English 1A Syllabus for Jeff McMahon Spring 2015
Office H121P; Work Phone: 5673; email:[email protected]
Office Hours M and W: 2:45-3:45; T and TH: 12:30-1, 3:30-4:15
Course Catalog Description for English 1A:
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.
Students with Disabilities:
It is the policy of the El Camino Community College District to encourage full inclusion of people with disabilities in all programs and services. Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class should contact the campus Special Resource Center (310) 660-3295, as soon as possible. This will ensure that students are able to fully participate.
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism:
El Camino College places a high value on the integrity of its student scholars. When an instructor determines that there is evidence of dishonesty in any academic work (including, but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, or theft of exam materials), disciplinary action appropriate to the misconduct as defined in BP 5500 may be taken. A failing grade on an assignment in which academic dishonesty has occurred and suspension from class are among the disciplinary actions for academic dishonesty (AP 5520). Students with any questions about the Academic Honesty or discipline policies are encouraged to speak with their instructor in advance.
Attendance Policy: Students are expected to attend their classes regularly. Students who miss the first class meeting or who are not in regular attendance during the add period for the class may be dropped by the instructor. Students whose absences from a class exceed 10% of the scheduled class meeting times may be dropped by the instructor. However, students are responsible for dropping a class within the deadlines published in the class schedule. Students who stop attending but do not drop may receive a failing grade.
Student Resources:
Reading Success Center (East Library Basement E-36)
Software and tutors are available for vocabulary development & reading comprehension.
Library Media Technology Center - LMTC (East Library Basement)
Computers are available for free use. Bring your student ID # & flash drive. There’s a charge for printing.
Writing Center (H122)
Computers are available for free use. Free tutoring is available for writing assignments, grammar, and vocabulary. Bring your student ID & flash drive to save work. Printing is NOT available.
Learning Resource Center - LRC (West Wing of the Library, 2nd floor)
The LRC Tutorial Program offers free drop-in tutoring. For the tutoring schedule, go to www.elcamino.edu/library/lrc/tutoring .The LRC also offers individualized computer adaptive programs to help build your reading comprehension skills.
Student Health Center (Next to the Pool)
The Health Center offers free medical and psychological services as well as free workshops on topics like “test anxiety.” Low cost medical testing is also available.
Special Resource Center – SRC (Southwest Wing of Student Services Building)
The SRC provides free disability services, including interpreters, testing accommodations, counseling, and adaptive computer technology.
Grading: (725 total)
Four In-Class Essays, 500 words, 75 points, 300 points total
Two typed essays 1,500 words each, 100, 200 total points
Tentative outline (approx. 3 pages) and 5-source annotated bibliography (approx. 3 pages) for Final Research Paper, approx. 1,500 words, 75 points
Final 1,500-word research paper 150 points
Attendance based on absences (no more than 2) tardies (no more than 2), participation, reading preparedness, staying off smartphones, not doing homework from other classes: Violation of attendance and class participation can result in the loss of 50-100 points.
Extra credit assignment for 70 maximum points.
Grand Point Total: 725
8,000-word total for writing assignments and in-class essays
Essays cannot be rewritten for a higher grade. However, you can earn extra credit, up to 50 points.
Late papers reduced a full grade. No late papers accepted a week past due date.
You Must Use turnitin to submit essay and bring hard copy on due date
Each essay must be submitted to www.turnitin.com where it will be checked for illegal copying/plagiarism. I cannot give credit for an essay that is not submitted to this site by the deadline.
The process is very simple; if you need help, detailed instructions are available at http://turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/student-quickstart-guide
You will need two pieces of information to use the site:
Class ID and Enrollment Password, which I will give you first week of class
Classroom Decorum: No smart phones can be used in class. If you’re on your smart phone and I catch you, you get a warning the first time. Second time, you must leave the class and lose 25 points. Third time, you must leave the class and lose 50 points. The above also applies to talking and doing homework from other classes.
Books You Need to Buy for This Class, Writing Assignments and Grading
Book One: Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff
Book Two: Acting Out Culture, third edition, James S. Miller
Book Three: Rules for Writers, Seventh Edition, by Diana Hacker
Writing Assignment Options for 1,500-Word Typed Essay 1:
Choose One for Typed 1,500-word Essay 1 (100 points)
For all options for Typed Essay 1, your essay must have a minimum of three legitimate sources for your Works Cited page and you must use MLA format.
