Syllabus

ENG 2150: Writing II

Baruch College – Section GTRD – Spring 2018
Tuesday/Thursday 7:50 am – 9:30 am
Instructor: Julia Bosson
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: After class; by appointment
Office: 7-290J (4075)
Course Website: blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/eng2150gtrd2018

Course Description

 Welcome to 2150! This is the second of a two-course sequence in the Pathways Required Core designed to equip you with critical thinking and analytical writing skills. In this class, you will learn to read, question, and respond to the arguments of others and to write about issues that you care about. Over the course of your semester, you will learn to discern nuance, identify uses of rhetoric, and gain an understanding of language’s power that will allow you to think beyond easy or misleading narratives. In turn, you will improve your ability to develop and communicate arguments of your own.

The underlying idea at the heart of this class is that writing is a form of thinking and that we approach it as a process rather than a destination. The first step is to develop our skills as readers: to learn to think carefully about language and to engage critically with the viewpoints and arguments of others. By doing this, you have already started to write. The English word “essay” is derived from the French essayer, which means “to try.” As such, we will think of our compositions as spaces to explore difficult questions and to test ideas. Revision is essential as you continue to rework and craft your thoughts and arguments.

The theme of this class is personal stories. Beginning with the first assignment, we will be examining and adapting the tools of the academic essay into first person narratives, identifying points of intersection and tension. Over the course of the semester’s readings and assignments, we will be interrogating the use of the first person and evaluating and how and when it is appropriate to deploy. This class makes two central claims: one, that personal experience is a form of evidence in itself; and two, that the listening to and understanding another’s life and ideas is an act of empathy. Ultimately, I’d like to suggest to you that reading, understanding, and sharing of stories and arguments are the building blocks of citizenship and essential for living in a democracy.

In addition to the central texts, we will also be reading a series of writings designed to introduce rhetorical strategies for our writing and to provide you with a vocabulary to use in class discussion and peer revision. By thinking reflectively on the art and tools of composition, you will develop meta-cognitive skills that will enable you to become better readers and editors of your own work.

 

Learning Outcomes & Course Goals

 After completing ENG 2150, you should be able to:

  • Critically analyze texts in a variety of genres: Analyze and interpret key ideas in various discursive genres (e.g. essays, news articles, speeches, documentaries, plays, poems, short stories), with careful attention to the role of rhetorical conventions such as style, tropes, genre, audience and purpose.
  • Use a variety of media to compose in multiple rhetorical situations: Apply rhetorical knowledge in your own composing using the means of persuasion appropriate for each rhetorical context (alphabetic text, still and moving images, and sound), including academic writing and composing for a broader, public audience using digital platforms.
  • Identify and engage with credible sources and multiple perspectives in your writing: Identify sources of information and evidence credible to your audience; incorporate multiple perspectives in your writing by summarizing, interpreting, critiquing, and synthesizing the arguments of others; and avoid plagiarism by ethically acknowledging the work of others when used in your own writing, using a citation style appropriate to your audience and purpose.
  • Compose as a process: Experience writing as a creative way of thinking and generating knowledge and as a process involving multiple drafts, review of your work by members of your discourse community (e.g. instructor and peers), revision, and editing, reinforced by reflecting on your writing process in metacognitive ways.
  • Use conventions appropriate to audience, genre, and purpose: Adapt writing and composing conventions (including your style, content, organization, document design, word choice, syntax, citation style, sentence structure, and grammar) to your rhetorical context.

 

Texts

You do not need to purchase any books for this course. The syllabus, course description, requirements, readings, assignments, and links to resources are available on the class blog. I will expect you to download and have available the reading material either digitally or in hard copy when we have our scheduled discussions.

Please utilize this website for MLA citation and formatting guidelines:

The Online Writing Lab from Purdue University:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

 

 

Assignments

Below are your assignments for the semester, along with the weight each carries toward your final course grade, using a 100% standard grading scale. The due dates of these three essays are listed on the course calendar below and are subject to change. All major projects will include a series of drafts and review by your peers and instructor.

