Making Sense of the Senses: English 2: Writing the Research Essay

English 2; Fall 2009 – Professor King

Course Meetings: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 9:30-10:45am in Boylan 3407

Office Hours: Tuesdays 3:30-4:30pm, Thursdays 8:00-9:00am, & by appointment in Boylan 4215

To contact the Professor: or come to her office, Boylan 4215

Please note that Prof. King’s on-campus voice mail does not function.

Course Description

English 2 is a writing-intensive course that provides students with an opportunity to explore a subject and to further develop the critical thinking skills, research techniques, and clear expression necessary for academic writing. Our theme for this semester, “Making Sense of the Senses,” will allow us to engage oral, aural, and visual, as well as written texts. You will have the opportunity to write short, long, and timed pieces, and occasionally to work in small groups.

Required Texts:

Photocopies: Available at Far Better Copy, across from the main campus gate

Novel: What We All Long For by Dionne Brand

Reference: Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference

Television: “Noah’s Arc”

Radio: “This I Believe” essays

Visual Art: Pepon Osorio’s work

Goals & Learning Objectives:

By the end of the course, students should:

·  Be able to write a formal, coherent essay in standard academic English that supports its argument with research.

·  Understand and be able to implement the components of research (including identifying, annotating, incorporating, and citing sources).

·  Be able to write clearly and imaginatively, in a variety of forms and for a variety of purposes and audiences.

·  Understand the ethics of research and writing, including the proper citation, and integration, of source materials into their work and the meaning and consequences of plagiarism.

·  Use appropriate conventions of language, including correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Requirements

·  At least 7 (seven) short essays

·  One long research essay, with appropriate citations

·  Assignments building up to the research essay, including a thesis, outline, and drafts

·  Additional writing exercises and assignments

·  A final test

Grading

Research Essay 35% (5% for bibliography, 5% for preparatory drafts)

Other Essays & Written work 40%

Exercises and quizzes 10%

Attendance & Participation 10%

Final Test 5%

Late Policy

This is a writing-intensive course, so it is imperative that you keep on top of the work. Assignments, including essays, are late if they are turned in after attendance is called. Late drafts and exercises will not receive any credit. Late essays will be marked down one letter grade for every day they are late. Remember that it is your responsibility to find out what you missed if you are late or absent; take a moment now to get the email address and phone number of two class “buddies.”

Attendance & Participation

In addition to being a significant part of your grade, attendance and participation are important to the improvement of your writing. Much of class time will be spent either discussing writing or research concepts and strategies, or on working with your own writing assignments. Arriving late is rude and disruptive; three late arrivals equal one absence, a late arrival of more than 15 minutes will be marked as an absence, and three absences will result in a lowered grade for the course. Because your final test will consist largely of definitions covered in class, attendance and good note-taking skills are even more important.

Accessibility

It is important that the course be accessible to all students. In order to receive disability-related academic accommodations, students must first be registered with the Center for Student Disability Services (contact Ms. Stewart-Lovell at 718-951-5538). If you have already registered with the Center for Student Disability Services, please provide the Professor with the course accommodation form so we may discuss your specific accommodation.

Collegial Conduct Guidelines

·  Arrive on-time, with reading and assignments completed, prepared to participate.

·  Emailed assignments are not accepted.

·  Mobile phones, pdas, and all other technological devices should be silenced and completely out of view during class. Visible technology will result in a lowered participation grade, and a zero for any in-class essay or work.

·  When emailing the professor, always put your name and the name of the course in the header of the email; otherwise, your message may be viewed as spam. Please remember that email is professional communication – and since you are writing to an English professor, you should use proper capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.

Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

“Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in the City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion, as provided herein.”

-- CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity. Adopted by the Board of Trustees 6/28/2004

Plagiarism defeats the purpose of your education. If you are found to have plagiarized an assignment, you will receive a zero (not an F), you will not be permitted to revise or rewrite the assignment, and you will be reported to the Dean of Student Affairs.

Please go to http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/policies/ for further information about:

* CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity

* BC Procedures for Implementing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity

* Flow Chart of the BC Procedures for Implementing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity.

It is your responsibility to learn what constitutes plagiarism and the correct rules for citing sources—read the information on the following website carefully: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/policies/. The bottom line is: passing off anyone’s words or ideas as your own for any reason whatsoever is plagiarism.

Help with Research and Writing

The Library maintains a collection of links to sites that can assist you with proper citation format and paraphrasing and quoting other authors at http://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu à Research & Writing Help. The Learning Center has writing tutors available to help you with your writing http://lc.brooklyn.cuny.edu/ and I strongly suggest that you take advantage of this resource.

Professor’s Pledge: I pledge that I will be prepared and engaged for each class, that I will be available for individual conferences, and that work will be graded and returned in a timely manner.

Monday Wednesday

1 September: Introductions
In Class: Review Syllabus; Discuss Relationships to Writing; In-class essay / 3 September: Getting Started & Paper Format ; Types of writing & research
Reading Due: “Composition Toolkit” & Format for Papers
8 September: Informal research & choosing topics
Listening Due: “This I Believe”
Writing Due: Outlines / 10 September: Brainstorming
Writing Due: “This I Believe” Essay
In Class: Brainstorm Research Paper Topics
15 September: Types of learning
Reading Due: “Learning Methods”
Writing Due: 1-2 full pages about your learning method / 17 September: Analyzing Literature
Reading Due: Short stories
22 September: Literary-Visual Texts
Reading Due: “What Comics Are and What They Aren’t” by Wolk
Bring to Class: A copy of printout of a favorite comic strip / 24 September: Literary Visual Texts
Reading Due: “The Veil”
Writing Due: Essay comparing “The Veil” & your comic strip
29 September: NO CLASS / 1 October: Library Session – MEET IN THE LIBRARY
Library Orientation
6 October: Music as Text
In Class: Watch Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes / 8 October:
Writing Due: Response to film
In class: Discussion
13 October: Citations & Plagiarism
Writing Due: Thesis & outline of research paper / 15 October: TBA
20 October: Formal Research
Writing Due: Getting Started Exercise
Reading Due: “Let Them Eat Fat”
In Class: Summaries & annotations / 22 October: What is revision? What is editing?
Writing Due: “Going Deeper” exercise
Bring to Class: All completed writing assignments & the topic for your research paper
27 October: Midterm Check-In
Writing Due: First draft of research paper
In Class: Mini-conferences / 29 October
Writing Due: Second draft of research paper
In Class: Workshop I
3 November: Visual Texts
Writing Due: Annotated Bibliography
In Class: “Noah’s Arc” / 5 November
Writing Due: “Noah’s Arc” Review & Revised Essay #1
In Class: Workshop II
10 November:
Reading Due: First half of novel
Writing Due: Textual analysis / 12 November
Writing Due: Draft 3 of research essay
In Class: TBA
17 November:
Reading Due: Second half of novel / 19 November: Visual Art
Reading/Viewing Due: Pepon Osorio
In Class: Osorio notes
24 November:
Writing Due: Revised Essay #2
In Class: Maya Deren / 26 November: No Class-Thanksgiving
1 December: Business Writing
Writing Due: FINAL RESEARCH PAPER / 3 December: How Did You Do?
In Class: Essay
Writing Due: Business Letter
8 December: Review for Test
In Class: Review for Test / 10 December: Final Test
In Class: Final Test