English 101 Fall 2010
Brian R. Gutierrez
English Department
English 101 M-F 3:00-3:00
Office: IB 2423C
Office Hours: (by appointment)
“How do I know what I think until I see what I have to say”?
--E.M. Forster
Introduction:
The subject of this course is writing. Writing, as I think of it, is an action, an event, a performance. It is a way of asserting one’s presence but, paradoxically in a language that makes the writer disappear. No matter what you write, the writing is not yours; it’s a part of a larger text, one with many authors, begun long ago. And its end is outside your control. In spite of what you think you are saying, your text will become what others make of it, what they say you said.
Course Description:
In this class we’ll be examining the thrilling action of the text—that is, how does the text work? How does it do what it does? What good is it—can it really change our lives, as well as our world? More importantly—how do we, as people, function as texts…and thus, how can we affect the world? To begin to tackle these questions, we’ll be writing—learning about our habits (good and bad), our perceptions and preconceptions, and, of course, we’ll be learning about each other. Writing is, after all, a skill, and like all skills, writing can be honed and refined through practice. Therefore, expect to be writing about six pages per week, every week. English 101 is, above all, designed to help you become a more confident and adept writer than when you entered.
To achieve this goal, we will explore the unique ways texts function in an academic setting, through an assortment of readings and with a focused emphasis on your own written interactions with these readings. Through all of this, you will learn the principles behind academic arguments, warrants, claims, evidence, and analysis, and how to apply these in your writing persuasively and thoughtfully. This is what we mean by “reading in the service of writing”: the readings that have been chosen for you are designed to bring out new, powerful compositional skills in each of you. And you will not be alone—in addition to my guidance, you will each participate in the process through peer reviews, class discussions, and group work. By the end of the quarter, you will be prepared to face the writing and reading challenges you encounter with the confidence and competence of a critical reader, writer, and student. No matter your future academic and professional goals, advanced compositional skills will be of the utmost important to you.
Required Texts:
Bartholomae, David; and Anthony Petrosky.Ways Of Reading: An Anthology for
Writers. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/ST. Martin’s, 2005.
Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook.Seventh Edition.New York:
Longman Publishers USA, 2010.
Writing Journal
Recommended Texts:
Dictionary and Thesaurus
COURSE POLICIES
Grading
The grading breakdown is as follows:
Portfolio: 40%
Major Papers: 30%
Short Papers: 20%
Participation: 10%
Participation
A number of criteria are used to determine this grade. First, I will offer a number of activities and brief in-class assignments throughout the quarter. These will include peer-review sessions, brief written responses, and group presentations. Also, your general conduct in the class will be considered: did you add to the class discussions (see “Community” below)? Finally, we will be scheduling two one-on-one conferences throughout the quarter. These conferences are required, and your attendance and preparation will count toward your participation mark.
Portfolio
In this course, you will complete two major assignment sequences, each of which is designed to help you fulfill the course outcomes. Each assignment sequence requires you to complete a variety of shorter assignments leading up to a major paper. These shorter assignments will target one or more of the course outcomes at a time, help you practice these outcomes, and allow you to build toward a major paper (5-7 pgs.) at the end of each sequence. Therefore, completing the daily assignments is not only a course requirement, but it’s also in your best interests to do so. Think of it as conditioning: no one wants to run a marathon after sitting on the couch for 3 months.
Along the way, you will have a chance to revise significantly each of the major papers using feedback generated by myself, peer review sessions, and writing conferences—therefore, do not throw anything away that you write for this class!!! At the end of the course, having completed the two sequences, you will be asked to compile and submit a portfolio of your work along with a reflective component. The portfolio will include the following: one of the two major papers (revised), three to four of the shorter assignments (revised), and a variety of shorter, reflective writings that explain how the selected portfolio demonstrates the outcomes for the course. In addition, the portfolio will need to include all of the sequence-related work you were assigned in the course. A portfolio that does not include all of the above will be considered incomplete. Incomplete portfolios will not be assessed and will receive a failing grade. We’ll be discussing this in more detail in class.
In-class Assignments and Homework
We will be writing constantly, both in the classroom and outside of it. The assignments are designed to comfortably increase your familiarity with rhetorical strategies as well as pushing you outside of your current, “comfortable” writing zone into more developed territory. Please take these assignments seriously as they will not only be part of your participation grade and part of your portfolio, but they and they alone will afford you the practice necessary to improve upon your composition technique.
