Course Schedule

Date Topic Assignments
8/30  Course Overview / Diagnostic Essay Read: Syllabus

Due: Join OpenLab

Sign up for a City Tech New York Times Subscription

Diagnostic Essay

9/6 Plagiarism /

The Writing Process – Prewriting

Read: Wikiversity – The Socratic Method

Plato – Meno

James Bessen – “The Automation Paradox”

Excelsior OWL – Plagiarism – Click through and read all the slideshows and do the self-check quizzes

City Tech Library Plagiarism Tutorial

In Conversation – Plagiarism and Ethical Citation, Understanding Rhetoric, Audience, Writer, Purpose, Brainstorming

Excelsior OWL – Prewriting Strategies

Writing For Success Apply Prewriting Models

Lab: Prewriting/Brainstorming

9/13  The Writing Process – Arguments, Logic, and Thesis Read: Clinton Lawson – “America’s 150-Year Opioid Epidemic”

Austin Frakt – “Overshadowed by the Opioid Crisis: A Comeback by Cocaine”

Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking Chapter 1

Excelsior OWL – Modes of Persuasion & Argumentative Thesis

Writing For Success – Developing a Strong, Clear Thesis Statement

9/20 Read: Ezra Klein – “How Politics Makes Us Stupid”

Daniel DeNicola – “You don’t have a right to believe whatever you want to”

In Conversation – Introduction to Summary Writing

Summarizing and Quoting

Excelsior OWL – Paragraphing & Transitioning

Lab: In-Class Writing #1

9/27 The Writing Process – Summarizing, Quotation, and Transitions Read: Skye C. Cleary – “Human Nature Matters”

 Stephen T. Asma – “What Religion Gives Us (That Science Can’t)”

Excelsior OWL – Revising and Editing

Writing For Success Revising and Editing

Due: Personal Essay Draft (in class) – 2 copies

Lab: Peer Review

10/4  The Writing Process – Revising and Editing Read: Andrew Jacobs – “In Sweeping War on Obesity, Chile Slays Tony the Tiger”

Michael Pollan – “My Adventures With the Trip Doctors”

Lab: Individual Essay Review

10/7 Personal Essay Final Due: Personal Essay Final Draft (on Blackboard)
10/11 Read: Jeff Sebo – Should Chimpanzees Be Considered ‘Persons’?

Vasilis Kostakis – “Utopia Now”

Lab: In-Class Writing #2

10/18 Read: Michael Robillard – The ‘Killer Robots’ are Us

Matthew Stewart – “The 9.9 Percent is the New American Aristocracy”

Due: Compare/Contrast Draft (in class) – 2 copies

Lab: Peer Review

10/25 Read: Andrew Reiner – “Talking to Boys the Way We Talk to Girls”

Aaron R. Brough & James E.B. Wilkie – “Men Resist Green Behavior as Unmanly”

Lab: Individual Essay Review

10/28 Compare/Contrast Final Due: Compare/Contrast Final Draft (on Blackboard)
11/1 Midterm Essay

 

The Research Process

In-Class Midterm Essay

Read: David McGlynn – “In the #MeToo Era, Raising Boys to Be Good Guys”

Lab: Introduction to Research

11/8 Doing Research Read: Jeff Goodell – “Can New York Be Saved?”

Bill McKibben – “Winning Slowly is the Same as Losing”

Due: Research Question and Thesis (in class)

Lab: In-Class Writing #2

11/15 Academic / Reliable Sources

Scholarly Communication / Peer Review

Read: Jason W. Moore – “The Rise of Cheap Nature”

Lab: Reliable and Academic Sources, Evaluating Sources

11/22 NO CLASS NO CLASS
11/29  Organizing and Applying Research Read: Hans J. Morgenthau – “Death in the Nuclear Age”

Due: Annotated Bibliography (in class)

Lab: Applying Research

12/6  Organizing and Applying Research Read: Henry David Thoreau – “Civil Disobedience”

Martin Luther King Jr. – “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Here is a link to a scan of the actual typed letter and audio recordings

Lab: In-Class Writing #3

Due: Research Outline (in class)

12/13 Read: Ta-Nehisi Coates – “The Case for Reparations”

Emily Badger, Claire Cain Miller, Adam Pearce, & Kevin Quealy – “Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys”

Lab: Hand out Final Exam Reading

12/16 Research Essay Final Due: Research Essay (on Blackboard)
12/20 Final Exam Final Exam