Lesson Plan Über Alles

McMahon English 1C Critical Thinking Syllabus Fall 2017

McMahon English 1C Critical Thinking Syllabus Fall 2017

Email: [email protected] 

Office: H121P; extension 5673  

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

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 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.

Books and Materials You Need for This Class:

One. Deep Work by Cal Newport

Two. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter

Three. Contemporary & Classic Arguments 2^nd edition, edited by Sylvan Barnet

Four. Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Two Large Blue Books for In-Class Essay Exams

 

Grading

Four Typed 1,000-word essays with 3 sources for 150 points each.

Fifth Capstone 1,000-word essay with 3 sources for 200 points.

Two Blue Book In-Class Essays of 500-word length for 100 points each.

 

Grand Point Total: 1,000

Grand Total of Words Written: 6,000

 

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.  

Essay Assignment #1 for Cal Newport’s Deep Work

Support, refute, or complicate the argument that Deep Work as defined by Cal Newport is an effective antidote to the spiritual and intellectual malaise of Casual Nihilism, the attention-fragmented zombie state of constantly being on one’s smartphone. Be sure to have 3 sources in your Works Cited page. Deep Work counts as one of your sources.

Essay Assignment #2 for Irresistible by Adam Alter

Support, refute, or complicate the argument that Adam Alter makes a convincing case that much of the technology mentioned in his book is not designed for consumer benefit but rather for the technocrats’ benefit by degrading the consumers into helpless addicts.

Essay Assignment #3 Options from Contemporary & Classic Arguments in which you will use the Toulmin Argument

Option One: Support, refute, or complicate the argument that Garrett Hardin’s analogy in “Lifeboat Ethics” 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” 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,” 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,” 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,” support, refute, or complicate the argument that anti-gun legislation is both ineffective and morally wrong.

Option Six. In the context of Charles Lawrence’s “On Racist Speech,” support, refute, or complicate the assertion that there are conditions that obligate us to censor speech so that there is no such thing as “free speech” as is commonly accepted.

Option Seven. In the context of the essays in Chapter 4, 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.

Essay #4 Options from Contemporary & Classic Arguments in which you will use the Toulmin Argument

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, from Lower Ed by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Support, refute, or complicate the argument that for-profit schools are so larded with deception, lies, and liabilities for the prospective student that these quasi-educational institutions must either be severely regulated or abolished altogether.

Reading and Writing Schedule

August 29 Introduction, Informed Opinion Vs. All Others

August 31 Deep Work 1-50

September 5 Deep Work 51-150

September 7 Deep Work 151-end

September 12 Essay 1 Due; Introduction to Casual Nihilism; Nosedive

September 14 Irresistible 1-50

September 19 Irresistible 51-100

September 21 Irresistible 101-150

September 26 Irresistible 151-end

September 28 Peer Edit; bring typed first draft so you don’t lose 20 points.

October 2 Essay 2 Due; Chapter 12 “Lifeboat Ethics”

October 5 Chapter 3 “The Under Cover Parent,” “Why Asking for a Job Applicant’s Facebook Password Is Fair Game”

October 10 Chapter 12 “Animal Liberation”

October 12 Chapter 3 “On Racist Speech,” “Military Women in Combat”

October 17 Chapter 3 “Just Take Away Their Guns”

October 19 Chapter 4 and the College Debate

October 24 Essay 3 Due; Chapter 5 Death Penalty Debate

October 26 Chapter 6 Legalizing Drugs Debate

October 31 Chapters 7 Alleged Toxicity of Facebook

November 2 Chapter 8 Genetic Modification Debate

November 7 Chapter 9 Immigration Debate

November 9 Chapter 11 Student Loan Debate

November 14 Essay 4 Due; Lower Ed 1-50 and For-Profit Video

November 16 Lower Ed 51-100

November 21 Lower Ed 101-150

November 23 Holiday

November 28 Lower Ed 151-200

November 30 Blue Book Exam #1

December 5 Lower Ed 201-end; counterarguments

December 7 Peer Edit

December 12 Essay 5 Due; Blue Book Exam Part 1 Based on Contemporary and Classic Arguments

December 14 Blue Book Exam Part 2

Peer Edit for Typed Essay (First Draft)

 

First Page

 

1. Do you have a salient, distinctive title that is relevant to your topic and thesis?
2. Do you have your name, instructor’s name, the course, and date (in that order) at the top left?

