Core 101: Thinking and Writing Across the Curriculum



UCOR 101: Thinking and Writing Across the Curriculum

Section # Days and Times

Room

Instructor: name

Office number

Voicemail number (don’t give out your home #, please)

duq.edu email address

Office Hours: [you must have 3]

The Basics: Thinking and Writing Across the Curriculum is the most important course you will take in college. Not only does this class prepare you for the writing you will be required to do over the next four years, it will also prepare you to manage your time, read critically, produce professional-quality work, and move your mindset from high school to college. There is a great deal of reading and writing in this class. Students who receive an A in this class have really earned it.

Course Learning Outcomes

Critical thinking

a. Students will employ critical thinking in analysis of writing and in use of information in their own writing

b. Students will distinguish between critical thinking and uncritical acceptance of received information

Rhetorical knowledge

a. Students will use the concepts of the rhetorical triangle in the analysis of writing

b. Students will understand the difference between an arguable claim and an unarguable claim

c. Students will go beyond rigid conventions of high-school writing (e.g. the five-paragraph essay, prohibition of first-person voice) and select a voice and structure appropriate for the audience and rhetorical occasion

Processes and Conventions

a. Students will construct academic papers driven by clear theses and consisting of unified, coherent, and fully developed paragraphs with ideas that contribute directly to the paper’s thesis

b. Students will write with a focus on process rather than product, and understand the purpose of drafting both for their writing and for their critical thinking

c. Students will learn to identify errors in standard written English that they make and how to correct those errors

d. Students will learn to locate and use sources on the basic concepts of usage and mechanics

e. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical importance of sentence-level issues

Research and Ethics

a. Students will integrate appropriate secondary materials into their arguments using paraphrase, summary, and direct quotation

b. Students will use MLA documentation and differentiate between summary, paraphrase, and quotation.

c. Students will be able to define plagiarism, understand its significance in an academic community, and understand the consequences of plagiarizing

Required Texts/Materials:

Ruszkiewicz and Lunsford, Everything’s an Argument

Troyka and Hesse, Quick Access Compact

Other required texts you may choose to assign

Attendance:

[attendance policies are up to the instructor; however, students may miss no more than 6 TTH or 9 MWF classes—excused or unexcused—and pass the class. (The only exception to this rule—that is, the only absences that do not count as absences—are absences incurred as a result of participation in a varsity sport or university-sanctioned activity. However, students who will miss a significant number of classes because of such activity are not entitled to any special consideration and must turn in work on time.) Instructors may choose to impose grade penalties for absences if they choose. Instructors should also specify what constitutes an “excused” absence if they differentiate between excused and unexcused; a good rule of thumb is family death, serious illness, or athletic commitment. Athletes MUST let you know at the start of the term which classes they will be missing; they cannot miss because of a game and tell you only after the fact.]

Tardiness and early bag-packing are heartily discouraged. Excesses of these may result in attendance penalties. If you arrive late to class and do not wish to be marked absent, it is your responsibility to see me after class. Finally, you are responsible for any work assigned/turned in on the days you are absent, as well as for finding out what deviations from the syllabus we may have taken.

Writing Assignments: Written work is the primary focus for this class; writing assignments will be many and varied. Please feel free to ask questions if you do not understand a particular writing assignment. For your own protection, you must keep all work that you produce for this class—including drafts and in-class notes—until the end of the term.

In-class writing assignments will be unannounced and will be graded as a part of your participation grade.

Essays: The bulk of the writing required in this course will be in the form of four formal, academic essays, with a rough draft and a final draft. Specific essay topics and requirements will be presented in class.

Portfolio: At the end of the term, you will be required to turn in a portfolio of your work that will consist of your final paper, a revised version of an earlier, graded paper, and a short reflective essay in which you argue for the grade you deserve in the class.

Academic Honesty: Please see the “Statement on Academic Integrity” included with this syllabus. If you have any questions about this policy or any part of it, please see me. If you are unsure about your own proper use of outside sources, please consult with me prior to handing in the assignment. I am happy to clarify whenever possible. You may also want to consult the Duquesne University Academic Integrity Policy found in your Student Handbook. All violations of the Academic Integrity Policy, intentional or inadvertent, will be recorded with the Director of Judicial Affairs, and intentional violations—ranging from unattributed cut-and-pasted sections in your paper to bought essays—will result in heavy sanctions ranging from failure on the paper to expulsion from the university.

Quizzes: Quizzes will be unannounced. If you miss a quiz because of an unexcused absence or tardiness, a make-up quiz will not be given. A zero will be recorded as the grade for missed quizzes. If you miss a quiz as a result of an excused absence, I will allow you to take a makeup quiz.

Deadlines: All assignments are to be submitted by the given deadline. If you know that you cannot attend a class, submit the assignment before that class time. “Computer catastrophes” are not acceptable excuses for late assignments. Be prepared for such problems, and give yourself enough time so that they do not delay your submission.

Office Hours: I encourage you to come see me during office hours to talk about the class, about college life, or about anything else. In addition, you will be required to meet with me at least two times over the course of the term.

Disabilities: If you have any disabilities that may impact your performance in this class, please speak to me within the first week of classes. Disabilities that require accommodation must be documented by the Office of Freshman Development and Special Student Services (x6657).

Athletics: If you are involved in a university athletic program and will miss class because of it, you must bring an official list of the classes you will be missing from the athletic department in the first week of class. Moreover, ALL work is to be submitted prior to the excused absence. You are responsible for any announcements and/or class notes that you miss.

