Course Outline for McMahon’s Fall 2016 English 1A with Essay Assignments
Office H121P; Phone Extension: 5673
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday: 12:30-1 and 3:30-4:15 and Tuesday and Thursday: 2:30-3:45
Email: [email protected]
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:
One. Recognize and revise sentence-level grammar and usage errors.
Two. Read and apply critical-thinking skills to numerous published articles and to college-level, book-length works for the purpose of writing and discussion.
Three. Apply appropriate strategies in the writing process including prewriting, composing, revising, and editing techniques.
Four. Compose multi-paragraph, thesis-driven essays with logical and appropriate supporting ideas, and with unity and coherence.
Five. Demonstrate ability to locate and utilize a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites.
Six. 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Books You Need to Buy for This Class
Book One: Acting Out Culture, 3rd edition, edited by James S. Miller
Book Two: It’s Beginning to Hurt by James Lasdun
Book Three: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Book Four: Rules for Writers, 8th edition by Diana Hacker
Other Materials You Need: 2 large size blue books for in-class exams
Total Words Written in Semester: 8,000; Total Points: 820
One. First four 1,400-word essays are 100 points each.
Two. Final 1,400-word essay is 200 points.
Three. The final essay, Number 5, is 200 points and needs a completed typed draft for peer edit due the class before the final draft is due. This completed draft is worth 20 points.
Four. In-Class Reading Exams are 500 words for 100 points each.
Total Points: 820
Essay Options
Essay 1: 1,400 words typed and 3 sources: Hard copy and turnitin upload due September 8
Curtis Silver’s “The Quagmire of Social Media Friendships” (444) alleges certain pathologies result from social media. These pathologies include an empathy deficit, narcissism, shortened attention span, online shaming, and even altered brain development. In an argumentative essay, support, refute, or complicate the assertion from Sherry Turkle’s “The Flight from Conversation” (online essay) that social media is harmful for our social, cultural and intellectual development.
Essay 2 Options: 1,400 words typed and 3 sources: Hard copy and turnitin upload due September 29
Refute, support, or complicate Asma’s assertion that green guilt is not only a relative to religious guilt but speaks to our drive to sacrifice self-indulgence for the drive of altruistic self-preservation and social reciprocity. See Elizabeth Anderson’s online essay “If God Is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?”
Develop a thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates the assertion Debra J. Dickerson, who wrote the “The Great White Way,” would find Michael Eric Dyson's essay "Understanding Black Patriotism" a complement to Dickerson's ideas about race, power, and hierarchy.
Support, refute, or complicate Debra J. Dickerson's argument that race in America is more of a social fantasy than a reflection of objective reality.
Develop a thesis that analyzes the human inclination for staying within the tribe of sameness as explained in David Brooks’ “People Like Us.”
Support, refute, or complicate Nicholas Kristof’s assertion that slashing food stamps is morally indefensible.
Addressing at least two essays we've covered in class, support, refute, or complicate the argument that overeating, anorexia, and other eating disorders are not the result of a disease but are habits of individual circumstance and economics.
Essay 3 for 1,400 words typed options and 3 sources: Due October 20
Support, refute, or complicate the argument that “Against School” and “Preparing Minds for Markets” persuasively evidence that American education is more about protecting private business interests, maintaining class bias, and asserting mass control than it is about promoting real empowerment such as critical thinking, independence, and freedom.
Develop an analytical thesis that compares the themes of learned helplessness and the vicious downward spiral of poverty as they are evident in “The Consequences: Undoing Sanity” and “How the Poor Are Made to Pay for Their Poverty.” Is this downward spiral convincing or an “excuse for the poverty that poor people choose”? Explain.
Support, refute, or complicate Alfie Kohn’s assertion from “Degrading to De-grading” that grading is an inferior education tool that all conscientious teachers should abandon.
Support, refute, or complicate the inferred lesson from bell hooks’ essay, “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” that upward mobility requires a betrayal of one’s economic class and even family.
