ENGLISH 102 (Lec 2329-19) - Fall 2005
C164 T-TH: 2:25-3:40
Dr. Janet M. LaBrie Office Hours:
Office W134 T: 12:00-2:00, 4:00-5:30
O: 262-521-5521 TH: 12-2:00, 4:00-5:30
H: 608-758-3351 - or by appointment
O: jlabrie@uwc.edu
H: jlbrie@sbcglobal.net
ENGLISH 102 IS A RHETORIC COURSE that focuses on writing techniques to enable the writer to present information, ideas, and arguments clearly and effectively. Class emphasis will be on academic writing in several kinds of researched essays, an analysis paper, techniques of documentation, and analysis of their own and the writings of others. We will learn to read critically and analytically to understand the arguments that others make, how they are constructed, and where they are faulty. We will also do collaborative work, peer reviews, and many revisions. This class meets in a computer lab; thus, students will often use the computers in class. This means that students must save all their work to floppy discs or flash drives and have it with them for every class.
Our semester will be divided into two parts: the first module will aide students in developing the reading, analysis and writing techniques (rhetorical styles) that A Rhetoric of Argument focuses on. The second module will apply those skills to the campus reading materials for this year: several short stories by Tom O’Brien from The Things that They Carried, readings from a 2005 autobiography titled The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, and the non-fiction book War Is A Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges. Your extended research paper will be done during this module, and you will present some aspect of your research to the class at semester’s end.
REQUIRED:
Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers, 5th Ed. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2003.
Fahnestock, Jeanne and Marie Sector. A Rhetoric of Argument, 3rd Edition.
McGraw Hill, 2004.
Hedges, Chris. War Is A Force that Gives Us Meaning. NY: PublicAffairs, 2002.
Two floppy discs which you must always bring to class and to which you always
save all your class work (or a floppy disc and a flash drive).
COURSE PROFICIENCIES to be developed in this class:
Þ analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and interpret information and ideas.
Þ construct and support hypotheses and arguments
Þ integrate knowledge and experience to arrive at creative solutions
Þ read and listen with comprehension and critical perception
Þ write clearly, precisely, and in a well-organized mann
Þ gather information from printed sources, electronic sources, and observation
Þ share information and ideas through writing and speaking
Þ
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
A. Because this is a skills development course, often based on collaborative in-class
work, attendance, preparation and participation are absolutely necessary.
Attendance:
1. You must be on time, or you will not be marked present on
the class roster.
2. The UW-Waukesha English Department has adopted the following
attendance policy for all Composition Courses: Except in extraordinary circumstances, when the absence has been pre-excused by the instructor, missing more than the equivalent of 3 weeks of classes (two classes for summer school) will result in a grade of “F” for the semester. Two weeks of unexcused absences will result in a complete letter grade drop (e.g. from a “B” to a “C”). According to this policy, a doctor’s appointment is not excusable; make them during non-class times.
Preparation:
1. Your work must be done on the due date, at the beginning of class, or
your paper as a whole will lose points.
2. All readings must be done when scheduled. We will discuss the readings
in class and analyze their argumentation and logic. You can expect to
either write about them or be quizzed on them.
3. All class work must be typed and saved on one of your two computer
discs. You must always have your discs with you.
4. Please note that the expectation for college work is that for every hour a
student spends in class, that student should expect to spend 2-3 hours
outside of class. Therefore, a 12-15 credit load would add up to a 40 hour
week. The kind of work you will be doing in this class will require some
levels of thinking, research, writing and rewriting, which means that you
cannot expect to be successful if you sit down to do your homework an
hour before class or maybe even the night before class.
Participation:
You must be prepared to participate in all in-class work and discussions. You will lose points when you cannot participate in discussions. (See #9.)
B. Five informal and formal research papers, as well as an oral
presentation at the end of the semester. When you begin Module
2, besides constructing Works Cited pages for your papers, you will also be
developing an ongoing Working Bibliography. The final project will be an oral
presentation that is related to your final research paper.
All drafts will require quotes from your sources, as well as a Works Cited page.
We are using MLA style for bibliographies and parenthetical citations or in-text
citations. See Rules for Writers 413-455 and A Rhetoric of Argument 385-392.
Each formal paper will go through several peer review processes in an
early stage, after the first revision. You must be in class with your rough draft
and copies for your review group on the required days, or you will automatically
lose a grade. You must go through the entire peer review process to get a grade
on your final paper. Each rewrite must include highlighting of the changes you
have made, as well as several paragraphs that analyze the rewrite changes you
have made –which is much more extensive than editing.
When you hand in the semi-final draft of each paper for instructor input (which must also have all the changes you made highlighted), you must include in a folder:
Paper proposal
pre-writing or brainstorming
thesis and outline
rough draft
first revision for peer review or Word Comment review
peer review comments
paragraph of analysis of the peer review or Word comments
semi- final draft for instructor comments (both hard copy and floppy disc) +
analysis of your changes.
When you hand in the final draft of any paper, you must provide a
specific and concrete typed analysis of your entire writing process for this
particular paper (what did you learn?), and you must also highlight all
changes made from the semi-final draft. In the folder, include only the final
draft (clearly marked as the such), the semi-final draft, and the Works
Cited page.
