English
102
UWMC
Fall,
2003
Dr.
Holly Hassel
Office:
room 340
(O) 261-6265 (H) 212-1370
Office
Hours: M/W
Writing is an exploration. You start from
nothing and learn as you go.
E.L. Doctorow
Objective/Aim and Scope
The work of English 102 will primarily be writing that presents
information and ideas effectively, with attention to the essay and techniques
of documentation. Students should master
the following goals and skills by the end of the course:
Some points
to remember about writing courses:
developing skill in writing is an ongoing project, one developed through
practice, patience, and time. Through project portfolios, group-work,
discussions, readings, and lots and lots of writing, we will work hard to
attain greater proficiency and fluency in writing.
This
particular section of English 102 is a demanding one: the readings are engaging
but challenging. I will be asking you to read several books that grapple with
difficult and frequently controversial subject matter; I ask only that you read
with an open and interested mind, that you work diligently, that you respond
fairly and judiciously, and that you be willing to investigate and interrogate
your own beliefs, ideas, and assumptions about these complex issues.
Further,
this English 102 section is demanding in workload. You will have either reading or writing due
almost every day in this class. To facilitate the functioning of our daily
meetings, students must complete the assigned readings. To encourage you to do so, every reading
assignment will be accompanied by a short quiz (5 questions) at the beginning
of each class period. I also have high expectations for your investment in your
research. Our class focuses on investigative writing—writing that helps you
answer a question you have about a topic. I expect that your research will be
invested and engaged, involve broad and deep reading on your topic, and a
variety of print, electronic, and human sources
If you are ready to make such a commitment, I
assure you that the writing, reading, thinking, and talking we do throughout
the semester will be challenging, refreshing, enlightening, interesting, and
occasionally fun. We’ll be working hard, but it will be worth it. Welcome to English
102!
Materials
“I
would not be hurried by any love of system, by any exaggeration of instincts,
to underrate the Book. We all know,
that, as the human body can be nourished on any food, though it were boiled
grass and the broth of shoes, so the human mind can be fed by any knowledge.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson,
“The American Scholar”
Broken Heartland: the Rise of America’s
Rural Ghetto by Osha Gray
Davidson
Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the
All-American Meal. By
Eric Schlosser
A good dictionary of your choice
A three-ring binder for your projects
Requirements
Three projects: 150 pts each The
primary, formal writing work of this course will take the form of three
projects that you will plan and carry out individually. While I will ask you to
stay within a certain theme, one generated by the three books of nonfiction
prose we will be reading throughout the semester, the specific topic within
that theme will be chosen by you, described in a project proposal, and the
individual needs of that project in terms of form, purpose, and audience, will
be determined by you. The only limitations on these projects will be that each
responds to the objectives for the course (see bulleted objectives above). For
example, each project should draw upon outside investigation, research, and
secondary sources. Each project, also, will ask you to consider the
intersections between the public and the private, the personal and the social.
How does each issue resonate for you personally? By investigating the
intersection between these broad cultural, social, and existential issues and
your own interests and priorities, you will find the best, most interesting,
and most personally useful avenue of inquiry for your own intellectual
interests. I will provide a handout with
more detailed requirements as we begin work on our projects.
Three project proposals: 50 pts each: a two-page topic proposal for each major project.
Introduction to Research Paper: 50 pts: a three-page research essay employing five different kinds of
sources.
Reading Quizzes: 10 pts. per. Each week we will have quizzes on the week’s
readings. Quizzes will be short answer, multiple choice,
and fill in the blank with possible extra credit questions.
Citizenship: 200 pts Citizenship
is something like participation but entails a bit more; it means being a good
student: arriving to class on time and prepared, participating in large and
small group discussions actively, attentively, and effectively, refraining from
distracting or obnoxious behavior in class, bringing copies on workshop days,
and consistently engaging and investing in the work of the course and in one’s
own development as a writer, reader, and thinker. This letter grade will be assigned based on
how active you have been in class (active meaning making an informed comment
during discussions, being consistently prepared for the day’s activities,
etc.). A-level will indicate almost
constant involvement, B-level will indicate solid, frequent involvement, and
C-level will indicate minimal involvement.
