The Life of The Mind
USFS 100 First Seminar
Co-instructors: Susan Hinze and Kristine Kelly
Fall Semester 2004
TR 1:15-2:30 Clark Hall 104
W 4:00-6:00 Fourth Hour
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION:
Instructor: Susan W. Hinze, Ph.D.Instructor: Kristine Kelly, M.A. Associate Professor Ph.D. Candidate Department of Sociology Department of English
Office Phone: 368-2702Office Phone: 368-2337
Office: Mather Memorial Room 223FOffice: Guilford House 406
Office Hours: T 4:00-5:30; W 1:30-3:00,Office Hours: T 11-12:30
and by appointmentand by appointment
Email: mail:
Course Description and Objectives
Welcome to “The Life of the Mind.” As first year, first semester college students, you are beginning a new chapter in your own life of the mind. This course is designed to provide an introduction to various dimensions of academic life and will also allow us to reflect, together, on our own lives of the mind---past, present and future. The course is characterized by intense yet open-ended intellectual inquiry, guided by reading from primary as well as secondary sources, and will include practice in written and oral communication in small groups. The goals of the course include the following: 1.) to enhance basic intellectual skills of academic inquiry, such as critical reading, thoughtful analysis, and written and oral communication; 2.) to introduce basic information literacy skills, 3.) to provide a foundation for ethical decision-making, 4.) to encourage a global and multidisciplinary perspective on the learning process; 5.) to facilitate faculty-student interactions; 6.) and, in the most general sense, to provide a supportive common intellectual experience for first-year students at CWRU.
Various perspectives, from the neurological to the philosophical, psychological and sociological, will be brought to bear on the theme “life of the mind.” Some questions we will explore include: What is mind? What is the connection between mind, body and soul? How does the body we are born into (girl, boy, black, white) and our location in the social structure (rich, poor, urban, rural) influence how we think and what we think about? Does mind transcend such categories? Since this is a seminar course, you will be bringing questions to the table as well. The success of a seminar depends on the full preparation and cooperative participation of every one of us. You should come prepared to engage the material. Also, students are expected to be respectful of each other and the instructors, even when or especially when disagreeing, and to encourage and stimulate each other's thinking.
Readings
1. Kidder, Tracy. 2003. MountainsBeyondMountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man
Who Would Cure the World. New York: Random House.
2. Nafisi, Azar. 2003. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. New York: Random
House.
3. Andrea Lunsford. 2001. The Everyday Writer (Second Edition). Boston: St. Martin’s.
4. CWRU Classpak: Available On Reserve in Kelvin Smith Library.
Fourth-Hour Events
Videos:
1. Biographical Film TBA---Students’ choice.
2. Biographical Film TBA—Students’ choice.
Museum Visits:
- Western Reserve Historical Society: “How We Remember; How We Know” Wednesday, October 6th from 4:00-5:30.
- ClevelandMuseum of Art: “The Nature of Creativity and the Visual Arts” Wednesday, October 13th, from 4:00-5:30.
Writing Conferences:
These are a required component of the course, and will be especially important after the first two paper drafts.
Course Requirements
1. Class participation (20%). The students and instructors will work together to determine fair evaluation of participation. In short, attendance and active participation in regular class sessions, fourth hour activities and plenary events is required. Unexcused absences will result in grade penalties. Positive contributions to class discussions will also be a factor in the determination of this grade element. Students will be privately informed of their class participation performance at two points during the semester.
2. Writing assignments (40% in all, 10% per paper). All students will complete four writing assignments, which will be spread across the course of the semester. Each assignment will be four to six pages long, totaling approximately twenty pages over the course of the semester. Considerable instructional attention should be devoted to the processes of research, organization, editing, proofreading, and revising. As noted earlier, individual conferences will be required for papers one and two.
All papers must be presented in 12-point font (Times New Roman or similar), double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides. Students must retain both printed copies and electronic files for all four papers, including each draft of those submitted in multiple drafts. Final versions of these papers will be part of the student’s permanent Writing Portfolio, which s/he will maintain throughout the SAGES program. (Although not part of the student’s grade for this course, the Writing Portfolio will be evaluated at the end of the student’s second year, to determine that the student has demonstrated writing competency.)
3. Group interview project. During the last part of the course, students will explore the “life of the mind” of a particular university faculty member; working in groups of two to four students each, they will share what they learn through in-class group presentations. A list of available faculty subjects will be provided by instructors. Carefully prepared interviews will be conducted by the groups, in order to provide material for analysis, and the faculty member will suggest one or two short, accessible readings for incorporation into the project. Areas of inquiry will include the researcher’s domain (area of expertise, in both general and more specialist senses); the background and potential significance of the work; the researcher’s career path leading to this expertise; the particular approaches or methodologies s/he uses; and ethical issues involved in the research. It will also be important to take account of the collaborativecharacter of the research process and its context within the larger community.
The primary goal of this assignment is to learn how individual research projects are actually parts of larger scholarly “conversations,” spanning both time and space. A secondary goal is to gain a greater understanding of the diverse and exciting range of research that takes place in this university. A third goal is to provide further exercise in written and oral communication.
