English 105, Academic Writing II
Section 014, T/Th, 3-4:15, rm. T 128
Spring 2009
Instructor: Mary Eck
Office Hours: Van Meter 219, T/Th, 1:30—2:30 p.m.
E-mail: mary.eck@goucher.edu
Phone: ext. 6256 (since I’m not on campus all that often, it’s best to try emailing me first)
***Please note that the syllabus/class schedule may be subject to change by the instructor.
Course Description and Goals
Welcome to English 105! The overall theme of this course will be the magical and the fantastic in literature. In addition to the stories themselves, we will also explore relevant background material and view films and/or film excerpts in class. This is, however, a writing course, and therefore its primary purpose is to make you a better writer and to foster independent thought and analysis. To that end, we will explore the rhetorical and mechanical skills necessary to developing confident, informed academic voices. You will be asked to write several different types of college-level essays, most of them source and/or research based. In addition, your work in this class will be evaluated for College Writing Proficiency. The course will operate as a workshop in which you read, write, discuss, and revise.
Required Text and Materials
St. Martin’s Guide to Writing, 8th Edition, 2008
Course packet (purchase in bookstore)
A good dictionary
A three-ring notebook for class notes, handouts, writing exercises, and journal entries
Course Requirements
You will write four exploratory essays (1-2 pgs), one profile essay (3-5 pgs), and three research based long essays (5-8 pgs). In addition, there will be occasional pop quizzes, small and large group activities, author/synopsis presentations, and formal critiquing of your own and other students’ work. Individual conferences will also be scheduled several times during the semester. A writing class of this nature is a community, and its success is dependent on mutual respect and the fulfillment of obligations by all of its members. Class participation is mandatory. In addition, I request that each of you check your email at least once a day, as I often communicate with the class or individual students via e-mail.
Course Policies:
Attendance is mandatory. You are expected to attend every class, on time and prepared. More than three absences, for any reason, will lower your final grade by one letter. Religious holidays are excepted, but you need to let me know ahead of time that you will not be present, and you will need to make specific arrangements with me for any missed work. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get the notes from another student. In other words, do not come to me or email and ask, “What did I miss?” You may pick up any necessary handouts in my office (see box beside my door) and/or Blackboard. If you miss five classes, you will receive a failing grade for class participation. If you miss seven classes, you will automatically fail the course.
Late assignments: I do not accept late assignments. Deadlines are just that—the final day on which an assignment will be accepted. A one time exception may be made—at my discretion—for a legitimate reason and with documentation. Please note that computer glitches—hard drive crashed, printer ran out of ink, I lost my flash-drive—are not legitimate excuses. I do not accept electronic submissions—HARD COPIES ONLY.
General Paper Information:
--Unless otherwise specified, all out-of-class assignments must be typed, double-spaced, in size 12 Times New Roman font, and on standard 8 ½ x 11 white paper. Absolutely no exceptions. Any paper submitted in incorrect format will automatically be returned to the student with a failing grade.
--Your name, the date, and the name of the assignment should appear in the upper left hand margin of the first page of any written assignment.
--Multiple pages of assignments MUST be stapled together.
--Papers should follow MLA format. If you have questions as you are working on a paper, you are responsible for finding the information in your textbook or on-line. You may also call or email me if you have questions.
--Photocopy your papers before turning them in. This precludes lost papers and gives you a clean copy for revisions. In addition, also electronically save your papers.
--All final papers must be accompanied by at least one rough draft or they will not be accepted for grading. Remember, writing is a process and not just a product. Your writing will improve all the more and I can help you improve your writing more effectively if I can see evidence of your writing process.
--Please submit all of your written work in the folder provided
--Save all of your written work for this class.
Assistance: I will meet with everyone individually several times during the semester. Please feel free, however, to contact me whenever you have questions or concerns. I also encourage you to take advantage of our Learning Resource Center/Writing Center for writing consultations and tutoring.
Evaluation/Grades: You will be graded first on the quality of your essays (80%), and second, on your performance in class (20%). Performance in class includes your contributions to class discussions, peer critiques, and in-class exercises. Your essays will be graded for both content and grammar/mechanics. The grading scale for essays is as follows:
A papers more that fulfill the assignment. Use of language is creative, thoughtful, and sophisticated. Their purpose is strong and clear. They are well organized, logical, and convincing in their arguments/points and use of supporting evidence. They demonstrate a clear understanding of audience and are exciting to read. They contain virtually no mechanical or grammatical errors. .
B papers may not be as exciting or original as A papers, but they still have a clear and focused thesis. They demonstrate control of language and an understanding of audience, and are clearly organized and logical. They present a reasonable point of view that is supported by sufficient and relevant evidence. They may have one or two minor mechanical or grammatical errors, but these do not interfere with the understanding of the essay.
C papers fulfill the requirements of the assignment. They may have some major mechanical and/or grammatical errors that may interfere with the sense or logic of the essay. The thesis may be weak or unclear, though it is clearly identifiable as a thesis statement. There may be some issues with organization and/or logic, but a plausible argument or point of view is supported by relevant evidence. A sense of audience may be weak, as also might be the use of language. In general, the paper does make an honest, thoughtful attempt at completing the assignment. .