 

Format

 

1. Are you using 12-point font with Times New Roman?
2. Are your lines double-spaced?
3. Is your font color black?
4. Do you make sure there are no extra spaces between paragraphs (some students erroneously use 4 spaces between paragraphs)
5. Do you use 1-inch margins?
6. Do you use block format for quotes of 4 or more lines in which you indent another inch from the left margin?

Introduction

1. Does your introduction have a compelling hook using an anecdote, a troubling current event, a startling statistic, etc.?
2. 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

1. Do you have a thesis that articulates your main purpose in clear, specific language?
2. Is your thesis sophisticated in that it makes an assertion that goes beyond the obvious and self-evident?
3. Is your thesis debatable?
4. 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 ________________. )
5. 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?

Diagnostic Essay for Turnitin Could Replace Blue Book Essay 1

As you know I hate the blue book exams. I'm willing to do a final at end of semester. However, I would like to replace first BB with a typed 500-word paper for turnitin. They would have to turn in with blue book, so you could see how it was revised and verify its authenticity. 

English 1A

Essay 1 (500 words) 100 points. Due end of Week 2. (1C could be beginning of Week 3. You could have them start in class in BB.). 

Essay 2: End of Week 3.

Essay 3: End of Week 7

Essay 4: End of Week 11

Essay 5: Last Week

Blue Book: Last Week.

Third Syllabus Revision for 1C Spring 2017 with The Professor in the Cage

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 12:15-1 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:         

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 (Dover edition is $3 or free online)

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

Four. The Professor in the Cage by Jonathan Gottschall

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

Other Materials: 1 large blue book for in-class final writing exam

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 1,100 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 700 total points

First four 1,100-word essays are worth 100 points each (400 points)

Fifth essay, your Final, is 1,100 words and worth 200 points.

One in-class reading exam is 500 words each and worth 100 points.

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 100 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. 

Essay Two for 100 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)

Final Capstone Essay Five for 200 Points: Jonathan Gottschall’s The Professor in the Cage:

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 1,100 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. 

English 1C Reading and Writing Schedule Spring 2017

2-14 Introduction to Critical Thinking

2-16 Muscle; FCTA Chapter 1 Critical Thinking

2-21 Muscle; FCTA Chapter 2 Critical Reading

2-23 “The Overcoat”; FCTA Chapters 3 and 5 Going Deeper into Arguments

2-28 “The Overcoat”; FCTA Chapters 6 and 7 Argument and Using Sources

3-2 “The Overcoat” and Muscle Review; FCTA Chapters 8 and 9 Toulmin Argument and Fallacies

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”

3-23 “The Other Woman”

3-28 Essay 2 Due; Show "Nosedive" from Black Mirror and compare to Sherry Turkle's "Flight from Conversation" and Turkle's "Connected, but alone?" video

3-30 "How Facebook Warps Our World"; "The Real Reason to Quit Facebook"; "6 Reasons to Delete Your Facebook Account Right Now"

4-4 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"; "Ta-Nehisi Coates' Case for Reparations and Spiritual Awakening"; "The Case Against Reparations"; "Race without Class"; "The Radical Chic of Ta-Nehisi Coates""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"

4-6  "The Reign of Recycling"; "Environmentalism Is a Religion"; teach with Stephan Asma's "Green Guilt"

4-18 Minimum wage and Universal Basic Income debates

4-20  NFL debate

4-25 Essay 3 Due; “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin and John Oliver video on child labor in the garment industry. Masters of time management will start reading The Professor in the Cage.

4-27 “Against Empathy” by Paul Bloom. 

5-2 Morality of Food Choices in Malcolm Gladwell's Podcast; Malcolm Gladwell's Food Fight; Bowdoin's Defense Against Gladwell; Mother Jones Challenges Gladwell; Gladwell's Food Fight podcast on YouTube; Defense of Gladwell. Masters of time management will continue reading in preparation for final essay and in-class final exam.

5-4  "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.  Masters of time management will continue reading in preparation for final essay and in-class final exam.

5-9 Vaccine Debate: "How to Change an Anti-Vaxxer's Mind"; "Why Vaccination Refusal Is a White Privilege Problem"; "What Everyone Gets Wrong About Anti-Vaccine Parents"; "Kid Vaccination Drama"; "We Seem to be More Frightened Than We've Ever Been"; "Anti-Vaxxers: Enjoying the Privilege of Putting Everyone at Risk". Masters of time management will continue reading in preparation for final essay and in-class final exam.

