2018 Spring English 1C Syllabus McMahon
Email: [email protected]
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
Materials You Need for This Class:
One. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Two. Contemporary & Classic Arguments 2nd edition, edited by Sylvan Barnet
Large Blue Book for In-Class Essay Final Exam
Flat, Pocketed Folder for Your Homework Portfolio
Work You Must Do in This Class
One. You will write 5 typed, 1,000-word essays in MLA format. The fifth essay, your capstone essay, will need 3 sources for your Works Cited. These essays will be uploaded on turnitin. Late essays are accepted for a week after deadline and are marked down a full grade.
Two. Instead of getting quizzed on the readings, you will write 3-paragraph reading-response essays to the readings. Each mini essay should have at least 3 signal phrases citing the text of the assigned reading. You will not be uploading these essays on turnitin.com. Instead, you will bring a typed hard copy to class and discussing it with your team of 3 or 4 students. Classes will typically start with a 20-minute discussion about the reading response while I mark them with a teacher’s stamp. The mini essay will be stamped with either an excellent top-grade mark or a middling mediocre mark. An unacceptable essay won’t be marked. You will keep these essays in a flat, pocketed folder, which I will grade twice a semester. Each grading period is referred to as Portfolio 1 and Portfolio 2. You cannot make-up missing mini essays. You should be motivated to show up to every class.
Three. Before the 1,000-word typed essays are due on turnitin, there is a peer edit session. You bring hard copies of your completed typed draft so your team can review your work, and you can review theirs. Like your mini essays, the completed draft gets a stamp, either a top-tier stamp or a middling one.
Four. During the last week of the semester, you will write an in-class Blue Book Final exam essay of 500 words.
Grading Based on 1,000 Points and 13,850 Words Written Over the Semester (about 110 words a day).
One. First four 1,000-word essays are 125 points each.
Two. Final Capstone Essay with 3 sources: 1,000-word essay is 250 points.
Three. Two Homework Portfolios include all your mini essays and peer edit drafts (kept in flat pocketed folders) 100 points each, for 200 points
Four. In-Class Final Blue Book Exam is 500 words for 50 points.
Grading Point Scheme
Total Points: 1,000 (A is 900-100; B is 800-899; C is 700-799; D is 600 to 699)
All five typed essays are 1,000 word typed and double-spaced.
Essay #1 Due March 1:
Viktor Frankl makes the claim that we languish in the despair of the “existential vacuum,” which can only be overcome by living a life of meaning and purpose, which requires great moral focus and sacrifice. Another camp says there is no purpose in life, that we simply make up the life we choose to live and that “meaning” is an illusion because “meaning” is simply a trick of the mind we use to motivate us. Whose side are you on? Do you agree with Frankl’s claim that we are compelled to find a life of meaning and purpose, or do you reject that claim for the philosophy that there is no real purpose in life other than to meet our basic needs?
Sources and Signal Phrases:
You only need 1 source for your Work Cited, but you need at least 5 signal phrases for your in-text citations of quotations, paraphrase, and summary.
Essay #2 Options Due March 20 (3 Sources Needed)
Option One. Defend, refute, or complicate Mark Bittman’s assertion that we should tax “bad food” to subsidize vegetables (“Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables” 59).
Option Two. Analyze how Dexter Green, consciously and unconsciously, allowed Judy Jones to squander and ruin his life as rendered in the online PDF short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Winter Dreams.”
Option Three. Defend or refute Crito’s claim that Socrates should try to escape rather than face death in Plato’s Crito on page 234.
Option Four. Defend, refute, or complicate Jason Brennan’s claim that traditional American democracy should be replaced by an epistocracy. The texts for this option are online. You can refer to John Oliver video on Alex Jones.
Essay #3 Options Due April 17
Option One: Support, refute, or complicate the argument that Garrett Hardin’s analogy in “Lifeboat Ethics” (327) makes an effective argument against traditional liberal approaches to helping the poor.
Option Two: Support, refute, or complicate Harlan Coben’s argument in “The Undercover Parent” (65) that parents are morally compelled to breach their children’s computer privacy for the sake of protecting their children.
Option Three: Addressing Alfred Edmond’s “Why Asking for a Job Applicant’s Facebook Password is Fair Game” (68) support, refute, or complicate the argument that prospective employees are morally obligated to give up their social media information to potential employers.
Option Four. In the context of Peter Singer’s “Animal Liberation” (313), support, refute, or complicate that humans are morally compelled to eat a vegan diet.
Option Five. In the context of James Q. Wilson’s “Just Take Away Their Guns” (102), support, refute, or complicate the argument that anti-gun legislation is both ineffective and morally wrong.