I will expect an active commitment toward learning from each and every
student in the course; we will be working hard this semester, but it will be worth
it! Excessive absences (more than 1) will be reflected in this grade.
Large Group Peer
Review: once
during the semester, you will participate in large group peer review. This will
require signing up for a date, making and bringing enough copies of your rough
draft for the whole class, reading the essay to the class, and listening to the
class’s responses You must save the
copies which are annotated and returned to you and turn them in with your
portfolio. Failure to appear or be prepared on the day you are signed up for
large group peer review will result in a one-letter grade deduction from the
final grade of the portfolio in which the paper is submitted. You will also periodically be asked to bring
in two or three copies of rough drafts for small group peer review.
Fishbowl: each student will sign
up to participate in leading a day’s discussion of the reading. More information to follow.
Writing Groups
Early in the semester, we will set up
writing groups. One role of these groups is to establish study partnerships.
Your partners will be responsible for providing notes and handouts for you if
you are absent, for reviewing your papers critically when needed, and for
general support. List the names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of your
group-mates below, listing your primary study partner first:
Study Partner: _______________________ Email
and/or Phone Number: _________________________
Policies and Procedures
Grades:
Grades are equal to the following
percentages:
A+ 98-100
A 93-97
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-66
D- 60-62
F 59
and below
I reserve the right to assign borderline
grades as I deem appropriate.
A Note on Grades: An “A”
grade is not a gift you get at the end of the semester for always coming to
class and participating and completing your work on time. For that, you earn a “C.” Beyond that, your
work must be more than average—it must be good to earn a “B” and excellent to
earn an “A.” Please also remember that
you are not your grades—you are a person, not a letter. Good people can get average grades and vice
versa.
Attendance: Since many of the
activities in this class are interactive and occur during class, attendance is
crucial. Students should plan to attend every class meeting. Work done in class
cannot be made up unless exigent circumstances present themselves. Excessive
absenteeism will adversely affect your final citizenship grade. Anything more
than one absence is considered excessive. Attendance and in-class work make up
about 30-40 percent of the course total, so poor performance in these areas has
a very significant impact on your final grade: make every effort to be here on
time and in class, with work completed, every day!
Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty is also known as
plagiarism. Plagiarism is the use of another person’s language/words or ideas
without proper citation. If you use more than four words in a row from another
source, you should put quotation marks around them. If you borrow an idea from
a published source, you need to use parenthetical documentation to give proper
credit to that source. Any quote, paraphrase, or indirect quote must be cited
appropriately. Please be aware that I will not hesitate to check on sources
that seem incorrectly documented. The consequences of plagiarism are spelled
out in the Student Rights and Regulations handbook. For the purposes of this course, deliberate
misuse of language or ideas will result in, at the least, failure of the
assignment or paper, and possibly failure of the course with referral of the
student to a disciplinary committee for further action by the university.
Policy on Late Work: Late work
will not be accepted. Assignments are
due on the date listed in the syllabus. Students will be granted one 24-hour
grace period (see attached form). One major assignment may be turned in late
using this “coupon.”
Portfolio Style: A note on
turning in your work: all the work for this course will be turned in portfolio
style, which means that I will evaluate your project on both the final product and
the writing process. In order to document this for me, you should save everything you write for the
course. From the beginning stages of the project—brainstorming, free-writing,
pre-writing, through drafting, revision, editing, and research—you should keep
every bit of work that contributes to the final product and turn it in with the
final draft. Moral of this paragraph: do
not throw anything away for this course.
Students with Disabilities: Students
with disabilities that will in any way affect their work in this course should
let me know so that I can work with you.
Also, please contact an advisor in Student Services to make arrangements
for any necessary special services.
Policy Policy:
Ideally, this syllabus would cover every
contingency of every possibility that might arise in the course of the
semester. Of course, reality dictates that will not be the
case. Thus, I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus as the
need arises.
