Author: Edmund Jones

The goals of our Analysis of a Contemporary National or International News Story Assignment are in blue font; the results are highlighted in brown font.

To put into practice Lonergan’s Transcendental Precepts

1. One must be attentive and notice what each article says (gathering facts/information)

Students were required to take note of specific aspects of each news story and required to recognize any deviations in the presentation of the facts. They were further required to note their observations in detail and discuss the significance of these variations.

2. One must ask questions, engaging with others and doing your own research into news stories will help you to gather the real facts and investigate them.

Engaging in a dialogue with their peers enabled them to compare their findings and also be exposed to variations of similar news stories. It also exposed them to news media outlets that they may not have been aware or been inclined to consult. We asked the students prior to this assignment where they typically get their news, and we noticed that many tend to stick to one news source – often a “soft” news such as Facebook and Twitter.

3. One must think about the issues and causes that have led to the era of “untruths” is the first step towards having the necessary foundation to share this information with others and promote change, which is for the common good of all people. Recognizing our own part in this also is a step towards making changes for the common good of everyone. (Data shows that some news outlets report in ways, lean towards political views and promote bias that is demanded by their audience)

This assignment enabled them to recognize that many news media outlets have a bias in the way that they present the story. The ability to recognize this gives one the responsibility to distinguish the bias from the hard facts of the story.

4. One must take an ethical stand against biased media and, instead, promote the gathering of real facts.

Students take a stand by rejecting certain news outlets over others based on their understanding of that outlet’s bias. They learn that getting to the hard facts is the right thing to do.

To connect to the theme of After the Fact and provide resources to recognize bias and “untruths”

Discussing this issue promotes critical thinking and awareness

Providing academic research into news bias enables students to examine the issue and come up with their own decision about it.

This assignment assists in fulfilling the following First Year Outcomes

1. Rhetorical Knowledge

Especially in terms of the three major principles of rhetorical knowledge, pathos, logos, and ethos. Additionally, we introduced the concept of kairos, or timeliness.

2. Critical Thinking, Reading, and Composing

Thinking critically about the news are how it is presented; make assessments through reading of these stories and the information presented by their peers; to compose their outcomes effectively.

3. Knowledge of Conventions

This assignment was revised with input from Melinda Papaccio.

Robyn writes,

Not only was the assignment useful, but it  worked out perfectly as an initial assignment to segue into the written text analysis, into reading and analyzing written texts in terms of ethos, which is the focus of my second unit in 1201.

The Assignment Itself

Analysis of a National or International News Story Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate our news sources. I would like you to choose 3 news outlets, select a national or international news story, and then examine the way that the story is reported in each news outlet. Of the three news outlets, you must choose two from the list below. The third can be a news source of your own choosing, perhaps one where you frequently get your news.

News Outlet List:

MSNBC, BBC World News, CNN, Fox, NY Times, Washington Post

Please answer the following questions in complete sentences:

Questions:

• 1. What would happen if you only viewed one reporting of this story? Do you think that your perception of the story would have been different than it is after viewing these differing perspectives?
  2. Are the facts of the story distorted from one news outlet to the next?  Please explain why or why not?

• 1. Are there differences in language?  For example, are they saying the same thing in different ways? Please provide examples from each.
  2. Have elements of the story been omitted or has information been added? For example, what does one news outlet include that another one does not and vice versa?
  3. What images does each news outlet include? Are these images bias in any way?  Please support your perspective.
  4. After looking at the many ways in which this story has been portrayed, do you feel as though you have gotten “the full story”? Is the story clear, or do you feel confused about what actually occurred?
  5. How does the different reporting on these stories affect your interpretation or understanding of the validity of news as a source of information?
  6. Do you think that each news outlet is making an argument about an issue instead of reporting on the story?

Analysis of a National or International News Story Assignment Follow-up Assignment

In-Class Writing Assignment

Please answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. Do you follow the news? If so, what form of media is your news source? If not, please explain why you do not follow the news?
2. After completing the Analysis of a National or International News Story Assignment and taking part in the class discussion, has your view of news media changed? Please explain why or why not?
3. If a course or a job required that you keep up on current events and breaking news but your source needed to be “free” of bias, where would you obtain this information? Please explain why?
4. What factors do or could influence the integrity of those that report the news?
5. Do you think that people’s beliefs can be influenced or even controlled by the news media?

