English 101.01 and 101.03--Research and Writing.

Greenville College, Spring Semester 2006.
Library Computer Lab
M, W, F at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Dr. Donna J. Hart 225 Hogue Hall Phone: Office: 664-6805; Home: 664-3863 Office Hours: MWF, 2:30 - 4:30; No office hours T or Th Email: donna.hart@greenville.edu

Textbooks:

Hacker, Diana. The Writer's Reference. 5th edition. Boston: Bedford St. Martin's, 2003. (ISBN: 0-312-41262-2)

Lunsford, Andrea A., and John J. Ruszkiewicz. The Presence of Others: Voices and Images That Call for Response. 4th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004. (ISBN: 0-312-40434-4)

Any good dictionary and/or thesaurus.

Course Description:

This course builds on the student’s writing experiences from high school and from COR 101, thus assuming that the student has some acquaintance with the 5-paragraph essay and with the skills of summary and synthesis. We focus specifically on those skills that are necessary for successful research and argumentative writing in all the college disciplines. Therefore, we examine a variety of library databases for finding and evaluating books, periodicals, and online documents as sources of information for supporting a positional assertion. We discuss and practice critical reading skills, successful note-taking strategies, and clear organization and presentation of an argument from either the Toulmin or the Rogerian model. We write several papers of varying lengths, but two major research papers, depending on an increasing number of informational sources. Moreover, we continue to develop skills in all stages of composing and revising, sentence styles, word choice, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

Course Objectives:

1. become closer, more critical readers and thinkers, recognizing central assertions by other persons, their secondary assertions, and the support which they offer to strengthen those assertions. (IO A1-A2, C8)
2. develop our writing ability through extensive writing practice that emphasizes writing as a process, and develop a better sense of what prewriting, writing, and rewriting techniques work best for each of us. (IO A2, C8)
3. understand the factors that help shape a writer’s choices about vocabulary, tone, style, and structure in several different rhetorical modes, but with our emphasis on research writing. (IO A2)
4. discuss and practice the strategies of paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting of sources according to APA and MLA style. (IO A2)
5. discuss and practice the strategies of synthesizing, critiquing, arguing, etc., not only as a means to higher thinking skills, but also as methods to use in writing a variety of research papers. (IO A2)
6. develop skill in using--and evaluating the usefulness, i.e., reliability, of--library sources of various kinds (books, periodicals, online databases), particularly electronic messaging and other non-refereed Internet sources. (IO A1-A2, C8)
7. work to eliminate grammar, syntax, mechanical, and spelling errors. (IO A2, C8)
8. work to improve clarity, coherence, creativity, and correctness of our written discourse. (IO A2, C8)
9. understand cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity and determine ways that our arguments must respect and accommodate those differences. (IO A1, B3-B6, C7-C9)
10. understand that writing expectations differ within different disciplines. (IO A2)
11. understand the importance of technology in enabling our research. (IO A2)
12. understand the different expectations and requirements for clear communication in oral texts and compared to written texts. (IO A2)
13. understand and use non-print media, where appropriate, to support a position. These might include personal interviews, letters, television or movie sources, etc. (IO A2)

Assessment:

1. Objective 1 is assessed informally through class discussions of assigned readings. Formal assessment occurs with periodic reading quizzes that ask students to elicit thesis statement, supporting assertions, etc.
2. Objectives 2 and 3 are assessed through peer editing exercises, one-on-one teacher-student conferences, and teacher grading of student final papers that have gone through several stages of revision.
3. Objective 4 is assessed through class exercises in incorporating pieces of information from primary sources into student papers by each of these means.
4. Objective 5 is assessed through informal class discussion in which we compare and contrast or find other relationships between writers with a variety of positions on selected issues. It is more formally assessed through required synthesis and critique assignments, either in class or outside of class.
5. Objective 6 is assessed informally by the research librarian doing an exercise with a “bogus” website that looks official, but is defective. It is also assessed by students determining which electronic sources actually do provide them useful information for their research papers. In written texts, it is assessed by our discussion of how we recognize "liberal," "conservative," or "moderate" points of view; and perhaps how we determine whether the gender, age, ethnicity, social class, etc. of the writer affect his/her point of view.
6. Objectives 7 and 8 are assessed informally through peer editing exercises and one-on-one teacher-student conferences. Formally, they are assessed through teacher grading of final papers.
7. Objectives 9 and 10 are assessed through informal class discussion of assigned readings and of drafts of student papers.
8. Objective 11 is assessed by the degree to which students become comfortable in using computers for prewriting, writing, and rewriting and in accessing information which will help them support the assertions they make in their papers.
9. Objective 12 is assessed by class dialogue and oral support for student points of view.
10. Objective 13 is assessed by teacher grading of final papers.

Attendance, Late Papers, Plagiarism, Grading, and Study Expectations:

For my expectations regarding attendance, see attendance. For expectations regarding late papers, see late papers. For expectations regarding avoidance of plagiarism, see plagiarism. For an explanation of my grading system, see grading. For study expectations, see study expectations.

Tentative Daily Schedule:

Week One: (January 23) Focus One: The Liberal Arts Education.