Schedule
Research, Inquiry, and Investigation
Week One
Wednesday
September 3
·
Introductions
·
Syllabus
·
Writing
Autobiography
·
Student
Job Description
Friday,
September 5
·
Read
Cronon article (handout): discussion
·
Introduction
to Research Paper
·
Small
Group, Large Group Peer Review, and Fishbowl: what it is and sign up
Week Two
Monday,
September 8
·
Read:
Writing the Academic Paper (handout)
·
Read:
·
Bring a topic for paper one
·
Quiz One
Wednesday
September 10
·
Read: Part
II Collecting Information
o
“Planning to Collect and Manage
Information” 61-80; “Searching for Information with Electronic Resources”
81-111; “Searching for Information with Print Resources”112-122 and “Searching for Information with Field
research Methods” 123-138
·
Review author’s notes
Friday
September 12
·
Library Orientation:
meet in the library—take copious notes!
Week Three
Monday,
September 15
·
Quiz
on Library orientation!
·
Introduction
to MLA documentation
·
Bring
Three sources you will use in your paper
Wednesday,
September 17
·
Evaluating sources
·
Read:
·
Bring
three sources you will use in your paper
Friday,
September 19
·
No
class—Dr. Hassel at workshop in
Week Four
Monday,
September 22
·
Large Group Peer
Review
·
__________________
·
__________________
·
__________________
Wednesday,
September 24
·
Small
Group Peer Review: Bring a draft of your paper (3 pages) plus three additional
copies for your small group
Friday,
September 26
·
Paper
one Due!! Turn in Portfolio style with
copies of all sources, highlighting the passages you’ve quoted or paraphrased.
Review Portfolio turn-in sheet.
·
Introduction to
Project One: Corporation, the Government, Work, and Labor
·
Read: Read:
Week Five
Monday:
September 29
·
Read: Fast Food Nation pg 1-57
·
Fishbowl 1
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
Wednesday:
October 1 (happy birthday to me!)
·
Project
Proposal One Due
·
Read:
Fast Food Nation: 59-110
o
Aesthetic/rhetorical
analysis: in-class exercise
·
Thesis
Statements, topic sentences, transitions
Friday,
October 3
·
Read:
·
Paraphrasing
and Quoting
·
Read:
Week Six
Monday,
October 6
·
Read:
Fast Food Nation: 111-190
·
Fishbowl 2
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
Wednesday,
October 8
·
Small
Group Peer Review: Bring three copies of your draft
Friday,
October 10
·
Large Group Peer
Review:
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
Week Seven
Monday,
October 13
·
Read:
Fast Food Nation 194-251 and epilogue
o
Aesthetic/rhetorical
analysis
Wednesday,
October 15
·
Punctuation
workshop: group selection and prep time
Friday,
October 17
·
Punctuation
workshops
·
Project One Due!
Week Eight
Politics and Policies
Monday,
October 20
·
Read:
Dead Man Walking: Introduction and Chapters One through Three
·
Introduction
to Project Two
o
Aesthetic/rhetorical
analysis: in-class
Wednesday,
October 22
·
Read:
Dead Man Walking: Chapters four through six
·
Fishbowl Three:
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
·
Project
Proposal 2 due
Friday,
October 24
·
No
Class: Dr. Hassel at conference in Menomonie
Week Nine
Monday,
October 27
·
Read:
Dead Man Walking: Chapters seven through Nine
Wednesday,
October 29
·
Read:
Dead Man Walking chapters Ten and Eleven
Friday,
October 31
·
Large Group Peer
Review
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
Week Ten
Monday,
November 3
·
Large Group Peer
Review
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
Wednesday,
November 5
·
Small
Group Peer Review: bring three copies of your complete draft
Friday,
November 7
·
Project Two Due!
·
Introduction
to Project Three
·
Invention
Activity
Week Eleven
Local and Rural Issues
Monday,
November 10 [drop deadline]
·
Read:
Broken Heartland: chapters 1-2 (to page 46)
·
Project
Proposal Three Due
·
Fishbowl 4
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
o
__________________
Wednesday,
November 12
·
Read:
Broken Heartland: Chapters 3 and 4 (to page 100)
o
Aesthetic/rhetorical
analysis
Friday,
November 14
·
In-class
writing activity: clustering, mapping, glossing, loop writing, or hot spotting
Week Twelve
Monday,
November 17
·
Read:
Broken Heartland: Chapters 5 and 6
·
Round
Robin
Wednesday,
November 19