McMahon Summer 2014 Syllabus for English 1A Second Session
Office H121P; Work Phone: 5673; email:jmcmahon@elcamino.edu
Office Hours Monday through Thursday 3:15-3:45
Students with Disabilities: If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.
Grading Template (updated)
One. 4 quizzes, 500 words each, 50 points each, 200 total
Two. Attendance based on tardies, participation, reading preparedness, staying off smartphones, not doing homework from other classes: 50
Three. First Three 1,200-word essays: 150 points each, 450 total
Four. Final 1,500-word essay: 400
Grand Point Final 1,100
Policy on Plagiarism
The software turnitin will be used to investigate any writing suspected of plagiarism. Any attempt to commit fraud, misrepresenting someone else’s writing as your own, including turning in essays from previous semesters, will result in an automatic F grade, zero points, which mathematically, will disqualify you from earning a grade higher than a C for the semester. You will not be allowed to rewrite for a higher grade and because of the breach of trust it will be preferred that you drop the class.
No rewrites since peer edit is your chance to rewrite your essay. However, you can do an extra credit paper to earn additional points. 40 points maximum.
Late papers lose 30 points.
Books You Need to Buy for This Class, Writing Assignments and Grading
Essay 1: Back in the World by Tobias Wolff, 150 points
Option One
We read in Judith Shulvit's Slate book review of Our Story Begins the following:
To read a collection of Wolff's work that spans the years is to realize that he is obsessed with the act of lying. Asked in an interview why so many of his characters lie, Wolff replied, "The world is not enough, maybe? … To lie is to say the thing that is not, so there's obviously an unhappiness with what is, a discontent." A recent outbreak of faked memoirs has set off a storm of outraged pontification about why people pass off false histories as their own, so it's satisfying to read about liars who lie for interesting reasons rather than the usual despicable ones. Wolff is, in fact, a genius at locating the truths revealed by lies—the ancient and holy tongues, you might say, the otherwise inexpressible inner realities that lies give voice to.
In a 5-page paper, typed and double-spaced, develop a thesis that analyzes the characters' need to lie in Tobias Wolff's collection Back in the World. Address at least 4 stories in your essay. For your Works Cited, use Wolff's collection, my blog, and a book review.
Option 2
In one of his darker moods, our instructor McMahon said this about the human race:
"We are a lost and sorry lot, hopelessly imprisoned by self-deception: false narratives we rely on to define our identities; tantalizing chimeras that assuage the boredom of our banal existence, and willed ignorance that prevents us from seeing the grotesqueries roiling just underneath the facade that we present to the world and to ourselves. As a result, we are crazed and deformed creatures forever lost in a world of solipsism."
In a 5-page essay, analyze McMahon's remarks in the context of no fewer than 4 stories from Tobias Wolff's collection Back in the World.
For your Works Cited, use Wolff's collection, my blog, and a book review.
Option 3
One camp of readers argue that Wolff's fiction is redemptive in that its characters are delivered from their delusions through life-changing epiphanies that propel them back into the world of reality and personal accountability. Another camp of readers say the epiphanies come too little too late and only serve to speak to the characters' lives, which can be defined by endless cycles of futility and as such Wolff's stories are not redemptive but nihilistic.
What camp are you in? Develop an argumentative thesis that defends your position in a 5-page essay. For your Works Cited, use Wolff's collection, my blog, and a book review.
Essay 2: Cooked by Jeff Henderson, 150 points
A wise man once said that when we think we're rising in life, we're really falling and when we think we're falling, we're really rising. In a 5-page essay, apply this wisdom, in all of its psychological complexity, to Jeff Henderson's journey and compare to someone from a personal interview. Use blog, book, and personal interview for your sixth page, your Works Cited page.
Essay 3: A Good Fall by Ha Jin, 150 points
In a 5-page essay, contrast helplessness and its resulting recurring cycle of futility with the Third Eye and its resulting effective action in at least 2 of the stories. Use personal interviews to give further depth to your contrast of helplessness and the Third Eye. Your sixth page, your Works Cited page, should have my blog, the book, and your personal interview.
Final Essay 4, Worth 400 Points: The Healing of America by T.R. Reid
In a 6-page research paper, not including your Works Cited page, address the following proposition with an argumentative thesis:
One camp of readers would praise T.R. Reid’s book as a heavy dose of sanity counteracting a sick American public health care policy shackled by greedy politicians and insurance functionaries, polarized pundits, fear tactics, close-mindedness, and other pathologies. Another camp of readers would repudiate Reid’s book as an ideologically fueled polemic sodden with biases, fantasies, and socialistic excesses. Which camp are you in? Support your position in a thesis with mapping components that defend your assertion. Be sure to address your opponents to show why they’re misguided in at least a page of your essay.