5-11 The Failed Promise of Legal Pot and Life with Legal Weed

5-16 Essay 4 Due; Professor in the Cage Chapter 1; pagan vs. Christian notions of virtue (see Stephan Asma); “The Fighter and the Kid” video

5-18 Professor in the Cage Chapter 2 and Steve Almond's argument against NFL

5-23 Professor in the Cage Chapters 3 and 4

5-25 Professor in the Cage Chapter 5

5-30 Professor in the Cage Chapters 6 and 7

6-1 Professor in the Cage Chapter 8; Review, Thesis approaches; different outlines; work on thesis in class

6-6 Essay 5 Final Capstone Essay Due Week 16; Blue Book In-Class Writing Exam Part I

6-8 Blue Book In-Class Writing Exam Part II

Revised 1C Syllabus Spring 2017

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 12:15-1 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:         

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: 1 large blue book for in-class final writing exam

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", and “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 1,100 word typed and double-spaced.  

Grading Based on 6,000 words and 700 total points

First 4 1,100-word essays are worth 100 points each (400 pts)

Fifth essay, your Final, is 1,100 words and worth 200 points.

One in-class reading exam is 500 words each and worth 100 points.

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 100 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. 

Essays 2-4 (various)

Final Capstone Essay #5 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.   

English 1C Reading and Writing Schedule Spring 2017

2-14 Introduction to Critical Thinking

2-16 Muscle; FCTA Chapter 1 Critical Thinking

2-21 Muscle; FCTA Chapter 2 Critical Reading

2-23 “The Overcoat”; FCTA Chapters 3 and 5 Going Deeper into Arguments

2-28 “The Overcoat”; FCTA Chapters 6 and 7 Argument and Using Sources

3-2 “The Overcoat” and Muscle Review; FCTA Chapters 8 and 9 Toulmin Argument and Fallacies

3-7 Essay 1 Due Week 4; Steve Almond argues that we should stop watching the NFL in Salon. 

3-9 “Emptiness” by Kristin Dombek; “What’s Wrong with the Redskins” by Jeannie Suk Gersen

3-14  "How Facebook Warps Our World"; "The Real Reason to Quit Facebook"; "6 Reasons to Delete Your Facebook Account Right Now"

3-16  "The Reign of Recycling"; "Environmentalism Is a Religion"; teach with Stephan Asma's "Green Guilt"

3-21 "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

3-23  "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

3-28 Essay 2 Due Week 7;  "Notes on the End of Restaurant Tipping"; "You Can't Love People But Hate Their Religion"

3-30 "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 

4-4 Morality of Food Choices in Malcolm Gladwell's Podcast; Malcolm Gladwell's Food Fight

4-6 Bowdoin's Defense Against Gladwell; Mother Jones Challenges Gladwell; Gladwell's Food Fight podcast on YouTube; Defense of Gladwell

4-18 Vaccine Debate

4-20 Forgiving All Student Loan Debt Would be an Awful, Regressive Idea  ; John Oliver and Vice News on Student Debt

4-25 Essay 3 Due Week 10; 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""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"

5-9 “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin

5-11 Thesis Review; Work on thesis in class

5-16 Essay 4 Due Week 13;  ; “The Moral Bucket List” by David Brooks and "Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition" by Emily Esfahani Smith; Pascal Pensees

5-18  “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.

5-23 “Bartleby, the Scrivener” Part I

5-25  "Bartleby, the Scrivener" Part II and "Unconscious Duplicity" by William B. Dillingham

5-30 “Winter Dreams”

6-1 “The Other Woman”

6-6 Essay 5 Final Capstone Essay Due Week 16; Blue Book In-Class Writing Exam Part I

6-8 Blue Book In-Class Writing Exam Part II

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English 1A Syllabus for Spring 2017

English 1A Syllabus for McMahon’s Spring 2017

Office H121P; Phone Extension: 5673

Office Hours: Mon and Wed: 2:30-3:45; Tues and Thurs: 12:15-1 and 3:30-4:15

Email: [email protected]   

Course Catalog Description:  

This course is designed to strengthen the students’ ability to read with understanding and discernment, to discuss assigned readings intelligently, and to write clearly. Emphasis will be on writing essays in which each paragraph relates to a controlling idea, has an introduction and a conclusion, and contains primary and secondary support. College-level reading material will be assigned to provide the stimulus for class discussion and writing assignments, including a required research paper.  

Course Objectives:  

One. Recognize and revise sentence-level grammar and usage errors.

Two. Read and apply critical-thinking skills to numerous published articles and to college-level, book-length works for the purpose of writing and discussion.

Three. Apply appropriate strategies in the writing process including prewriting, composing, revising, and editing techniques.

