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Course: Honors English – English 129 Fall 2006 Instructor:
Julie Barak
Office: 446/456 or 452 LHH E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 248-1072 Office Hours: MW Home Page:
http://www. mesastate.edu/~jbarak |
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 -- will be useful to you for the rest of your life in many situations. 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.
Required Texts:.
Austen,
Jane. Sense and Sensibility. New
Shakespeare,
William. King Lear. Signet Classic,
1998.
Stone, Linda and Nancy P. McKee. Gender and Culture in
Course Requirements:
Descriptions of assignments:
Literature
Discussion Guide: 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 Article: Summarize, in 500 words (2 double-spaced pages), two
different critical articles – one on Lear and one on Austen. 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.
Stone/McKee
Chapter Reports: Brief (2-3 page)
summary/response essay to two of the readings from Gender and Culture in America. 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?
Prospectus and
Bibliography: 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. If you have any condition, such
as a physical or mental disability, which will make it difficult for you to
carry out the work for the course, please talk to me and we will work with the
support services here at
Reading Schedule/Paper Assignment Due Dates
Aug 21 – Introductions Aug
23 – Lear Act 1 Aug 25– Lear Act 2
Aug 28 – Lear Act 3 Aug
30 – Lear Act 4 & 5 Sept 01 – Johnson and
Bradley
Sept
04 -- No Class Sept.
06 –Grandville-Barker &Mack Sept.
08 –Bamber, Brown and Barnet
Sept.
11 – Workshop Sept.
13 – Workshop Sept.
15 –Workshop
Sept. 18 – Essay #1 Due Sept. 20
-- Austen 1-55 Sept.,
22 – Austen 55-114
Sept
25 – Austen 115-150 Sept
27 – Austen 150-192 Sept. 29 – Austen – 193-233
Oct. 02 – Austen 233 to end Oct. 04 – Love and Friendship Oct.
06 –
Edgeworth and Wollstonecraft
Oct. 9 – Leighton and Seeber Oct.
11– Workshop Oct. 13 – Workshop
Oct. 16 – No Class Oct.
18 – Workshop Oct. 20 – Essay #2 Due
Oct. 23 – Stone Chapter 1 Oct.
25 – Stone Chapter 2 Oct. 27 – Stone Chapter 3
Oct. 30 – Stone Chapter 4 Nov.
01 – Stone Chapter 5 Nov.
03 – Stone Chapter 6
Nov. 06 – Stone Chapter 7 Nov. 08 – Library Nov. 10 –
Organizational Structures
Nov.13 – Organizational
Structures Nov. 15 –Research
Reports Nov. 17 –
Research Reports
Nov. 20 –Workshop Nov.
22 – No class Nov.
24 – No class
Nov. 27 –Workshop Nov.
29 – Workshop Dec.
01 – Workshop
Dec. 04 – Conferences Dec.
06 – Conferences Dec.
08 – Conferences
Dec. 11
Sign-Up for Lear Discussion Guide
Aug. 23 _____________________ Aug. 25 __________________
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Aug. 28 _____________________ Aug. 30 __________________
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Sign-up for Austen Discussion Guide
Sept. 20 _____________________ Sept. 22 __________________
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Sept. 25 _____________________ Sept. 27 __________________
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Sept. 29 _____________________ Oct. 02 __________________
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Sept. 25 _____________________ Sept. 17 __________________
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Sign-up for Stone and McKee Chapters. Sign-up for two!!!!!!
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
Oct. 23 ____________________ Oct. 25 __________________
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Chapter 3 Chapter 4
Oct. 27 ____________________ Oct. 30 __________________
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Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Nov. 01 ____________________ Nov. 03 __________________
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Chapter 7
Nov. 05 ____________________
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Sign-up for Summaries:
Sign up for one on Shakespeare and one on
Shakespeare
Johnson Bradley
Sept. 01 _____________________ Sept. 01 __________________
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Grandville-Barker Mack
Sept. 06 _____________________ Sept. 06 __________________
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Bamber Brown
Sept. 08 _____________________ Sept. 08 __________________
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Barnet
Sept. 08 _____________________
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Austen
Love and Friendship Edgeworth
Oct. 04 _____________________ Oct. 04 __________________
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Wollstonecraft
Oct. 04 _____________________ Oct. 06 __________________
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Morgan Leighton
Oct. 06 _____________________ Oct. 09 __________________
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Seeber
Oct. 09 _____________________
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