Writing II: Ann Brunjes, BSC

EN 102 Writing 2 (sections 05 & 08)           Prof. Ann M. Brunjes
Spring 2004                                                              Tillinghast 308, phone 531-2435
MWF Boyden 213 (9:00) and & 220 (10:00)     http://webhost.bridgew.edu/abrunjes/
O.H.  MWF 1-2 and by appointment                    abrunjes@bridgew.edu     

Required Texts

Bartholomae and Petrosky, eds.  Ways of Reading. 6th Edition. Boston:  Bedford, 2001. 

Faigley, Lester.  The Brief Penguin Handbook.  New York:  Pearson Longman.  2003.

You should also own a reputable college dictionary, such as Webster's or American Heritage.  Inexpensive paperback dictionaries can be purchased in our bookstore.

 Description
The primary objective of EN102 is improving your existing skills in written argumentation and your critical reading and writing skills.  There is significant reading in this class as well, some of it fairly challenging both for its content and style.  These readings will serve both as examples of argumentative and research essays and as sources for ideas, both for discussion and for use in our own essays.  We will also spend several weeks learning the processes of writing a coherent, clearly constructed and supported research essay.  Finally, we will work to improve your skills in the less glamorous but extremely important aspects of writing and reading:  vocabulary, grammar, and style.

 Please note that this syllabus contains the class plan for the entire semester, as well as policies on grading, attendance, etc.  It is also available on-line at my web page http://webhost.bridgew.edu/abrunjes.  You are expected to complete assignments as they are listed on the syllabus regardless of absences.

 Objectives

  • Reading.  You will become a better reader--more capable, confident, and sophisticated--through exposure to challenging, complex texts.
  • Writing.  Through a variety of writing assignments--formal, informal, brief, longer, and research--you will have the opportunity to challenge yourself as a writer, become more adept at forming, articulating and defending your own ideas, and learn the forms and conventions of college prose particularly as they apply to research and argumentative essays.
  • Thinking.  Though the phrase "critical thinking" is often overused and poorly defined, in this class you will not progress as a writer and reader without becoming a better critical thinker.  A critical thinker is able to apprehend, assimilate and respond to complex ideas and problems.  He or she is able to think in not only concrete but also abstract terms about those ideas and problems, and as a consequence act justly and effectively in society.  This is the purpose of a liberal education, and continuing your progress toward strong critical thinking is one of our primary objectives.
  • Speaking. Through class discussions and small group work, you will discuss, explain and defend your ideas coherently and intelligently with and to your peers and me.

 Requirements and Grading Policies
Three 5 page essays (15% each); one 8-10 page research essay (25%); in-class writing and homework assignments (20%); participation and attendance (10%). Attendance and participation are expected, but please don't notify me unless you have extreme circumstances (a family death or serious illness) that will cause extended absence.  More than 4 absences will adversely affect your grade (1/3 of a grade reduction for each absence).  3 late days are equivalent to one absence.  Illness is excused only with a doctor's note, but I will not excuse more than 5 absences due to illness, with or without a doctor's note.  (Students facing this situation must consider a medical withdrawal).  A missed conference is equivalent to a missed class.  Notify me as far in advance as possible if you are unable to keep a conference appointment.

 Save both the graded copy of everything you write this semester as well as a backup copy.  Don’t rely on your hard drive to preserve your work; always, always print hard copies of your writing and save them until semester’s end.   

 Late papers, including homework assignments, submitted without my prior approval will drop one full grade for every day that elapses from the due date to the time of submission (including weekends).  Failure to complete any of these assignments will result in a failing grade for the class.  There are no exceptions to this policy.

 

Format
All work (including homework and short responses) written out of class must be typed, double-spaced, in 12 pt. font, with 1" margins (left, right, top and bottom). Number all pages.  At the top left-hand corner of each essay's first page, include:

 Your name
EN102-05 or 08 (depending on which section you are in)
Prof. Ann Brunjes
Essay Number and Draft Number (e.g., Essay 2, Draft 2 or Essay 2, Final Draft)
Date 

When you quote or refer to a text from Ways of Reading or any other source, you must cite the page number within the body of your text (do not use footnotes).  Web texts do not have page numbers, so you do not provide a page, but use quotation marks to show where you are quoting the text or indicate that you are using another’s ideas.  

