ENG 2150: Writing II

Section KMWA (40530)   Spring 2019

MW 2:55 PM – 4:35 PM, VC 6-180

Professor:  Seth Graves, Dept. of English

Office Hours:  W 5-6 PM and by appointment

Email: [email protected]

Office:  VC 7-240D

Phone: 646.312.3910

Course Theme: zeitgeisty

(adj.) representative or characteristic of the prevailing spirit or mood of a particular time.

 

Course Description

Take a look at this this official presidential portrait of Barack Obama, painted in oil on canvas by renowned artist Kehinde Wiley. What do you see? Compared to any other president’s, which have tended to model the original style used to paint George Washington, it certainly feels different. And placed together, it stands out. The flowers here are intended to reflect Obama’s own tapestry of origin: jasmine, for Hawaii; African blue lilies, for Kenya; and chrysanthemums, the official flower of Chicago. We are always in a moment, an era, a place in time. What defines this one—the one we’re having now, the one we’ve been having perhaps since or before this painting was unveiled in 2017, at the end of Obama’s presidency, but after the election of Donald Trump? Where are we now? That’s what we’ll be asking this semester, as we attempt to define the spirit of our current moment—our zeitgeist.

In this course, the second semester writing course at Baruch, you will develop your ability to read, write, and think critically. One of the most important abilities you’ll develop over the course of your studies (and hopefully throughout your life) is the ability to discern how the way we think is shaped by language and other semiotic codes such as sound and image. This course will ask that you think critically about the arguments of others and in turn develop and communicate your own ideas and arguments.

The guiding questions and focus of this course are: How does art imitate life, and how does life imitate art? How do the things people make—from paintings to products—comment on the places, times, and feelings around them? How does persuasion happen? How can rhetoric be used to divide and also to bring people together? How do rhetorical elements such as language, images, emotional, and logic work to shape our identity, our beliefs, and our everyday realities?

We will explore these questions under the thematic umbrella of searching for ways of describing the “zeitgeist” of our current time—its defining spirit and shared feeling—and engaging with a variety of textual genres that attempt to capture, explain, or refute this felt sense: web-based texts and videos, film, fiction and nonfiction, and academic articles. You’ll first write an analysis of some of these works. You will conduct research that tests our own hypotheses about our sense of the time we live in, drawing upon observations we made of artifacts in the first unit. Finally, you will remix or remediate your work into a creative, multimedia project.

This course is designed to be a gateway of exploration for further writing and research you will do in your courses at Baruch. I invite you to open your mind, be ready to engage with me and your classmates, and expand your thinking about what it means to be a good writer this semester.

Texts

• Course website: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/graves2150spring2019.
• Readings posted to the course website, which I’ll expect you to download and have available either digitally or in hard copy when we discuss in them in class.
• Much of the reading for this course will be the writing of your classmates.
• For style, editing, and source citations, the Purdue OWL (http://owl.english.purdue.edu).
• Also: check and use your Baruch email account for class announcements.

Course Goals

• 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.

Assignments

Rhetorical Analysis and Close Reading
1,800-2,100 words / ~ 6-7 double-spaced pages | 15% of course grade

Reflective Annotated Bibliography
2-4, ~ 3 double-spaced pages each | 10% of course grade

Research-Based Argument Essay
~ 3500 words; 9-10 double spaced pages | 25% of course grade

Creative Remix and Digital Remediation of Research Project
Multimodal work plus writing component (4 double spaced pages) | 20% of course grade

Portfolio Reflection
~1000 words; 3 double-spaced pages | 10% of course grade

Reading/Writing Responses
Weekly written responses to course readings | 20% of course grade

Grading

Course grades are calculated out of a total 100%, and each assignment makes up a percentage of that total. Rubrics are provided for each assignment. If at any time you have a question about your grade in the class, please bring it to my attention immediately.

	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

Participation

What I Expect From You

I expect that you will attend each class and complete the assignments due. Not only will your weekly writing grade suffer if you do not, but you will not get as much out of this class as you otherwise could. Learning is a collaborative activity, and I expect that you will be attentive to, engaged with, and respectful of everyone in the class, both in face-to-face and online settings. I also want to remind you not to abuse our classroom space or our online space. You’re welcome and encouraged to bring a laptop to class, but please refrain from checking your email, social media, and other personal interests while we are in class. The web will be a great resource for our class, but make sure when you’re online that what you’re doing relates to what we’re doing in class. I expect that in online discussions you will be respectful of the other members of the class and treat them as you want to be treated.

I ask that we all be respectful of one another and the wonderfully 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” to represent “all people.”

What You Can Expect From Me

I will treat you with respect and will spend a good deal of time this semester giving you feedback on your writing for your major projects, commensurate to the amount of time you spend on your writing. I will read your weekly online posts, and while I may not respond to each one of them, I will assign each of them a participation/completion grade and will give you feedback on your posts at midterm and at the end of the semester.

