McMahon English 1C Critical Thinking Syllabus Spring 2017
Email: [email protected]
Office: H121P; extension 5673
Office Hours: M and W: 2:45-3:45 and 5:30-6; T and TH 12:30-1 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:
- Evaluate arguments in terms of bias, credibility, and relevance.
- 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.
- Recognize and assess argumentative claims embedded in literary works, advertisements, political tracts, and presentations in other media.
- Express critical viewpoints and develop original arguments in response to social, political, and philosophical issues and/or to works of literature and literary theory.
- 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:
- Compose an argumentative essay that shows an ability to support a claim using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of primary and secondary sources.
- Identify and assess bias, credibility, and relevance in their own arguments and in the arguments of others, including primary and secondary outside sources.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Address issues of bias, credibility, and relevance in primary and secondary sources.
- 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.
- Use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
- Integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.
- Sustain the argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
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.
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. Muscle by Samuel Wilson Fussell
Two. The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol
Three. Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
Four. From Critical Thinking to Argument by Barnet and Bedau, Fifth Edition
Other Materials: 2 large blue books for in-class writing exams
Online Stories We'll Be Reading
"Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
"The Other Woman" by Sherwood Anderson
Assigned Texts That Are Available Online
Gogol's "The Overcoat"
Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener"
All 4 Typed Essays Need 3 credible sources to be used for in-text parenthetical citation and MLA formatted Works Cited page.
All four typed essays are 1,250 word typed and double-spaced.
Grading Based on 6,000 words and 850 total points
First 3 1,250-word essays are worth 150 points each.
Fourth essay, your Final, is 1,250 words and worth 200 points.
Two in-class reading exams are 500 words each and worth 100 points.
You must have a completed typed first draft for peer edit day for your fourth essay or 25 points will be deducted from your Final Typed Essay.
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
One. Develop a thesis that analyzes the manner in which Fussell’s memoir and Akaky from "The Overcoat" illustrate the Myth of Icarus.
Two. Develop a thesis that analyzes the manner in which Fussell’s memoir and Akaky from "The Overcoat" illustrate the fable from Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning “Death in Tehran”:
A rich and mighty Persian once walked in his garden with one of his servants. The servant cried that he had just encountered Death, who had threatened him. He begged his master to give him his fastest horse so that he could make haste and flee to Teheran, which he could reach that same evening. The master consented and the servant galloped off on the horse. On returning to his house the master himself met Death, and questioned him, “Why did you terrify and threaten my servant?” “I did not threaten him; I only showed surprise in still finding him here when I planned to meet him tonight in Teheran,” said Death.
Three. Develop a thesis that compares maladaptation in Fussell’s memoir and "The Overcoat."
Four. Research Erik Erikson’s notion of intimacy vs. isolation and develop a thesis that applies this conflict to Fussell’s memoir and "The Overcoat."
Five. Develop a cause and effect thesis that compares the causes of grotesque transformation in Fussell's memoir and "The Overcoat."
Six. A wise man once said, having a chimera will kill you, but not having a chimera will also kill you. Apply this saying to Samuel Wilson Fussell and Akaky from "The Overcoat." Both have a chimera, his obsession, the overcoat, which both transforms them for the better and for the worse. We all have our own personal chimera. Using both the memoir and the short story, write an extended definition of a chimera.
Final Capstone Essay for 200 Points: "The Moral Bucket List"
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 David Brooks' 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.
Peer Edit for Final Capstone Essay
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?
English 1C Reading and Writing Schedule Spring 2017
2-14 Introduction to Critical Thinking
2-16 Muscle
2-21 Muscle
2-23 “The Overcoat”
2-28 “The Overcoat”
3-2 “The Overcoat” and Muscle Review
3-7 Blue Book In-Class Essay Exam 1
3-9 Essay 1 Due; Comparing Trump and Hitler: Is It Legit?; "What's Wrong with the Redskins?"
3-14 Steve Almond argues that we should stop watching the NFL in Salon.
3-16 "How Facebook Warps Our World"; "The Real Reason to Quit Facebook"; "6 Reasons to Delete Your Facebook Account Right Now"
3-21 "The Reign of Recycling"; "Environmentalism Is a Religion"; teach with Stephan Asma's "Green Guilt"
3-23 "Guns, Campuses, and Madness" by Frank Bruni; show with Stephen Colbert video; "A New Way to Tackle Gun Deaths" by Nicholas Kristof; "After a 1996 Mass Shooting . . ." by Will Oremus
3-28 "The Simple Truth About Gun Control" by Adam Gopnik; "The Second Amendment Is a Gun-Control Amendment" by Adam Gopnik; "The Gun Debate Won't be Won with Statistics" by David Auerbach; John Oliver video on guns
3-30 "Notes on the End of Restaurant Tipping"; "You Can't Love People But Hate Their Religion"
4-4 "Addiction is not a disease"; Addiction is not a disease" reviewed by Laura Miller ;"Is Addiction a Habit or a Disease?" by Zachary Siegel; "Addiction is a Disease and Needs to be Treated as Such"by David Sack
4-6 Essay 2 Due; Morality of Food Choices in Malcolm Gladwell's Podcast; Malcolm Gladwell's Food Fight
4-18 Bowdoin's Defense Against Gladwell; Mother Jones Challenges Gladwell; Gladwell's Food Fight podcast on YouTube; Defense of Gladwell
4-20 Forgiving All Student Loan Debt Would be an Awful, Regressive Idea ; The Problem with Public Colleges Going Tuition-Free
4-25 Linking Higher Wages to Lower Crimes; Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?; Raising Minimum Wage Won't Reduce Inequality; Minimum Wage Hike Is the Wrong Fix; Why We Need to Raise the Minimum Wage
4-27 Minimum Wage Debate: Who's Right?; Minimum Wage Laws: Ruinous Compassion; Minimum Wage Laws and Dangers of Government by Decree; "The Fight Against 15"
5-2 Ta-Nehisi Coates' "The Case for Reparations"; Coates and Bernie Saunders on Reparations; "The Enduring Solidarity of Whiteness";"An Open Letter to Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Liberals Who Love Him"
5-4 "Ta-Nehisi Coates' Case for Reparations and Spiritual Awakening"; "The Case Against Reparations"; "Race without Class";
"The Radical Chic of Ta-Nehisi Coates"
5-9 "The Case for Considering Reparations"; "The Impossibility of Reparations"; "The Radical Practicality of Reparations"; "An Ingenious and Powerful Case for Reparations in The Atlantic"; "Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Case for Reparations"
5-11 Essay 3 Due; “The Moral Bucket List” by David Brooks and "Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition" by Emily Esfahani Smith
5-16 “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.
5-18 “Bartleby, the Scrivener” Part I
5-23 "Bartleby, the Scrivener" Part II and "Unconscious Duplicity" by William B. Dillingham
5-25 “Winter Dreams”
5-30 “The Other Woman”
6-1 Peer Edit
6-6 Final Capstone Essay Due; Blue Book In-Class Writing Exam Part I
6-8 Blue Book In-Class Writing Exam Part II
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