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ENG 2150: Writing II[1]
Course Syllabus • Section KTA Hybrid • Spring 2016
Professor: Dr. Lisa Blankenship, Department of English
Class Time & Location: Tues, 2:55-4:35p, VC 9-140
Office Hours: By appointment via email on Tues, Wed, and Th
Email: Lisa.Blankenship@baruch.cuny.edu
Office: VC 7-245 / Phone: 646.312.3920
Welcome! Get ready to read, think, write, and engage.
I look forward to working and learning with you this spring.
Texts
- No textbook. I’ll post .pdfs or links to readings on our course Blogs@Baruch website, which I’ll expect you to download and have available either digitally or in hard copy when we discuss in them in class. Course website: http://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/eng2150sp16kta/
- For style, editing, and source citations, I recommend the Purdue OWL
- Also: check and use your Baruch email account for class announcements (username@baruchmail.cuny.edu)
Course Description
In this course, the second semester required 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 images. 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 the course are: How does persuasion happen? What are the sources of persuasion? How can rhetoric be used to divide and also to bring people together? How do rhetorical elements such as language, images, emotion, and logic work to shape our identity, our beliefs, and our everyday realities, particularly involving race, language, and identity. We’ll explore, for example, questions such as: What does it mean to be “white,” to be “black,” to be “Asian”? Since only one “race” exists among humans—the human race—why do racial categories exist? How have they served the interests of certain groups and disempowered others? What is the relationship between race, language, and identity? How is the concept of race changing at the current moment in the U.S.?
We will explore these questions by engaging with a variety of textual genres: web-based texts and videos, film, fiction and non-fiction, and academic articles. We will analyze how others use rhetoric to make arguments and then we will engage in a research project in which we explore how the questions we raise during part I of the course apply to your and your family racial and ethnic identities and histories. Finally, you will remix or remediate your research project 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.
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.
Major Assignments
Following are your assignments for the semester, along with the weight each carries toward your final course grade, using a 100% standard grading scale. See our course website for the daily schedule, which I update often and which may change depending on our needs.
Part I of course
Project 1: Rhetorical Analysis of a Cultural Artifact
~ 2000 words; 6 double spaced pages 20% of course grade
Part II of course
Project 2: Research Project (2 components)
Reflective Annotated Bibliographies (4)
~ 3 double spaced pages each 10% of course grade
Research-Based Argument Paper
~ 3500 words; 9-10 double spaced pages 30% of course grade
Part III of course
Project 3: Creative Remix of Research Project 20% of course grade
Writing component: 4 double spaced pages
Project 4:
Portfolio Reflection
~1000 words; 3 double spaced pages 10% of course grade
Weekly Writing:
300 words per week, average 10% of course grade
In addition to the major assignments above, I will ask you to respond
to our course readings in writing (outside and during class) and through
in-class and digital/virtual discussions and to engage with your major projects
through a series of low-stakes writing that scaffold into your drafts.
Grading
I use a 100% grading scale to assess individual assignments and your final course grade. If at any time you have a question about your grade in the class, please bring it to my attention immediately. I take it as a point of honor to be open to your perspective.
| 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:
Or What I Expect From You and What You Can Expect From Me
What I Expect From You
I expect that you will attend each class and complete the assignments due (which includes being present for our weekly face-to-face classes on Tuesdays and posting your online assignments when they are due—typically by class time on Thursday). 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, Facebook, and other personal interests that are available through the web 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 directly 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.
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
Twice this semester you and I will meet in my office (VC 7-245), for a 20-minute conference on your writing and plan for approaching your projects for the class. Your conference with me will be held in lieu of class, so missing your scheduled conference = missing class.
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: 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 and online discussions will be highly interactive, requiring frequent participation, discussion, composing in and outside of class, and responding to your classmates’ work. For this reason, I expect you to attend all class meetings and post by the due dates on the days we work outside of class. Please note: Failure to submit an online assignment by the due date (typically by class time on Thursdays) will count as an absence, and you will not receive credit for the assignment. I will post all assignments on the “Schedule” page of our course blog, but it is up to you to keep up with your work for the class. Just because we do not meet face-to-face on Thursdays does not mean we will not have “class”—only that you will have work due instead of coming to a face-to-face class meeting.
