SYLLABUS - Professor Robert DeFrance
SYLLABUS
English 103: Composition and Critical Thinking
Los Angeles Southwest College
Spring 2020
Course Number 18468
Saturday, 8:00-11:00 A.M., SSEC 218
Instructor Robert DeFrance
Office Hours: 11:00-12:00 P.M., Sat., SSEC 102
Email: rdefrance@lbcc.edu
Course Website: rdefrancelasc.
Professor Robert DeFrance (B.A., M.A.) is a published, award-winning teacher, and a UCI Writing Project Fellow. DeFrance has taught college English for fifteen years. He has over 200 publications. DeFrance has been published in California English and is a two-time presenter at CATE.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to further expand critical thinking, reading, and writing abilities that students developed in English 101. Students will learn to compose effective prose in essays and other written assignments, writing a minimum of 8,000 words. Students will read, analyze, evaluate discuss and write about assigned essays and literary works, both fiction and non-fiction. Skills in locating, interpreting, and organizing pertinent information to be used in research papers will be emphasized in the course.
-English 1 is Transferable to UC, CSU; see counselor for limitations
-Prerequisite: English 101
-Units: 3
OBJECTIVES
1. Opening and Ending Essays
2. Propositions
a. Claims, theses, claims of value, fact, causation
3. Truth and Validity
4. Recognizing Arguments: Premise and Conclusion
a. Definition, causation, analogy, evaluation
b. Un-stated arguments
5. Logical Analysis and Evaluating Arguments
6. Rebuttal
7. Ethos, Pathos, Logos
a. How a writer establishes ethos: reasoning effectively, employing trustworthy evidence, stating assumptions/warrants, and writing clearly
b. Evaluating internet sources
8. Fallacies and Debunking
9. Syllogisms
10. Induction and Deduction
11. Classical and contemporary rhetorical strategies
12. Synthesis
13. Revision
14. Style
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Four (4) Essays (Revised, Typed, and Double-Spaced)
a. Minimum of 5 pages per essay
b. No late work
c. Include: final draft, rough draft, and pre-writing
2. Twelve (12) Daily Freewrites
a. Due the 2nd to Last Class
3. Assigned Readings
4. One (1) Research Paper
a. 2,500 words
b. Proposal Letter (required)
c. Hard-copy due the last day of class (no exceptions)
5. One (1) In-class Essay
6. One (1) Final Exam
a. In-class
b. Cannot be made-up
Extra-Credit
1. Statement of Purpose 20 points
2. Abstract (for Research Paper) 20 points
3. Letter to a Senator or Representative 20 points
4. PicCollage about the novel for Essay 4 25 points
5. Annotated Bibliography (for Research Paper) 50 points
6. Multimodal Project for the Research Paper 50 points
Essays
1. Oppression: According to United Nations statistics, each day about 21,000 people die from hunger or hunger-related causes. Among the 10 richest countries are the United States (#7), Hong Kong (#8), and Singapore (#3), and the 9 of the 10 poorest countries per capita are in Africa. Should richer countries feel (or be) obligated to donate and assist poorer countries?
Using either Professor Peter Singer’s “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” or Garrett Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics: the Case against Helping the Poor,” compose a 5-page essay addressing the moral implications at stake in world poverty and financial inequity. Focus the essay and your thesis around your argumentative response to one essay (either Singer’s or Hardin’s). Analyze Singer’s “The Singer’s Solution to World Poverty” and Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics” and construct your own original argument about how to solve or reduce poverty. Your focus can be on world poverty, poverty in a certain country, state, or city. Provide a close reading of Singer and Hardin. Although your essay focuses on your response to one essay, discuss one concept from the other essay in your counter-argument. Conclude with a reflection on poverty. Use either the Singer or Hardin essay as your primary source. Use at least three outside sources (not including Singer or Hardin).
a. Readings: Peter Singer’s “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” and Garrett Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics: the Case against Helping the Poor”
b. Music: “Inglan is a B***h” by Linton Kwesi Johnson
c. Films: “Black Girl” (1966), “Sin Nombre” (2009), and “The Immigrant” (2013)
2. Revolt/Revolution: President and author Thomas Jefferson once penned, “our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” According to BBC News and the U.S. Bureau of Justice, the United States imprisons more of its population than any other country (over 2.23 million as of 2013). Russia and Cuba are also among the leaders in this area. Some prisoners are guilty as charged. Other prisoners are falsely accused. Even a smaller minority of prisoners is journalists whose main ‘crime’ seems to have been reporting the news. Such is true in the U.S., Russia, and other countries. As of a 2013 Prison Census, the countries that imprison the most journalists are Turkey (1), Iran (2), and China (3).
