Essay Writing and Research
Course Code: AN10000BA
Spring Semester, 2017/18 Instructor: Fagyal József Szabolcs
Seminar, 1st year BA Office hours: Friday, 11.00-12.00 a.m.
Friday, 12.00-13.40 p.m., Room 109 Office: Room 104
E-mail address:
Course Description
The seminar aims to introduce students into academic writing and research, focusing mainly on literary studies. Students will get familiar with the basics of research methodology, the requirements of the MLA style, the procedures of writing a literary essay, and learn how to reflect upon scholarly secondary sources.
Requirements
Attendance will be registered and the maximum number of absences is THREE - more than three absences will result in failing the course. Students are required to hand in all their assignments in PRINT at the beginning of class, but most of the time the deadline is an earlier date, which means that assignments must be sent in e-mail so that I can read them before Wednesday.Always watch and read the assigned material at home, and come to class prepared for a plot test. The extent and quality of class participation will be taken into consideration at the time of evaluation. Students must be aware that their language proficiency also contributes to the final grade.
Plagiarism and its consequences
Students must be aware that plagiarism is a crime which has its due consequences.
The possible forms of plagiarism:
1. word by word quotes from a source used as if they were one’s own ideas, without quotation marks and without identifying the sources;
2. ideas taken from a source, paraphrased in the essay-writer’s own words and used as if they were his/her own ideas, without identifying and properly documenting the source.
Plagiarism, depending on its seriousness and frequency, will be penalised in the following ways:
1. The percentage of the submitted paper will be reduced.
2. The essay will have to be rewritten and resubmitted.
3. In a serious case, this kind of academic dishonesty will result in a failure.
4. In a recurring, and serious case, the student will be expelled from the English majorprogramme.
Late Submission
1. Deadlines must be observed and taken seriously.
2. Minor written assignments submitted after the deadline will be penalised by a reduction in the percentage (1%/hour).
3. More than one week delay in submitting your term essay will result in a failure of that particular component of the grade. In exceptional and well-documented cases, the extension of deadlines can be negotiated with the course instructor well in advance (but not after, or on the day of the deadline).
Research paper evaluation
1. Statement of thesis 5
2. Quality of argument 15
3. Coherence of structure 15
4. Scholarly documentation 7
5. Level of language 8
Total: 50
Grading
The final grade will consist in the following:
1. In-class participation (including workshop activity) 20%
2. Minor written assignments (argumentative essays,summary, MLA test) 30%
3. Term essay 50%
Please note that each and every course component above is obligatory: the failure to meet any of these requirements (class attendance, small tests, MLA test, research paper) will jeopardise the completion of the course. Out of three course components - small tests, research paper, MLA test - only one re-sit or re-submission will be granted; failure to meet more than one requirement will automatically result in overall failure. Please also note that there is no make-up for insufficient class attendance or in case you fail to submit your research paper (term essay) by the defined deadline.
Registration Week / 09.02 / NO CLASSWeek 1 / 16.02 / Orientation, Requirements / Assignments for next class:
1) Read “About Essays in General”
2) Read “Writing about Literature”
Week 2 / 23.02 / Writing Essays in General, and Writing about Literature / Assignments for next class:
1) Watch the film Life of Pi (2012, dir. Ang Lee)
2) Write a short argumentative essay onsome thematic aspect of the film without using any secondary sources (400-500 words).
Submission deadline: 28.02
Week 3 / 02.03 / Due: Argumentative essay on Life of Pi
Discussion: Ang Lee: Life of Pi (2012)
Discussing and evaluating the papers in class / Assignment for next class:
1) Read Chapters 89-91 of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi
Week 4 / 09.03 / Discussion: Ang Lee: Life of Pi and the selected chapters of Yann Martel: Life of Pi (you are not expected to read the entire novel) / Assignment for next class:
1) Read William Golding’s Pincher Martin (1956)
2) Write a short argumentative essay on some thematic aspect of the novel without using any secondary sources (600-700 words).
Submission deadline: 20.03
Week 5 / 16.03 / NO CLASS
Week 6 / 23.03 / Discussion: William Golding’s Pincher Martin (1956) / Assignments for next class:
1) Read Lee M. Whitehead’s “The Moment Out of Time”
2) Read Nabil A. Jalil’s “The Absurd Rebel on an Imaginary Rock”
3) Read Leon Surette’s “A Matter of Belief”
Week 7 / 30.03 / NO CLASS
Consultation Week / 06.04 / NO CLASS
Week 9 / 13.04 / Reading Secondary Sources
How to Write a Summary / Assignment for next class:
1)Write a summary of a critical article discussed in class (either Whitehead’s or Surette’s – write around 300 words)
Week 10 / 20.04 / Discussing the summaries.
Introduction to the MLA / Assignment for next class:
1) Choose the topic of your Term Essay with a tentative thesis, and prepare to present it in class
Week 11 / 27.04 / MLA Test
Discussing the chosen topics and thesis statements / Assignment for next class:
1) Write the First Draft of the Term Essay (700-800 words).
Submission deadline: 02.05
Week 12 / 04.05 / Due: First Draft of the Term Essay
Discussing the First Drafts;
How to incorporate other’s ideas into your argument
Week 13 / 11.05 / NO CLASS – Essay Writing Week / Assignment for next class:
1) Write the final version of the term essay (around 1800 words with Works Cited).
Submission deadline: 15.05
Week 14 / 18.05 / Evaluation
NB! The film Life of Pi can be downloaded to a pendrive in the department library (Room 101).