WordPress.com



English 104: Writing II HonorsFall 2018Policy Statement – 2 Course Overview – 6 Schedule – 8Assignments – 10English 104: Writing II HonorsSpring 2018Professor: Matt King (he, him, his; more on pronouns here and here)Email: mrking@sbu.eduPhone: 716.375.2457Office Hours: Wednesday 1:30-4:30 and by appointmentOffice Location: Plassmann D6Class Website: Writing and Communication GoalUniversity Learning Goal 3: Students will develop competence in multimodal communication with special emphasis on oral, written, and digital communication, including an understanding of key issues relating to their use. Learning ObjectivesStudents identify and respond to contexts using appropriate processes and modes of delivery.Students use effective content and approaches to organization, style, and design that are appropriate for the discipline and genre of communication.Students demonstrate control of syntax and mechanics by using language that communicates with clarity, fluency, and minimal errors.Course DescriptionA composition course emphasizing writing as academic discourse, with attention to academic argumentation and expectations for research, structure, and style. Course assignments emphasize intensive research and disciplinary conventions, as well as professional and digital communication. This course is designed for students in the Honors Program. It achieves the same objectives and satisfies the same requirements as ENG 102: Writing II. At the discretion of the instructor, this course may do one or more of the following: cover additional topics, cover topics in more depth, require additional scholarly assignments beyond simply writing an extra paper. (3 credits)Course GoalsStudents who successfully complete the course will be able to:Demonstrate an advanced writing process with attention to academic research, argumentation, structure, and style;Understand writing as a disciplinary endeavor;Analyze texts in terms of disciplinary conventions;Document sources in standard academic formats;Produce writing that addresses different audiences and purposes and makes use of different modalities. Deliver content through advanced digital media and modes.Class Texts- Bullock, Brody, and Weinberg. The Little Seagull Handbook, 3rd ed.- Other readings made available online as needed.GradingPaper 1 – Public Analysis= 15%Paper 2 – Academic Analysis= 20%Paper 3 – Theorizing Identity= 15%Paper 4 – Digital Writing= 10%Reflection Papers= 15%Short Assignments= 10%Participation= 5%Honors Assignments= 10%TOTAL 100%Papers are graded based on the quality of the final product as well as your writing and revision process work. The Reflection Papers ask you to reflect on your writing process and work on each paper. Short Assignments will receive a completion grade. Participation is based on your preparedness for class and participation in class activities.Late Work. Excessive or unexcused late work will not be acceptable, and I reserve the right to penalize late work in such circumstances (generally, such penalties will be a letter grade for every day an assignment is late). If circumstances prevent you from being able to submit an assignment on time, you should discuss the situation with me ahead of time.Attendance. You should arrive to class on time with all assigned readings and papers for the day completed. You are allowed six absences throughout the semester without a grade penalty (although missing class can affect your participation grade and your ability to succeed in the class generally). If you have 7-8 absences, you cannot receive higher than a C for your semester average. If you have 9-10 absences, you cannot receive higher than a D for your semester average. If you have 11 or more absences, you will receive an F for the semester. For every 3 instances of tardiness, you will incur 1 absence. If you only have 0-1 absences, you will receive a 1/3 letter grade bonus on your semester average.For athletes, students who provide documentation for absences related to athletic competitions will be excused for all such absences. Student athletes can also miss two more class periods throughout the semester without a grade penalty. If you have three or more unexcused (non-athletic) absences throughout the semester, then all your absences will be counted toward the attendance policy. +/- Grades. Plus and minus grades will be used in awarding final grades for this course. The letter-to-percentage conversion is given below. Paper GradesSemester AverageA+ = 98.5A = 95 A- = 91.5 93-100 = A 90-93 = A- B+ = 88.5 B = 85 B- = 81.5 87-90 = B+83-87 = B 80-83 = B- C+ = 78.5 C = 75 C- = 71.577-80 = C+73-77 = C70-73 = C-D+ = 68.5 D = 65D- = 61.5 67-70 = D+63-67 = D60-63 = D-F = 55Less than 60 = FStudent Success CenterRevising and responding to feedback will be an invaluable and necessary part of your development as a writer this semester. Toward this end, you are strongly encouraged to visit me during office hours and to visit the Writing Center on the first floor of Plassmann Hall. Bring your work with you to your appointment.Academic Integrity Academic dishonesty is inconsistent with the moral character expected of students in a University committed to the spiritual and intellectual growth of the whole person. It also subverts the academic process by distorting all measurements. A list of unacceptable practices and procedures to be followed in prosecuting cases of alleged academic dishonesty may be found in the Student Handbook and here.Students with Disabilities Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Disability Support Services Office (Doyle 26, 716-375-2066) as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. Documentation from this office is required before accommodations can be made. Please see the official SBU Student with Disabilities policy here.EmailEmail will serve as an official means of communication for this class, and you should check the email account you have registered with the university regularly. Feel free to email me with your questions and concerns. Title IXTitle IX makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender are Civil Rights offenses subject to the same kinds of accountability and the same kinds of support applied to offenses against other protected categories such as race, national origin, etc. