As noted on the hard-copy of the original syllabus, the reading and assignment schedule is subject to change,
so please check this page regularly throughout the semester.
WEEK TWO:
Mon. 9/7: Labor–College Closed
Wed. 9/9: Blogging
Please review our Blogs@Baruch course site and our Course Blog page. In class, we will practice writing blogs at the podium. You may also feel free to practice at home (writing a post, or commenting on a classmate’s post). Your post must have a brief title, so that your readers know what your topic is going to be (for instance, “Thoughts about Malcolm X’s Perspectives on Language,” or “Reflections on Alzheimer’s and Brooke Shields’s Experience”). You may also find it helpful to read some blogs online (the choice is yours as to what topics or blogs you read; the purpose is to become acquainted with the concepts and practices of blogging and commenting.
Read: “Purpose,” “Audience,” from Little, Brown Essential Handbook, p. 4 (handout)
Anne Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts” (handout and Blackboard)
Brooke Shields, excerpt from her memoir, There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me, Chapter Eighteen: “They Die Feetfirst” (Blackboard) (pp. 341-62) and “Epilogue” (pp. 396-99)
“Teenager Develops Test That Can Diagnose Alzheimer’s Before Symptoms” (article by Janet Fang from IFL Science website) (handout and Blackboard)
Thurs. 9/10: Classes Follow a Monday Schedule
Read: Part I, Chapter 1: “Introduction: Theorizing the Body,” in Body Studies: An Introduction by Margo DeMello (pp. 3-20 – handout and Blackboard) Many of the terms DeMello uses in her essay may be terms you encounter for the first time. And what on earth does it mean to “theorize” the body? Please annotate anything that is confusing, intellectually provocative, and so forth. We will comb through this essay in class, but much of the “combing through” depends on the questions, confusions, observations, etc. that you bring to the table.
WEEK THREE:
Mon. 9/14: Rosh Hashanah—No Classes Scheduled
Wed. 9/16: The Cyborg Body / Artificial Intelligence / The Post-Human Body
These are relatively short articles; please read all of them for Wednesday.
“Heart Implants, 3-D-Printed to Order,” by Katherine Bourzac, MIT Technology Review (Blackboard)
“It’s Time To Embrace Our Inevitable Future As Cyborgs,” by Lauren Friedman, Business Insider (Blackboard)
“Part Human, Part Machine, Cyborgs Are Becoming A Reality,” by Michael Carroll, Newsweek (Blackboard)
“Our Fear of Artificial Intelligence: A True AI Might Ruin the World—But That Assumes It’s Possible At All,” by Paul Ford, MIT Technology Review (Blackboard and copy-and-paste weblink: http://www.technologyreview.com/review/534871/our-fear-of-artificial-intelligence/)
Film: Ex Machina (2015) – optional, though recommended (available via Netflix or via Raniertamayo at (http://www.rainiertamayo.com/?s=ex+machina)—please copy and paste film link into your browser.
Response Paper #1 (due at the start of class): Please type a one- to-two-page response to one, or a few, of the selections above for 9/16. Your response should foreground some of your thoughts about the benefits, drawbacks, and complications enmeshed with the concept of “cyborgs” and “artificial intelligence.” Some possible paths may include: is the human race enhanced by the prospect (and production) of 3D body parts, cyborgs, and AIs? Do cyborgs and AIs foreground a distinction between homo sapiens and the human being? Are these terms synonymous? What does the phrase, “human being” suggest? Is it tied up with the notion of “personhood”—indeed, what is “personhood?” What does it mean to be “human?” If one possesses self-awareness, does that trait make one human (after all, science has proven that elephants and whales possess self-awareness, not simply high intelligence)? Your Response Paper should be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman 12-point font, use 1” margins on all four sides (standard MLA format—you may need to adjust your Word default from 1.25” to 1.00”), and include a title for your piece. Please also include your name, our course title number (ENG 2100), the due date of the assignment, and the words “Response Paper #1” at the top of the first page. Please be sure your pages are numbered if you go beyond one page. From this paper, we will begin to generate ideas for one of our major “genre topics” opinion pieces versus analysis-driven essays. Before you turn your paper in, we will go over some of the particulars of these seemingly similar, but quite different genres. Thus, please bring in two copies of your paper: one to turn in, and one for yourself, on which to make notes.