Compose a 5-page argumentative essay that evaluates one specific case of false imprisonment and the impact such imprisonments have on our society. Construct an argumentative essay in which you analyze the merits one specific case of false imprisonment. What were the problems with the case? What were the problems with the judgment? Looking back at the case, can you make an argument that this person should not have been imprisoned in the first place? Base your argument on a specific and applicable law. Analyze the problems with the case and why it is a case of false imprisonment. Conclude by reflecting on what impact false imprisonments and the imprisonment of journalists have on the concept of justice and the justice systems specific countries. Use at least three outside sources.
a. Some Falsely Imprisoned Journalists: Mumia Abu Jamal (U.S.), Roger Shuler (U.S.), and Abdullah al-Shami (Egypt)
b. Readings: “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Plato’s “Crito,” Persepolis and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi, Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman, and March: Book One, March: Book Two, and March: Book Three by John Lewis, Aydin, and Powell.
c. Music: “Free Mumia” by KRS-ONE and “Ohio” by Neil Young
d. Films: “The Central Park Five” (2012), “Conviction” (2010), “Malcolm X” (1992), “Hurricane” (1999), and “13th” (2016)
3. Freedom/Independence: Using an array of rhetorical devices and strategies, compose a 5-page political speech to a world leader who is oppressing another country. Examples might include Russia (Crimea, Serbia, Georgia), China (Tibet), Israel (Palestine), England (Scotland and Ireland), or Syria (under dictatorship).
Using a standard amount of textual evidence cited from reliable sources (one piece of evidence per body paragraph), compose a 5-page speech in which you employ effective rhetorical strategies. Employ rhetorical devices consistently throughout the speech. Consider effective strategies of organizing a speech or argument like the Ciceronian argument and the Rogerian argument. Use a counter-argument where you objectively analyze the perspective of the person to whom you are writing. Use a rhetorically effective conclusion. Utilize at least three outside sources.
a. Readings: “Quit India” speeches by Gandhi, “Four Freedoms” by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the speeches of Malcolm X
b. Music: “Calypso Music” by David Rudder, “Somebody Mad,” “Massa day done” (among others) by Chalkdust, “War” by Bob Marley, and “Equal Rights” by Peter Tosh
c. Films: “Che: Part One” (2008) and “Part Two” (2008) “Hotel Rwanda” (2004), “Persepolis” (2007) “Outside the Law” (2010), “Carlos” (2010), “April Captains” (2000), “Michael Collins” (1996) “Machuca” (2004), and “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” (2007)
d. Online Resource: Top 10 places fighting for independence today
4. New Identity: This essay focuses on one of two novels: George Lamming’s In the Castle of my Skin or Luis J. Rodriguez’s Always Running. There are different types of prompts for this essay. Pick any one you like. In general, make sure this five-page essay analyzes a piece of literature, using textual evidence from either novel and at least three outside sources.
George Lamming’s In the Castle of my Skin shows the coming of age of the character of G and his island home Barbados. Use the novel as your primary source. Include at least three outside sources. Compose a 5-page essay that addresses one of the following options:
a. Option #1: What moral or ethical positions do Ma and Pa, Mr. Slime, G, and the overseers represent? Which philosophy does Lamming seem to support? In this essay, analyze the perspectives of some of the main characters in Lamming’s In the Castle of My Skin. What ethical or moral positions does each character seem to represent? Use textual evidence from the novel to show and analyze the moral values of some of the main characters. Overall, consider what ethical position the author George Lamming seems to endorse.
b. Option #2: How does Lamming use rhetorical strategies to express his message? Compose a rhetorical analysis of In the Castle of My Skin. Focus on the message, audience, rhetorical devices, and effectiveness of Lamming’s first novel.