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you can find the appropriate resources at the Health and Wellness Center or at the Campus Safety Office. For on-campus reporting, see the Title IX Coordinator (Sharon Burke, Director of Human Resources) and Residence Life Staff (RAs, RDs, and other professional staff). The University's policy and procedures regarding gender-based and sexual misconduct can be found online.In the event of an emergency, call Campus Safety at 716-375-2525 or contact Nichole Gonzalez, Residential Living and Conduct, 716-375-2572, ngonzale@sbu.edu. Be aware that most university employees are mandated reporters.Other ConcernsIf you have any other concerns that affect your ability to succeed in this course – for example, affording costs related to the class, having regular shelter and food, dealing with mental health issues, etc. – please let me know, and I will do what I can to help.Course OverviewOur course works from the assumption that writing – even academic writing, even professional writing – is tightly bound up with questions of identity. Our writing and use of language draws on our attitudes, values, beliefs, assumptions, and investments; it draws on our experiences; and it draws on our capacities for expression, engagement, and response. Our identities have been shaped by other people, groups, and institutions that comprise our larger society, but our potential for being in the world also goes beyond anything we have inherited or learned. Writing can help us come to terms with how we have been shaped as people and how we can continue to grow.We will frame our approach to questions of identity in terms of diversity, privilege, and social justice. The following quote comes from Lee Anne Bell’s “Theoretical Foundations for Social Justice Education” in Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 3rd ed.Social justice is both a goal and a process. The goal of social justice is full and equitable participation of people from all social identity groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. The process for attaining the goal of social justice should also be democratic and participatory, respectful of human diversity and group differences, and inclusive and affirming of human agency and capacity for working collaboratively with others to create change. Domination cannot be ended through coercive tactics that recreate domination in new forms. Thus, a “power with” vs. “power over” (Kreisberg, 1992) paradigm is necessary for enacting social justice goals. Forming coalitions and working collaboratively with diverse others is an essential part of social justice.Our vision for social justice is a world in which the distribution of resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable, and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure, recognized, and treated with respect. We envision a world in which individuals are both self-determining (able to develop their full capacities) and interdependent (capable of interacting democratically with others). Social justice involves social actors who have a sense of their own agency as well as a sense of social responsibility toward and with others, their society, the environment, and the broader world in which we live. These are conditions we not only wish for ourselves but for all people in our interdependent global community. (1)I would add that this goal of participation, recognition, and respect extends to all people regardless of their relation to social identity groups. Some people might fit comfortably in their identification with such groups, but these groups do not exhaust our possibilities for being in the world, our capacities for expression, and our identities. While social identity groups provide a means of situating ourselves among others and articulating certain aspects of our identities, they necessarily obscure differences between and multiplicities within individuals. Our understanding of diversity must ultimately extend to individuals in their singularity regardless of their relation to social identity groups.At the same time, we can lose sight of how these social groups and social identities shape the world if we focus too much on individuality. For example, to say that “we are all individuals,” “we are all people,” “we are all diverse,” or “all lives matter” obscures the fact that some people have radically different life experiences and are treated differently because of their race, gender, sexuality, class, or another aspect of their social identity. The challenge is to engage with others in their individuality while being mindful of how social identity shapes their experience and our understanding of them. We can also do this with ourselves, recognizing our own individuality as well as the ways social identities and social thinking have shaped our understanding of the world.Regardless of our attention to these concerns – whether we take them up and pay attention to them or ignore them – they shape our use of language, how we communicate and engage with others, and how we write and what we write about. This class works from the assumption that we are all better off taking up the conversation, both toward the goal of social justice and so that our individual thinking and language is more authentically our own. To put it another way, while I hope you find this notion of social justice meaningful and worthwhile, this conversation has implications for you even if you don’t.This point echoes part of the quote from Bell above: this conversation confronts us with a sense of “social responsibility toward and with others” and challenges us to be “social actors who have a sense of their own agency.” Part of developing this sense of agency involves coming to terms with how our thinking, values, beliefs, attitudes, investments, and assumptions have been shaped by the world around us. Through our readings, discussions, and assignments, our class will help us develop this sense of agency and, I hope, a sense for our social responsibility as well.On a final note, I want to clarify that your grade and success in the course does not depend on you sharing my investments, values, and beliefs. You are welcome to disagree, and you are welcome to challenge my thinking. I have read and thought about these concerns quite a bit, but I still have room to grow and learn. That being said, the course will ask you to challenge your own thinking as well. Ultimately, your success in the course depends not on your individual beliefs but on your ability to produce writing that shows critical thinking and an understanding of academic writing conventions and expectations related to argumentation, research, citation, structure, and style.Course