Writing Center: This is a writing-intensive course. In order to assist you in the revision process of your writing, the Writing Center on campus is available and is staffed by graduate and undergraduate tutors who offer help with writing assignments in all disciplines. Before meeting with a tutor, prepare specific questions about your work so that your time is well spent. The Writing Center is located in 216 College Hall. Appointments must be made online at sites.duq.edu/writing-center/

Grade Calculation:

Daily assignments and in-class work 5%

Paper 1 (rhetorical analysis) 10%

Paper 2 (argument of definition) 15 %

Paper 3 (argument of evaluation) 20%

Paper 4 (proposal with research) 30%

Portfolio 20%

Tentative Schedule of Classes: Keep in mind that this schedule is tentative. I reserve the right to change this at any time! It is your responsibility to make sure you know about any changes in the syllabus if you miss class—and I tend to change things on the fly frequently.

WEEK ONE: introduce the expectations of the course and the nature of argument and rhetoric

27 August Course Introduction; critical thinking handout

Tell them what we expect they’ll be able to do at the end of the term. Go over the learning outcomes for the course. Talk about behavioral expectations and share what you can expect of them and what they can expect of you. Stress the importance of the syllabus: if they run afoul of its policies unknowingly (in terms of grading, late papers, quizzes, absences, etc.), they will still be held to its strictures. Read and discuss the Academic Integrity Statement and make explicit why these values are so important in an intellectual community.

29 August “Making the Most of College Writing” and the Academic Freedom Statement

Go over “Making the Most of College Writing” pamphlet, AACU Academic Freedom Statement, and critical thinking handout (if you are using these); do a critical thinking exercise

31 August Argument: An Introduction

Lunsford ch. 1

Quiz on Lunsford ch. 1

Assign Diagnostic Writing assignment, due next class period

Learning Goals for Week 1:

1. students are introduced to the concept of critical thinking and reading

2. students discuss the difference between college writing and other writing they have done in and out of school

3. students understand that the purpose of argument, in this class, is less to win and more to seek truth and to persuade

4. students learn there are different types of argument

WEEKS TWO THROUGH FOUR: Rhetorical Analysis

3 September Holiday (Labor Day)

5 September Lunsford ch.2

Quiz on Lunsford ch. 2

Diagnostic Writing Assignment due

In-class activity on how to read critically. Discuss reading strategies for Derek Bok’s and Milena Ateya’s articles in ch. 5

Assign students, for Friday, a reading with a strong emotional appeal. Choose your own reading from Lunsford or from the web.

7 September Troyka ch. 5, Lunsford ch. 2

PAPER ONE (RHETORICAL ANALYSIS) assigned

IN-CLASS ACTIVITY: Analyzing the reading. Break students into groups or do as a class. Students should be able to identify the thesis, the kinds of evidence that the writer uses, the intended audience and how that evidence appeals to that audience, and the emotional appeal of the piece. Model the process of involved, critical reading and stress to students that skimming an article will NOT be sufficient in this class. In your in-class activity, draw explicit attention to the difference between SUMMARY and ANALYSIS.

Assign students several readings (can be from the book or outside) and have them write a 1-paragraph summary and 1-paragraph discussion of the ethos appeal of one of the readings for the next class. Suggested readings: Lunsford 751, 881, 895, 898.

Learning Goals for Week 2:

1. students differentiate between critical reading and skimming

2. students begin learning audience analysis

3. students are introduced to concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos

10 September Lunsford ch. 3

Quiz on Lunsford ch. 3

Discussion of the ethos appeal of the reading you assigned. In-class activity on ethos and the construction of the writer’s authority

12 Sept. Lunsford ch. 4

Spend the day discussing what we can tell about the intended audience from the emotional and character appeals of the articles you have assigned, and use the students’ homework to discuss the logical structure of particular arguments.

14 September Rhetorical analysis 2: Ethos, pathos, and logos.

Students must bring Quick Access to class on Monday

ROUGH DRAFT OF PAPER 1 DUE (rhetorical and logical analysis)

Spend the day discussing what we can tell about the intended audience of the articles on terrorism, and use the students’ homework to discuss the logical structure of particular arguments.

Learning Goals for Weeks 2–3:

1. students differentiate between critical reading and skimming

2. students begin learning audience analysis

3. students are introduced to concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos

4. students begin to use concepts of emotional appeal and character appeal in critical reading

5. students draft a college first draft

6. students engage in discussion of an issue (the issue addressed in the readings) on an analytical level, not in an attempt to “win”

17 September Discussion of Paper 1 rough drafts; work on style and usage problems

Read Troyka, chapters 3 & 4

Spend this class focusing on REVISION. It’s likely that students have written a summary rather than an analysis for their rough draft; spend at least half the class explaining and giving examples of the difference. (Use student papers—with permission from students of course—if possible.)

This is also a good opportunity to spend some time on sentence-level problems such as agreement, inappropriate or excessive use of passive voice, apostrophe mistakes, and so forth. A good way to do this is compile 25-30 sentences with different kinds of errors in them from student papers you read, then provide students with a handout of those sentences and correct them as a class. You can do this as a whole class, or assign groups of students to use Quick Access to find out how to correct sentences.

NOTE: it is best to get your students’ rough drafts back to them by the next class period so they can immerse themselves immediately in revision. However, if this is not possible, you might want to push this revision workshop back to 19 September and the due date for the final draft to 21 Sept.

19 September READ: Martin Luther King., Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (available online—best text is probably

)

Quiz and class discussion focusing on “putting it together”: using all of the rhetorical-analysis skills developed over the last two weeks to analyze King’s letter. You might do this in groups (one assigned to pathos, one to ethos, etc.); you might do it as a class; you might break it up as you like.

