ENGL 102 F11 Lane p.1

English 102: Composition

The Body and Society

Fall Quarter 2011 North Seattle Community College

Sections:

English 102.02/ Section 1316

12:00-12:50 p.m. daily

Classroom CC 3350

Instructor:

Bradley Lane, M.Ed.

Office: IB 2312A

Office Hours: 9:00 am-11:00 am daily and other times by appointment

Office Telephone: (206) 934-4536

Email:

Required Texts:

Donley, Carol and Sheryl Buckley, eds. The Tyranny of the Normal: An Anthology. Kent, OH:

Kent State UP, 1996. Print. ISBN 0873385357.

Dreger, Alice Domurat. One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of the Normal. Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. Print. ISBN 0674018257.

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic

Writing. 2nd ed. NY: WW Norton, 2010. ISB 0393933611.

Grealy, Lucy. Autobiography of a Face. New York: Harper, 1995. Print. ISBN 0060569662.

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. New York: Dover, 1996. Print. ISBN

0486290300.

You also need a writing handbook. You should have a handbook from your ENGL 101 course that helps you with grammar, punctuation, mechanics, style and MLA citation. If you do not already possess a handbook, I recommend:

Lumsford, Andrea A., ed. Easy Writer. 4thedition. New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s,

2010. ISBN 0312583885.

Required Materials:

3-Ring Binder (at least 1” -- try to find one with pockets)

Loose Leaf Paper

Writing implements for writing in class

Two-pocket folder for submitting papers

Flash Drive for saving word-processed drafts

Description:

Welcome to English 102! This course continues the college-level composition sequence with further instruction and practice in the writing process, concentrating on critical reading and writing techniques needed for the preparation and completion of documented essays. In this composition class, you will write essays analyzing course readings. Along the way, you will develop strategies for closely reading or ‘unpacking’ a text. Your essays will be critical responses to the works that we read and discuss in class and to the issues these works spark for you. You will be writing often in class, through pre-writing exercises, seminar papers, and drafts. You will also spend time reading and commenting on each other’s work. You will be doing a fair amount of reading, writing, and critical thinking exercises in class and for homework, so be forewarned: there is a lot of writing and reading work ahead this quarter!

Approximate Reading Load: 800 pages for the Quarter (up to 50 pages per night)

Approximate Writing Load: 20-25 pages for the Quarter

Course Theme: The Body in Society

We cannot take for granted that people know what we mean when we talk about ‘the body.’ For some, the body evokes experiences of illness, pain, shame, or oppression. For others, the body moves us to indulge in fantasies of desire, love, pleasure, or resistance. For most, the body affects us in different ways, depending on the manner in which the body is presented, challenged, and/or celebrated. Bodies — our bodies, the bodies that surround us, the bodies that haunt us, the bodies that inspire us — are both ordinary and extraordinary, part of our everyday lives and part of spectacular events. Bodies enable and limit action. Bodies carry weight.

This course aims to explore an interdisciplinary range of work about bodies in society and culture. Given both the ambiguity and necessity of bodies, it is perhaps unsurprising that philosophy, science, history, memoir, literature, and politics all have something to say about bodies. In reading, writing, thinking, and talking about only a brief sample of this work, I want us to raise questions evoked by bodies and embodiment in contemporary life and explore how particular bodies are derided, ignored, or silenced in society today.

Prerequisites:

This course is a college level English composition class. Your enrollment in this class requires that you have taken ENGL 101 already.In order to succeed at ENGL 102, it is strongly recommended that you have passed ENGL 101 with a 2.0 (C). It is assumed that you have a basic understanding of thesis, organization, transitions, introductions, and conclusions. Additionally, keyboarding/ typing skills are required for success in this class.

Course Outcomes:

This course fosters and promotes the following university-wide essential learning outcomes:

Intellectual and Practical Skills, including

Critical thinking and problem solving [CTPS]

Communication and self-expression [CSE]

Information literacy [IL]

Integrative and Applied Learning, including

Synthesis and application of knowledge and skills to new settings and problems [SYNTH]

Upon successful completion of ENGL&102, you will be able to:

  1. Read a variety of college level texts critically, including full-length written texts. [CTPS, CSE]
  2. Compose coherent analyses of full-length texts. [CSE]
  3. Plan, organize, and write a longer thesis-driven essay about a complex idea greater than 5 pages in length. [CSE, SYNTH]
  4. Recognize and choose rhetorical strategies for academic audiences and purposes. [SYNTH]
  5. Synthesize sources and information. [SYNTH]
  6. Accurately and ethically summarize, paraphrase, and quote an author’s ideas for the purposes of analysis. [CTPS, CSE, SYNTH]
  7. Smoothly integrate source material in support of an essay’s thesis.
  8. Apply MLA-style standards and documentation to academic essays.
  9. Engage in self-editing practices in order to write clear, grammatically and mechanically correct prose. [CTPS, SYNTH]
  10. Use library resources for locating print and online sources not openly available on the free Internet. [IL]
  11. Evaluate sources critically for authority, bias, currency, and relevance to the rhetorical situation. [CTPS, SYNTH]
  12. Understand plagiarism and how to avoid it. [IL]

