Return to previous page


California State University, Northridge

Fall 2004

English 595: "Copyrights/Copywrongs"

 

English 595 Class Members

 

Instructor: Dr. Ian Barnard (Web Page: http://www.csun.edu/~ib5991)

Office: ST 834 (818-677-0913)

Office Hours: R 3:30-5:50 p.m., and by appointment

Email: ian.barnard@csun.edu

 

 

Introduction:

 

A recent flurry of flyers/lectures/workshops/articles about plagiarism has inundated the CSUN campus.  Why this panic?  How do concerns about intellectual property shape our understandings of authorship, intellectual collaboration, and writing instruction?  How are these understandings inflected by discourses of capital, nation, gender, sexuality, disability, and celebrity?  What does “originality” mean amidst postmodern/postcolonial aesthetics and poststructuralist conceptions of subjectivity?  We’ll pursue these and other questions by engaging with a growing body of critical writing on issues around copyright and plagiarism, as well as films, music videos, and novels by artists who have been accused of plagiarism or have made fun of or otherwise responded to such charges.

 

You will have the opportunity to produce critical and creative projects as part of your own work for the course.  The course topic crosses disciplines and genres, and should be of interest to current and future teachers; English graduate students in composition studies, critical theory, literary and cultural studies, and creative writing; and graduate students in other disciplines.

 

 

Required Texts:

 

1) Acker, Kathy.  Don Quixote: Which Was a Dream.

2) Course Reader.

3) Coombe, Rosemary J.  The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties: Authorship, Appropriation, and the Law.

4) Howard, Rebecca Moore.  Standing in the Shadows of Giants: Plagiarists, Authors, Collaborators.

5) Leavitt, David.  Arkansas.

6) Ouologuem, Yambo.  Bound to Violence.

7) Spigelman, Candace.  Across Property Lines: Textual Ownership in Writing Groups.

8) Thomas, D. M.  The White Hotel.

9) Vaidhyanathan, Siva.  Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity.

 

Available on Electronic Reserve:

10) Sherman, Brad, and Lionel Bently.  The Making of Modern Intellectual Property Law: The British Experience, 1760-1911.

 

 

Course Requirements:

 

1) Attentive reading of assigned texts, regular attendance, and vigorous participation in class discussions.

2) Seven WebCT posts (WebCT posts #5 and #8, plus any five others).

3) One collaborative oral presentation.

4) Two projects (one of these may be a collaborative project): turn in hard copies and post on WebCT (except for performances/videos/art/etc.).

 

WebCT Posts

#1: Position Paper on Barthes and/or Foucault and/or Kleege due by 11:59 p.m. on 8/31; Responses to at least  two colleagues’ Position Papers and/or Responses due by 11:59 p.m. on 9/1.

#2: Position Paper on Acker due by 11:59 p.m. on 9/14; Responses to at least two colleagues’ Position Papers and/or Responses due by 11:59 p.m. on 9/15.

#3: Position Paper on Howard due by 11:59 p.m. on 9/28; Responses to at least two colleagues’ Position Papers and/or Responses due by 11:59 p.m. on 9/29.

#4: Position Paper on Ouologuem due by 11:59 p.m. on 10/5; Responses to at least two colleagues’ Position Papers and/or Responses due by 11:59 p.m. on 10/6.

#5 (Required): Draft of your first Project due by 11:59 p.m. on 10/12; Responses to your group members’ drafts due by 11:59 p.m. on 10/13 (in addition, you may respond to other colleagues’ drafts).

#6: Position Paper on Leavitt and/or Bleeth due by 11:59 p.m. on 10/26; Responses to at least two colleagues’ Position Papers due by 11:59 p.m. on 10/27.

#7: Position Paper on Coombe due by 11:59 p.m. on 11/2; Responses to at least two colleagues’ Position Papers due by 11:59 p.m. on 11/3.

#8 (Required): Draft or discussion of your second Project due by 11:59 p.m. on 11/24; Responses to your group members’ drafts or discussions due by 11:59 p.m. on 11/26 (in addition, you may respond to other colleagues’ drafts or discussions).  Due dates and times for WebCT Post #8 are negotiable!

 

Position Papers

 

Responses to Position Papers

 

Collaborative Oral Presentation (feel free to meet with me beforehand to discuss your presentation)

 

Projects

Complete any two of the following four Projects:

(a) Theoretical/Contextual: An 8-12 page paper treating one of more of the theoretical and/or contextual texts and/or treating one or more issues we have discussed in relation to these texts.