21 September MLK “Letter” 2

FINAL DRAFT OF PAPER 1 DUE

Learning Goals for Week 4:

1. students practice identifying sentence-level errors, editing, and proofreading

2. students familiarize themselves with how to use Quick Access

3. students apply knowledge of ethos, pathos, and logos to analysis of King’s letter

WEEK FIVE: Using Sources in Academic Writing

24 September Lunsford ch. 19, Troyka ch. 33–35

Students must bring Troyka to class and read 345–410 for Wednesday’s class.

Go over textbook readings. Instructor may also want to bring in several articles or passages and have the students (in groups or individually) practice quoting within a sentence, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Students should also be asked to document all uses of sources in these exercises. Stress to students that they will need to properly quote/paraphrase/summarize and document in their Paper 2 rough drafts.

Homework for 9/26: choose two or three central issues in the news (please stay away from such overdone topics as abortion, gun control, capital punishment, legalization of drugs) that students might care about and have each student bring in printouts of four different CREDIBLE takes on the topic—arguments on the issue, position statements by a candidate, or third-party analyses about which candidate is “better” on the issue. Suggest they look at blogs, newspaper editorial pages, opinion magazines, etc. Their homework is to turn in a one-page sheet listing the theses of each blog/article stapled to printouts of the articles.

26 September Workshop on summarizing, quoting, paraphrasing.

Collect the homework and begin an expansive list on the board of all of the different takes on this subject that the students have collected. Do some class discussion to divide up the different theses into categories, sub-issues addressed, etc. Once you have come up with a comprehensive list, assign students (in class) to write brief summaries of each source—2-3 sentences. At the halfway mark in class, assign groups to write paragraphs in which they incorporate these summaries. (For example, on a particular issue, if they are surveying the most important points of view, divide those POVs up into categories. Group 1 is assigned category A, and their in-class or homework is to write that paragraph, which itself incorporates several sources. The GOAL is to have them practice USING SOURCES THROUGH RESPONSIBLE SUMMARY AND QUOTING.)

28 September Continue activity from 26 Sept.

Learning Goals for Week 5:

1. students engage in reading diverse points of view on a particular issue

2. students use the web to find several credible arguments on an issue

3. students read sources critically to find theses

4. students compare other arguments to their own opinions

5. students practice weighing several opinions to come up with a thesis, then using those opinions (and their evidence) to construct an exploratory argument

6. students practice summarizing, quoting, paraphrasing, and documenting.

WEEKS SIX AND SEVEN: The Definitional Claim

1 October Lunsford ch. 9

Paper 2 (Definitional) Assigned

Quiz on Ch. 9

In-class discussion: what are claims of definition? Discuss the chapter, and use the questions on pg 274 to develop an in-class activity where you begin to craft a claim of definition. Focus on how you construct criteria, how different audiences might respond to different criteria, and how a writer must provide evidence or support for the criteria he/she proposes.

3 October Lunsford ch. 9

Continue with activity from 1 October. You might want to find claims of definition in the popular media or in other essays in Lunsford. Be sure to spend this week training students in how to identify a definitional claim and how to construct one.

5 October

Continue with definitional claims activity. Today, perhaps focus on how the criteria for definition might differ between audiences. You might also want to spend some time giving examples of terms (“terrorism,” for instance) whose definition is both in question and is a source of power

8 October Lunsford ch. 21

Have the students read all of the pieces in ch. 21 (on how popular culture stereotypes). In a class discussion or group work or freewrite, have students analyze these essays as claims of definition themselves, as well as discussions of how popular culture defines (stereotypes) people.

10 October Continuation of analysis/discussion work from 8 October

12 October Continuation of analysis/discussion work from 8 October PAPER 2 (DEFINITIONAL) ROUGH DRAFT DUE

Learning Goals for Weeks 6 & 7:

1. students identify definitional claims

2. students practice constructing definitional claims

WEEKS EIGHT & NINE: ACADEMIC ARGUMENT AND CRITICAL READING

15 October NO CLASS: PAPER CONFERENCES

Cancel class on the 15th to meet with students about their rough draft. In paper conferences, please focus on GLOBAL/RHETORICAL/LOGICAL issues rather than sentence-level issues; we are trying to get them to embrace learning through revision.

17 October Writing Workshop

Use this class period, and examples from their paper 2 rough drafts, to discuss the expectations of academic writing, from style to use of sources to construction of a logical argument. Again, a good exercise can be to use a student paper that does some things well and others not so well, and to project that paper for them onto a screen and work through it, improving and revising and pointing out what it does well.

19 October Lunsford, Ch. 6

PAPER 2 FINAL DRAFT DUE

Connect Lunsford’s points in ch. 6 to your expectations for student papers. As their Paper 2 finals are due today, more time on the definitional claim in particular probably won’t be valuable, but talking about the expectations of an academic audience (and here you might refer to students’ papers) will be.

22 October Lunsford, scholarly essays on 724, 817, 941, 991, 1008

Bring Troyka to class on Wednesday

Today’s readings model for them the conventions of academic/scholarly writing. Have students read ALL of the essays, but in class you might want to assign each group an essay to closely read. The GOAL for today is to have them read critically but also be aware of the ways that scholarly writing differs from the writing they usually read. Have them summarize the readings and point to places where the conventions differ from what they are accustomed to.

24 October Troyka ch. 32; Lunsford, ch. 18.

McAnulty College Academic Integrity Policy

Spend ALL DAY today going over plagiarism. In the next unit, they will be using sources more extensively than they did in the previous definitional-argument unit, and will be rebutting other sources, so hit hard on this. Use the Troyka and Lunsford chapters but also devise some sort of in-class activity, quiz, something like that that takes the lessons they’ve been learning about summarizing and paraphrasing and has them link that to concepts of academic integrity. You might have them use data or evidence or quotes from the essays they read on 10/22 to write short paragraphs.

