Course Syllabus

The full syllabus is in GoogleDrive format. It can be found here.

 

Instructor Natasha Walker

email addy: natasha.walker@morehouse.edu

twitter handle: @profnwalker

Office Location: Brawley 200C

Office Hours: MWF 12-1PM

 

English 102: English Composition 2

Course Description

This composition course is a continuation and reinforcement of the skills developed in English 101, a prerequisite, with additional emphasis on research writing, including documented papers (breaking down the argumentation process and the research writing process). The course is a prerequisite for ENG 250. A minimum grade of “C” is required for passing the course (3 credit hours).

 

Course Rationale

The objectives of the course will be fulfilled by assigning reading, research, and writing tasks which will require the student to demonstrate his skills, to increase his understanding of the interrelatedness of disciplines, to explore specific aspects of the African American experience, to foster global awareness, and to appreciate effective communication.

 

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, students will be able to:

• Apply critical-thinking skills to construct arguments.

• Use the research writing process to compose unified critical and argumentative essays.

• Distinguish between various types of essays (personal, expository, argumentative, and formal academic essays) and apply research techniques appropriate to various rhetorical situations.

• Develop a coherent research project and acquire, evaluate, summarize, and analyze relevant print and electronic sources, demonstrating information literacy and academic integrity.

• Integrate academic sources in essays through correct use of quotation, paraphrasing, documentation, and bibliography/works cited (applying documentation rules appropriate to the discipline).

 

Course Design (course rationale)

Through selection of reading materials, writing topics, exercises and activities (such as discussion and peer evaluation) that require use of all communications skills and critical thinking, the course will fulfill its purpose of having the student develop and improve proficiency in writing so that the student can succeed in academic and personal writing tasks, Students whose work reflects a need for intensive work will be referred to the Writing Lab.

WRITING LABORATORY: Wheeler 200, www.morehouse.edu/writinglab/

The purpose of the Writing Lab is to enhance the writing instruction that happens in academic classrooms, by providing undergraduate and graduate students with an experienced reader who engages them in conversation about their writing assignments and ideas, and familiarizes them with audience expectations and academic genre conventions. We focus on the rhetorical aspects of texts, and provide one-on-one, student-centered teaching that corresponds to each writer’s composing process, especially invention and revising. We do not provide editing or proofreading services. We aim to create better writers, not “perfect papers,” so we address “works-in-progress” in tutorials, and not finished texts.

Attendance and Tardiness

Class attendance is required of all Morehouse students. Each student is allowed as many unexcused absence as credit hours as credit hours for the course. Since the English Composition course is a three credit course, students may only have three unexcused absences before they will receive a failing grade. It is the responsibility of the student to stay abreast of work completed in class and make up scheduled work by contacting classmates--NOT THE INSTRUCTOR. Use your twitter connections to keep on track! Lateness (more than ten minutes) will count as an unexcused absence.

Academic Honesty

Plagiarism is a serious offense both in and out of academia. Plagiarism is understood as any paraphrasing or summarizing of the works of another person without acknowledgment, including the submitting of another student’s work as one’s own. It can range from forgetting to cite or use quotation marks to copying whole sentences, paragraphs, and entire papers. It can be intentional and unintentional! Any student found plagiarizing will fail the assignment. The second plagiarism will be grounds to fail the course and will be reported to the dean. STAY ON YOUR MLA GAME!

Required Texts and Materials

McWhorter, Kathleen T. Successful College Writing. Boston: Bedford. 2012. Print.

Hacker, Diana and Nancy Sommers. Rules for Writers. Boston: Bedford. 2012. Print.

An academic twitter account

A YouTube account

GoogleDrive (ALL PAPERS MUST BE COMPLETED VIA GOOGLEDRIVE)

Assessment

• All papers will be graded through my rubric.

• Students will also be graded on their ability to contribute to a body of knowledge on the web through twitter, YouTube, and other digital sources.