Your guidelines are as follows:
This research paper should present a thesis that is specific, manageable, provable, and contestable—in other words, the thesis should offer a clear position, stand, or opinion that will be proven with research.
You should analyze and prove your thesis using examples and quotes from a variety of sources.
You need to research and cite from at least five sources.
You must use at least 3 different types of sources.
At least one source must be from an ECC library database.
At least one source must be a book, anthology or textbook.
At least one source must be from a credible website, appropriate for academic use.
The paper should not over-rely on one main source for most of the information. Rather, it should use multiple sources and synthesize the information found in them.
This paper will be approximately 5-7 pages in length, not including the Works Cited page, which is also required. This means at least 5 full pages of text. The Works Cited page does NOT count towards length requirement.
You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
You must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.
You must sustain your argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Your paper must be logically organized and focused.
Reading and Writing Schedule from July 7 to August 14
July 7 Introduction
July 8 Back in the World: “The Missing Person”; Critical Thinking and Critical Reading; Signal Phrases and Clauses
July 9 “Desert Breakdown” and “Say Yes”; Revising and Editing; Comma splices, run-ons
July 10 “The Rich Brother,” “Our Story Begins”; thesis-driven essays with paragraph unity and coherence; essential/non-essential clauses
July 14 Reading Exam 1: 500 words in class for 50 points
July 15 Cooked 1-50, Lexicon of big ideas; using databases and peer-reviewed scholarly websites; fragment types, Essay 1 due in class
July 16 Cooked 51-100; MLA guidelines; Pronoun shifts and noun-pronoun agreement
July 17 Cooked 101-160; analysis and synthesis; parallelism
July 21Cooked 160-210; integrate multiple sources; dangling modifiers
July 22 Cooked 211-end; MUGS; appositives; (Review, thesis workshop, parallelism, Henderson's current status)
July 23 Reading Exam 2: 500 words in class for 50 points
July 24 Ha Jin, "The Beauty," Lexicon; Literary present; Signal phrases; Essay 2 due in class
July 28 Ha Jin "Temporary Love” and "The Bane of the Internet"; Paragraph transitions, unity, and coherence (review)
July 29 “Choice,” “A Composer and His Parakeets”; Basic Comma Rules
July 30 “A House Behind the Weeping Cherry,” “A Good Fall”; Who and Whom
July 31 “In the Crossfire”; Paragraph Unity and Cohesiveness Review, appositive, pronoun usage, and fragment review
August 4 Reading Exam 3: 500 words in class for 50 points
August 5 The Healing of America, Prologue, the debate; Subject-verb agreement; Four Pillars of Argument; Essay 3 due in class
August 6 The Healing of America Chapter 4; possessive case; gerunds, participles, infinitives; fallacies, evidence
August 7 The Healing of America Chapters 5-7; mixed structure or faulty subordination; Toulmin and Rogerian argument
August 11 The Healing of America Chapters 8-11; integrating quotations review; gathering evidence, detecting bias
August 12 The Healing of America Chapters 12 and 13 and review, counterarguments, working material into argument; refuting opposing arguments, grade rubric
August 13 Reading Exam 4: 500 words in class for 50 points
August 14 Essay 4 due in class
Course Catalog Description:
This course is designed to strengthen the students’ ability to read with understanding and discernment, to discuss assigned readings intelligently, and to write clearly. Emphasis will be on writing essays in which each paragraph relates to a controlling idea, has an introduction and a conclusion, and contains primary and secondary support. College-level reading material will be assigned to provide the stimulus for class discussion and writing assignments, including a required research paper.
Course Objectives:
1. Recognize and revise sentence-level grammar and usage errors.
2. Read and apply critical-thinking skills to numerous published articles and to college-level, book-length works for the purpose of writing and discussion.
3. Apply appropriate strategies in the writing process including prewriting, composing, revising, and editing techniques.
4. Compose multi-paragraph, thesis-driven essays with logical and appropriate supporting ideas, and with unity and coherence.
5. Demonstrate ability to locate and utilize a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites.
6. Utilize MLA guidelines to format essays, cite sources in the texts of essays, and compile Works Cited lists.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, students will:
1. Complete a research-based essay that has been written out of class and undergone revision. It should demonstrate the student’s ability to thoughtfully support a single thesis using analysis and synthesis.
2. Integrate multiple sources, including a book-length work and a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites. Citations must be in MLA format and include a Works Cited page.
3. Demonstrate logical paragraph composition and sentence structure. The essay should have correct grammar, spelling, and word use.
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