26 October PLAGIARISM unit, continued

Continue the plagiarism workshop. On 10/24 and 10/26, it’s probably key to give them PRACTICE in using sources in written work without plagiarizing, so come up with an activity where they can actually do this, rather than just learning passively.

Learning Goals for Weeks 8 & 9:

1. students meet with instructor and use feedback to extensively revise a formal paper

2. students identify ways in which academic writing differs from nonacademic writing

3. students critically read and summarize academic sources

4. students learn about plagiarism and practice ways to avoid it

WEEKS TEN & ELEVEN: EVALUATION ARGUMENTS

29 October Lunsford ch. 10

PAPER 3 (Evaluative) ASSIGNED

Quiz on ch. 10

Spend the day discussing not only the conventions for an evaluative paper, but the different varieties of it---movie reviews, comparisons of products, arguments that X is “bad for” people or certain groups of people, etc. Construct an evaluative argument about which dormitory is the best one, and focus on how the criteria for “the best dorm” might differ for students, parents, administrators, etc. Go over the sample evaluative papers on pgs. 313-34.

31 October Lunsford ch. 10 cont.

2 November Evaluation Claims cont.

On 10/29 and 10/31, thoroughly cover the Lunsford chapters and analyze the evaluative form in the sample essays, and once your students have the form and vocabulary down, then move into in-class construction of evaluative claims. You might want to do one as a whole class, and then divide them into groups that are assigned different (or even competing) evaluative claims. “Which is the best dorm on campus?” is a good one, as you can divide them into groups according to dorms, and they will have to construct different criteria and appeal to the other audiences.

5 November Lunsford ch. 22

For Nov.5 and Nov. 7, have students read the entirety of Ch. 22 (the social-networking chapter) in Lunsford and, in class, analyze the evaluative claims made in each of the essays. You may want to have students respond with their own evaluative claims on the same issue, or critique the evidence or assumptions made by the writers.

7 November Continue Nov. 5 activity

9 November Peer Review Workshop

PAPER 3 (EVALUATIVE) ROUGH DRAFT DUE

Learning Goals for Week 10 & 11:

1. students learn the format for an evaluative argument and apply that to their own papers

2. students continue practicing audience analysis

WEEKS TWELVE & THIRTEEN: PROPOSING A SOLUTION AND RESEARCHING

12 November Lunsford ch. 12 and proposal arguments

Introduce the conventions of the proposal argument and analyze the sample proposals in the text. If you like, you might call their attention to how King’s argument in “Birmingham Jail” is a proposal, trying to motivate people to do something. For the next class, have the class read several proposal arguments from Lunsford—or have them read 3-4 that you have found and made available—and analyze them according to how they make their appeal to their particular audience. You might want to use this framework for a worksheet:

1. What is the problem being addressed? How does the author establish that it is a problem?

2. For whom is it a problem?

3. What is the proposed solution, and how will it solve the problem?

4. Why is this solution better than other possible or proposed solutions?

14 November Proposal Arguments continued, and Creating a Proposal

Spend the first half of the class analyzing how the readings in Lunsford are proposals. Then, come up with a proposal thesis that the whole class can work on. Please use something very timely or very local, having to do w/Pittsburgh or Duquesne University. Spend today sketching out what the problem is, for whom, why they should care, and what some potential solutions might be. Assign the students individually or in groups to research sources for this proposal argument, and bring summaries and citations of these sources in to class on Friday the 12th.

16 November Proposal Arguments cont’d.

PAPER 3 (Evaluative) FINAL DRAFT DUE

PAPER 4 (Proposal) ASSIGNED

Collect the summaries/citations (ideally, electronically, in advance of class) and project the web pages using a sympodium or laptop you’ve reserved from Media Services (x4614). Have the entire class critique the sources they choose. Would this one be a good one for this purpose? Is it okay that it’s biased? Do we need a more representative source? Etc. You are MODELING for them the process they should go through in researching their own Paper 4.

19–24 November No Class: Thanksgiving Break

26 November Writing a Proposal

Continue the proposal-writing activity. For at least one of the days this week, you might want to schedule time in a computer lab (call Jeff Palastro at x1883 to do so) for your students to work on the research in small groups or individually.

28 November Writing a Proposal activity cont’d.

Paper Topic #4 Due

Use the printouts of sources the groups bring in and have the groups write/sketch out their section of the paper. They should be in their groups and you should circulate among the groups to make sure they stay on task. Tell them that each group should e-mail you, by Tuesday night, MS Word documents of their section of the paper (homework grade). When you receive all of the sections, put them together into a whole paper and make that paper available, preferably via a computer projection, for Friday’s class. Also, have them sign up for paper conferences, as Wednesday’s class will be cancelled for conferences.

30 November NO CLASS: PAPER CONFERENCES ON PAPER 4 TOPIC PROPOSAL

Make sure your students are writing on a “doable” issue, one that’s local and timely. Please prod a little bit to make sure that they are actually engaging in the process of research and thinking. Ask them about what sources they are using and what are the possible takes on the issue. Who are the decision-makers here? Have they contacted relevant authorities, if this is a university problem? Who has the power to solve it? How do those people respond to the student’s proposed solution or assertion that there is a problem?

