Missouri
Western State College
School of
Liberal Arts & Sciences
Department
of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism
Fall, 2003
Dr. Mike
Cadden
Section 50: 11:00 am –12:20
pm, T/Th, 210 Eder Hall (SS/C)
Section 07: 3:30-4:50
pm, T/Th, 210 Eder Hall (SS/C)
Office: 222-F Eder Hall (SS/C)
Office Hours:
8:30-9:30 am, 12:30-1:30 pm T/Th; 9 am-12 pm W; and by appointment.
Office
Phone: 271-4576
E-mail: cadden@missouriwestern.edu
URL:
http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/faculty/cadden.asp(This syllabus is on my
website)
On the
Course: ENG 104 is designed to help you write with more awareness,
clarity, and purpose. To those ends, I
have arranged the course so that we will be dividing our time between outside
essays, in-class activities and homework directed toward those essays, and
workshops designed to increase our awareness of the essay assignments. I think you’ll find that class time and
homework are closely related to the essays you’ll be writing this term.
ENG 104 is a tough course. It is “tough” in the sense that it requires a lot of work and a
good attitude about a process that may have you stumble before you write with
confidence. Writing is hard work at any
level; it never gets easy, though you will get better at both understanding
what you have to do and executing those writing and revision tasks. Since, as I write above, the in-class and
out-of-class portions of the course are designed to help you understand and
succeed in completing each essay, your success hinges on your willingness to be
here, prepared and attentive.
See a department description of the course’s general
goals: www.missouriwestern.edu/~engdept/eng104.html
Rottenberg, Annette T. Elements of Argument:
A Text and Reader. Seventh
Edition.
See http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/rottenberg
Hult, Christine A. and Thomas N. Huckin. The New Century Handbook.
Suggested: A college-level dictionary and thesaurus.
Essay Assignments: 60%
Workshops: 25%
Homework & Exercises: 15%
Attendance: The MWSC Policy Guide states
that "each instructor will determine and make known to the class the
requirement for attendance" (45). I can assure you that your presence in
class will improve your grade: we discuss and work on the assignments in class,
so missing class means almost certain confusion on what are demanding
assignments. I will not accept absence as an excuse for ignorance. In
short, if you’re not here, you’re going to suffer through other assignments
directly and indirectly. I will not formally assign a number of absences to
failure; I’ll allow those things will be related naturally.
Be on time, please.
Academic Dishonesty: All cases in which students pass off
others’ work as their own will be referred to the Dean of Student Affairs.
Students also run the risk of failing the assignment as well as the course,
depending on the magnitude and nature of the offense. If you are unsure about
how you are using sources, please check with me.
Late and Missing Work: I reserve the right to refuse any late
work.
Revision Policy: All essays may be revised at any time,
however many times that you like, and may be resubmitted by our last class period.
Homework may be revised up until one week after it is returned. Workshops may
not be revised.
Policy on
Students with Disabilities
: Any student in this course who has a disability that requires different
contexts for either evaluation or expression should contact me in the first few
weeks of the course so that those needs can be considered.
Readings and exercises will be
clarified daily. In cases where pages in Rottenberg are listed for a class
meeting, please have those pages read for that day unless you are told
otherwise.
Homework will be assigned when I
think additional practice or completion of an in-class activity is warranted.
This is another reason for your attendance. An absence is no excuse for a
missed homework.
Aug.
26 T- Introduction to the course; exercise on five issues/stages. A brief
discussion of the essay assignments in relation to each other. Brief discussion of workshops.
28
H- Introduction to the MWSC Webmail system by Mr. David Carlile. Handouts on
summary provided.
Sept.
2 T- Summary introduced. (Gilligan exercise)
4
H- Summarizing "The Declaration of Independence" (Rottenberg 17-23)
by discussing claims (fact, value, policy) and support (Rottenberg 57-62,
68-71, 77-79); Workshop participants decided upon by now.
9
T- Warrant analysis: Griffon News; "Blessed Mothers,"
"The Declaration of Independence." (Rottenberg 194-206).
11
H- An examination of claim, support, and warrant together: "College Life
vs. My Moral Code" (Rottenberg 93-94); discussion of the workshop.