In the context of “Unspeakable Conversations,” defend, refute, or complicate Peter Singer’s position that there are moral grounds for infanticide or “mercy killings.”
In the context of “Our Baby, Her Womb,” support, defend, or complicate the argument that surrogate motherhood is a moral abomination.
In the context of Kristina Rizga’s “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” support, refute, or complicate the assertion that standardized testing is a money-making canard sodden with incompetence, moral bankruptcy, and the very accountability it claims to exact upon teachers and students.
In the context of John Taylor Gatto’s “Against School,” support, refute, or complicate the argument that that American education is more about protecting private business interests, maintaining class bias, and asserting mass control than it is about promoting real empowerment such as critical thinking, independence, and freedom.
Essay 4 for 1,400 words typed based on James Lasdun’s It’s Beginning to Hurt is due November 10:
Comparing at least 3 stories from Lasdun’s collection, develop an analytical thesis that shows how Joseph Epstein’s online essay “The Perpetual Adolescent” supports the assertion that Lasdun’s characters self-destruct under the weight of their adolescent fixation.
Essay 5: Final Argumentative, 1,400-Word Research Paper Is 200 points and 5 sources and is Due December 14:
Option One
In a 1,400-word essay, defend, support, or refute the argument that Man’s Search for Meaning gives us a cogent, appropriate and insightful analysis for evaluating Nikolai’s moral dissolution in the Chekhov short story “Gooseberries.”
Second Alternative Option:
In a 1,400-word essay, defend, support, or complicate the argument that the determinism evident in the 1999 Alexander Payne film Election is a compelling refutation of Frankl's notion that we are free to find meaning as a cure for our despair and self-destruction. Recommended Research Link for Alternative Option: http://sensesofcinema.com/2012/feature-articles/chance-and-choice-biology-and-theology-in-alexander-paynes-election/
Third Alternative Option
In a 1,400-word essay, defend, support, or complicate the argument that even though Frankl’s philosophy is informed by his religious faith, one need not be religious to embrace Frankl’s precepts and principles. You can concede that Frankl’s book is “religious” but not in the narrow sense of the word. Rather, it is universally religious. On the other hand, some will argue that the theistic religion that informs Frankl’s philosophy is too narrow to accommodate secular and atheist thinkers. Take a position and explain. You may want to consult Elizabeth Anderson’s “If God Is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?”
Fourth Alternative Option
In a 1,400-word essay, defend, support, or complicate the argument that Groundhog Day character Phil Connors’ spiritual malaise and eventual spiritual transformation can be analyzed through the lens of the principles in Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.
Fifth Option:
Defend, refute, or complicate the argument that Man’s Search for Meaning is the greatest anti-self-help self-help book ever written.
Consider these distinguishing qualities of traditional self-help books:
- They deny suffering as the central feature of human existence
- They play into reader’s narcissistic fantasy of being special and at the center of the universe.
- They promise easy solutions based on gimmicks intended to look like “insights.”
- They promise easy solutions using common sense dressed up in jargon and pretentious language.
- They tend to condescend to the reader, treating him like a child. There is an infantile, dumbed-down quality to them.
- They make false promises about happiness and self-fulfillment.
- They make being a selfish self-centered lout acceptable and “noble.”
- They place selfish self-interest and self-indulgence over responsibility to oneself and others.
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.
Late papers reduced a full grade. No late papers accepted a week past due date. If you turn in paper more than a week late, you not earn more than a D plus.
Peer Edit
You must do a peer edit. You must show up to class on peer edit day with a completed typed draft for 20 points.
You Can’t “Ride” the Class
If you’re “riding” the class, that is missing more than 10% of classes and not keeping up with assignments, you can’t fulfill the Student Learning Outcomes, and you will be dropped.
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 see 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.
Tardies:
It’s reasonable to be late a couple of times a semester, but some students consistently show up late to class, and this distraction compromises the learning environment significantly. Therefore, starting on the fourth tardy, 50 points must be deducted from total grade and another 25 points must be deducted for every tardy after that.
