Composition 1a/ 1b Spring 2018
Class Location –Pearlman 202/3
Gordon Ruesch, Instructor 781 325-8136
Office/Tutorial Hours: M W Th 10-11 and 121-1 (and by apt.) We’ll meet in Goldfarb Library close to the main entrance. Tutorial time slots will be specified on a weekly Google Spreadsheet signup. Please note that you can gain access ONLY by logging in from your Brandeis.edu account, not through a forwarding server. accessed by Brandeis Gmail only.
Academic Writing, with a focus on textual analysis and argument
Weighing the ethical, environmental, and cultural implications of emerging technologies will be our semester’s focus. Through lucid close reading and interpretation, incisive unpacking of essay arguments, judicious inspection of claims and warrants, precise restating and representation of essay arguments, and persuasive assembling of our own argument, we will aim for achieving excellence in academic discourse. My aim as instructor is to work closely with each writer, encourage progress toward a new person-best writing proficiency (each writer has individual strengths and areas for growth). Of most value, I think, is the opportunity to discuss individually with you writing projects in early development and in later states of revision; as well, many writers find that individual conversations clarifying challenging texts make the analytic, interpretive writing seem doable. Last broad motive to mention: our course should demystify what academic writing consists in and coach you toward realizing a new level of sophistication surpassing by far the comfort-zone of high school mastery.
Our semester’s goal will be mastering the academic writing process: we will brainstorm, test reader reaction, draft strategically, get big-picture feedback, revise globally, then get close feedback for achieving sentence-level precision of expression By rigorously engaging critical thinking and argumentation skills, writers will achieve mastery of the university-level writing skills that secure academic success—and, increase chances of affecting what happens to the world, to human culture, on this generation’s watch.
Required Course Texts
The first listing is required of all students in UWS as well as in Composition. Dark Ecology serves as an extended common reading. Please note, though: our course reading and writing focus will be diverse, drawing on contemporary issues from economics, biology, philosophy, and sciences. Student interest will guide individual choices for longer-term writing projects. Articles and exercises on writing mechanics and academic writing will be provided weekly. So too, the majority of the short readings listed in the semester reading sequence will be made available weekly. Students will be required to print these out and annotate to receive course credit; fuller explanation will clarify policies and procedures.
•Write Now! Author: Brandeis -- Copyright Year: 2017
•The Mother of All Questions –Rebecca Solnit Haymarket Books
•Know This: Today's Most Interesting and Important Scientific Ideas, Discoveries, and Developments. ed., John Brockman.Harper Collins
•A Good English-English Dictionary
Disabilities
“If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.”
Using Grammarly
Writers will be required to become familiar with and use routinely this free web editing tool.
(Students are not encouraged to pay for full access (the free version suits our purposes; the fuller commercial version goes beyond them). Program use will be explained and practiced in class. "This class requires the use of tools that may disclose your coursework and identity to parties outside the class. To protect your privacy you may choose to use a pseudonym/alias rather than your name in submitting such work.”
Course Design and Rationale
Composition 1a should help you become familiar with mainstay academic writing formats, scope, and style. Through a series of reading-response and analytic writings of graduated complexity (from one-page summaries to an extended essay using multiple sources), you will have a valuable rehearsal of essential academic writing forms as well as a vigorous writing workout. Our course approach originates partly in the notion that with challenging practice opportunities, each writer can realize her or his own personal best success as a college writer and thinker.
Difficulty of Course Material
Writers might feel that readings and writing assignments require considerable “reach,” that is, they are difficult, confusing. Our focus might entail inquiry into problems that persist of no neat resolution. The principle of selection aims to challenge readers and writers to go beyond a “comfort zone.” Full mastery is not expected. Instead, a strong effort to use reading and writing techniques to gain clarity makes successful performance, each according to her or his own strengths. Intellectual and cognitive growth at university comes of efforts to find order in difficulty, to make sense of what might seem confusing. Certainly such is the value in learning to employ writing problem-solving skills as a means of discovering what we think when we have only a confused sense of the territory of inquiry. So, we’ll use our writing exercises as a way of “finding out what we think once we see what we say.”
Course Focus on Writing Process
College writing (any writing) is not merely about recording one’s thinking according to a certain academic rubric. Rather, it is about a way of finding out what we think. That is, it is a process we use to closely inspect our reasoning, a means of moving toward greater clarity in our thinking even when we start (as we often do) in a fog, anxious and uncertain. Trusting ourselves to start writing without knowing quite where we are going can be scary; certainly we feel better when we devise a provisional plan, a set of preliminary steps before we start out. We’ll work at trusting the writing process to help us find out what we think and what we have in mind to say.
A Word about Course Texts and Focus
We will explore our course theme, “Innovation, Effects, and Ethics,” through assigned readings selections touching on a broad range of compelling issues arising chiefly from science developments; our primary concerns, meanwhile, are with the practice of writing, careful reading, critical analysis, and argumentation. Through these readings, we’ll be honing writing skills by scrutinizing, then practicing punctuation, paragraph structure, argumentation, and response to counterargument.