1. How do titles, first paragraphs, and topic sentences set up expectations for (1) why the author wrote the piece, (2) what the subject is, (3) what the author’s attitude toward the subject is, (4) who the author’s audience is?
2. Test out your assumptions from #1 as you read the entire essay.
3. Provide an adequate summary of the essay in less than 100 words.
4. Evaluate how effective is the evidence in support of the argument.
5. Evaluate how credible the author seems and explain what the author does to seem credible.
6. Explain how a passage from an essay connects to the larger argument of the essay.
7. Explain how specific words or phrases relate to the purpose of a paragraph and even the larger article.
8. Recognize figurative language and what purpose it serves in relationship to larger idea/purpose.
9. Recognize when your understanding of a reading requires knowledge of a larger cultural or historical context that you don’t know much about—and then briefly learn about that context.
10. Respond to statements that make you uncomfortable or that you disagree with in ways that further engage with the text.
11. Recognize when a sentence is particularly difficult to understand and figure out what makes it difficult (vocabulary, syntax, context). Paraphrase it; in other words, put it in your own language.

 

Writing Exercise 1

Now that you have read three essays (Nestle, Freedman, Carr), I would like you to choose one whose ideas you find to be particularly important. None of the essays is “easy” so make your selection based upon the ideas the writer presents and whether or not you find these ideas meaningful, provocative, and intriguing, and engage you as a citizen.

In this first writing assignment you will analyze how and why the author develops these ideas. To do this, you will have to define the key terms rhetorical situation, exigence, and rhetorical audience and analyze how each is reflected in the essay of your choice. Describe the rhetorical situation that the writer is responding to by writing the essay (or speech). What is the “exigence” that gives rise to the essay and what action or change do you think the author would like to see? Who is the author’s audience? How can you tell? Use brief direct quotes from your main text as well as Bitzer’s essay as you develop your analysis. Your essay will not be convincing without proper evidence to support them.

This assignment should be at least 2 pages in length, double-spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font. Please copy and paste your assignment. Do not attach it.

 

Writing Exercise 2

For this exercise, respond to the controlling exigence (or secondary exigencies) in the essay of your choice. To do this you should focus on a particular idea that the author develops, so use a couple of quotations that directly represent this idea. Examine this idea carefully. Is this idea important? Why? What are your own thoughts in response to this idea? As you conclude your essay, focus on your own point of view and develop an argument that is somewhat new and either builds upon and extends the author’s ideas or is different from the author’s. It may be a different or unique solution to the problem that the author may not have considered.

This assignment should be at least two pages in length, double-spaced. Please copy and paste your assignment.

 

Essay 1–Rough Draft

The goal of this essay is for you to be able to analyze the exigence presented in the essay of your choice and propose solutions to the problem based on this analysis. The ideas of the published essay should be your springboard, a place of interest or curiosity from which you launch your own ideas. The essay you’re writing should leave the reader with new thoughts and questions and not merely the ideas of the published essay.

As you put Ex. 1 and Ex. 2 together as a rough draft, think of the “parts” of your essay –the analysis of the text, inclusion of Bitzer’s ideas, your response to the ideas of the text, and development of your own thoughts that leads to new ideas and solutions. Please provide sub-headings to the various parts of your essay that guide your readers and help you in focusing and organizing your ideas. Your essay should be coherent and well-organized in structure and compelling in its subject and style. You must use brief quotes from the text as supporting evidence.

Put together all the writing you have done (writing exercises 1 and 2) in the form of a rough draft. You must use brief quotes from the text as supporting evidence.

Please create an interesting and descriptive title for your draft. Your draft should be at least 5 to 6 pages long. Please submit your rough draft as an attachment in Word.

I started using more prompts like this in my class, an online Great Books II class since I am not teaching 1202 this semester.

For Wednesday’s post due this Wednesday the 22nd by 5 pm, write a paragraph from the point of view of a character whose opinion and perspective we do not hear.

Students then responded to each other’s paragraphs.  Here’s an example of a post that noted that in The Queen of Spades by Pushkin we don’t hear much about the point of view of The Countess.  This student dealt with the Countess before and after her death, as her ghost has an afterlife in the plot.  These posts lead to discussions online about how and why certain characters are excluded and how we as readers imagine their experiences, what hints we get from the texts about their lives.

The character I would like to hear from is the countess. We hear about her throughout the story but not from her own point of view, especially about her early life in gambling and her drastic expenses. She says that the story of her gambling and debts was false although she really did have 3 secret cards that won her money back. I would like to see what her version of the story was and a more in depth look at her and Herrmann and if it was all really worth it in the end, him losing his mind.

