Gen 111 College English Two

GEN 111 COLLEGE ENGLISH TWO Professor: Brian Derico Semester: Spring 2012 Phone: 244.8147 E-mail: [email protected]

Course Description

GEN 111 is a companion course to GEN 110 covering additional patterns of development and writing situations. A major research project forms a part of the requirements.

Course Rationale

The ability to use and analyze persuasive discourse is fundamental to participation in power. It is the purpose of this course to equip students with the rhetorical knowledge and skills required to create persuasive texts.

Course Objectives

Students who satisfactorily complete this course should be able to: 1. Analyze a rhetorical situation and respond to it with a persuasive text; 2. Demonstrate meta-cognitive awareness of their writing process; 3. Integrate contextually credible research into a persuasive text; 4. Offer thoughtful analysis of texts written for various rhetorical purposes.

Course Texts

Patterns for College Writing by Kirszner and Mandell, Eleventh Edition The Little, Brown Brief Version, Fourth Edition “Church Planter Intro,” Darrin Patrick “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” Bret Harte “The Real Bluff of John Oakhurst,” Jeff Tweedy “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources,” Karen Rosenberg “Walk, Talk, Cook, Eat: A Guide to Using Sources,” Cynthia R. Haller “Annoying Ways People Use Sources,” Kyle D. Stedman “Navigating Genres,” Kerry Dirk “Interrogating the Message in a Bottle,” Jeff Tweedy “Googlepedia,” Randall McClure

Assignments

● Literary Argument Micro-Article (1) ● Critical Cultural Argument Micro-Article (1) ● Persuasive Essay with Division and Classification (1) ● Persuasive Micro-Article with Sources (1) ● Article Analyses (3)

Grading

● Each submitted assignment will receive a 5, 3, 1, or 0 on a five point scale (5 being equivalent to 100%, 3 being equivalent to 80%, 1 being equivalent to 60%, and 0 being equivalent to 50%). ● Work not submitted will receive 0%. ● Assignments only earn credit during meetings between student and professor (or his surrogate). ● Late work will receive a 0 (50%) and may not be revised. Assignments only earn credit during meetings between student and professor (or his surrogate). ● First submitted drafts that do not reflect a satisfactory effort will receive a 1 (60%) and may not be revised. ● Students who miss a meeting for a first submitted draft will receive for that assignment a 1 (60%) without opportunity for revision. Assignments only earn credit during meetings between student and professor (or his surrogate). ● Students who miss a meeting for a revised assignment will receive for that assignment a 3 (80%) without opportunity for revision. Assignments only earn credit during meetings between student and professor (or his surrogate).

Course Policies

● Students enrolled in this course must read and respond appropriately in a timely manner to email from the professor. ● All written assignments must be shared with me in Google Docs under file names that conform to the pattern described in the File Name Format section of this syllabus. ● The attendance regulations listed in the CCU catalog apply to this course. ● If you do not understand an assignment or section of class discussion, it is your responsibility to ask for clarification either during the class session or in private consultation with the professor. ● You must maintain scrupulous academic integrity. The CCU Policy on Academic Integrity will be our guide on occasions of academic dishonesty. ● I reserve the right to amend the above policies for individual circumstances. It is always your responsibility to apprise me of extenuating circumstances. ● If you require academic accommodations due to any documented physical, psychological, or learning disability you should request assistance from the Academic Support Director within the first two weeks of class. The Academic Support Office is located in the Lower Level of the Worship and Ministry Building (room 153). You may also contact the office by phone (244-8420).

File Name Format

When you save your documents please name the file using the following pattern: your name, assignment description, draft number.

● Example: jeff tweedy, literary argument micro-article ● Example: jeff tweedy, literary argument micro-article revision document one ● Example: jeff tweedy, literary argument micro-article revision document two ● Example: jeff tweedy, article analysis one ● Example: jeff tweedy, article analysis two ● Example: jeff tweedy, article analysis two revision document one

Assignment Descriptions

The following assignment descriptions will be supplemented by class lectures and assigned reading. The student is responsible for completing each assignment in a fashion that reflects familiarity with lectures and assigned readings. Peer Review

Peer-review serves a number of valuable purposes. Peer review:

● motivates recursive writing; ● gives student-writers an audience; ● underscores the collaborative nature of writing; ● gives students an opportunity to thoughtfully engage in rhetorical analysis.

In-class writing allows students to write in a mutually supportive environment.

Reading

Reading assignments listed in the course syllabus are an important component of this course. Information available in reading assignments may be supplemented by discussions during class meetings but will not be repeated. No specific credit will be assigned to completion of reading assignments, but a student’s ability to perform well on written assignments will require familiarity with assigned portions of course texts.

Examination

I do not offer a final exam in this course. Instead, student grades are contingent upon student writing.

Extra Credit

I do not offer extra credit because it is a disincentive for students to consistently pursue excellence and because there are sufficient opportunities to earn credit built into the course.

