Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:00 to 9:15, Thomas 215
Professor: Dr. Bev Hogue
Office: 216-A Thomas Hall
Office Hours: MF 11-noon and 2:15-4
W 11-noon
TTH 9:30-noon and 2:15-4
Other times available by appointment
e-mail: hogueb@marietta.edu
office telephone: x4657
website: www.marietta.edu/~hogueb
class mailing list: 2009_SP_WRIT_101_06@marietta.edu
Course Description: Our main interest in English 101 will be to study and practice expository writing, which develops a subject through direct statement of thesis and logical arrangement of ideas. Exposition is basic in many types of writing required of college students and college graduates: essays, examinations, reports, research papers, and proposals.
Required Text: Gilbert H. Muller, ed. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. 8th ed. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0073533131
Course Objectives: By the end of the semester, students will demonstrate ability to
Expectations: All students must
Attendance Policy
The English Department believes that regular classroom attendance is essential to success in English 101; therefore, we have adopted a standard attendance policy. A student is permitted to miss one week of class time without a penalty, provided all class work is made up. A student in a Tuesday-Thursday class may have a maximum of two absences during a semester. Anyone who has a legitimate reason for missing more than a week of class should consult with the instructor. Anyone who misses class is responsible for making up work that was due. If it is possible, students should inform the instructor about an impending absence. Those who miss class to participate in athletic events or authorized college functions should present a notice of the event from the coach or instructor. Anyone who misses class is responsible for making up work that was due. Excessive tardiness also detracts from the learning environment; therefore, three tardies will be equivalent to one absence.
Evaluation
Five essays, 100 points each 500 points
Homework assignments, 10 points each 140 points
Presentation 60 points
Total 700 points
Grading Scale
A = 93-100 A- = 90-92 B+ = 88-89 B = 83-87 B- = 80-82
C+ = 78-79 C = 73-77 C- = 70-72 D+ = 68-69 D = 63-67 D- = 60-62
The A+ grade does not affect gpa and will be given only for extraordinary work.
Each essay will be a focused, thorough consideration of a topic in response to a specific prompt, which will be distributed at least one week before the essay is due (with the exception of the midterm essay, which will be written in class). Essays will be evaluated based on a rubric; a sample rubric is available online. You may wish to incorporate material from the homework assignments into your essays, but the essay must be unified and fulfill the purpose of the assignment.
Homework Assignments are due on 14 dates specified on the syllabus. Each homework assignment is worth 10 points. You will earn either the entire 10 points or 0 points; there is no partial credit. In order to receive full credit, you must write at least 500 words in response to the homework prompt and turn the assignment in on time. Include the word count somewhere on the assignment.
During the final two weeks of class, you will do an in-class presentation on the topic of your final paper. The presentation is worth 60 points and will be evaluated according to a rubric that will be distributed with the presentation assignment sheet.
All written work must be typed/word processed, double-spaced, in black ink on white paper, with attention paid to spelling, grammar, and style. Late work will not be accepted except in rare unavoidable cases. Students are expected to produce original work for this course; papers written for other courses here or elsewhere are not acceptable.
Plagiarism occurs when a student represents someone else’s work as his or her own; it includes:
Any student who plagiarizes, whether from published material (such as a web site, book, or magazine) or from unpublished material (such as another student’s writing), will receive an F on the assignment. Any student who submits someone else’s work as if it were his or her own will receive an F on the assignment and may fail the class. Copying information from an online source directly into a paper will result in an automatic F for the assignment and possible failure of the course.
All work produced in this course is considered public and is used for the purposes of teaching and evaluation. This may include the use of your work as a model for future students and the submission of your work to an online plagiarism detection service.
Co-Curricular Probation: Students placed on academic probation at the end of the semester will be barred from most co-curricular activities the following semester. See the college catalog for further details.
Accommodations: Any student requiring accommodations because of a documented disability should notify the instructor AND the Academic Resource Center (Andrews Hall, third floor, 376-4700) at the beginning of the semester for further instructions.
Complete all reading and writing assignments before the beginning of class on the date listed.
Jan. 13 Introduction to class; diagnostic writing
Jan. 15 Read 2-12, “Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing” and 282-86 Rodriguez, “The Lonely, Good Company of Books.” Write at least 500 words comparing your own experience with reading to that of Rodriguez.