Last day to drop courses without a grade of W
WEEK FOUR:
Mon. 9/21:
Dead Bodies / Anatomized Bodies / Medicalized Bodies
Read:
Selections from The Illustrations from the Works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels. Marked off areas on: pp. 9-10, pp. 10-very top of 16, pp. 19-21, pp. 22-23, pg. 30, all subsequent Plates (i.e. illustrations and their accompanying descriptions) (Blackboard)—required
Chpt. 5, “Dead Bodies” (pp. 78-96), from Body Studies: An Introduction (Margo DeMello) (Blackboard)—required
“The Criminal and the Saintly Body: Autopsy and Dissection in Renaissance Italy” (pp. 1-33) by Katherine Park in Renaissance Quarterly—recommended
Write:
Please continue to work on rough drafts of 1.) an opinion/op-ed piece on cyborg bodies and/or AIs and 2.) an argument-driven short essay on cyborg bodies and/or AIs.
On Monday, please bring any portion of your rough drafts to class (however rough, or really rough, they may be). Please also mark up your own draft on particular passages that you would like to hash through in class, passages with which you feel comfortable but have lingering questions, and so forth. We shall also spend some time on the opening (i.e. thesis paragraphs) for each piece. Whatever stage of “roughness” or “near-readiness” your drafts are in—please bring a hard copy of each to Monday’s class for a brief workshop.
In-class workshop:
We will work in pairs on our rough drafts for the opinion/op-ed piece and the argument-driven short essay. Are you starting to acquire a sense of the differences between these two genres? What are some of the questions you still have? Please come prepared to share your works-in-progress, offer constructive suggestions to your peers, and ask questions of one another and of me.
Course Blog:
Optional: Please post a response to one or more of the course readings for today. I shall the topic open-ended, as well as the choice of essay or essays.
Wed. 9/23: NO CLASS TODAY–HOLIDAY
WEEK FIVE:
Mon. 9/28: Dead Bodies / Anatomized Bodies / Medicalized Bodies (cont’d)
*Please note that on Monday, 9/28, I will have additional office hours beginning at 1:00pm (to make up for the office hours we missed last Wednesday)
Continue with discussion of readings from last week and segue into discussion of readings for today.
Chpt. 2, “First Cut” (pp. 15-29), Chpt. 4, “Anatomical Precedence” (pp. 45-61), Chpt. 6, “In Pursuit of Wonder” (pp. 93-117) in Body of Work: Meditations of Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab by Christine Montross (Blackboard)—required
Gunter von Hagens’ Body Worlds (information about exhibition and images) (link below and Blackboard)
http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/gunther_von_hagens/life_in_science.html
Write: Please keep working on the rough drafts of your two short essays + cover letter, all of which are due in class (as rough drafts) on Monday, September 28th. Since we have started a Blog for this assignment on Blogs@Baruch, please feel free to use this blog to communicate with the class about questions you have, requests for getting together in a writing group (in-person or virtually). In your cover letter, please note how this assignment is helping you identify some of the distinctions between “opinion”-driven and “argument”-driven essays. Please note, as well, the questions about these two genres that you still have, along with anything that seems confusing about logical paragraph structure and organization, topic sentences, seamless incorporation of quotations, and so forth. Please keep a copy of the detailed grading rubric handy. It refers to specific components of well-organized, clearly-executed work. Likewise, you may find it handy to bookmark the websites, OWL Purdue and Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips, for ready reference. These drafts will not be graded. However, you shall receive written feedback from me on your draft.
