Assignments

English 1101: English Composition I, Maymester 2010

Section 01 (CRN 50089): M-F 1:00-4:00PM, Arts & Sciences 353

Student Selected Reading

Sign up to find a reading that complements the assigned reading from Acting Out Culture. You could select an additional reading from the assigned unit in Acting Out Culture, or you could find a selection online (a 1500-3000 word newspaper, magazine, or journal article; a series of blog entries, a 10-20 minute radio or video podcast, a 10-20 minute television news or documentary program). The reading you select should be substantial and analytical; it should have a well-reasoned argument and evidence. Students who sign up for W, 5-26 will work together to select a unit from AOC or create a unit of their own. Selections are due two class days before the reading is discussed.

 

Reading Due Date Student(s)

M, 5-17 How We Eat

R, 5-13

Meredith Tiller

T, 5-18 How We Eat

F, 5-14

Rachel Thibodeau

W, 5-19 How We Work

M, 5-17

Robert Gasper

R, 5-20 How We Work

T, 5-18

Tyler Franks

M, 5-24 How We Fight

R, 5-20

Sana Al-Baeity

T, 5-25 How We Fight

F, 5-21

Morgan VanLuven

W, 5-26 How We TBA

M, 5-24

Evan Zachary Fields

W, 5-26 How We TBA

M, 5-24

Andrea Robinson

W, 5-26 How We TBA

M, 5-24

Spencer Fister

In Class Activities

1. Thesis, Important Passages, and Questions

Break into three groups of 3-4 to discuss the following questions regarding Igo's "Statistical Citizens." Elect a secretary to report your findings to the class.

2. Critical Reading

Break into groups of 3-4 and complete Writing and Revising's Critical Reading Checklist (20) for your assigned article:

3. Summary and Evaluation

Break into groups of 3-4 to summarize and evaluate the argument of one of today's readings.

Here are the articles:

4. Reviewing Thesis Statements

Break into groups of 3-4 to discuss thesis statements.

  1. Find the thesis statement for each article we've read so far.
  2. Using these statements as a guide, list the traits of a good thesis; characterize what an effective thesis does.

Dartmouth provides an excellent handout on developing a thesis: a good thesis will make a debateable claim, control the paper's argument, and structure the paper.

5. Brainstorming and Mapping with a Group

Divide into groups of 3-4 to practice the ideas of brainstorming (WaR 44-6) and mapping (WaR 48-51).

  1. Spend 5 minutes brainstorming the ways in which the two assigned articles converge, agree with each other, and share similar ideas.
  2. Spend 5 minutes brainstorming the ways in which the two assigned articles diverge, refute each other, and pose different ideas.
  3. Spend 10 minutes mapping the ideas from 1 and 2 for a possible comparison/contrast paper.

Here are the groups:

  1. Michael Pollan, "Big Organic"/"Big Food vs. Big Insurance" and Francine Prose, "The Wages of Sin"
  2. Francine Prose, "The Wages of Sin" and Jason Fagone, "In Gorging, Truth"
  3. Michael Pollan, "Big Organic"/"Big Food vs. Big Insurance" and Jason Fagone, "In Gorging, Truth"

6. Comparative Theses about Food in American Culture

Break into three groups. We've read or viewed eight (Pollan, Prose, Fagone, Knapp, Grescoe, Schwartz-Nobel, Kenner) pieces on the culture of food. Using any two selections from our syllabus's How We Eat unit as well as Writing and Revising's thesis section (66-8), compose a comparative thesis that makes a claim about the function of food in American culture. As a class and referring Writing and Revising's organizing and outlining section (69-82), we'll outline a possible paper from your thesis. The better your thesis (specificity of claim, control of argument, guiding structure of paper), the better our outline.

7. Annotating Research Sources

Some of your classes may ask you to compose an annoted bibliography in advance of a research paper. An annotated bibliography is a list of the sources you plan to use in your research, and each entry has a paragragh summarizing the source. Although we don't have time for a formal, graded annotated bibliography in Maymester, you should still practice that skill now that you've found 10 potential sources (3-4 books, 3-4 scholarly journal articles, 1-2 magazine articles, 1-2 newspaper articles) for your research paper.

 

Break into three groups. Summarize and evaluate your group's assigned text in 75-100 word paragraph by

  1. identifying the issue or question that the source is investigating,
  2. defining the source’s thesis or main idea relevant to your research paper, and
  3. explaining how the source helps your understanding of the issue and/or helps answer your research question
Here are the texts:
  1. Associated Press, "Scientists Create Synthetic Life in Lab" (assume your research question is "What is the current state of scientific research in genetic engineering?")
  2. This American Life, Episode 355 "The Giant Pool of Money" (listen to the podcast) OR (read the transcript) (assume your research question is "Why did the housing crisis occur?")
  3. Ferrara, "Spending America into Oblivion" (assume your research question is "What are the effects of excessive government spending?")

