Office PE 4. Your essay consultations will be conducted in my office. Email: jmcmahon@elcamino.edu
Website: Breakthrough Writer: http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/
Required Materials
and Texts: Spiral-bound notebook for
journal entries; Cooked by Louis Jeff Henderson; Where I’m Calling From by Raymond Carver; The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier; Back in the World
by Tobias Wolff; Rules for Writers
by Diana Hacker.
Students with
Disabilities:
If you have a
documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please
contact me as soon as possible.
Student Learning
Objective
Given an out-of-class writing
task in which students find multiple sources related to a particular topic,
students will write a research report, which shows the ability to support a
thesis using analysis, to
synthesize and integrate materials effectively from a variety of sources, and
to cite sources in MLA format (including a works cited page). The report is
organized, technically correct
in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling and word use,
and demonstrates thoughtful treatment of the topic.
Grading (based on
mandatory 8,000 pages):
Four Research
Papers (1,250 words, 5 double-spaced
pages): 225 each for total of 900 points
Journal Entries. One for each reading assignment. Each entry should
be a page long. If you don’t do it in class, do it as homework.
Grand Total: 1,000 points
Policies:
Late Papers: Reduce one full grade ; no late papers accepted AFTER
ONE WEEK. Since not turning in a paper will probably fail you, I’ll drop you at
that point.
Research Papers should be approximately 1,000 words, 12 font, Times
New Roman, page numbers, name, and essay title in upper right hand corner
(headers in Microsoft View) and Works Cited should have minimum 3 sources and
spacing using MLA format.
Revisions: You may revise one paper for 10-30 pts. depending on
the quality of the rewrite. Revision must be turned in one week after
original due date.
If your research paper
has no headers, your last name and page number on every page, your essay will
be deducted 20 points.
If your research paper
has no Works Cited page, you’ll lose 40 points.
Student Learning Objectives:
I.
Review of Grammar and Usage
The student will locate and demonstrate the ability to
correct the following errors in a composition:
A. sentence fragments
B. comma splices
C. misused commas
D. fused sentences
E. misplaced and dangling modifiers
F. incorrect pronoun case
G. faculty pronoun references
H. pronoun-antecedent disagreement
I. subject-verb agreement
J. wrong tense
II. Instruction in Reading
A. Essays
The student will
1. locate and paraphrase the thesis/preposition
2. identify the basic types of support used to develop
the thesis or proposition: examples, facts, details, reasons, illustrations,
anecdotes
3. indicate the shift from general to specific levels
of support
4. distinguish statements of fact from statements of
opinion
5. identify the method of development/strategy used:
comparison, contrast, classification, definition, cause/effect, process,
persuasion
6. summarize the idea and content
7. advocate or challenge the author's opinions
B. Short fiction and poetry
The student will
1. paraphrase the work
2. identify and define the central theme or metaphor
3. assess the aesthetic qualities of the work
4. compare the work with another, drawing conclusions
based on appropriate criteria
C. Book-length nonfiction
The student will
1. summarize the work in its separate units and as a
complete entity
2. identify the central theme or themes
3. judge the value of the information
4. advocate or challenge the author's opinions
D. Novels
The student will
1. summarize the plot
2. identify the central themes
3. indicate the functions of characters, plot, and
setting in relation to the themes
4. judge the aesthetic value of 2 or 3 and of the
whole work
III. Instruction in Composition
The student will
1. compose theses/topic statements of a proper scope
for the composition
2. delimit subjects by brainstorming and outlining
3. organize the content of a composition using
spatial, climatic, and/or chronological principles
4. use a range of general and specific levels of
support with proper transitions to signal shifts from one level to another
5. compose introductory and concluding paragraphs for
a composition
6. compose a timed essay
7. perform research techniques (use library resources,
cite and document sources) and compose a formal research paper of at least 1250
words, utilizing parenthetical documentation
Reading and
Writing Schedule for 1A Summer of 2010: June 28-August 5
June 28 Introduction
June 29: Cooked: Read pages 1-50
June 30: Cooked: Read pages 51-100
July 1 Cooked: Read pages 101-165.
July 5 Holiday
July 6 Cooked Read pages 166-end
July 7 Essay 1 Due
July 8 Essay 1 Due
July 12 The
Chocolate War: Read pages 1-60
July 13 The
Chocolate War: Read pages 61-120
July 14 The
Chocolate War: Read pages 121-180
July 15 The
Chocolate War: Read pages 181-end
July 19 Essay 2 Due
July 20 Essay 2 Due
July 21 Where I’m
Calling From: “What We Talk About . .
.” 170
July 22 Where I’m
Calling From: “Cathedral” 356
July 26 Where I’m
Calling From: “Feathers” 332
July 27 Essay 3 Due
July 28 Essay 3 Due
July 29 Back in the
World: “The Rich Brother” 189; “Say
Yes” 53
August 2 Back in
the World: “The Missing Person” 17
August 3 Back in
the World: “Dessert Breakdown” 117
August 4 Essay 4 and
Journal (14 one-page entries)Are Due
August 5 Essay 4 and
Journal (14 one-page entries) Are Due
1A Writing
Assignments for Summer 2010
Essay One: The
Fall, Perdition, and Redemption in Cooked
In 1-1.5 pages, write
a salient, concrete, colorful profile of someone you know who experienced a
fall, perdition, and redemption. If you don't know such a person, find a
character in a film or a work of literature.
