English 1A Syllabus for Jeff McMahon Summer 2015
Office H121P
Office Hours Monday through Thursday 5-6
Email: [email protected]
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.
Total Words Written in Semester: 8,100
Four In-Class Essays, 500 words, 75 points each, 300 points total
Three Typed essays 1,200 words each (approx. 4 pages), 100, 300 total points
Tentative outline (approx. 2 pages) and 5-source annotated bibliography (approx. 2 pages) for Final Research Paper 75 points (1,000 words)
Final 1,500-word research paper (approx. 5 pages) 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 policy can result in the loss of 50-100 points.
Grand Point Total: 825
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: Acting Out Culture, third edition, James S. Miller
Book Two: Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
Book Three: Rules for Writers, Seventh Edition, by Diana Hacker
Writing Assignment Options for 1,200-Word Typed Essay 1, worth 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.
For Essay 1, Choose One from Chapter 4: How We Learn
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate Kohn's argument that grading is inimical to effective teaching.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that Rizga's essay provides evidence to support the argument that standardized testing is a canard that hurts students' education.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate John Taylor Gatto's argument that school is not about education but rather about indoctrinating students into being malleable sheep, non-thinkers, and childish consumers who are sorted into "their rightful place" in the social and economic hierarchy.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how Gatto and Rose are attempting to rewrite the conventional norms regarding class, learning, and intelligence. In making your thesis, consider how the two essays complement the other.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that the triumph we learn of in Bell Hooks' essay "Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class" is that Hooks overcame Alexander Inglis's six basic functions (mentioned in John Taylor Gatto's essay) and instead of becoming indoctrinated became truly enlightened. Is it possible that she was both indoctrinated and enlightened? Explain.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes, in the context of Rachel Toor's 'Unconscious Plagiarism," the difference between legitimate modeling that is a form of healthy plagiarism and immoral plagiarism.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how Kozol's essay "Preparing Minds for Markets" supports John Gatto's main argument in his essay "Against School."
For Essay 2, Choose One from Chapter 3: How We Eat
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate Kristof's argument in "Prudence Or Cruelty?" that in spite of the food stamp abuses cited by opponents of the food stamp program, providing food stamps for the poor is moral and economic imperative over the long-term. Be sure to have a counterargument and rebuttal section at the end of your essay.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that eating meat is morally defensible in the context of evolution and biology and that ethical objections to meat eating are not born of eating meat but the abuses that result in the factory farming of animals. Be sure to have a counterargument-refutation section.
Addressing Francine Prose's "The Wages of Sin," write a 4-page essay with 3 sources that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that overeating is not an illness but a moral flaw and a vice.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the claim that Francine Prose and Caroline Knapp are criticizing cultural norms about eating that in truth are not normal at all but pathological and that these norms create a toxic eating environment in our culture.
Both McMillan and Kristof (172) use their examinations of public attitudes toward food as a platform to argue for specific changes in our official food policy. In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how these recommendations compare. Can you imagine Kristof citing points McMillan raises here as evidence or support for the argument he makes about food stamps? If so, how specifically?
Both Dolnick and Francine Prose address the mythical narrative of obesity and overeating by deconstructing the myth. In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes how Dolnick and Prose deconstruct the myth of fatness.
For Essay 3, Choose One from Chapter 5, 1, or 2
Chapter 5: How We Work
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way Louis Uchitelle (342) and Matthew Crawford (368) explore the emotional life of work and how work affects our happiness, contentment, and self-esteem. To what extent does Uchitelle's argument about the psychological damage wrought by unemployment recall or help reinforce Crawford's claims about the emotional satisfactions afforded by working with your hands?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, write a review of DePalma's essay that you think Uchitelle might offer. To what extent would Uchitelle's review find parallels in the social and economic hardships profiled here and his argument regarding the emotional costs of unemployment?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, write an assessment of how the messages in Catherine Rampell's essay (388) and Matthew Crawford's (368) compare with one another. Does Rampell's attempt to explode the myth of the "slacker generation" remind you in any way of Crawford's desire to rewrite the boundary between white-collar and manual labor? Do these writers challenge such stereotypes in order to say similar or different things about the meaning and value of work?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way DePalma (353) profiles immigrant workers with the way Ehrenreich (380) explores the working poor. Based on the argument she makes here, which specific aspects of DePalma's essay do you think Ehrenreich would find most persuasive? Why?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, show how McClelland's examination of the psychological pressures she experienced on the job (394) compare to the portrait of the unemployed Louis Uchitelle (342) presents? Do you find any similarities or parallels in the ways each essay explores this issue?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses whether it is appropriate, or not, to use the business model described in Hochschild's essay (418) as a way of making the "mutually beneficial transaction" between parents and a surrogate mother. Consider Barbara Ehrenreich's essay (380) about how the experience of being poor complicates this business model.