A character that a few students wrote about was the nurse in Madame Bovary who raises Madame Bovary’s daughter and has few to no choices about how her life will develop.  We get just a glimpse of her, but Flaubert gives us enough description that we know that she represents a reality that the novel is not addressing but one that runs parallel to the world of the plot.  This approach did help students see the parallel worlds alongside the texts.  In future classes, I will spend more time in discussion around these characters and follow up with the following questions – this time around I felt that I rushed along a bit too quickly to get onto the next text on the syllabus.  Here are the questions that I am considering using for the next time I use this assignment:

1. You wrote from the point of view of a neglected character. What hints in the text tell you about this character’s life – perhaps a life suggesting a world that shadows the world of the text?
2. How does that other world, revealed to a small degree by this character, inform the text? For example, in Madame Bovary, how does the nursemaid’s existence contribute to the plot and to Madame Bovary’s life?
3. List the characters whose points of views remain occluded for the reader and those who maintain the central places in the novel. Do you notice anything about what the main characters have in common as opposed to those whose perspectives we do not hear?
4. This is a different, but related assignment – what do you think the character you chose would “say” about the main character? I might end this discussion, online or in person, with a description of a project like “Wide Sargasso Sea,” the novel that imagines Jane Eyre from the point of view of Bertha, the madwoman in the attic.

I found thinking about this assignment beyond the bounds of going through the weekly work in the class to be helpful.