Informal Writing

1. Materialism and Spiritualism

James Twitchell writes, "Materialism, it's important to note, does not crowd out spiritualism; spiritualism is more likely a substitute when objects are scarce. When we have few things we make the next world holy. When we have plenty we enchant the objects around us. The hereafter becomes the here and now" (31). For tyhe next 15 minutes, reflect upon the relative value of goods and religion in your life.

2. Brainstorming Topics for Personal Reflection

Spend 15-20 minutes brainstorming topics, issues, events, and experiences in your life that greatly affected how you see the world.

3. Mapping and Outlining the Personal Reflection

Spend 20-25 minutes mapping the personal issue your paper is analyzing and/or outlining your paper.

4. Drafting the Personal Reflection

Spend the remainder of the period drafting the personal reflection paper.

5. Reviewing a Documentary

Spend ten minutes collecting your thoughts about and freewriting your response to the film. What did you learn about this topic? How has your view of the topic changed, if at all? What is the film's thesis? What interviews, statistics, and images do you remember best or find the most significant? What parts of the film's argument do you agree with? What parts do you disagree with? What part of the argument was most effective? least? Why?

6. Summary and Evaluation: Thesis Statement and Works Cited; Outlining and Drafting

Share your second paper's thesis statement and Works Cited page with the class, then spend the remainder of the period outlining and drafting your paper.

7. Brainstorming Topics, Comparisons, and Contrasts

By the end of the period, you should select two articles to compare and contrast as well as build issues and ideas the converge and diverge, points where the article's view of the world agree and disagree. Using this brainstorming session, compose a comparison/contrast thesis for tomorrow's class.

8. Outlining and Drafting the Comparison & Contrast Paper

Use your comparison/contrast brainstorming and thesis statement from yesterday's class to outline and begin drafting your paper.

9. Finding and Citing Research Sources

On Monday, May 24, find 10 sources for possible inclusion in your research paper (recall that the research paper is an expansion of one of your first three papers to develop your analytical/evaluative argument and integrate outside sources).

On Tuesday, May 25, format the 10 sources for inclusion in MLA style Works Cited page.

10. Revision

Complete the three checklists (Revision Checklist for Purpose and Thesis, Revision Checklist for Audience, Revision Checklist for Structure and Support) for the paper you plan to convert into the final research paper in order to determine where your thesis, argument, and structure could be reseen and expanded upon.

11. Annotating Research Sources

Before leaving today, you must show your professor your Works Cited list of 10 potential sources, and annotate two sources, writing a 75-100 paragraph that

  1. identifies the issue or question that the source is investigating,
  2. defines the source's thesis or main idea relevant to your research paper, and
  3. explains how the source helps your understanding of the issue and/or helps answer your research question

12. Preparing the Research Paper

Here are the five things you should accomplish during our final day of class devoted exclusively to working on the paper:

  1. Revise your thesis.
  2. Compose an outline for your expanded paper.
  3. Choose 5 sources and 1-3 quotations each to include in your expanded paper.
  4. Compose your Works Cited page.
  5. Begin drafting the final paper.

Peer Response

Paper 2 Summary and Evaluation

Instructions

  1. Individual students upload their papers in GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Paper 2 File Exchange - Group # by 1PM on Tuesday, May 18.
  2. Group members read and take notes on the papers before Wednesday's class.
  3. For Wednesday's class, group members should either bring their laptops or print their peers' papers. During Wednesday's class, groups collectively complete the peer response sheet for each group member, then upload the completed response to GeorgiaVIEW> Discussions > Paper 2 Peer Group #.

Groups

  1. Evan Zachary Fields, Robert Gasper, Meredith Tiller
  2. Sana Al-Baeity, Morgan VanLuven, Andrea Robinson
  3. Spencer Fister, Tyler Franks, Rachel Thibodeau

Paper 3 Comparison and Contrast

Instructions

  1. Individual students upload their papers in GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Paper 3 Peer Group # by 1PM on Monday, May 24.
  2. Group members read and take notes on the papers before Tuesday's class.
  3. For Tuesday's class, group members should either bring their laptops or print their peers' papers. During Tuesday's class, groups collectively complete the peer response sheet for each group member, then upload the completed response to GeorgiaVIEW> Discussions > Paper 3 Peer Group #.

