EMAIL: You'll need an email account from which you can click on links to the web and form which you can send and read attachments as well as messages. And you'll need to check it at least once daily for messages from me relating to the class. All assignments will be posted on the website at least three days before they are due.

Email Ettiquette: Many students use and email address that gives no indication of their name. If your email address does not indicate your name, please be sure to give your name in all your email messages to me, and please also indicate that you are taking English 200 (unless the subject heading of your message makes this clear). (I teach other courses as well.)

Required texts:Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre; Francis Ford Coppola, Bram Stoker's Dracula (screenplay); Henry James, The Turn of the Screw; Matthew Lewis, The Monk; William Shakespeare, Macbeth; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Bram Stoker, Dracula; Horace Walpole;The Castle of Otranto;Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own. All books may be purchased at Food For Thought Books on Pleasant Street, Amherst, near the fire station

Please buy the editions I have ordered (if you don't already own them) or check the same editon out of the library so we can avoid confusion and wasting time trying to find the same passage in a different edition wih different pagination.

You will need to bring a copy of the required text (in the editions I have ordered, except for Macbeth) to class with you when we discuss it. I will consider you absent if you fail to do so.

Dracula will be placed on reserve in the Du Bois library (third floor) and you will have to rent the others at Video to Go, Pleasant Street Video, and--yuck--Blockbuster. To reserve a video in Du Bois, call 545-2358 at least twenty four hours in advance.

Quizzes: There will be frequent quizzes on the plays, films, and readings as well as short response papers.

Reports: I'll ask you to do several group in-class reports. Click here for information on the format.

Discussions: I will also ask two of you at a time to lead class discussion.

Papers: Three papers, four to five pages each. For grading policies, click here. You'll need to fill out a self-critique for each paper (click here for the form) in order for your paper to receive a grade. Topics to be handed out in class and posted online. All papers and other work to be done outside of class must be typed and double spaced. You must have a thesis in your papers. If you want to send me a draft of your essay before the essay is due, feel free to do so. I will read it, comment on it, and return it to you in twenty-four hours. All papers must be electronically delivered to me (in Microsoft word, preferably, but Wordperfect is OK, too) either at [email protected].

Policies: Please read the following very carefully: I expect timely arrival, regular class attendance, and active participation in class discussion. This will be a discussion rather than lecture class, and productive contributions to class discussion can greatly improve your grade. (See Discussion Guidelines.) I will ask you to write a two to three sentence summary of each assigned reading and to write up at least two questions raised by it. (Email these exercises to me before classs, and bring copies of them with you to class.) If you have not done any assigned written work and / or the assigned reading(s), viewing(s) and are not prepared to discuss them, please do not bother to attend class. I count as an absence a class for which you have not completed the assignment (your physical presence alone does not constitute being present since if you are not prepared for class you have nothing to contribute to discussion nor can you understand what other people are saying). You are free to miss up to two classes without explanation and excuse. (So please don't offer an excuse for the first two clases you miss, and do not offer any excuses for additional missed classes beyond the two allowed unless you miss for a VERY good reason a class or classes.) PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT ME TO EXPLAIN AN ABSENCE UNLESS YOU HAVE MISSED OVER TWO CLASSES AND UNLESS YOU HAVE A VALID EXCUSE ACCORDING TO THE CRITERIA SET FORTH BELOW. Each unexcused missed class beyond the two allowed will result in the lowering of your final grade for the course by a full grade. For example, missing an unexcused class in addition to the two allowed would mean that an "A" would become a "B" for the final course grade. Missing two unexcused classes in addition to the two allowed would mean that an "A" would become a "C" for the final course grade. And so on, and so on. Missed classes beyond the two allowed will be excused only under the most dire circumstances (such as your hospitalization for mental or physical incapacitation). And unless you have missed a class because you have been unable to communicate with me by phone or email (due to hospitalization, to take the same example), an excuse must be presented to me (email is fine) within a day of the missed class for the excuse to be valid. If you miss an assignment, it is your responsibility to get it from the website (click here) or a fellow student. Please do not email me to ask for it. If you are unclear on the assignment, however, you may email me to ask for clarification. I will usually respond the same day, and within twenty four hours at most.

Tardiness can also affect your attendance record, SO PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME (BEFORE CLASS BEGINS). I count late arrival to class as an absence (lateness is never excused). I don't take attendance, but I do make a mental note and record lateness and absences after each class. You may check your attendance and lateness record here. If you are absent on the day of a quiz, you may make up the quiz only if you have contacted me prior to your absence (at least the day before) to let me know you won't be there that day.

No unexcused, late work is accepted. If you for some reason foresee a problem turning your work in on time, please discuss the matter with me in person (not by email) well BEFORE the date a given assignment is due. Similarly, if you find yourself falling behind, talk with me in person (again, not by email) to discuss why before it is too late!

Plagiarism: Finally, I expect that all written work turned in by you will be your own. Be sure to cite all outside sources, if you use any, and to attribute any quotations you use to their source(s). To learn how to reference source material properly, go to Diana Hacker's online Research and Documentation guide (Bedford Books / St. Martin's Press), which includes a section on citing electronic sources. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism, a violation of the University's policies on academic honesty, and will result in an "F" for the course. If you have any questions about how to cite or quote secondary works or about what is or is not plagiarism, please ask me for clarification BEFORE you turn in your written work.You will not be penalized for asking, and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. For a useful website with a detailed discussion of what plagiarism is, how to detect it, and how to avoid it, click here and / or here. For more on grades, click here.