Essays will be submitted over email at 11 pm the night before the due date listed on the syllabus. Hard copies should also be brought into class.

Part I: Personal Narrative Essay

  • 1500 words / 4-5 double-spaced pages
  • 10% of course grade

Part II: Rhetorical Analysis Essay

  • 1500 words / 4-5 double-spaced pages
  • 15% of course grade 

Part III: Research Project

  • Reflective Annotated Bibliographies
    • 3 double-spaced pages each
    • 5% of course grade
  • Research-Based Argument Essay
    • 3000 words / 9-10 double-spaced pages
    • 30% of course grade

Part IV: Creative Remix of Research Project

  • Writing + Presentation (3-4 written pages)
  • 20% of course grade

Part V: Portfolio Reflection

  • 1000 words / 3 double spaced pages
  • 10% of course grade 

Weekly Reading/Writing

  • In addition to the major assignments above, I will ask you to respond to our course readings in writing (during class and for homework) and through in-class discussion and to engage with these essays through a series of low-stakes writing exercises that will help you write your drafts.
  • You will also be assigned one class period in which you and a small group of your peers will be responsible for leading class discussion. Signups for discussion leader will go around the first day of class.
  • 10% of course grade

Grading

B+   87-89 C+   77-79 D+   67-69
A   93-100 B     83-86 C     73-76 D     60-66
A-  90-92 B-    80-82 C-    70-72

A note on formatting

Drafts and final essays should be formatted as follows:

  • Use MLA citation style (see Texts section for a link to a free, online MLA guide)
  • 12-point font (such as Times New Roman or Cambria)
  • 1-inch margins
  • Double-spaced
  • Numbered pages, and stapled if multiple pages
  • A header on the first page with your full name, the date, the assignment name, and the class section
  • All drafts and final essays should include a title, centered on the first page
  • Your works cited list should come at the end, in MLA format.

 

Participation

Active Participation
Your physical and mental presence in the class is invaluable to the work we will do. I expect that you will attend each class and participate fully in discussing reading and course projects. Active participation also includes completing assignments for in-class discussion. Learning is a collaborative activity, and I expect that you will be attentive to, engaged with, and respectful of everyone in the class.

You’re welcome to bring a laptop to class, but please refrain from checking your email, Facebook, and other personal interests that are available through the web while we are in class. Cellphones must be silenced and put away. Rather than police you during class, if I see you on your phone I will make note—this will count towards your participation grade.

Ethical Participation

I ask that we all be respectful of one another and the diverse opinions, ethnic backgrounds, gender expressions and sexual orientations, social classes, religious beliefs, and ethnicities among us. In the same spirit, written work in this course should employ inclusive language, which shows that the writer honors the diversity of the human race by not using language that would universalize one element of humanity to the exclusion of others. For example, use men and women or people instead of the generic man; use they or alternate he and she instead of the generic he.

Accessible Participation

Baruch College is committed to making individuals with disabilities full participants in the programs, services, and activities of the college community through compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. It is the policy of Baruch College that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability will be denied access to any program, service, or activity offered by the university. Individuals with disabilities have a right to request accommodations. If you require any special assistance or accommodation, please contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities at (646) 312-4590, and let me know as soon as you can, ideally during the first three weeks of the semester. I encourage persons with disabilities or particular needs that impact course performance to meet with me to co-design accommodations.

For additional information see: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/facultyhandbook/DisabilitiesInformation.htm

 

 

Feedback

Meeting with me

You and I will meet (at least) two times in my office for a 20-minute conference about your writing. Your conference with me will be held in lieu of class, so missing your scheduled conference = missing class.

Peer and Writing Center

As a writer, you should seek feedback from many different readers. Writers at all levels of experience get feedback on their writing. Asking for and receiving feedback is not a sign of weakness and it does not equal weak writing; it’s actually a sign of wisdom and makes your writing much stronger. You’ll give feedback to and get feedback from your fellow writers in your writing groups in this class throughout the semester and at all stages of your projects. I also encourage you to get feedback on your writing from professional writing consultants (some of whom also teach first-year writing courses) at the Writing Center.