- 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 up to one letter grade (an A 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.
- 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?
- 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 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 Spring 2016 Baruch 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? What if I have technology issues?
No. All work is due at the time specified within the assignment details. If you’re not already in the habit of turning your work in on time, I encourage you to develop the practice and will try to help you in that endeavor in this course.
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 course work 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 back up 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. For a four-hour course, that equals an average eight hours of time outside of class per week. In this hybrid course we will meet each Tuesday from 2:55-4:35, approximately two hours. Even though we will not meet face-to-face on Thursdays, you will be expected to do work outside of class (online typically) that will take as much time (or more) as would meeting twice per week. It’s important to keep in mind that a hybrid class does not mean less work than a regular, face-to-face class; it means some of the work and time we would spend sitting in a classroom we will spend working outside of class and writing online (such as online discussions with classmates and me about our readings and your writing).
In sum, you can expect to spend approximately two hours in class on Tuesday and ten hours outside of class on this hybrid course. Outside work includes reading course texts, writing blog responses to course readings, and drafting and revising your major projects. At times, you will also be asked to collaborate with some of your classmates on course reading responses outside of class. I try to assign larger amounts of homework between our online sessions Thursday and our in-class meetings on Tuesday and keep outside work between Tuesday and Thursday lighter. 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.
What if I have a disability?
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
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 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
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.
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. 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.htm.
Weekly Schedule
(Subject to change; see course blog for latest version)
Week 1
Tues, Feb 2 (face-to-face meeting day)
- Prior to class:
- Set up your personal course blog
- Write an initial post on our course blog of ~200 words
- Introduce yourself and tell us something interesting about you
- Include an image that represents you in some way (and tell us why you chose it)
- Include the URL of your personal course blog in your post so I can access it and can post a link to it on our course website
- In class:
- Introductions to each other and the course
- Half hour visit and activity on writing by visiting scholar Dr. Steven Alvarez, interviewing for professorial position at Baruch
- Introduction to the class: Burkean Parlor Hybrid Wonderland
- Technology and Digital Platforms for the Class (or, How and Where to Submit your Work and How This Hybrid Class Functions)
- Homework: Post by online class time Th (2:55pm):
- Read chapters 1-3 in George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By and write a one-page (~300 word) response on our course blog.
Th, Feb 4 (online day)
- By the end of the day today (11:59p):
- Read your classmates’ responses to Metaphors We Live By as well as their introductions to themselves and respond to at least 2 other people’s posts on the reading. (What I look for in responses: Should be at least a short paragraph, ~75 words, and should indicate an engagement with their ideas.)
- Write a Digital Literacy Narrative about your experiences and identity as a writer, especially your writing and composing using digital technology. (See prompts on the “Schedule” page of our course website. ~300 words and unlike most other weekly reading responses and posts, please post this Narrative on your personal blog under a page titled “Digital Literacy Narrative.)
- Assignment for next class (Post by class time Tuesday, 2/9):
- Read Emily Martin’s “The Egg and the Sperm” and write a ~300 word post on our course blog indicating what you believe her primary argument is and your response to it.
- Find an example of an online news story headline that describes an event by comparing it to another event or concept that may have some similar characteristics but is not identical (a metaphor). For example, “Rubio and Bush prepare for war after Iowa,” CNN.com, Sun, Jan 31, 2016. Describe the significance of this metaphor, or the “so what” based on what you read in Lakoff and Johnson. (~200 words)
Week 2
Tues, Feb 9: No class (classes follow a Friday schedule)
- By the end of the day today (11:59pm):
- Post a response to at least 4 other people’s posts (2 on Martin; 2 on the news headline as a metaphor.
