College English I – Sample Syllabus
For Five Essays
Requirements for Exploratory Essay (should be graded):
Read at least two essays in the unit
Paper: 2-3 pages long (500-750 words)
Rhetorical concept/ Developmental strategy: Process Analysis (Sequencing); Stylistic concept: Purpose and audience
Research concepts: Incorporation of quotations; in-text citations and Works Cited (MLA format) (see Handbook).
Grammar concepts: “Punctuation” (see Handbook)
They Say, I Say (TSIS), Introduction, Part 1, and Part 4, Chapter 11.
Week I: Introduction; validation essay; syllabus review; The Little Seagull Handbook, Write, “Writing Contexts”; Reading the World, Part 1, Chapter 1, “On Education,” Seneca (16); They Say, I Say (TSIS), Introduction.
Week II: The Little Seagull Handbook, Write, “Writing Processes” and “Developing Paragraphs” (section W-2); Reading the World, Part 2, Chapter 8, “Reading Ideas”; Part 1, Chapter 1, “On Education,” Tzu (8); Douglass (46). Practice prewriting, drafting in preparation for the Exploratory Essay; TSIS, Part 1, Chapter 1.
Weeks III: Little Seagull Handbook, Write, “Reading Strategies” and “Designing What You Write” (sections W-12, W-4);; Exploratory Essay; Reading the World, Part 2, Chapter 9, “Generating Ideas”; Part 1, Chapter 1, “On Education,” Newman (53), Freire (62); TSIS, Part 1, Chapter 2 and Part 4, Chapter 11, “Entering Class Discussions.”
Requirements for Analytical Essay I: Read at least four essays or 20 pages in the unit
Paper: 2-3 pages long (500-750 words)
Rhetorical concept/ Developmental strategy: Division and Classification.
Stylistic concept: Bias in language (Handbook, 472-474)
Research concept: Note taking; further practice in all previous techniques (see Handbook).
Grammar concepts: “Word Choice,” “Clear Sentences” (see Handbook).
They Say, I Say (TSIS), Part 1, cont’d., and Part 2, I Say.
Weeks IV and V: Critical/Analytical Essay I (of a Visual Text): Little Seagull, Kinds of Writing, “Analyses”; Reading the World, Part 2, Chapter 10, “Structuring Ideas”; Part 1, Chapter 4, “War and Peace,” St. Thomas Aquinas (260); image “The Progress of an Aztec Warrior” (265); Delacroix “Liberty Leading the People” (968); Orwell (282); Picasso “Guernica” (271); TSIS, Part 1, Chapter 3
Required Concepts for Analytical Essay II: Read at least four essays or 20 pages in the unit
Paper: 3 – 4 pages long (750 – 1000 words)
Rhetorical concept/ Developmental strategy: Definition.
Stylistic concept: Logic, metaphor and analogy (Handbook 65, 266, 19).
Research concept: Paraphrasing and summarizing; further practice in all previous techniques (see Handbook, sections R-4c and 4d, 85-87).
Grammar concepts: Sentences (see Handbook, section S-1, 230-261).
They Say, I Say (TSIS), Part 2, I Say and Part 4, Chapter 12.
Weeks VI, VII, and VIII: Critical/Analytical Essay II (of a Written Text): Reading the World, Part 2, Chapter 11, “Structuring Ideas”; Part 1, Chapter 3, “Law and Government”; DePizan (175); Machiavelli (184); King (202); Tutu (227); Obama (238); TSIS, Part 2, Chapters 4-6 and Part 4, Chapter 12, “What’s Motivating the Writer?
Requirements for Persuasive Essay:
Read at least four essays or 20 pages in the units (“Language and Rhetoric” and “Science and Nature”)
Paper: 4-5 pages long (1000 – 1250 words)
Rhetorical concept: Causal Analysis
Stylistic concept: Tone and stance
Research concept: Analyzing and evaluating web sites; further practice in all previous techniques (see Handbook 74-75, 161-162).
Grammar concepts: Language (see Handbook., section L-1).
They Say, I Say (TSIS), Part 3, Tying It All Together and Part 4, Chapter 13.
Weeks IX, X, and XI: Persuasive Essay: Little Seagull Handbook, “Arguments”; Reading the World, Part 1, “Language and Rhetoric”; Chapter 7, “Language and Rhetoric,” Perecles (470); Plato (478); Aristotle (489); Chapter 6, “Science and Nature,” Maimonides (397); Carson (419); Gore (454); TSIS, Part 3, Chapters 7-8 and Part 4, Chapter 13, “Reading in the Sciences.”
Requirements for Research Essay:
Read at least four essays or 20 pages in the unit.
Paper: at least 6 pages long (1500 – 1750 words)
Rhetorical concept/ Developmental strategy: Comparison and Contrast
Stylistic concept: Logical fallacies
Research concept: Research techniques; further practice in all previous techniques (see Handbook).
Grammar concepts: Punctuation and Mechanics (see Handbook).
They Say, I Say (TSIS), Part 3, cont’d and Part 4, Chapter 14.
Weeks XII, XIII, and XIV: Research Essay: Little Seagull Handbook, Research, Documentation; Reading the World, Part 1, Chapter 5, “Wealth, Poverty, and Social Class”; New Testament, Luke, Chapter 16 (315); Gandhi (332); Part 1, Chapter 2, Plato (89); Walls (summer read); TSIS, Part 3, Chapter 9 and Part 4, Chapter 14 “Reading in the Social Sciences.”
Other concepts to be developed cumulatively throughout the semester (one introduced per unit/ paper)
Purpose and audience
Tone and stance
Logic, metaphor, and analogy
Logical fallacies
Bias in language