In this class, we will read a large assortment of texts. Additionally, we will interrogate the intersections of these different texts and ask in what ways do they speak to each other and in what ways do they speak to us. English 108 will be one of inquiry wherein we all are encouraged to look at various issues, such as gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, and wherein we are compelled to ask questions. It's important to remember that our purpose is to interrogate the beliefs, realities, responsibilities, and constructs surrounding the various issues under study. Nevertheless, there will be an overarching topic, serving as an umbrella of this course. As we read, analyze, and discuss the readings, it's important to keep in mind these questions:
1.
What is "America"? Of what does "America" consist?
2. What is an "American"?
3. What does it mean to be "American"?
4. What is a "hyphenated American"?
5. And where does a "hyphenated American" fit?
Because this course demands intensive reading, thinking, and writing, this course
will allow you the space to become a more critical reader, thinker, and writer.
Accordingly, you may find that you will begin to challenge and/or question your
assumptions and societal assumptions about the issues we will interrogate.
1. Negotiating
Differences: Cultural Case Studies for Composition, by Patricia Bizzell
and Bruce Herzberg (ND)
2. Writing Worth Reading: The Critical Process by Nancy Huddleston Packer
& John Timpane (WWR)
3. The Letter of Columbus to Luis de Sant Angel Announcing His Discovery.
4. The Declaration of Independence.
5. A folder in which to place various handouts and essays
6. A notebook for writing exercises
Both texts are available at Vons Bookstore on State Street.
7. The Constitution
of the United States of America.
8. The Bill of Rights and Later Amendments.
9. A collegiate dictionary and a thesaurus & the OED to better understand historical texts (available through Purdue's Library site and on campus computers)
Semester Schedule
This
schedule is subject to change.
In-class viewing of Bowling for Columbine
Written Assignment: Exercise 1
Week of 9/2-4
Written Assignment: Exercises 2 & 3
Reading Assignment:
ND: "Introduction," "Dominant English Accounts":
Bradford, Underhill, Mather & Rowlandson
WWR: "Introduction for Students," chs. 1, 3 & 16
Handouts: excerpts from Cabeza de Vaca's "Relación"
Online: Letter from Columbus
Week of 9/9-11
NOTE: We will not have class on 9/11.
Written Assignment: Exercise 4
Reading Assignment:
ND: "Alternative English Accounts": Gardener, Easton, "Native
American Accounts": "Paper," Waban, Gookin, Apess
WWR: Chs. 4 & 5
Week of 9/16-18
Written Assignment: Exercise 5
In-class work on essay 1 & précis 1
Peer review of essay 1
Essay 1 due, 10/2
Discussion of "Jefferson's Views," online reading of Declaration of Independence, and 2 readings from "The Anti-Slavery Battle" (two essays of your choice)
Written Assignment: Exercise 6
Reading Assignment: ND: one reading of your choice, each from "The Proslavery Defense" & "Proclamations and Public Statements"; WWR: Chs. 8 & 12
Recommended Readings: online: US Constitution, The Bill of Rights and Later Amendments
In-class activity and discussion of assigned readings
Written Assignment: Exercise 8
Read: ND: Introduction to unit 3 & Beecher's excerpt from "A Treatise on Domestic Economy " & two additional readings of your choice under "Circumscribing Woman's Sphere"; WWR: Ch. 13
For more information, select a menu item below:
In-class activity and discussion of assigned readings
Reading Assignment: ND: "Contesting Woman's Sphere": Grimke, Douglass, Truth, Emerson, and Stanton essays
Recommended Readings: ND: "Laws, Contracts, and Proclamations on Women's Rights"
Discussion of assigned readings
Peer review of essay 2
Reading Assignment: ND: Introduction to unit 5 & one reading of your choice, each from "Official Documents Establishing the Internment" and "Opinions on the Japanese Threat"; WWR: Ch. 14
10/28 is a Research Day--no class but you are expected to use this day to thoroughly revise essay 2 and its précis
Essay 2 due, 10/30
Discussion of assigned readings
Reading Assignment: ND: "Testimony of the Interned": Masaoka w/ Hosokawa, Wakatsuki Houston w/ Houston (both essays), Sone and one other essay of your choice
Discussion of assigned readings
Written Assignment: Exercise 9
Reading Assignment: ND: Introduction to unit 6 & "A Precursor to War," Ho Chi Minh essay
Discussion of assigned readings & possible video viewing
Written Assignment: Exercise 10