Original Sequence                     Goal for unit:  To develop ways to analyze texts, specifically, (1) to find patterns in the students’ own observations and (2) to develop perspectives on a text by considering alternative ideas about morality in texts and in class discussion.  To analyze one text closely, developing an thesis that integrates all the observations made through close reading.	Expansion
Homework:  Read Brandt (191)and Didion (179) and write an elegant, inclusive summary of each, that is, a summary that includes all the main points and that does so in a way that is concise and powerful. To prepare for this, do the part-whole exercise by marking and labeling the parts in the book. Write a response (focused freewrite) to main idea of each (combined, 1-2 pages).  You may wish to have students answer the “Previewing” questions in class before doing the reading.  (See page 5-6 in The Presence of Others.)  Other useful material for critical thinking may be found in The Presence of Others, pp. 1-7 and 19-21, in The Bedford Reader, pp. 478-491, and the Critical Thinking website.	Because you meet twice a day, you can have students review how to do a part-whole exercise in class before you give them this assignment.
Day 1.  Didion may best be approached as a mystery essay:  first identifying the most explicit statements of theme and using them as clues to decipher how the other parts of the essay (various stories) connect with or amplify those themes.  Students’ part-whole exercises can be reviewed for how inclusive and elegant their summaries are.  Then students can make a list of things they like and dislike about the essay they feel most engaged by and search for patterns among those lists.  Homework:  Read Gilligan (169) and Gomes (205). Before reading the Gilligan, do a bit of freewriting to think about whether you’ve noticed a difference in what men and women value as morally correct. As you read Gomes, consider how Didion might react to him.  Write a summary, doing the part-whole exercise in your book (or underlining and connecting key concepts, as we did in class), and write a response (about 1 page each). In your annotating, pay special attention to places you liked and disliked.	You will have time to review both the Brandt and the Didion in some detail.  You can review, by projecting assignments in Blackboard onto the screen, how students divided the essays into parts and how they labeled those parts, instead of just reviewing the summaries.  Students can work in groups to come up with superior summaries and compete for the most elegantly written summary that is also inclusive of all the major points. You can begin essays in class the day before, especially to have them reflect on how they read and what strategies they can adopt.  (See Goals-Activities page.)
Day 2.  Review their summaries of Gilligan and Gomes, possibly doing one as a class and one in pairs or groups of three.  Focus primarily on Gilligan essay by using LCD projector to share provocative excerpts from their responses to Gilligan in Blackboard.  Use discussion to help them think critically about where Gilligan’s essay is strong or weak, especially the role that interpretation of data plays. Homework:  Read the King essay (142). To get into it, I recommend that you first put yourself in his position (in jail, South still segregated even 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, himself a clergyman) and do a freewrite about what you might be thinking about fellow clergyman who criticized the demonstrations against unfair hiring practices in Birmingham, Alabama, as “unwise and untimely.” What do you think Didion would say of King’s call to conscience?	In class, you’d be able to devote significant time to both the Gilligan and the Gomes.  There would be more hands-on time to have students compile lists of what they liked and disliked, notice where they agree and disagree with each other, and notice patterns in their likes and dislikes.
Day 3.  Discuss King, especially to consider various perspectives on his essay, including the white ministers and Didion.  Consider how bias in language might vary depending on one’s point of view.  See possible questions. End class by strategizing how today’s discussion could be used within a critical essay.  Homework:  Choose one of the four essays we’ve read in the “Moralities” section of The Presence of Others. Reread it. Note all the places that you particularly like, dislike, or have some reaction to. Revise your summary to create one that is truly elegant and inclusive, that connects all the major parts in a way that “flows.”  Then select and answer questions for analysis from the following sources and answer them in relation to the text you are critiquing:  The Presence of Others, pp. 1-7 and 19-21, and The Bedford Reader, pp. 478-491.  Come to class prepared to discuss with a group of students who have also read your essay what you can conclude about it.	You will have far more time to help students not just consider but plan how to use the discussion of King.  You could prepare students to take notes during the class discussion, ask them to refer to those notes to create a list of points on the board, notice patterns among the notes, and do a focused freewrite to arrive at a possible thesis.
Day 4.   Students meet in groups according to the essay read.  Their task is to share all their observations with the idea of coming up with a description of the persona that arises from the text.  They can be very creative with this as long as they support their description by referring to the text.  The groups can share these persona descriptions briefly with the whole class.  Homework:  Revisit all the places you noted that you had a strong reaction in the text and all the answers to critical questions (all from yesterday’s homework) and create a special double-entry journal, in which the left column is composed of quotes or paraphrased material from your text and the right column is your critical response to it.  Color code the right column entries according to patterns you notice. In a sentence or two, identify each of these patterns.  Finally write a thesis statement that integrates all of these patterns and the persona work from class.	You will have time to teach them how to do this complex assignment by going over an example journal or even beginning the assignment in class.
Day 5.  Project one particularly generative double-entry journal on the board and have the class problem-solve their way through the next steps:  critiquing the thesis and deciding upon the parts of the essay based upon the two columns of the journal.  Students might then work in pairs to critique and organize each of their own essays. Discuss paraphrasing and summarizing as it applies to the first draft.  Have students write an introduction in class. Homework:  First draft of Analytical Essay #2, including Work Cited and metatext.  See essay assignment.	Students will need time to practice paraphrasing and summarizing in class.  They will need one-on-one attention to develop their thesis and organize their essay.  This would be a perfect day for the tutor to appear.
Day 6.  Begin by reviewing some introductions and body paragraphs from a few strong first drafts (if possible by previewing in Blackboard).  The class will use key questions for peer response as a partial guide to respond to a peer’s draft.  Homework:  Second draft of essay.	Students will probably have time in class to do all the peer review work and to meet with their peers to discuss their comments.
Day 7.  Have students do some editing work, teaching grammatical concepts where necessary.  Homework:  Final draft, submitting both in Blackboard and via hard copy.	You’ll have more time to teach grammatical concepts in context, both by using The Bedford Handbook and by letting them work in pairs to edit a handout of selected sentences from their essays.   In fact, this unit would probably not be designed with three drafts if it were a regular 1201 because the paper load would be too heavy.

 

ENGL1201

FALL2011

SBRIGLIA

PAPER#2

ANALYTICAL AND CRITICAL ESSAY

Analyze and evaluate the following two articles on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s“The Birthmark”:

Heilman, R.B. “Hawthorne’s‘The Birthmark’: Science as Religion.’”South Atlantic Quarterly48 (1949): 575-83.

&

Fetterley, Judith.“Women Beware Science: ‘The Birthmark.’” Critical Essays on Hawthorne’s Short Stories. Ed. Albert J.Von Frank. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991. 164-73.

Your tasks in this paper are to:

• Address each critic’s main claim(s)—that is, address each critic’s thesis/main argument. How are their claims similar? How are they different?
• Identify the key pieces of evidence (i.e., quotes/passages, scenes, etc.) from Melville’s story that each critic uses to support his claim(s).
• Evaluate each critic’s use of this evidence—that is, think critically about how the evidence each critic uses either helps or hinders his overall argument. Do you agree with their interpretation of this textual evidence? Why or why not? Do the critics at any point use the same or similar evidence to make different claims? If so, how do you account for this difference?
• Take a position—that is, make a case for whose essay is more convincing—and then explain this position.