Option Six. In the context of the essays in Chapter 4 (107), support, defend, or complicate the argument that in the New Economy college is an overrated and overpriced product that should cause many prospective college students to ponder more viable alternatives to building a strong career. Also, see “College for the Masses” by David Leonhardt.
Essay #4 Options Due May 8
Option One. In the context of the essays in Chapter 5 , support, refute, or complicate the argument that the death penalty is a moral abomination that must be abolished.
Option Two. In the context of the essays in Chapter 6, support, refute, or complicate the argument that the best approach to the drug crisis in America is to legalize drugs.
Option Three. In the context of the essays in Chapter 7, support, refute, or complicate the argument that the psychological problems that ensue from Facebook use are so virulent that one should be persuaded to delete his or her Facebook account.
Option Four. In the context of the essays in Chapter 8, support, refute, or complicate the argument that we lack the adequate moral adaptation to accommodate the crises born from rapid bio-technological advances.
Option Five. In the context of the essays in Chapter 9, develop an argumentative thesis for a safe, moral, and just immigration policy.
Essay #5, Your Capstone Essay worth 250 points Due May 31
You must have your completed, typed first draft for class peer edit on May 29 so you don’t lose 30 points.
You must have 3 sources for your MLA Works Cited.
Option One. In the context of the essays in Chapter 10, defend, refute, or complicate the assertion that young people should be required to perform public service.
Option Two. Defend, refute, or complicate Martin Luther King’s justification of civil disobedience in his essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (309)
Option Three. In the context of the online essay “Anti-Vaxxers: Enjoying the Privilege of Putting Everyone at Risk” by Jeb Lund, support, defend, or complicate the assertion that the vaccination crisis results largely from the hubris of white privilege. You can refer to the John Oliver video on vaccinations.
Option Four. In the context of “The War on Stupid People” by David H. Freedman, support, refute, or complicate the notion that society places misplaced admiration for intelligent people.
Option Five. Support, defend, or refute the notion that college debt should be forgiven.
Option Six. Support, refute, or complicate the argument that college should be free.
For context, see Chapter 11 in your book. Also consult the following:
Forgiving All Student Loan Debt Would be an Awful, Regressive Idea The Problem with Public Colleges Going Tuition-Free
Final Exam
Blue Book Exam done in two parts for Week 16, June 5 and June 7 is based on the essay “Unfollow” by Adrian Chen and “The Backfire Effect” from The Oatmeal.
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:
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.
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 compliant 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.
Reading and Writing Schedule with Homework Assignments for Your Portfolio
February 13 Introduction; signal phrases, homework for Portfolio
February 15 Frankl 1-60; homework #1: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that analyzes the 3 causes some lost their will to live and “descended to animal life.” Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Frankl’s book.
February 20 Frankl 61-120; homework #2: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that analyzes how the fable cited in the book, “Death in Tehran,” explains the major idea in the book. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Frankl’s book.
February 22 Frankl 121-end; homework #3: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that explains how logotherapy is, according to Frankl, a more effective therapy than traditional types of therapy. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Frankl’s book.
February 27 Peer Edit Due; bring 4 hard copies to class.
March 1 Essay #1 Due. “Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables” 59; homework #4: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that analyzes 3 possible objections to Bittman’s claim that we must tax bad food. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Bittman’s essay.
March 6 “Winter Dreams” online PDF by F. Scott Fitzgerald https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/winterdreams.pdf; homework #5: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that analyzes how Dexter Green allowed Judy Jones to ruin his life. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing the short story.
March 8 Read LA Times online article: “Can epistocracy, or knowledge-based voting, fix democracy? by Jason Brennan http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-brennan-epistocracy-20160828-snap-story.html; homework #6: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that submits 3 counterarguments to Brennan’s proposal. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Brennan’s essay.
March 13 Peer Edit; bring 4 hard copies of your completed, typed first draft to class.
March 15 March 20 Essay 2 Due; “Lifeboat Ethics” 327; homework #7: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that shows 3 objections to Hardin’s thesis. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Hardin’s essay.
March 22 “The Undercover Parent” 65 and “Why Asking for a Job Applicant’s Facebook Password Is Fair Game” 68; homework #8: write a 350-word, 3 paragraph essay that shows 3 objections to Coben’s thesis. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Coben’s essay.
March 27 “Animal Liberation” 313; homework #9: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that addresses 3 possible objections some might have for Singer’s essay. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Singer’s essay.
March 29 “Just Take Away Their Guns” 102; homework #10: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that shows 3 objections some might have for Wilson’s essay. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Wilson’s essay.