Learning Goals for Weeks 12 & 13:

1. Students practice structuring a proposal argument using the products of the invention and research process

2. Students practice putting paragraphs together and creating transitions

3. Students learn the form of a proposal argument, analyze how several proposal arguments are constructed, and begin to construct their own proposal with a specific audience in mind

WEEKS FOURTEEN & FIFTEEN: WRAPPING UP

3 December PAPER 4 ROUGH DRAFT DUE

Instructor’s choice. SOME OPTIONS:

1. Watch some kind of persuasive documentary film today and Wednesday. Discuss how the film uses visual imagery, music, etc., to reinforce the verbal argument. You might choose Super Size Me, Sicko, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, The Corporation, Waco: The Rules of Engagement, etc.

2. Watch and analyze YouTube political ads and discuss their persuasive strategies

3. Read and analyze more articles from Lunsford, focusing on some higher-level writing skills (rebuttals, responsible summaries, use of first-person voice, etc.) that you want students to use in their proposal arguments

4. Read essays of the instructor’s choice, esp. creative nonfiction (Feynmann’s “The Relation of Science and Religion,” Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving,” or anything else nonfictional, persuasive, and in keeping with the goals of the course)

5 December Proposal revision workshop

Focus on the degree to which students are understanding the elements of the proposal argument, and use student work that you received on Monday. Stress audience—is this evidence and are these sources going to be persuasive to the student’s intended audience?—and encourage them to use various kinds of evidence: published sources from the web, interviews with peers, interviews with authority figures on campus, surveys, and so forth.

7 December continuation of work/activity from Monday

10 December Class wrap-up, final questions about revision of papers, portfolios, etc.

12 December Final Exam Period Begins

Portfolios Due During Scheduled Final Exam Period

FOR INSTRUCTORS ONLY:

Description of Assignments and their Desired Outcomes

Below you will find explanations of each assignment’s objectives and some sample prompts that outline the goals for each assignment. You are free to edit/transform these as you like. Do NOT use these verbatim; many are out of date and refer to readings your students haven’t done.

A Note on Due Dates and Returning Papers: I believe that it is absolutely central to this class to have students working on papers at all times. You will notice that, generally, a new paper is assigned on the day that the previous final draft is due. You will also notice that the final draft is due one week after the rough draft. I don’t think it serves students or the class well to drag out the process of revision, so I have scheduled this tight window for this reason. What this means is that TTh instructors receive rough drafts on Thursdays and should get them back to students by the following Tuesday; MWF instructors receive rough drafts Friday and are expected to return them the following Monday. Yes, this is tight, especially for those of you teaching two sections. Please make every effort to keep to this schedule.

Quizzes and In-Class Work: I use quizzes for two purposes: to make sure they do the reading, and to give them clues about how carefully to read and take notes. Generally I create a 5-question quiz that asks nothing more than recall: the meaning of a particular term introduced in the chapter, the thesis of an article reprinted in the chapter, etc. One question might ask them to go beyond recall and to analyze a little bit. I tell them as I hand the quiz out that they can use their reading notes but NOT their books on the quiz; this gets them in the habit of taking notes on their reading that will help them remember the main points of the chapter. As for in-class work, I realize that if there is no point value attached to homework they will not take it seriously, so I’ll give small homework assignments and group projects 5 or 10 points in value. At the end of the term, I add up all of the 5-point quiz grades and the homework grades, divide that by the total possible quiz and homework points, and the resultant percentage (75%, say), becomes 10% of their final points.

For the papers, I tend to focus on local, immediate issues, thus making it more difficult for students to plagiarize. STAY AWAY from the perennial topics, such as abortion, gun control, capital punishment, legalization of marijuana, gay marriage, whether Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame, and so on, because you won’t be able to get students to engage in real critical thinking. Choose topics that they are unfamiliar with, or that deal with the issues above but in new ways: should gay couples be allowed to adopt? Local or school issues are particularly good. Have students write on the poured-drinks tax in Pittsburgh. For the proposal, I have them propose one thing the university could do to make the transition from high school to college easier, or make life for frosh easier, or make the Core more valuable, and so on. The more open-ended the topic, the more temptation there is to plagiarize.

Diagnostic Write (week one): Ask students to take the first weekend of class to write 3-4 pages on the following question: “How have I used writing in my life up to now? What role will writing play in my college education? What do I want to get out of this class?” Specify that they should try to make this a UNIFIED ESSAY with a single thesis, not a set of three paragraphs each answering one of the above questions, and that the essay must be printed , proofread, and stapled. You will KEEP this paper after you receive it, as it will give you an idea of their writing (for diagnostic and plagiarism-checking purposes). This essay is ungraded (but don’t tell them that before they turn it in); tell the students when they turn it in that you just need to get a sense of their writing and what they want out of your class. The purposes of this assignment are: 1) initial diagnosis of students’ writing issues 2) Having them start to take an active role in their education and take a step toward being active learners 3) Learning to hand in papers in professional format—printed, stapled, proofread.

PAPER 1: Rhetorical Analysis: I give the students a choice of 4-5 short editorials, either from Lunsford or from a newspaper web site (NY Times, Post-Gazette, Tribune-Review, Washington Post, Wall St. Journal). Be sure to include an array of ideological perspectives. They must: 1) ID the thesis of the article 2) Identify the target audience, its prejudices and desires 3) show how the writer uses ethos, pathos, and logos to appeal specifically to that particular audience 4) (the hardest) Come up with a thesis of THEIR OWN headlining their analysis, something like “In its editorial condemning gay marriage, the Tribune-Review uses an appeal to “traditional values” to galvanize its largely conservative, middle-aged, middle-class audience to act against what the Trib sees as a threat to marriage itself.” 5) Use specific details and quotes from the article to support the thesis 6) Organize these details into sensible, unified paragraphs. A key skill for this paper is the differentiation of summary from analysis: papers that just summarize should receive a D or F, so be particularly aware of this when you get their rough drafts.