The Writing Center offers free, one-to-one (in-person and online) and small-group workshop writing support to all Baruch students. The Center’s consultants work collaboratively with you to deepen your writing and English language skills. At any step in the process, they’ll help you become a more confident and versatile writer. I encourage you to schedule your appointment well in advance of when your writing is due. You can schedule an appointment at: https://bc.mywconline.com/. Visit the Writing Center in NVC 8-185 or at the Newman Library Reference Desk, or log on to their website, writingcenter.baruch.cuny.edu, to learn more.

 

Policies

What if I miss class?

  • Much of the learning in this course happens through your engagement with me and your peers in class via class discussion and group interaction. Your course projects will be sequential and in-class activities will build toward larger assignments. Class time will be highly interactive, requiring frequent participation, discussion, in class composing, and responding to your classmates’ work. For this reason, I expect you to attend all class meetings.
  • Having established this policy, note that you can miss class up to 2 times, no questions asked. Only religious holidays constitute excused absences.
  • If you have more than 2 absences, your final course grade will be lowered by a half letter for each additional absence (a B+ becomes a B)—and your grade likely will be otherwise affected simply because of the activities and work you’ll miss.
  • If you miss class more than 4 times, you must arrange to meet with me privately and, according to Baruch College policy, you will be subject to a WU grade, which counts as an F on your transcript and your GPA.
  • If you must miss class, let me know ahead of time if possible to make sure you stay caught up. If you miss unexpectedly, check the schedule on our course website and make friends with someone in class to see what you missed so you can stay up with your work. If you miss class, please do not email me asking what we did in class, or, worse, if we did anything in class you should know about.
  • If an assignment is due on a day that you miss because of an unexcused absence, you are responsible for keeping up with the daily schedule and contacting someone in the class to see what you missed and for turning in your work at the same time it was due for those who were in class [see “Late Work”].

What if I’m late to class or leave early?

Punctuality is essential to a productive classroom environment; late arrivals and early departures are disruptive and disrespectful. If you arrive late to class more than twice, it will count as an absence. The same holds true if you leave class early more than twice.

What if I need to drop the course?

If you feel you must drop or withdraw from this course (and I hope you don’t find yourself in that situation), you must do so by the dates on the Baruch College academic calendar. Merely ceasing to attend class is not the same as dropping or withdrawing; dropping and withdrawing are separate, formal administrative procedures. Dropping is officially removing the course from your schedule within the first three weeks of class with no grade of W appearing on your transcript; withdrawing is officially removing the course from your schedule any time between weeks 3 and 11, and as a result, receiving a permanent “W” on your transcript for the course. If you’re having difficulty in the class for any reason, I encourage you to let me know before withdrawing.

Can I turn work in late?

All work is due at the time specified within the assignment details. Late work will be penalized a letter grade for each class meeting they are missing and will not be accepted a week after the original due date has passed. If you miss a class during which an essay or assignment is to be submitted, you are still responsible for submitting the work on the same day. Otherwise, the assignment will be treated as a late submission.

Please note that technology issues, including files you turn in that I cannot open, do not constitute an excuse for late work. Double check your files before and after you submit them to make sure your peers and I who will be reviewing them can open them.

 

Academic Integrity 

Plagiarism is a serious offense that, if done knowingly and depending on the severity and other factors, can result in a failing grade (or worse) and a mark on your permanent academic record. I’ll expect you to compose your projects ethically, meaning that if you use the work of others you cite that work, and that all work in this course is original, composed for the first time for this course, and is entirely your own, to the degree that anything we write is entirely our own. All students enrolled at Baruch are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty, as defined in the Baruch Student Handbook. Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses. The following definitions are based on the College’s Academic Honesty website:

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own, such as:

  • Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes (a functional limit is four or more words taken from the work of another)
  • Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging them
  • Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source

If you ever have any questions or concerns about plagiarism, please ask me. You can also check out the online plagiarism tutorial prepared by members of the Newman Library faculty at http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/help/plagiarism/default.htm and Baruch College’s academic integrity policy at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html.