ScheduleLS = Little Seagull HandbookDateMajor Due Dates; Homework (due day listed); In classM 8/27Introduction to CourseW 8/29Read LS 83-86, Burke (Moodle), and Lang (here, here, and here) and complete reading notes; Discussion notesF 8/31Read Hunter, smith; NotesM 9/3Identity Mapping due; Read LS 2-10; NotesW 9/5Read Stewart; NotesF 9/7Short Analysis due (see LS 49-53 for guidance); Discuss incorporating quotes, citationsM 9/10Short Analysis Workshop; Discuss research, emailsW 9/12Bring Public Analysis source to class, read LS 89-118; Public Analysis ActivityF 9/14Public Analysis due; Analysis activitiesM 9/17Public Analysis Workshop, work on research; Discuss sample citationsW 9/19Public Research due; read LS p. 10-29; Discuss Introductions, ComparisonsF 9/21Paper 1 due for peer reviews; Paper 1 RubricM 9/24ConferencesW 9/26ConferencesF 9/28Paper 1 due with final revisions;?Paper Reflection due; Honors Assignment due; Discuss Paper 1 editingM 10/1Read Villanueva (Moodle) and complete worksheet (and reading notes); NotesW 10/3Read Royster (Moodle); Discuss Royster and VillanuevaF 10/5Short Analysis due;?Meet in library for research activityW 10/10Short Analysis Workshop; Workshop activity, transition wordsF 10/12Academic Analysis due; NotesM 10/15Academic Analysis Workshop; work on Annotated BibliographyW 10/17Annotated Bibliography due; Discuss Paper 2 Activity and Paper 2 RubricF 10/19Work on Paper 2; Discuss APA Worksheet and comparisons and writing obstaclesM 10/22Paper 2 due for peer reviewsW 10/24ConferencesF 10/26ConferencesM 10/29Paper 2 due with final revisions; Paper Reflection due; Honors Assignment due; NotesW 10/31Read McIntosh (optional reading notes); Notes for McIntosh and FebosF 11/2Read FebosM 11/5Theorizing Identity due; LSH exercises and answersW 11/7Theorizing Identity Workshop; Workshop activity F 11/9Paper 3 due for peer reviews; Peer review activityM 11/12ConferencesW 11/14ConferencesF 11/16Paper 3 due?with final revisions; Paper Reflection due; discuss argument, “Stasis Theory,” BerlatskyM 11/19Read Kendall and Stewart; Discuss argument reading exercise and argument activityM 11/26Work on research for Paper 4; Notes; discuss ZainoW 11/28Paper 4 research due; Invention ActivityF 11/30Paper 4 due for peer reviews; Paper 4 RubricM 12/3ConferencesW 12/5ConferencesF 12/7Paper 4 due with final revisions; Honors Assignment due; Blog Post ActivityIdentity MappingOur first short assignment (700-1000 words) will help establish a foundation for future assignments. Our main papers will ask you to take up some aspect of your identity and analyze it in greater detail. This short assignment asks us to think about our identities more broadly as a starting point. You should submit your paper as an attachment via email before class the day it is due.In the paper, your identity mapping work should address at least two of the following categories (you are welcome to address more than two):RaceClassGenderSexualityReligionAbility (athletics, body size, mental health, learning disabilities, etc. – anything related to how your body and mind contribute to your identity)Culture (related to things you share with a cultural group or a personal interest in some aspect of culture: books, music, sports, fashion, etc.)Note that some of these categories intersect (see here for the origin of “intersectionality”) and shape one another, so you might find yourself looking at multiple aspects of your identity simultaneously. You are also welcome to consider some aspect of your identity not addressed in these categories.For each aspect of identity you discuss, your thinking should address the following prompts. Consider as many different aspects of your thinking and experience as you can, and be specific in your answers.Describe how this aspect of your identity shapes your experience. Are there any privileges or disadvantages that come with this identity?Describe how this aspect of your identity shapes your orientation in terms of your attitudes, values, beliefs, assumptions, investments, and expectations. Also, how does it function as a trained incapacity, limiting your thinking or experience in some way?Are there any tensions or conflicts between this aspect of your identity and other aspects?Describe how others (either people you know or society more generally) tend to view this aspect of your identity.What do you like most about this aspect of your identity? Least?Short AnalysisWe will take up rhetorical analysis –?a form of analysis that focuses on purpose, audience, context, and the rhetorical strategies a text employs to achieve its purpose – as one of our main writing genres this semester. This short assignment (700-1000 words) asks you to analyze one of our class readings thus far: Burke, Lang, Hunter, smith, or Stewart. You should submit your paper as an attachment via email before class the day it is due. Your analysis should address the following prompts:We can approach this question in a few ways. What is the main argument advanced by the text? What does the text aim to achieve? What does it encourage us to think, feel, or do? What is the text about, and what does it have to say about what it’s about? What is the text’s orientation toward its main subject? How does it contribute to a particular conversation or community? (You don’t have to answer all these questions, just what seems most relevant.) Note that our understanding of purpose could depend on our understanding of the audience of the text, and there might even be different purposes for different audiences. It could help to comment on possible audiences and readers of the text as well.How does the context of the reading shape your understanding of it and its purpose? Context could include a range of factors. When and where was the text published? Does the text draw on or respond to any specific sources, events, or conversations? What else has this author published, and how does this fit into their other work? You don’t need to include all this information just for the sake of including it, but you should consider whether it shapes your understanding of the text. If it does, explain how.Analyze specific elements of the text. What details do you notice in terms of content (language, images, audio, etc.), organization, style, and design? How do these elements contribute to the purpose? If the text makes an argument, what are the main claims, and how does the author support these claims with reasons and evidence? How does this line of reasoning help the text achieve its