WRITING DUE TODAY IN CLASS: ROUGH DRAFT (ASSIGNMENT #1)
[Revised Rough Drafts* of Opinion Piece (2-3 pp. typed) and Argument-driven short essay (about 3 pp. typed] + Brief Cover Letter (double-spaced or single-spaced–your choice, about ½ – 1 page) in which you describe how this writing project is helping you shape your awareness of the nuanced distinctions between “Opinion” and “Argument.” In your letter, please also include any questions/areas of confusion you may be having regarding these distinctions and your progress on this project. Please staple the individual pieces and then either staple or paper-clip these 3 (1 letter + 2 short essays) together.
In-class writing prompt (9/28) to segue into next class (9/30): write your immediate, uncensored responses to the word, “ballerina.”
*Please note that your rough draft is precisely that—a rough draft of a work-in-progress. You will not earn a grade for a work-in-progress. However, I shall provide you with a feedback sheet that includes my observations and suggestions for your revision.
Wed. 9/30: Racialized Bodies / The Body as Ethnic and Racial Center & Ethnic and Racial “Other”
Read:
“The Story of My Body” by Judith Ortiz Cofer in Body and Culture (pp. 124-35). Discussion Questions at the end of this excerpt are there for you to think about, but you are not required to answer them. Of course, if you would like, please feel free to use them as springboards into Course Blog posts. (Blackboard) Reading is required.
Excerpts from Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks. “Introduction” (pp. 7-14) and Chpt. 5, “The Fact of Blackness” (pp. 109-40) (Blackboard)—required
“All Cosmetic Surgery is Ethnic: Asian Eyelids, Feminist Indignation, and the Politics of Whiteness” (pp. 191-205) by Cressida J. Heyes in Cosmetic Surgery: A Feminist Primer–(Blackboard) recommended
Think about: How the body is inscribed (i.e. “written upon”). Who is doing the inscribing? How does the body become a particular type of body (and, by extension the person whose body it is, a particular “type” of person)? How does cultural and socio-economic context figure into the inscribing? Can inscriptions be resisted, or outright rejected by the embodied/inscribed person? How so? What are some of the ways in which the body functions as a social/economic/ethnic/racial/political “canvas?” Have you ever felt “inscribed?” Have you ever “inscribed” someone else, based on her or his physical appearance? There is no formal writing due from this prompt, but you should feel free to post on our Course Blog, or sketch some notes to share in class.
In-class writing prompt (9/30) to segue into next class (10/5): write your immediate, uncensored responses to the word, “ballerina.”
*n.b. Given our focus on your Drafts-in-Progress and on the Vesalius and Montross readings, we shall carry over (as noted in class today) the Judith Ortiz Cofer and Frants Fanon readings into Monday. Adjustments shall be made to WEEK SIX’s schedule accordingly.
WEEK SIX:
Mon. 10/5: Racialized Bodies / The Body as Ethnic and Racial Center & Ethnic and Racial “Other” (continued)
“The Story of My Body” by Judith Ortiz Cofer in Body and Culture (pp. 124-35). Discussion Questions at the end of this excerpt are there for you to think about, but you are not required to answer them. Of course, if you would like, please feel free to use them as springboards into Course Blog posts. (Blackboard) Reading is required.
Excerpts from Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks. “Introduction” (pp. 7-14) and Chpt. 5, “The Fact of Blackness” (pp. 109-40) (Blackboard)—required
“All Cosmetic Surgery is Ethnic: Asian Eyelids, Feminist Indignation, and the Politics of Whiteness” (pp. 191-205) by Cressida J. Heyes in Cosmetic Surgery: A Feminist Primer–(Blackboard) recommended
Think about: How the body is inscribed (i.e. “written upon”). Who is doing the inscribing? How does the body become a particular type of body (and, by extension the person whose body it is, a particular “type” of person)? How does cultural and socio-economic context figure into the inscribing? Can inscriptions be resisted, or outright rejected by the embodied/inscribed person? How so? What are some of the ways in which the body functions as a social/economic/ethnic/racial/political “canvas?” Have you ever felt “inscribed?” Have you ever “inscribed” someone else, based on her or his physical appearance? There is no formal writing due from this prompt, but you should feel free to post on our Course Blog, or sketch some notes to share in class.
