Email: [email protected]
Office: PE4; extension 5673
Website: Critical Thinker
http://herculodge.typepad.com/critical_thinker/
Office Hours: MW 2:30-3:45; TTH 12:30-1:00 and 3:30-4:15
Students with Disabilities:
If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.
Essay 1 for 180 points
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner: Exploring Mythologies of Happiness
In a 4-page research paper, 1,000 words, critique the idea of happiness, its mythologies and fallacies. Use personal examples to illustrate your points. Use no fewer than 2 sources
Essay 2 for 180 points
Five Options for Essay
Option 1
Develop a thesis that answers the following question: How do characters in Lasdun's "love stories" reach the demonic state? Consider, the Faustian Bargain, settling, the dream of eternal adolescence, and the chimera for a comparison essay that includes at least 3 stories, "The Half Sister," "The Natural Order," and "Peter Khan's Third Wife." Be sure your essay is 1,200 words and includes a Works Cited page with a minimum of 2 sources.
Option 2
Analyze the dream of eternal adolescence and its corruption of the soul by comparing this dream to "The Natural Order" or "The Half Sister" and Joseph Epstein's essay "Perpetual Adolescence." Be sure your essay is 1,200 words and includes a Works Cited page with a minimum of 2 sources.
Option 3
Analyze the corruption of fatherly love in "Cleanness" or "Caterpillars" (or both) with Erich Fromm's notion of the Authoritarian Personality. Be sure your essay is 1,200 words and includes a Works Cited page with a minimum of 2 sources.
Option 4
Compare the theme of the chimera (idealized love) and its resulting futility as it occurs in the "Peter Kahn's Third Wife" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams." Be sure your essay is 1,200 words and includes a Works Cited page with a minimum of 2 sources. Here's another link to "Winter Dreams."
Option Five
Compare the Faustian Bargain in "The Half Sister" to the H.G. Wells short story, "The Country of the Blind."
Essay 3 for 180 points
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: Argumentation, Refutation
In a 1,000-word essay (4 pages), address the following in an argumentative essay:
Many argue that Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning is worthy manifesto that champions meaning as the antidote to the universal affliction, the existential vacuum. On the other hand, some critics dismiss Frankl’s message, arguing that meaning, as Frankl presents it, is the product of strict moral and religious dogma disguising itself as universal meaning; that Frankl’s critieria for meaning, Herculean in scope, is nearly impossible to adhere to; that unrealistic expectations for “Absolute Meaning” will lead to disappointment; that the obsessive search for meaning can be a neurosis that impedes us from living fully; and that, contrary to VK’s Gospel of Meaning, there are virtues, pleasures, and satisfactions from living a life in the existential vacuum and moral relativism that escape a rigid dogmatist such VK.
In an argumentative essay, evaluate the defenders and critics of VK and develop a thesis that takes one of the two positions.
Include no fewer than 3 research sources for your Works Cited page.
Essay 4 for 280 points
In a 1,200-word essay defend, critique, or outright refute Michelle Alexander's argument that mass incarceration represents the "New Jim Crow" by analyzing the legitimacy of her claims, the quality of her rhetoric and moral appeals, and by examining possible opposition to her logic and reasoning. Be sure you have a thesis statement with mapping components that will direct the organization of your essay.
Essay Requirements:
One. Students will express critical viewpoints and develop original thesis-driven arguments in response to social, political, and philosophical issues and/or to works of literature and literary theory. This argumentative essay will be well organized, demonstrate an ability to support a claim using analysis and elements of argumentation, and integrate primary and secondary sources.
Two. The paper should use at least three sources and 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.
Three. This paper will be approximately 4-5 pages in length, not including the Works Cited page, which is also required. The Works Cited page does NOT count toward length requirement.
Four. Within your argument, address issues of bias, credibility, and relevance.
Five. Analyze and employ logical structural methods such as inductive and deductive reasoning, cause and effect, logos, ethos, and pathos, and demonstrate understanding of formal and informal fallacies in language and thought.
Six. You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
Seven. You must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.
Eight. You must sustain your argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
English 1C SLOs
English 1C Critical Thinking and Composition Students will:
One. Compose an argumentative essay that shows an ability to support a claim using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of primary and secondary sources.
Two. Identify and assess bias, credibility, and relevance in their own arguments and in the arguments of others, including primary and secondary outside sources.
Three. Organize an essay in proper MLA format and will also be technically correct in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and usage.