Oral Presentations and Readings:
Facilitating class discussion in our friendly, low-anxiety seminar format helps us gain confidence and comfort invaluable in semesters to come. After choosing selections from a sign-up sheet, student partners will be responsible for leading discussions on individual reading selections. Partners will meet outside of class to devise discussion strategies that draw classmates into focused, insightful discussion of readings,
Key Course Skills
We’ll also observe requisite protocols for incorporating and crediting source support and develop a sense of possible variations in essay structure, sentence form, and paragraph organization well beyond the five-paragraph high school formula. Writings assignments of graduated complexity will help hone skills in summarizing, paraphrasing, properly crediting sources, knowing when to quote or paraphrase, developing effective thesis-first introductions, devising effective paragraph structure and variation, using transition devises to link paragraph sections smoothly, and especially, editing for clarity and precision, honing proofreading and critical skills through peer review exercises.
The Instructor’s Role
I see myself as your writing coach, trying to encourage you toward your best performance. I need to encourage, inspire, sometimes cajole, even coerce. I need to be able to see your strengths as a writer and also help you achieve your improvement goals (each writer will help me identify individual goals in the first tutorials of weeks three and four.) I also will help you advance toward your personal best by offering close analysis of your writing at the global level (big picture: content, thesis, structure, argumentation; local level: sentence mechanics, rhythm, word choice, grammar. At my best, I need to encourage you to discover a legitimate confidence about your best. I need to help each of you glimpse the next level of excellence within your reach, then help you motivate you. I can’t get you there, but I can guide you toward on how best you can get yourself there, and, how after this semester, you can sustain your growth as a writer and continue to reach for a new writing level of personal best.
Syllabus/Assignments Outline
We’ll undertake a host of short exercises that will combine as elements in what becomes a longer course final paper. The sequence of exercises will help prepare writers for UWS expectations (see the Brandeis web page). These include variations on (1) the Close-Reading Essay: The close-reading essay requires students to slow down and read their given text(s) carefully, whether those texts are a work of art, a public space, or another piece of writing. The goal is to recognize the move from observation to analysis in the writing process.
(2) the Lens Essay: With the lens essay, students will take a piece of critical or theoretical writing and use it to examine another text in order to create an analytical dialogue between the two texts.(3) the Extended Essay with Multiple Sources
In this more elaborate culminating exercise of the semester’s skills, writers will develop a focus of interest from the semester’s reading to explore, interrogate, and develop a line of critical inspection and discovery. Topic focus and scope of inquiry will be negotiated individually in tutorial with the instructor, then gradually developed and sharpened at designated progress checks. Using skills acquired in the previous essay assignments, including careful close-reading, textual analysis through a given theoretical or critical lens, and crafting a strong argument, students will integrate their selected source-text illumination to create a polished and thesis-driven final essay.
How Much Work?
“Success in this four- credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.).”
We will be writing every week, sometimes for a new assignment, sometimes for a revision, or for one of the many preliminary exercises accompanying each major paper (total: two major papers and one longer final project, an extended essay with multiple sources). You should expect to write a lot. The pace and workload must be manageable, certainly, so I’ll look for a reasonable timetable once I see how people are doing. If we were to do only a modest writing load, you’d agree, the gain in skill would be correspondingly modest; conversely, a full workout gets us gains in competence, confidence, and academic success that stand to be great.
Keeping a reading journal: Recording your reading reactions and perceptions on points of key significance makes you an active, not passive reader, better preparing you to contribute to focused discussion. It also promotes the act of reflecting on what you read, and enhances your recall of textual “cruxes” and key points that may be useful for writing later on.
Your reading journal may be handwritten, entered into a notebook (or separate pages collected in a notebook). You’ll be expected to record some perceptions about each class reading; Write complete connected sentences—paragraphs, even!—but not a listing of items. The length of your entry for each reading is up to you; extremely brief entries, however, will not receive assignment credit.
Academic Integrity
Composition Seminar aims at providing guidance on avoiding academic dishonesty by demonstrating and practicing proper source citations and avoiding illicit use (unquoted, uncredited use) of Internet material. Students who submit work incorporating uncited language not their own (that would include work written by mentors, friends, genius siblings, internet Wiki-pickings) will enjoy no benefit of the doubt, so, as a moral and as a practical matter, honesty is essential. Please think carefully if you find yourself confused about what is or is not honest, or if you find yourself tempted by deadline pressures, a desire for A’s, etc. Anyone taking the plagiarized way out should expect Draconian (flunk/leave) consequences.
“: You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity. Students may be required to submit work to TurnItIn.com software to verify originality. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university. Citation and research assistance can be found at LTS - Library guides.”
Attendance and Grading
Class attendance is required. Missing class means missing discussions on which writing assignments depend. Should an emergency arise, please notify me before class by email or telephone. Necessarily, students who are late or absent learn less and take lower final grades. Missing three sessions means automatic email to the academic dean. Course grades come from quizzes, in-class exercises, from class preparation and participation, and, primarily, from grades on writing. Revision is encouraged, but must be negotiated after we discuss your revision plans. (Revision does not equal fixing grammar; we will work extensively on big-picture rethinking, provision of convincing support, clear argument structure, and careful line editing for clear, concise expression.)
Grade Components
35% grade = Quizzes, attendance, class participation, in-class writing, use of tutorials, class presentations
35%=Close-Reading and Lens Essay Revisions
30%=Extended Essay with Multiple Sources
Tentative Readings Schedule and Assignment Due Dates
(Readings and due dates are subject to adjustment during the semester).