English 101A Fall 2019

Instructor: Tamara LyndeEmail: TLynde@bakersfieldcollege.edu

Office and Office Hours: 1-2 PM T,R and 4:30-5:30 PM M,W and by appointment in LRC557

Meets M,W 6:00-8:05 PM in AC 118

Course Description:

The study of writing, including paragraph development, essay organization, logic, a writing process, and research paper writing. Readings in a variety of rhetorical modes used as models for writing. Instruction and experience writing research papers. Students will read at least two book-length works and write a minimum of 8000 words, including an argumentative research paper.

Goals/SLOs:

By the completion of this course the student should be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of audience, purpose, and voice by composing argumentative essays in major academic genres.

2. Analyze college-level academic and literary texts for persuasive support, deductive and inductive inferences, rhetorical strategies, and stylistic choices, including a reflective analysis of a book-length text.

3. Evaluate, analyze, and synthesize primary and secondary sources by gathering information, organizing inquiry, considering multiple perspectives, and documenting research in MLA format.

4. Demonstrate mastery of the writing process: invention strategies, planning and organization, multiple drafting, peer review; revision for logical coherence and style; editing and proofreading for grammar, mechanics, and punctuation.5. Write a focused, well-organized 8-12 page argumentative research paper on a topic appropriate for academic audiences that analyzes and integrates primary and secondary sources, and documents sources in MLA format, exhibiting few errors in grammar, usage, mechanics, or punctuation.

Course Theme:

The theme we will be exploring this semester is systemic inequality, in other words how established systems like federal and state governments and the corrections system as well as cultural institutions and unconscious bias create an environment that produces unequal treatment of the people. Furthermore, we will be exploring potential solutions to these inequalities and how those solutions can be sustained to create a more equal society.

Required Texts and Materials:

Goshgarian, Gary and Kathleen Krueger. Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader.

Pearson/Longman, 2015.

ISBN: 978-0-321-92553-4

Edin, Kathryn and Luke Shaefer. $2.00 a Day Living on Almost Nothing in America. Mariner,

2016.

ISBN: 978-0-544-81195-9

Bullock, Richard et al. The Little Seagull Handbook. W.W. Norton and Company, 2017.

ISBN: 978-0-393-60264-7

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow. The New Press, 2012.

ISBN: 978-1-59558-643-8

A college-level dictionary.One folder in which to keep all of your work.A notebook for notes.A flashdrive on which to save your papers as well as computer and library access.A binder for your Personal Progress Portfolio

Grading:

Letter grades for this course will be based on the following scale:100-90%=A 89-80%=B 79-70%=C 69-60%=D 59% and below=F

The various assignments for this course will be weighted as follows:

Research Paper: 30% Essay 1: 5%

Exam 1: 5% Essay 2: 5%

Exam 2: 5% Essay 3: 5%

Synthesis: 5% Summaries: 5%

Annotated Bibliography: 5% Quizzes: 5%

Critique: 5% Participation/Classwork: 5%

Analysis of Book-Length Works: 5% Library Assignment: 5%

Personal Progress Portfolio: 5%

Policies to be Aware Of:

Attendance:Mastering college-level writing takes time and consistent effort. Therefore, regular and punctual attendance is mandatory. After four absences or coming to class late or leaving early six times, you will be dropped from the course regardless of the reason. If you foresee any attendance problems from the start, please drop the course as soon as possible and take it again at a more convenient time. I would like to see you succeed, not struggle and possibly fail due to conflicting schedules. Also, since classes are usually full and have waitlists, students who do not attend the first two class sessions will be dropped.

Assignment Format:All assignments, unless otherwise indicated, should be typed using size 12 font, one inch margins, and a reasonable font style.

Late Assignments:With this class, since so much must be accomplished in so little a time, it is imperative that students stay on top of their work and not miss deadlines. Therefore, late assignments are not accepted except in the case of an emergency (such as a legal or medical emergency). Assignments that are missed for other reasons, for example a conflicting work schedule or a faulty printer, will not be accepted. If missing a due date is unavoidable, make alternative arrangements with the instructor beforehand. Simply missing a date and making excuses after the fact is not acceptable.

Rewrites:In order to further foster revision, students will be able to revise two essays during the course of the semester. In order to be accepted, the revision should be turned in with the original assignment and show significant improvement. The new grade will then be an average of the revised assignment and the original. All revisions are due one week after the student has received the original graded assignment back.

