McMahon English 1C Critical Thinking Syllabus Spring 2017

Office: H121P; extension 5673

Office Hours: M and W: 2:45-3:45 and 5:30-6; T and TH 12:15-1 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.

Course Catalog Description:

This course focuses on the development of critical thinking skills. Students will apply these skills to the analysis of written arguments in various forms and genres, both classic and contemporary, and to the writing of effective persuasive essays. Students will learn to evaluate and interpret data, to recognize assumptions, to distinguish facts from opinions, to identify and avoid logical fallacies, to employ deductive and inductive reasoning, and to effectively assert and support argumentative claims.

Course Objectives:

One. Evaluate arguments in terms of bias, credibility, and relevance.

Two. Assess an argument's claims by examining assumptions, by differentiating between facts and inferences, by recognizing errors in logic, by analyzing support, and by identifying both explicit and implied conclusions.

Three. Recognize and assess argumentative claims embedded in literary works, advertisements, political tracts, and presentations in other media.

Four. Express critical viewpoints and develop original arguments in response to social, political, and philosophical issues and/or to works of literature and literary theory.

Five. Demonstrate the ability to evaluate electronic sources and databases, to incorporate research from on-line and print media, and to compose unified, coherent, fully supported argumentative essays that advance their claims by integrating primary and secondary sources, and by employing the tools of critical interpretation, evaluation, and analysis.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this course, 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. Write an essay that is correct in MLA format, paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and usage.

Essay Requirements (based on 6,000 words):

English 1C SLO-aligned Assignment (Updated for Fall 2016)

The assignment designed using these criteria will be used to assess the course SLOs and should be assigned as a later (or last) essay.

Students will write a 4-5 page essay, not including Works Cited page, which is also required (but does not count towards length requirement. In the essay, the students will do the following:

One. 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. Use at least three sources and not over-rely on one secondary source for most of the information. The students should use multiple sources and synthesize the information found in them.

Three. Address issues of bias, credibility, and relevance in primary and secondary sources.

Four. 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.

Five. Use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.

Six. Integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.

Seven. Sustain the argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Course Catalog Description:

English 1C Grammar Policy and Grading

Students in English 1C are expected to write clear, college-level essays with logical paragraph composition and sentence structure as well as correct grammar, spelling, word usage, and punctuation. If you feel you cannot be successful in this class due to struggles with grammar or other elements of essay composition, please see the instructor as early as possible to discuss resources and strategies for your improvement.

Policy on 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. I will use turnitin to investigate plagiarism.

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’ll give you first week of class.

Late Essays Are Deducted a Full Letter Grade

You cannot turn in a late paper more than a week after the due date.

You Cannot “Ride” the Class: You cannot miss over 10 percent of the classes while not keeping up with the assignments because you are not fulfilling the Student Learning Outcomes. Therefore, you will have to be dropped if you are “riding” the class.

Books You Need for This Class:

One. The Professor in the Cage by Jonathan Gottschall

Two. The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol (Dover edition is $3 or free online)

Three. Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville (Dover edition is $3 or free online)

Four. From Critical Thinking to Argument by Barnet and Bedau, Fifth Edition

Five. This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff

Other Materials: 2 large blue books for in-class final writing exams

Online Stories We'll Be Reading

"Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Other Woman" by Sherwood Anderson

All 5 Typed Essays Need 3 credible sources to be used for in-text parenthetical citation and MLA formatted Works Cited page.

All five typed essays are 1,000 word typed and double-spaced. They are due at the beginning of Week 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16.

Grading Based on 6,000 words and 1,000 total points

First four 1,000-word essays are worth 150 points each (600 points)

Fifth essay, your Final, is 1,000 words and worth 200 points.

Two in-class reading exams are 500 words each and worth 100 points each (200).

Attendance and Class Participation

Deductions of 50 for more than 4 absences (two tardies equal one absence). Repeated use of smart phone in class or leaving class repeatedly to "take a call" counts as a tardy.

