bulleted

      Grammar On Visual Aid 2%

      The presentation should have no errors in spelling or grammar

      Visual Design of Presentation 2.5%

      For a Presentation, there should be a nice balance of images and key points.

      Don't use complete sentences (that can be put in the notes section)- just the main ideas in key phrases.

      Accessibility in Presentations:

      Make sure there are no readability issues:

      ·       just one font, (a clean sans serif)

      ·       high contrast color scheme,

      ·       no images or patterns under text

      Diction and Spoken Presentation 2%

      The speakers annunciate clearly and stay on task.

      Reference slide is Present 1%

       

       

       

      DISCUSSION FACILITATION (10%) _____/10

      Time 3%

      Each group member speaks for at least 5 minutes total.

      ·       3 minutes minimum per member during the lecture portion

      ·       2 minutes minimum per member during the discussion portion.

      Group facilitates a conversation about that day’s reading.

      Creativity 1%  

      Moves outside of information covered in class already

      Knowledge-based Content 3%

      The lecture portion covers some of the following and offers ideas for the discussion:

      ·       Biography

      ·       Context

      o   Historical 

      o   Cultural 

      ·       Anything interesting related to the material and the theme of the class

      Analytical Content 3%

      ·       probes the meaning of the text

      ·       makes clear connections to the historical and cultural implications

      ·       explores themes connected to our course as a whole



       

      17.6 KB · Uploaded 08/18/26, 12:12

    • MLA Resources

    • Purdue Owl MLA Formatting Style Guide URL
    • MLA Sample Paper URL
    • MLA Template Response Paragraph File DOCX
      19.3 KB · Uploaded 09/9/26, 20:34
    • Close Reading Template File DOCX
      21.9 KB · Uploaded 08/18/26, 12:12

    • Writing Resources

    • UNC on Transitions URL
    • Harvard WC on Transitions URL
    • They Say, I Say Introducing Quotations URL
    • Brizee. Purdue Owl. Lit Theory Overview of Schools of Thought File PDF
      241.0 KB · Uploaded 08/18/26, 12:12

    •  Assignment Specific Resources

    • Weekly paragraph rubric File DOCX
      16.5 KB · Uploaded 09/9/26, 20:30

  • Assignments and Grades

    All assignments are turned in in-person or in my box rather than online (with the exception of your final paper). I will grade the material objects you submit and return them to you, but I will keep track of grades online!

    •  Writer's Letter 5%

    • Writer's Letter 5% Assignment

      A 1-2 page handwritten letter. Assignment will be given in class on the second day of class. The Grade is complete/incomplete. We will discuss the letters in conference 1.

    • Formal Papers-55% 

      (Close Reading- 15 %, Synthesis- 20 %, Filmic Analysis- 20%)

    • Close Reading- Essay 1 Assignment
      Due: Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 11:40 AM

      Examining a portion of a primary text closely. Requires only 1 source- the primary text. Can use a second source that was taught in class to clarify or define ideas and terms or as a lens for interpretation. You cannot use outside sources. You will lose 10 pts. if you incorporate a source not taught in class. You will receive a zero if you fail to cite in-text, fail to include a reference page, or fail to write about a primary source covered in class. (You will be given a chance to rewrite and resubmit the first time you receive a zero for any of these issues)

      Length = 2-3 written pages plus the Works Cited

      Please make use of the close reading template in course resources.

    • Response paragraphs - 20%

      These are to be submitted in class, every Tuesday at the beginning of class. One handwritten paragraph.

      Requirements:

      ·       A single fully developed paragraph in response to one of our readings that week.

      ·       Must be handwritten and handed in- no online submissions accepted. If you cannot turn it in to me in class, then you can drop it in my box in the EH Office- do not email it to me.