(What you see listed by the M, W, F is what we will do in class on that day. SO DO ANY READING YOU NEED TO DO AHEAD OF TIME.)
M - Introduction to the class, to my website, to Blackboard. Initial writing sample.
W - Discuss Hacker, Sections C-1, 2, and 3.
F - We will do various computer exercises from the Hacker book.

Week Two: (January 30)

M - Reading quiz over Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz (hereafter, LR), pp. 1 - 14. We'll discuss those pages in class. Do an annotating exercise.
W -Lecture: What is an argument? How do we argue? Discuss the Toulmin Model of Argument. Annotate either of the readings assigned for Friday. Turn it in on Friday.
F - Discuss Alfred Newman article (LR, 52-55) and Donald Kagan article (LR, 141-152). Suggest research paper topics developing from these articles.

Week Three: (February 6)

M - We will do some computer exercises related to Hacker, C4.
W - Discuss Mission Statements (LR, 57-62). Suggest RP topics developing from these texts. Examine several other college mission statements online.
F - Create a 1-2 page argument in response to an assigned topic on college mission statements. Save it to your N: drive, and then post this to Blackboard's Digital Drop Box before class time on Monday.

Week Four: (February 13)

M - Before you come to class, read Hacker, S1. Computer exercises.
W - Write a summary of Jon Spayde's article (LR, 64-69). Post it to Blackboard's DDB before you leave class. Suggest RP topics developing from this article.
F - Discuss Adrienne Rich's article (LR, 71-76). Suggest RP topics.

Week Five: (February 20)

M - Lecture about APA documentation style.
W - Lecture: Ms. Sara Kopesky will talk to you about finding good books and periodicals for your research.
F - Lab: Compile an APA-style working bibliography of at least 10 sources. These will be your sources of "proof" for your 5 - 7-page argumentative research paper on some aspect of American education. Complete your APA bibliography and post it to the DDB by 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

Week Six: (February 27)

M - Lecture: Instructions in taking notes on computer. **Your assignment for this whole week is to be taking notes that will help you make a good argument in your research paper. These notes will be due to me, posted on DDB before class on Monday.
W - Group reports on Shelby Steele article (LR, 78-95) and Mike Rose article (LR, 109-122). Suggest RP topics. (Just for your own interest, you might want to look at Ron Suskind's article, 634-640.)
F - Group report on Michael Sokolove article (LR, 124-139). **Notes due. It's really too late to suggest any more topics.

Week Seven: (March 6)

M - Lecture: How to organize (outline) and write your paper.
W - Lab: Writing research paper one.
F - Lab: Writing research paper one. ***POST THE PAPER TO DDB BEFORE CLASS TIME ON MONDAY. 5-7 pages. Cite at least 5 of your 10 sources somewhere within your paper.

Spring Break, March 11 - 19.

Week Eight: (March 20) Focus Two: What Do We Believe in America?

M - Hacker, S3 and S4. We'll do some discussion and computer exercises.
W - Hacker, S5 and S6. Computer exercises.
F - Discuss Anthony Brandt (LR, 213-220).

Week Nine: (March 27)

M - Lecture: The Rogerian Model of Argument.
W - Lecture: MLA style of documentation. How is it different from APA and why?
F - Hacker, W1 - W3. We'll do some computer exercises. Outside of class, compile an MLA-style working bibliography of at least 20 sources. These will be your sources of "proof" for your 8 - 10-page argumentative research paper on some aspect of belief/faith/ethics/values. Complete your bibliography and post it to the DDB by 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

Week Ten: (April 3)

M - Hacker, G1 - G3. Do the assigned computer exercises on your own and post them to me. ***Your assignment for the next two weeks is to be taking notes, as per the model we used earlier, that will help you make a good argument in your research paper. These notes will be due to me, posted on DDB before class on Monday of Week 12. In class, we will discuss Stephen L. Carter (LR, 179-189). As usual, all the way through this unit, we'll talk about potential RP topics.
W - Hacker, G5 and G6. Do the assigned computer exercises on your own and post them to me. We'll discuss Peter Gomes (LR, 242-249).
F - We'll discuss portions of a couple of your first research papers.

Week Eleven: (April 10)

M - Discuss Wendy Shalit (LR, 251-257) and another text which is posted for you under "Assignments" in Blackboard.
W - Discuss Jimmy Carter (LR, 259-261) and Elie Wiesel (LR, 262-263).
F - No class on Friday; it's Good Friday.

Easter Break, April 14 - 17.

Week Twelve: (April 17)

M - No class on Monday.
W - Lab. How do you do a complete, detailed, formal outline?
F - Lab. Complete a detailed outline of your final research paper and post it to me on DDB before you leave class.

Week Thirteen: (April 24)

M - Hacker, MLA2 and MLA3. We'll discuss how to avoid plagiarism and how to incorporate quotations in your paper.
W - Writing the paper.
F - Writing the paper.

Week Fourteen: (May 1)

Lab: Writing the paper.
Lab: Writing the paper. Last day of formal class.

Week Fifteen: (May 8)

Finish up your research paper. ***Post to DDB by the end of the scheduled exam time. Your research paper IS your exam.