When reading and writing about these articles, place them in dialogue with each other by asking yourself the following questions. Please note that you are not to attempt to answer all of these questions directly in your paper. The purpose of these questions, rather, is to help ground your reading of these essays as well as to help determine the direction of your paper.

• What is the main theme, question, or issue driving the conversation between these two critics?
• What is the common problem, or problems, that both articles address?
• What is the critic’s main argument?
• Of what does the critic hope to convince the reader?
• What evidence does the critic use to support his argument?
• What are the article’s strengths and weaknesses?
• In what ways are their arguments similar? How are they different?
• Which of the critics (if either) do you tend to agree with more and why?

AUDIENCE:

Your instructor and classmates/peers—those who have read and are thus familiar with the story and the essays but who mayhave opinions different from your own.

OBJECTIVES:

• Familiarize yourself with critical, academic articles.
• Create a meaningful dialogue between critical sources.
• Integrate analysis of primary and secondary (critical) sources.
• Join a pre-existing academic dialogue.

GRADING CRITERIA:

• Clear and well-argued thesis.
• Appropriate evidence introduced and analyzed to support your thesis.
• Arguments of the two critics accurately assessed and applied.
• Appropriate tone and voice for defined audience.
• Focused paragraphs with clear topic sentences and good transitions both within and between paragraphs.
• Proper punctuation/mechanics throughout.

FORMAT:

• MLA style citation/documentation
• 4-5 double-spaced pages
• 1 inch margins all around, 12-point Times New Roman font
• Include your name, course title (ENGL 1201), my name,and the date in the upper-left corner of the first page of your paper
• Number your pages in the header (last name and page number: e.g. “Sbriglia 4”)

OTHER DETAILS:

• Bring two copies of your paper draft to class on Thursday, October27thfor peer review and feedback.
• Final draft due on Tuesday, November 8th.
• Remember to include your peer-commented draft and self-assessment along with your final draft.
• As always, see me if you have any questions!

UNIT 1: LITERATURE AND ETHNIC IDENTITY (and the Study of Music)

(Note: Page number shows where the selection begins.  Ending page number is not given.)

Week I : Introduction.  Literature: “Introduction” (1) ; Langston Hughes, “Harlem” and selected poems (994); “Langston Hughes in Context” (989); Handbook– Part IX: “Critical Thinking,” Chapter 46 (skim).

Week II :  Walker “Everyday Use” (743); Part 1, Chapter 1,“Reading Stories” (27); Chapter 3, “Elements of Fiction” (49) – “Plot and Structure”(49), “Character” (59); “Setting” (66).   Part 4, Chapter 32, Writing with Sources:  “Selecting a Topic” (2120) and “Developing a Thesis” (2127).  Cisneros (238-240), “Barbie-Q” (243) and “Eleven” (241); on-line reading — Copeland.   Topics for Paper 1 due on Thursday.  You must find a musical piece that connects with the work of literature you will be discussing for your paper, dealing with the topic of ethnic identity.   You may deal with the ethnicity described in the text, or you may focus on your own ethnicity and link it with the depiction in the story or poem you have chosen, as well as the musical piece.   Lyrics posted in Blackboard also due on Thursday.

Week III :  – Literature: Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” (433); Part 2, Poetry, Chapter 11, “Reading Poems” (762);  Kinnell, “Blackberry Eating” (1148); Yeats, “When You Are Old” (1223); Part 1, Chapter 4, “Writing about Fiction” (111) and Part 2, Chapter 14, “Writing about Poetry” (843).  On-line reading: King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail.  Handbook: Part X: “Writing Arguments” and “Writing About Literature,” Part XI: “Document Design,” Outlines for Paper 1 due Thursday.

Week IV : Literature:  Joyce, “The Dead”(584);  Jen, Gish. “Who’s Irish?” (340);  Part 2, Chapter 9,  “Elements of Poetry,” “Voice, Speaker and Tone” (779),  “Diction” (787), “Imagery” (793); Lee, “I Ask My Mother to Sing” (1153); Rough Drafts of Paper 2 due on Thursday.

UNIT 2: LITERATURE AND THE BIBLE (and the Study of Art)

Week V :  Literature: “The Prodigal Son” (27); Bishop, “The Prodigal” and Rembrandt van  Rijn “The Return of the Prodigal (art section of the text, between pages 906 and 907; this poem and image are on p. 9 of this section);  Topics for Paper 2 due on Thursday; Paper 2 must examine a work of literature in connection with a work of art, both dealing with a Biblical subject.  You may choose one of the readings in this unit, or find another one on your own (if it’s approved by me).   The reading may be from the Bible itself or inspired by it in terms of subject and theme.   Examine the museum databases in the External Links of our course and select and image and post it in Blackboard, along with the work of literature with which you want to link it.  Be prepared to share your choice with the class.

