ENG1111 Syllabus

ENG1111: First-Year WritingMWR: 4:35-5:40 PM

Section 59, CRN 14945 Email: [email protected] Instructor: Laura Kladky Classroom: Ryder Hall 207 Office Hours: TBA Office: Holmes Hall 464

Required Texts:Ways of Reading, Bartholomae and Petrosky, 9th EditionAll other texts available on Blackboard under Course Materials

Course Description:Students complete a series of sequenced writing assignments that engage with a variety of texts. While the primary focus of the course is academic writing, students can expect to write in multiple genres and use multiple media. They will also be expected to learn the technical fundamentals of composition, conduct library research when appropriate, reflect critically on their own and their peers writing, revise and edit, work with and document sources, and take risks. ENGL1111 fulfills NUs first-year writing requirement.

Section 59 is distinguished by its emphasis on public speaking with a small audience, designed to allow each student ample practice presenting their ideas in a supportive, low-stakes setting. The ultimate goal is not only the development of confidence and facility in academic writing, but the formation of each students own style and voice in both writing and speaking. To this end, students will study and analyze a combination of traditional, canonical academic writing and high culture and pop or low culture, ranging from advertisements and news articles to film. If students commit fully to the class and its hybrid, unorthodox learning process, they will acquire ample resources for self-expression and winning arguments in other classes, future employment, and everyday life.

Course Objectives:This course will focus on First-Year Writings goals 3 and 7:3. Students formulate and articulate a stance through and in their writing.7. Students explore and represent their experiences, perspectives, and ideas in conversation with others.

More information on the official goals of the First-Year Writing program can be found at:http://www.northeastern.edu/writing/student-learning-goals-writing-program/Per Northeastern regulations, all students will be expected to participate in the TRACE program, andfollow academic honesty guidelines:http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/academichonesty.html

The Writing CenterThe Northeastern University Writing Center is located in 412 Holmes (617-373-4549; for current hours see http://www.northeastern.edu/english/writing-center/) in the English Department and offers free and friendly help for any level writer, including help with reading complex texts, conceptualizing a writing project, refining your writing process (i.e., planning, researching, organization, drafting, revising, and editing), and using sources effectively. You can receive feedbackface-to-face during regular hours or via email/online response. Students are strongly encouraged to put the Writing Center to frequent use!

Assignments:Attendance and Class Participation: Attendance and class participation are essential for success inCollege Writing. Up to two absences will be allowed gratis, as students are encouraged to think of theclass as a part-time job to an extent, complete with sick days and vacation time! Both absences and assignment due dates are negotiable under special circumstances to be discussed with the instructor,but will require documentation such as doctors notes to be counted. Students must notify the instructor by midnight the night before class for an assignment to be accepted, or for an absence to be recorded as outside the quota.

Please come to class with all of the assigned materials, and with all of the readings finished. The classwill be run as a seminar rather than a lecture. Any seminars lifeblood is class discussion, and studentattendence and performance in discussion will form 15% of the final grade. Students are also not allowed to bring laptops or any kind of device. Each violation of this policy will result in a point deduction from the final grade.

Reading Response and Show and Tell: A 300-500 word response paper will be required for many of the readings. Responses are due by midnight the night before the reading is scheduled for class. Students will respond to a predetermined prompt which may ask for a close reading of a particular passage, a comparison of various readings, or some other form of thoughtful critical analysis of the text. Show and tell will involve bringing some media item that responds to the classs readings and topics. Responses and show-and-tells will be graded on a check-plus/check/check-minus basis, and will not be accepted late.

These as a whole will provide 25% of the final grade. All readings may be found online on Blackboardunder Course Documents, with the expectation students will bring printed copies of each reading to class on the day it is due, with the exception of full-length novels. Students will be responsible for the choices of pop culture texts discussed.

Unit Projects: Each unit culminates in a writing project, which may be chosen from at least two potential prompts. Projects span a wide variety of genres and will range from the traditional academic essay to creative writing as well as experimental forms of writing and multimodal production. Each unit project will comprise 25% of the total grade for unit projects, which will in turn make up 50% of the final grade of the course. Unit projects may be turned in during class on their due date or on blackboard by midnight on the night of the due date. Unit projects will be accepted on Blackboard up to three days after the due date, with a drop of one full letter grade per each day.