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 (1,500 words), typed and double-spaced, develop a thesis that analyzes the characters' need to lie in Tobias Wolff's collection Our Story Begins. 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 (1,500 words), analyze McMahon's remarks in the context of no fewer than 4 stories from Tobias Wolff's collection Our Story Begins.
For your Works Cited, use Wolff's collection, my blog, and a book review.
Option 3
Develop a cause and effect thesis that compares the theme of self-deception in Tobias Wolff’s stories and the 2013 David O. Russell film American Hustle. For your Works Cited page, you may want to consult various film reviews of the Russell’s film. Your essay should be 1,500 words.
Option 4
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 (1,500 words). For your Works Cited, use Wolff's collection, my blog, and a book review.
Typed 1,500-word Essay 2 (100 points) From Chapters 3 and 5 from Acting Out Culture
Addressing at least one assigned essay from Chapter 3, develop an argumentative thesis about “how we eat.” Or addressing at least one essay from Chapter 5, develop an argumentative thesis about “how we work.” Be sure to have a counterargument section at the end of your essay.
Final 1,500-Word Typed Essay 3 (150 points and another 750 points for the tentative outline and annotated bibliography)
Support, defend, or complicate the assertion that social media and the Internet are degrading our intellect, attention span, relationships, and empathic powers in a 1,500-word essay with a counterargument section. Be sure to address at least one essay from Chapter 6.
Your guidelines for your Final Research Paper 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 Spring 2015
January 19 Holiday
January 21 Syllabus, requirements, grading, plagiarism, turnitin.com, Final Paper
January 26 From Our Story Begins: “The Rich Brother”; "The Other Miller"; crafting a thesis, prewriting
January 28 “Desert Breakdown,” “The Liar,” “The Deposition”; writing introductions, prewriting and thesis
February 2 “Say Yes,” “Mortals”; prewriting, thesis, Toulmin model; signal phrases
February 4 “Firelight,” “Deep Kiss”; paraphrase, summary, quotations, critical reading
February 9 In-class exam (open-book; bring blue book) 75 points
February 11 Typed 5-Page (1,500-words) Essay One is due for 100 points; Chapter 4 of Acting Out Culture 238-250; 280-287; fragments
February 16 Holiday
February 18 Chapter 4 301-314; 316-327; comma splices and run-ons
February 23 Chapter 4 252-279; pronoun errors
February 25 Chapter 4 287-301; phrases and clauses
March 2 In-class Exam 2 for 75 points (open-book; bring blue book)
March 4 Chapter 3 172-175; 178-180; essential and nonessential clauses
March 9 Chapter 3 181-187; 188-202; parallelism
March 11 Chapter 3 203-207; 210-222; dangling modifiers
March 23 Chapter 5 342-367; subordination and coordination
March 25 Chapter 5 368-387; mixed sentence structure
March 30 Chapter 5 394-414; comma rules
April 1 Typed 4-Page (1,500 words) Essay 2 Due for 100 points; Chapter 1 31-49; 52-55
April 6 Chapter 1 62-76
April 8 Chapter 2 90-93; 96-112
April 13 Chapter 2 134-149; 113-116; see online essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
April 15 In-Class Exam 3 for 75 points (open-book, bring blue book)
April 20 Chapter 6 444-452; discuss Alone Together Ted Talk
April 22 Chapter 6 453-461 (go over outline and annotated bibliography)
April 27 Chapter 6 464-483
April 29 Chapter 6 484-503; writing introduction, counterargument, and conclusion
May 4 Two-page tentative outline and two-page annotated bibliography due for 75 points consult. Students with last names that start with A-M will have the conference. All students must attend the class and work on their thesis and essay.
May 6 Two-page tentative outline and two-page annotated bibliography due for 75 points consult. Students with last names that start with N-Z will have the conference. All students must attend the class and work on their thesis and essay.
May 11 In-class Exam 4 for 75 points (open-book and bring blue book)
May 13 Final 6-Page (1,500 words) Typed Essay for 150 Points Is Due
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