BA 1st year (propédeutique)

The staff of the English section is happy to welcome you to the University of Lausanne and to the English department in particular. To help you get off to a good start, you will find here the information you will need in your first year of studies. Please read it carefully, act on it now as necessary, and refer to it regularly.

The standards of the English section are high: to follow the courses and produce the required written work, you should already have reached upper-intermediate level in English (B2 on the Council of Europe common reference scale). To give you (and us) an idea of your current level, we ask you to take the Dialang Test during the first two weeks of the semester (done in a computer room on campus, length approx. 3h). In the course of your first two years you should achieve advanced competence in written and oral English; by the time you collect your BA, your command of English should be assured. Thus, whenever we assess your work, we take your competence in the English language into account as well.

Courses in the English section are built in a progressive manner; to benefit from this and gain your credits, you must attend them regularly.

If you are a student in SSP taking English as your ‘mineure’, you will follow the Discipline de base first year program as described on this page, and will follow the English Discipline de base program throughout your BA.

The first-year program in English is worth 20 credits and is composed of five compulsory course modules:

• BA-ANG-1-1010-Rédaction
• BA-ANG-1-1020-Histoire de la littérature
• BA-ANG-1-1030-Introduction à l’analyse littéraire
• BA-ANG-1-1040-Introduction à la langue et à la linguistique anglaises
• BA-ANG-1-1050-Introduction à la langue et à la littérature médiévales

To validate the first year in English, you must submit work in all five modules and obtain a minimal average of 4.00 for the whole year. The average is calculated on the basis of the final grades received in the five separate modules. Please note, however, that each module has its specific way of calculating its own final grade. Note as well that some modules are evaluated through the system of ‘évaluation continue’, which means that you are expected to submit written and/or oral work throughout the semester or even the year, while other modules are evaluated with only a final exam taking place during the exam session (i.e. outside of class-time). You are thus expected to work very regularly throughout your studies in the English department.

Since almost all the courses in the first-year program are annual, final grades and validations will be given officially only at the end of the academic year through the Faculty’s electronic system.

BA-ANG-1-1010-REDACTION
English Composition (EC)
Practice in the basics of planning, writing and revising academic essays in literature.
Textbook: The English Department Guide to Essay-writing (EDGE).

Practicalities: 2h/week – Annual – Choose one of the groups for the whole year
Evaluation: three essays
Credits: 4.00

BA-ANG-1-1020-HISTOIRE DE LA LITTERATURE
Anglo-American Literature Survey, Part I (AALS)
Introduction to the history of English and American literature, society and culture: 1485-1785.
Textbook: The Norton Anthology of English Literature and The Norton Anthology of American Literature.

Practicalities: 1h/week – Annual – Attend the lecture course
Evaluation: one written exam (at the end of the year)
Credits: 2.00

BA-ANG-1-1030-INTRODUCTION A L’ANALYSE LITTERAIRE
Introduction to Literary Analysis (ILA)
Introduction to the methods of close reading and key approaches, aspects, problems and concepts in the analysis of literary texts.

Practicalities: 2h/week – Annual – Choose one of the groups for the whole year
Evaluation: one essay
Credits: 6.00

BA-ANG-1-1040-INTRODUCTION A LA LANGUE ET A LA LINGUISTIQUE ANGLAISES
Introduction to English Language and Linguistics (IELL)
Textbook: Culpeper, Jonathan, et al., eds. English Language: Description, Variation and Context, 2nd edition (Palgrave, 2018).

Practicalities: two-part module: lecture (1h/week) + workshop (1h/every week) – Annual – Attend the lecture course + choose one of the groups for the workshop
Evaluation: in-class tests (at the end of each semester)
Credits: 4.00 (lecture: 1.00; workshop: 3.00)

BA-ANG-1-1010-REDACTION
English Composition (EC)
Practice in the basics of planning, writing and revising academic essays in linguistics.
Textbook: English Linguistics Manual.