 

Assignment Breakdown

 

Collaborative Research: 5%

Video Montage/Prewriting: 5%

Twitter: 10%

Blogging: 10%

Research Paper 1 (4-5 pages): 10%

YouTube Debate (collaborative): 15%

Research Paper 2 (5-6 pages): 15%

Annotated Bibliography: 10%

Research Paper 3 (7-8 pages): 20%

 

Assignments

 

Digital Components

 

Twitter 10%

 

Twitter is a useful social media tool, primarily used for microblogging. If you d not already have an account, click the link above and complete the fields for a new account. Once you activate the account, search for my Twitter profile (@profnwalker) and click the “Follow” button. Look for other people that you know, also look for companies, magazines, bands, or non-profiit agencies that are interesting to you. Follow them. Reading through your Twitter timeline becomes like reading a newspaper filled with the things you like. We will also use Twitter for hashtag conversations and as a backchannel. If you already use Twitter, please create a separate Twitter account for academic use.

Throughout the course, I will be asking you to tweet thesis sentences, reviews on documentaries, music, and other media, as well as discussing and disseminating material from the class to your classmates. This is about sharing and creating information, so use it frequently!

In order to submit this assignment here, you must collect all of your tweets in a storify and submit the link here. More on using storify later.

This assignment will be graded by how many class related tweets you make throughout the semester. Are you connecting with classmates? Asking questions? Answering them? Discussing material from class while off site? Again this will be a completion grade assignment. I expect no less than 30 tweets to constitute using twitter effectively.

 

Blogging 10%

 

You will need start a blog username related only to work in the class (WordPress will be our blog platform) and prove facility with posting to it and with linking those posts to Canvas. Compose at least 4 blog posts relating to the work of the class. Some topics will be assigned by me, others will be open choice. Posts should model something like what Dan Cohen defines as the “blessay” (blog + essay) or digital essay. Engage with some (not all) of the blog posts of your peers.  The blog will also be used for portfolio reflection purposes at the end of the semester.

This assignment will be graded on how well you respond to the blog prompts. Full credit will be given if ALL the blog posts adhere to a few requirements:

• Every blog post/comment should be longer than five sentences.

• Every blog post/comment should engage with either the prompt or a peer.

• Every blog post/comment should reflect knowledge of class discussion or materials.

Video Montage

Make a 1-5 minute montage comparing and contrasting an original and a remake.

 

worth 5% of your overall grade

due Friday, January 31st

Formal Assignments

Argument Paper 1

4-5 page paper comparing and contrasting an original film/book/song and its remake. Consider movies like Star Trek, books to movies like Harry Potter series, and even sequels. You may use reviews, articles, and other internet sources (including the primary sources--the texts you’re comparing) to meet the five source minimum.  

worth 10% of your overall grade

due Friday, February 7th

 

The Multimedia Presentation

Creating a YouTube video can be fun and frustrating. I suggest you start this assignment early, so you can figure out the kinks and obstacles with plenty of time to polish and perfect your assignment. The YouTube video will be the first part of a two-part assignment (culminating with the second argument paper).

In groups of three or four, you will hold a short debate, 10-15 minutes, arguing the controversial topics of the class (psychology, community, behavior). I want to see each student taking a distinct stance on the topic which will later be the subject of his paper.

The video must be no longer than 15 minutes, and must include clips, images, audio, and narration. The viewer must be able to hear you narrate, see examples of what you mean, and also be entertained. You may play around with style in this assignment by using captioning, interviews, and charts.

This assignment will be graded in four equal parts:

• Argument. Is your argument logical and have supporting evidence?

• Skill. Do you utilize multiple components in the video to make it engaging?

• Narration. Are you clear, concise, and articulate?

• Relation to Final Paper. Will this YouTube video aid you in your paper?