Statement on online-learning technology: our course ANGEL website

Though this is not an online or hybrid course, I will make use some of the features of online learning technology available here at NSCC. I will be using an online shell for this course at If you have used ANGEL before, when you log on as normal, you will see yourself automatically enrolled in an ENGL&102 section. If you have never used ANGEL before, you can go to the website and log on using your student ID number for the username and the first five letters of your last name for the password. Use your student ID number for the username and the first five letters of your last name for the password. For example, if your student ID number is 955-55-4411 and your last name is Johnson, then your username would be 955554411 and your password would be johns. If you have trouble logging on, please check the Distance Learning office's troubleshooting information at If you can't solve the problem that way, contact the Distance Learning office help desk: (206) 934-3738 or email them at .

We will use the ANGEL website for a couple of purposes—I will post digital copies of the syllabus, course readings not purchased from the bookstore, handouts, assignments, and sample papers there; I will post grades in the online gradebook; and you will some homework assignments on the site over the course of the quarter. You do not need to have constant access to the internet in order to use the site; it would be easily possible to check the website as needed from computers at the NSCC library periodically or as needed. See me if you have questions about internet use or access.

Course Policies:

  • Attend daily. The importance of attending regularly cannot be overestimated. Please arrive at class on time and expect to remain until class is over. Your attendance and participation will figure into your final grade in two ways: in the form of points deliberately assigned for participation, as well as in the form of small writing exercises that may be submitted on their due date only. Thesesmall writing exercises-- Seminar Papers, Summary Exercises, in class and homework exercises, i.e., ‘The Other Stuff’ under ‘Grades, p. 4’-- will not be accepted late, with no exceptions. If you are absent on a day that one of these writing exercises for the course is due, you cannot make this work up or turn it in later. Should you arrive late and miss a writing exercise, you will not be permitted to complete the exercise you missed. If you leave early and miss a writing exercise, you will not be permitted to complete the exercise you missed. In order to protect your grade from suffering from a rare, unavoidable absence, I will count only 2 of the 3 required Seminar Papers. Therefore, if you turned in all the other small writing exercises but missed a seminar day, missing one Seminar Paper wouldn’t count against your final grade. Alternately, if you attended all seminar days and submitted all 3 Seminar Papers, you would have up to 50 extra points to buffer against the occasional missed homework or Summary Exercise, or even have extra bonus points left over.
  • Papers must be typed. All assignments (including drafts) should be typed, double-spaced, using 12 point Times New Roman font. I will not accept handwritten drafts.
  • Save your work. It is your responsibility to keep an extra copy of all assignments that you turn in.
  • Submit your major assignments on time. Only the three major papers (see ‘Grades’ section, p.4) will be accepted late. A major assignment is counted late if you do not submit it at the beginning of classon the date it is due. For each class period a major paper is late, your grade on that assignment will be reduced by ten points. If an assignment is turned in even 1 minute after class time on the day it is due, it will be counted as one day late. Absolutely no late work will be accepted after Monday, December 12.
  • Work that is due should be brought to class in paper form. Only in a documented emergency will I accept homework or essay drafts via email. It is a good survival policy for you to locate several possible printer locations on campus where you could print out your work if your home printer is not working. A printer not working is not a valid excuse for missing the due date of a piece of written work and does not allow you to turn that work in late.
  • Drafts and revisions are required for the three major papers. The major writing assignments will go through a typed draft version and a final, corrected version before a grade is assigned. In terms of the grading system, having separate drafts, supporting materials, and final versions constitute separate grades. Typically, the draft/supporting material portion of the major paper grade is a completion grade, but if those materials arehaphazard or incomplete, you will not receive full points. Failure to bring drafts or supporting materials to class on the peer review days will result in a zero for that portion of the grade. Drafts and supporting materials will also be turned in with final version in a two-pocket folder.
  • Classroom etiquette items:
  • I’m happy to allow beverages in class, but in consideration of all of us, I do ask that you refrain from eating food during class. I also ask that you be sure to take your cans and/or bottles with you at the end of class and not leave them on your desk or the floor.
  • Students who wish to use laptops during class should sit in the first two rows and commit themselves to using their computers only for work directly associated with this course during class time.
  • Lateness is actively discouraged: chronic lateness is disruptive, rude, and damaging to your academic success; therefore I will personally counsel students I observe to be habitually late to find another section of this course that better fits their schedules.
  • Finally, I insist that you silence your cell phones while you are in the classroom and that you do not send or receive text messages during class

Absences:

If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to seek a trustworthy classmate to provide you with notes on class discussion and lecture material, information about assignments, handouts, and announcements.Extra copies of all handouts will be in the box outside my office door. I will not catch you up on material you missed simply because you were absent (although you are always encouraged to meet with me during office hours to discuss course readings, course themes, or any material with which you need extra assistance). By the same token, you are under no obligation to lend your notes to another student. Please let me know as soon as possible if chronic health problems, a personal emergency, or extraordinary circumstances threaten to interfere with your regular and timely attendance so that we can decide the best course of action for you.

