Contents of this syllabus:
Instructor: William Hutton
Office: Morton 326
Phone: 221-2993
e-mail: wehutt@wm.edu
Office hours: MWF 12-1 pm and by appointment.
Time and place of Class: MWF 11-11:50 am; Morton 340
Important Electronic Addresses:
Class web page:
Class e-mail list (see class web page for subscription instructions):
Course Description:
Course Objectives:
Here is how the W&M Faculty defines the goals of the Freshman Writing Seminar:
"The primary goal of the freshman seminar program is to help the student develop his or her ability to engage in critical thinking and independent learning. To accomplish this, the seminars provide the student with an active small-class experience that includes opportunities for discussion, writing, and other modes of expression appropriate to the subject matter of the course."
(For further information on freshman seminars, see the link on the class home page.)
To fulfill these goals, most of your work in this class will be devoted to researching, writing and re-writing various written assignments and preparing oral presentations. In addition, this freshman seminar has more specific goals related to its subject:
Joint Association of Classical Teachers, The World of Athens (Cambridge, 1984)
J. Shelton, As the Romans Did, Second edition (Oxford, 1997)
C. Carey, Trials from Classical Athens (Routledge, 1997)
D. Hacker, A Writer's Reference, Fourth Edition (Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1999)
A Course Packet of photocopied material, available at the bookstore
Some additional required readings will be available through the reserve desk at SWEM library or on Electronic Reserve through Blackboard/Courseinfo.
Course format:
In many ways this class will be different from most others you take at William & Mary. Only rarely will I be lecturing at you for a full 50 minutes. Most classes will consist of brief remarks by me followed by discussion involving the entire class. Some of these discussions will be more formal than others, and some of them will be generated and punctuated by oral reports by individual students. Our discussions will not only be on the assigned readings about the ancient cultures, but also on the process of writing and on the written work you will be doing throughout the semester. There is a heavy element of peer evaluation in this course: the other students in the class will be reading a lot of what you write and, with any luck, helping you improve your writing. We will also continue our discussions outside of class in an e-mail discussion group. This course is designed to help you become an active learner rather than a passive receptacle into which the professor pours knowledge, and for this reason, I and the rest of the class are counting on you to come to each class prepared and ready to contribute.
Assignments and Grading:
Your grade will be calculated as follows:
Explanation of Grade Components:
No late papers or assignments will be accepted without verifiable evidence of dire circumstances. No special arrangements whatsoever will be made if you do not notify me of your dire circumstances within 48 HOURS after the deadline of the paper/assignment.
Attendance will not be recorded every day, but your absences will be noticed and will result in a lower class participation grade, if they are excessive or if they occur at particularly inopportune times (for instance, when you are scheduled to participate in group work or are supposed to be helping to critique your classmates’ work, they will SEVERELY affect your class participation grade).
Tentative Class Schedule:
This schedule presents the main topics to be discussed each week, and important scheduled deadlines and activities. More specific information on topics and reading assignments will be given as we proceed through the semester, but the DEADLINES for drafts, papers, etc. will stay the same unless there is some unforeseen calamity.
Week 1Aug 29-31: Introduction Week 2 Sept 3-7: Background: History and Culture Week 3 Sept 10-14: Home Life: Men & Women Sept 14 (Friday): Library Research Orientation: Meet at Swem (Room TBA) Week 4 Sept 17-21: Life in the City: Aristophanes' Comedy Week 5 Sept 24-28: Alcibiades: The Good Life? Sept 28 (Friday): Midterm proposals due: Brief oral reports on topics Week 6 Oct 1-5: Love Life Week 7 Oct 8-12: Marriage and Death Oct 8 (Monday) DEADLINE for handing in draft of Midterm paper Oct 12 (Friday) Critiquing session Week 8 Oct 15-19 Oct 15 (Monday) NO CLASS (Fall Break) Oct 19 (Friday) DEADLINE for final version of Midterm paper. Week 9 Oct 22-26: Roman Life: Background Week 10 Oct 29-Nov 2: Topics in Roman Society: Group work Week 11 Nov 5-9: Roman Homes and home life Nov 9 (Friday) Proposals for final papers due Week 12 Nov 12-16: Lives in Letters Nov 12 (Monday) Short reports on paper topics. Nov 14 (Wednesday) Due date for bibliography and outline for final paper. Week 13 Nov 19-23: Life at Court: The Emperor's Circle Nov 19 (Monday) DEADLINE for first draft of final paper Nov 21-23: No Class; Thanksgiving Week 14 Nov 26-30: Oral Reports Nov 26 Critiquing session Nov 28-30 Oral Reports Week 15 Dec 3-7: Oral Reports Dec 5 (Wednesday): DEADLINE for second draft of final paper
DEADLINE
for final version of final paper: Friday December 17.