Suggested Time Commitment

The time you need to dedicate to the readings depends on your own pace for reading.  The time it takes simply to read works aloud may be an indication. For example, Alexander Pope’s “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” takes about 25 minutes, whereas the recent audiobook recording of the complete Tristram Shandy clocks in around 19 hours.

There are a couple of blockbusters on this course: Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones (Lesson Two) and Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy (Lesson Four) are, in particular, very long. 

The course is paced in a rhythm of 3-week lessons alternating with 5-week lessons: I have divided the six lessons on this course in such a way that you should have little trouble in completing your essays in a timely and successful manner. Lessons One, Three, and Five involve a lot less reading than Lessons Two, Four, and Six. The reading for Lesson One, for example, should take you no more than a couple of days in total. When you are finished the reading and re-reading for Lesson One, start both your essay for Lesson One and the reading for Lesson Two. This will mean that by the time you submit your essay for Lesson One you are already well advanced in your reading for Lesson Two. Follow this pattern throughout the course. When you are finished the lighter reading for Lesson Three, move on immediately to the heavier reading for Lesson Four. 

Remember: you only need to complete five of the six essays. This means, for example, that if you choose to drop the Lesson Two essay, you will have two lighter lessons in a row. Such a strategy will give you ample time to complete your essays for Lessons One and Three, and to make a great deal of headway with the heavier lessons of Four and Six.

Please note: the final exam will cover all of the assigned texts for this course.

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More information:

• Computer Requirements and Internet Access
• Moodle, Our Online Learning Environment 
• Academic Integrity
• Evaluation
• Suggested Time Commitment
• Required Material