Week VI: Literature: John Donne, Holy Sonnets “Death Be Not Proud” and “Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God”; Hopkins, “The Wind Hover”; Part 2, Chapter 9, “Elements of Poetry,” “Figures of Speech: Simile and Metaphor” and “Symbolism and Allegory.” On-line reading: Sermon on the Mount.  Outline for Paper 2 due on Thursday.

Week VII: Literature: Flannery O’Connor, “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and “Revelation” (on-line); readings on Flannery O’Connor.  On-line reading: selections from Genesis. Rough Drafts of Paper 2 due on Thursday.

Week VIII: Literature:  Herbert, “Love III” (hand-out), “The Altar” (950); Part 2, Chapter 9, “Elements of Poetry,” “Syntax,” “Sound: Rhyme, Alliteration, and Assonance,” “Rhythm and Meter,” and “Structure.” On-line reading: Weil. Paper 2 due on Thursday.

UNIT 3: LITERATURE AND THE FAMILY: GENDER AND GENERATIONAL CONFLICT (and the Study of Film)

Week IX :  Tuesday – Mid-term Exam.   Thursday – Introduction to Drama. Literature: Part 3, Drama, Chapter 22, “Reading Plays” (1247-1249) and Chapter 23, “Types of Drama,” Chapter 27, “The Elizabethan Theatre: Shakespeare in Context” (1387-1391); Midsummer Night’s Dream(1391), Act I . Topics for Paper 3 due on Thursday.

Week X: Literature: Part 3, Chapter 24, “Elements of Drama,” “Plot,” “Character,” “Dialogue,” “Staging,” “Symbolism and Irony,” and “Theme”;  Midsummer Night’s Dream, cont’d., Acts II and  III.   Outlines for Paper 3 due on Thursday.

Week XI :  Literature:  Midsummer Night’s Dream, cont’d., Acts IV and V . Sample Notecards for Paper 3 due on Thursday.  View excerpts from Film of Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Week XII: Literature: Part 3, Chapter 26, “The Greek Theatre: Sophocles in Context” (1302-1307); Antigone (1347); Prologue and Parodos, Scene I, Ode I, Scene II, Ode II,. Rough Drafts for Paper 3 due on Tuesday.

Week XIII: Literature: Antigone, cont’d., Scene III, Ode III;  View excerpts from  Film of Antigone.

Week XIV: Paper 3 (6 full pages, min.; 4 sources, min.) due on Tuesday. Literature:  Antigone, cont’d. Scene IV, Ode IV, Scene V, Paean, Exodos..

Week XV: Students’ choice of reading. Review.

This syllabus may be changed.  Any such changes will be announced in class or by e-mail.  It is your responsibility to find out about changes in readings or assignments.

Journal: Students will post journal entries each week.  These postings will be part of your class participation grade.

Blackboard Discussion: Students, in groups and individually, will post answers to questions in Blackboard on a regular basis.  This will count as part of class participation.

Late papers will be down-graded one half letter grade for each class day late and not accepted at all after two weeks.

Grading is as follows:

Two shorter papers           (30%)
OR three shorter papers (either continuing as  30% or perhaps increasing in value 10%,      15%, 20%, with the research paper as 25%)
One research paper           (30%)
OR if doing three shorter papers, instead of two, you might make this 25% — see above.
Class participation            15%
Mid-term exam                  10%
Final exam                         10%
Writing Center                     5%

Notes:  Materials for the on-line inter-disciplinary portion of 1202 are available in the TPP Community and the Writing Faculty Blackboard course; faculty members are also free to use their own source materials, so long as they fit their theme and fall into the required number of sources (3-5).

The sample syllabus is from a Humanities version of the course.   Obviously, another version would use different inter-disciplinary focuses, but the basic idea will be the same.  The largest portion of the readings, by far, is from the literature text.  The on-line accompanying readings are supplemental and linked closely to the literary focus of the course.

Note that the film portion of the last third of the course involves showing only excerpts of films, not entire class meetings devoted to watching a film.  Students can be directed to view films on their own.  Small portions of film, however, may be shown and discussed in class.

If you have any questions about creating your syllabus, please contact Dr. Kelly Shea, Director of First Year Writing.