      ·       MLA Formatting (Heading, Title, Pagination)

      ·       Must have a 1-2 sentences thesis as the first sentence of the paragraph (a direct claim)

      ·       Can be a copyedited revision of an in-class journal entry

      ·       Must use a formal academic tone

      ·       Must have a Works Cited Page (Does not count as part of the page count)

      ·       Must cite at least the primary text in the first few weeks, will integrate other sources later. Cannot incorporate outside sources not covered in class.

      ·       Use Purdueowl.com MLA as a style guide.

      ·       Due weekly in class on Tuesday- at the start of class. (With a few exceptions so check Moodle)

      ·       Will drop 2 lowest grades

    • Response paragraph 1 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 2 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 3 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 4 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 5 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 6 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 7 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 8 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 9 Assignment
    • Response paragraph 10 Assignment
    • Response paragraph11- on Her Assignment
      Due: Thursday, December 10, 2026, 11:40 AM
    • Response paragraph 12- Final Reflection on Writing Journey This Semester Assignment
      Due: Thursday, December 10, 2026, 11:40 AM

    • Group Presentation - 10%

    • Group Presentation Assignment

    • Conferences, Journal, and Participation- 10%

      Conferences are mandatory. Missing conferences will impact your grade.

      The Journal is a good place to show your work. It should be handwritten. I will not read the entries- they are for you, write for yourself about the material-but I will check that the in-class writings are completed mid-semester and end of year-keep them all in one notebook! You can use it to draft and brainstorm too.

      Participation means talking in class OR coming to office hours and talking there (if you struggle to speak in a group setting). It's about being present (not on your phone or computer in class) and engaged as an active participant.

  • Week 1 (Sept 1 & 3)

    • Tuesday

      Introduction & Syllabus

      In-Class Reading:

      Preface to Left Hand of Darkness

       

      Thursday

      Plagiarism & MLA

      Reading due:

      Chapter 1 (p. 1-16) & Chapter 3 (p. 36-55) of Writing with Sources.

      In Class Writing Assignment: 1-2 pages handwritten in class.

    • Readings

    • Introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness Page

      In-class reading.

    • Writing with Sources URL

      Read for Thursday:

      Chapter 1 (p. 1-16) & Chapter 3 (p. 36-55) of Writing with Sources.

    • Presentations

    • Active Reading File PPTX
      6.2 MB · Uploaded 08/30/26, 15:06
    • Plaigarism File PPTX
      5.8 MB · Uploaded 08/30/26, 14:51

  • Week 2 (Sept 8 & 10)

  • Week 3 (Sept 15 & 17)

    • Tuesday

      Reading Due: Cavendish- The Blazing World (excerpt assign for Thursday.)

      Writing Due:

      Response Paragraph 1 Start of class Tuesday (Respond to LeGuin's Preface or Hayles' Prologue- your claim for this response paragraph can be a broader philosophical claim rather than a claim about the text. Note that the response paragraphs in the future will analyze an idea in one of the fictional texts.)

       

      Thursday

      Close Reading Continued

      Assign Peer Review (Thesis Statement and 2 Body Paragraphs due next Thursday)

      Reading Due:

      Readings Due:

      Intro to Freud’s “The Uncanny”

      Mori’s Uncanny Valley

      E.T.A. Hoffmann “The Sandman” (1816)

      (make sure to go get Frankenstein if you have not already! We start reading it next week.)

    • Readings

    • Cavendish the Blazing World File PDF
      881.0 KB · Uploaded 08/18/26, 12:12
    • The Sandman, Hoffman File PDF
      226.1 KB · Uploaded 08/22/26, 10:25
    • Mori "The Uncanny Valley" URL
    • Freud The Uncanny URL

    • Audio Versions of the Readings

    • Libri Vox Audio Book of Cavendish (Listen through halfway through part 1 section three-1:32 minute mark-just the excerpt!) URL
    • Audiobook version of The Sandman URL

    • Presentations

  • Week 4 (Sept 22 & 24)

    • Tuesday

      Reading Due:

      Lamott- Shitty first drafts

      Frankenstein Letter 1 through Vol. I Ch. 7

      Writing Due:

      Response Paragraph 2 Start of class Tuesday (on either Caliban or The Sandman)

       

      Thursday

      Thesis and Paragraph Structure Workshop

      Writing Due:

      Close Reading Peer Review: Printed Rough Draft of Close Reading due Thursday in class (2 copies for Peer Review must include thesis  statement and 2 body paragraphs. Can be typed or handwritten)

    • Readings

    • Lamott "Shitty First Drafts" File PDF

      Put the critic away while you get your ideas out on the page. The only good essay is a written essay. We write to understand, and we edit to inform or persuade.