Revisions

I believe that revision is a necessary part of everyone’s writing process. Revision can be motivated by and reflect developments in your understanding of the rhetorical context for your text, comments made by readers, further research and inquiry, and further consideration of your persuasive ambitions.

Conferences

In the context of a scheduled conversation about a written assignment you will receive credit for your work and may be asked to submit a revised draft. Conferences are 15 minutes long and are typically scheduled for times outside of the regular meetings of our course. Conferences are typically held at a table in the student center or in the coffee shop. Arrive to a conference prepared to lead our dialogue about your micro-article. ● please schedule a meeting using the Google Doc created for that purpose; ● please plan to discuss only one assignment at an appointment; ● please make available to me in Google Docs a version of the draft we will discuss by 7:00 p.m. the day before our meeting; ● please list your name and the subject of our meeting when you reserve an appointment; ● please read your work before our meeting and arrive prepared to participate in a dialogue about your work; ● please take notes during our meeting; ● you must submit a document explaining your revision decisions prior to a meeting at which we will discuss a revision; ● do not make more than one appointment per day; ● do not add appointment times to the schedule; ● please cancel at least 24 hours in advance appointments you cannot attend; ● please let me know if the appointments listed in this document do not coincide with your availability.

Revision Documents

You may not meet to discuss a revision unless you submit a separate revision document. Revision documents must offer an explanation of the revised draft you are submitting. Specifically, what is different from the previous draft and what considerations motivated these changes. If you chose not to make a specific recommended revision you should also offer an explanation of that decision.

Article Analyses

Purpose

Article Analyses give you a method for reading journal articles, notes that facilitate your engagement in class discussions, and potential material for integration into other writing assignments. Article Analyses should display thoughtful, meaningful, and complex interactions with the assigned readings.

Procedure

In order to formulate concise, productive, and usable insights into the assigned readings, you will need to strip away extraneous information and develop a sharp focus on three components of a given scholarly argument:

● Description of the Problem ● Description and Assessment of the Solution ● Description of a Key Term/Concept

Problem Descriptions

Problem descriptions should examine the intellectual and scholarly problem that a particular scholar is addressing. Do not describe your problems with the article, the problem you think readers have when reading it, or issues of application or execution. The intellectual problem is an issue in which the scholar's readers will have some knowledge, interest, and investment.

An intellectual or scholarly problem motivates an article. While the problem may not be explicitly stated as a problem, there are usually fairly overt cues as to the nature of the problem. In addition to describing the problem, you should indicate why this particular issue is problematic for the scholar and his/her audience. Do not quote directly, but do provide page numbers for paraphrases in parenthetical citations. Problem descriptions should comprise between 25 and 75 words of your Article Analyses. Description and Assessment of the Solution

Descriptions of the Solution should identify, define, and describe how the author attempts to address the problem that motivates the article. Finally, you will assess the effectiveness of the solution. Again, do not quote directly, but do provide page numbers for paraphrases in parenthetical citations. Your Description and Assessment of the Solution should comprise between 100 and 150 words of your Article Analyses.

Term/Concept Descriptions

Term descriptions define the meaning and function of a key term or concept in the article. Describe how the term/concept works for the author; that is, how he or she makes use of it. Again, do not quote directly, but do provide page numbers for paraphrases in parenthetical citations. Term/Concept Descriptions should comprise between 50 and 75 words of your Article Analyses.

Format

● Use headers to divide the sections of your article analysis. ● Identify the title and author of the article in the problem description. ● Identify the title of the article by using quotation marks. ● Use parenthetical citations to provide page numbers for paraphrases. ● Your article analysis should not be a cohesive essay with an introduction and conclusion. ● Your completed article analysis should be between 175-300 words.

Literary Analysis Micro-Article

● Write a thesis driven essay of at least 700 words that supports a specific interpretation of the chosen text (or a portion of it). ● Literary arguments describe the action of literature as though it happens in the present tense. ● Literary arguments most commonly are written in the third person. ● Literary arguments must incorporate quotations from the text as evidence. ● Literary arguments may also incorporate evidentiary support derived from inquiry beyond the text. Such evidence might be, for instance, biographical, bibliographical, historical, psychological, physiological, ideological, critical, cultural, sociological, or epistemological. ● Literary arguments must include reference to the title of the subject of the article in the introduction-- even if it appears in the title. ● Literary arguments must include reference to the full name of the author of the subject of the article in the introduction—even if it appears in the title. ● Literary argument present evidence in support of a claim about the subject of the article—not summary or description alone. ● Literary arguments must make and support an assertion with which a reasonable person might disagree —or that a reasonable person might not have considered but would benefit from encountering. ● Literary arguments mark the title of a short story with quotation marks—not italics or underlining. ● Literary arguments conform to MLA format and style. ● Literary arguments should be organized in support of a thesis rather than according to the chronology of the novel that is the subject of the article. ● Literary arguments have titles that reflect their argument—not just their subject. ● To receive credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Google Document before class on the assignment’s due date.

