Catalog description: Students will review the skills and conventions of expository writing and library research, exploring cross-disciplinary concerns appropriate to a liberal education.  Students will practice the technique of close reading and examine the relationships between a text and its context.

Objectives:  Through reading and discussion of both student-authored and professionally-authored texts, students in this course will become more flexible and competent writers.  During the course of the semester, students will craft essays that illustrate a variety of  rhetorical and structural strategies, that utilize figurative language, that draw on secondary sources, and that incorporate a mixture of personal and “objective” evidence.  Through student workshops and revision of drafts, students will also become comfortable with presenting their work to an audience and with using reader feedback to develop their own thinking.  Further, through the reading and discussion of many different kinds of essays, we will all explore the ways in which our own positions in and ideas about the world influence the way(s) we read and understand not just texts, but the society and cultures in which we live.

Course requirements
Participation:  Participation is a significant element of  your final grade.  Participation, in this class means that you are actively engaged with the material; that you ask thoughtful questions; that you do the reading and think about the reading you’ve done; that you carefully and thoroughly read your classmates’ work; that your work shows effort.  Because this course is structured as a writing workshop, you cannot be passive member of the course; your work and the work of others will suffer as a result.
Attendance:  I take attendance at every class; chronic lateness and/or absence will severely affect your final grade for the course.  Be on time, and be prepared for class.  It is College policy that a student who misses 20% of the classes may be assigned an FA (failure on account of absence).
 

Writing:  You should keep all your writing, including early drafts of all writing assignments.  If I ask you for early drafts of a writing assignment, and you cannot produce them, I reserve the right not to accept the assignment.  All written assignments, unless specified, must be typed, double-spaced, with 1” margins.  Late papers will be penalized, unless there is a medical excuse/emergency.  Please keep in mind that turning in work that is not your own is plagiarizing.  Plagiarism also includes turning in work for credit that you did for another professor without first getting permission from me to do so.  There is a simple rule of thumb about plagiarism: when in doubt, ask.  Plagiarism may result in receiving no credit for that assignment, in failing the course, or in extreme instances, in suspension from the college.  You will be doing various kinds of writing in this course, including:

• Two expository essays (4-6 pages), each having gone through at least two drafts.
• A research paper (roughly 9-12 pages) with all its components: documentation of sources, bibliography, footnotes/endnotes.  The research paper will also require a first and final draft.
• Short writing responses (one to three pages) as indicated on the syllabus.
• Occasional in-class writing

Required Texts:  The anthology and the required grammar handbook are on order in the Iona Campus Bookstore.
·McQuade, Donald, and Robert Atwan, eds.  The Writer's Presence.
·grammar handbook (on order for all Communication Skills courses)
·a dictionary

Please note that all reading assignments, unless otherwise noted, are in The Writer’s Presence.  The assignments on this syllabus are subject to change; if you miss class, it is your responsibility to find out if there have been any changes.  Please get in the habit of checking the class website on a regular basis, as any syllabus revisions will appear on the online syllabus.  Assignments will be explained in more detail in class and on the "explanation of assignments" page online.

September
Tues Sept 5  Introductions and explanations
HW: Read Lamott, (xerox) and write a description of your own “anti-writing” voices
Also write a brief response in which you comment on her writing: voice, tone, attitude
These writings will be shared in class

Thurs Sept 7  Discuss Lamott//Explanation of Unit One
 HW:  Read editorials (xerox) and write brief responses about which you think more effective and why (these responses will be shared in class)

Fri Sept 8  Discussion of editorials
 HW:  Orwell, “Politics and the English Language” and answer study questions at the end of the essay

Tues Sept 12  Discuss Orwell

Thurs Sept 14  Discuss Orwell /Debate-watching assignment
 HW:  Read Will, “Printed Noise” and make a list of your own examples of  “printed noise”

Fri Sept 15 Discuss Will
 HW: Read Swift, “A Modest Proposal” and answer study question #1; write also a brief paragraph in which you consider what Swift’s intention might have been in writing this proposal

Tues Sept 19  Discuss Swift
 HW:  Fussell, “A Well-Regulated Militia…”  and write a response in which you discuss what you think Fussell’s intention was in writing such an essay, and whether or not, in your opinion, he achieved his aims.

Thurs Sept 21  Discuss Fussell

Fri Sept 22  In-class work on summary writing
 HW:  Work on summaries; read Hasselstrom, “Why One Woman…”: is her essay more or less effective than Fussell’s?  Be prepared to support your opinion (don’t need to write this out; just have made notes on the essay itself)

Tues Sept 26  Discuss Hasselstrom /First summary of news articles due
 HW:  Bring to class a copy of one op-ed piece about the election that you find particularly effective and a one-page explanation of why you find it effective, pointing to specific phrases and rhetorical strategies.  Be prepared to share this information with the class.