Peer Review and Revision: Each unit project will involve at least one draft before the final draft, and in process undergo some form of peer review as well as one-on-one revision work with the instructor. Like reading responses, non-final drafts will be graded on the check system, and will also not be accepted late. Participation during whole-class and small-group peer review will be graded under the category of attendance and class participation.

Unit 1: Rhetoric and Persuasian in Fiction and Nonfiction

James Baldwin, A Letter to my NephewJames Baldwin, Previous ConditionWilliam Faulkner, On FearWilliam Faulkner, Dry September

Week 1:9/3: Course introduction. Peer interviews. Introduction to Unit 1.

Course placement essay due.9/4: A Letter to my Nephew discussion. Basics of rhetoric. Sample analysis.

A Letter to my Nephew reading and response due.Week 2:9/8: Previous Condition discussion.

Previous Condition reading and response due. 9/10: Show and tells.

Unit 1 show and tell due.9/11: Show and tells. Week 3:9/15: On Fear discussion.

On Fear reading and response due.9/17: Basics of mechanics and close reading.9/18: Unit 1 project- peer review.

Unit 1 project first draft due.Week 4:9/22: Dry September discussion.

Dry September reading and response due.9/24: Intruder in the Dust- Movie excerpts and discussion.9/25: Unit 1 project. Unit 1 reflection. Introduction to Unit 2.

Unit 1 project final draft due.

Unit 2: Media Analysis in the Modern Age

Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema Excerpts (Blackboard)Susan Bordo, Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body (WoR 189-233)

Week 5:9/29: Mulvey discussion.

Mulvey reading and response due.10/1: Show and tell discussion.

Mulvey show and tell due.10/2: Show and tells.Week 6:10/6: Bordo discussion.

Bordo reading and response due.10/8: Show and tell discussion.

Bordo show and tell due.10/8: Show and tells.Week 7:10/2: Columbus Day: No class.10/15: Unit 2 project- peer review.

Unit 2 project- 1st draft due.10/16: Fashion and advertisement slideshow and discussion.Week 8:10/20: Unit 2 project- peer review 2.

Unit 2 project- 2nd draft due.10/22: Bordo and Mulvey discussion.10/23: Unit 2 discussion.

Unit 2 project- final draft due.

Unit 3: The Lyric Essay in Theory and Practice

Eula Biss, The Pain Scale (WoR 171-182)Susan Griffin, Our Secret (WoR 335-382)

Week 9:10/27: Biss discussion.

Biss reading and response due.10/29: Show and tell discussion.

Biss show and tell due.10/30: Show and tells.Week 10:11/3: Griffin discussion.

Griffin reading and response due.11/5: Show and tell discussion.

Griffin show and tell due.11/6: Show and tells.

Week 10:11/5: Unit 3 project- peer review 1.

Unit 3 project- first draft due.11/6: Lyric essay discussion.11/8: Unit 3 discussion.

Unit 3 project- final draft due.

Unit 4: Application of Academia to Pop Culture

Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Blackboard)Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire (Blackboard)Michel Foucault, Panopticon (WoR)

Week 11:11/10: Hunger Games book discussion- first reading.

Hunger Games reading and response due.11/12: Hunger Games book discussion- second reading.11/13: Catching Fire book discussion- first reading.

Catching Fire reading and response due.Week 12:11/17: Catching Fire book discussion- second reading.11/19: Foucault discussion.

Foucault reading and response due.11/20: Catching Fire Class 1. Movie and discussion.Week 13:11/24: Catching Fire Class 2. Movie and discussion.11/26: Thanksgiving Break: No class.11/27: Thanksgiving Break: No class.Week 14:12/1: Unit 4 project peer review.

Unit 4 project- first draft due.12/3: Last day of class! Course review and conclusion.

Unit 4 project- final draft due. Extensions upon request.