Persuasive Micro-Article with Sources

● Write a thesis driven micro-article of at least 700 words that supports an assertion within the context of a scholarly rhetorical situation. ● Your micro-article should reflect your careful analysis of the rhetorical situation to which you are responding. That is, you should compose a text that reflects your consideration of questions like these: ○ What problem gives rise to this article? ○ What do you hope to accomplish through this article? ○ Who is the primary audience of this article? What does this audience value? What kinds of evidence and authority do this audience recognize as credible? What is your relationship to this audience? Does this audience recognize your authority to make this argument? Does this audience recognize your authority to make this argument in this place and at this time? ● Support your assertion with appropriately documented and contextually credible evidence. ● Your must document sources using MLA format. ● To receive credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Google Document before class on the assignment’s due date.

Persuasive Essay with Division and Classification

● Write a thesis driven persuasive essay of at least 700 words that uses either division or classification. ● You might, for instance, categorize arguments commonly articulated in favor of vegetarianism (ecological, ethical/humanitarian, and nutritional/health) in a text that recommends that the reader switch to a meatless diet. Or you might evaluate responses to poverty according to a specific set of well- articulated criteria in a text that encourages the reader to engage in some specific ameliorative action. ● Your essay should have a title that reflects the content of the paper and should conform to MLA format. ● To receive credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Google Document before class on the assignment’s due date.

Critical Cultural Argument Micro-Article

● Write a thesis driven essay of at least 700 words that supports an assertion about what a particular element of culture—an event, an object, a place, an institution—says about its cultural context. Take an element of culture that appears to have no meaning—or that appears to have a natural and uncomplicated meaning—and articulate a compelling case for its meaning in relationship to its cultural context. Adopt a meta-cognitively neutral stance, rather than an overtly positioned stance toward the artifact or its cultural context. Focus on convincing your reader that an examination of this artifact can give us knowledge about its cultural context.

Here are some examples of the questions that a writer developing a cultural argument might ask:

○ What kinds of behavior does this element of culture seem to encourage or enforce? ○ What are the social purposes or functions of this element of culture? ○ How do people at different times and different places differently understand this element of culture? ○ What are the differences between my values and the values implicit in this element of culture? ○ Upon what social understanding does this element of culture depend? ○ How might this element of culture affect the freedom or movement of a person or groups of persons? ○ How is this element of culture connected to larger social groups, beliefs, structures, issues, ideas, events, habits, customs, practices, or communications?

● A critical cultural argument must move beyond an analysis of an element of culture in isolation. It must support an assertion about the significance of a particular element of culture as a product of its cultural context. ● Do not make an assertion about the way that an artifact impacts its cultural context. That is an interesting assertion, but not the kind of assertion required by this assignment. ● Support your assertion with appropriately documented evidence derived both from the element of culture itself and from corroborative sources. ● To receive credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Google Document before class on the assignment’s due date.

Course Agenda

All dates are approximate and subject to change without notice. The student enrolled in this course is responsible for remaining aware of any modifications to the course agenda.

January 17 Introduction to College English Two 19 Rhetorical Analysis “Church Planter Intro,” Patrick Moodle

24 Literary Argument Micro-Article/Genre Expectations Little, Brown (120-127) Little, Brown (63-76, 481-490, 15-25) 26 “Outcasts of Poker Flat,” Harte Moodle

31 “Outcasts of Poker Flat,” Harte Moodle February 02 ICW: Literary Argument Micro-Article

07 Peer Review Due: Literary Argument Micro-Article Draft 09 “The Real Bluff of John Oakhurst,” Tweedy Moodle

14 “Reading Games,” Rosenberg Moodle Due: Article Analysis 16 Library Presentation Due: Literary Argument Micro-Article

21 Persuasive Micro-Article with Sources 23 ICW: Persuasive Micro-Article with Sources

28 Peer Review Due: Persuasive Micro-Article with Sources Draft March 01 “The Limitations of Wikipedia,” Lau (782-788) Patterns

06 Spring Break 08 Spring Break

13 “Walk, Talk, Cook, Eat,” Haller Moodle Due: Article Analysis 15 Persuasive Essay with Division and Classification Due: Persuasive Micro-Article with Sources

20 ICW: Persuasive Essay with Division and Classification 22 Peer Review Due: Persuasive Essay with Division and Classification Draft

27 “What I Learned,” Zinsser (454-457) Patterns 29 “Annoying Ways People Use Sources,” Stedman Moodle Due: Article Analysis

April 03 Critical Cultural Argument Micro-Article Little, Brown (78-93) Due: Persuasive Essay with Division and Classification 05 ICW: Critical Cultural Argument Micro-Article

10 Peer Review Due: Critical Cultural Argument Micro-Article Draft 12 “Interrogating the Message in a Bottle,” Tweedy Moodle

17 “Navigating Genres,” Dirk Moodle Due: Article Analysis 19 Community Service Day Due: Critical Cultural Argument Micro-Article

24 Taking Essay Exams Little, Brown (127-132) 26 “Googlepedia,” McClure Moodle

May 01 Conferences 03 Review and Reflection