larger purpose? What about structure and style – how does the author’s organizational strategies and specific uses of language shape our understanding of the text? Are there any patterns worth noting? Does the author appeal to our emotions or values in any way? How does the author establish their credibility?Assess the uses and limits of the text. What do you find most effective about this text? What does it do well in terms of advancing an argument or perspective, or in terms of contributing to the identity of a community? In what ways is the text helpful and productive? What sorts of questions, situations, problems, or challenges does it help us address? In what ways is the text limited or ineffective? What perspectives does it overlook? What are its blindnesses or trained incapacities?Even though these are framed as different prompts, you should aim to make connections between your thoughts so that your paper offers some larger insight into the text and how it works. Also, as you address these prompts, you should aim to incorporate specific quotes from the text to support and develop your analysis. You should include appropriate in-text citations and include a works cited page as well (the works cited doesn’t factor into the word limit). Our handbook has instructions for citations; use MLA or APA.Public ResearchThis research assignment aims to prepare us for the Public Analysis short assignment and Paper 1. Your research should focus on some aspect of your work and thinking from the Identity Mapping assignment, and you should find at least five sources related to this aspect of your identity that you can analyze further in our upcoming assignments. To submit your research work, write out MLA or APA citations for the five (or more) sources and email the document to me before class the day it is due.Our understanding of “public” includes sources that contribute to conversations in the broader public sphere, both print-based and digital. Through our research, we are hoping to find sources that offer some sort of perspective, insight, or argument related to some aspect of our personal identities. This could be broad – e.g., how have various people written about women, about whiteness or people of color, about the working class, etc.? It could be intersectional, drawing on multiple aspects of identity – e.g., how have various people written about latina women, about the white working class, about the black LGBTQ+ community, etc.? You could orient your research in a more specific direction – e.g., how have various people written about expectations and orientations toward women in the workplace, toward political identities in education, toward representations of gay men and women in the media, etc.? For our purposes, you can work with any public source that gives you any insight or any way of discussing this particular issue or aspect of your identity, whether or not it is the main focus of the source.Newspaper and Magazine ArticlesAs you conduct your research, you should look at a range of different databases. You are welcome to draw on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing, but it will also help to look at more specific databases as well. For newspaper articles, use LexisNexis or the sites of specific newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, or The Guardian. Relevant magazines and sites for cultural criticism include The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New Inquiry, Valid, Vox, and Medium. To find other relevant publications, do searches like “publications about people with disabilities” or “magazines about blackness,” or add search terms like “newspaper opinion” or “magazine opinion.”It will also be important to try different combinations of search terms. Note, for example, the different results we get on The New Inquiry when searching for “white women,” “white feminity,” and “women education.” Willamette University offers helpful guidelines on how to generate search terms, particularly by taking one search term and thinking about other forms of the word (“class” > “classes,” “classist,” “working class,” “middle class,” “social class”), synonyms (“class” > “income bracket,” “social sphere”), and related ideas (“class” > “poor,” “poverty,” “wealth,” “wealthy,” “economic privilege”). Try using the University of Texas at Austin’s keyword generator too.Digital SourcesYour research should also involve looking at various digital spaces where people share their ideas, interests, and perspectives. These spaces could include blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, reddit, YouTube, forums, or anything else along these lines. For example, as a professor of writing, I could look at this blog by Alex Reid (he is also a writing professor, he writes about teaching and studying writing, and other writing professors comment on his blog posts); I could look at various hashtags on Twitter, such as #TeamRhetoric, #digped, or #nanowrimo?(writing professors and other people interested in rhetoric and writing Tweet with these hashtags); I could look at Feminist Ryan Gosling, a Tumblr. page with feminist Ryan Gosling memes. In each case, people are using digital writing and digital writing environments to share content related to this aspect of identity.Here are some other tools that can help with research:Pinboard and Delicious. These bookmarking sites allow you to save and tag online articles and websites.Hypothesis. This tool allows you to highlight and annotate online articles and websites.Skim. This tool allows you to annotate .pdfs (Mac only).Evernote. This software helps you organize research notes, class notes, or anything else along these lines.Public AnalysisThis short assignment (500-800 words) asks you to analyze one of the sources you find through your own research related to some aspect of your identity. Your work here will serve as the foundation for Paper 1. You should submit your paper as an attachment (preferably a .doc file) via email before class the day it is due. Your analysis should address the following prompts:What is the purpose of the text? We can approach this question in a few ways. What is the main argument advanced by the text? What does the text aim to achieve? What does it encourage us to think, feel, or do? What is the text about, and what does it have to say about what it’s about? What is the text’s orientation toward its main subject? How does it contribute to a particular conversation or community? (You don’t have to answer all these questions, just