In-class writing prompt (10/5) to segue into next class (10/7): write your immediate, uncensored responses to the word, “ballerina.”
Wed. 10/7: Racialized Bodies and The Body in Motion/on View (continuation of theme from Wednesday 9/30)
“I Will What I Want”—UnderArmour™ ad by Misty Copleland—(link below and on Blackboard)—required
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY0cdXr_1MA
“Misty Copeland: The Cover Girl for a New Kind of Ballet” (clip from CBS Sunday Morning)—link below and on Blackboard)—required
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egkVCARjFGQ
“Misty Copeland is Promoted to Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theater” (article in New York Times) (Blackboard and below)—required http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/arts/dance/misty-copeland-is-promoted-to-principal-dancer-at-american-ballet-theater.html?_r=0
“You Can Touch My Hair” (short film by Un’ruly: )—(link below and on Blackboard)—required (please click on, or copy-and-paste the link below):
http://un-ruly.com/you-can-touch-my-hair/#.Vf_3HOmQZFI
Write for (10/5 or 10/7, one or the other, your choice): Course Blog: Please Post or Comment on someone else’s Post: Please write a brief, informal response to one of the written or visual pieces above. Some possible topics: Does this piece reinforce stereotypes? If so, how? Which stereotypes seem to be reinforced? Or, how does this piece try to destabilize or break stereotypes? Does it succeed in doing so? In what way or ways does it succeed in doing so (please cite some examples from the text or video). Furthermore, please begin thinking about some of the ways in which the body is used in the advertising and promotion of ideas & products. For instance, what are some of our takeaways from Misty Copeland’s UnderArmour™ ad, in terms of how the body is used to sell both a product and an idea? (Please note that there are several ads in UnderArmour’s recent campaign to expand its appeal to female consumers. Another ad in this campaign features supermodel Gisele Bündchen (see link below):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-V7cOestUs)?
Please be prepared to share your blog or comment in class. Please also come prepared with questions related to “marketing,” “consumerism,” “products,” and “the body.”
WEEK SEVEN:
Mon. 10/12: Columbus Day—College Closed
Wed. 10/14: The Body in Advertisements
Advert Packet (Blackboard–each advert has been uploaded to Blackboard individually) Please study the adverts below, in terms of products advertised, ad layout, relationship and positioning between image and text, the specific bodies being used in the ads and their relationship to the message of the advert, and so forth. Please jot (or scribble) your responses in your notebooks, journals, or on the adverts themselves:
- BMW cars (2008; authentic advertisement on which fake Aston Martin was based)
- Brooke Shields (Calvin Klein Jeans, 1980)
- Aston Martin cars (fake advertisement, 2013; based on an authentic 2008 BMW advertisement)
- Waris Ahluwalia and Quentin Jones (GAP, “Make Love” holiday ad series, 2013)
- Jacky O’Shaughnessy (American Apparel, 2012)
- Lupita Nyong’o (Lancôme, 2014)
- Yves Saint Laurent (YSL Pour Homme, 1971)
Read: “The Hard Sell: Advertising in America” by Bill Bryson (in Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers)—handout (if we do not get to this in class today, we will pick up on it on Monday, 10/19. We will also watch the first 4:44 minutes/seconds of George Carlin’s standup routine, “Advertising and Bullsh*t.” Again if we don’t get to it today, we shall watch it in class and wrap up our discussion of adverts, marketing, audience, and so forth. Below is a link to the Carlin video. Please note that material after the 4:44 mark includes his comedic (often sarcastic) take on businesspeople and on religion ~ so only watch the remaining 5 minutes if you would like to.
George Carlin video (for 10/19 of we do not get to it today, 10/14):
Also, as you read Bryson’s essay, please underline any terms that stand out to you as helpful in describing an advertisement, its purpose, and its target audience. Please also mark any terms or passages that strike you as interesting and/or confusing. We will annotate this reading in class!