c. Option #3: What Stages of Knowing (1. Garden of Eden, 2. Anything Goes, and 3. Critical Thinking) does the narrator G and/or other characters experience? Using evidence from the novel, analyze the growth of one or more of the main characters. Does each character go through the same process of evolution or not? Show and comment on the maturation process of your selected characters. What does G’s ultimate decision to leave his homeland say about where he is in the Stages of Knowing?
d. Option #4: What types of critical thinking strategies do the boys use in chapter 3? In the later part of chapter three, some children from school go to the beach to discuss colonialism, authority, and why the school master beat that boy in front of the whole school. Using your text book and the Critical Thinking lecture on our course website, analyze what specific critical thinking strategies (like syllogisms, counter-argument, ethos, pathos, logos, induction, and deduction) the school children use during their discussion on the beach.
e. Readings: “Coming into Language” by Jimmy Santiago Baca: , “An Introduction to Edward Said, Orientalism, and Postcolonial Literary Studies”:
Alternative Novel for Essay 4: Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Compose a 5-page essay about Luis Rodriguez’s Always Running (1993). Use the memoir as your primary source. Incorporate at least three outside sources.
-Option #1: Compose a rhetorical analysis of Always Running. How does Rodriguez use rhetorical strategies to express his message? Compose a rhetorical analysis of Always Running. Focus on the message, audience, rhetorical devices, and effectiveness of Rodriguez’s novel.
-Option #2: Use John Buntin’s L.A. Noir to discuss racial segregation in Los Angeles and Luis J. Rodriguez’s portrayal of racial segregation in Always Running. Using L.A. Noir as a historical lens, how to we see Los Angeles’ racial segregation through the eyes of Rodriguez in his memoir?
Readings: Passages from John Buntin’s L.A. Noir (2009)
How to Write a Good Essay: the Basics
• Have an argumentative claim (thesis)
• Support that claim with body paragraphs
• Use evidence/quotes from the essays in each body paragraph
• Analyze your quotes/evidence
• Conclude with a reflection on the topic
REQUIRED SUPPLIES
• Time to write outside of class
• Access to a computer and printer (NO ELECTRONIC OR DISK SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED)
• Pocket Stapler
• A Dictionary
• A Thesaurus
• A notebook/journal (for Daily Freewrites)
• I-pad, tablet, laptop, or smartphone (optional)
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS
1. In the Castle of my Skin by George Lamming or Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
2. Elements of Argument by Annette Rottenberg
3. The Bedford Handbook by Diana Hacker (Recommended)
Course Requirements
During the course, you will complete 4 writing assignments, all revised and edited of at least 1,250 words (or 5 pages). Students are required to complete their daily writing assignments, contribute to class discussions, and collaborate in the peer editing of drafts. You are required to complete weekly Writing Assignments in class. For the opportunity to pass, you must complete all major assignments and pass the Final Exam.
Attendance
Attendance is required. If you must miss class, you are required to make up all work missed due to absence. If you miss 7 or more hours of instruction, I will drop or fail you (as official procedure mandates).
Grades
4 Essays 30%
1 Research Paper 25%
Final Exam 10%
1 In-class Essay 10%
Freewrites 10%
Participation & Attendance 10%
Proposal Letter (for Research Paper) 5%
Total 100%
Submitting Work
Turn in your typed, double-spaced compositions at the beginning of class. No electronic work will be accepted!
No Late Work
Late Compositions will not be accepted! All work, including Compositions, that is never submitted receives zero (0) points, or an “F.” If work is two or more weeks late, it will not be accepted. No exceptions.
If any student fails to submit two essays on time, they may be in danger in failing. If you miss more than 3 substantial assignments, like essays and presentations, one should not expect to pass. Although it may be possible in rare cases, to expect to pass under these circumstances is not realistic.
Provisions
• All essays submitted for a grade must be typed and in MLA format
• If a Works Cited is not submitted with each essay, five points will be deducted; however, if you submit the Works Cited at a later date, you can recoup those five points
• All essays must have an original title (not something like “Essay 2”)
• Avoid using sources like , , , and
• Failure to bring in a rough draft when assigned will result in the loss of in-class participation points
• Failure to submit a research paper will result in an overall course grade no higher than a “D”
• The last day for submission of extra-credit is the Saturday before Finals week
• Late essays will be marked down a third of a grade for each weekday and Saturday an essay is late.