what seems most relevant.) Note that our understanding of purpose could depend on our understanding of the audience of the text, and there might even be different purposes for different audiences. It could help to comment on possible audiences and readers of the text as well.How does the context of the reading shape your understanding of it and its purpose? Context could include a range of factors. When and where was the text published? Does the text draw on or respond to any specific sources, events, or conversations? What else has this author written or produced, and how does this fit into their other work? You don’t need to include all this information just for the sake of including it, but you should consider whether it shapes your understanding of the text. If it does, explain how.Analyze specific elements of the text. What details do you notice in terms of content (language, images, audio, etc.), organization, style, and design? How do these elements contribute to the purpose? If the text makes an argument, what are the main claims, and how does the author support these claims with reasons and evidence? How does this line of reasoning help the text achieve its larger purpose? What about structure and style – how does the author’s organizational strategies and specific uses of language shape our understanding of the text? Are there any patterns worth noting?Assess the uses and limits of the text. What do you find most effective about this text? What does it do well in terms of advancing an argument or perspective, or in terms of contributing to the identity of a community? In what ways is the text helpful and productive? What sorts of questions, situations, problems, or challenges does it help us address? In what ways is the text limited or ineffective? What perspectives does it overlook? What are its blindnesses or trained incapacities?Even though these are framed as different prompts, you should aim to make connections between your thoughts so that your paper offers some larger insight into the text and how it works. Also, as you address these prompts, you should aim to incorporate specific quotes from the text to support and develop your analysis. You should include appropriate in-text citations and include a works cited page as well (the works cited doesn’t factor into the word limit). Our handbook has instructions for citations; use MLA or APA.Paper 1Our first major paper (1500-2000 words) asks you to put your thinking about some aspect of your identity into conversation with other writers who also take up this topic. Your paper should incorporate at least three sources from your research and should thus include MLA or APA in-text citations and a Works Cited or Reference page as needed. In terms of the main goals of the paper, we want to reach a better understanding of what others have said about this aspect of identity, and we want to put our own thinking into conversation with theirs in order to generate new ideas and insights. The main substance of your paper will come from analyzing your sources as you did in the Public Analysis, and you are welcome to draw on that work here. You do not necessarily need to address each of your sources in great detail; you are welcome to focus on the aspects of these sources you find most relevant. It could also work to develop a thorough analysis of one or two sources while using the other sources as points of comparison. In addition to those analysis prompts from the Public Analysis, you should also address the following:How would you compare these sources in terms of their understanding of and approach to this aspect of identity? How are they similar and different? Where do they agree and disagree? To what extent do they share a similar orientation?Which source(s) do you find most helpful in coming to terms with this aspect of identity? Least helpful? How so?What do you want to add to the conversation? How does your understanding of this aspect of identity compare to what others have said? What has been left out of the conversation? What could be emphasized or developed further?Through your work, you should arrive at a larger argument, conclusion, or insight about this aspect of identity and the conversation around it. Your argument should be supported by and emerge out of your analysis and comparison of the sources, and it should add to our thinking about the conversation, helping us see things in a new way. In terms of organization, your work can also go in a few different directions.The most straightforward (although perhaps less interesting) approach would be to go through this sort of progression: Introduction > Analysis of Source 1 > Analysis of Source 2 > Analysis of Source 3 > Comparison > Your perspective > Conclusion.Another possibility would involve identifying issues, concepts, or questions that appear across the sources and using these to structure your paper: Introduction > Issue 1 (drawing on multiple sources) > Issue 2 (drawing on multiple sources) > Issue 3 (drawing on multiple sources) > Issue 4 (drawing on multiple sources) > Comparison > Your perspective > Conclusion.Another possibility would involve foregrounding your argument or understanding throughout the paper. In this approach, each paragraph or section would be structured around your ideas, and you would incorporate the outside sources where relevant. You would thus be drawing on the sources to advance your own thinking rather than considering them separately.Short Analysis IIThis short assignment (600-900 words) asks you to analyze one of our recent class readings, either Villanueva or Royster. You should submit your paper as an attachment via email before class the day it is due. Your analysis should address the following prompts:Academic articles situate their arguments in broader conversations around a particular issue or question. They describe this broader conversation and identify other sources that contribute to the conversation. For the first part of your analysis, describe the larger conversation that this article responds to and participates in. What is the main issue or question? Why is it important? What have others said about it?What does this author contribute to the conversation? What is their main argument?How does the author support this argument? What methods do they use to address the issue or question? What sorts of reasoning, analysis, evidence, or examples are offered?Keep in mind that academic arguments are shaped by disciplinary conventions and expectations. Sociologists