Sample Assignment 1: Rhetorical Analysis

For your first assignment, you will perform a rhetorical analysis of a short piece of persuasive writing. Choose either a newspaper/news web site’s editorial (make sure you okay your selection with me before beginning!) or one of the following articles from Everything’s an Argument:

Bittman, “Why Take Food Seriously?” 779

Mock, “Separation of Church and State” pg. 877

Horowitz, “In Defense of Intellectual Diversity” pg. 922

Read it carefully and attentively. Read it again. Open yourself up entirely to what the writer has to say; look up words that you don’t understand. Then, in a unified, well-developed, evidence-supported, thesis-driven essay, answer the following question: “How does this piece make its argument to its particular audience?” Components of your answer will include:

• What is the author’s thesis? What are his/her reasons?

• What is the audience here? What assumptions does the author make about the audience? How does the author choose an argument and evidence that will best appeal to that audience?

• How does the author use ethos, or the construction of his/her own credibility and persona?

• What kinds of emotions does the author appeal to? Why are these emotions going to be the ones that this particular audience has?

• What is the logic of the argument?

A possible thesis might look something like this:

In his public “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. argues to two different audiences—one directly addressed (the clergy of Birmingham, Alabama) and one implied (the general public of the South in particular and the U.S. in general)—that direct action to combat segregation is necessary and timely. King emphasizes his credentials as a Southerner and a pastor to his clerical audience while grounding his argument in philosophy, religion, and American history to his wider audience. He uses this carefully constructed ethos as a reasonable, thoughtful, devout man to argue, in the end, that even civil disobedience is justified in these circumstances.

For the purposes of this assignment, I am not interested in your stance on the issue in question or in your evaluation of the efficacy of the argument. (You will have the chance to argue these positions in later papers.) In fact, if you emphasize on your stance on the issue, your paper will almost certainly be weaker, for you are attempting to sound like an unbiased analyst. Please keep in mind that just because you disagree with something doesn’t mean that it’s poorly argued. Also, do not bring in facts or ideas that don’t occur in the argument; stick exclusively to the text. Finally, the most important skill this paper must demonstrate is that you can differentiate between SUMMARY of the article (telling me what it says) and ANALYSIS of the article (telling me how it makes its rhetorical appeal to its particular audience).

The paper is to be 4–5 pages long, typed or printed neatly, proofread, and generally produced with professionalism. A rough draft will be due Sept. X. I will hand back your papers on Sept. X and you will provide me with a final draft on Sept. X. This paper is worth 20 points, or 10% of your final grade.

PAPER 2: Definitional Claim: For this paper, students must construct a claim of definition. The easiest way to do this is to provide them with a list of potential claims: “PETA is not a terrorist group”; “’Sexting’ should not be considered child pornography,” “Pittsburgh is not actually a bike-friendly city.” You might give students the leeway to come up with their own topics but you must approve them in advance and make sure they are definitional claims that require students to construct and support the criteria for their definition. Please also make sure, if they want to do this, that you intervene several times in the process of invention and drafting, to ensure that they are not plagiarizing or recycling a paper.

In addition to constructing a definitional claim, this paper must include the use of outside sources, cited correctly. These sources likely will be used to support the student’s explanation of his/her criteria. Please ensure that students are using outside sources; guide them in finding credible and relevant sources. If they are arguing that “Cheerleading is not a sport,” then show them how simply looking up “sport” in the dictionary is not sufficient.

Sample Paper 2: Definitional

Questions of the application and definition of a term, although seemingly simple, are among the most complicated and important questions in public rhetoric. For your second paper, I want you to examine carefully one of the following questions, focusing particularly on the power and complexity of the term you choose.

Question 1: Eric Schlosser argues that America has become a “fast food nation.” Is he right? Define Schlosser’s term and then, using your own experience and research apart from what appears in Schlosser’s book, make an argument about whether or not our nation fits into that category.

Question 2: Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in the ongoing war in Iraq, has become the most visible symbol of an anti-war movement that calls into question the war: how it has been waged, how the administration made its case for it, and how the administration continues to explain it. Some critics of Sheehan, though, have insisted that to criticize the nation’s president in wartime is unpatriotic or even treasonous:

“I think Mrs. Sheehan bears some responsibility for this [publicity] and also for the responsibility for the other American families who lost sons and daughters in Iraq who feel this kind of behavior borders on treasonous.” (Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor, 9 Aug. 2005)

“The insurgents were Casey's enemy. The president of the United States is his mother's. What is wrong with this picture? Would he be proud of her near-treasonous actions? Hardly.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11 Aug. 2005)

Are Cindy Sheehan’s actions unpatriotic? Are they treasonous? Or is it patriotic to question or criticize the President during wartime?

Question 3: In “The Relation of Science and Religion,” the physicist Richard Feynman distinguishes science and religion as fields of inquiry that do not attempt to answer the same kinds of questions. Is he right? Sketch out Feynman’s distinction between the two fields and either add something to his discussion or argue against his distinction by proposing your own definition of each term. (This essay will combine the rhetorical analysis and the definitional claim.)

Although a dictionary definition of the term in question might be helpful, it will be by no means sufficient to answer the question: these kinds of arguments are made precisely because dictionary definitions do not encompass the richness of meaning, context, and connotation. In your response to this question, I want you to look at the historical use of each term, at how various political persuasions use the term, and even at the term’s etymology. In proposing your criteria for what makes up each term, use outside sources that add to your credibility.