Reading and Writing Schedule
8-30 Introduction of class policies and first essay
9-1 “Quagmire of Social Media Friendships” 444-448 and online “The Flight from Conversation”; MLA format and signal phrases
9-6 “Empathy Deficit” 464-469; 13-year-olds and social media video
9-8 Essay 1 Due; “Green Guilt” 25-30; paragraphs and PEEL method, MLA in-text citations, comma splices
9-13 “The Great White Way” 68-70; “Understanding Black Patriotism” 52-55; types of thesis; pronoun errors
9-15 “People Like Us” 62-67; Top 20 Writing Errors
9-20 “Prudence or Cruelty?” 172-175; Methods of Introductions and Conclusions
9-22 “Wages of Sin” and “Add Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem” 181-202
9-27 In-Class Reading Exam 1
9-29 Essay 2 Due; “From Degrading to De-Grading” 238-249
10-4 “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” 287-295
10-6 “Unspeakable Conversations” 96-112
10-11 “Our Baby, Her Womb” 418-430
10-13 “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong” 252-270; “Against School” 271-279
10-18 “Against School” 271-279
10-20 Essay 3 Due; read “The Perpetual Adolescent” in class
10-25 “An Anxious Man” 3-23 and “The Incalculable Life Gesture” 24-63
10-27 “The Natural Order”
11-1 “The Half Sister” and “Lime Pickle”
11-3 “Peter Kahn’s Third Wife”
11-8 In-Class Reading Exam 2
11-10 Essay 4 Due; Introduce Chekhov’s “Gooseberries” theme and assignment
11-15 Man’s Search for Meaning Lesson 1
11-17 Man’s Search for Meaning Lesson 2
11-22 Man’s Search for Meaning Lesson 3
11-24 Holiday
12-1 Man’s Search for Meaning Lesson 4
12-6 Man’s Search for Meaning Lesson 5
12-8 Man’s Search for Meaning Lesson 6
12-13 Peer Edit
12-15 Final Essay is due
Peer Edit for Typed Essay (First Draft)
First Page
- Do you have a salient, distinctive title that is relevant to your topic and thesis?
- Do you have your name, instructor’s name, the course, and date (in that order) at the top left?
Format
- Are you using 12-point font with Times New Roman?
- Are your lines double-spaced?
- Is your font color black?
- Do you make sure there are no extra spaces between paragraphs (some students erroneously use 4 spaces between paragraphs)
- Do you use 1-inch margins?
- Do you use block format for quotes of 4 or more lines in which you indent another inch from the left margin?
Introduction
- Does your introduction have a compelling hook using an anecdote, a troubling current event, a startling statistic, etc.?
- Do you avoid pat phrases or clichés? For example, “In today’s society . . .” or “In today’s modern world . . .” or “Since the Dawn of Man . . .”
Thesis
- Do you have a thesis that articulates your main purpose in clear, specific language?
- Is your thesis sophisticated in that it makes an assertion that goes beyond the obvious and self-evident?
- Is your thesis debatable?
- Do you address your opponents with a concession clause? (While opponents of my proposal to raise the minimum wage to $22 an hour make some compelling points, their argument collapses when we consider _____________, _______________, __________________, and ________________. )
- Does your thesis have explicit or implicit mapping components that outline the body paragraphs of your essay?
Questions from Your Reader (write on a separate page so you’ll have more room to write)
One. What’s most compelling about the essay so far?
Two. What is most needed for improvement so far?
Three. Something I would like the writer to explain more is . . .
Four. One last comment would be . . .
Five. What is the writer’s thesis?
Six. On a scale of 1-10, how compelling is the thesis and what could make it more compelling?
Seven. On a scale of 1-10, how effective is the title? Could it be improved? How?
Eight. Does the writer have well developed paragraphs with clear topic sentences?
Nine. Does the writer use a diversity of paragraph transitions?
Ten. Does the writer use diverse and appropriate signal phrases?
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