Format
Please type all assignments according to MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines. This includes (but is not limited to):
12 pt. Times New Roman font
Standard Margins
Double-spaced
Page Numbers w/ Last Name
MLA style citation/Works Cited page
Should you feel unsure about what this means, or should you have a concern about this matter, please, see your style guide (which contains all of the details), and/or come talk to me. You may want to take note of the numerous computer and printer terminals around campus.
Late Work: No, thanks. Well—emergencies are emergencies, and dire circumstances have a way of creeping up—especially around the end of the quarter…so here’s my policy: Late assignments will receive half-credit, and will not receive comments, making it extremely difficult to use it in the portfolio. As a consequence, should you hand in more than a few assignments late, you will have to drop the class or risk turning in an incomplete portfolio. Let’s put it this way: if you start your papers/revisions early, you can mitigate any possible difficulties you may encounter along the way.
(NB I do not accept electronic papers)
Community
My goal for this class is that we will create a community of readers and writers who respect and learn from one another. To that end, it is vital that you attend class. Our time together is not frivolous or unnecessary; it is a unique space where you and your peers are able to discuss ideas and apply skills that will not only help you in your future studies but also expand your intellectual world.
Accommodations
Please let me know if you need accommodation of any sort. If you have a documented disability that affects you as a student in this class, you are encouraged to let me know. It is also a good idea to contact the Disabilities Services office (527-3697, CC2446c) so that appropriate accommodations can be made. I am very willing to take suggestions specific to this class to meet your needs. This syllabus is available in large print, as are other class materials.
Classroom Presence and Discussion
The more you engage in this academic community, the more you will learn. As with class attendance, it is important for you to participate in class discussions as thoroughly as possible; we want our time to be productive. Even if you have a hard time participating in discussion, for whatever reason, I ask that you give it your best shot. Stretching yourself is rarely a bad thing. In the same way, if you tend to be talkative, remember that not all participation is good participation and a key part of a class discussion is what you hear, and not merely what you say. Presence is just as important: raising your hand and speaking is great, but not having your book out, not taking notes, or sleeping in class will reduce your participation grade just as easily as being a nuisance.
Respect
Because the exchange of ideas is so important to this class, it is necessary for everyone to be respectful of one another. It is normal and even expected that, in our class discussions, we will disagree. Differences can and should be discussed, but these discussions should maintain the academic spirit of respect—just as a good essay takes into account possible counterarguments, we, too, should remember that our positions are not sacrosanct. Derogatory or discourteous language/behavior will not be tolerated in our classroom.
Attendance Policy: If you miss more than five class periods, you jeopardize your ability to pass this course successfully. Tardiness is also unacceptable and disruptive; if you come in more than 15 minutes late to class or leave early, you will be marked absent. Also, every other act of tardiness beyond five will be counted as an absence. Each unexcused absence beyond five will result in your final grade lowered by 0.1 (e.g., eight unexcused absences will lower your grade by 0.3).
The LOFT
The English Writing Center is a free peer tutoring service offered by the English Department specifically to help students with writing assignments. Students visiting the writing center can expect to conference with a writing assistant (one-on-one) for up to an hour at a time. There is no limit to the number of visits a student can make each quarter. . Think of it as therapy for your writing.
Plagiarism:
We will discuss plagiarism in more detail in class. For now, please be aware of how serious it is to pass someone else's thoughts, quotes, or papers off as your own. Simply put, I expect that the work you turn in will be your own! It is one thing to work together in our writing workshops to improve your papers (fixing punctuation, spelling, and scrambled sentences or improving the organization) or to go over to the Writing Center. It is something else to plagiarize.
Plagiarism describes actions that range from buying an entire paper online to turning in papers you have written but that are full of entire paragraphs copied from electronic, print, and other sources without citation. The purchase of papers online is a big business; in the most obvious sense, plagiarism is a reprehensible offence, resulting in the failure of that particular class, and punishable to the point of expulsion.
WHENEVER you use information gained from another source, you MUST acknowledge or cite that source:
- If it is an exact quote (word for word), you need to use quotation marks.