Adding the class:Porterville College currently uses an automated wait list. If a spot opens up in the class, the computer will select a student from the wait list to be put in the class. This being the case, I will not sign any add slips, especially for people who are not on the wait list.

Cheating and Plagiarism:Plagiarism, cheating, or any other form of academic dishonesty is not acceptable. If a student cheats or plagiarizes in any way, he or she will receive a zero on the assignment in question and

possibly be referred to the dean of students who may take administrative action including the possibility of suspension.

Assignment Descriptions:

Essays 1-3:Each of these essays is a different preparative draft for the course research paper. While each paper has slightly different directions, some general expectations apply to all three of these essays: Each of these essays must first and foremost adhere to argumentative academic essay format. Each must have a clear, well-written introduction, body, and conclusion and clearly stay on topic and remain unified. Each of these essays must also have a strong, well-crafted, argumentative thesis statement which is clearly and coherently supported in the body.. Each essay will also need to be carefully edited and contain few, if any, grammar mistakes. Although some of the essays will be written in class, careful proofreading will still be essential. In addition, these essays must have a level of formality appropriate to academic writing and must also have an appropriate academic tone.

Essay 1 Exploration:This essay will be your first attempt at making an argument on your chosen topic and will allow you to explore your topic in writing for the first time, hence the name exploration. This essay, unlike the other three, will be written completely without sources using only reasoning that you come up with, hypothetical examples, and common knowledge as support for the thesis you've chosen. This will allow you to test your topic and see if there is enough material for an argument that can be developed into a research paper. Therefore, choosing a topic and appropriate thesis must be done carefully and with instructor approval. This paper will need to be at least 500 words long, but, since it will not use sources, will not need to have a works cited page or internal documentation. This essay will be written in class and, therefore, will not need to be typed.

Essay 2 Use of Preliminary Source Material:This essay will be the second version of your research paper. For this paper, you will need to rewrite your first essay so that it uses at least two sources that you've researched to support the thesis. Note that should you change topics before writing this essay, for this assignment you will need to write an entirely new essay on this new topic, which must also be instructor-approved, using at least two sources. This essay will be take- home and, therefore, must be typed. It should be at least two full typed pages long and appropriately document the sources used. It should also have an appropriately formatted works cited page. Note, however, that the works cited page does not count as part of the page length requirement. In addition, note that this essay should correct any and all errors that occurred in the first essay.

Essay 3 Rebuttal Paper:This essay, the third version of your research paper, will be a revision of the second essay, but in addition to the corrections, and use of source material, this paper must also include at least two rebuttals of arguments that oppose your thesis. This will greatly strengthen your argument and allow you expand your paper without simply padding it. Unlike Essay 2, this paper will be written in class and should be at least two full paragraphs longer than Essay 2. It must also include a properly formatted works cited page, which will not count as part of the length for the assignment.

Critique:In order to assess your critical reading and evaluation skills, we will be writing a critique. For this assignment, you will be required to write an essay that evaluates the credibility of a source you are considering using for your research paper in which, you will be arguing either for or against your source's credibility using specific examples from the source to support your stance. This assignment should be at least 2-4 pages long and follow the critique format (which we will discuss in class). It will require correct MLA documentation and a works cited page. Note that the source students select for this assignment should be argumentative rather than informational.

Annotated Bibliography:This is a rather important assignment that directly relates to your research paper. For this assignment, you will need to find and read at least 10 sources that you will be using for your research paper. For each source, you will need to create an MLA style bibliographic entry. Also, after each entry you will need to write a brief summary of the source (one paragraph approximately 150 words long) and then briefly (in a sentence or two) explain why the source is important or useful to the research paper that you plan to write. To help manage the workload with this assignment, this assignment will be broken up into two parts, with each part needing entries for at least 5 sources and with each part having its own due date.

Summaries:In order to understand how different pieces of writing function rhetorically, we will be writing summaries on several different essays. Each summary must convey the main and supporting ideas of the essay, leaving out minor detail. The ideas of the essay expressed in the summary must also be understandable to someone who has not read the essay. In addition, summaries must be written in the correct format and must avoid simply re-narrating the essay. A set of critical reading notes must also be attached to the summary as a separate document. These critical reading notes will indicate whether you think the essay is credible or not and explain briefly why. Note that each summary must be proportional in length to the original essay.

Quizzes:In order to assess your progress with and comprehension of the concepts and reading that this class requires, we will have a number of quizzes. These will largely be given at the beginning of class and cannot be made up if missed due to absence or tardiness.