Worth 15% of your overall grade.

due Friday, April 4th

 

The Argument Paper 2

You will write a short argumentative paper on your stance used in your multimedia project, taking a stance on its importance (or on its problems). 5-7 pages complete with 5-7 sources.

worth 15% of your overall grade

due Friday, April 11th

The Annotated Bibliography

Five sources. MLA Style. The sources must be the sources that you will use in your final paper (paper #3). Every good research paper has a strong sources page. In MLA, we call it the “Works Cited” page. For more extensive research, one is often required to submit a detailed annotated bibliography, which is a Works Cited page that includes a brief description of the material found in each source. Each detailed entry should be about a paragraph in length and should include the major points presented by the source, its strengths and shortcomings, and its relationship to the research paper. Your reader should be able to read this annotation and discern the value of the source based on your information.

worth 10% of your overall grade

due Friday, April 18th

 

The Final Paper

You will write a definition paper. More to be announced. 6-8 pages minimum.

worth 20% of your overall grade

due Friday, April 28th

Grading Rubric

 

Papers are graded based on five equal elements:

Concept, Development, Organization, Style and Mechanics, Format

 

Concept

I look for a strong, creative idea. The assignment should have an interesting title—never use Assignment #1 as a title—and a clear purpose. I also look for a sentence in the assignment that acts as the thesis statement.

 

• strong idea

• good title

• purpose

• thesis sentence

 

Development

They say “the devil's in the details.” I will be checking for your ability to be specific and focused. Start off saying too much and then cut it down. Avoid starting off not saying enough. Make your evidence convincing, your details colorful, and your sources important in all your papers to come.

 

• good descriptions

• clear evidence

• being specific

 

Organization

The structure of your writing is important. I will check to make sure you stay on topic, follow the rules of the particular writing style, and use good transitions.

 

• stay on topic

• transitions

• structure matches paper style

 

Style and Mechanics

Most people think this is the most important part of the paper. I disagree. It's vital, but no more vital than having a good structure or strong examples. I look for spelling errors, grammar issues, punctuation, word choice, and voice. I want you to learn to write LIKE YOU and not imitate other writers. Also, I check to make sure your words match the paper style (no need to write in a funny tone about serious topics).

 

• grammar and spelling • word choice

• voice and tone

 

Format

The assignments should meet the requirements details on the assignment page. Appropriate format, length, and topic is graded here.

 

• MLA format

• assignment requirements

 

________________________________________________________________

 

When you receive a graded paper assignment from me, you will see you grade breakdown as well as your cumulative grade.

 

EXAMPLE:

 

Concept: A. Development: B. Organization: B. Style and Mechanics: B. Format: A.

 

Final Grade: B+.

Tentative Schedule of Events

 

1/14 intro and digital prep

1/16 pre test essay

 

1/19 no class MLK

1/21 Danny Glover to campus

1/23 The research paper SCW READING

 

1/26 TEDTalks “The Psychology of Evil”

1/28 group research (informal annotated bibliography on google docs)

1/30 Toulmin Argument SCW READING

 

2/2 Thesis sentences and proofs (re TedTalk)

2/4 Outlining

2/6 Avoiding Logical Fallacies READING

 

2/9 Ad Hominem, Bandwagon Appeal, Appeal to Tradition

2/11 Straw Man, Appeal to False Authority, Slippery Slope

2/13 Peer Review

 

2/16

2/18

2/20

 

2/23 CAU Art Gallery Trip

2/25 Visual Analysis SCW READING

2/27 Group research (informal annotated bibliography)

 

3/2 Writing the annotated bibliography

3/4 MLA refresher

3/6 Outlining BAD FEMINIST READING

 

MIDWINTER BREAK 3/9-3/13

 

3/16 Gentrification--Spike Lee READING

3/18 Graffiti (re gentrification)

3/20 Analysis or argument? Outlining

 

3/23 More logical fallacies

3/25 TEDTalks; Adichie “Why We all Should Be Feminists” READING

3/27 group discussion

 

3/30 Paragraph and sentence cohesion SCW READING

4/1 Respectability Politics (students bring examples)

4/3 Final Paper brainstorming

 

4/6 TBA

4/8 Grammar bootcamp

4/10 Grammar bootcamp

 

4/13 Final argument paper, research SCW READING

4/15 Peer work

4/17 Peer work

 

4/20 MLA APA refresher

4/22 Storify refresher

4/24 Post test essay

 

4/27 Best of the best

4/29 debriefing