C.The Course Self-assessment Paper is due on the last day of class and must include the following four paragraphs:
C.An evaluation of your own classroom performance in terms of time, effort, rewriting, attendance, class preparation and participation. (Remember, in life outside of the classroom one does not get a good grade or job or raise for being a good person, or only for trying hard. One has to also accomplish and push one’s self.)
C.An evaluation of your efforts with your peers in peer review work, collaborative work, and general helpfulness. How useful were your interactions with them?
C.A detailed explanation of what you learned from this class and why.
C.In light of the above, state honestly, what grade you would give yourself and why.
C.
D. ACADEMIC HONESTY:
Please see Section UWS 14.03 of the University of Wisconsin Colleges’ Students Rights & Regulations (2005-2006) for descriptions of Academic Misconduct. This available on line at <http://www.uwc.edu/student_services /student_R&R.asp>. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. We will adhere strictly to these regulations.
Read Hacker 395-400 – “Managing Information: Avoiding Plagiarism.”
STATEMENT OF DISABILITY:
If you have a disability that needs accommodation, please see me privately as soon as possible so that we may determine your needs.
________________________________****_____________________________
WARNING: This syllabus is a construction site;
Changes may occur, but be prepared to follow it as it is.
** MODULE ONE **
September 6, 2005 Tuesday
Introductions: students, class structure, syllabus, semester topic, computer lab.
Brief discussion of paper format: thesis, main points, examples.
Brief discussion of importance of learning to read and understand more complex
materials.
Using the computers: discuss yourself as a writer in a Perfect Paragraph –
Previous experience as a writer and with research papers.
What aspects of writing are you good at & weak in?
What grade are you aiming for? Therefore, what are you willing to do to get it?
And how will you fit this effort into your life as it is today? (see item 10 on
page 3.)
Then, again using your best writing style: Discuss your attitude toward the war
in Iraq at this point in time. Explain what it is, why you have it, how you have
developed it, what connections you have to the war, etc. How strongly are your feelings about the war? Give examples if you are able.
September 8, Thursday
Quiz on the Syllabus.
Read: RA (Rhetoric of Argument), 3-15
Write out Exercise 1 on page 15 to hand in. Be prepared to explain the
editorial you select and its seven characteristic features to your classmates. Bring two copies of the editorial with you to class.
September 13, Tuesday
Read RA: Chapter 2, 16-31.
Using sentences and paragraphs, do the following exercises to hand in:
Note that each Exercise is asking for something somewhat different.
Exercise 2.1 (21) – Do #2 and choose one of the other five.
Exercise 2.2 (23) – Choose three of the five.
Exercise 2.4 (25) – Do 1 & 2
Exercise 2.6 (25) - using the format on pages 26-27.
Choose 1, 2, or 3 to argue a point beginning with a claim, and the
choose one of the others or a reason of your own to figure out an
argument. This will be clear after you read the material.
Read RA 9-31 and do exercise 2.7 (29), developing a rebuttal for one of
your arguments from Exercise 2.6.
In-class, working with several classmates, do Exercise 2.8, then brainstorm to
construct a thesis and outline about the topic and focus of your
choice, still working as a group.
September 15, Thursday
Read RA 31-44 and Hacker 39-57 “Building Effective Paragraphs.”
Write a Perfect Paragraph on what kind of sources you find most influential, but
also most reliable (see page 35). These may not be the same sources. If
so, explain.
To develop your skills as a critical reader, write an analysis of the two
arguments (pp. 42 and 43-44), using the seven points set up on page 41,
using your best sentence and paragraph form.
September 20, Tuesday
Read: RA Chpt 3, 45-60
Do Exercise 3.1 (50). Using sentences and paragraphs, explain your
analysis.
Exercise 3.2 (50).
Write a paper that develops one of the arguments in Exercise 3.3 (55) – or
chose one of the other topics that you have found interesting up to this point
in RA. Use the information from pages 55-60 to help you present in a useful
way the other sides to your argument and what is wrong with these
approaches. Bring three copies of your paper to class for peer review.
September 22, Thursday
Read: RA 60-76 “Logical Fallacies.”
In-class quiz on logical fallacies (RA pages 65-71).
Rewrite your paper from Tuesday, incorporating both the comments that you
received from your peers and the suggestions for evoking pathos on p.
65 and hand it in.
September 27, Tuesday
Read RA Chpt 4 77-100.
Do Exercise 4.1 (83)
Exercise 4.2 (86)
Exercise 4.3
Choose an ’issues’ topic to write about (something controversial) and hand in a
paragraph explaining the topic and the questions you want to ask about it.
Library research day. Be prepared to start research on your topic.
Read Hacker: Conducting Research 370-379.
Read RA Chpt 10: 327-360 “Finding Sources to Support your Claim.”
September 29, Thursday
Due: 10 + sources on your ‘issues’ topic (which you, of course, have read before
coming to class).
Collecting information: note cards vs other methods.
Read Hacker 370-389 “Conducting Research.”
Read RA 372-382 “Using Sources to Support your Claim.”