Grades:

Your grade will be based on a variety of projects and assignments, including in-class and out of class writing assignments, drafts, a final group project online, and participation a few other online assignments for our course. Maximum points possible under each category are as follows:

The Major Assignments:

3-5 page Paper 1: The Metamorphosis (10/14)100 points

3-5 page Paper 2: One of Us (11/4)100 points

5-7 page Paper 3: Autobiography of a Face (11/30)100 points

Final Project—Group Wiki Online (12/15)150 points

The Other Stuff:

Summary Exercises (4 x 25 points each)100 points

1 page Seminar Paper each major book (3 x 50 pts each)100 points (can earn 150 out of 100)

Peer Review for Major Papers (3 x 25 points each) 75 points

Rough Drafts for Major Papers (3 x 25 points each) 75 points

Online Participation (class blog and information literacy folders)100 points

In-Class Participation (including homework and in-class exercises)100 points

Total:1000 points

You will accrue points for each of the above assignments over the semester.These points will be added together to arrive at a final grade that is calculated as a percent average (i.e., 854 points = 85.4%).

Grading criteria are as follows:

94-100: A (3.9 -4.0)74-76: C (1.9-2.1)

90-93: A- (3.5-3.8)70-73: C- (1.5-1.8)

87-89: B+ (3.2-3.4)67-69: D+ (1.2-1.4)

84-86: B (2.9-3.1)64-66: D (0.9-1.1)

80-83: B- (2.5-2.8)62-63: D- (0.5)

77-79: C+ (2.2-2.4)61 or below: F (0.0)

The specific point value assigned to any assignment or exercise will correspond to how well you meet the terms of the assignment. Grading criteria for papers include unity; coherence; support; the use of Standard English grammar, spelling, and sentence structure; and meeting the requirements of the particular assignment.

As a general guideline:

A: An ‘A’ paper is outstanding, typically exceeding normal expectations for the assignment. It explores the subject in great depth and reveals attention to nuances and complexities of the topic at hand. It is original, focused, carefully supported, nicely organized, and a pleasure to read. It more than meets the requirements of the assignment and exhibits the writer’s mastery of mechanical skills and style.

B: A ‘B’ paper is better than average. It examines the subject in some depth. The thesis is supported and the organization is generally clear. Paragraphs and sentences are generally well constructed. Mechanics are clean for the most part. The papers meets the requirements for the assignment but lacks some of the tight structure, higher-level analysis, and cohesion of an A paper. May have some minor gaps in logic, unsupported assumptions, or lack of full synthesis that leads to a really strong thesis.

C: A ‘C’ paper offers an acceptable examination of the subject, but it lacks the depth that comes with superior analysis. The thesis is present but not well supported with examples and illustrations.In fact, often these papers require more definiteness, focus/specificity, and original thought in thesis statements. Skeletal overall organization is present, but more unity and coherence in body paragraphs is needed. Paragraphs may not be fully developed. Papers may depend on generalizations and lack detail overall.Sentences are clear but may be awkward at times. Often more extended summary than analysis here that omit the thinking beneath the surface of matters.

D: A ‘D’ paper demonstrates below average effort. It does not examine the subject in depth and lacks organization. Much of the D essay typically does not support the thesis in a focused way. Quotations do not support points as they should. Reading may be a bit simplistic. Furthermore, paragraphs are not developed well. Awkward sentence structure may create problems for the reader. The paper may exhibit significant mechanical difficulties and likely will not complete all the requirements of the assignment.

F: An ‘F’ paper is unacceptable. It lacks thesis and organization. Paragraphs are not developed. It lacks details and examples. It may be difficult to follow, incomprehensible, or incoherent. It does not follow the assignment or lacks basic requirements of the assignment, such as proper length, documentation requirements, recognizable thesis and support, and overall coherence and unity.

Statement on Participation:

Your active participation in class is expected. You should be ready to ask and to answer questions about the readings, and to make thoughtful contributions to group discussions in class. Occasionally, I may ask you write a brief response to a question ahead of time, write a question or set of questions in anticipation of class ahead of time, or write a brief response to a question in class. These written products will be collected and included in the assessment of your in-class participation grade. You will also be expected to log in and to participate in our online ANGEL page when homework assignments are due, and your final group project has significant online components as well. Excellent and poor levels of participation will impact your participation grades alike. If you have any questions or concerns about your level of class participation as the quarter proceeds, please see me. At around week 5 of the quarter, I will inform you if your participation could be improved.

OTHER COURSE POLICIES:

Academic Honesty Statement: (English Department-wide):

To take the words or ideas of someone else and present them as your own is plagiarism and is unacceptable in academic life. The nature and causes of plagiarism may cover a range from the accidental to the dishonest. Examples of plagiarism encountered in academic writing may include the following: