English 104
Composition
J. R. Myers
MW 10:30-11:20, VM 201; F 10:30-11:20, VM G05
Office: VM G53
Hours: M M 9-10, Th 5-6
x-6220
410-526-5851 (home)
texts: Shrodes et al., eds., The Conscious Reader
Library--Goucher
JHU
Libraries Catalog
Library of Congress Home Page
Writing Resources
Academic Center for Excellence
Syllabus
1/26 Introduction
1/28 Greg Graffin, "Anarchy in the Tenth Grade," p. 17
1/31 Situating Yourself as Writer; Summary; Jorge Luis Borges, "Borges and
I," p21
2/2 James Baldwin, "The Discovery of What It Means to Be an American," p. 40
2/4 Bruno Bettelheim, "The Child's Need for Magic," p. 49
2/7 Paper #1 due (2/7); "I Want Information!";
Thomas Lynch, "The Way We Are," p. 105
2/9 Barbara Kingsolver, "Somebody's Baby," p. 118
2/11 Sylvia Plath, "Daddy," p 159; Theodore Roethke, "My Papa’s Waltz," p. 162
2/14 Thesis; Mary Wollstonecraft, "A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman," p. 231
2/16 Virginia Woolf, "Angel in the House," p. 185
2/18 rewrite #1 due (2/18); Betty Friedan, "The Quiet Movement of American Men,"
p. 200
2/21 Synthesis; Patterns of Development; Margaret Atwood, "Fiction: Happy
Endings," p. 214
2/23 E. E. Cummings, "I like my body when it is with your," p. 273
2/25 Roger Ebert, "Great Movies," p. 296
2/28 Paragraphs; John Balzar, "The Internet or a .45, It's Robbery of the
Artist," p. 300
3/2 Stephen King, "On Writing," p. 340
3/4 Margaret Atwood, "Pornography," p. 378
3/7 Paper #2 due (3/7); Sentences; Noel
Perrin, "Science Fiction: Imaginary Worlds and Real-Life Questions," p. 403
3/9 Alan B. Durning, "Asking How Much Is Enough," p. 469
3/11 William Cronon, "The Trouble with Wilderness," p. 501
3/21 Diction; Matt Ridley, "Free Will," p. 506
3/23 Niles Eldredge, "Creationism Isn’t Science," p. 516
3/25 rewrite #2 due (3/25); John P. Wiley, Jr., "Expressions: The Visible Link,"
p. 524
3/28 Critique; How to Take an Exam; Abraham Lincoln, "The Gettysburg
Address," p. 572
3/30 Niccolo Machiavelli, "Of Cruelty and Clemency…," p. 574
4/1 Harriet Jacobs, "The Women," p. 584
4/4 Midterm (4/4)
4/6 Tone and Style; Chief Joseph, "His Message of Surrender," p. 589; Chief
Seattle, "Speech on the Signing of the Treaty of Port Elliott," p. 590
4/8 review of midterm; Plato, "The Crito," p. 604
4/11 Persuasion; Paper #3 due (4/11); Wilfred
Owen, "Dulce et Decorum Est," p. 672; W. H. Auden, "The Unknown Citizen," p. 674
4/13 Malcolm X, "A Homemade Education," p. 715
4/15 Italo Calvino, "Why Read the Classics," p. 734
4/18 Research; Amy Tan, "Waverly Jong: Rules of the Game," p. 807
4/20 Catharine R. Stimpson, "Learning to See the Miraculous," p. 846
4/22 rewrite #3 due (4/22); Francine Prose, "Bad Behavior," p. 860
4/25 review strategies; paper #4 due (4/25); Art, pp. 3-10
4/27 Student Selections
4/29 Student Selections
5/2 Student Selections
5/4 rewrite #4 due (5/4)
Please bring your text to each class.
Why writing?
This is a legitimate question. After all, more and more everyday we are becoming a multimedia culture that depends on electronics more than on books. We even meet in a multimedia classroom! So, why does every student at Goucher have to satisfy a writing proficiency requirement?
The answer has to do with the fact that, despite our increasing dependence on personal computers, the internet, satellite TV and other forms of electronic media, writing is more important than ever. How many snail-mail letters did you ever write? At most, I used to write three or four per month. Now that I use e-mail, I write that many each day. In fact, your generation will probably engage in more written communication on a daily basis than any other generation in history. Some of that writing will be important, affecting your education and employment. For example, improving your writing will improve your grade in every course you take at Goucher. Other writing will be for your enjoyment (e-mail, listservs, newsgroups, etc.). You will want to do all of it well. True, you may never be a diplomat that has to use language to convince two countries not to engage in war. Most of us never need language in such a life-and-death crisis. Nevertheless, skill in rhetoric, the art of persuasion, can serve you in hundreds of ways, from persuading someone you’re in love to getting a bureaucrat to have your street cleaned.
On a basic level, being a good writer allows you to participate more fully in the world in which you live. Certainly, you will be better able to express yourself. Most importantly, however, a good writer is aware of the rhetoric of others. A knowledge of rhetoric makes you less vulnerable to being manipulated by the rhetoric of unscrupulous people by allowing you to distinguish the true from the false in the claims of politicians or the promises of advertisements. In other words, such an awareness frees you from the manipulation of others. As someone once said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Truer words were never spoken.
Grading Policies
There will be seven components in your grade:
Four papers, including rewrites, will be worth 60% of your grade.
If you receive less than A- on any paper, you must arrange to see me before rewriting the paper.