In-class: organizing your material, brainstorming and writing an outline.
(Note that your revised rough draft is due Oct. 6 for peer review).
October 4, Tuesday
Read Hacker 1-38 “The Writing Process.”
Read RA 101-128 – “Choosing A Voice”
Do: Exercise 5.1 Consult the previous pages as you consider whether or
not the I voice is useful and effective in these examples.
Exercise 5.2. Same directions as above.
Exercise 5.4.
Answer the questions on p. 125.
Due: thesis for the paper you began September 27.
Individual consultations as needed.
October 6, Thursday
Due: revised rough draft of your ‘issues’ topic for peer review.
Hand in a paragraph explaining why you choose the voice you did for the
above paper and why it will be more powerful or effective than any other
voice.
Handout: Tim O’Brien short stories.
“How to Tell A True War Story”
“The Things that They Carried”
“In the Field”
“Good Form”
“Field Trip”
Discuss annotating as you read.
October 11, Tuesday
Due: rewritten paper from October 6.
** Begin Module 2 **
Read Hacker 13 “Annotating a Text”
Read “The Things that They Carried.” Annotate the text, write a response and
be prepared to discuss in class. Look for subject, setting, characters,
meaning, tone, imagery. etc.
October 13, Thursday – Understanding literature
Due: written response to “How to Tell A True War Story” and” Good Form” and
in-class discussion. Annotate these stories as you read them.
Hand-in your copy of the stories so I can see the annotations.
October 18, Tuesday
Due: annotated “In the Field” and Field Trip.” Written response and discussion.
Begin video Regret to Inform. Taking Notes on a Documentary.
October 20, Thursday
Conclude Regret to Inform. Discussion.
Begin brainstorming connections between O’Brien and Regret.
Sign up for War Report – due on November 3 (one+ paragraph)
October 25, Tuesday
Due: brainstorming notes and connections from Thursday.
Writing the C & C paper.
Developing the topic using the brainstorming notes.
Read Hacker 112, 230 “Using Literary Present Tense.”
October 27, Thursday
Read from War Is A Force that Gives Us Meaning: 83-121: “The Seduction of
Battle and the Perversion of War.”
Due: Written response and in-class discussion.
Due: outline for O’Brien Regret paper.
How to use textual references for literature paper
November 1, Tuesday
Due: Revised rough draft of O’Brien Regret paper for Peer review.
November 3, Thursday
Due: Written and oral War Report
Read and annotate: War Is A Force 1-42. In-class discussion
Read RA Chpt 6 –“ Definition: What Is It?” 131-161.
Read Hacker 49-50 “Definition as a Pattern of Development”
Introduce Definition Paper (related to war topic).
Handout of terms to choose.
In-class: topic choice and brainstorming
November 8, Tuesday
Due: Semi-Final draft of O’Brien-Regret paper.
Read: War Is A Force pp 43-61. “The Plague of Nationalism.”
In-class: work on Thesis and outline for Definition paper.
November 10, Thursday
Due: Revised rough draft of Definition Paper for Peer review.
November 15, Tuesday
Read: War Is a Force pp. 62-82.
Read RA 382-392. “Documenting Sources” and Hacker 370-444.
Choosing your own war-related topic. Handout of possible topics.
November 17, Thursday
Read: War Is A Force pp. 122-156. Response due.
Library research day on your War-related topic.
Evaluation of sources.
Read RA 392-405 “Using MLA Style” and Hacker 413-444.
November 22, Tuesday
Read selection from The Last True Story handout. Response due.
In-class Discussion of reading. How is this different from War Is A Force?
In-class discussion of your topic and focus – or individual consultations.
In-class - “Using MLA style” – sample paper 392-405.
November 24, Thursday Thanksgiving Day
November 29, Tuesday
Read War Is A Force pp. 157-185. “Eros and Thanatos.” Response due.
In-class discussion.
Bibliography and annotation.
Read Hacker 395-97, 423-443, 454-455 “Working Bibliography.”
Checking validity and perspective of sources.
December 1, Thursday
Read: selection from The Last True Story. Response due & in-class discussion.
Referencing sources, etc.
Hand-out: The Oral Presentation
December 6, Tuesday
Due: revised rough draft for peer review.
December 8, Thursday
Oral Presentations on War related topics.
.
December 13, Tuesday
Oral Presentations, continued.
December 15, Thursday Last Day of Class
Oral Presentations concluded.
Due: Final draft of War-related paper.
Final Exam Day: Monday, December 19, 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Due: Course Self Assessment paper (see intro to Syllabus).
Due: Annotated Bibliography on your War-related topic
ASSESSMENT: The UW Colleges-wide assessment program was established to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the curriculum, programs, and services of the institution. The institution-wide assessment activities focus on analytical, quantitative, and communication skills because they are of primary importance in the general education of our students. This semester, students in composition will be assessed on analytical skills, specifically the ability to interpret and synthesize information and ideas.
Each department also conducts assessment activities that address discipline-specific learning goals. This year, the English Department is conducting a research project about how “peer review” is used and perceived by students. As a part of this project, students may be asked to fill out a survey or complete one or more assignments pertaining to peer review.