The project will culminate in an oral presentation on the faculty member and his or her research, as well in a written paper that focuses on one particular aspect or theme with which the project was concerned. The oral presentation will be conducted by the entire group that collaborated in the project, but the papers will be individual. The oral presentation grade will constitute 10% of the student’s course grade. The individual written paper will count as the last of the four writing assignments described above.
4. Oral presentations (20% in all, 10% per presentation). Instructors will assign two oral presentations, each comprising 10% of the course grade. One of these will be an individual oral presentation, assigned in connection with one of the first three writing assignments. The other will be the group oral presentation connected with the group interview project described above, which will take place near the end of the semester. These should be analytical and interpretive, not just descriptive narrative.
5. Writing folder (20%). In lieu of a final exam, each student will build a Writing Folder comprised of revised versions of her/his three best papers and a two-page self-assessment of her/his development as a writer through the course of the semester. (Do not confuse this final course requirement with the SAGES Writing Portfolio.) Working with the writing instructors, students will make final revisions that use the skills that have been acquired during the semester. These folders should be submitted in digital as well as paper formats, so that they may be digitally archived. Instructors should emphasize that, as indicated by the grade point distribution, this is a very important part of the course. We are emphasizing the revision process of writing and students should look upon the development of this folder as a final examination, dedicating time to this task that would be similar to the effort that would be taken in studying for a final.
Academic Integrity---Because trust is essential for true learning, academic dishonesty should not be tolerated by students and will not be tolerated by the instructor. Students found guilty of any form of academic dishonesty may receive an "F" in the assignment involved or in the course as a whole. Additional penalties may be imposed through the campus judicial process.
Plagiarism---The following guidelines are adapted from Prof. Vernon Lidtke of The Johns Hopkins University (courtesy of Prof. Ken Ledford, Dept. of History, CWRU):
The term plagiarism covers a multitude of sins. It involves the theft of words, ideas or conclusions from another writer. If an academic paper gives the impression that the writer is himself or herself the author of words, ideas or conclusions that are in fact the product of another person's work, the writer of that paper is guilty of plagiarism. In the following cases, such a misleading impression is given:
- Failure to give credit for ideas, statements of fact, or conclusions derived from another writer.
- Failure to use quotation marks when quoting directly from another writer, whether an entire sentence or only a phrase is quoted. In addition, all quotations must always be cited with page numbers.
- Close and extended paraphrase of another writer even if credit is given in a citation.
- Citing a source that is quoted or cited by another author but that has not been examined by the writer of the term paper.
These examples do not exhaust the forms that plagiarism may take. Plagiarism is committed whenever and however a writer appears to take credit for work done by another. An entire paper may be plagiarized, as when a student submits a paper written by someone else, or plagiarism may be limited to a single page. While plagiarism may be more or less extensive in a paper, it is always a fraud, and it is always a most serious offense.
Plagiarism need not be deliberate; it may be committed unintentionally through carelessness or ignorance. Since accidental plagiarism in a paper is indistinguishable from deliberate dishonesty, a student must be alert to avoid the sort of carelessness or ignorance that may leave him or her open to a charge of having plagiarized another's work. The safest rule to follow is: When in doubt, cite.
The penalty in this course for plagiarism is a grade of "F" on the paper, and it will be calculated as a zero ("0") into the student's final grade. All cases of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies as prescribed in General Bulletin.
A final note about the Internet: Unfortunately, the Internet is contributing to a rise in plagiarism. However, sophisticated search engines are available for Professors to check the authenticity of student work.
Student Responsibility---Regular attendance is crucial to performance in the class. Also, it will be your responsibility to keep abreast of any changes in reading assignments or due dates, which will be announced in class. We will start classes on time, and finish on time. Students are expected to be just as courteous. Also, please turn off cell phones (and all other objects that ring, beep or otherwise distract) during class times.
Disability Statement---If you have a physical, sensory, medical or learning disability that inhibits learning under usual circumstances, please inform us. We will make whatever adjustments are necessary to improve the learning environment. In addition, please be sure to contact Susan Sampson, the Coordinator of Disability Services, Kelvin Smith Library, Room 105, 368-5230 ().
Office Hours---Please make use of our office hours! We enjoy talking with students about course materials or any other topic that a student wishes to discuss. If our listed hours are not convenient, feel free to make an appointment.
Schedule Of Class Topics And Assignments
(Any revisions, and there will be some, to be announced in class)
Part I: Life of the Mind
Week One: August 24/26
An Introduction to The Seminar and to The Life of the Mind
What is a seminar? How should we run ours?
Why life of the mind?
Read: “The Seminar” by Michael Kahn.
Read: Nafisi, Chapter 1 “Lolita”
“ . . . poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.” Audre Lorde
Week Two: August 31/September 2
Literature and the mind, or, Gatsby on Trial
Is fiction relevant? Should some books be banned? Is reading dangerous? Why are Americans reading less?
Read: Nafisi, Chapter 2 “Gatsby”
The Mind at War
Reading, writing and revolution
Read: Nafisi, Chapter 3 “James”
Writing Discussion: Developing Your Thesis: Read Handout and Lunsford pp. 27-39.