Write: Please see Handout for Blog Post Writing Prompt on Adverts (handout posted on Blackboard). Please see same handout above for description of additional homework (bring to class an advertisement of your choice, which features a body).
Please review “Audience” section in Little, Brown Handbook handout (from earlier in the semester). Think about how a company creates an advertisement for a particular audience. For each advert above, please be prepared to offer your thoughts on who the intended audience appears to be for each advertisement.
WRITING DUE TODAY: ASSIGNMENT #1 (please bring one hard copy of your opinion piece and your argument driven piece, stapled together, to submit in class)
WEEK EIGHT:
Mon. 10/19: Understanding Comparative Analyses
Finish Adverts discussion from last Wednesday 10/14
Read: “Types of Papers: Compare/Contrast”: http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/com_con.html
“Types of Writing: Comparative Analyses”: http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/writers/Types_of_Writing/comparative.html
Think about and be prepared to discuss in class: What are some of the reasons for writing a comparative analysis about two or more texts (“texts” can include both textual and visual materials)? If I am writing a comparative analysis, what are some of the elements from each text that would want to foreground (both in terms of similarities and differences)? For my comparative analysis to have a raison d’être (a “reason for being”), I typically need to foreground either similarities or differences (otherwise, the essay remains simply a list of similarities and differences. Jot down (in your notebook or journal) what your intentions might be in foregrounding similarities or differences, let’s say, in a Calvin Klein Jeans print advert from 1980 (what could be called a “birth year” for designer jeans) and one from the 21st century?
In class today (10/19):
*Practice comparing and contrasting some of the texts on our syllabus
*Begin developing an awareness of the formats used for comparative analyses
*Begin building a vocabulary of terms typically used in this genre of writing
(The readings for today, and our in-class work, are aimed at preparing you for our next Writing Assignment, a Comparative Analysis of two texts from our readings thus far.)
Review Assignment #1 (which will have been graded and returned to you by today). By “review,” I mean please read and underline sections of my typed comment sheet and my marginalia within the essay itself. What seems clear to you? What seems confusing or not entirely clear? How do my comments and suggestions mesh with our grading rubric for writing assignments?
Wed. 10/21: The Gendered and Transgendered Body
Read: excerpts from “Gendered Bodies: in Body Studies (Dawn DeMello ), pp. 117-122 (middle of page) (Blackboard) (required)
“Here Be Dragons,” James Baldwin (Blackboard) (required)
excerpts from Janet Mock’s autobiography, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, & So Much More (Blackboard) (required)
Watch/View: Interview (about 51 minutes) between Janet Mock and Laverne Cox ( a regular on Orange is the New Black, and, like Mock, a transgender person) on Mock’s program “So POPular” (required~the whole interview is interesting, but you may scroll through it and not watch it in its entirety) copy and paste into browser: http://www.msnbc.com/shift/watch/so-popular-laverne-cox-joins-janet-mock-472000579599
PBS program: Makers: Women Who Make America (Part One: Awakenings) (see link below; click or copy and paste) (recommended watching)
copy and paste program link into browser: http://video.pbs.org/video/2336932877/
Image of Caitlyn Jenner on cover of Vanity Fair (on Blackboard)
*You are responsible for all the readings for today. However, given the complexity of the material in the readings, some of the readings will likely carry over into next Monday.
Response Paper #2 Due in Class Today: Please write a one-page, double-spaced response to one (or more) of the above pieces (assigned for today’s class). Please focus on gender stereotypes and how these writings, interviews, television programs, or images attempt to transcend such stereotypes. How, for instance, has Mock done so through her detailed autobiography and her television program? Do any of these stereotypes seem, instead to be reinforced rather than destabilized?
WEEK NINE:
Mon. 10/26: Understanding Comparative Analyses (cont’d)
Before class today, please choose two texts (based on the handout for Assignment #2: Comparative Analysis distributed on Wed. 10/21) from our syllabus, which we have read thus far in class. In class today, we will begin establishing the framework for your comparative analysis (Assignment #2). Thus, please bring to class, a copy of the Assignment Sheet, as well as copies of the texts you would like to compare or contrast.
