2:55-4:20 Heger 101

Ann Burlein
104K Heger Hall
Ann.Burlein@hofstra.edu
516-463-7238
Office Hours: M W 1:30-2:30 or by appt

Course Schedule

Along the way, you will also learn how to read theory -- which is to say, how to take what can at first seem like abstract reflections on religion and use them as concrete tools for thinking and living. This will engage you with departmental learning goal #2: learning to differentiate precisely between different theoretical approaches. Hence our focus on close reading, on interpretive papers, and on secondary scholarship. 

But this course also meets distribution requirements! You will meet college goal #1. We will focus particularly on accurately summarizing facts, presumptions, viewpoints and values' critically analyzing your own thinking by identifying your own facts, presumptions, viewpoints and values as well as problems and paradoxes; as well as conceiving alternative hypotheses and viewpoints. We will also meet college goal #3 concerning proficiency in written communication, with focus on: using various sentence forms to modulate style and tone; compose a paragraph that develops a point; summarizing, quoting and responding to a text.
 

Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality (Cambridge University Press, 1994). It MUST be this translation.
 

• You will earn 40% of your grade from daily papers due at the beginning of class. If you are absent, your paper is still due. However, you are have 4 Get Out of Jail Free cards – you can either not do four papers, or you can do all the papers and I will drop the 4 lowest grades; or you can do some combo (as in doing all the papers except for one day when oyu are sick). You just need to let me know!
• You will earn 20% of your grade from
  • Reading the assigned text before class AT LEAST TWICE
  • Attending and participating in an informed way
  • Leading class discussion at least once (if you want to work in a pair, you will facilitate twice)
  • presenting your paper
    My attendance policy: You have two days to be absent without consequences. On your third day of absence, you lose all benefit of the doubt when it comes to your final grade. For every absence thereafter, you lose 1/3 of a letter grade from your final grade. 
    
• You will earn the remaining 40% of your grade from two papers (15% for the first and 25% for the second). These papers will be synthetic: I will write them based on themes that we have been discussing in class, trying to pose writing questions that will get you 1) to refer to the reading and 2) to pull large questions together. In order to do well in such a paper, you will need to have read all the reading thoughtfully!

Course Schedule

• how well you articulate why you (or someone) thinks a particular (and precisely articulated) way
• how closely you read the assigned materials
• how much you are able to make connections between readings
• how much your ability to reflect critically on the position you take grows over time.

Late Work Policy: In order to return your writing promptly with detailed and constructive feedback, I do not accept late work. You will earn an F and forfeit your right to feedback. If there is an emergency or a tragedy in your life and you need an exception, you must communicate with me BEFORE the due-date. This includes tests: if you are too sick to attend class on a day when we are scheduled to take a test, you must call and let me know BEFORE class begins that you will not be able to take the test and arrange time for a make-up.

Academic Dishonesty: Plagiarism is a serious ethical and professional infraction.  Hofstra’s policy on academic honesty reads: “The academic community assumes that work of any kind [...] is done, entirely, and without assistance, by and only for the individual(s) whose name(s) it bears.”  Please refer to the “Procedure for Handling Violations of Academic Honesty by Undergraduate Students at Hofstra University” for details about what constitutes plagiarism, and Hofstra's procedures for handling violations. 

This course is dedicated to helping you develop your own thinking. Thus I regard plagiarism as a serious violation of the academic compact, because it involves passing off someone else's thought as your own. This can happen by copying someone else's words or re-phrasing someone else's ideas in your words. Neither is your own thought.

0 -- You handed in an assignment that was not your own.
F -- There are two ways to earn an F. Your writing was fantastic -- but late. OR your writing fails to answer the questions, expresses little accurate information, and/ or is not coherent.
D -- shows effort, but the information and explanation are weak. You need to make more references to the readings.
C -- articulates what you think clearly. You need to engage in a more detailed and systematic way with the readings.
B -- explores why you think the way you do. You need to critique yourself (see the next grade level).
A -- reserved for excellence, when you use the material as a springboard for higher level thinking. You engage with other perspectives and counter-arguments. You elaborate a creative and original take on the readings and issues being discussed in class, and you articulate your thoughts in your own voice. You go beyond stating your point of view to evaluate the pros and cons of thinking the way you do.

Disabilities Policy

If you have any concerns regarding a physical, psychological and/or learning disability that may have an impact upon your performance in this course, appropriate accommodations can be made on an individualized, as-needed basis after the needs, circumstances and documentation have been evaluated by the appropriate office on campus. The Office of Services for Students with Disabilities is located in 212 Memorial Hall. Telephone: 516-463-7074. Please see the Hofstra Guide to Pride, or visit their site. All disability-related information will be kept confidential.