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Course: Honors English –
English 129
Fall 2004 Instructor: Julie Barak
Office: 443 LHH E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 248-1072 Office Hours: |
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.
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 underlying
our work for the course 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 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, 3rd Edition: 1988.
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 the following: literature discussion
guides, summaries of critical articles, chapter reports on Blum, prospectus,
and bibliography. (25% of your final grade.)
4.
Various smaller
in- and out-of-class writing projects. (15% of your final grade.)
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 Mesa State to provide you with the necessary assistance.
Schedule
|
Week |
Date |
Reading Assignment |
What’s Due (Journal—In
class daily) + |
|
1 |
Aug 23 |
Introductions |
Sign-ups |
|
|
Aug 25 |
The Tempest – Act I |
Lit Discussion Guide |
|
|
Aug 27 |
The Tempest – Act II |
Lit Discussion Guide |
|
2 |
Aug 30 |
The Tempest – Act III |
Lit Discussion Guide |
|
|
Sept 1 |
The Tempest – Act IV |
Lit Discussion Guide |
|
|
Sept 3 |
The Tempest – Act V and p
91-108 |
Lit Discussion Guide |
|
3 |
Sept 6 |
Labor Day – No class |
|
|
|
Sept 8 |
Takaki |
Summary |
|
|
Sept 10 |
Kermode and Brower |
Summary |
|
4 |
Sept 13 |
Brown and Willis |
Summary |
|
|
Sept 15 |
Barker and Hulme |
Summary |
|
|
Sept 17 |
|
Paper #1 Due |
|
5 |
Sept 20 |
|
|
|
|
Sept 22 |
|
|
|
|
Sept 24 |
Heart of Darkness p 1-25 |
Lit Discussion Guide |
|
6 |
Sept 27 |
Heart of Darkness p 25-50 |
Lit Discussion Guide |
|
|
Sept 29 |
Heart of Darkness to end |
Lit Discussion Guide |
|
|
Oct 1 |
Achebee and Harris |
Summary |
|
7 |
Oct 4 |
Singh and Sarvan |
Summary |
|
|
Oct 6 |
Stewart and McLaughlin |
Summary |
|
|
Oct 8 |
Levenson and Kubrough |
Summary |
|
8 |
Oct 11 |
|
Paper #2 Due |
|
|
Oct 13 |
|
|
|
|
Oct 15 |
|
|
|
9 |
Oct 18 |
Fall Break – No class |
|
|
|
Oct 20 |
Blum – Chapter 1 |
Reports |
|
|
Oct 22 |
Blum – Chapter 2 |
Reports |
|
10 |
Oct 25 |
Blum – Chapter 3 |
Reports |
|
|
Oct 27 |
Blum – Chapter 4 |
Reports |
|
|
Oct 29 |
Blum – Chapter 5 |
Reports |
|
11 |
Nov 1 |
Blum – Chapter 6 |
Reports |
|
|
Nov 3 |
Blum – Chapter 7 |
Reports |
|
|
Nov 5 |
Blum – Chapter 8 |
Reports |
|
12 |
Nov 8 |
Blum – Chapter 9 |
Reports |
|
|
Nov 10 |
|
Prospectus due |
|
|
Nov 12 |
|
Bibliography due |
|
13 |
Nov 15 |
Modes – Comparison/Contrast |
|
|
|
Nov 17 |
Modes – Analysis |
|
|
|
Nov 19 |
Modes – Process |
|
|
14 |
Nov 22 |
Modes – Evaluation |
|
|
|
Nov 24 |
Thanksgiving Break – No
class |
|
|
|
Nov 26 |
Thanksgiving Break – No
class |
|
|
15 |
Nov 29 |
|
Draft due |
|
|
Dec 1 |
|
|
|
|
Dec 3 |
|
|
|
16 |
Dec 6 |
|
Conferences |
|
|
Dec 8 |
|
Conferences |
|
|
Dec 10 |
|
Conferences |
|
17 |
Dec 13 |
Final Exam Time – 10:00 |
Research Paper Due/Final
Journal |