Hand-out Writing Assignment #1
“This is how you read a novel: you inhale the experience. So start breathing. I just want you to remember this. That is all; class dismissed.” Azar Nafisi
“The decline in reading among every segment of the adult population reflects a general collapse in advanced literacy. To lose this human capacity - and all the diverse benefits it fosters - impoverishes both cultural and civic life." NEA Chairman Dana Gioia
Week Three: September 7/9
The Mind Under A Totalitarian Regime
READ: Nafisi, Chapter 4 “Austen” and Epilogue.
READ: Thiong o, Ngugi wa. “Decolonizing the Mind.”
Writing Assignment no. 1. FIRST DRAFT DUE in class on Tuesday.
No Class Thursday. Writing Conferences.
4th Hour: Writing Conferences
“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” Bertrand Russell
Week Four: September 14/16
Thinking and Writing about Self
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. “What is Self?”
Bateson, Mary Cathering. “A Mutable Self.”
Hampl, Patricia. “Memory and Imagination.”
Writing Discussion: Developing Paragraphs: Read Handout and Lunsford, pp. 40-61
WRITING aSSIGNMENT nO. 1: FINAL DRAFT DUE in class on Tuesday
“The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.” Mary Heaton Vorse
Week Five: September 21/23
Feelings, Reason and Memory
Adrienne Rich. “On Memory”
Engel, Susan. “Then and Now: Creating the Self through the Past.”
Schacter, Daniel L. “Building Memories: Encoding and Retrieving the Present
and the Past.”
Kington, Maxine Hong. “No-Name Woman.”
“Freedom is daily, prose-bound, routine, remembering . . . Putting together, inch by inch the starry worlds. From all the lost collections.” Adrienne Rich
4th Hour: oRAL PRESENTATION No. 1 TBA
Week Six: September 28/30
Part II: Lives of the Mind.
Consciousness and Intelligence
READ: Gardner, Howard. “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences.”
Crick, Francis. “The General Nature of Consciousness.”
Thinking Critically: Read Lunsford, pp. 62-88.
“The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.” Confucious
Week Seven: October 5/7
Guest speaker: Tuesday, October 5th, Dr. Jim Zull will speak about the brain.
READ Zull, TBA
4th Hour: UCI VISIT ONE: Western Reserve Historical Society: “How We Remember; How We Know” Wednesday, October 6th from 4:00-5:30.
NO CLASS THURSDAY! WRITING CONFERENCES.
Writing Assignment no. 2: First draft due Tuesday. Feedback by Thursday.
WORDS ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking. 1933 John Maynard Keynes
Week Eight: October 12/14
READING BREAK or only read about writing
Writing Discussion: Using Evidence
READ:
Handouts on Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Direct quotations.
Review Lunsford, pp.365-461
Writing Assignment no. 2: Final draft 2 Due Thursday.
4th Hour: UCI VISIT TWO: ClevelandMuseum of Art: “The Nature of Creativity and the Visual Arts” Wednesday, October 13th, from 4:00-5:30.
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
Aristotle
Week Nine: October 19/21
67FALL BREAK TUESDAY! FALL BREAK TUESDAY!!67
Writing The Mind
Reading and writing biography. What are the problems of biography? Who are “valid” biographical subjects? (the famous, the notorious, the ordinary?)
Read: Kidder, Part I “Dokte Paul”
“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.” George Orwell
Week Ten: October 26/28
Reading Beginnings
Family origin, social context and motivation.
READ: Kidder, Parts II “The Tin Roofs of Cange”
Writing Discussion: Sentence Conciseness and Coherence. Review Lunsford, pp. 196-263.
4th Hour: View biographical film I
“Some disciplines have trouble distinguishing rigor from rigor mortis.” Paul Farmer
Week Eleven: November 2/4
Partners in Health vs. the World Health Organization
Can one write the biography of a movement? Collective minds.
READ: Part III “Medicos Aventureros”
READ: TBA: Counterpoints to Farmer? Other short biography?
Writing Assignment no. 3: TBA
“How can I know what I think till I see what I say?” E. M. Forster
Part III: Lives of Our Minds
Week Twelve: November 9/11
From Harvard to Haiti to Siberia to Paris
READ: Kidder, Part IV “A Light Month for Travel”
READ: The Interview Process
Begin interview projects! Steps: 1.) Discuss the interview process, 2.) hand out list of faculty who have agreed to be interviewed and have students choose, 3.) contact faculty for suggested readings (primary sources!) and appointment set-up, 4.) students work together to formulate questions, 5.) conduct faculty interview, 6.) follow-up interviews if necessary, 7.) prepare oral presentation, 8.) individual students write papers.
"The art of writing has for backbone some fierce attachment to an idea."
Virginia Woolf
Week Thirteen: November 16/18
“Like ripples in a pond”: one man’s work in medicine and public health
READ: Kidder, Part V “O for the P”
READ: TBA anything related to biographical film? Another short biographical essay?
4th HouR: View biographical film II: TBA. Student’s Choice!
Week Fourteen: November 23/25
NO CLASS ON THURSDAY! THANKSGIVING BREAK! 676767