Course: Honors English

Course: English Composition – English 112 Spring 2007

Instructor: Julie Barak Office: 452 LHH

E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 248-1072

Office Hours: 10:00-11:00 MW, 8:00-11:00 TR

Home Page: www.mesastate.edu/~jbarak

Sign-up – Summaries of Critical Essays

General Education Requirements: This course has been accepted by the CCHE as a General Education Transfer course. To meet this requirement, the course must meet minimum reading and writing requirements, as well as address the following critical thinking skills: a) Identifying and differentiating questions, problems and arguments, b) Evaluating the appropriateness of various methods of reasoning and verification, c) Identifying and assessing stated and unstated assumptions, d) Critically comparing different points of view, e) Formulating questions and problems, f) Constructing and developing cogent arguments, g) Discussing alternative points of view, h) Evaluating the quality of evidence and reasoning.

GENERAL EDUCATION OBJECTIVES ADDRESSED IN THIS COURSE:

The following have been chosen from the list of General Education Objectives shown in its entirety in the Mesa State College Catalog:

OBJECTIVE 1—Students will be able to think critically and recognize issues across a broad spectrum of subjects.

OBJECTIVE 2—Students will be able to communicate effectively in the English Language.

Course Goals: The catalogue says we'll be doing an "[e]xamination of readings and creation of persuasive essays, research papers and critical analyses" as we plow through the semester. We will be doing all of this, but I think that underlying all of that is an exploration of a certain kind of writing -- researched writing. I'm making a distinction here between "researched writing" and writing "The Research Paper," because the latter is a uniquely academic genre, one that not many of you will use outside the college classroom. Researched writing, or writing based on research, however, no matter what form it takes -- essay, letter to the editor, business report, fiction or poetry, letter of compliment or complaint, memos to colleagues, and even the research paper -- will be useful to you for the rest of your life in any situation you may find yourself. So, the goals for the course are centered on learning basic research skills, rather than on producing a certain type of essay or paper. In particular, we will focus on posing and refining interesting questions, problems and hypothesis; finding credible and useful sources; and evaluating the content of what we read. We will focus on writing as a process, so that you see the "finished” product as part of a continuing process of engagement with your ideas. We'll discuss the rhetoric of argumentation and evidence within your own process of researched writing, so that you can learn how to present your ideas powerfully and convincingly. Part of what this entails is developing a sense of audience reactions to your writing, enabling you to write with greater sensitivity to others. And, of course, we'll practice using the conventional spelling, punctuation, mechanics and documentation of formal, written discourse.

Course Description: The course is designed as a reading and writing workshop. We'll be reading and commenting on each other's work and relying on each others’ expertise as readers and writers as we move through the semester. We'll be sharing our writing with each other, commenting on what we read, and going beyond the classroom readings to research topics that we choose for ourselves. We'll be examining the works of other writers to see what makes them effective, to try to understand how and where they are most persuasive, how they develop and support an argument, how we can expand our own writing repertoire by observing and practicing what they do. We'll also be thinking and writing about our research and writing processes. How and why do you do what you do as a researcher and writer? What is effective in your process? Where do you "spin your wheels" or waste time and effort in your research and writing process? How can you learn more effective strategies and techniques for researching and writing?

Obviously, we're going to be asking a lot of questions of ourselves, of each other and of various texts. We're going to be examining our writing and reading lives. Most of our learning will be the result of sharing -- speaking, reading, responding to the thoughts of others. I'm looking forward to the experience.

Required Texts:

Blum, Lawrence, “I’m not a Racist But . . .”: The Moral Quandary of Race. Cornell UP: 2002.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Norton Critical Edition, 3^rd Edition: 1988.

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. Norton: 2004.

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Bedford/St. Martin’s: 2000.

Course Requirements:

1. Daily in-class journals: Every day, for about the last 5-10 minutes of class, we’ll stop and reflect on what happened that day and write about our intellectual response to what we’ve read and discussed. (10% of your final grade.)

2. Three papers: One summary and response (4-5 pages), one position paper (5-6 pages), one research paper (7-9 pages). Descriptions and more information forthcoming. (10, 15, and 25% of your grade, respectively.)

3. Miscellaneous assignments, including, but not limited to: grammar worksheets, literature discussion guides, summaries of critical articles, chapter reports on Blum, prospectus, and bibliography. (40% of your final grade.)

Descriptions of assignments:

Literature Discussion Guides: Several students will lead the discussions of the readings on assigned days. You should come to class with a piece of writing that records observations, questions, connections that will promote a discussion of the text under scrutiny. Sign-up sheets will be circulated and posted so that everyone knows who is responsible for what when.

Summary of Critical Articles: Summarize, in 500 words (2 double-spaced pages), two different critical articles – one on The Tempest and one on Heart of Darkness. Your summaries should highlight the most important points made by the authors. No editorializing is necessary. Close attention to clarity of style and content is essential.