Reading Assignment: ND: "1965: Year of Escalation and Protest": "White Paper," Stone, Dellinger, et al, and one other essay of your choice
Discussion of assigned readings
Peer review of essay 3 (Tuesday)
Essay 3 due, 11/20
Reading Assignment: ND: "The War at Home": King and two other essays of your choice & "Veterans Remember": Bryant, Kovic, and one other essay of your choice
Discussion of assigned readings
In-class discussion & exploration of Final Researched Argument Essay
Mandatory Conferences:
Meet in my office, HEAV 308A, unless otherwise specified
Final Researched
Argument Essay, due 12/18 by 12 p.m. in my office
Both the individual essays and the final researched argument paper will be in MLA or APA format. Your essays and final paper are to be 1 ½-spaced or double-spaced and with 1" margins. The font should be no larger than 12 point and no smaller than 10 point. Additionally, you should have the following single-spaced information in the left hand corner of the first page of each précis: your name, due date of the essay, essay genre & précis, and Engl. 108. On the first page of the actual essay, you should include a well-thought out title, center-spaced and placed above the body of the first paragraph. Your last name and appropriate page number should appear in the right hand corner of the subsequent pages. The essays will be no longer than 5 full pages and no shorter than 4 full pages. Your research paper will be from 12 to 14 pages. Please, no cover pages.
1. Three essays with attached précis, 4-5 pages each essay and minimum of ¾ page (maximum 1 ½ pages) each précis. These essays and précis will be worth 40 points, total. (Essay 1 is worth 10 points, and Essays 2 and 3 are worth 15 points each.) The essays are short, intensive papers where you will explore and research the issues under study. Additionally, for each of these essays, you are to write a single-spaced ¾ page (maximum 1 ½ pages) précis. In this précis, you should argue why the essay is the genre you say it is by offering a concise summary of the rhetorical strategies you used and why you used them. Attach each précis to the front of each essay you submit. The précis also will be typed.
Throughout the semester, you will be required to choose three genres out of the following four in which to complete your essays: evaluation, explanation, comparison, and analysis. For each essay, you will emphasize one genre in order to fit the rhetorical situation called for. You will decide which genre of essay to submit for each due date, and you must submit a total of three different genres by the end of the semester. I strongly encourage you to keep track of each genre that you submit in order to avoid submitting two essays of the same genre.
For the individual essay topics, I expect you to seriously consider the assignment ideas offered at the end of each unit listed under "Assignment Sequences" and "Research Kit" in the Negotiating Differences text. Also, throughout the semester I most likely will offer suggestions for possible paper topics. However, if you desire to write upon another idea that isn't in the text nor was suggested by me, please meet with me so we can discuss and "flesh out" your topic. You will receive Assignment Sheets with further information.
2. One Final Researched Argument Paper, twelve to fourteen full pages in length and worth 30 points.
Throughout the semester, you are expected to engage in outside research on a topic of your choice. This outside research will constitute a bulk of the needed research for your final researched paper. As the title suggests, you must present a clear and logically structured argument on your chosen topic. These topics will most likely come from the essay assignments; as a result, I encourage you to explore these assignments in order to choose one for your final research paper as early as possible so that you can begin your outside research. You also are encouraged to continue and expand on a previous essay assignment by re-structuring the rhetoric into an argument and by expanding on the researched evidence.
More information on this final assignment will be given later in the semester.
3. Writing Notebook, wherein all your writing exercises are placed. There will be a total of fifteen writing exercises. I will assign the first ten exercises, and you are responsible for designing and completing the remaining five exercises. I will pick this up at random intervals, and I expect you to be up to date with all entries when I pick up the Writing Notebook. This is worth 20 points.
