McMahon English 1C Syllabus for Summer 2014
Email: [email protected]
Office: H121P; extension 5673
Website: Critical Thinker
http://herculodge.typepad.com/critical_thinker/
Office Hours: Monday-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.
One. Four In-Class Reading Exams, 500 words, 50 points each, 200 points total
Two. Attendance based on tardies, participation, reading preparedness, staying off smartphones, not doing homework from other classes: 50
Three. First Three 1,000-word essays: 150, 450
Five. Final 1,200 word essay: 400
Grand Point Final 1,100
990 is A
880 is B
770 is C
660 is D
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 up to 40 additional points.
Late papers deducted a full letter grade.
Essay 1 for 150 points: 1,000 words based on The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner: Exploring Mythologies of Happiness
George Washington famously wrote, “Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.” Develop a thesis that argues that The Geography of Bliss contains implicit, sometimes explicit, links between happiness and moral development and likewise links between misery and moral decay. In other words, there is a correlation between happiness and moral development. Your thesis should show aforementioned correlation in 4 or 5 ways, which will be the mapping components that outline your essay.
Essay 2 for 150 points based on It's Beginning to Hurt by James Lasdun
Five Options for Essay: 1,000 words
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 1,000 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 1,000 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 1,000 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 1,000 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 150 points based on 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:
Option 1
Develop a thesis that argues for "Frankl Lite" or "Full Potency Frankl" in a 4-page essay. Include no fewer than 3 research sources for your Works Cited page.
Option 2
Develop a thesis that shows how Man's Search for Meaning can be applied to an analysis of the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Silver Linings Playbook in a 4-page essay. Include no fewer than 3 research sources for your Works Cited page.
Essay 4 for 400 points based on The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
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 5-6 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.
Writing and Reading Schedule
July 7 Introduction, Grading, turnitin, MLA pagination, Cell Phone Policy, etc.
July 8 Weiner 1-60 Hedonistic Fallacy, Envy and Ostentation; argumentative and analytical thesis; critical reading; avoiding plagiarism
July 9 Weiner 61-120 Moral Integrity, Accountability, Hakuna Matata Fallacy, impoverishment through substitution; support a claim; define a warrant; 4 pillars of argument
July 10 Weiner 120-end Happy Failure, schadenfreude, envy, victimization, self-pity, and resentment; using primary and secondary sources; using databases and using peer-reviewed websites; defining terms relevant to your essay; signal phrases
July 14 Reading Exam 1: 500 words in class for 50 points
July 15 Lasdun "The Half Sister"; Essay 1 due in class; Faustian Bargain; evaluating and integrating sources; analytical literary thesis and literary present tense; analytical writing; paragraph composition for essays and quizzes
July 16 Lasdun “The Natural Order”; perpetual adolescence, going down a rabbit hole and the causes; cause and effect; causal argument
July 17 Lasdun “Peter Kahn’s Third Wife,” “Cleanness,” “Caterpillars”; chimera, unconscious in fiction, thanatos; analogy and allegory; MLA Works Cited page format for in-text citations
July 21 Reading Exam 2: 500 words in class for 50 points
July 22 Frankl introduction; Essay 2 due in class; inductive and deductive reasoning
July 23 Frankl 1-40; bias, credibility, and relevance
July 24 Frankl 41-100; logos, ethos, pathos
July 28 Frankl 101-150; Toulmin and Rogerian argument model
July 29 Frankl 151-end; argument transitions; fallacies and syllogism
July 30 Review of Frankl; making your essay more persuasive with refutation section and concession thesis clause; avoid common fallacy: ad hominem (don't attack "privileged" Frankl); ethical argument
July 31 Reading Exam 3: 500 words in class for 50 points
August 4 Intro to The New Jim Crow; Essay 3 due in class; line between victimization and reparation in the debate about racism (ongoing): Which narrative do we believe, the racism is over narrative or the racism lives in insidious ways narrative?
August 5 Alexander 1-96; Straw Man fallacy; Jim Crow and its effects discussed in reparations debate.
August 6 Alexander 97-177; claims, inductive and deductive reasoning
August 7 Alexander 178-220; opponents' views and review Toulmin and Rogerian argument
August 11 Alexander 221-end; refutation and counterargument
August 12 Alexander review, thesis workshop: using a concession clause and review of common fallacies
August 13 Reading Exam 4: 500 words in class for 50 points
August 14 Essay 4 due
- 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
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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.
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