Blum Chapter Reports: Brief (2-3 page) summary/response essay to two of the readings from I’m not a Racist But . . .. You will address what you consider to be the most significant questions/issues/concerns raised in the chapter and then lead the class in a discussion of the piece of writing based around that issue. The last paragraph in the essay should be devoted to meditating on possible research topics that derive from the essay. What did it leave you wanting to know more about? What are some sources it referenced that you’d like to check into? What connections does it make with other issues you are curious about?

Thesis, Prospectus, Bibliography, Outline: Details forthcoming.

Class Attendance and Participation

Show up for class. You’ve got to come to class to do well in the class. In order to share your responses and to help us construct a shared meaning of the texts we’ll read and write, you have to be here to participate in the discussions. But, because I know that life can get complicated, everybody gets three free absences. After three, you lose a third of a letter grade for each absence. (For example, if you have a B for the class but you’ve missed 5 classes, your final grade will be a C+.) You will also be penalized for coming into class late – three “lates” equals one absence. There are no make-up assignments for any in-class work. In order to allow you to miss three classes with impunity, I’ll drop three of your lowest grades for requirement four above.

Turn work in on time. Late work will not be accepted. I'm adamant about this. There will be no exceptions to this rule. If you don't have the writing in your hand in class on the day we're going to be working with it, you don't get credit for it -- you will receive an "F" for that assignment. Do your work ahead of time. Print your essay or response out the night BEFORE it's due. Don't wait until the last minute to dash something off. Be sure you back up all the work you do on your computer so that you have a copy on your hard drive and a copy on disk. I will not accept excuses of ANY sort for late work – computer, printer, and disk problems included.

Policies and Procedures:

Academic Misconduct. Please read the section on cheating and plagiarism in the student handbook. The consequences for cheating and plagiarism are severe, including failure for the assignment, possible failure of the course, disciplinary referral to the dean, and possible expulsion from the college. If you have questions about these violations of academic honesty, please come and see me.

Disabilities. Any student who feels she/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact Educational Access Services at 1020 Elm Ave., 248-1856, to coordinate reasonable accommodations.

Schedule for Spring 2007

Week	Date	Assignment	Project Due
1	J – 22	Introductions
	J – 24	The Tempest – Act I “Don’t Blame the Eater” – Graff	Lit Discussion Guide
	J – 26	The Tempest – Act II “Hidden Intellectualism” and “The Empire of Images Our World of Bodies” – Graff	“
2	J – 29	The Tempest – Act III Chapter One – Graff	“
	J – 31	The Tempest – Act IV Chapter Two – Graff	“
	F – 2	The Tempest – Act V and p. 91-108 Chapter Three – Graff	“ Grammar Worksheet due
3	F – 5	Takaki	Summary
	F – 7	Kermode and Brower	“
	F – 9	Brown and Willis	“ Grammar Worksheet due
4	F – 12	Barker and Hulme	“
	F – 14	Workshop
	F – 16	Workshop	Grammar Worksheet due
5	F – 19 W Break
	F – 21	Workshop
	F – 23	Heart of Darkness p. 1-25 Chapter 4 – Graff	Lit Discussion Guide Grammar Worksheet due
6	F – 26	Heart of Darkness p. 25-50 Chapter 5 – Graff	“
	F – 28	Heart of Darkness to end Chapter 6 – Graff	“
	M – 2	Achebee and Harris	Paper #1 Due Summary
7	M – 5	Singh and Sarvan	“
	M – 7	Stewart and McLaughlin	“
	M – 9	Levenson and Kimbrough	“ Grammar Worksheet due
8	M 12-16 S Break
9	M – 19	Workshop
	M – 21	Workshop
	M – 23	Workshop	Grammar Worksheet due
10	M – 26 Last Day to Withdraw w/ “W”	Chapter 1	Paper #2 Due Chapter Reports
	M – 28	Chapter 2	“
	M – 30	Chapter 3	“ Grammar Worksheet due
11	A – 2	Chapter 4	“
	A – 4	Chapter 5	“
	A – 6	Chapter 6 and 7	“ Grammar Worksheet due
12	A – 9	Chapter 8 and 9	“
	A – 11	Read for Research Paper Chapter 7 – Graff
	A – 13	Read for Research Paper Chapter 8 – Graff	Grammar Worksheet due
13	A – 16	Read for Research Paper Chapter 9 – Graff	Thesis Due Small Group Workshops
	A – 18	Chapter 10 – Graff	“
	A – 20		Bibliography Due Grammar Worksheet due
14	A – 23		Prospectus Due
	A – 25		“
	A – 27		“ Grammar Worksheet due
15	A – 30		“
	M – 2		Draft Due Small Group Workshops
	M – 4		“
16	M – 7	Conferences	“
	M – 9	Conferences
	M – 11	Conferences
17	Final – M 16 (112)