(b) Literary/Cultural: An 8-12 page paper treating one or more of the literary/cultural texts we have discussed (Superstar, The White Hotel, “The Term Paper Artist,” Don Quixote, Bound to Violence, Vogue, Jaffe poems) in the context of the issues addressed in the course and/or treating the issues we have discussed in relation to these texts.

(c) Pedagogical: An 8-12 page paper treating one or more of the texts and/or issues we have discussed in connection with pedagogy.

(d) Creative: A theoretically-informed work of “plagiarism” in any medium or genre (e.g., a series of poems, a short story/fiction, a painting, a performance, a critical essay, a video).

 

One of your two Projects may be collaborative.

 

 

DUE DATES FOR PROJECTS:

 

If you choose (d) as one of your projects, (d) is due on 12/2/04, and your other project is due on 10/21/04;  otherwise, your first project is due on 10/21/04 and your second project is due on 12/2/04.

Instructions for WebCT Posts

 

Setting your email address:

 

Log on to the class web page at <http://webteach.csun.edu>

Select “Email” from the panel on the left

Select “message settings”

Check the box next to “mail forwarding” and enter your CSUN email address

Click “update” at the bottom of the panel

 

 

Making a post:

 

Log on to the class web page at <http://webteach.csun.edu>

Select “Discussions” from the panel on the left

Select appropriate WebCT post heading

 

Tentative Schedule

 

* = text in Course Reader

#  = reading on the Internet

 

Week 1, 8/26/04

Introduction to course

Watch and discuss Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

Email your three presentation preferences to me by 8/31/04

 

Week 2, 9/2/04

Reading due: *Barthes, *Foucault, *Kleege.

Watch “Copyright in America” (NOW With Bill Moyers)

WebCT post #1 due

 

Week 3, 9/9/04

Reading due: Vaidhyanathan

Presentation

 

Week 4, 9/16/04

Reading due: Acker

Watch Acker video

WebCT post #2 due

Presentation

 

Week 5, 9/23/04

Reading due: excerpts from Sherman and Bently, # selected legal cases

Presentation

 

Week 6, 9/30/04

Reading due: Howard

WebCT post #3 due

Presentation

 

Week 7, 10/7/04

Reading due: Ouologuem

WebCT post #4 due

Presentation

 

Week 8, 10/14/04

Reading due: * Price, *Clark

Discuss writing handbooks and sample student papers

WebCT post #5 due

Discuss drafts of first Project

Presentation

Special guest

 

Week 9, 10/21/04

Watch and discuss Madonna’s “Vogue” music video

Reading due: *hooks, #Jaffe

Turn in first Project and post on WebCT

 

Week 10, 10/28/04

Reading due: Leavitt (“The Term Paper Artist”), *Bleeth and Rivkin

WebCT post #6 due

Presentation

 

Week 11, 11/4/04

Reading due: Coombe

WebCT post #7 due

Presentation

 

Week 12, 11/11/04

Reading due: Thomas

Presentation

 

Week 13, 11/18/04

Course Evaluations

Reading due: Spigelman

 

Week 14, 11/25/04

No class

WebCT post #8 due

 

Week 15, 12/2/04

Turn in or present second Project and, if possible, post on WebCT

Performances/Readings

Party?

 

Thanks to Aneil Rallin, Susi Mitchell, Lynne Cook, Barbara Kroll, Patrick O’Neill, Andrea A. Lunsford, Drue Koons, Christian Larsen, Bruce M. Abrams, Marsha Duggan, Carmen Ganser, Irene Clark, Anne Shea, Rick Bolton, and Marcy Newman for ideas for and assistance with this syllabus.

POSSIBLE PRESENTATION TOPICS

 

1) Napster and the Music Industry

 

2) Kinkos Copyright Case

 

3) Bound to Violence Plagiarism Charges

 

4) Barbara Taylor Bradford

 

5) The White Hotel Plagiarism Charges

 

6) Term Paper Web Sites and Plagiarism Detection Software (turnitin.com)

 

7) Jayson Blair (?)

 

8) Steven Ambrose Plagiarism Charges

 

9) Plagiarism case(s) of Winston L. Frost, Trinity Law School Dean (2001) and/or Central Connecticut State University President (March 2004)

 

10) Intellectual Property Legal Discourse

 

11) Acknowledgments and Citations

 

12) Other: __________________________________



Return to previous page