Class Information, Policies, and Procedures

BARUCH COLLEGE, FALL 2012

ENGLISH 2100—Bioethics: Politics, Questions, Life

Section KTRD

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:55PM to 4:35PM

Location:  Field Building (23rd Street), Room 1004

Professor E. Kaufman

Email: [email protected]

Office Hours: Tuesdays/Thursdays, 12:30PM to 2:00PM or by appointment

Office Location: VC 6-248

Learning Goals

After completing ENG 2100, students should be able to:

  • identify the key ideas and techniques used in a variety of articles, essays, and literary works, and subject these works to logical analysis;
  • undertake writing as a process requiring the outlining of ideas, multiple drafting, and revision of complete essays;
  • create an original and cogent thesis and develop an imaginative argument in unified and coherent paragraphs;
  • observe sentence boundaries, punctuate correctly, vary sentence structures, and employ the conventions of standard English grammar and usage;
  • engage with different genres of writing, including the short story, the novel, the essay, poetry, and drama, and comprehend and use appropriate vocabulary in interpreting the material by paying close attention to language and style;
  • identify, analyze, and synthesize multiple sources as support for written arguments;
  • gauge the value of different strategies for argumentation, including the use of counter-arguments;
  • produce researched essays that incorporate sources and that effectively evaluate multiple (and even conflicting) points of view;
  • avoid plagiarism and understand why it is unacceptable, at the same time learning how to appropriately document your research and ideas;
  • imagine the needs of one’s reader when writing in different rhetorical modes and social contexts and take audience and occasion into account when writing.

Required Texts (available in the Baruch College Bookstore and Shakespeare & Company)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl by John Colapinto

The Little, Brown Essential Handbook

**All additional readings and handouts will be provided by me.**

Course Requirements:

  1. One 3-5 page paper on readings to be assigned by me.
  2. One 5-7 page paper on readings to be assigned by me.
  3. One 7-10 page research paper to be assigned by me.
  4. One digital essay or story illustrating the concerns and topic of your research paper. This will take the form of a short video, podcast, or other multimedia presentation.
  5. Each paper is to be typed and double-spaced, and done in multiple drafts.  For some papers, drafts will be discussed in class.  Each paper will present an argument, have a strong thesis, and use correct internal documentation.  The due dates for each of your papers will be stipulated on each of your assignment sheets when you receive them.
  6. Response Papers:  Each week you will receive a short response paper assignment that relates to the readings for the week.  These papers are to be typed and will either be submitted in class or posted on our class blog.
  7. Additional Writing:  in-class writing exercises, participation in a wiki, responses to your own work, peer evaluations and group work.  The shorter informal writing assignments (as well as the response papers and blog conversations) are intended to help you develop ideas and theses that will later assist you in writing your formal essays.
  8. Active participation in all class activities, including the class blog (both posting and commenting).
  9. Regular attendance and preparation for class.

Attendance Policy

Because this class will follow a sequential series of assignments that build upon one another, and because we will be establishing a class community of writers, readers, and critics, regular and lively attendance is essential.  Any absences will affect your final grade.

Departmental policy states that after four absences a student is to be dropped from the class roster.   If you do need to miss a class, please let me know in advance.

I also do not tolerate lateness.  If you are more than ten minutes late for a class, you will receive half an absence (two latenesses is equal to one absence).  Sleeping in class will also count as an absence.

Notes on Preparation for Class

All reading and writing assignments are to be completed on time.  Be sure to get the phone numbers/ email addresses of at least two of your classmates; then; if you must be absent, you can call or email someone and get the assignment.  You may also, of course, email me.  For the next session you are responsible for all work and must always come to class prepared.

All reading assignments must be BROUGHT TO CLASS as they will be referred to for discussion. You are expected to be active participants in all class discussions and activities.

Cell phones must be turned off when you enter the classroom.

Rewriting Papers:

If you get a paper back and are unsatisfied with the grade you received, you may always revise it; anytime a graded paper is revised, the highest grade is the one that counts and all others are dropped.  You have two weeks after receiving a paper back to revise and resubmit it.  When you resubmit a paper for grading, you must hand in the rewritten paper as well as all originals that I have already graded; when rereading your work, I must be able to see what you have done and how it is now different from your previous draft.

You cannot hand in papers, suddenly revised, at the end of the semester.

Your papers will be evaluated on the basis of competence in:

  • Organization
  • Development and support of ideas
  • Mechanics (grammar, spelling, punctuation, citation of sources)
  • Understanding and application texts discussed in class

Blogs@Baruch:

A lot of the writing and conversations that occur in this class, will continue outside of class on our course blog:

https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/ bioethics2100

Joining and Posting on Blogs@Baruch:

  1. Go to https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/ (Blogs@Baruch homepage)
  2. Login using your Baruch username and password (the same credentials you use to log into lab computers and for Baruch wifi)
  3. You will also receive an email from me indicating that you’ve been added to the Bioethics English 2100 blog.
  4. In order to post—login, visit your profile, click on “sites,” then select “Bioethics: Politics, Questions, Life,” on the top of the page, you will see a button that looks like “+New”—select “Post” and you will be taken to the right place and can begin to write.
  5. Please make sure to select the appropriate category for your posts (i.e. free response, process, etc.) and create some tags for your posts (i.e. questions, music, news, random, etc.).
  6. I encourage you all to contribute to the images that appear on our blog—if you’d like to contribute a “header image”—take a photograph of an image you see and reminds you of our course theme and email it to me ([email protected])–ideally the dimensions of this image should be at least 1000 pixels wide by 288 pixels high.

Please make sure you register and add yourself as an author no later than Tuesday, September 4.

**Do not hesitate to email me with any questions or problems regarding the class site. It is always better to ask a question than to not complete the assignment.**

Evaluation & Grading Policy:

  • One 3-5 page paper (20%)
  • One 5-7 page paper (25%)
  • One 7-10 page research paper and accompanying digital essay (30%)
  • Participation and Preparation for class (25%) (includes attendance, quizzes, blogging, and weekly response papers)

Academic Honesty Policy:

Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses. My policy is to give a failing grade to any assignment that has been plagiarized or an exam in which you have cheated. In addition, I am required by College policy to submit a report of suspected academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students. This report becomes part of your permanent file.

Student Resources:

Writing Center—646.312.4012

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/writingcenter/

[email protected]

VC 8-185

Student Academic Consulting Center (SACC)—646.312.4830

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/sacc/

VC B 2-116

Recommended Online Resources:

OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

An excellent online resource for all mechanical issues associated with writing (grammar, citing sources, etc.).

Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/