Four. Compose multi-paragraph, thesis-driven essays with logical and appropriate supporting ideas, and with unity and coherence.

Five. Demonstrate ability to locate and utilize a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites.

Six. Utilize MLA guidelines to format essays, cite sources in the texts of essays, and compile Works Cited lists. 

Student Learning Outcomes: 

Upon completion of this course, students will: 

1. Complete a research-based essay that has been written out of class and undergone revision. It should demonstrate the student’s ability to thoughtfully support a single thesis using analysis and synthesis. 
2. Integrate multiple sources, including a book-length work and a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites. Citations must be in MLA format and include a Works Cited page. 
3. Demonstrate logical paragraph composition and sentence structure. The essay should have correct grammar, spelling, and word use.

Students with Disabilities:  

It is the policy of the El Camino Community College District to encourage full inclusion of people with disabilities in all programs and services.  Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class should contact the campus Special Resource Center (310) 660-3295, as soon as possible.  This will ensure that students are able to fully participate.     

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism:  

El Camino College places a high value on the integrity of its student scholars.  When an instructor determines that there is evidence of dishonesty in any academic work (including, but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, or theft of exam materials), disciplinary action appropriate to the misconduct as defined in BP 5500 may be taken.  A failing grade on an assignment in which academic dishonesty has occurred and suspension from class are among the disciplinary actions for academic dishonesty (AP 5520).  Students with any questions about the Academic Honesty or discipline policies are encouraged to speak with their instructor in advance. 

Attendance Policy: Students are expected to attend their classes regularly. Students who miss the first class meeting or who are not in regular attendance during the add period for the class may be dropped by the instructor. Students whose absences from a class exceed 10% of the scheduled class meeting times may be dropped by the instructor. However, students are responsible for dropping a class within the deadlines published in the class schedule. Students who stop attending but do not drop may receive a failing grade.  

Student Resources:

• Reading Success Center (East Library Basement E-36)
  Software and tutors are available for vocabulary development & reading comprehension.  
• Library Media Technology Center - LMTC (East Library Basement)
  Computers are available for free use. Bring your student ID # & flash drive.  There’s a charge for printing.  
• Writing Center (H122)
  Computers are available for free use. Free tutoring is available for writing assignments, grammar, and vocabulary.  Bring your student ID & flash drive to save work.  Printing is NOT available.  
• Learning Resource Center - LRC (West Wing of the Library, 2^nd floor)
  The LRC Tutorial Program offers free drop-in tutoring.  For the tutoring schedule, go to www.elcamino.edu/library/lrc/tutoring .The LRC also offers individualized computer adaptive programs to help build your reading comprehension skills.    
• Student Health Center (Next to the Pool)
  The Health Center offers free medical and psychological services as well as free workshops on topics like “test anxiety.” Low cost medical testing is also available. 
• Special Resource Center – SRC (Southwest Wing of Student Services Building)

The SRC provides free disability services, including interpreters, testing accommodations, counseling, and adaptive computer technology. 

Books You Need to Buy for This Class

It's Beginning to Hurt by James Lasdun

Acting Out Culture, 3rd edition, edited by James S. Miller

Rules for Writers, 8^th edition by Diana Hacker

Other Materials You Need: 2 large size blue books for in-class exams 

Total Words Written in Semester: 8,000; Total Points: 1,000

One. First four 1,400-word essays are 150 points each.

Two. Final Capstone Essay: 1,400-word essay is 200 points.

Three. The final essay, Number 5, is 200 points and needs a completed typed draft for peer edit due the class before the final draft is due. This completed draft must be completed on Peer Edit day or student loses 20 points on Final Capstone essay.

Four. In-Class Reading Exams are 500 words for 100 points each.

Total Points: 1,000

Essay Options 

Essay 1 for 150 points: 1,400 words typed and 3 sources: Hard copy and turnitin upload due no later than start of class on March 1:

Option One

Comparing at least 3 stories from Lasdun’s collection, develop an analytical thesis that shows how Joseph Epstein’s online essay “The Perpetual Adolescent” supports the assertion that Lasdun’s characters self-destruct under the weight of their adolescent fixation.

By perpetual adolescence, we meaning the following:

Chasing Eros instead of maturing.

Chasing the ego's needs instead of maturing.

Adulating or worshipping the culture of youth while shunning the wisdom of maturity

Chasing the compulsivity of youth and never learning the self-control of maturity.

Chasing the hedonism of youth instead of finding connection and meaning.

