Welcome to Week 13 of our course. This week we will be reading Joyce Carole Oates’s chilling work “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” with its subtle echoes of “Little Snow White.” This was originally assigned for Week 12. There is no quiz this week. The following was originally scheduled for Week 13: Welcome to Week 13 of our online course. This week we will be reading “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by American writer Flannery O’Connor, along with her essay about the theological pinnings of her approach to writing. Note: We have two more classes: May 15th and 19th.
Celeste Conway
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Welcome to Week 12 of our course. This week we will be reading Joyce Carole Oates’s chilling work “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” with its subtle echoes of “Little Snow White.” There is no quiz this week.
Welcome to Week 11 of our online course. This week we will finish reading Oedipus the King and enlarge our discussion of the play. Be sure to complete Quiz 8 by midnight, Sunday, April 19th.
Welcome to Week 10 of our online course. This week will be exploring one of the great tragedies of Western literature, Oedipus the King. I look forward to interesting class conversations as we examine the complex character of the doomed king and ponder timeless questions about self-determination and fate—and what constitutes a good leader. There is no quiz this week. Note: Spring break runs from Wednesday, April 1st through Thursday, April 9th. Our next class will be Tuesday, April 14th. Have a restful and enjoyable break!
Welcome to Week 9 of our course. This week we will continue our exploration of fairy tales and then pause to review the requirements for the final research paper. There is no quiz this week.
Welcome to Week 8 of our online course. This week we will begin a two-week segment on classic fairy tales. There is a 25-question midterm quiz that tests your knowledge of the course material to date. It carries the same weight as all the quizzes of the semester. The deadline for all versions of Essay 2 (late essays and revisions) is Sunday, March 22. Please note that I am rescheduling my regular office hour from Tuesday to Wednesday just for this week from 9:30 to 10:30. . Join Zoom Meeting https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/86402834276?pwd=lEMzKVM9aqiyoOSagV02y57Q3fH3C5.1 Meeting ID: 864 0283 4276 Passcode: 279956 —
Welcome to Week 7. This week we will continue our segment on poetry, exploring lyric, dramatic, and narrative poems. Quiz 6 on Poetry is due Sunday, March 15. J
Welcome to Week 6 of our course. We will be starting a 2-week segment on poetry, beginning with the iconic form of the sonnet. There is no quiz this week. NOTE: Final deadline for all drafts of Essay 1 is Sunday, March 8. After this date, no essays will be accepted.
Welcome to Week 5 of our online course. This week we will be reading a famous short works from the 19th Century that feature women protagonists: “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant, along with the Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife.” “The Necklace” is optional, given that we are also reading a contemporary short story, described below. Then, switching gears, you will be reading a short story by contemporary author Stanley Hoffman entitled, “The Day I Fell in Love with Richard Nixon.” Your second essay of the semester is based on this story for which you will be applying your new skills at character analysis. Please be sure to complete Quiz 5 by Sunday, March 1st.
Welcome to Week 4 of our online course. There is no Zoom class on Tuesday, so students are expected to complete all activities on the Week 4 independently. Please read the week’s story “The Lesson” with an eye towards character analysis. In addition, please be prepared to discuss the characters in “Salvation,” and “Araby” for our next meeting on Tuesday, February Complete Quiz 4 by Sunday, February 24th.
Welcome to Week 3 of our OpenLab course. This week will be reading the short story “Araby” by the renowned Irish writer James Joyce. Your first essay will be assigned. Please complete Quiz 3 by Sunday, February 22.
Welcome to Week 2 of our online course. On Monday, we will be reading a secondary source article about the short story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man.” We will also be reading the very short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes and exploring the uses of irony in literature. Prewriting exercises will be assigned in preparation for the first essay, which will be assigned next week. Be sure to complete Quiz 2 on Irony by midnight on Sunday, February 8.
Welcome to ENG 201 Introduction to Literature on the BMCC OpenLab platform. Classes begin on Monday, January and run through Tuesday, May 19th. I look forward to an interesting and productive semester reading and discussing great works of literature. There is a mandatory weekly Zoom meeting for this class every Tuesday from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. This week we will be reading the beautiful and mysterious story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, To get started, click on the Introduction tab on the side menu of this page and review the activities. Then click on Week 1 and complete all the activities there. Be sure to complete Quiz 1 by midnight, Sunday, All quizzes are located on the affiliated Brightspace site.