Jan. 20 Read 12-20, “Paraphrasing, Summarizing, Quoting, and Synthesizing” and 62-66, Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue.” Think about the different types of language you use: do you know more than one language? Do you use specialized language associated with certain activities (sports, online gaming, music, etc.)? Do you alter your language and tone to meet the needs of various audiences (text-messaging, academic writing, etc.)? Write at least 500 words comparing your language experience with that of Amy Tan, using at least one direct quotation from her essay.
Jan. 22 Essay 1 draft due
Jan 27 Read 590-92 Barry, “Red, White, and Beer.” Write at least 500 words in which you briefly explain Barry’s purpose (including at least one quotation from his article) and then follow his example by analyzing one of the advertisements inserted between pages 586 and 587. You may wish to use the questions below the ads to guide your thinking.
Jan 29 Read 582-89, King, “My Creature From the Black Lagoon.” Write at least 500 words in which you briefly summarize King’s argument (including at least one quotation) and then write about a movie that strongly influenced you as a child. How would you view that movie differently as an adult?
Feb 3 Essay 1 due
Feb 5 Read 593-601, Steinem, “Wonder Woman.” Write at least 500 words in which you briefly summarize Steinem’s argument (including at least one quotation) and then write about a fictional character that influenced you. What does that character suggest about the values of your culture?
Feb 10 Essay 2 draft due
Feb 12 Read 104-15, “Reading and Writing Effective Arguments,” and 458-62, Dyson, “Cyberspace: If You Don’t Love It, Leave It.” Write at least 500 words in which you explain whether Dyson’s argument is effective—and why. Include quotations.
Feb 17 Read 117-22, “Writing Powerful Arguments,” and 77-84, Hockenberry, “The Blogs of War.” Write at least 500 words in which you explain whether Hockenberry’s argument is effective—and why.
Feb 19 Essay 2 due
Feb 24 Read 122-32 (on writing powerful arguments). Write at least 500 words in which you compare two blogs on similar topics, considering purpose, audience appeal, tone, word choice, and so on.
Feb 26 Choose two of the following articles and write at least 500 words in which you compare methods of argumentation and argue that one is more effective than the other; be sure to include quotations and cite them properly:
34-37 Roush, “Fakesters”
137-41 Lee, “Social Sites Are Becoming Too Much of a Good Thing”
141-43 Pivarnik, “MySpace is Not Responsible for Your Kids”
March 3 Essay 3 will be written in class
March 5 Read 504-6, Gates, “Delusions of Grandeur” and 526-33, Ehrenreich, “Nickel and Dimed.” Write at least 500 words comparing their methods of appealing to readers. Which author makes you care the most about the topic? How?
March 17 Read 602-08, Gitlin, “Supersaturation,” and 341-3, Brooks, “Love, Internet Style.” Write at least 500 words evaluating their methods of appealing to readers. Which article is more convincing? Why?
March 19 Read 178-203, “Writing a Research Paper.” Complete a source evaluation form for a book.
March 24 Read 203-4 and skim the section MLA documentation (205-11). Complete a source evaluation form for a peer-reviewed academic journal article and a government source, including MLA-style Works Cited listings.
March 26 Read 404-06, Sen, “A World Not Neatly Divided,” and 514-20, O’Rourke, “Mapping Innovation.” Write at least 500 words in which you explain what sorts of resources these authors use to support their claims and evaluate their effectiveness.
March 31 Essay 4 draft due
April 2 Read 893-901, D’Souza, “Staying Human,” and 548-54, Swift, “A Modest Proposal.” Write at least 500 words in which you compare the solutions these authors propose; which is more convincing? Why? Class cancelled. No homework.
April 7 Essay 4 due
April 9 presentations: Lee, Paulus, Widgren, Reiser, Wu
April 14 presentations: Sun, James, Ma, Luo, Charley
April 16 presentations: Jordan, Boyd, Xie, Stein, Daniels, Lu
April 21 presentations: Zhang, Saunders, Ni, Gutberlet, Lang, Zhao
April 23 Essay 5 draft due for peer review
Thursday, April 30: Essay 5 due no later than noon.
Essay 1: Reading, Writing, Thinking
Reading furnishes our minds with ideas and writing shares those ideas with others. In this essay, you will examine your own reading or writing practices in order to convey information about your culture, values, or character. You may wish to describe your own reading habits and explain how reading has influenced your values, or you may wish to examine the different types of language you use in different settings and explain what this suggests about your culture or character.
Your paper should be brief (about 750 words) but thorough, including information from your personal experience and at least one quotation from Richard Rodriguez or Amy Tan. You may wish to draw on material from your homework assignments as long as it serves the purpose of this essay.