If you have changed the wording around to simplify the language, for example, you still need to cite (identify) the author, but you do not need to put the passage in quotes.
Autumn Quarter 2010 UPDATED schedule
WEEK1 / in-class activitiesAudience and Purpose / homework
Mon 9/27 / First Day of Instruction / WR: Introduction to Ways of Reading (1-23)
Tue 9/28 / Discuss introduction & audience activity Assign Short Paper 1.1 / David Bartholomae’s “Inventing the University”
Wed 9/29 / Discuss Bartholomae / Reread Bartholomae
Thu 9/30 / Analyze 1st writing assignment
Fri 10/1 / Short Paper 1.1 Due
Discussion of Purpose / Mary Louis Pratt’s “Arts of the Contact Zone” (497-516)
Vocab. Handout
WEEK 2 / Reading Rhetorically
Mon 10/4 / Vocab. Handout Due & Discuss Pratt
Assign Short Paper 1.2 / Reread Pratt
Tue 10/5 / Understanding Arguments Exercise & Analyze SP 1.2 assignment
Wed 10/6 / Writing a Rhetorical Analysis
Thu 10/7 / Analyzing Rhetorical Situations; Assign Short Paper 1.3
Fri 10/8 / Short Paper 1.2 Due
WEEK 3 / Conducting Research as Inquiry
Mon 10/11 / MLA Activity
Tue 10/12 / Evaluating Sources
Wed 10/13 / “Elements of Autoethnography”
Assign and Discuss Major Paper 1 / MP 1 First Draft Proposal
Thu 10/14 / Short Paper 1.3 Due / Review Pratt and Bartholomae
Fri 10/15 / MP 1 First Draft Proposal Due; Peer Review Overview (explanation and expectations) / Work on MP 1
WEEK 4 /
The Revision Process
Mon 10/18 / Proposal DueTue 10/19
Wed 10/20
Thu 10/21
Fri 10/22 / Major Paper 1 Due (Rough draft)
Peer Review
WEEK 5 / Analysis and Argument
Mon 10/25 / Conferences
Tue 10/26 / Conferences
Wed 10/27 / Conferences
Thu 10/28 / Conferences
Fri 10/29 / Major Paper 1 Due (Final draft)
Emailed!! / Michel Foucault’s (Foo-KOH) “Panopticism” (207-241)
WEEK 6 / Structuring Arguments
Mon 11/1 / Working with Difficulty
Assign Short Paper 2.1
Tue 11/2 / Presentations
Wed 11/3 /
Presentations
Thu 11/4 / Susan Bordo’s “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body” (129-176)Fri 11/5 /
Short Paper 2.1 Due
/ Reread BordoLocate Visual Text
WEEK 7 / Analysis of Visual Text
Mon 11/8 / Assign Short Paper 2.2
Tue 11/9 / Continue working with Foucault
Wed 11/10 / Visual Texts Exercise
Thu 11/11 /
Visual Texts Exercise
Fri 11/12 /Short Paper 2.2 Due
Assign Major Paper #2
WEEK 8 /Revision Revisited
Mon 11/15 /MP First Draft Proposal Due
Tue 11/16 /Placing Foucault and Bordo in conversation
Wed 11/17 / Placing Foucault and Bordo in conversationThu 11/18 /
Placing Foucault and Bordo in conversation
Fri 11/19 /Major Paper #2 First Draft Due
Peer Review Session #1
WEEK 9 / Strategies for Revising Structure and StyleMon 11/22 /
Conferences (Revision Plan Due)
Tue 11/23 / Conferences (Revision Plan Due)Wed 11/24
Thu 11/25 /
Thanksgiving Day: No class
Fri 11/26 /No class
WEEK 10 / PortfoliosMon 11/29 /
Major Paper 2 Second Draft Due Revising for Focus, Content, and Organization
Assign Reflection Letter
Tue 11/30 / Peer ReviewWed 12/1 / Peer Review
Thu 12/2 / Peer Review / Reflection letter
Fri 12/3 /
Reflection Letter Due
Peer Review
Week11Mon 12/6 / Peer Review
Tue 12/7 / Peer Review
Wed 12/8 / Peer Review
Thu 12/9 / Peer Review
Fri 12/10 / PORTFOLIOS DUE