Welcome to Week 15 of our course. Tuesday, May 19 is our last Zoom session. This week, we will be reading The House on Mango Street. The final quiz will be available from 9:00 Wednesday May 20 through 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 22. Once the quiz has closed, it will not be reopened. Thank you very much for your hard work in this course. Special gratitude goes to the handful of students who participated generously in the Zoom meetings. Have a wonderful summer!
Welcome to Week 14 of our online class. This week we will complete our reading and discussion of the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor. Note: Extended Deadline for Essay 4 is Sunday, May 17. No essays will be accepted after that time. Our last Zoom meeting is Tuesday, May 19. The final quiz will be available from 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 20 through 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 22.
Click here for access to the BMCC Spring 2026 Academic Calendar, which lists important dates and deadlines for the semester. The final exam schedule is unusual this semester. We have class on Tuesday, May 12th. Exams are held from Saturday, May 16th through Monday, May 18th. Then, we have our last class on Tuesday, May 19th. Exams resume from Wednesday, May 20 through Friday, May 22.
This is a Zero Textbook Cost course, which uses OER (Open Educational Resources) in lieu of a textbook. All required materials can be accessed in the Weekly folders.
Section 1104: This is a synchronous section of ENG 201. Students are required to attend two Zoom meetings per week. Students are requested to be on camera during weekly Zoom meetings. You are free to use artificial or blurred backgrounds. Section 0505: This is an asynchronous section of ENG 201. There are no weekly Zoom meetings for this course. Aside from the Zoom meetings, these two sections are identical. In both sections, you are responsible for completing all the tasks on each weekly page. The tasks are varied and include reading, listening, viewing, and discussing activities. Each week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. From time to time, you will be directed or linked back to the Brightspace platform to take quizzes or submit essays. Your grades will still be recorded in the Brightspace grade center. Be sure to check on your progress during the semester. Professor Conway can always be reached by email a cconway@bmcc.cuny.edu
The High Cost of Plagiarism Plagiarism will be dealt with firmly. A student who plagiarizes will receive a permanent grade of zero (0) for the essay or discussion in question. All essays will be submitted through Turnitin, which features plagiarism detection capability. Suspected plagiarism, even if it passes the Turnitin detection function, will be turned over to the Student Life Manager for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity. If you hope to pass this class, do not plagiarize. Every student is required to view the short plagiarism video in order to have a complete understanding of what plagiarism is. This will preclude the excuse that anyone has “accidentally” plagiarized.
BMCC Grading System A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- F 93 – 100 90 – 92 87 – 89 83 – 86 80 – 82 77 – 79 73 – 76 70 – 72 67 – 69 63 – 66 60 – 62
At any time during the course, please post any questions or concerns about the course that you may have. If you have question, it’s likely that others may be wondering the same thing, so please feel comfortable to post here. Of course, you can also raise questions or concerns privately via email.
Weekly Zoom Meeting Celeste Conway is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: My Meeting ENG 101 Time: Apr 20, 2026 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Every week on Mon, Wed, until May 20, 2026, 10 occurrence(s) Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system. Weekly: https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/meeting/tZMldeqtqT4rEtNpjRjqgrh6JBFdXVidfKle/ics?icsToken=DAmM370iU6KJ_5PyJQAALAAAAPaYkqbG9TxpIltZx6MOongZMwAhJcPI9XLCt7UFfJfBnbRS3cHZAnwplHxbki0ih4iFwBYcFv66HKVXrjAwMDAwMQ&meetingMasterEventId=ZACPZe1HSI6RE0KcEc9N1g Join Zoom Meeting https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/87823575187?pwd=JcO4rwz5oaiAwXrnkFThKUR34MJhkG.1 Meeting ID: 878 2357 5187 Passcode: 006131 — One tap mobile +19292056099,,87823575187#,,,,*006131# US (New York) +16469313860,,87823575187#,,,,*006131# US — Join by SIP • 87823575187@zoomcrc.com Passcode: 006131 Join instructions https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/meetings/87823575187/invitations?signature=3WLqXuqlm8EerrCEcpj2ktDGs68EMFMo9mfAHsafTLU
Quiz 1: Monday 1/26 – Sunday 2/1 Thesis Statements (See Week 1 for details). Quiz 2: Monday, 2/2 – Sunday 2/8 Irony (See Week 2 for details). Quiz 3: Monday, 2/9 – Sunday, 2/15 Formatting and Incorporating Quotations (See Week 3 for details). Quiz 4: Monday, 2/16 – Sunday, 2/22 Sentence Structure See Week 4 for details. Quiz 5: Monday 2/23 – Sunday, 3/1 Figurative Language See Week 5 for details. Quiz 6: Monday 3/9 – Sunday 3/15 Poetry (See Week 7 for details). Quiz 7 – Monday 3/16 – 3/22 Midterm Quiz 8: Monday 10/20 – Sunday 11/2 Ancient Greek Theater (See Week 8 for details). Final Quiz – Wednesday, May 20 – Friday, May 22 Note: Quizzes cannot be made up. Students have an entire week in which to complete each quiz.