Example:

In “The Banking Concept of Education,” Paolo Freire writes that “No one can be authentically human while he prevents others from being so” (269).   

 

Your bibliographical citation for any quotations from the Ways of Reading, which you can include on the bottom of the last page of your essay to save paper, should look like this (my example cites Freire; yours will differ depending on whom you quote):

Freire, Paolo.  “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education.”  Bartholomae and Petrosky, eds.

  Ways of Reading.  6th Edition.  Boston:  Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.  259-275.     

Electronic texts and other printed texts have different bibliographical formats.  If you quote, paraphrase, or in any way use ideas from any text, you need to cite it and provide bibliographical information using MLA (Modern Language Association) format.   General MLA guidelines can be accessed through the BSC Maxwell Library Web page:  http://www.bridgew.edu/depts/maxwell/mla.htm and in your Brief Penguin Handbook.

 Email policy
I am happy to respond to questions and ideas via email, and I will do my best to return your message the next business day. You may submit written assignments to me via email, under the following non-negotiable conditions: your document must be sent as an attachment, not as part of the email message, in Microsoft Word; it must be correctly formatted; it must be submitted on the date due, neither earlier nor later.  You may not submit assignments as the contents an email message; these will be returned to you unread and marked late as appropriate.  My email address is abrunjes@bridgew.edu.  Unless I email you to say I’ve received and opened your email, I don’t have it.  Always double check with me on electronically submitted texts.  

 Accessibility Statement
In accordance with BSC policy, I am available to discuss appropriate accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability.  Requests for accommodations should be made during the drop/add period so that proper arrangements can be made.  Students should register with the Disability Resources/ADA Compliance Office in the Maxwell Library Academic Achievement Center (x1214) for disability verification and determination of reasonable academic accommodations.

 Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a very serious academic offense; it is equivalent to theft. Because you do a great deal of writing in this class, I will become familiar with your style and your capabilities and can spot plagiarism easily.  If you plagiarize, at the very least I will fail the essay in question. Depending on the seriousness of the offense, you may fail the course and/or face disciplinary action before the college academic review panel.  See pp. 48-49 of the 2003-2004 BSC Catalog for a detailed discussion of college policies concerning academic integrity.

Simply put, plagiarism is “the false assumption of authorship:  the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own” (Alexander Lindey, qtd. in MLA Handbook 66).  According to the MLA Handbook, there are two kinds of plagiarism.  The first is intellectual theft, which is achieved by “using another person’s ideas, information, or expressions without acknowledging that person’s work.”  The second is fraud, achieved by “passing off another person’s ideas information, or expressions as your own to get a better grade or gain some other advantage” (66).  

This is the general rule of thumb regarding plagiarism:  any time you refer to, quote, or in any way use another person’s publicly presented ideas in your own oral or written work, you must give credit to that person in writing in the body of your essay and in a “Works Cited” page.  There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule.  It includes material taken from the Web, from printed texts, from video, DVD, CD, CD-rom, etc.—the whole world of information that surrounds you.   If you are concerned that you are plagiarizing or if you are having difficulty understanding the rules of citation and documentation, ask me for help.

 **************************************

Schedule of Assignments

 Please note:  On workshop days, unless otherwise instructed, bring 3 copies of your essays. Always attach all drafts to final essay.  Keep all your work until semester's end. 

Week 1 Section I:  What/Who is the classroom for?

W January 21 Introduction; in-class writing.

F January 23 "Introduction” to Ways of Reading, pp. 1-10.  The Brief Penguin Handbook, Chapter 1, “The Rhetorical Situation,” pp. 5-12).   Mechanics of the essay:  format, basic style rules, different kinds of essays and their organization.  Homework 1 due.

 Week 2
M January 26 
How do we read? Sample experiences:  The Sopranos, Joe College, Frederick Douglass.  Discuss Emerson, "The American Scholar," (handout).  Homework 2 due.  
W January 28
  Emerson continued.   Homework 3 due Discussion of logical fallacies:  Brief Handbook, Chapter 6c (p. 69) and 6e (72-74).  
F January 30 Discuss the thesis statement.   Discuss writing process.  Brief Handbook, Chapter 3, pp. 25-37.   Assign Essay 1. 

 Week 3
M February 2
 Practice workshop.  Brief Handbook, Chapter 5, pp. 55-64. 
W February 4   Essay 1 draft 1 due.   Workshop.  Bring three copies of your essay to class. 