Pursuing Dionysian impulses instead of Apollonian inclinations. Some say that all literature is about the conflict between Dionysian and Apollonian forces.

Be sure your essay has a minimum of 3 sources.

Option Two

Develop a thesis that answers the following question: How do characters in Lasdun's "love stories" reach the demonic state? (cause and effect thesis)

By "demonic" I mean several things:

They go mad as they become disconnected from others and living inside their head, the condition known as solipsism.

They become irrational so that they are incapable of maturity, which means having the faculties of love and reason.

They have no boundaries with others, so that they are “clingers,” as we discussed last class, people capable of symbiotic relationships, which render both people emotional cripples.

They become blind to their own self-destruction so that they have no self-awareness or metacognition.

They chase a pipe dream or a chimera and obliterate themselves in the process.

They become bitter at their wasted life and realize they've squandered their existence on a cheap dream. They're overcome, as a result, with self-hatred and remorse.

Consider, their madness as the result of 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," "An Anxious Man," "The Natural Order," and "Peter Khan's Third Wife." Be sure your essay has a minimum of 3 sources.

Option Three

Analyze two stories 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 may use the Black Mirror episode "Nosedive" as a source and as a story comparison. 

 

Essay 2 for 150 points. Options: 1,400 words typed and 3 sources: Hard copy and turnitin upload due no later than the start of class on March 22.

Sherry Turkle’s “The Flight from Conversation” and Curtis Silver’s “The Quagmire of Social Media Friendships” (444) allege certain pathologies result from social media. These pathologies include an empathy deficit, depression, narcissism, shortened attention span, online shaming, lost conversation skills, and even altered brain development. In an argumentative essay, support, refute, or complicate the assertion from Sherry Turkle’s “The Flight from Conversation” (online essay) that social media is harmful for our social, cultural and intellectual development.

Essay 3 for 150 points. Options: 1,400 words typed options and 3 sources is due no later than the start of class on April 19. 

One. Refute, support, or complicate Asma’s assertion that green guilt is not only a relative to religious guilt but speaks to our drive to sacrifice self-indulgence for the drive of altruistic self-preservation and social reciprocity. See Elizabeth Anderson’s online essay “If God Is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?”

Two. Develop a thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates the assertion Debra J. Dickerson, who wrote the “The Great White Way,” would find Michael Eric Dyson's essay "Understanding Black Patriotism" a complement to Dickerson's ideas about race, power, and hierarchy.

Three. Support, refute, or complicate Debra J. Dickerson's argument that race in America is more of a social fantasy than a reflection of objective reality. 

Four. Develop a thesis that analyzes the human inclination for staying within the tribe of sameness as explained in David Brooks’ “People Like Us.”

Five. Support, refute, or complicate Nicholas Kristof’s assertion that slashing food stamps is morally indefensible.

Six. Addressing at least one essay we've covered in class (“The Wages of Sin” and “Eat Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem), support, refute, or complicate the argument that overeating, anorexia, and other eating disorders are not the result of a disease but are habits of individual circumstance and economics.

Seven. Support, refute, or complicate the argument that feminist-political explanations for anorexia, as evident in Caroline Knapp's essay, are a ruse that hide the disease's real causes. 

Essay 4 for 150 points. Options. 1,400 words and is due no later than start of class on May 10

One. Defend, refute, or complicate Conor Friedersdorf’s assertion in “A Social-Media Mistake Is No Reason to be Fired” that too often digital mobs pervert our ability to distinguish a social media mistake from a job-termination-worthy behavior.

Two. Develop an argumentative or cause and effect thesis of your choice that addresses one of the essays we’ve read on online shaming and digital mobs.

Three. Addressing Catherine Buni and Soraya Chemaly’s “The Unsafety Net,” develop an argumentative or cause and effect thesis of your choice about misogynistic trolls and social media.

Four. Comparing “Faces in the Mirror” and “Markets and Morals,” develop an argumentative or cause and effect thesis about how the relationship between the commodification of everything, including celebrity, results in dehumanization.

Five. In the context of “Our Baby, Her Womb,” support, defend, or complicate the argument that surrogate motherhood is a moral abomination.

Six. In the context of “Unspeakable Conversations,” defend, refute, or complicate Peter Singer’s position that there are moral grounds for infanticide or “mercy killings.” 

Final Capstone Essay 5 for 200 points. Options. 1,400 words and is due no later than the start of class on June 5 (worth 200 points)

One. Support, refute, or complicate Alfie Kohn’s assertion from “Degrading to De-grading” that grading is an inferior education tool that all conscientious teachers should abandon.

