Brooklyn College of The CityUniversity of New York

English 2 Composition Patrick Nugent

Spring 2010

M.W. 12:50-2:05 PM Office: 1300 Boylan

Section: MW12H Mailbox: 2308 Boylan

Room # 2231 BoylanOffice Hours: Wed. 2:30-3:30 PM

Required Texts

Reading Packet (Far Better Copies)

PlaNYC 2030 (Handout)

A Writer's Reference by Diane Hacker (Bedford/St.Martin's ISBN # 0312479824)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

Course Goals

The goal of English 2 is to further develop your academic writing and critical reading skills, specifically focusing on how to write a research paper with a clearly defined and original thesis that incorporates several sources and texts. Your overarching task throughout the semester will be to find and specify a relevant topic for research—one that will excite and interest you—and connect this topic to themes that we have discussed in class. You will learn how to conduct research efficiently and effectively, using both electronic and physical resources, and organize what you have learned into anoriginal and well-organized essay.

ThematicDescription

This course will survey a collection of nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century non-fiction and fictional prose that offer different perspectives on the New York City environment. We will use these texts to explore the inherent connections between culture and the physical environment as well as to investigate several social problems—and proposed solutions—associated with the environment. As we do so, we will also investigate environmental discourse, examining the socially-constructed meanings of words such as nature, wilderness, environment, environmental justice, green, community, bioregionalism, and reinhabitiation. A majority of the texts will focus on urban environmentalism and New York City, exploring New Yorkers’ connections to the lower Hudson River watershed. The ultimate question of the course is: Why should a group of BrooklynCollege students, surrounded and saturated by the man-made, study the non-humanenvironment? What does our home consist of and how do we take care of it? The course is not only meant to explore environmentalism and sustainability, but to consider how these ideas extend into such disciplines as philosophy, theology, literature, sociology, economics, politics, geology, and ecology. Ultimately, the New York City environment will lend a focus for your own research,through which you may adopt any discipline, approach, or subject that you find worthy of your interests and attention.

Grading Rubric

Research Paper Total—55%

Topic Proposal—5%

Annotated Bibliography—10%

Rough Draft—10%

Final Research Paper—15%

Presentations—15%

Reading Responses—35%

Meetings—10%

Research Requirements

Research Paper: The research paper will require individual, out-of-class research on a topic loosely related to our readings and discussions. Choosing a topic worthy of your interests and passions is paramount to your success in this class. Your research must be properly incorporated into your writing using the Modern Language Association (MLA) format. The assignments and course are designed so that your research and writing will gradually evolve into a polished product. For this reason, due dates are mandatory for assignments involved withyour research paper, which include the topic proposal, annotated bibliography, rough draft, and final draft. The final draft will be due no later than the last day of final exams.

Topic Proposal: By March 17th, you must hand in an official topic proposal in which you identify a specific topic that you will research, the connection between your topic and the themes of the course, a tentative—but original and debatable—thesis, and five appropriate sources with which you will start your research.

Annotated Bibliography: By April 12th, you must hand in an annotated bibliography which will include a more clearly defined topic proposal, along with annotations and bibliographic information for seven primary and secondary sources that pertain to your emerging thesis.

Rough Draft: By May 2nd, you must hand me a rough draft of your research paper. At this point, your rough draft might be a mix between a draft and an outline, but your introduction, thesis, topic sentences, transitions, and quotes from other texts should be identified and organized. The rough draft should be at least 4 pages.

Other Requirements

Reading Responses: Throughout the semester I will ask you to answer questions regarding the reading assignments. These responses should be typed and demonstrate that you have engaged in the reading. I'm not looking for correct answers. I want you to be honest, thoughtful and thorough. These responses will count for 35% of your grade and are not accepted after the due-date unless accompanied by a one page free-write (see below).

Individual Meetings: I will require that each student meet with me at least two times throughout the semester. The first meeting will be used to discuss your topic proposal and plans for research. During the second meeting, we will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your rough draft. We will pre-schedule these meetings and you are expected to be punctual and prepared. 10% of your grade will be based on you showing up prepared and timely to these meetings, as well as how actively you pursue the goals we outline during them.

Other Class Rules and Regulations

Attendance:The English Department regulates that more than 3 unexcused absences is an automatic F. Being absent is not an excuse for late papers.