More than 5 absences is a loss of 100 points. These rules are designed so that we will be complaint with Title 5 Contact Hour Laws prescribed by the State of California.

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. Being on your smartphone in class is equivalent to being tardy.

Essay One for 150 Points Based on Choosing One of the Following Options

Option 1

In the context of Gottschall’s The Professor in the Cage, develop an argumentative thesis about the relationship between masculinity and ritualized violence. Your essay should be 1,000 words and have a Works Cited page with 3 sources, including one from the El Camino College database.

Option 2

Support, refute, or complicate the assertion that Steve Almond's "The NFL Is Morally Reprehensible" is a compelling argument against Gottschall's case that ritualized violence is a natural and essential part of masculinity.

Essay Two for 150 Points (Life of Image Vs. Life of Substance)

Option One: To an audience of college students, write a persuasive essay that addresses the contention that "Bartleby, the Scrivener, "Winter Dreams" or "The Other Woman" illustrates the moral principles in David Brooks' online essay "The Moral Bucket List." You might also consult Pascal's famous Pensees:

We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavour to shine. We labour unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real. And if we possess calmness, or generosity, or truthfulness, we are eager to make it known, so as to attach these virtues to that imaginary existence. We would rather separate them from ourselves to join them to it; and we would willingly be cowards in order to acquire the reputation of being brave. A great proof of the nothingness of our being, not to be satisfied with the one without the other, and to renounce the one for the other! For he would be infamous who would not die to preserve his honour.

Suggested Structure

Paragraph One: Summarize Brooks' essay.

Paragraph Two: Summarize the story.

Paragraph Three. Frame the debate of your argumentative thesis by asking how and why the story addresses the major ideas in Brooks' essay. Then answer your question with a thesis.

Paragraphs 4-7: Supporting paragraphs: They support your thesis' mapping components.

Paragraph 8: Write your counterargument-rebuttal paragraph.

Paragraph 9: Conclusion: Restate your thesis with emotion (pathos) and show its broader ramifications.

Option 2: Develop a thesis that analyzes "Bartleby, the Scrivener, "Winter Dreams" or "The Other Woman" in terms of the Faustian Bargain described in the essay "Love People, Not Pleasure," by Arthur C. Brooks. Be sure your essay at least 3 sources. You could use a structure similar to one in Option 1.

Essays 3-4 (various based on debates in current events)

Essay #5: Final Capstone Essay for 200 Points: Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life and Gogol’s “The Overcoat”:

One. Develop an argumentative thesis that compares the quest for identity in Wolff’s memoir and Gogol’s "The Overcoat." Consider maladaptation and the chimera as traps resulting from the search for identity.

Two. A wise man once said, having a chimera will kill you, but not having a chimera will also kill you. Develop an argumentative thesis that shows how this saying applies to Wolff’s memoir and Gogol’s "The Overcoat."

English 1C Reading and Writing Schedule Spring 2017

2-14 Introduction to Critical Thinking

2-16 The Professor in the Cage; “Bully” video from Louie TV show. FCTA Chapter 1 Critical Thinking

2-21 The Professor in the Cage; FCTA Chapter 2 Critical Reading; Chapters 8 and 9 Toulmin Argument and Fallacies

2-23 The Professor in the Cage; FCTA Chapters 3 and 5 Going Deeper into Arguments

2-28 The Professor in the Cage; FCTA Chapters 6 and 7 Argument and Using Sources

3-2 Blue Book Exam 1 will test your reading comprehension of The Professor in the Cage.

3-7 Essay 1 Due; “The Moral Bucket List” by David Brooks and "Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition" by Emily Esfahani Smith; Pascal Pensees

3-9 “Choose Experiences Over Stuff" by Carl Richards, "Ambition Explosion" by David Brooks, and "Why Millennials Value Experiences Over Owning Things" by Blake Morgan; excerpts from Peter Kreeft's The Three Philosophies of Life.

3-14 “Bartleby, the Scrivener” Part I

3-16 "Bartleby, the Scrivener" Part II and "Unconscious Duplicity" by William B. Dillingham

3-21 “Winter Dreams”