4. Participation: I expect you to come to class fully prepared and to actively contribute to class discussion and small-group discussion. This is worth 10 points.
I define "fully prepared" as having read all required readings prior to class, having thought out what's been covered either in the previous class or in the assigned readings, having formulated coherent questions and/or comments, having thoroughly and thoughtfully completed any assigned work outside of class, and being fully engaged, both in body and mind, during class discussion and in small/large group or individual activities.
Plagiarism is the representation of somebody else's work as your own. In this class, plagiarism can range from turning in someone else's paper as your own to buying or downloading a paper from an internet firm and submitting that paper to borrowing an author's ideas and not properly citing the author in a written assignment.
I take plagiarism very seriously. Thus any work you submit to me for this class must be conceived and written by you. If I determine that work you have submitted is not your own, you will be reported to the Dean of Students and will most likely face a failing grade for the assignment, a failing grade for this class, and/or possible expulsion from the University. If you have any questions about plagiarism, please come see me and we can discuss your questions. For more information, please consult the article, "Academic Integrity: A Guide for Students."
A = 90 to 100
points
B = 89 to 80 points
C = 79 to 70 points
D = 69 to 60 points
F = 59 and below points
I will not accept any late assignments, unless there are clear and extenuating circumstances involved. If that is the case, please see me before the due date of the assignment, if possible. I have this policy because it is a simple matter of fairness-fairness to all the students and fairness to me.
I am quite exacting as to what constitutes "extenuating circumstances." For example, meeting another class's deadline--at the expense of this class's deadline--does not constitute extenuating circumstances.
Since we may discuss sensitive and, perhaps, controversial issues, it is imperative that we attend class with an open mind. Even if you disagree with a classmate's or my discussion input, please be respectful of everybody's opinions and ideas, and I will do the same. Therefore, please refrain from incendiary speech for its own sake. Rather use your own unique insight to get us to say (or think), "Hmmm, I never thought about it that way …"
I take seriously any form of disruption in our learning environment. This includes all forms of harassment, from sexual to racial to sexual orientation. Additionally, I consider sleeping in class, reading the newspaper, doing another class's assignments, listening to a CD/mp3 player, talking on the phone, or any other manner of rudeness as disruptive to an effective learning environment. Please refrain from such behavior, as I will record such behavior as an absence. Finally, please turn off all cell phones and pagers prior to coming to class.
For more information, please consult the Purdue University Student Code of Conduct.
Purdue's University Regulations state: "Students are expected to be present for every meeting of the classes in which they are enrolled." Thus, attendance is required. Since much of the work for this class involves careful attention to class discussion, your absence will affect your own learning experience. I strongly advise you to refrain from excessive absences since each absence will affect your learning process and overall grade for this class. Because your active contribution to class discussion is being graded, I will allow no more than four unexcused or excused absences. Five or more absences (excused or unexcused) will warrant my marking your Participation with a zero. Keep in mind that three "tardies" equal one absence.
Excused absences include those relating to university business. I strongly suggest that all students be judicial in their absences.
We likely may not discuss ideas or topics that intrigue you because of lack of time. Or we may discuss ideas or topics that you may have a bit of difficulty understanding. In either case, please feel free to come to my office during office hours so that we may talk. You need not worry in silence; I'm happy to talk with you. You also can email me at your convenience.
Finally, Purdue has an excellent writing lab staffed with friendly and knowledgeable writing instructors. The Lab also has dictionaries, thesauri, computers, and comfortable sofas if you'd like a place to read, think, or write. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this remarkable resource. You can find the lab in Heavilon 226. You also can call for an appointment at 49-43723. Best of all, this resource is free. Additionally, I encourage you to frequently consult Purdue's Online Writing Lab, or OWL.
Instructor: Lisette
Blanco-Cerda
Email:[email protected].
Office: Heavilon Hall, 308A
Office Phone: 49-61645
Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 4-4:30 pm, Wednesdays 2:30-3 pm &
by appointment
"The most important thing is to never stop questioning." -Albert Einstein