Your essay must
Deadlines
Jan. 22 Essay 1 draft due; bring a hard copy to class for peer review and send an electronic copy to me (hogueb@marietta.edu) as an attached Word document.
Feb 3 Essay 1 due
If you can know a person by the contents of his or her library, you can know a culture by the nature of its artifacts. Your purpose in this essay is to analyze a cultural artifact and examine what it suggests about the culture that produced it. You may wish to focus on a work of high culture (art, literature, music) or an expression of popular culture such as an advertisement (or a series of related advertisements), a fictional character, a film, an online game, or a television show.
Your essay should describe or summarize the artifact for the benefit of readers who might not be familiar with it, but you must also analyze what that artifact suggests about the values of the culture. Think about it this way: if you were a space alien trying to understand a particular culture, what conclusions could you draw from this one artifact?
Your essay must be brief (at least 750 words) and must
You may wish to draw on material from your homework assignments as long as it serves the purpose of this essay.
Deadlines
Feb 10 Essay 2 draft due; bring a hard copy to class for peer review and send an electronic copy to me (hogueb@marietta.edu) as an attached Word document.
Feb 19 Essay 2 due
In the weeks leading up to the Midterm Essay Exam, you will read a variety of essays and evaluate the effectiveness of their arguments; this will prepare you to write an in-class essay on March 3 evaluating the arguments of two specific articles that you have already read, supporting a clear thesis with evidence from the texts.
Midterm Exam Policies and Procedures
What is wrong with our world and what can be done to fix it? In Essays 4 and 5 and in your in-class presentation, you will examine a particular problem and propose a specific solution to that problem. Although these essays will count as two separate grades, there may be some overlap in the material presented; however, it is important to make sure that each essay achieves the appropriate purpose.
Essay 4: The Problem Essay
Write an essay of at least 750 words in which you describe, define, or illustrate a particular problem of contemporary life. Choose a problem broad enough to be of interest to an audience of your peers but narrow enough to be manageable in a short paper.
You will need to provide evidence demonstrating the importance or severity of the problem and examples that will make readers care. You may draw on personal experience, interviews, government statistics, news reports, and other source material in order to convince the reader that the problem deserves attention.
Your essay must be at least 750 words long and must
You may wish to draw on material from your homework assignments as long as it serves the purpose of this essay.
Deadlines
March 31 Essay 4 draft due
April 7 Essay 4 due
Now that you have convinced readers of the importance of the problem, it’s time to suggest some solutions. In this essay, you will attempt to persuade a specific audience to take a specific action that will improve the problem you are addressing. Your thesis must clearly state exactly what action you expect your audience to take and how that action will lead to a solution to the problem.
First, you must determine the appropriate action: What specific steps can be taken to provide a solution to the problem? What change can be made? What do you want readers to do?
Next, you must determine the appropriate audience: who has the authority, the opportunity, or the means to take action toward a solution? College students? Professors? Administrators? Government officials? Corporate executives? Shoppers? Journalists? Scientists? Children?
Next, you must determine the most appropriate way to persuade that audience to take action: What sort of argument will your audience find most persuasive? What sort of language will be most appealing? How will you appeal to logos, ethos, and pathos? What sources will be most persuasive?
Your Solution Essay must be thorough and well developed, at least 1500 words long; you may incorporate material from homework assignments or from the Problem Essay, but the bulk of this essay should be new writing. Your essay must
Deadlines
April 23 Essay 5 draft due for peer review
April 30: Essay 5 due no later than noon
In-Class Presentations
You will have an opportunity to try out your persuasive skills and received suggestions during your in-class presentation (April 9, 14, 16, or 21). On the date of your presentation, you will have approximately 10 minutes to communicate the following information to your classmates:
You may use whatever method you find most effective to communicate this information, including visual aides, PowerPoint, charts, or any other method.
The presentation is worth 60 points. You should also be prepared to respond to questions from your classmates. Your presentation will be evaluated according to the rubric below.
10 points available per category
Excellent 9-10
Good 8
Adequate 7
Poor 6
Unacceptable 5 and below
_____The presentation communicates the problem.
_____The presentation communicates the proposed solution (who should do what, why).
_____The presentation communicates three strong pieces of evidence.
_____The presentation responds to an opposing view.
_____The presentation is well organized.
_____The presenter is well informed and prepared to answer questions.
_____ Total