Synthesis:In preparation for writing longer versions of your research paper, you will be required to write a synthesis. This assignment is really a mini version of your research paper and will aid you in writing out your argument in a slightly more expanded format. This paper will also require you to group sources that support similar arguments together so that your research paper takes on a deliberate shape and successfully synthesizes the information in your sources. The synthesis will need to be 3-5 pages long and use 3-5 sources. It should be argumentative with a strong, well-supported thesis. You will also need to use MLA documentation style both in-text and on the works cited page. This will be a take-home essay and will need to be typed.

Analysis of Book-Length Texts:This assignment will be the culmination of our work with the two books for this class, $2.00 a Day and The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. For this paper, you will have a few options, but largely, this paper will require that you analyze these books in the light of the concept of systemic inequality. This assignment will need to be 2-4 pages long and need to use both books as sources. Any other sources that you choose to use for this paper will need to be approved by the instructor. This paper will be take-home, will require MLA format (in-text citations and a works cited page), need to be typed, and require the student to have read and have a solid grasp of the issues and themes involved in both texts.

Exam 1:About half-way through the semester we will have our first exam which will consist of an in-class essay that is focused on a specific reading. This is meant to be a test of your writing and editing skills as well as your critical reading abilities. Practicing with the essays required in class, therefore, will be invaluable in doing well on this exam. This paper will need to be handwritten in a bluebook and need to be at least 500 words long. As with our other essays, this will need to have a strong thesis, cogent support, and properly cited references to the source. This essay, however, will not require MLA documentation.

Classwork and Participation:During this course you will be given a number of in-class and out of class activities designed to help you master the skills necessary to do well in this class. Participating in these activities and being an active learner in class will greatly add to your abilities as a student and a writer.

Library Assignment:This important assignment requires you to explore and become familiar with the Porterville College Library resources. This assignment will require you to find out how to search for books, articles, websites, and other important sources for your research paper.

Personal Progress Portfolio:Since writing documented research papers and thinking critically are complex, multi-faceted activities that require many related skills, we will be creating a personal progress portfolio in

which each student will get an opportunity to select a reading, writing, critical thinking, or research skill he or she is having difficulty with and work on improving it and integrating that skill back into his or her writing and other activities. With instructor approval, the student will select an appropriate skill to work on, study and work on that skill, and provide evidence of practice with that skill and incorporation of that skill into regular class writing and other activities as a part of this portfolio, which will be turned in near the end of the semester. A more detailed outline of what is expected for this portfolio will be distributed early in the semester.

Research Paper:This assignment is the most challenging and rewarding part of the course. It is the culmination of the planning, research, and hard work that you have put into the class. The research paper will need to be 8-10 pages long, use 8-10 sources, use correct MLA documentation both in-text and on the works cited page, and be less than 20% direct quotes. It will need to have a well-crafted argumentative thesis that is strongly supported. The paper will also need to be well-organized, unified, and well-developed. To many students, and assignment of this size can be intimidating, but if you have done the work and the research in good faith, writing this paper should come almost naturally. However, if you have any questions or problems, contact me as soon as possible.

Exam 2:At the close of this class, we will have our second exam. This exam will consist of an in-class essay that is meant to test your ability to critically think, write a strong, coherent argument, and properly cite sources with MLA. Beforehand you will be given two sources to read and study. On the day of the final, you will need to write a 500 word minimum essay that effectively utilizes both sources and properly cites them using MLA documentation including internal documentation and a works cited page. Like the midterm, this essay will need to be handwritten in a bluebook.

TammyLynde.weebly.com:This is the web page for our class as well as the other classes I teach. For this class, I will be posting our syllabus, many of the powerpoints used in class, and many other important documents on this site as well. Please see me if you have difficulty accessing any of the materials.

Turnitin.com:Turnitin.com is a tool to help you avoid plagiarism. Approximately two hours after you submit your paper to this online program, you can access a color-coded report with details about your use of sources in your paper. Because this site does not detect problems with paraphrasing that is not cited properly, you should use this site only as a guide. To use turnitin.com, you will need to register on the site and set up a password. Once this is done, you will then need to create a “user profile” specifically for this class and any others that may use the site. You will need the following information to set up your user profile: Class ID–22010625Class Enrollment Key/Password––Argument2

After your profile is created, you can log onto and use the site. Note: Submitting a paper to turnitin.com does not mean you have submitted your paper to your instructor; you must also hand in a copy of your paper to your instructor.For this course, the following assignments will need to be turned in to turnitin.com:

Annotated BibliographySynthesisResearch Paper Rough DraftResearch Paper Final DraftAnalysis of Book-Length WorksCritique Essay 2If, however, any of these assignments are turned in without being turned in to turnitin.com, 10% will be deducted from the grade with the exception of the final draft of the Research Paper. The final draft of the Research Paper will not be accepted if it is not also turned in to turnitin.com by the time it is due in class.