Feedback

Professor

You will have opportunities to meet with me about each project you’re working on during conferences. It’s important that you make the conference or you will be counted absent for class on that day. If you ever have questions about your grade or progress in the course, or about an assignment you’re working on, please do not hesitate to ask me, either by emailing me to make an appointment with me or by meeting with me right after class.

I try to be as timely as I possibly can with email. Please expect me to take more time with email on the weekends than on weekdays, and know that I am often not available by email after 7:00 p.m.

 

Writing Center

As a writer you’ll want to 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: bc.mywconline.com/. Visit the Writing Center in NVC 8-185 or at the Newman Library Reference Desk, or log onto 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 doing the writing and reading assignments for each class, showing up to class prepared, and engaging with me and others in the class through class discussions and work with your writing group. Your course projects will be sequential and in-class activities will build toward larger assignments. There is no busy work in other words; you will not do well if your plan simply is to show up to class from time to time and “write the papers.” Class time and online discussions will be highly interactive, requiring frequent participation, discussion, composing in and outside of class, and responding to your classmates’ work. For these reasons, 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; beyond that I do not have excused or unexcused absences. Any absence, up to your second one, is excused with no questions asked.
• VERY IMPORTANT: At your 3rd absence, and for each absence beyond it (including 2 missed posts on our “online day”) your final course grade will be lowered by a portion of a letter grade (an A becomes an A-; a B+ becomes a B, and so on)—and your grade likely will be otherwise affected simply because of the activities and work you’ll miss.
• If you miss 6 or more class sessions (the equivalent of three weeks of classes or more), you are subject to earning an F in the course. A “WU” grade is an alternative to an F and equivalent on your GPA, assigned if you do not finish out the class, i.e. you do not “take the final” or, in the case of this class, you do not finish your final major writing assignment and accompanying presentation.
• If you must miss class, 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.

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

• Because showing up on time and respecting other people are important parts of participating and learning in this class, I’ll hold all of us to a standard of being on time to class and staying until class is over. Late arrivals and early departures are disruptive and ultimately disrespectful. I expect you to be on time.
• I realize that train delays and other unexpected events happen. However, after your second late arrival (more than 5 minutes late) I will begin to deduct points from your final course grade, up to one full letter grade.
• The same will hold true if you leave class early more than twice.
• If you do arrive late to class, please check with someone nearby to see what you missed to minimize class disruption.

What if I need to drop the course?

• If you fall behind in the class for any reason, I encourage you to talk to me or see an academic counselor. 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 academic calendar.
• Merely ceasing to attend class is not the same as withdrawing from the course. (You will not be dropped automatically if you stop coming to class; you still will receive a grade for the course if you do not drop.)

Can I turn work in late? What if I have technology issues?

• All work is due at the time specified within the assignment details.
• 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.
• As you may have learned the hard way in the past, it’s a good habit to save important files such as coursework to a location aside from your laptop or whatever device you may use for your classes—for example, Google Drive. Hard drives crash, thumb drives get lost, and laptops, tablets, and phones can get stolen. While I’ll be sad along with you if this happens, it’s your responsibility to make sure you backup your work so that life—and your effective participation in this course—can go on.

How much time will the class require?

• The college standard is that students spend about two hours working outside of class for every hour spent in class. Outside work includes reading course texts, writing blog responses to course readings, and drafting and revising your major projects.
• I try to assign smaller amounts of outside-of-class work between our class meetings on Monday and Wednesday and reserve the larger amounts for the days between our Wednesday and Monday meetings. However, you may want to look ahead on the course schedule and compare it to your other classes to see if there are certain weeks where a lot will be expected of you so you can manage your time accordingly.

I have a disability. Are accommodations possible?

• Baruch 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 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 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 two weeks of class. I encourage you to meet with me to co-design accommodations. For additional information check out the Student Disability Services webpage: baruch.cuny.edu/studentaffairs/ossd/disabilityServices_services.htm.  

A Note about Academic Integrity

• 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.
• Plagiarism is presenting another’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 another’s work)
  • Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledgement
  • Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source
• Plagiarism may result in a failing grade on a particular assignment, at the least, and, depending on the circumstances, a failing grade in the course. It 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.
• 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 newman.baruch.cuny.edu/help/plagiarism/default.htm and Baruch College’s academic integrity policy at baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.htm.

Students’ Right to their Own Language

The following statement was ratified by members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication in 1974:

“We affirm the students’ right to their own patterns and varieties of language—the dialects of their nurture or whatever dialects in which they find their own identity and style. Language scholars long ago denied that the myth of a standard American dialect has any validity. The claim that any one dialect is unacceptable amounts to an attempt of one social group to exert its dominance over another. Such a claim leads to false advice for speakers and writers, and immoral advice for humans. A nation proud of its diverse heritage and its cultural and racial variety will preserve its heritage of dialects. We affirm strongly that teachers must have the experiences and training that will enable them to respect diversity and uphold the right of students to their own language.”