Similarly, when you apply the particular to the general, you must cite all facts that are not common knowledge (e.g. it IS common knowledge that there is a war in Iraq and that McDonald’s serves hamburgers and fries; all other facts MUST BE CITED from reliable sources). Each of these questions will ask you to bring in information that you must research and you will be graded on how you cite this information.

Due Dates:

Oct.x: Rough draft due

Oct. X: Paper final draft due

I expect this paper to be 6-7 pages long. The paper must be stapled or I will not accept it. You must include a printout of any sources cited or I will not accept the paper. Unless you make previous arrangements with me, you must write on one of the topics listed above or I will not accept the paper.

PAPER 3: Evaluative Claim: The evaluative claim is very similar to the definitional claim in that it asks the writer to establish a category by explaining its criteria—rather than define “dorm,” for instance, the writer must explain the criteria that make a “good” dorm. In this, we hope that students will see that different audiences have different criteria, and so that they need to identify their audience carefully. “Lax policing of opposite-sex visitation” might be a positive criteria for students, for example, but not for conservative parents. If they want to argue that X is the best rapper ever, as well, please make it clear to them (do this in class) how an argument based on PERSONAL TASTE is different than an actual evaluative claim, and how to turn a taste-based argument into one that appeals to widely shared criteria held by credible sources as to what qualities make a good rapper.

As with the definitional claim, this will necessitate using research. Please guide them in this and, as ever, intervene to make sure they aren’t lifting their paper from somewhere. You can allow them free rein to choose their own topic, but I would as with paper 2 urge you to lay out about a half-dozen potential topics on which they can write (avoiding, as ever, the perennial clichéd and ultimately plagiarized topics like “Gun control is a bad way to prevent crime” or “The prohibition of marijuana is a bad policy”).

Sample Paper 3: Evaluative

Evaluating is something we do every day: what’s the best way to get downtown at rush hour, who makes the best pizza in town, whether or not we should outlaw smoking in restaurants in Pittsburgh. For this paper, you will write your own evaluation on one of the following three questions.

Question 1: Horror films have been around since the dawn of motion pictures, and as with any other genre horror films have seen various sub-movements within the genre come and go. Perhaps the most popular variety of current horror films are the so-called “torture porn” films such as the Saw or Hostel franchises, which depict violence done to the human body in sickening detail. Other directors of horror films (such as George Romero of the Dawn of the Dead series) have questioned the value of these films. What do you think? Is “torture porn” a good or bad development for horror films, for Hollywood, or for our culture?

Question 2: After the BP “Deepwater Horizon” blowout oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration pushed for a moratorium (a temporary halt) on offshore drilling, so as to avoid another potential catastrophe. Oil companies, along with many people in the Gulf area who rely on the oil business, objected. What do you think? Is a temporary halt to offshore drilling a good way to respond to the BP spill?

Question 3: The state of Pennsylvania, several years ago, legalized slot-machine parlors and is currently legalizing table games, as well. The city of Pittsburgh—desperate for the tax and tourism revenue it hopes will come from legalized gambling—quickly arranged for a casino to go up in the city—the Rivers, near Heinz Field. However, many other Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania citizens oppose government use of gambling for revenue, arguing that it is not a good way to fund government and that it is ethically/morally questionable. What do you think? Is it right to rely on gambling to fund government?

To adequately complete this assignment, you will need to use sources. Who are the important stakeholders in this issue? What terms (“torture porn,” “offshore drilling,” “gaming”) need to be defined? What are the dominant points of view on the issue? Then, look at the dissenting positions of various important politicians, scientists, and religious groups on the issue. Also, find examples of politicians who differ from their party’s official positions, and even find interest groups who make arguments about the issue. More than anything, make sure that the sources you quote are credible and add authority to your argument.

In your response to this question, I want you to set forth criteria for how you evaluate the Y term in question; in addition, I want you to find those who disagree with you (both about your conclusions and about your criteria) and rebut their objections. In each question, you will need to draw on outside evidence, sources, and opinions. Each of these questions will ask you to bring in information that you must research and you will be graded on how you cite this information.

Due Dates:

Oct. X: Paper rough draft due

Nov.X: Paper final draft due

I expect this paper to be 7-8 pages long. As with the previous paper, I want you to submit your rough draft electronically. You must include a printout of any sources cited or I will not accept the paper. Unless you make previous arrangements with me, you must write on one of the topics listed above or I will not accept the paper.

PAPER 4: Proposal: This fourth paper generally combines all of the skills of the class: rhetorical analysis, identification of a problem and proposal of a solution to the problem, academic writing, use of sources. The format of this paper is “Because X is a problem for the audience that I am addressing, we should do Z to solve that problem.” A proposal requires that students a) identify a problem that needs to be solved, b) show the target audience why this is a problem that they should care about, c) propose a solution that actually addresses the problem, and d) show, with evidence, why that solution is better than other potential solutions. Students must do all of that PLUS: 1) Use researched source material (not necessarily scholarly research) and incorporate it in their prose using quotes, summaries, and/or paraphrases; 2) turn in a paper with few or no usage and mechanical errors and that has been proofread; 3) have a coherent structure to the paper, with transitions between paragraphs and an argument that builds, not a collection of paragraphs that could go in any sequence.

As students can have a very hard time creating an argument for this, I require them to submit a topic proposal with a preliminary bibliography. This paper topic proposal should have: a thesis statement, the four-part proposal structure filled in, and 5-7 annotated citations of sources that the student will be using to make this argument.