Course Calendar:

Note: All assigned reading should be completed before the day it appears on the calendar.

8/26 (Week 1): Introduction to course and course theme. Introduction to academic writing as a scholarly conversation and critical reading as a necessary foundation for entering the conversation. “What We Talk About When We Talk About Pay Inequity” Handout. “Unconscious Bias: How It Affects Us More Than We Know” Handout. “Inside 100 million police traffic stops: New evidence of racial bias” Handout.

8/28: In-class Diagnostic Essay.

9/2: Holiday. No School.

9/4 (Week2): Critical reading continued: Levels of reading. Critical reading tools. Argument basics: thesis, reasons, evidence. Summarization. Dialogues 27-39. “Should Juveniles be Tried as Adults?” Handout. Go over diagnostic and Personal Progress Portfolio.

9/9 (Week 3): Summary 1 Due. More tools to analyze and evaluate arguments: Types of arguments. Types of support. The three classical appeals: Ethos, Logos, Pathos. Ambiguity in arguments. “With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything” Handout. “Imaginary Perversion Becoming a Crime” Handout.

9/11: More on the appeals and ambiguity. Critical thinking continued: Value Assumptions. Beginning the research paper: selecting researchable topics and basic research strategies.

9/16 (Week 4): Summary 2 Due. Tentative Research Topics Due. MLA basics. Little Seagull 109-157. The Background Assignment: What are the main arguments on this topic? What evidence is available?

9/18: Critical reading continued: Descriptive Assumptions. More on MLA basics: creating a works consulted list.

9/23 (Week 5): Summary 3 Due. Background Assignment (in class).

9/25: Beginning to enter the scholarly conversation: Crafting a research proposal. Critical reading continued: Logical fallacies. Dialogues 47-59.

9/30 (Week 6): Summary 4 Due. Research Proposal Due. More on logic and fallacies. Critiquing sources. Seagull 43-48. Essay and writing basics.

10/2: Essay 1 (in-class).

10/7 (Week 7): More on critiquing sources. Writing a critique essay. “Slaves, Monsters, and Others” Handout.

10/9: Practice Critique (in class).

10/14 (Week 8): MLA continued: more on integrating sources into the text of an essay. Avoiding plagiarism. Little Seagull 97-108.

10/16: Critique Due. Planning the next draft of the research paper. Beginning to compile the annotated bibliography.

10/21 (Week 9): Exam 1

10/23: Essay 2 Due. More on annotated bibliographies. Additional argumentation strategies: Rebuttals and addressing opposition fairly and effectively. Dialogues 80-99. Toulmin. Dialogues 189-204.

10/28 (Week 10): Essay 3 (in-class).

10/30: More practice with annotated bibliographies. Writing the synthesis: Expanding and organizing complex arguments. Outline of synthesis (in-class). Library Assignment Due.

11/4 (Week 11): Introduction to $2.00 a Day and extreme poverty in America. Workshop on the synthesis. Annotated Bibliography Part I Due.

11/6: Synthesis Due. Reading Quiz. $2.00 a Day 1-63.

11/11: Holiday. No School.

11/13 (Week 12): Annotated Bibliography Part II Due. Reading Quiz. $2.00 a Day 64-128.

11/18 (Week 13): Reading Quiz. $2.00 a Day 129-174. Mass Incarceration. Intro to The New Jim Crow.

11/20: Reading Quiz. The New Jim Crow 1-96.

11/25 (Week 14): Reading Quiz. The New Jim Crow 97-177. Schedule conferences. Writing the Research Paper.

11/27: Reading Quiz. The New Jim Crow 178-261. Writing the literary analysis. Research Paper Rough Draft Due.

11/28-29: Holiday. No School.

12/2 (Week 15): Analysis of Book-Length Works Due. Conferences.

12/4: Personal Progress Portfolio Due. Conferences.

12/9 (Week 16): Research Paper Final Draft Due. Exam 2. Note that this date may change depending on the college's official final exam schedule.

Students With Disabilities:

Porterville College is committed to providing access to education for students with disabilities. If you have a disability or medical condition which requires an accommodation, please contact the Disability Resource Center in the Academic Center; room AC-115 or call (559)791-2215