make different sorts of arguments and use different sorts of methods, analysis, and evidence than historians or literary critics. To the best of your ability and knowledge, explain how this author’s argument, methods, analysis, evidence, etc. are appropriate for their discipline and academic field. If you are not sure about the disciplinary conventions, focus on describing the author’s approach to key aspects of the text: introduction and conclusion, structure, citations, etc.As you address these prompts, you should aim to incorporate specific quotes from the text in order to support and develop your analysis. You should include appropriate APA in-text citations and include an APA References page as well. Our handbook has instructions for APA citations.Academic AnalysisThis short assignment (600-900 words) asks you to analyze a scholarly source you find through your own research. You should submit your paper as an attachment via email before class the day it is due. Your analysis should address the following prompts:Academic articles situate their arguments in broader conversations around a particular issue or question. They describe this broader conversation and identify other sources that contribute to the conversation. For the first part of your analysis, describe the larger conversation that this article responds to and participates in. What is the main issue or question? Why is it important? What have others said about it?What does this author contribute to the conversation? What is their main argument?How does the author support this argument? What methods do they use to address the issue or question? What sorts of reasoning, analysis, evidence, or examples are offered? What premises support the larger conclusion or argument? What assumptions and beliefs inform the author’s thinking and approach to the topic?Keep in mind that academic arguments are shaped by disciplinary conventions and expectations. Sociologists make different sorts of arguments and use different sorts of methods, analysis, and evidence than historians or literary critics. To the best of your ability and knowledge, explain how this author’s argument, methods, analysis, evidence, etc. are appropriate for their discipline and academic field. If you are not sure about the disciplinary conventions, focus on describing the author’s approach to key aspects of the text: introduction and conclusion, structure, citations, etc.As you address these prompts, you should aim to incorporate specific quotes from the text in order to support and develop your analysis. You should include appropriate APA in-text citations and include an APA References page as well. Our handbook has instructions for APA citations.Annotated BibliographyPaper 2 asks you to analyze academic sources. Both the paper and the annotated bibliography need to include at least three academic sources (sources written by scholars and published in scholarly journals or academic presses). There is not a length requirement for this assignment, but you should present your research as an annotated bibliography (see The Little Seagull Handbook p. 74). You should submit your paper as an attachment via email before class the day it is due.In terms of structure, you should follow the guidelines from the handbook. Start the bibliography with a one paragraph statement of scope (p. 75) that explains what topic you are covering in your research. You are welcome to continue addressing the same topic from Paper 1, or you can focus on a different aspect of your identity. After the statement of scope, you should then include the following for each source: complete APA bibliographic information, a concise description of the work, and relevant commentary (p. 76). The annotations should be one or two substantial paragraphs.To find academic sources, look at a few different databases. Check out JSTOR, Project Muse, and Academic Search Complete on the library’s website and also try Google Scholar. For books, you can try the library’s book catalog. Once you find a helpful source, look through its works cited to see if any of those sources look helpful.Paper 2Our second paper (1700-2500 words) asks you to take up some aspect of your identity by studying how academics and scholars have taken up this topic. Your paper should incorporate at least three sources from your research and should thus include APA in-text citations and a References page. In terms of the main goals of the paper, we want to reach a better understanding of how scholars have studied this aspect of identity, and we want to put their thinking into conversation with our broader social thinking about this aspect of identity. The main substance of your paper will come from analyzing each of your three main sources following the prompts from the Academic Analysis, and you are welcome to draw on that work here. In addition to those analysis prompts from the Public Analysis, you should also address the following:How would you compare these sources in terms of their understanding of and approach to this aspect of identity? How are they similar or different in terms of their methods and types of evidence? In terms of how they use sources and citations? How do they help us understand this aspect of identity in different ways?Along these lines, how would you compare these sources in terms of disciplinarity? How do they take different approaches to the topic based on the authors’ academic fields and the disciplinary conventions and expectations that go along with them? Do we get a sense for how different disciplines approach this topic in different ways? If you’re not sure how to address disciplinarity, compare the sources in terms of their approach to the introduction and conclusion, incorporation of sources, structure, and/or style.How does this scholarly conversation compare to broader social conversations about the topic? How do academics look at this topic in different ways than the general public or mainstream media? How does the academic conversation help us look at things in a new or different way? Does it challenge any assumptions or stereotypes in our society? For this question, you can draw on work you did for Paper 1, or you can use your own understanding of the broader social thinking about this topic.Through your work, you should arrive at a larger argument, conclusion, or insight about this aspect of identity and the conversation around it. Your argument should be supported by and emerge out of your analysis and comparison of the sources, and it