Although you will be intervening heavily in this paper, which will go a long way toward preventing plagiarism, I want this final paper to ask students to focus on a problem that is LOCAL and TIMELY. A favorite question that I often use for this final assignment is “How can Duquesne University make the transition from high school to college better for first-year students?” or “What is the biggest problem about being a first-semester student here, and how can the university solve this problem?” These questions are great because they require that students do several kinds of research: they must establish that something is a problem for the frosh (I encourage them to survey their classmates), they must research how other universities have solved this problem (web research, contact with friends at other institutions), they must figure out how much it would cost in terms of time, money, and effort (interviews with university officials). Other potential timely and local topics might center on what DU should put in the new university building going up on Forbes, on how the city should redevelop the area around Mellon Arena, etc.

Paper 4: Proposal

The final paper is, in a sense, the easiest. The question, at least, is self-explanatory.

What one thing should Duquesne University do to make the transition from high school to college easier for first-year students like you?

This is, of course, a proposal argument. But, as you have learned, the proposal argument is a complicated proposition. Proposal arguments have four main components:

1. Identify a problem.

2. Explain why the audience you are addressing should consider this a problem that is worth their time and effort to address.

3. Propose a specific solution to that problem and identify how it will solve or ameliorate the problem.

4. Demonstrate how this solution is superior to other potential solutions to this problem.

All of these elements much be present in your paper. However, most proposal arguments are themselves results of other types of claims that also must be present. For example:

Because violent video games cause children to act violently (causal claim), we should not allow their sale to children under 15 (proposal claim).

Lowering Core 101 class sizes is not a good way to increase Duquesne’s place in the college rankings (evaluative claim); instead, we should undertake a serious effort to raise money and build a nicer, more attractive campus.

I suspect that most of your papers should include both the proposal and another claim, as in the above examples. I have made the question very specific to Duquesne for a reason: I want you to do research, but I want you to do varied types of research—online but also through personal contact, interviews, and such. Look at other colleges’ web sites—how do they deal with the problems you have identified? Look at the Princeton Guide to Colleges and other books—what do those writers have to say about the issue? Interview your classmates. Interview Father Hogan. Interview friends at other schools. In short, support your case with a wide variety of evidence.

Due Dates:

Nov. 17: Topic Proposal Due

Nov. 28: Rough draft due

Dec. 6: Paper final draft due with portfolio

The paper must be stapled or I will not accept it. You must include a printout of any sources cited or I will not accept the paper. Unless you make previous arrangements with me, you must write on one of the topics listed above or I will not accept the paper. This paper is worth 60 points, or 30% of your grade.

Portfolio: The primary goal of a portfolio is for students to look back over the progress in writing they have made over the term and be able to describe their learning in concrete terms. For this portfolio, students turn in the final draft of their final paper, a re-revised draft of an earlier graded paper (e.g. Paper 2, on which they initially received a B but have revised again to improve it), and a reflective essay of 2-3 pages in which they make an argument to you about how the papers they have included show how well they have reached the learning outcomes of the class. This portfolio should be of a uniform professionalism; it is the summation of the class and should be their finest work. Tell them, also, that it gives them a chance to use the skills of evidence-based persuasive writing that they have been learning all term to make an argument to you about their grade!

Final Portfolio

The final project for this UCOR 101 class will be a portfolio consisting of the following:

• Revised drafts of one previously graded essay

• Your final proposal argument

• A short (2-3 page) reflective essay that will answer the following question: how do the two papers you have included demonstrate that you have achieved the learning objectives listed on the first page of the course syllabus? In this short essay, you may want to talk about the process of revision you went through on each paper, focusing on how your revisions helped you to learn the skills taught in the class. You may also want to make an argument about what grade you deserve in the class, based on how well the ppaers

This final portfolio is worth 100 points, or 20% of your final grade, so please take it seriously.

I will be grading the portfolio as a whole, looking for the following characteristics:

• it demonstrates significant improvement in your writing

• you are able to explain the nature of your improvement

• you are able to apply the key terms and concepts about writing and literature that you have learned over the course of the term

• you demonstrate an understanding of the broad goals of the course and you have chosen papers that embody this

The final portfolio will be due on Monday, December 15 and should be submitted electronically, as ever. There will be separate drop-boxes for the revised essay and the reflective essay which should be Word 2008 documents and titled [your last name] portfolio revision.doc AND [your last name] reflective essay.doc.

Sample Plagiarism Activity

Here is a sample plagiarism activity that combines group work and larger class discussion. Break students into groups giving each group the following paper. As a group, the students must work together to decide whether each example is an example of plagiarism or not. When the groups have reached their decisions, come together as a class. Read each example, ask for their answers, and then discuss the situations. Examples that seem less clear-cut will lead to fruitful discussion. Calculating scores and offering extra credit or a small prize to the team who gets the most correct answers can motivate the students and make the activity more enjoyable.

Sample scenarios:

You take short phrases from several sources and combining them with phrases, words, or sentences of your own to compose a paragraph in your essay. You include the sources in your works cited, but do not include them in the paragraph itself.

You download an essay from a paper mill website and turn it in to be graded.

You copy someone’s notes because you missed class.

You fabricate sources to put in your works cited.

Your friend is having a hard time writing her essay, so you suggest some useful sources.

You copy a few sentences from a textbook and put them in your essay in quotation marks, putting your source both in-text and in the works cited.

You cut and paste a paragraph from an article with a few changes in word order. You do not put the paragraph in quotation marks, but reference the source both in-text and in the works cited.

You work together with a friend to get ideas and the structure for an individual essay, and then write up the essays individually

You wrote a paper about capital punishment in high school. You save that paper and hand it in as a definitional essay in college. 

You are working on a Powerpoint for class. You pull information and pictures from online. You cite your informational sources but not the pictures.

................
................

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

Google Online Preview   Download