Your written work will be evaluated as follows:
A—profound insights expressed in eloquent prose with the highest level of technical correctness
B—intelligent commentary expressed in clear prose with an above-average level of technical correctness
C—clear understanding of the material expressed in adequate prose with an average level of technical correctness.
D—incomplete understanding of the material expressed in flawed prose with a below-average level of technical correctness
F—no understanding of the material, seriously flawed prose with an unacceptable level of technical correctnessAll papers are due in my hand (actually, in my electronic mailbox as an attached MS Word file) by the beginning of class on the specified due date. Absolutely no papers will be accepted late without a legitimate medical excuse certified by the Dean of Students’ office.
The midterm will be worth 10% of your grade.
Participation in class will be worth 10% of your grade.
Punctual attendance is required. More than 5 absences will result in a grade of F or withdrawal from the course. Habitual tardiness will severely lower your grade.Finally, there will be an electronic discussion group, which will be worth 20% of your grade. Everyone will have to make an entry at least once a week, at least four sentences long and substantially contributing to the discussion of the essays we are reading or other material related to the course. This is the place to post your thoughts about the readings and to respond to the thoughts of others. It’s also the place for people who are a bit reserved in class (as I always was) to let it all out. As opposed to the papers, which demand an academic standard of thought and correctness, this will be an informal forum, open to any topic, from the personal to the global, that you believe is related in any way to the works we’re reading. Remember, however, that your peers and your professor are reading your entries and forming their judgments about you accordingly. The standards for the grade will be the same as those for participation in class.
Your in-class performance will be evaluated as follows:
A—outstanding, profound
B—enthusiastic, intelligent
C—good understanding of the material
D—uninterested, bored
F—nothing to offer
I want to work with you as much as possible to make this class a rewarding experience for all of us. Therefore, feel free to visit or call me anytime (well, try not to call at home after 9:00 PM). Although my office hours are as stated above, I am on campus most days of the week from approximately 9:30AM until 3:00PM. I am also on campus from 9:00AM to 4:00PM Saturday or Sunday (usually Sunday) each weekend.
Good luck! And have a great semester!
Write a summary (1 or 2 pages at most) of an essay we’ve read so far this semester. Be certain that the essay you choose is long enough to justify a summary. Here are some hints from Behrens and Rosen, Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum:
A Six-Step Process for Writing Summaries
1 Read the chapter carefully.
2 Reread. This time divide the chapter into sections or stages of thought. Label, on the chapter itself, each section or stage of thought. Underline key ideas and terms.
3 Write one-sentence summaries, on a separate sheet of paper, of each stage of thought or, if appropriate, of each paragraph.
4 Write a topic sentence—a one-sentence summary of the entire chapter. The topic sentence should express the central idea of the chapter, as you have determined it from the above steps. You may find it useful to keep in mind the information contained in the lead sentence or paragraph of most newspaper articles - the what, who, why, where, when, and how of the matter. In the case of persuasive chapters, summarize in a sentence the author's conclusion. In the case of descriptive chapters, indicate the subject of the description and its key feature(s).
5 Write the first draft of your summary by combining the topic sentence with the information from step 3. Eliminate repetition and combine sentences for a smooth and logical flow of ideas.
6 Revise your summary, inserting transitional words and phrases where necessary to ensure coherence. Check for style. Avoid series of short, choppy sentences. Check for grammatical correctness, punctuation, spelling.
Your assignment is to write a paper that synthesizes ideas and information from two of the essays we will have read by 2/25 (through Ebert’s "Great Movies"). For example, you might compare what it means to be an American male for James Baldwin and Betty Friedan. Of course, this is only an example, and you might just as easily write a similar essay using our readings about women (Woolf, Wollstonecraft, Syfers). You can also use other sources of information and ideas if you wish to do so, but you must use in some way two essays we’ve read. I also want to see your outline with the paper.
Remember that this essay, unlike the previous summary, is supposed to represent your thoughts on the topic. Therefore, I want your outline with this paper. The thesis should be your own. Therefore, you should use material (ideas or quotations) from the essays we've read to support your thesis, which, in the above example, wouldn't necessarily have to agree with Baldwin or Friedan.
Of course, a synthesis is a kind of paper, but it is not a method of development. In other words, there are many ways one might choose to write a synthesis. For example, if you chose the two essays I mentioned, you might write
a narration or description of something that happened in your own or a friend’s or a famous person’s family,
an analysis of the process that leads to becoming a certain type of male in America,
a comparison and contrast of two different types of American males,
a classification of various types of American males,
an extended definition of a common type of American male or
a causal analysis of the reasons for becoming a certain type of American male.
Try to choose one of these methods as your larger guiding principal. You might use several others in different sections of the essay.
This assignment is much more difficult than the first, but it should also be more interesting since you are speaking for yourself. Your earlier papers give me confidence that you are all capable of performing well on this task. If you need me, just call (or email)!
Your assignment is to write a paper that critiques one of the essays we’ve read this semester. A critique is a piece of writing in which you bring your critical faculties to bear on something someone else has written or done. A critique is not necessarily negative. For example, a piece of writing about your favorite movie would be a critique that was positive. Whatever your attitude toward the object of your critique (positive, negative, or anywhere in between), you must give a detailed and fair analysis of the original work, followed by a complete and persuasive argument justifying your own view of the subject.
You must be certain that you identify the author’s viewpoint and the reasons you support or dispute that viewpoint. Your task is to convince the reader that your view of the essay under discussion is the correct one.