Two. Support, refute, or complicate the inferred lesson from bell hooks’ essay, “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” that upward mobility requires a betrayal of one’s economic class and even family.

Three. In the context of one or more essays we’ve read about standardized testing, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that standardized testing is a money-making canard sodden with incompetence, corruption, and moral bankruptcy, and therefore must be abolished.

Four. Support, refute, or complicate the argument that “Against School” and any other essays we’ve covered persuasively evidence that American education is more about protecting private business interests, maintaining class bias, and asserting mass control than it is about promoting real empowerment such as critical thinking, independence, and freedom. 

Five. In the context of John Taylor Gatto’s “Against School,” support, refute, or complicate the argument that that American education is more about protecting private business interests, maintaining class bias, and asserting mass control than it is about promoting real empowerment such as critical thinking, independence, and freedom. 

Six. Compare the themes in "Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class" by Bell Hooks to H.G. Wells' short story "The Country of the Blind."

Seven. Compare the themes in Bell Hooks' "Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class" 

Your guidelines for your Final Research Paper are as follows: 

This research paper should present a thesis that is specific, manageable, provable, and contestable—in other words, the thesis should offer a clear position, stand, or opinion that will be proven with research.   

You should analyze and prove your thesis using examples and quotes from a variety of sources.   

You need to research and cite from at least five sources.  You must use at least 3 different types of sources.     

At least one source must be from an ECC library database.    

At least one source must be a book, anthology or textbook.    

At least one source must be from a credible website, appropriate for academic use.  

The paper should 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. 

This paper will be approximately 5-7 pages in length, not including the Works Cited page, which is also required.  This means at least 5 full pages of text.  The Works Cited page does NOT count towards length requirement.     

You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.   

You must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.  

You must sustain your argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. 

Your paper must be logically organized and focused.   

Late papers reduced a full grade. No late papers accepted a week past due date.  If you turn in paper more than a week late, you not earn more than a D plus.

Peer Edit

You must do a peer edit. You must show up to class on peer edit day with a completed typed draft for 20 points.

You Can’t “Ride” the Class

If you’re “riding” the class, that is missing more than 10% of classes and not keeping up with assignments, you can’t fulfill the Student Learning Outcomes, and you will be dropped.

You Must Use turnitin to submit essay and bring hard copy on due date

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 will give you first week of class

Classroom Decorum: No smart phones can be used in class. If you’re on your smart phone and I see 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.  The above also applies to talking and doing homework from other classes. 

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.

Reading and Writing Schedule

2-13 Introduction

2-15 Joseph Epstein's online essay "The Perpetual Adolescent," Lasdun's "The Natural Order"

2-20 Holiday

2-22 Lasdun's "The Half Sister" and "Lime Pickle"

2-27 Lasdun's "The Incalculable Life Gesture" and "Peter Khan's Third Wife"

3-1 Essay 1 Due; "Flight from Conversation"

3-6 "Quagmire of Social Media Relationships"  444 and "Exploring Facebook Depression"

3-8 "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?", "Facebook Isn't Making Us Lonely," "How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy"

3-13 "Empathy Deficit,"  464 "I Used to be a Human Being," "Do Facebook and Other Social Media Encourage Narcissism?"

3-15 "Space Between Mourning and Grief," "Stop Googling. Let's Talk"

3-20 "Flight from Conversation" in The Atlantic; "I, Narcissist--Vanity, Social Media, and the Human Condition"

3-22 Essay 2 Due. "Green Guilt" 25

3-27 "The Great White Way" 68 and "Understanding Black Patriotism" 55

3-29 "People Like Us" 62

4-3 “Prudence or Cruelty?”,  172 "Cutting Food Stamps Will Cost Everyone," "The Economic Case for Food Stamps," "How America's Welfare System Hurts the People It's Supposed to Help" 

4-5 "Wages of Sin" and "Eat Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem" 181-202

4-17 In-Class Bluebook Exam

4-19 Essay 3 Due. "Social Media Mistake Is No Reason to be Fired"

4-24 "The Flip Side of Internet Fame" 90 and "Evolution of Shaming" 

4-26 "The Unsafety Net: How Social Media Turned Against Woman" and Leslie Jones trolls 

5-1 "Faces in the Mirror" 31 and "Markets and Morals" 40

5-3 "Our Baby, Her Womb"418

5-8 "Unspeakable Conversations" 96

5-10 Essay 4 Due. "From Degrading to De-grading" 238

5-15 "Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class" 287

5-17 "Everything You've Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong"  252 and "Why Poor Schools Can't Win at Standardized Testing"; John Oliver video