F February 6  The revision process:  Anne LaMott, "Sh--y First Drafts," (handout).  In-class writing on the writing process. Review of essay "arrangement."   In-class paragraph workshop. 

 Week 4
M February 9
Essay 1 draft 2 due.  Workshop.  Bring three copies of your essay to class. 
W February 11  Paolo Freire, "The 'Banking' Concept of Education" (259). 
F February 13 Homework 4 due:  Freire response.  Freire discussion continued.

 Week 5   Section II:  Considering Perspective
M February 16 NO CLASS; Presidents’ Day

Tuesday February 17 Monday Schedule  Jane Tompkins, "'Indians':  Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History" (718).  Essay 1 due.    
W February 18  Patricia Nelson Limerick, "Haunted America" (471).
F February 20    Tompkins and Limerick discussion continued.  Assign Essay 2. 

Week 6  conference week.  Bring Essay 2 draft 1 to conference. All conferences are held in Tillinghast 308
M February 23 
No class:  conferences.
W February 25
  No class:  conferences.
F February 27  No class:  conferences

 Week 7  Section III:  The Research Essay/The Family Research Project
M March 1 
Research essay assigned.  Essay 2 draft 2 due.  Workshop.   

W March 3  Preparing to research; choosing a research topic.  Brief Handbook, Chapter 16, pp. 179-187.   
F March 5  Finding and evaluating sources.  Brief Handbook, Chapter 17, pp. 187-207.  Discuss sample research essay #1.
Essay 2 final draft due.

 SPRING BREAK
 
Week 8
M March 22  Research proposal and preliminary bibliography due.  Workshop (bring 3 copies). 
   
W March 25    Sample research essay #2.  Discuss.   Evaluating on-line and print sources.  Brief Handbook, Chapter 18, pp. 207-214.
F March 26 Homework 5 due:  Sample web sites.  

Avoiding plagiarism; effective note-taking:  Brief Handbook, Chapter 19, pp. 215-223. 

Week 9
M March 29  Using sources, developing ideas, making your case: 

writing the research essay.  Brief Handbook, Chapter 20, pp. 223-230.    
W March 31  Homework 6 due:  plagiarism.     
F April 2  Research Essay draft 1 due. 

Week 10 Conference week. Research Essay draft 2 and second (revised) bibliography due.  Bring to conference.  
M April 5
 no class: conferences
W April 7 no class:  conferences
F April 9  no class:  conferences  

Week 11 
M April 12
Draft 3 Research Essay due.  Proofreading/editing workshop.
W April 14  Final Draft Research Essay due.

Section IV:  Gaining "Sovereignty"

F April 16  Walker Percy, "The Loss of the Creature," 587.

Week 12
M April 19  NO CLASS
: Patriot’s Day
W April 21 (Monday Schedule)  Percy continued.  Homework 7 due. 
F April 23    In-class video viewing:  Killing Us Softly

 Week 13  
M April 26
Discussion:  Killing Us Softly and Susan Bordo, "Hunger as Ideology," 138. Homework 8 due.
W April 28 Continue Bordo and Kilbourne discussion.
F April 30
John Berger, “Ways of Seeing,” 104.

Week 14  
M May 3 Essay 4 draft 1 due. 
 Workshop. 
W May 5 In-class writing:  bring first and most recent writing to class. 

F May 7    Essay 4 due.  Last Day of Classes

 EN102 Syllabus Revision

Prof. Brunjes

 Week 11 
M April 12
Draft 3 Research Essay due.  Proofreading/editing workshop.

Section IV:  Gaining "Sovereignty"

W April 14  Final Draft Research Essay due.  In-class film:  Bowling for Columbine

F April 16   Columbine continued.

Week 12
M April 19  NO CLASS
: Patriot’s Day
W April 21 (Monday Schedule) 

  Homework 7 due. Columbine discussion.
F April 23    John Berger, “Ways of Seeing,” 104. 

Week 13  
M April 26
Homework 8 due. Continue Berger discussion.

W April 28 Walker Percy, "The Loss of the Creature," 587.

F April 30 Essay 4 draft 1 due.  Workshop.

 Week 14  
M May 3 Essay 4 draft 2 due. 
 Workshop.  Evaluations.
W May 5 In-class writing:  bring first and most recent writing to class. 

F May 7    Essay 4 due.  Last Day of Classes