Also, in preparation for today’s class, please make some notes regarding similarities and differences between your two selected pieces. Bring these notes to class because they will serve as a springboard into our brainstorming workshop.
Wed. 10/28: Continue Building Assignment #2 Framework (thesis, body paragraphs, topic sentences, and block vs. point-by point formatting) (Library Day rescheduled for November)
Additional focus for today:
At Podium: go over library databases (such as JSTOR, Project Muse, and Academic Search Complete), library card catalog and self-checkout (BTW: does your student ID have a library barcode?)
Nuts & Bolts: thesis statements; grammar and syntax; varying your vocabulary; varied verb tenses (what are some of them, and when should they be used?) In-class exercises: choosing, incorporating, and explicating apt quotations
WEEK TEN:
Mon. 11/2: Aging Bodies
Read: “Aging Bodies,” Body Studies: An Introduction, Dawn DeMello (pp. 43-57)
Watch: Joan Rivers on Graham Norton program: (copy and paste link into browser): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XMGP43_cZw (0:00-2:25) (link is also on BB)
Watch: Maya Angelou on Oprah: http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Dr-Maya-Angelous-Surprising-Take-on-Getting-Older-Video (BB)
Blog: I know it is hard to imagine right now, but picture this: one day, you will be…older. Please post a response (or write a comment on someone’s post) regarding that seemingly strange bit of matter: the aging body, how some cultures view it, and how some of our “celebrities” respond to it.
Due in class today: Assignment #2 Full Draft
Wed. 11/4: The Body as a Performance Instrument/NYC as a Performance Space
Lesson may involve a video camera (or recoding app on a Notepad, a smartphone video camera, a poem, your body, your voice, and a NYC context–any of the five boroughs, and a brief analysis of your work, which you will present in class, or in your portfolio, or on our blog)
Here, though, is a prelude (on which our assignment will be based) on using the body, and the context of New York, to render any of Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets (written in the 1590s) relevant for today’s citizenry.
How does context — the place, the space in which the poem is spoken — help you understand some of its meaning? Even if you do not understand what the Sonnet “means, per se, what can its performance, it spokenness, its expression, in a specific part of NYC help you gain a deeper sense of some ideas that the poem is trying to convey? Can you think of doing something similar with one of Shakespeare’s many other sonnets, or with a a modern poem or musical lyric that is infused with meaning because of where it is spoken? By whom? In what manner or style?
New York Shakespeare Exchange: The Sonnet Project:
Sonnet 16:
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time?
And fortify yourself in your decay
With means more blessed than my barren rhyme?
Now stand you on the top of happy hours;
And many maiden gardens, yet unset
With virtuous wish would bear your living flowers,
Much liker than your painted counterfeit:
So should the lines of life that life repair,
Which this (Time’s pencil, or my pupil pen),
Neither in inward worth nor outward fair,
Can make you live yourself in eyes of men.
To give away yourself keeps yourself still,
And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill.
The Sonnet Man (Sonnet 16):
http://sonnetprojectnyc.com/portfolio/play-sonnet-16/
Sonnet 55:
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.
sonnetprojectnyc.com/portfolio/play-sonnet-55/
Food for thought: how is it that late 16th century, early 17th century poetry can seem remarkably contemporary via this project? What does the performance (speaking, singing, voiceover) of a poem add to it that the written page alone does not allow?