16
T- The "so what" of essay #1: implications (or Part IV of the
assignment)--a return to the texts discussed above in order to discuss matters
of significance; first workshop writer’s draft due to class over e-mail.
18
H- Workshop #1(class members have read and typed responses on the
essay—they have brought a hardcopy to class and have saved the e-mail version
in order to send out to the class immediately after the workshop):
23
T- Workshop #2:
25
H- Essay #1 due; Essay #2 discussed: defining a debate in your
major--brainstorming categories of inquiry and beginning a test case for a
class model: choosing an issue (collect and focus).
30
T- Brainstorm continued; considering alternatives in small groups.
Oct.
2 H- Working through a model of essay #2 as a class: establishing a balanced
argument of claims and support (order).
7
T- Model continued: identifying warrants and drawing conclusions about them
(order, draft).
9
H- Workshop #3:
14
T- Workshop #4:
16
H- Essay #2 due; Essay #3 discussed; essay passage dialogue exercise.
21
T- Identifying a thread running through several texts: read any three from
Chapter 16 of Rottenberg; Midterm Grades Due tomorrow.
23
H- Organizing voices in Essay #3 (group work)
28
T- Drawing conclusions in Essay #3: "so what?" (Either group work
continued or focus on one on screen in detail)
30
H- Workshop #5; (Friday, Oct. 31 is the last day to drop a course)
Nov.
4 T- Workshop #6
6
H- Essay #3 due; the inverted pyramid of revision and the set-up for
assignment #4; Joe Schlabotnik revises an essay.
11
T- Language update: A review,
discussion and exercises pertaining to common problems over the term. Be sure to have Hult and Huckin with you to
review parts six and seven.
13
H- Workshop #7:
18
T- Workshop #8:
20
H- Essay #4 due; the Essay Exam introduced (handouts and discussion);
Hult and Huckin ch. 23 on the essay exam.
25
T- Essay Exam: brainstorming class materials for the exam.
Thanksgiving Break
Dec.
2 T- Essay Exam: question-writing workshop; course evaluations.
4
H- Essay Exam: dry run and final questions established; all revisions due.
Final Exam: administered in our
regular classroom.
Section 50: Tuesday, December 9, 11:30 am - 1:20 pm
Section 07: Thursday, December 11, 2:00 pm – 3:50 pm
English
104 Essay Assignments
Essays #1-5 (60% of Final Grade)
Models and examples will be
provided when or if appropriate.
All essays are to be accompanied
by a brief letter from you to me. Really, a letter--addressed to me and written
informally. You will use this letter to do any number of things. Consider a
few:
• Explain what went well for you
in the essay.
• Explain what didn’t go so well
for you in the essay.
• Ask questions about things
that you are still unsure of even after submitting the essay.
• Point to places to which you
want me to pay special attention as I read.
•
Tell me about what you plan to do with this when you have more time for
continuation/revision.
•
Tell me general concerns or ask specific questions about the class that you
don’t want to come to my office to talk about.
Do I expect you to do all of the
above each time? No! Tell me what you want to or think you should, but there
surely must be something on y our mind as you prepare to send this my way.
Consider this an exercise in (and an opportunity for) setting the mood with
which you want me to read your essay.
Essay #1
This first assignment focuses on
the "debate" section of our book (as will the second) and asks you to
consider the assumptions (warrants) that writers make about their subjects and
audiences.
In Rottenberg’s text there are
six debates highlighted throughout the book (see table of contents). I want you
to choose one of those debates and analyze the two positions included under
that debate by focusing on the following issues in the following parts:
Part I: In your introduction,
provide us with some context (preview the place of publication, the
author’s biography in the book, and features of each essay) and a sense of your
own purpose (what are you proposing to do here?) You want to avoid beginning
with the summaries in Part II.
Part II: Write a critical summary
of each essay that includes somewhere a statement of each essay’s thesis
(claim) and principal support. You should recognize that the thesis may not
be simply stated as a position "for" or "against" the
subject of X; it will likely be more specific and narrow than that. Even though
your writer is "against abortion," what is his or her specific
argument against it?
Part III: Identify the most
important, significant, interesting assumptions/warrants in the essay as
they relate to audience or subject. What do these essays assume about their
respective subjects and audiences?