Groups

  1. Spencer Fister, Robert Gasper, Morgan VanLuven
  2. Evan Zachary Fields, Andrea Robinson, Meredith Tiller
  3. Sana Al-Baeity, Tyler Franks, Rachel Thibodeau

Paper 1 Personal Reflection

We've discussed issues of statistical normalcy, materialism, patriotism, morality, marriage, and race. In this first formal paper, reflect upon your own adolescence and emerging adulthood and compose a four to six page personal reflection that conveys an issue that was and may still be crucial in your formative experience. Choose one issue that has deeply affected your identity and world view, and analyze how it functioned in your life. Your reflective and analytical essay should break the issue down in order to reveal its complex operations. Your paper should have a controlling idea, be well-organized, provide specific details to support its analytical claims, and follow the rules of standard written English.

Paper 2 Summary and Evaluation

In this four to six page dialogue between Self and Text, you will summarize the key argument of one of the texts from Acting Out Culture (or a student selected reading) and then evaluate and respond to it. This essay will be drafted and revised.

 

During in class activities, you've made initial summaries of authors' arguments, and in the first formal paper you analyzed how an issue affected your life. The goal of the the second formal paper is for you to fully enter into one of the issues in one of the essays we've read in class. Choose a syllabus selection (an article from Acting Out Culture or the film This Film Is Not Yet Rated) whose argument you wish to either expand upon or refute. In either case, your paper should summarize, fairly and accurately, the author's argument. Evaluate that argument: analyze and criticize, affirm and interrogate, but always be fair to the author's argument. Finally, your paper should provide your own perspective, your own argument (analysis and ideas) by either agreeing with the essay but furthering its point with your own ideas, or disagreeing with the essay and offering counterargument of your own.

 

Your paper should have an introduction, thesis statement(s) that includes both how you summarize and evaluate the article, and a conclusion that restates your argument. It should be well-organized, provide textual evidence (quotes from the article), provide your own perspective (your own analysis of the issue as well as evaluation of the article's argument), and follow the rules of standard written English.

Paper 3 Comparison and Contrast

The first paper dealt foremost with the Self: you reflected upon and analyzed how an important issue affected your life and world view. In the second paper, you composed a dialogue between Self and Text; you summarized and evaluated the argument of an article in Acting Out Culture. The third paper explores the relationship between the Text and the World. You will select two readings from one unit in our syllabus (essays from Acting Out Culture, the documentary film, or selections chosen by the class; but not an article you summarized and evaluated for the second paper) and compare and contrast their arguments about the issue, their perspectives on the world. For instance, how do Twitchell and Frazier see materialism in essentially the same way? How do the two authors use their knowledge of materialism to act in fundamentally different ways in the world? How do Brooks and Dickerson perceive race and racism similarly yet also differently? Where do Pollan and Prose theoretically converge on the subject of food? where do they practically diverge? As in the second paper, you should fairly and accurately represent the authors' ideas with textual evidence. In addition to articulating the texts' contentions, you should also analyze how the texts' correspond and oppose one another in their arguments about how to live and act in the world.

 

Your paper should have an introduction, thesis statement that compares and contrasts the two articles, and a conclusion that restates your argument. It should be well-organized, provide textual evidence (quotes from both articles), prove where the main ideas of the articles converge, prove where the main ideas of the articles diverge, and follow the rules of standard written English.

Paper 4 Research Paper

For the final research paper, you will choose any of the first three papers (Personal Reflection, Summary and Evaluation, or Comparison and Contrast), research the key issue using the GCSU university library, and then turn your paper into a research paper that is four pages longer than the original by developing your analysis, and expanding your argument, and integrating at least five sources found through library search (at least two must be scholarly journal articles).

Timeline

Monday, May 24

choose which paper you'd like to expand into a research paper

use library (GIL, GALILEO) to find sources on topic (3-4 books/book chapters, 3-4 scholarly journal articles, 1-2 magazine articles, 1-2 newspaper articles)

Tuesday, May 25

begin reading sources

brainstorm ways to expand paper

Wednesday, May 26

finish reading sources

outline paper expansion

begin drafting

Thursday, May 27

finish drafting

Friday, May 28

revise and submit final draft by 11:59PM

 

Individual Conferences

Use the last day of class to work on your research paper, due Friday, May 28 by 11:59PM to TurnItIn > Paper 4. Alex will be in the classroom from 1:00-4:00PM to answer any questions you may have.

 

© Alex E. Blazer 2024