- Read “Everybody’s a Critic. And That’s How It Should Be,” by A.O. Scott, The New York Times, 1/30/16 and write a ~300 word post that includes his primary argument and your response to it.
- Assignment for next class:
- Read Bolin Carroll “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis” and make a list (in your notes, not on your post) of key terms for rhetorical analysis she introduces along with their definition. What’s the most important sentence from her piece and your response to it?
Th, Feb 11 (online day)
- Read “What is Rhetoric?” and respond to prompts on our course blog by end of day today (11:59pm).
- Assignment for next class:
- Watch Apple’s “1984” ad that aired during the 1984 Superbowl and use the terms and theory we’ve read about to analyze it. Write a post on our course blog in which you identify the following in the ad (from the Bolin Carroll piece): exigence, audience, constraints, subject, purpose, argument + reasons you should act on or believe the argument, ethos/pathos/logos (and, bonus—not in her piece—kairos.
Week 3
Tues, Feb 16 (face-to-face meeting day)
- Discuss Apple’s 1984 ad and your analyses of it.
- Provide handout on various rhetorical theories for analysis we’ve discussed thus far: Burke’s Pentad, Toulmin, the rhetorical situation, Aristotelian rhetorical triangle
- Watch Sam Richards’s TED Talk on empathy
- Go over Project 1: Rhetorical Analysis assignment
- Assignment for next class: Read “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” from The Fire Next Time and write a one-page response (~300 words) by class time Th.
Th, Feb 18 (online day)
- Analyze the following aspects of the piece in groups: Burke’s Dramatistic analysis (Pentad)/5 groups; metaphors/1 group; audience, purpose, genre, style / 1 group; Toulmin/1 group. Groups plan to meet during class time to prepare a response for class Tuesday to the whole class. Each group should select a rep to post the group’s report by class time Tuesday.
Week 4
Tues, Feb 23 (face-to-face meeting day)
- Groups share your analysis of Baldwin’s piece.
- Meet with your Writing Group to discuss ideas for Rhetorical Analysis Project
- Post your ideas/brainstorming, including images and links to artifacts, to our course blog by end of day today (11:59pm)
- Assignment for next class (post by class time Th):
- Read 2 student papers from a similar assignment to our Rhetorical Analysis piece this term and respond (“grading” them using the rubric I’ll use this term).
- Post your Formal Proposal for your Rhetorical Analysis Project.
Th, Feb 25 (online day)
- Conferences with Prof. Blankenship and your Writer’s Group during class time (approximately): 3:00-5:40 about your RA project. Sign up for a 20-minute time slot on Google Drive with your group members.
- Assignment for Th, Sept 24: Read Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” and write a ~300 word response by class time. By end of day today (11:59pm) write a response to at least 2 others’ posts.
Week 5
Tues, Mar 1 (face-to-face meeting day)
- In-class studio/writing time on your RA project (in computer studio/lab)
Th, Mar 3 (online day)
- Read Richard Straub’s “Responding to Other Students’ Writing” and write a ~300 word response by class time. By end of day today respond to at least 2 others’ posts.
- Assignment for next class: Finish rough draft of RA and post to Google Drive community folder and your personal folder by class time.
Week 6
Tues, Mar 8 (face-to-face meeting day)
- Modeling peer review
- Says/Does activity in class
- Model Writer’s Letter (using rubric); draft Writer’s Letter for your draft in class and post to community and your personal GD folders by end of class.
Th, Mar 10 (online day)
- By class time, post peer review of your Writer’s Group members to GD community folder; Prof. Blankenship will post feedback to your personal folder by end of day Friday.
Assignment for next class:
- Read Deither’s “Revising Attitudes” and post a ~200 word response, including how you plan to revise your draft and how this piece influences your thinking, if at all.
- Revise draft and Writer’s Letter and post to your personal GD folder. Final due by class time Tuesday, 3/15.
[1] Panel 58 of Jacob Lawrence’s 1940-41 series about the Great Migration of African Americans to the North. Credit: The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Source: The New York Times