Chapter 1 How We Believe
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that Stephen Asma's "Green Guilt" and Michael Eric Dyson's "Understanding Black Patriotism" provide a convincing indictment of "isms" evidenced by their dogmatic zeal, myopia, tribalism, and Groupthink. If you want, you can include Schwennesen's "The Ethics of Eating," which addresses vegetarianism.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the argument that Ty Burr's "Faces in the Mirror" and Michael Sandel's "Markets and Morals" complement the theme of human degradation and "moral vacancy" in an age of excessive marketing and pathological self-promotion.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that Michael Eric Dyson has written an convincing argument about the crucial differences between nationalism and patriotism.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the cultural stereotypes discussed in Michael Eric Dyson's essay and Katie Roiphe's "In Defense of Single Motherhood."
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the tribalism discussed in David Brooks' essay "People Like Us" and the "scientific racism" discussed in Debra J. Dickerson's "The Great White Way."
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, defend, refute, or complicate Debra J. Dickerson's argument that race is not an objective reality but rather a social fantasy.
Chapter 2: How We Watch
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, defend, refute, or complicate the argument that Jessica Bennett's "The Flip Side of Internet Fame" evidences a need to make new freedom of speech restrictions in the age of social media.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes the causes of cultural stereotypes evidenced in Harriet McBryde Johnson's "Unspeakable Conversations" and Heather Havrilesky's "Some 'Girls' Are Better Than Others."
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the argument made by Virginia Heffernan's "The Attention-Span Myth" and Don Tapscott's "Should We Ditch the Idea of Privacy?" that the digital age has, rightly, abolished certain cultural norms and values.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the argument that Charles Duhigg's "How Companies Learn Your Secrets" affirms Virginia Heffernan's examination of the attention-span myth.
Final Essay Is 1,500 words, about 5 pages, and Based on Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
In a 5-page essay with 5 sources, support, refute or complicate the notion that Sherry Turkle's Alone Together is a technophobic screed that exaggerates and twists information to create an unfair nightmare portrait of social media.
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 Summer 2015
May 26 Introduction and John Taylor Gatto read in class from 271-279
May 27 Acting Out Culture 238-270 Kohn and Rizga
May 28 Acting Out Culture 280-314 Rose, Hooks, Toor, Kozol
June 1 In-Class Essay 1 for 75 points
June 2 Typed Essay 1 due for 100 points; Acting Out Culture 172-180 Kristof, Schwennesen
June 3 Acting Out Culture 181-202 Prose and Knapp
June 4 Acting Out Culture 203-222 Buhler, Kendall, McMillan, Dolnick
June 8 In-Class Essay 2 for 75 points
June 9 Typed Essay 2 Due for 100 points; Acting Out Culture 342-367 Uchitelle, DePalma
June 10 Acting Out Culture 368-385 Crawford and Ehrenreich
June 11 Acting Out Culture 388-410 Rampell and McClelland; 418-430 Hochschild
June 15 Acting Out Culture 31-49 Burr, Sandel; 52-55 Dyson
June 16 Acting Out Culture 58-71 Roiphe, Brooks, Dickerson
June 17 Acting Out Culture 90-112 Bennet and Johnson
June 18 Acting Out Culture 113-121 Heffernan and Tapscott; 134-149 Duhigg
June 22 In-Class Essay for 75 points
June 23 Essay 3 due for 100 points; Alone Together 1-22
June 24 Alone Together 151-170
June 25 Alone Together 171-end
June 29 Review Alone Together; Outlining and Annotated Bibliography
June 30 In-Class Essay 4 for 75 points
July 1 In-class consultation with outline and annotated bibliography due for 75 points
July 2 Final Essay 4 due for 150 points
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