Late Assignments: Reading responses handed in late will need to be accompanied by a one page free-write about your research topic in order to be accepted. The topic proposal, annotated bibliography, and rough draft will lose a letter grade every class period they are late.

Plagiarism:I have no tolerance for plagiarism. If you plagiarize within an essay, you will receive an automatic F and be in danger of failing the course. Diana Hacker's handbook explicitly outlines what constitutes plagiarism.

Office Hours:My office hours will be on Wednesdays from 2:30 – 3:30 PM or by appointment. I am very willing to meet with any and all students to discuss anything they feel pertinent to the course or their participation in it. All you have to do is email me and we will arrange an appointment.

Schedule

Date Reading Assignments Due Writing Assignments Due

M 2/1 / First Day of Class
W 2/3 / Bill McKibben’s “Introduction” to American Earth
Henry David Thoreau Excerpts
Walt Whitman’s “I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”
M 2/8 / Johann Hari's “Move Over Thoreau: Rationalist Environmentalism Better Prevail, and Fast”
From George Perkins Marsh from Man and Nature
Jane Jacobs The Death and Life of Great American Cities Excerpts
W 2/10 / Betsy McCully’s “Coming Home”
Gary Snyder’s “Reinhabitation”
M 2/15 / Class Cancelled (We Will Meet on Thursday, 2/18 Instead)
W 2/17 / Mannahatta Chapters 1 and 7
PlaNYC 2030 Introduction
Betsy
Th 2/18 / PlaNYC Excerpts TBA
M 2/22 / Stella M. Capek’s “The Social Construction of Nature”
Jennifer Price’s “Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in LA”
W 2/24 / Thomas M. Kostigen’s “The Reality of Our Actions”
Robert Sullivan’s "Wall-EPark"
Robert Pogrebin’s “Renovated High Line Now Open For Strolling”
M3/1 / Robert D. Bullard's Dumping in Dixie
Alice Walker’s “Everything is a Human Being”
Cesar Chavez’s “Wrath of Grapes Speech”
W 3/3 / Julie Sze’s "Childhood Asthma in New York City" and
"The Racial Geography of New York City Garbage"
Winnie Hu’s "City Council Backs Mayor's Trash Disposal Plan"
M 3/8 / Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma Excerpts
Michael Pollen’s “You Are What You Grow”
W 3/10 / Elizabeth Royte’s "Street Farmer"
Jennifer Lee’s "In Brooklyn, Her Farmer's Heart is Happy"
Dickson Despommier’s "A Farm on Every Floor"
M 3/15 / Elizabeth Kolbert’s “The Curse of Akkad”
Jeff Goodell’s “We Must Act Now,” an Interview with James Hansen
W 3/17 / James Hansen’s “Cap and Fade”
Barack Obama’s Speech at the UN Summit on Climate Change
PlaNYC 2030 Climate Change Section / Topic Proposal
M 3/22 / Alan Durning’s “The Dubious Rewards of Consumption”
Jon Gertner’s “Why Isn’t the Mind Green?”
W 3/24 / Stephanie Kaza's Mindfully GreenExcerpts (Handout)
Paul Hawken's Blessed UnrestExcerpts
Thomas L. Friedman’s “Connecting Nature’s Dots”
M 3/29 / Spring Break
W 3/31 / Spring Break
M 4/5 / Spring Break
W 4/7 / Joseph O’Neill’s NetherlandPgs 1-83
M 4/12
W 4/14 / No Reading Due
Joseph O’Neill’s NetherlandPgs83-131 / Annotated Bibliography
M 4/19 / Joseph O’Neill’s NetherlandPgs 131-176
W 4/21 / Joseph O’Neill’s NetherlandPgs 177-219
M 4/26
W 4/28 / Joseph O’Neill’s NetherlandPgs 219-256
No Reading Due
M 5/2 / Alice Walker’s The Color PurplePgs 1-8 / Research Paper Rough Draft
W 5/4 / Alice Walker’s The Color PurplePgs 8-73
M 5/9 / Class Cancelled: Individual Meetings
W 5/11 / Alice Walker’s The Color PurplePgs 74-177
M 5/16 / Alice Walker’s The Color PurplePgs 177-240
W 5/18 / Alice Walker’s The Color PurplePgs 240-288
5/19-
5/25 / Final Exams / Final Research Paper
and Presentation