Questions to ask about
subject matter : I’m
reading the debate about gun control, but what other subjects are discussed about
which the writer might be making assumptions? Well, she might discuss the 2nd
amendment, human nature and violence, kids and guns, gangs, the Brady Bill,
etc. Does she address these things? Do her statements show some assumptions
that she holds about those things? What are they? You needn't disagree with the
assumptions, mind; you might agree completely.
Questions to ask about the
implied audience : To
whom does the writer seem to be speaking? It might be more than one group or
type of reader. What sort of word choices does the writer make? (Examine
whether the language imply a particular profession, education level, regional
affiliation, etc.) Does tone of voice imply an audience? Does the writer appeal
to fears, beliefs, and values that certain readers might have? Is the reader
implied by the text identifiable by race, gender, economic class, political
affiliation, religious affiliation, or other marker? Does the writer write about
a group and does that mean he or she isn’t writing to that group?
Part IV: So what? Evaluate
the assumptions made in and across the essays. Can you draw any conclusions
about the assumptions as they compare across the essays? Are there any
interesting contrasts or comparisons? Does the audience implied by the essay
match with the assumptions made about any subjects? Do the two essays assume
different audiences but deal with the same points? Find something significant
about how any of the assumptions compare regarding audience or subject.
Does this sound like a lot of
work? You betcha. Better start yesterday morning! (Yesterday afternoon might be
too late!)
Essay #2
This second essay asks you to
define a debate going on in your own major. While you had to analyze how
debates are formed, you haven’t yet had to construct the debate itself.
For this assignment you will
need a few materials: the Missouri Western State College Catalog, 2003-2004
; the course handout for your major, available in your department or in the
counseling office; other materials that your department publishes that explains
the majors or sub-specialties that the department offers. You are also invited
to interview or speak informally with your advisor in your departments (or a
faculty member with whom you happen to get along) to pick their brains (ouch)
about the major.
Once you have carefully
explained the debate in a balanced, even-voiced, and fair way (as you did in
essay #1), you will then draw some conclusions about that debate regarding the
subject and audience warrants. Even though they are your own crafted positions,
what assumptions/warrants are made by each side regarding both their subject(s)
and the audiences? Pick the most interesting and significant to share.
Lastly, you’ll tell us what
position you prefer and why. In the process of explaining your own position
you’ll comment on the significance of examining both the arguments and the
assumptions/warrants behind them in making that decision. Don’t spring new arguments or assumptions on
us here; the position should be crafted from the material in the parts II and
III of the paper.
Part I: Define and explain the
debate you’ve found/created.
Part II: Present the positions
of each side of this debate in a well-balanced fashion.
Part
III: Analyze the significant assumptions/warrants each side makes about both
audience and subject.
Part
IV: Take a position on the debate yourself based on the assumptions you’ve seen
above. Do certain implausible assumptions held by one argument turn you off?
Essay #3
This essay moves us from debate
to dialogue. In a dialogue there are multiple perspectives, points of view,
interests, contexts—we see that an issue like "abortion" isn’t simply
a matter of "pro" and "con" but that it is the forum for a
variety of questions and issues.
Choose three or more essays from
Part Three of the book (Chapters 12-19, with the exception of chapter 16). You
will define and explain the focused issue that you have found that unites these
essays and discuss the complexity of the issue yourself.
Part I: Identify the thread or
focus that unites the essays you’ve chosen and put it in the form of a
question.
Part II: Point to the idea’s
development and presence across/among the essays and explain how each essay
treats that issue/idea in contrast to the others.
Part III: Comment on the
significance of this/these contrast(s).
Essay #4
Choose one of the first three
essays in order to revise. The advantage here is that you will start from an
essay that you’ve already "begun." The grade you receive on essay #4
will replace the grade of the essay you’ve chosen to revise, so there’s
no sense in automatically choosing an essay on which you’ve already done well
(I give you all credit for figuring out all the angles!) What you will submit
with that revision is the original with my comments and the latest version.
If you do not submit a
complete version of assignment #4 I will take that to mean that you are
replacing your highest essay grade with an "F" through an act of
revision.
Essay
#5:
Essay Exam: Subject to be determined.