English 1C Instructors Use an SLO (Student Learning Outcome) Check Form
SLO 1 (Thesis Support) Essay shows an ability to support a claim using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of primary and secondary sources. Acceptable/Unacceptable
SLO 2 (Critical Thinking) Argument reflects an ability to identify and assess bias, credibility, and relevance in their own arguments and in the arguments of others, including primary and secondary outside sources. Acceptable/Unacceptable
SLO 3 (MLA, grammar) Essay is well organized in proper MLA format AND is technically correct in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and usage. Acceptable/Unacceptable
Grading Template
Three 1,000-word essays, 180 points each
Final 1,200-word essay, 280 points
Six 300-word quizzes, 30 each, 180
6,000 words; 1,000 points
|
English 1C Consistency Project—SLO Assignment 1. Students will express critical viewpoints and develop original thesis-driven arguments in response to social, political, and philosophical issues and/or to works of literature and literary theory. This argumentative essay will be well organized, demonstrate an ability to support a claim using analysis and elements of argumentation, and integrate primary and secondary sources. 2. The paper should use at least three sources and not over-rely on one secondary source for most of the information. Rather, it should use multiple sources and synthesize the information found in them. 3. This paper will be approximately 4-5 pages in length, not including the Works Cited page, which is also required. The Works Cited page does NOT count toward length requirement. 4. Within your argument, address issues of bias, credibility, and relevance in primary and secondary sources. 5. Demonstrate understanding of analytical methods and structural concepts such as inductive and deductive reasoning, cause and effect, logos, ethos, and pathos, and the recognition of formal and informal fallacies in language and thought. 6. You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page. 7. You must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary. 8. You must sustain your argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
|
Grand Point Total: 1,000 points. 900 is A. 800 is B. 700 is C. 600 is D.
You Can Revise Your Worst Essay for Higher Grade of a Maximum 20 Points
Late Essays Are Deducted a Full Letter Grade
Things That Disqualify a Student from Receiving an A Grade
Misspelling author name, book title, my name.
Plagiarism: trying to deceive professor by representing other people’s work as your own. (automatic F on the essay, zero points). No headers. No Works Cited page
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. Same with subsequent violations.
The above also applies to talking and doing homework from other classes.
Writing and Reading Schedule
January 21Introduction, Grading, Cell Phone Policy, etc.
January 23 Weiner 1-60
January 28 Weiner 61-180
January 30 Weiner 181-245
February 4 Weiner 246-end
February 6 Quiz 1 due in my office PE4
February 11 Essay 1 due in my office PE4 (A-M)
February 14 Essay 1 due in my office PE4 (N-Z)
February 18 Lasdun “The Half Sister”
February 20 Quiz 2 due in my office PE4
February 25 Lasdun “The Natural Order”
February 27 Lasdun “Peter Kahn’s Third Wife”
March 4 Lasdun “Cleanness,” “Caterpillars”
March 6 Quiz 3 due in my office
March 11 Essay 2 N-Z due in my office PE4
March 13 Essay 2 A-M due in my office PE4; start It’s Beginning to Hurt by Lasdun
March 25 Frankl 1-40
March 27 Frankl 41-100
April 1 Frankl 101-150
April 3 Quiz 4 due in my office PE4
April 8 Frankl 151-end
April 10 Quiz 5 due in my office PE4
April 15 Essay 3 A-M due in my office PE4
April 17 Essay 3 N-Z in my office PE4
April 22 Alexander 1-96
April 24 Alexander 97-177
April 29 Alexander 178-220
May 1 Alexander 221-end
May 6 Quiz 6 due in my office PE4
May 8 Thesis and Works Cited due in my office PE4
May 13 Essay 4 N-Z due in my office PE4
May 15 Essay 4 A-M due in my office PE4
Student Learning Objective (SLO)
1. Students will compose an argumentative essay that shows an ability to support a claim using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of primary and secondary sources. This essay will be well organized, follow proper MLA format, and be technically correct in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and usage.
Course Objectives
The student will be able to: 1. Read expository prose critically to distinguish between perception and inference, surface and implied meanings, fact and opinion. 2. Analyze the way arguments are presented in readings and the media. 3. Demonstrate the ability to organize and develop written arguments and compositions. 4. Refine writing skills developed in English 1A: focusing a topic, formulating a thesis, providing support, and developing unity and coherence. 5. Evaluate the accuracy and cogency of arguments by identifying logical fallacies and drawing inferences from readings and media presentations. 6. Formulate and develop arguments and critical theories about issues, argumentative prose, and literary interpretations.
Major Topics
|
Structures of argument: Thinking, reading, discussing. Evaluate data, credibility, and relevance. |
|
Understanding and evaluating claims: Reasons, purposes, support, ambiguity, vagueness, complexity. Assessing credibility: Causal arguments, moral reasoning. |
|
Evaluating arguments and explanations: Relevance, clarity, testability, and consistency. Identifying assumptions, developing counter arguments and justifications. |
|
Writing argumentative, evaluative, and analytic essays: Prewriting, writing, and rewriting. Topic selection: Narrowing, evaluating validity and relevance. Developing parts of the argumentative essay: Strategies for organizing an argument or evaluation, including evidence, inductive and deductive reasoning. Avoiding logical fallacies. |
|
Literary analysis: Evaluating point of view, inferences, and assumptions. Understanding diction, identification, aesthetic distance, and focus. Exploring rhetorical devices: Satire, irony, paradox, over-statement and understatement, evaluating authority. |
|
Comparative analysis: Analyzing symbols, analogy, ambiguity, and imagery. |
|
Deductive reasoning in expressive or expository literature: Recognizing assumptions in literary criticism and theory. |
|
Political and advertising rhetoric: Slanders, euphemisms, innuendo, loaded questions, downplaying, avoidance, stereotyping, hyperbole, persuasive definitions. Information tailoring and the news media: Loaded language in reporting and advertising. |
|
(Major writing assignments will consist of approximately 6 essays totaling 6000 words.) |
Comments