D papers do no fulfill the requirements of the assignment. One or more of the following problems may be present: paper is too short, off-topic, or attempts to follow an inappropriate pattern of development. The thesis is often undeveloped or unclear. There may be significant problems with mechanics and grammar; sentence structure may be weak, incorrect, and/or repetititve. The argument or stand presented may be confusing, unconvincing, and/or unsupported. There is little to no sense of audience or purpose, although some attempt has been made at completing the assignment.
F papers show me that I’m putting forth more effort in grading them than the writers did into writing them.
***No rewrites of any papers will be permitted.
Revision: Revision is a necessary and vital part of the writing process. My hope is that all
students in this class will feel free to experiment and take risks in their writing. Therefore, everyone will receive ample time to incorporate feedback into the revision of their papers. Also, while students will receive credit for composing working drafts, on the final draft of an essay will receive a letter grade.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s ideas, wording, or the organization of those ideas or words without acknowledgment of the source. Plagiarism is intellectually dishonest and a form of cheating. At Goucher, harsh academic penalties are applied to those students found guilty of plagiarism and may include receiving a failing grade on a paper, failing an entire course, or even being dismissed from the college. Please see Goucher’s Academic Honor Code for more information.
Schedule
Week 1
T 1/27 Introductions; In-class writing. Assignment: Read “On Thinking for Oneself.”
Th 1/29 Introduction to course; Writing Process; In-class journal exercise; Discuss reading. Assignment: Read “Young Goodman Brown” and St. Martin’s chpts. 10 and 12.
Week 2
T 2/3 Reading, Writing, and Thinking; Hawthorne and the Hero’s Journey;
First and Second drafts. Assignment: Read Joseph Campbell handout; Work
on first draft Exploratory paper #1.
Th 2/5 First Draft Exploratory Essay due; Discuss Campbell; Peer Review; Revision. Assignment: Revise 1st exploratory paper; read “The Metamorphosis” and “The Sandman”
Week 3
T 2/10 1st Exploratory Essay due; Clutter; Sentence structure; Discuss Kafka and Hoffman. Assignment: Read “Desert Breakdown” and St. Martin’s chpt. 3; Work on Profile Essay.
Th 2/12 Discuss Wolff; Audience; Description. Assignment: Work on Profile Essays; Read “The Black Cat” and Poe essay. Also, skim St. Martin’s chpts. 13-19.
Week 4
T 2/17 1st draft Profile Essay due; Discuss Poe; Research. Assignment: Read The Ballad of the Sad Café (handout)—pgs. 1-44; work on 2nd exploratory essay.
Th 2/19 Conferences. Assignment: Revise Profile Essays; work on 2nd Exploratory essay.
Week 5
T 2/24 Final draft Profile Essay due AND 2nd exploratory essay; Discuss Sad Café; Southern Gothic; Overview of rhetorical modes. Assignment: Work on First Long Essay; Read pgs. 45-71 of Sad Cafe and St. Martin’s chpts. 4 and 5
Th 2/26 Discuss Sad Café; Sources; MLA; Plagiarism. Assignment: Work on First Long Essays; Read St. Martin’s chpts. 6 and 7.
Week 6
T 3/3 First draft First Long Essay due; Discuss Sad Café; Beginnings and Endings. Assignment: Read student drafts /write critiques AND read St. Martin’s chpts. 8 and 9.
Th 3/5 Large group drafts discussion. Assignment: Read “Paradise Park” and “Eisenheim the Illusionist”; Revise drafts long essay.
Week 7
T 3/10 Final Draft First Long Essay due; Discuss Millhauser. Assignment: View The Illusionist; Work on 2nd exploratory essay.
Th 3/12 Discuss film and related reading/material. Assignment: Work on 2nd exploratory essay; Begin work on 2nd long essay; read “A Distant Episode”
Week 8
T 3/17 Spring Break
Th 3/19 Spring Break
Week 9
T 3/24 2nd Exploratory essay due; Discuss Bowles. Assignment: Work on 1st draft 2nd
long essay; Read “The Smallest Woman in the World” and related handout.
Th 3/26 1st draft 2nd long essay due
Week 10
T 3/31 Conferences Assignment: Revise 2nd long essay.
Th 4/2 Discuss readings; Literature, culture, and Imperialism. Assignment: Revise
2nd long essay and read “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” and Borges story (TBA)
Week 11
T 4/7 2nd Long essay due; Latin American fiction. Assignment: Read “The Nose”
Th 4/9 View The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Assignment: Work on 3rd exploratory essay.
Week 12
T 4/14 3rd Exploratory essay due; Discuss Caligari. Assignment: Read “The Nose”
Th 4/16 TBA
Week 13
T 4/21 Conferences
Th 4/23 Conferences (?) Assignment: Read “Pastoralia” (handout)
Week 14
T 4/28 Discuss reading. Assignment: Read “The Healer”(handout) and excerpts from Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit (handout)
Th 4/30 3rd Long Essay due
Week 15
T 5/5 4th Exploratory Essay due
Th 5/7 Evaluations;Wrap-up