5-22 "Why Would a Teacher Cheat?" in The Atlantic; Ted Talk Video: What standardized tests don't measure by Nikki Adeli 

5-24 "Against School" 271; Videos by Ana Maria Rosato and Ted Dintersmith about standardized testing

5-29 Holiday

5-31 Peer Edit

6-5 Essay 5 Due. Blue Book Final Part 1

6-7 Blue Book Final Part 2

Spring 2017 English 1C Syllabus Revised and Updated

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 12:15-1 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: 

1. Evaluate arguments in terms of bias, credibility, and relevance.
2. 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.
3. Recognize and assess argumentative claims embedded in literary works, advertisements, political tracts, and presentations in other media.
4. Express critical viewpoints and develop original arguments in response to social, political, and philosophical issues and/or to works of literature and literary theory.
5. 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:

1. Compose an argumentative essay that shows an ability to support a claim using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of primary and secondary sources.
2. Identify and assess bias, credibility, and relevance in their own arguments and in the arguments of others, including primary and secondary outside sources.
3. 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:

1. 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.

1. 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.

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

1. 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.

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

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

1. 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

 

1. Do you have a salient, distinctive title that is relevant to your topic and thesis?
2. Do you have your name, instructor’s name, the course, and date (in that order) at the top left? 

Format 

1. Are you using 12-point font with Times New Roman?
2. Are your lines double-spaced?
3. Is your font color black?
4. Do you make sure there are no extra spaces between paragraphs (some students erroneously use 4 spaces between paragraphs)
5. Do you use 1-inch margins?
6. Do you use block format for quotes of 4 or more lines in which you indent another inch from the left margin?

Introduction

1. Does your introduction have a compelling hook using an anecdote, a troubling current event, a startling statistic, etc.?
2. 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

1. Do you have a thesis that articulates your main purpose in clear, specific language?
2. Is your thesis sophisticated in that it makes an assertion that goes beyond the obvious and self-evident?
3. Is your thesis debatable?
4. 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 ________________. )
5. 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; FCTA Chapter 1 Critical Thinking

2-21 Muscle; FCTA Chapter 2 Critical Reading

2-23 “The Overcoat”; FCTA Chapters 3 and 5 Going Deeper into Arguments

2-28 “The Overcoat”; FCTA Chapters 6 and 7 Argument and Using Sources

3-2 “The Overcoat” and Muscle Review; FCTA Chapters 8 and 9 Toulmin Argument and Fallacies

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; Pascal Pensees

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

Syllabus for English 1C Critical Thinking Spring 2017

 

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:

 

1. Evaluate arguments in terms of bias, credibility, and relevance.
2. 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.
3. Recognize and assess argumentative claims embedded in literary works, advertisements, political tracts, and presentations in other media.
4. Express critical viewpoints and develop original arguments in response to social, political, and philosophical issues and/or to works of literature and literary theory.
5. 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:

1. Compose an argumentative essay that shows an ability to support a claim using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of primary and secondary sources.
2. Identify and assess bias, credibility, and relevance in their own arguments and in the arguments of others, including primary and secondary outside sources.
3. 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:

1. 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. 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.

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

4. 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.

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

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

7. 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

 

1. Do you have a salient, distinctive title that is relevant to your topic and thesis?
2. Do you have your name, instructor’s name, the course, and date (in that order) at the top left?

 

Format

 

1. Are you using 12-point font with Times New Roman?
2. Are your lines double-spaced?
3. Is your font color black?
4. Do you make sure there are no extra spaces between paragraphs (some students erroneously use 4 spaces between paragraphs)
5. Do you use 1-inch margins?
6. Do you use block format for quotes of 4 or more lines in which you indent another inch from the left margin?

Introduction

1. Does your introduction have a compelling hook using an anecdote, a troubling current event, a startling statistic, etc.?
2. 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

1. Do you have a thesis that articulates your main purpose in clear, specific language?
2. Is your thesis sophisticated in that it makes an assertion that goes beyond the obvious and self-evident?
3. Is your thesis debatable?
4. 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 ________________. )
5. 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

 

Spring 2017 Semester for 1A and 1C Changes in Syllabus, Assignments, Etc.

English 1A

Essay 1 is from Night.

Essays 2-5 from Acting Out Culture

English 1A is 5 Essays with a Blue Book Midterm and Final. 

Your Final has Part I and Part II in the Blue Book. 

