November 13, 2005

Unit 4 assignment

A paper that expands on your previous work in this class; on a classmates' work; or on one or more assigned readings for the course. See the November 21 assignment on the Unit 4 schedule for directions on making a proposal for your topic for this paper.

Citation style: Use MLA style: consult chapter 10 of the Harbrace Handbook. In-text citations are explained on pp. 193-200. Then you'll need to follow MLA for your list of works cited, as well; there's an index for types of sources on p. 201, and a sample list of works cited on p. 234. Let me know what questions you have.

Due date: The absolute last deadline is December 16, 7 p.m. If you submit the paper by 6 p.m. on December 12, I'll have time to send you commentary on the paper.

Submit the paper by dropping it in the Blackboard digital dropbox.

Course readings:

  1. Bell, Kaitlin. "Provision Tells Schools to Grade Students on Subjects, Not Ideology." Boston Globe 8 Aug. 2005.
  2. Bowen, Meredith. "Your Student Fee. . .: HillTV's 'Over the Hill' Prompts Re-evaluation of Programming." Daily Orange [Syracuse University] 18 Oct. 2005.
  3. Cantor, Nancy. "Civic Engagement: The University as a Public Good." Liberal Education 90.2 (Spring 2004): 18-25. [Available on class Blackboard site.]
  4. Cardenas, Diana. "Creating an Identity: Personal, Academic, and Civic Literacies." Latino/a Discourses: On Language, Identity, and Literacy Education. Ed. Michelle Hall Kells, Valerie Balester, and Victor Villanueva. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2004. 114-125. [Will be available on class Blackboard site by November 1.]
  5. Delpit, Lisa. "Education in a Multicultural Society: Our Future's Greatest Challenge." Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York: New P, 1995. 167-183. [Will be available on class Blackboard site by November 1.]
  6. Gladwell, Malcolm. "Getting In." New Yorker 10 Oct. 2005: 80-86.
  7. Lewin, Tamara. "Writing in Schools Is Found Both Dismal and Neglected." New York Times 26 April 2003. (Available in the "Documents" folder on the course Blackboard site)
  8. Rose, Mike. "The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University." College English 47.4 (Apr. 1985): 341-359. (Available in the "Documents" folder on the course Blackboard site) Sapp, David. "Towards an International and Intercultural Understanding of Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty in Composition: Reflections from the People's Republic of China." Issues in Writing 13.1 (2003): 58-79. (Available in the "Documents" folder on the course Blackboard site)
  9. Wallace, David Foster. "Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage." Harper's (April 2001): 39-58. (Available in the "Documents" folder on the course Blackboard site)

Posted by senioritis at 07:05 AM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2005

Responding to classmates' work

As you read and respond to your classmates' drafts on December 1, 6, and 8, analyze each of the following issues, and offer advice. (For explanation of each of these, see Howard Ch. 5 (in the Blackboard Documents folder.)


  1. Thesis: A one- to two-sentence passage, probably placed in the introduction, that identifies not only the topic of the paper but also its main point(s).
  2. Development: Evidence for the thesis.
  3. Organization: Logical flow of the essay.
  4. Unity: Relation of each paragraph to the thesis.
  5. Cohesion: Transitions connecting each paragraph to the preceding paragraph and to the thesis.
  6. Introduction: Including thesis, blueprint, and invitation to the reader.
  7. Conclusion: Satisfying ending that does more than restate the thesis.
  8. Visuals: Number, quality, purpose, and placement.
  9. Title. Descriptive or suggestive. Can be a question but not a declarative sentence; should not restate the thesis.

Be concrete and specific in your analysis and advice. Point to specific parts of the paper that you're talking about, and provide examples of the suggestions you are making.

Write your response on a separate document. Adopt the role of reader who is writing back to the writer, not the role of teacher marking up a text. Grading criteria for this exercise are here.