Also read: “Establishing Arguments,” OWL Purdue website (link on BB as well) https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/01/
“The Imaginative Research Paper,” The Imaginative Argument, Frank Cioffi (pp. 116-34) (BB)
In-class Discussion and Writing Practice: What is the preliminary “research question?” “What is a Preliminary Thesis?’ “What is an Annotated Bibliography?” “How Do I Fine-tune Topic Sentences and Organize Paragraphs?” (handouts)
In-class: in pairs, at podium, and on your laptops: identify a possible text for your Research Paper
WEEK ELEVEN:
Mon. 11/9: Library Day (new date)
Library Day: “Scavenger Hunt” on books, articles, self check-out. Who are our research librarians? Please note: rather than meet in class today, we will meet in Baruch’s Newman Library, on the second floor, near the Reference Desk, which is located just forward of the turnstiles and security guard’s desk. Please note too, that no food is permitted in the library, or beverages outside of your backpacks, totebags, or handbags. However, there is a snack machine on the library’s first floor, after the turnstiles, to the left, in the “mini-cafe.” If there is time after our “scavenger hunt,” we can go there, share some snacks and beverages, and discuss our “discoveries,” some questions that you still have, or questions that popped up during our “scavenger hunt.” We shall also discuss, via a handout, how to start shaping a possible idea into a research question and eventually and research topic. Perhaps one of the texts you find today, may prove useful for your research project! 🙂
Read: “Research and Documentation” Little, Brown Essential Handbook, (pp. 116-150) (handout)
Read: Annotated Bibliographies (handout OWL Purdue + sample on BB)
Wed. 11/11:
Radio Program to Discuss:
NPR Radio Program: “Rebuilding Soldiers Transformed by War Injuries,” by David Wood (required)
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/13/141266015/rebuilding-wounded-soldiers-when-they-return
House of Representatives Questioning to Disucss:
Representative Tammy Duckworth (D-IL.) questioning Braulio Castilio regarding VA injury classification and VA benefits (required)
Please write a reflection on the NPR interview on our Course Blog. Or , on Representative Tammy Duckworth’s interview of Braulio Castillo, regarding Veterans’ Benefits’ programs . You may initiate a Post or Comment on a peer’s post. Your Blog or Comment has no minimum or maximum word requirement. However, please try to make it heartfelt. For instance, what does it mean to “rebuild” a body? The questions, by no means, stop there. The casualties from the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were far fewer than in Vietnam. The primary reason is advances in surgical technology. Indeed, because of of medical “advance,” we now have more survivors ~ albeit survivors with multiple missing limbs (triple and quadruple amputees) and severe burns. In your opinion, are these medical “advances,” or are they prolongations of a life that some people may argue, was “best left to die?”
Please also feel free to share your own families’ war stories, if you have any. Or your perspectives on war ~ who enlists (currently, we have no draft; our armed forces are made up of volunteers. Who are they?)
Distribute: Assignment #3—Research Paper (which notes its “scaffolded” components)
ASSIGNMENT #2 (Comparative Analysis) DUE IN CLASS (today, or via email to my gmail over the weekend).
WEEK TWELVE:
Mon. 11/16: DUE TODAY: Preliminary Research Question
Brief workshop on Research Question; please annotate your document before submitting it. We will work on shaping the Research Question into a Thesis Paragraph Draft
Read: “Working, annotated bibliography,” Little, Brown pp. 120-22 (BB)
“Evaluating and Synthesizing Sources,” Little, Brown pp. 132-42 (BB)
“Integrating Sources into Your Text,” Little, Brown pp. 142-49 (BB)
Wed. 11/18: TBD: This is not a sign of forgetfulness on my part; rather, we will at this stage have read, written, and discussed quite a bit of material. In preparation for your Research Papers—and your continued growth as writers and intellectuals–please select a topic for today: it could focus on the minutiae of your Research Paper, your Portfolio, grammar and syntax, and so forth. By Wed. 11/11, I would like you to have agreed upon an itinerary for today so that I can post materials on BB.
WEEK THIRTEEN:
Mon. 11/23: In class: Bring a rough draft of your Annotated Bibliography, which should include at least one text at this point. We will work on fine-tuning it.
DUE TODAY: Your rough draft of your Thesis Paragraph (Research Paper Assignment #2)
Please use our blog to post a piece of Reflective Writing by class this morning’s class. Use this blog entry as your chance to pose your questions, concerns, status, etc. regarding Paper #3 (Research Paper). How is the effort to focus your research topic going? What are you struggling with? What issues are you facing with regard to mining your secondary sources for evidence? Have you tried yet to incorporate any of your secondary sources with your Research Paper? What hurdles are you facing? What are you excited about? What writing strategies seem to be working for you? Please remember to title your post. This post should be about two well-developed paragraphs. Please also try to read and respond to some of your classmates’ posts.