April 3 College Debate from Chapter 4; homework #11: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph that examines the validity of Marty Nemko’s claim that college is an overrated product. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Nemko’s essay (120).
April 5 Peer Edit; bring 4 copies of your first typed draft to class; Portfolio 1 Due; bring your portfolio with all your homework hard copies to class so I can give you a grade.
April 17 Essay 3 Due; Death Penalty Debate from Chapter 5; homework #12: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that examines the validity of Koch’s claim (“Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life” 126). Use at least 3 signal phrases that cite Koch’s essay.
April 19 Legalizing Drugs Debate from Chapter 6; homework #13; write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that examines the validity of the Milton Friedman’s claim (“There’s No Justice in the War on Drugs 151) that “the war on drugs has been worse than the drug usage that it was designed to reduce.”
April 24 Facebook Debate from Chapter 7 (“Nosedive”?); homework #14: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that examines the validity of Josh Rose’s claim that social media has a positive impact on culture (173). Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Rose’s essay.
April 26 Immigration Debate from Chapter 9; homework #15: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that explains the myths of immigration as presented in David Cole’s “Five Myths of Immigration.” Use 3 signal phrases to cite Cole’s essay (184).
May 1 Genetic Modification Debate from Chapter 8; homework #16: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that addresses the ethical crisis resulting from genetic modification as presented in Chapter 8, pages 177-183.
May 3 Peer Edit; bring 4 hard copies of essay for your team to peer edit.
May 8 Essay 4 Due; Mandatory Public Service Debate from Chapter 10; homework #17: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that explains the value of mandatory public service as presented in Peter Levine’s “The Case for ‘Service’” on page 205. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite the essay.
May 10 “Serve or Fail” 218; homework #18: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that anticipates objections to David Eggers’ claim in “Serve or fail.” Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Eggers’ essay.
May 15 “Letter to Birmingham Jail”; homework #19: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that supports or refutes Martin Luther King’s claim that civil disobedience is justified. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Orwell’s essay.
May 17 Read the Rolling Stone online essay “Anti-Vaxxers: Enjoying the Privilege of Putting Everyone at Risk” by Jeb Lund; http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/anti-vaxxers-enjoying-the-privilege-of-putting-everyone-at-risk-20150219 homework #20: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay connecting white privilege to the anti-vaxxer movement. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Lund’s essay.
May 22 Read David H. Freedman’s “The War on Stupid People,” published online in The Atlantic;https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/the-war-on-stupid-people/485618/ homework #21: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that analyzes the causes behind America’s tendency to confuse human intelligence with human worth. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Freedman’s essay.
May 24 Student Loan Debate from Chapter 11;
May 29 Peer Edit: Bring your typed first draft to class so you don’t lose 30 points.
May 31 Essay 5 Due; “Unfollow” by Adrian Chen online and “The Backfire Effect” by The Oatmeal online as preparation for the final exam
June 5: Final Exam with Blue Book
June 7 Homework Portfolio 2 Grade Check.
Sample Signal Phrases:
From ThoughtCo:
- Sample Signal Phrases:
- Maya Angelou said, "Start loving yourself before you ask someone else to love you."
- "Start loving yourself before you ask someone else to love you," Maya Angelou said.
- "Start loving yourself," Maya Angelou said, "before you ask someone else to love you."
- As Mark Twain observed, "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions."
- According to Frito-Lay research, women snack only 14 percent . . .
- The candidate insisted that the tariff must be reduced to a "competitive basis" and taxes . . .
- Undernourished children have long been India’s scourge--“a national shame,” in the words of its prime minister . . ..
From GMU Writing Center:
Below are some guidelines and tips for using signal phrases.
- Signal phrases usually include the author’s name but can also include the author’s job title or background (“reporter for Washington Post,” “researcher,” “senator,” “scholar,” and so on) and/or the title of the source.
- Signal phrases usually come at the beginning of a sentence before the source material, but they can also occur in the middle of a source or at the end.
- To avoid monotony and repetition, try to vary both the language and placement of your signal phrases.
- According to Maxwell & Hanson, Some scholars have shown... In the words of researchers Smith and Johnson, “...” As legal scholar Terrence Roberts has noted, “....” “...,” attorney Smith claims. Smith and Robert offer a persuasive argument: “....”
- Choose a verb that is appropriate to the way you are using your source. Below is a list of verbs that can be used in signal phrases:
- acknowledges adds admits affirms agrees answers argues asserts claims comments concedes confirms contends counters counterattacks declares defines denies disputes echoes endorses estimates finds grants illustrates implies insists mentions notes observes predicts proposes reasons recognizes recommends refutes rejects reports responds reveals speculates states suggests surmises warns writes
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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