Required Texts
Course
Goals
Course Requirements &
Responsibilities
Essay Value & Evaluation
Scales
ENL 101 Syllabus
Reading-Response-Journal Assignments
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As you can see from the Essay Value Scale, this course recognizes that the goal of becoming clear, concise, and effective writers involves a gradual process through time. The course is thus designed to increase your confidence as a writer, reader, and speaker of English by requiring you to write essays through different strategies and for different purposes. You will learn about the writing process--planning, drafting, revising--and will read the works of others to discover the various elements of good writing and to explore the concepts of purpose, audience, and context. The course also seeks to develop your skills as critical reader and to enhance your ability to edit both your own and your peers' writing.Return to Main Menu
6 Essays: 65%Quizzes (unannounced): 5%
Reading Response Journals: 10%
Attendance & Participation: 10%
Final Exam: 10%
Specific topics or options are assigned for each essay and the RR journals (see below). If there is a different topic that you would prefer to write about, please feel free to discuss this with me PRIOR to the assigned date.
Responsibilities:
The journals should either be maintained on a computer word processor and double spaced or handwritten in some kind of sturdy composition book--not a spiral-bound notebook. If you choose to write your journals by hand, they will need to be 30%-40% longer than the typed journals, single-spaced, and easily readable. I will not accept work that I cannot read with ease.
Writing/Reading Center: The Center (I-220A) is available free of charge to help you with questions, problems, or assignments related to this course. Take advantage of the qualified tutors to help you with your writing and with other class issues that we may raise during individual conferences.
Plagiarism & Academic Dishonesty: All work submitted must be your own; outside sources should be properly acknowledged. Academic dishonesty includes using the work of another writer or student as your own, copying, allowing a tutor to write part or all of your paper, or allowing someone else to use your work in a similar manner. The penalty for plagiarism is failure in this course. If you are not sure about your work in this regard, please be sure to see me before you submit your work.
Other Information: In all cases, I encourage you to communicate with me both on a personal level (before and after class and during office hours) as well as electronically through e-mail. Should a problem arise or if you have a disability or emergency medical information that could impact on your ability to complete the assignments, please let me know immediately.
On average, you should expect to spend approximately 2 to 3 hours preparing each
assignment. However, since some assignments are longer than others (or may take
some of you longer than others), I encourage you to plan ahead. It is much easier to
complete a 3-hour homework & writing assignment over 2 or 3 days than to look at the
assignment for the first time the night before class and with the expectation of
completing it all in one sitting.
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A The essay demonstrates the balance among purpose, audience and topic necessary for effective communication. The writer achieves this through the manipulation of content--integration of thought and research--tone and voice/persona, unique and controlled thesis/message, form, and logical development. The individual purpose and creative approach sustained throughout the text provides the reader with an intellectual exchange of ideas that goes beyond the confines of the text and assignment. Unified, insightful exposition or argument, well-supported throughout by relevant and concrete detail. Anticipates the audience's response and is immune to counter-example. The grammar, mechanics, and style reflect a consistency with standard usage and structure.
B The essay communicates one controlling thesis/message to a specific audience. This communication and the writer's purpose are revealed through the writer's manipulation of topic and content, form tone and voice/persona, and integration of materials. Shows little ingenuity in execution and presentation, but does not contain generalizations or unexplored assumptions. The reader sees the writer's perspective and follows the thinking; the writer is aware of the rhetorical relationship between the writer and reader. The grammar, mechanics, and style reflects a consistency with standard usage and structure.
C The essay reflects the writer's understanding of confinement of topic, one controlling thesis/message, logical purpose, understanding the needs of the audience, consistent tone and voice/persona, appropriate and logical form, develop of content, and integration of materials. The reader leaves this text understanding writer's point-of-view and can follow the logic of the support and development but leaves the text with questions unanswered. Contains unexplored assumptions and generalizations. Generally coherent but undistinguished in diction, structure, and style. The grammar, mechanics, and style reflect a consistency with standard usage and structure.
D The essay fails to control and/or express ideas in one or more of these ways: confinement of topic, controlling thesis/message, logical purpose, understand the needs of the audience, consistent tone and voice/persona, appropriate and logical form, development of content, and integration of materials. The reader is confused about the writer's point and does not see the relationship between the writer's perspective and the documented support and/or writer's explanation and illustration of it. The grammar, mechanics, and style may not be consistent with standard usage and structure and may interfere with the reader's ability to identify the thesis or comprehend the argument.
F The essay is totally unacceptable for one of the following reasons: failure to turn in the essay on time, failure to make an effort on the assignment or failure to take the assignment seriously, failure to type and double space the essay, failure to follow the assignment's written guidelines which I handout prior to the rough draft deadline, or any combination of these.