Posted by senioritis at 08:46 PM | Comments (0)

November 04, 2005

Second summary assignment

Task: Summarize one of the four sources listed below.

Purpose: You'll be assigned very few, if any summaries in your college courses. Yet being able to summarize texts is integral to much of the writing you'll be assigned during the next three and a half years. Maybe you are reading a difficult text that you are especially interested in; maybe you have to write about it; or maybe it is something that you know you will be tested on. How much do you want to understand what you read? How much do you want to be able to remember it? Writing a reader's summary of what you have read will help you reach these goals. The purpose of a reader's summary is to help the reader to a greater comprehension of a text. By putting the ideas of the text into your own words, you understand the text in a more comprehensive way. Summary-writing is also a first step toward being able to make critical judgments about a text (critique) and to connect it to other texts (synthesis).

Content specifications: Avoid quotations, patchwriting, and plagiarism. Note page numbers when pertinent; see Harbrace Handbook p. 185. Be sure that your summary names the source you are summarizing. You can do this in the body of the summary; in the title; or by placing a full bibliographic citation for the source at the beginning of the summary.

Design specifications: Follow recommendations in Howard Chapter 7, sections 7a-7b, "Designing College Papers" (pp. 192-204).

Paraphrasing vs. summarizing: The success of a summary hinges on remembering that summarizing isn't the selection and repetition of a few key passages—a "greatest hits" approach—but is instead the condensing of major ideas into fewer words.

Length: 500 words.

Due November 8.

Submission: Digital dropbox on Blackboard course site.

Support: If you'd like to go over a draft with me, email me for an appointment.

Source selections: Choose one of the following sources for your summary:

  1. Cantor, Nancy. "Civic Engagement: The University as a Public Good." Liberal Education 90.2 (Spring 2004): 18-25. [Available on class Blackboard site.]
  2. Cardenas, Diana. "Creating an Identity: Personal, Academic, and Civic Literacies." Latino/a Discourses: On Language, Identity, and Literacy Education. Ed. Michelle Hall Kells, Valerie Balester, and Victor Villanueva. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2004. 114-125. [Will be available on class Blackboard site by November 1.]
  3. Delpit, Lisa. "Education in a Multicultural Society: Our Future's Greatest Challenge." Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York: New P, 1995. 167-183. [Will be available on class Blackboard site by November 1.]
  4. Gladwell, Malcolm. "Getting In." New Yorker 10 Oct. 2005: 80-86.

Posted by senioritis at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2005

Assignment 1: Response to reading

Primary source:
Lewin, Tamara.  "Writing in Schools Is Found Both Dismal and Neglected."  New York Times 26 April 2003.

Background materials (available on the Blackboard course site):

  • Howard Chapter 8, section 8d, "Reading to Respond" (pp. 33-36).
  • Howard Chapter 7, sections 7a-7b, "Designing College Papers" (pp. 192-204).

    Assignment:
    Write a 500-word response to the Lewin article.     In Howard Ch. 8, the "Questions for Critical Reading" (p. 33) should be useful for generating ideas. You do not have to answer all these questions! In fact, you don't have to answer any of them. They are just to help you figure out what you'd like to say about the Lewin text. Because the text to which you are responding is online, you'll also need to pay attention to the "Issues in Reading Online Texts Critically" (p. 34).

    Design specifications: Follow recommendations in Howard Ch. 7.

    Getting help
    You can ask questions here, if you like, by using the "Comments" function. I'll answer these questions every day. More options for getting help are here.

    Due: First draft September 6; final draft September 8.

    Procedures for submitting final draft of your paper on September 8:
    Place one copy in the Blackboard drop box; give me a hard copy.
    From the Blackboard menu, choose "Tools"; then "Digital Dropbox"; then follow the directions for moving a file from your hard drive to the dropbox. Be sure to click buttons that say something like "submit" once you've transferred the file. Charlie, can you put more specific directions in a comment on this post?

    Posted by senioritis at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)