should add to our thinking about the conversation, helping us see things in a new way. In terms of organization and formatting, your work should follow the expectations for an APA paper (see The Little Seagull Handbook for more information):Your paper should start with a title page (p. 204).The second page of your paper should be an abstract page (p. 205).The body of your paper should be organized into different sections: an introduction, a section analyzing the first source, a section analyzing the second source, a section analyzing the third source, a section comparing your academic sources and putting them into conversation with one another (see the first two prompts above), and a conclusion that considers this academic conversation in the context of our broader social thinking about this topic (see the third prompt above).At the end of your paper, you should include a References page with full APA citations for all sources cited in your paper (p. 207).Theorizing IdentityThis short paper (500-800 words) asks you to analyze one of our recent readings from McIntosh or Febos. These readings direct our thinking in a new direction by offering a broader framework for theorizing our identities and experience. McIntosh helps us look outward toward the larger social structures and dynamics that shape our experience; Febos helps us look inward toward aspects of our experience we don’t always think, talk, or write about. Your analysis should address the following prompts:What is the purpose of the text? What does the text aim to achieve? What does it encourage us to think, feel, or do? What is the main argument advanced by the text?What does the text do to support its main argument, develop its perspective, and support its thinking? What sort of reasoning, evidence, or examples are offered?Assess the uses and limits of the text. In what ways is the text helpful and productive? What sorts of questions, situations, problems, or challenges does it help us address? What are the text’s limitations? What perspectives does it overlook? What are its blindnesses or trained incapacities?What is your response to the text? What does it help you see or understand about your own experience? How does it shape your understanding of your experience, either in general or with reference to a specific situation?Paper 3Our third paper (1200-1600 words) asks you to theorize and reflect on your identity by drawing on the concepts and perspectives of McIntosh and Febos. These readings direct our thinking in a new direction by offering a broader framework for theorizing our identities and experience. McIntosh helps us look outward toward the larger social structures and dynamics that shape our experience; Febos helps us look inward toward aspects of our experience we don’t always think, talk, or write about.Your thinking in this paper should look both outward and inward, reflecting on your position in broader social structures and how your personal experience fits in this broader dynamic. We want to take our individual experience as meaningful and worth addressing, but we also want to put it into conversation with how identity works more generally. In this sense, you are not making an argument about your identity so much as theorizing how identity works and how it shapes and fits with your experience.Your paper should address some combination of the following prompts and questions:What are the main aspects of your identity that shape your experience? What does it mean to occupy your various identities? How do your various identities shape your experience in, understanding of, and orientation toward the world?What privileges and unearned advantages shape your experience? Be specific here: point to specific examples of ways you have benefited from unearned advantages; share aspects of your personal experience that fit here. This can be challenging, as we often don’t notice these things. To work in this direction, you might take McIntosh’s list as a starting point. What else could you add to this list, either related to race or some other aspect of your identity?What sort of disadvantages have you experienced due to aspects of your identity? What sorts of trauma have you experienced related to your identity or how you have been treated? Be specific here, pointing to examples and aspects of your experience. You could also address these questions by thinking about someone else you know; what sort of disadvantages or trauma have they experienced? (You don’t necessarily have to address this prompt if you haven’t experienced any particular disadvantages or trauma or if you don’t feel comfortable writing about traumatic experience in this context.)What have you learned about your identity through your work on this paper or throughout the semester? What larger insights or conclusions have you arrived at about your identity or issues of identity in general? In what ways do you think focusing on these aspects of our identity is helpful or unhelpful? What do we learn from this work?This paper does not require research, but you are welcome to draw on outside sources if they help you develop your thinking. You can include quotes from McIntosh and Febos as well. If you do include any sources, be sure to include appropriate MLA or APA citations.Paper 4This assignment asks you to produce a blog post (600-800 words) that advances an argument, position, or perspective about some aspect of your identity or an issue related to your identity and interests. Think about the sources you have read this semester, both from your own research and from our class readings; rather than analyzing those sources again, this assignment gives you an opportunity to produce a similar sort of text, to use those sources as a model for producing your own argument. Your post should address the following prompts:To give some sort of context to your argument, you need to ground it in some way. You can respond to a recent event, to another text (including a source from a previous paper), or any other reference point. In other words, even though you are welcome to advance your own argument, you still need to frame your thinking in terms of a broader conversation around this issue or aspect of your identity.Keep in mind your argument can go in a few different directions (see the prompts below). Your thinking on argument should draw on stasis theory. As we saw in our recent class readings, there are ways to combine conjecture, definition, evaluation, and policy arguments to make a larger argument. Also, be