H. D.'s concern with and effort to change his appearance take much different forms than those of Cunningham and Edgar. Based on the selections and your own experience, describe how concerns with appearance differ for men and women.
Did you identify more with one of these selections than the others? If so, which one and why? Did you find that essay more convincing for some reason? Did it discuss a topic with which you are familiar?
Was there a time when you had to reconcile yourself to abandoning a physical regimen or had to learn to accept what you consider a physical "flaw"?
To what extent have your family's expectations influenced you to modify your appearance? Does your family expect you to look a certain way? If so, describe those expectations and suggest possible reasons for them.
Chapter 3:
Describe a time when you accidentally insulted or offended someone as a result of a cultural or similar type of misunderstanding.
To what extent are you influenced by family and friends in your choice of friends and romantic partners? How is that influence exerted? What effects has it had on the choices you've made?
Chapter 4:
Based on names & labels used today, where are some of the sources of tension and anxiety in our society?
Which fact or statistic in Churchill's essay about the treatment of Native Americans did you find most disturbing or shocking? Why? What should be done to raise public awareness of these past and present abuses?
Why do you think human beings find it so necessary to label one another? Support your opinion with material from the essays and your own experience.
Chapter 5:
Which of the gender-related qualities mentioned by Gorman do you share? Which do not seem to apply to you? Can you suggest why this might be so?
Do you agree or disagree with Tannen's observations? In what other ways do friendships between men and those between women differ? What about friendships between men and women? Consider your own friendships as you formulate your response.
Why do you think Wolf used such a confrontational style? What effect did her aggressiveness have on you as you read the essay?
Chapter 6:
Which "images" of feminism do you find most and least appealing?
Why do you support or oppose the legitimacy of complaints in Baroni's essay?
Which of the issues in Ouellette's essay do you think is the most important to the future of the feminist movement? Why?
Hooks & Ouellette each call for a feminism that includes men. Why do they believe such inclusion is necessary? How would men be involved? Do you know any male feminists? How might you convince a man you know to become a feminist?
Chapter 7:
Farrell discusses a number of areas in which men are commonly believed to have power. What are 2 of these areas and how does Farrell argue that men are actually powerless in each of them? If men do not have power attributed to them in an area, who does?
Marin argues that many men are simply unable to cope with society's expectations. What expectations are placed on men in American society? To what extent do you think these are unfair? Are there any that seem unreasonable? Stillman complains that writers like Tannen (chapter 5) oversimplify complex issues and actually widen the gulf between people as a result. Can you think of another issue that people tend to simplify? In what ways do they do so? What are the results?
Is there a male mythology that has become outdated? What are some of its elements? What are three aspects of the new male mythology these authors seem to be trying to create?
Chapter 8:
Are the homeless (and/or other groups) invisible to you? Have you ever felt as if you were invisible to others? How so? Your reactions?
Is it possible to live completely outside the system in this country? How would one go about doing it?
In what ways might someone like Eighner and the "crusties" be superior to the rest of society and those who live among the "rat-race millions?"
Chapter 10:
Are you persuaded by Hattemer?
Are pity and terror fundamental needs of human nature? What evokes pity and terror in you?
How would you describe civil as opposed to uncivil behavior? Are people more uncivil today than in the past? Is it possible to return civility to American life?
What sort of violence shocks you? Do you think you have become desensitized to violence? Has American in general?
Chapter 12:
What's the difference between "melting pot" and "salad bowl?" Which version do you think most accurately describes the U.S.?
Summarize the answers to Martinez's questions. Is her gun metaphor appropriate?
What does Fukuyama man by an "elite culture?" Do you agree? Other examples to support his argument? Do the existence and actions of this elite have any positive effects?
Meaning of "politics of fear" and "politics of hope?" Which expression is more useful in resolving the problems of immigration?
Have these readings changed your opinion about immigration? Which essay did you find the most or least convincing and why?
Chapter 13:
Have you every been caught between two groups of friends? What did you do?
Are you in favor of or opposed to "enclaves" on campus? Benefits and/or drawbacks of enclaves?
To what extent have you had contact with embers of other races? What form has that contact taken? To what extent do you think this has affected your opinion of those races as a whole?
Chapter 15:
Are there different types of rape? Should there be different names for different types?
What are some of the stereotypes about men, women, and sex? How might they affect discussions about rape?
Do you agree or disagree with Paglia's appraisal that there are some things she will never be able to do.
How effective is Sanger's analogy between being raped and being punched or mugged?
Is rape about power or about sex? Use material from the essays to support your opinion.
This HTML document created by: Lew Kamm
On: May 9, 1997
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