• To be in good position to pass the class, complete all major assignments (i.e. Essays, a Research Paper, In-class Essay, Final Exam, etc.)
Grading Scale (Percentages)
100%-90% A; 89%-80% B; 79%-70% C; 69-60% D; 59% or below F
Grading Scale
A “A” papers are exceptionally well written. Students have taken time to revise their work and apply concepts from the texts and from class discussions. Qualities that make up an “A” paper are strong organization (clear topic and concluding sentences), clear purpose (stemming from a strong thesis statement), meaningful supporting examples, effective analysis, and coherence. This paper has no more than two major grammar errors (INC, R/O). Otherwise, this is relatively free of grammar and syntax errors.
B A “B” paper demonstrates many of the same qualities as an “A” paper, except that there are some clear flaws, either in organization, development, analysis, validity of support, and/or grammar. This essay utilizes careful organization, thoughtful tone, but lacks development and analytical insight. Although it may have a few more errors, they are limited. Certainly, there are no more than 4 major grammar errors.
C Although this is an adequate attempt at the assignment, a “C” paper has some major flaws or is simply under-developed. A paper of this quality frequently veers off from a clear pattern of organization, or under-develops ideas and analysis. Even so, the student must have given an effort and the essay has redeeming qualities, like insightful comments, strong thesis statement, and effective conclusions. “C” papers have some varied grammatical weaknesses, but the paper is still essentially readable and responds to the assignment.
D “D” papers are frequently first drafts that get turned in as a final. These show little investment of student effort and time. The student may have good ideas, but does not develop them. This work is typically biased and one-sided; usually, it fails to address requirements discussed in class. A paper that receives this grade lacks several crucial elements to a successful paper, including organization, support, a solid thesis, a meaningful conclusion, and so on. Also, “D” papers usually have some serious grammar/syntax errors.
F A failing paper shows little work, little or no revision. “F” papers suffer from many serious grammatical mistakes. These are sometimes almost unreadable. Perhaps, it is readable but under-developed or off-topic. This paper fails in overall coherence and organization. This paper also suffers from several serious errors; for example, sometimes “F” papers occur when a student has misunderstood the assignment.
Grades
Assignments are usually graded and returned within one to two weeks. Keep track of your grade throughout the semester. In the rare circumstance that you have a grading dispute over a particular assignment, you have one-week to ask the instructor to re-grade your work. After this one-week grace period, all grades are final. Write “re-grade” on top of your assignment and include a typed ½ page explanation of why you would like your work re-assessed. Without your explanation, your work will not be re-graded.
Plagiarism
The most serious offence in Academia is for someone to present another person’s work or ideas as their own. Plagiarism is a serious crime. The consequences to academic dishonesty may include: An “F” on plagiarized work, failure in the course, academic probation, and expulsion from college. If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, please consult the Plagiarism Statement on the English Department Website.
Holidays
9/2, 11/11, 11/28-12/1
Resources
Revision
Grammar
Sentence Diagrams
More Grammar
Cell Phone Policy
1. Students may not use their cell phones to accept or make calls while in class.
2. If cell phones and pagers are brought to class, they must be turned to “silent” or vibration mode.
3. Instructors must review this policy with students at the beginning of the first class period and include it as part of their syllabi.
4. Students who do not adhere to this policy will be asked to leave the class. If it happens a second time, the student will be referred to the Vice President of Student Services, and will return to class only after the Vice President has cleared him/her to return.
RULES TO BEING A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT
1. Be respectful to your instructor and your classmates by not speaking over one another
2. Turn off your cell phones before class
a. If your device interrupts the class, you must write a five-page essay on the detrimental health effects of excessive cell phone use, before returning to the next class meeting
3. Bring computers, tablets, etc. to class in order to assist with research
4. If you are late, take a seat. Read the agenda, homework, and start on the Freewrite. Do not interrupt the class or your classmates.
5. Address your instructor about personal matters before or after class
6. If you must miss a class, email your instructor the reason for your absence
7. Please be courteous in all your communications with me and other students. Review the “Standards of Student Conduct” in the College Catalog for more detailed policies. If you disrupt the class, you will be given a warning. On your second offense, you will meet with the Dean of Student Affairs
8. You will be allowed only 3 absences, the Los Angeles Community College District limit. If you miss more than 3 classes, you will be dropped from the class.
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