mindful of how you support your argument through reasoning and evidence: what will persuade your specific audience? Forwarding and countering other arguments, ideas, and perspectives will be relevant here. You don’t have to draw on each of these argument moves and types of argument (forwarding and countering; conjecture, definition, evaluation, and policy arguments), but it will help to draw on some combination of them.Since this is a blog post, you should also draw on the functionality of WordPress by incorporating images, videos, and/or links. For example, it would help to include links to sources that you draw on or respond to; it would help to include an image or video that supports your argument.You do not have to include formal citations in your blog post, although I would note that academic blogs normally do include them. Another option would be to embed links to any online sources you draw on.Argument PromptsIf you are not sure what argument you want to make about your identity or an issue related to it, try drawing on one or more of these prompts.Look back over your sources for Papers 1 and 2. Where do you agree and disagree with these sources? Can you forward or counter these sources in your blog post? What do you want to add to their thinking? How do you want to push back against their thinking?Look back over our class readings from the semester. Where do you agree and disagree with these sources? Can you forward or counter these sources in your blog post? How does your experience and perspective help you build on or push back against these sources? Can any of these sources serve as a model for your blog post?Think about an issue related to some aspect of your identity. For example, student athletes face issues related to how much they can practice, whether they should get paid, and what academic expectations they should face; women face issues related to the wage gap, employment opportunities, and body image in the media. For an issue related to your identity, what is your perspective? How would you frame the issue? How do you want people to think about it? What do you want people to do about it? What is causing the issue? How would you define the issue or a key term in the issue? How would you evaluate some aspect of the situation?Look over student blog posts from previous semesters. Do any of these give you ideas for how you can develop your own blog post?Paper ReflectionsWhen you submit the final draft for any of our main papers, you should also include a reflection paper (500-700 words) that addresses the work you did in the main paper. This is a separate assignment that receives a grade of its own (5 = A, 4 = B, 3 = C, 2 = D, 1 = F). Your reflection should address the following prompts and questions.What do you like most about your paper? Where was your writing most and least successful this unit? What made this work particularly effective or ineffective? What were the main comments you received on your work, whether from peers, your instructor, or other outside help? What steps did you take to address these comments? How effective were the revisions?How would you describe the efforts you made during this unit? Consider both the amount of effort you put into your work and how productive and effective this effort was. How much time did you spend on different aspects of the writing process – reading, researching, brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, etc.? Which efforts felt most productive and effective? Least so?How would you describe the context of your writing process? What was your writing environment like? What technologies did you use? How long did you spend on writing at a given time? How many writing sessions did you have for the papers?How would you compare your work in this unit to your work on previous papers? How did your efforts or writing process change for this paper?What goals do you have for the next paper? What aspects of your writing do you want to develop further? Do you want to make any changes in terms of the nature of your efforts or your writing process?Honors AssignmentsIn addition to our scheduled short assignments and main papers, you will be assigned one additional assignment each unit that you should complete on your own. Each assignment will be worth up to 3 points (3 = excellent, 2 = good, 1 = acceptable, 0 = unacceptable or incomplete). You can choose from the following options, and you should do something different each time. This assignment is due with the final submission of our main papers. Let me know if you have questions about the assignment.Reading Notes. This is similar to the extra credit opportunity with our main readings. The difference here is that you should read and write up notes for articles we don’t read for class (and not the sources for your paper) that are relevant to our main concerns with identity. You should read at least three additional articles, and your notes for each should be 200-400 words. I am happy to discuss possibilities and make recommendations if you are not sure what to read.Literacy Narrative. A literacy narrative offers a story and reflection on your experience developing a particular literacy: reading, writing, speaking, communicating, using digital technologies, etc. Here are some helpful resources that further explain what a literacy narrative entails or offer examples: Lichtenstein, Selfe, and the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. This paper should be at least 800 words.Argumentation. This assignment would be an opportunity to write an editorial-style paper on any issue relevant to you. This could not simply be a rant; there would need to be some sense of argument and support and evidence for your argument. That is, there should be an attempt to persuade others. This paper should be at least 800 words.Meditation. This assignment involves meditating at least ten minutes three times per week during a given unit and also some writing. Your writing can take one of two approaches: either write immediately after meditating about the experience of meditating itself or anything else that comes to mind during or after meditating, or complete the writing separately and use it as an opportunity to reflect on your meditations. This paper should be at least 800 words.Choose Your Own Adventure. You can propose your own assignment as well. If there are other types of writing or digital production you would like to do, let me know what you have in mind. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download