Thurs Sept 28  In-class writing/discussion of editorials
 HW:  Read editorials

Fri Sept 29  Discuss editorials/Analysis-comparison explanation
 HW:  Read sample editorial draft and write comments

October
Tues Oct 3 Monday Schedule of Classes – No Class

Thurs Oct 5  Practice workshop/ Draft one of editorials due: bring in 3 copies
 HW: Read classmates’ editorials

Fri Oct 6  In-class workshop, editorials

Tues Oct 10 In-class writing-work on analysis paper
Second summary of news articles due
 HW:  Read King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and answer reading questions

Thurs Oct 12  Discuss King
 HW: Finish revision of editorials

Fri Oct 13  Discuss King Two editorials due – final draft

Tues Oct 17 Introduction of research paper

Thurs Oct 19  Ryan Library Visit: Research Orientation

Fri Oct 20 Draft of analysis/comparison paper due (3 copies)
 HW:  Read classmates’ drafts and write comments

Tues Oct 24 In-class workshop of comparison papers -Third summary of news articles due
 HW:  Read Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” and answer reading question #2

Thurs Oct 26 Discuss Thoreau
 HW:  In 1-2 pages, compare Thoreau’s essay to King’s

Fri Oct 27 Discuss Thoreau/King  -- Debate paper due
 HW:  Write up a brief description of the focus for your research paperFri Oct 27 Discuss Thoreau/King debate paper due
 HW:   a)Write up a one-page overview of your research paper: what will your main idea be; what aspects of family history do you think you will discuss; who might you interview; and other questions.
  b) Draft a list of 4 possible interview questions

Tues Oct 31 Discuss research paper and interview questions
 HW:  Finish preliminary bibliography: 4 sources (no encyclopedias or dictionaries, and at least one internet source)

Thurs Nov 2  Go over bibliography format

Fri Nov 3  Using quotes and integrating secondary sources
HW: a) Ask three or four friends what their definition of “liberal arts” is, and write down their answers.  Then look up a dictionary/encyclopedia definition of “liberal arts”—does it match what your friends say? How is it the same/different?
  b) ask those same friends why they chose to come to Iona and make a list of their reasons.  Do their reasons match your own reasoning for choosing Iona?

Tues Nov 7  Discuss “liberal arts”
Final draft of comparison papers due
HW:  Draft the beginning of your research paper 1-3 pages long.  Bring in two copies

Wed Nov 8 Friday Schedule of Classes

Thurs Nov 9  In-class workshop on research paper beginnings
 HW:  Read Edmundson and write a 1-2 page response in which, among other things, you agree or disagree with one of his assertions.  Offer support for your ideas

Fri Nov 10  Discuss Edmundson
 

Tues Nov 14  Discuss Edmundson

Thurs Nov 16  Complete first draft of research paper and bring in 3 copies
 HW:  Read Shorris (xerox) and write a 1-2 page response in which, among other things, you agree or disagree with one of his assertions.  Offer support for your ideas

Fri Nov 17  Discuss Shorris

Tues Nov 21 Discuss Shorris
 HW:  How would you describe the purpose of a college education?  What is your ideal? Does that ideal match with the reality?  If there is a gap between the ideal and the real, what, in your mind, might be the cause(s) of this gap?  If there isn’t a gap, why not? This writing will be shared in class and turned in (1-2 pages)

Thurs Nov 23 Thanksgiving Holiday – No Class

Fri Nov 24 Thanksgiving Holiday – No Class

Tues Nov 28  Discuss education writing  //Education essay assignment
 HW: Write 1-2 pages in which you imagine what Shorris and Edmundson might say to one another about their respective essays: where would they agree with one another, where would they disagree?

Thurs Nov 30  Shorris/Edmundson
HW:  Read Rodriguez, “Toward an American Language.”  In a one-page response consider whether Rodriguez shares any assumptions about education with either Shorris or Edmundson, or both

Fri Dec 1 Discuss Rodriguez

Tues Dec 5  In-class work on education essay
 HW:  Write first draft of education essay

Thurs Dec 7 First draft of education essay due: 3 copies
 HW:  Read and comment on classmates’ drafts

Fri Dec 8 In-class workshop on education essay
 HW:  Finish revising research paper

Tues Dec 12  Revision of research paper due

Thurs Dec 14  In-class reading

Fri Dec 15 Last Class

Final Exam TBA
 

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