      124.4 KB · Uploaded 08/18/26, 12:12

    • Presentations

  • Week 5 (Sept 29–Oct 1)

    • Tuesday

      Writing Due:

      Conference 2 on full rough draft - Writing Day- Meet in Library

      (See conference times in Moodle under Course Resources-sign up!)

      Bring a printed copy of the full rough draft with a developed Intro paragraph, a thesis statement, all body paragraphs and a conclusion.

      Thursday

      Reading Due:

      Frankenstein Vol. II Ch. I through Vol. II Ch. VII

      Writing Due:

      Response Paragraph 3 Start of class Thursday to Frankenstein Letter 1 through Vol. I Ch. 7

    • Presentations

  • Week 6 (Oct 6 & 8)

    • Tuesday

      Academic Writing, Using Critical Sources, Major Schools of Literary Criticism

      Reading Due:

      Frankenstein

      Vol. II Ch. VIII through Vol. III Ch. III

      Writing Due:

      Response Paragraph 4 Start of class Tuesday

      Printed, typed,  2–3-page final draft of Close Reading Essay #1 due in class Tuesday Oct 6th

       

      Thursday

      Incorporating Critical Sources

      Critique of Human Exceptionalism

      Reading Due:

      Frankenstein

      Vol. III Ch. IV through Vol. III Ch. V

      Braidotti, R. (2018). A Theoretical Framework for the Critical Posthumanities. Theory, Culture & Society, 36(6), 31-61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418771486 (Original work published 2019)

    • PDF Readings

    • Braidotti. A theoretical framework for the critical post humanities File PDF
      239.5 KB · Uploaded 08/18/26, 12:12

    • Presentations

  • Fall Break Week 7(Oct 13 & 15) Read Haraway over break! Listen to the Audio version if you travel. Lean into it. It is the hardest reading of the semester. I do not encourage cramming it Wednesday-this is a text that benefits from time to settle.

  • Week 8 (Oct 20 & 22)

    Tuesday

    Assign Essay 2: Synthesis paper

    Writing Due:

    Response Paragraph 5 Start of class Tuesday

    Reading Due:

    Frankenstein -Finish

    Outka, Paul. "Ecocriticism and the Sublime in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." LeMenager, S., Shewry, T., & Hiltner, K. (Eds.). (2011). Environmental Criticism for the Twenty-First Century (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203814918

     

    Thursday

    Reading Due:

    Donna Haraway “Cyborg Manifesto” Excerpt

     

    • Readings

    • Outka, Paul. "Ecocriticism and the Sublime in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." File PDF
      129.8 KB · Uploaded 08/18/26, 12:12
    • Donna Haraway Excerpt "Cyborg Manifesto" File PDF

      This is a very dense, complex seminal text in the world of post-humanism. While only 28 pages, give yourself ample time to possibly struggle with it and get frustrated or lost. It is okay not to understand all of it. Just approach it with a sense of curiosity and play.  This is not a theory course, there is no test- read it through or just listen through to the end of the excerpt and take what ideas you get from that listen/read- you can revisit it later (or not) as you wish!