Practicalities: 2h for the first four weeks – Annual – Remain in the group you chose for the fall semester!
Evaluation: one essay
Credits: 4.00

BA-ANG-1-1020-HISTOIRE DE LA LITTERATURE
Anglo-American Literature Survey, Part II (AALS)
Introduction to the history of English and American literature, society and culture: 1785-1850.
Textbook: The Norton Anthology of English Literature and The Norton Anthology of American Literature.

Practicalities: 1h/week – Annual – Attend the lecture course
Evaluation: one written exam (at the end of the year)
Credits: 2.00

BA-ANG-1-1030-INTRODUCTION A L’ANALYSE LITTERAIRE
Introduction to Literary Analysis (ILA)
Introduction to the methods of close reading and key approaches, aspects, problems and concepts in the analysis of literary texts.

Practicalities: 2h/week – Annual – Remain in the group you chose for the fall semester!
Evaluation: two essays
Credits: 6.00

BA-ANG-1-1040-INTRODUCTION A LA LANGUE ET A LA LINGUISTIQUE ANGLAISES
Introduction to English Language and Linguistics (IELL)
Textbook: Culpeper, Jonathan, et al., eds. English Language: Description, Variation and Context, 2nd edition (Palgrave, 2018).

Practicalities: two-part module: lecture (1h/week) + workshop (1h/every week) – Annual – Attend the lecture course + choose one of the groups for the workshop
Evaluation: in-class tests (at the end of each semester)
Credits: 4.00 (lecture: 1.00; workshop: 3.00)

BA-ANG-1-1050-INTRODUCTION A LA LANGUE ET A LA LITTERATURE MEDIEVALES

Introduction to Medieval English

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Introduction to the literature, culture and history medieval England, as well as to the methods for analysing medieval texts.

Practicalities: two-part module: lecture (1h/week) + workshop (2h/week) – Half-yearly (Spring semester only) – Attend the lecture course + choose one of the groups for the workshop

Evaluation: three in-class assessments

Credits: 4.00 (lecture: 1.00; workshop: 3.00)

The English section lays much emphasis on the writing of essays. You will learn the basics of essay-writing and be able to practice on set topics in the English Composition (EC) class. You are then expected to transfer the knowledge acquired in EC to your other classes, especially ILA, but also classes taken in medieval and linguistics.

For all the essays you submit in the English section, you should rely on The English Department Guide to Essay-writing (EDGE). You should consult it at every stage of the writing process throughout your time in the English section. For linguistic papers specifically, you should also rely on the Manual for Writers of Papers in English Linguistics. Both brochures can be downloaded in pdf from the essay-writing guides page on the English department’s website. It would perhaps be a good idea for you to have a look at them before the start of classes so that you can have a better understanding of what the section expects with regards to assignments and of the level of English that it requires.

In courses and seminars, we are continually engaging with other people’s ideas; we read them (in books, magazines, encyclopaedias, and journals, online or otherwise), hear them in lectures, discuss them in class, and incorporate them in our own thinking. As a result, it is very important to give credit where it is due.

When you quote, translate or paraphrase, give the page number(s) of the original text; if you merely use a critic’s general ideas, indicate chapters or sections. Unacknowledged use of someone else’s ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as our own, either on purpose or through carelessness, is plagiarism – intellectual dishonesty – for which the penalties are severe (see below).

EDGE provides you with strategies for avoiding plagiarism. If you have any questions about the concept of plagiarism or methods of proper documentation, you should request assistance from your teacher(s).

The penalties for plagiarism
The penalties for plagiarism involve failure for the essay and the corresponding module, as well as the student being reported to the Décanat of the Faculty, which may threaten the completion of the studies. A student committing plagiarism will be required to write a replacement essay on another subject and thus take another module. Depending on the gravity of the case or in the event of a second offence, the student may be excluded from the University altogether. Ignorance of the rules about plagiarism is no excuse and carelessness is just as bad as purposeful violation.

Acknowledgements
The section on plagiarism was adapted from http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml, last accessed on 18th July 2007 and http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/plagiarism/, last accessed on 8th July 2014.