We will use your Reflective Writing in class as part of the research paper writing process process for Paper #3. Our workshop will include the annotation of bibliographies and the integration of secondary sources into a research paper. Takes note, share ideas, and take away ideas to incorporate in your ongoing revision.
Wed. 11/25: I will return your Rough Draft if your Research Paper Thesis Statement to you.
We will then have an in-class workshop on fine-tuning and building on it (subsequent paragraphs, topic sentences for the first few paragraphs, identifying research materials for your research paper, and the annotated bibliography, and so forth).
Please bring laptops, notepads, and any other electronic devices, which we will use to search databases, Google Books, and other sources.
We will also discuss using libraries, in addition to Baruch’s Newman Library:
The following is a list of research (not lending) libraries in the New York Public Library system:
NYPL Humanities and Social Sciences Research Library (Stephen A. Schwarzman Building): Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street (the library with the lions, Patience and Fortitude, outside)
NYPL for the Performing Arts: 40 Lincoln Center Plaza
NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: 515 Malcolm X Boulevard
Thursday, November 26th—Happy Thanksgiving!
WEEK FOURTEEN:
Mon. 11/30: In class: Bring a rough draft of your Annotated Bibliography, which should include at least one text at this point. We will work on fine-tuning it.
Please use our blog to post a piece of Reflective Writing by class. Use this blog entry as your chance to pose your questions, concerns, status, etc. regarding Paper #3 (Research Paper). How is the effort to focus your research topic going? What are you struggling with? What issues are you facing with regard to mining your secondary sources for evidence? Have you tried yet to incorporate any of your secondary sources with your Research Paper? What hurdles are you facing? What are you excited about? What writing strategies seem to be working for you? Please remember to title your post. This post should be about two well-developed paragraphs. Please also try to read and respond to some of your classmates’ posts.
We will use your Reflective Writing in class as part of the research paper writing process process for Paper #3. Our workshop will include the annotation of bibliographies and the integration of secondary sources into a research paper. Takes note, share ideas, and take away ideas to incorporate in your ongoing revision.
Wed. 12/2:
DUE TODAY: Annotated Bibliography (Research Paper Assignment #3)
Further Discussion about Research Paper, Sources, as well as the Portfolio and its Components (“show-and-tell” style”). Please feel free to share your own research paper experiences and suggestions.
WEEK FIFTEEN:
Mon. 12/7:
DUE TODAY: ROUGH DRAFT OF RESEARCH PAPER (however short or long it is at this stage)
Intensive Writing Workshop: Building the Rough Draft into a More Polished Research Paper; discussion of your Annotated Bibliographies: where, for example, should you go from here, source-wise?
Intensive in-class workshop on Research Paper Rough Draft (please bring at least 3 pages of text to class; bring 2 hard copies for each of your teammates + 1 hard copy for me)
Wed. 12/9: Overview of Portfolio Cover Letter and Portfolio Assembly
Overview of Rough Draft (however short to long it is at this stage)
Catch-up day: Where are you in your research project? Questions? Share information and suggestions with each other in class.
WEEK SIXTEEN:
Mon. 12/14: Discuss your progress as a writer; sharing day; semi-recovery day
DUE IN CLASS: FINAL RESEARCH PAPER (Research Paper Assignment #4)
Last Day of Fall Classes
Wednesday 12/16: after 4:00pm: you may pick up your research papers in my faculty mailbox, in the English Department
Fri. 12/18: PORTFOLIOS DUE (must include research paper!) in my mailbox by 12:00 noon
(not 12:01 ~ I might have left the building!) Typically, I leave a box on top of the faculty mailboxes, which notes my name and our course number (please place your work in here—doing so often averts a phenomenon known as “mailbox collapse.”)