      443.5 KB · Uploaded 08/18/26, 12:12
    • Cyborg Manifesto - AudioZine Pt 1 URL

      This is a fantastic recording of the essay. I want to encourage you to listen to rather than read it. It's better to just take Haraway in as a whole the first time through rather than get stressed out trying to understand everything she is saying! This is not a theory course- you are reading this to get a sense of some of the main points so you can use them to analyze the fiction we read- there is no test. :)

    • Presentations

  • Week 9 (Oct 27 & 29)

    Tuesday

    Group 1 presents on Readings due

    Reading Due:

    Ursula Le Guin “Nine Lives”

    Olsen, Ida Marie. "Do androids have nightmares about electric sheep? Science fiction portrayals of trauma manifestations in the posthuman subject in Frankenstein, ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', and ‘Nine Lives’." New Horizons in English Studies 3.1 (2018): 100-111.

    Writing Due:

    Response Paragraph 6 Start of class Tuesday

    Thursday

    Group 2 presents

    Reading Due:

    Octavia Butler “Bloodchild” short story

    Smith, Marquita R. "Bearing the Burden of Posthuman Reproduction in Octavia E. Butler’s “Bloodchild” and Wild Seed." The Black Scholar 54.2 (2024): 46-57.

  • Week 10 (Nov 3 & 5)

    Tuesday

    Group 3 Presents

    Reading Due:

    Ted Chiang “Lifecycle”  (This is a longer read than the others, so get a head start)

    Hayles, N. Katherine. "How we became posthuman: Virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics." (2000). Read the first 5 pages of Ch. 1. Toward Embodied Virtuality pp. 1-24

    Writing Due:

    Response Paragraph 7 Start of class Tuesday

     

    Thursday

    Group 4 Presents

    Reading Due:

    Nalo Hopkinson “Message in a Bottle”

    Tok Thompson. Posthuman Folklore. "Introduction," "Folklore Beyond the Human." p. xiii - 17. University Press of Mississippi, 2019.

  • Week 11 (Nov 10 &12)

    3rd Conference Week: Synthesis Paper Workshopping

    Tuesday

    Essay Structure & Revision as a process

    Reverse Outline Exercise

    Peer Review

    Writing Due:

    Response Paragraph 7 Start of class Tuesday

    Full Rough draft due in class Tuesday (2 printed copies in advance of Conference-will review in conferences)

     

    Thursday

    Filmic Analysis Presentation

    • Presentations

    • Peer Review Essay 2 Assignment
      Opens: Tuesday, November 10, 2026, 11:40 AM
      Due: Thursday, November 12, 2026, 12:40 PM

      Peer Exchange 11/10/2025 

      Feedback, in the form of the reverse outline and reflection paragraph, due to Peer with their annotated paper (via email or in person) & a copy to Dr. Harper (online) by 11/12/2025. 

      Peer Review Assignment for Essay 2.docx

  • Week 12 (Nov 17–19)

    Tuesday

    Watch Film before class:

    The Ghost in the Shell (1995, Dir. Mamoru Oshii)

    (you will need to rent the movie):

    Writing Due:

    Final draft of Synthesis Essay #2

    Thursday

    Watch Film before class:

    Bladerunner 2049 Dir. Denis Villeneuve

    Reading due:

    Ejjabbar, Tariq. “Cinematic Constructions of Power and Posthuman Ideological Discourses in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049.” European Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 2, no. 4, July 2025, pp. 56–62, https://doi.org/10.59324/ejahss.2025.2(4).05.

  • Week 13 (Nov 24 & 26): Library Visit (Meet in Canaday 315) & Holiday

    Office Hours via appt this week due to holiday.

    Tuesday

    Library Session with Jennifer Coval 

    Meet in Canaday 315

    Writing Due:

    Response Paragraph 8 Start of class Tuesday

     

    Thursday

    No Class. Holiday.

  • Week 14 (Dec 1 & 3) -Watching movie in class. There will be pizza Tuesday. Reading due Thursday only.

     

    Tuesday

    Watch Film in Class-- Pizza Day

     Ex Machina (2014) 

    Thursday

    Watch Film in Class:

    Ex Machina (2014)

    Reading due:

    Carrasco-Carrasco, Rocío. "The Vulnerable Posthuman in Popular Science Fiction Cinema."