Then using an
appropriate paragraph transition such as "Similarly" or
"Likewise," you might start your thesis paragraph this way:
Likewise, we read in
Cooked about the extraordinary Jeff Henderson who undergoes his own Fall into
the abyss of insanity and a redemption born from necessity. JH's Fall is caused
by ___________________, _________________________, and
_____________________________. Only after sinking to the rotten depths of
nihilism does he begin his journey toward redemption. This salubrious journey
is born from _____________________________, ____________________________,
_____________________________, and ______________________________________.
Your body paragraphs
will correspond to the components you use to fill in the above blanks. Your
conclusion will be one sentence, a brief, dramatic restatement of your thesis.
Your final page, your Works Cited page, will show the sources you used from Cooked, from my blog, from interviews, or from other helpful
sources you find. Your Works Cited page and manuscript must conform to MLA
format. Be sure to make your own catchy, creative title.
Essay 2: Tribalism,
Symbiosis, Obedience, Conformity, Determinism, and Individual Conscience in The
Chocolate War
In page one, analyze
the forces in the novel that would compel us to call it a “dark vision of the
human condition.”
Then in the second
page, start your thesis paragraph in which you connect the themes to the
dangers of obedience as it relates to power, authority, and symbiosis. Because
this is your multiple-source research paper, you will need to connect the
novel’s themes to themes outside the text. You may, for example, look at the
theme of obedience in the context of Stanley Milgram’s famous experiments or
the abuse of power in the Stanford Experiment.
A thesis might look
like this: The Chocolate War shows the demands of tribalism, which compromises
our humanity by ________________________, _____________________________,
_________________________, and _______________________________.
In your final page,
you will write about how you or someone you know had a conflict between
individual conscience and conformity during a “peer pressure” situation that
revealed the “tiger’s claw of tribalism.” You conclusion will tie in your
personal account with your novel analysis.
Your body paragraphs
will correspond to the components you use to fill in the above blanks. Your
conclusion will be one sentence, a brief, dramatic restatement of your thesis.
Your final page, your Works Cited page, will show the sources you used from Where
I’m Calling From, from my blog, from
interviews, or from other helpful sources you find. Your Works Cited page
and manuscript must conform to MLA format. Be sure to make your own catchy,
creative title.
Essay
3: The War Between the Ego and Empathy in Where I’m Calling From
In page one, profile someone
who suffers “the type of swollen ego that results in solipsism and isolation
from sanity, maturity, and the human race.” Then in your second page, profile
someone who embodies the “sweet grace of empathy” and show how this person’s
empathy connects him or her to others.
Then using an appropriate
paragraph transition such as "Similarly" or "Likewise," you
might start your thesis paragraph this way:
The above characters
are antithetical to each other. Similarly, the stories pit characters at war
between their egos and the liberation of empathy. Egotism in the stories
(choose no fewer than 3) of Raymond Carver has grave consequences, which
include _______________________, _________________________,
________________________, and ____________________________. In contrast,
empathy has a healing effect on the downtrodden evidenced by
_________________________, _______________________, __________________________,
and ______________________________.
Your body paragraphs
will correspond to the components you use to fill in the above blanks. Your conclusion
will be one sentence, a brief, dramatic restatement of your thesis. Your final
page, your Works Cited page, will show the sources you used from Where I’m
Calling From, from my blog, from
interviews, or from other helpful sources you find. Your Works Cited page
and manuscript must conform to MLA format. Be sure to make your own catchy,
creative title.
Option #2: Redemptive and Misguided Love
In a 5-page essay, contrast misguided love (“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” “Feathers,” “Elephant”) and redemptive love (“A Small, Good Thing” and “Cathedral”) in the aforementioned stories.
Option #3: Symbiosis
In a 5-page essay explain the meaning of symbiosis or unhealthy mutual dependence in “Feathers” and “Elephant.” Before your comparison of the two stories, write a one-page introduction about an unhealthy symbiotic you’ve observed from your personal experience.
Option #4: The Chimera
Compare Mel McGuiness’ chimera from “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” with the chimera that afflicts the couple in “Feathers.” Before you compare the chimeras from the two stories, begin with a one-page introduction in which you describe a chimera that once afflicted you or someone else you know.
Option #5: Solipsism
In 1 or 2 pages, profile someone you know who descended into the private hell of solipsism. Then compare in 3 or 4 pages the solipsism evident in Mel from "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" and the narrator (before his transformation) in "Cathedral."
Option #6: The Disaffected
In a page, profile someone you know who is disaffected. Then analyze the causes and effects of the disaffected characters in "Cathedral" and "Feathers."
Some Research Links
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Symbiosis According to Erich Fromm
Symbiosis and the Fear of Freedom
David Foster Wallace and Solipsism
Essay 4 When Our World
Turns Upside Down: The Terrifying Character Awakenings in Back in the World
In your first two pages,
profile someone (your or anyone else) who had lived too long “removed from the
world” and narrate the incident that re-connected this person to reality.
Then using an
appropriate paragraph transition such as "Similarly" or
"Likewise," you might start your thesis paragraph this way:
Similarly, the
characters (drawn from no fewer than 3 stories) in Tobias Wolff’s masterful
stories go on their own “Back in the World” journey, an arduous, excruciating
passage that is characterized by ____________________________,
_______________________, _____________________________, and
_____________________________.
Your body paragraphs
will correspond to the components you use to fill in the above blanks. Your
conclusion will be one sentence, a brief, dramatic restatement of your thesis.
Your final page, your Works Cited page, will show the sources you used from Back
in the World, from my blog, from
interviews, or from other helpful sources you find. Your Works Cited page
and manuscript must conform to MLA format. Be sure to make your own catchy,
creative title.
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