5 1,400-word essays

2 500-word Blue Book essays

8,000 words total

Essays 1-4 are 100 points each for 400. 

Final Essay 5 is 200 points.

Midterm and Final are 75 each for 150. 

Total Points: 750

English 1C

Essay 1 is a comparison of Muscle and "The Overcoat."

Essays 2-4 from online essays. 

English 1C has a Blue Book and a Final. They may be from your text From Critical Thinking to Argument.

Your Final has two parts for the last week. 

Essays 1-3 are 100 points each for 300.

Final Essay 4 is 200.

Midterm and Final Blue Book are 75 each for 150. 

650 total points

 

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"The Overcoat" Lesson 2

Two-Part Blue Book Final for Fall and Semester and Other Notes

For Fall and Spring, have students turn in final typed paper on turnitin on first day of last week. On that day, give them a two-part in-class final to be written in blue book due on last day of class.

For Summer, the Final Blue Book Exam will be also be two parts. 

For final blue book exam, you might show a video like a Ted Talk. I'm thinking of Sandra Aamodt's lecture on weight gain.

You might write a lecture about the hockey goalie and the martial arts instructor as analogies to dynamics between students and teachers, especially as students come to college with severe grammar deficits. 

The hockey goalie is intimidating, discouraging, humiliating, overwhelming, and he promotes helplessness and despair. 

Imagine going to the gym weighing 1,000 pounds with no knowledge of nutrition and exercise, and you have 16 weeks to look your ideal.

A martial arts instructor speaks the truth about the person's condition, but is helpful, instills self-discipline, and is inspiring. 

Some conflicts: 85% of students have severe grammar deficits. 90% don't proof read. They don't know how if they did. 

How can they get a higher belt?

We're trying to encourage a narrative of economic class ascent. Or what is called upward mobility. 

You might tell them about your friend Jesse who dropped out of PhD program. 

Some Changes for 1A Syllabus Readings

 

 

Have capstone essay due second to last day. On that day, give a prompt for the final Blue Book exam based on an online essay in the news. 

Change Man's Search to Meaning to Night. 

For 1A, you might have students turn in a thesis and Works Cited page for 25 points or 50 points. 

English 1A

Typed Essays 1-4 100 points each for 400; word count is 1,250 for 5,000 words

Final Essay for 200 points with 1,500 word count.

Blue Midterm and Final 100 with a 750 word count for 1,500 total.

Grand Word Count Total: 8,000

Total Points: 800

Essay One: Night Weeks 1-3

Essay Two: Due at beginning of Week 6

One. Green Guilt 

Two. The Faces in the Mirror with Markets and Morals

Three. Understanding Black Patriotism and People Like Us

Four. The Great White Way and The Flip Side of Internet Fame

Five. Unspeakable Conversations

Six. The Quagmire of Social Media Friendships and Turkle's Flight from Conversation

Essay Three: Due at beginning of Week 9

One. Prudence or Cruelty?

Two. The Ethics of Eating Meat and Why Eating Meat Is Ethical

Three. The Wages of Sin and Add Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem

Four. Obesity-Hunger Paradox and Michael Pollan's Letter to Whole Foods and Pollan's Second Letter to Whole Foods and Behind the Organic-Industrial Complex

Five. Restoration of Faith

Six. Blue Book Exam One for 100 points

Essay Four: 8-12

One. How the Poor Are Made to Pay for Their Poverty and John Oliver video on municipal violations. 

Two. Our Baby, Her Womb

Three. Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Mom

Four. The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans and Fifteen Years at Bottom Rung and The Consequences

Five. Generation of Slackers? Not So Much and The Commodification of Higher Education, Vice Video about Education Prospects

Six. Growing College Degree Wealth Gap and Future of College and The Real Cost of College and The Typical College Student Is Not Who You Think It Is

Essay Five Capstone 12-16

One. Kohn From Degrading to De-Grading

Two. Rizga and standardized tests and John Oliver

Three. Why Poor Schools Can't Win at Standardized Testing and Testing, So Much Testing

Four. Obama to Schools: Obsess Less About Testing and Against School and Kozol's Preparing Minds for Markets

Five. Blue-Collar Brilliance and Nancy Isenberg lecture about class bias in America (see above)

Six. Five Myths About Class in America and NYT Book Review of White Trash

Seven. Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class

Eight. Majority of Millennials Don't Have a College Degree and How Australia Gets Student Loans Right and The Disproportionate Burden of Student Debt on Minorities and John Oliver video (see above)