Essay Due Dates Essay 1: Due Sunday, Sunday, February 22 (See Week 3 for details). Essay 2: Due Sunday, March 8 (See Week 4 for details). Essay 3: Due Sunday, March 29 (See Week 7 for details). Essay 4: Due Sunday, April 12 (See Week 8 for details). Deadlines for revisions will be posted as essays are submitted.
How to View Instructor Comments on Written Work It is very important that you review instructor comments on your graded essays. This way you can correct errors and do better on future essays. To see your grades, navigate back to your Brightspace course and follow these steps: On the Brightspace homepage, click “Assessment” on the blue navigation bar at the top of the screen. On the dropdown menu, click “Grades.” Click the name of the essay you want to see. When the essay appears, look on the right of your screen. Click the icon that looks like a pencil on a piece of paper. My comments and a link to the grading rubric will appear. See the screenshot for an illustrated directions. How to Check Quiz Answers On the Brightspace homepage, click “Activities” on the blue navigation bar at the top of the screen. Choose the quiz you want to check on from the list of quizzes. Click on “Attempt.”
Zoom Office Hour: Tuesday 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/86402834276?pwd=lEMzKVM9aqiyoOSagV02y57Q3fH3C5.1 One tap mobile +13052241968,,86402834276#,,,,*279956# US +19292056099,,86402834276#,,,,*279956# US (New York) —
The Advocacy and Resource Center (ARC) offers free service to students to ensure that they have the support they need in order to focus on their studies. Services include: food assistance, emergency grant assistance, health insurance, and legal services. Click here to access the ARC website.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by personal issue or just want to talk to someone about things going on in your life that may be affecting your ability to focus on academics, contact BMCC’s Counseling Service for help.
Academic Coaches offer 1-on-1 sessions that help students identify their academic skills, strengths, and needs. Coaches work with students to develop transferable skills that they can use throughout their academic career and beyond and we want to share our services with you and BMCC students. We also offer free study skills workshops. Students can learn to improve their note-taking, test taking, time management, etc. skills with an academic coach in these workshops. Academic Coaching Webpage: https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/students/lrc/academic-coaching/ Click here to book a 15-minute coaching session.
A Message from the Writing Center The Writing Center supports writing across the curriculum by working with students and faculty to maximize the effectiveness of writing projects and student awareness of best practices. We work with all students who have writing projects, including those from the Social Sciences, Critical Thinking, and Writing Intensive courses. If you need help with your essays, please do take advantage of this free service. The Center offers many workshops that address various types of writing assignments that are relevant to this course. Or download the schedule here. Email: writingcenter@bmcc.cuny.edu Telephone: 212 220-1384 Make an appointment at http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/writingcenter/ or walk into the office in room S-510 on the Main Campus or call (212) 220-1384 during our business hours to make an appointment. How To Access Online Tutoring? 1. Students can use their current BMCC username and password to log in to Upswing from any internet enabled device from the Online Tutoring website (https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/students/lrc/online-tutoring/): 2. To access online tutoring: Step 1: Go to https://bmcc.upswing.io/ and click on Log in Now. Step 2: Enter your BMCC Username and Password. Step 3: Select Meet with a Tutor. Step 4: Search for the subject or class you need help with. Step 5: Schedule a session with a certified BMCC tutor. Step 6: Click Go to Room on the tutoring section of your profile and get to it! Click here to Access In-Person Tutoring Schedule. Click here for Orientation Sessions.
Help with Sentence Structure Run-on sentences, comma splices, and sentence fragments are the most common errors in essays. Please review the quick guide below for correcting these mistakes in sentence structure. For correcting run-on sentences and comma splices, review this PDF file. Try these sentence structure exercises. Scroll down to see them. For correcting sentence fragments, click this link for a short video. Sentence Structure and Grammar Exercises Click this link to access the OWL at Purdue Writing Center “Sentence Structure” Page. On the navigation panel on the left of the screen, you can choose from a number of lessons and practice exercises.
