ENG 1121 Syllabus: Spring 2018 ENG 1121 D430 syllabus

ENG 1121-D430—English Composition II

Tuesday/Thursday, 10:00-11:15 p.m. N1007

 

Professor Ruth Garcia

Email: RGarcia@citytech.cuny.edu

Office Hours: Tuesday 9:00-10:00 a.m., Wednesday 2:30-3:30 p.m., and by appointment

Office/Mailbox Location:  Namm 503

Phone Number: (718) 260-5117

 

Course Description and Learning Outcomes

This is an advanced course in communication skills, including the expository essay and the research essay. This course further develops students’ reading and writing skills through literary and expository readings.

In this class students will write analytical essays on a variety of literary genres to cultivate interpretive skills. Using close reading, discussion and various writing techniques, you will consider language, details and style to develop your analytical and academic writing skills. This is a communications intensive course; you will be expected to participate actively in class discussions and presentations, write informal and formal essays, and respond to your classmates’ writing.

 In this course, you will develop the following skills:

• Increased ability to read and listen critically and analytically.
• Increased ability to interpret meaning in literary texts by paying close attention to an author’s choices of detail, vocabulary, content, and style.
• Increased confidence in the oral presentation of ideas.
• Increased ability to formulate original ideas and write a critical essay employing a strong thesis statement, contextual evidence for your ideas, and appropriate textual citations.
• Increased ability in research skills, including gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing primary and secondary sources.

 

Required Texts

– The texts for this course will be available on our OpenLab class site.

-An online writing guide such as the Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

OpenLab

This course will use OpenLab. You must sign up for an OpenLab account and become a member of our class site. It is your responsibility to check the site regularly and access the readings in advance of class. Also, instructions for assignments, as well as class announcements, will appear there.

 

In order to set up your OpenLab account, you must activate your City Tech email. I will only send or reply to email from your City Tech email address, so make sure you set it up early and check it regularly.

 

 

Other Materials 

Bring to class one sturdy notebook with paper for notes and at least one folder with pockets for handouts/assignments. Both spiral-bound or 3-ring are acceptable. You must devise a system to record, store, and organize the course materials. It is very important that you save all of your work for this class. Devise a filing system that allows you to maintain prior drafts and final copies of all major assignments, as well as your research notes, outlines, and written evaluations. Save all final drafts of assignments on a stable format such as a flash drive or on a remote hard drive/server such as Dropbox. Never throw away or delete drafts or notes until after you have received your final grade.

 

Grading

Your course grade will be calculated according to the following breakdown:

• Formal Essays: 35%
• Research Assignments: 15%
• Final Exam:  15%
• Presentations (Group Presentations and Oral Presentations): 20%
• Active Participation: 15% (This includes attendance, participation in class discussion, assignments and group work, and preparedness.)

(Note: You must pass the final to pass the class. An F on the final will result in an automatic F for the course.  Additionally, passing the final does not mean that you will pass the course. All requirements and assignments must be successfully met in order to pass this course.)

 

Assignments and Essays

 

Formal writing: you will write three formal essays throughout the course of the semester. These will be written both in and out of class. For those essays written at home, you will be required to submit a hard copy of the paper.

 

• All essay assignments should follow MLA format. This means that all rough and final drafts must be typed, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins all around, in 12 point Times New Roman font. The first page must display student’s name, your teacher’s name (Professor Ruth Garcia), the class you are in, and the date the paper is due. Every paper should have an original title. I recommend that you obtain a writing handbook for the purposes of formatting and editing your work. You may have one from an earlier writing course, or you can use the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

 

• Since writing is a process, you should draft and revise your essay before submitting the final draft. While I will not review an entire essay via email, I’m happy to conference with you about your essay drafts and ideas during my office hours. I am also happy to respond to specific questions via email. Feel free to consult with me at any stage in your writing process.

 

• Your writing should be grammatically correct and free of spelling errors, and it should demonstrate increasingly complex critical thinking and analysis as the semester progresses. If this is a challenge for you, I encourage you to visit my office hours and the Learning Center for help throughout the semester.

 

• I do not accept late papers. All essays must be submitted as a hardcopy, by the start of class on the day they are due or you will get no credit for them. And there will be no make-ups given for in-class essays. If you have a personal emergency or other circumstances that prohibit you from finishing your assignment on time or turning in an essay as scheduled, email or see me as soon as possible so we can discuss your situation.

 

• All homework assignments are due by the start of class, and there will be no make-ups on quizzes or in-class work. If you have a personal emergency or other circumstances that prohibit you from finishing your assignment on time or turning in an essay as scheduled, email or see me as soon as possible so we can discuss your situation.

 

Informal writing: In addition to the graded essay assignments that you will have to complete to do well in this class, you will also be required to complete a variety of informal, non-graded assignments throughout the semester.  Examples of these assignments may include, but are not limited to, any in-class writing such as reflections, or free-writing, group projects, and focus questions assigned for homework. These exercises are designed to ensure your understanding of the main points of each topic. They will also push you to think critically about the ideas and issues raised over the course of the semester, thereby making you an active participant in the learning process. Though all the writing that you do in this course is not collected or graded, I do randomly collect these and they do contribute to your final grade.  If you consistently fail to hand in the informal writing assignments, you will receive an “F” for class participation.  Furthermore, if the majority of the class does not consistently hand in these assignments, there will be reading quizzes. These will be graded.

 

New York City College of Technology Policy on Academic Integrity

Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions, and other intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, crediting, and citing sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the College recognizes its responsibility for providing instruction in information literacy and academic integrity, offering models of good practice, and responding vigilantly and appropriately to infractions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and at New York City College of Technology and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. The complete text of the College policy on Academic Integrity may be found in the catalog.

Students are expected to be familiar with the accepted academic principles regarding plagiarism. If ANY section, no matter how small, of your work is plagiarized, you will get a ZERO for that paper, with no rewrites.

 

Class Participation, Attendance, and Lateness:

Regular attendance and active participation are extremely important, so be sure to attend class regularly and arrive on time so you can get the best grade possible. Missing multiple class meetings or consistently arriving late to class will impact your grade in several ways: You will lose active participation because quizzes, peer review workshops, and in-class writing/activities cannot be made up, you will be less prepared for your essays and exams, and you will quickly fall behind on the course concepts covered in lectures and discussions. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to email me about your situation, to keep up with the reading/homework, and to contact your classmates to find out what you missed.

 

In order to demonstrate that you are fully present during class, I expect you to arrive prepared, to ask and answer questions, and to participate in a positive classroom environment (including turning all electronic devices to silent and treating your fellow students and myself with a positive and respectful attitude. Electronic devices should be used only for the purpose of course work (reading the textbook, looking up words in the dictionary) and nothing else. You may not text, browse the internet, or record or photograph anything in the classroom.

 

Center for Student Accessibility

The Center for Student Accessibility (CSA) is located in the Atrium Building (A-237) and provides accommodations for students with documented disabilities. For more information, please call (718) 260-5143 or email John Currie at jcurrie@citytech.cuny.edu.  If you have an IEP or have received extra time on tests in the past, you need to coordinate with CSA early in the semester.

 

Finally, please keep in mind throughout the semester, if ever any type of question, problem, or confusion should arise contact me so that we can address whatever may prevent you from successfully completing this course

 

Weekly Course Outline (subject to change):

 

Readings and assignments are due by the beginning of class on the dates shown.

This is a list of the major reading assignments for the course. It may be revised as dictated by the needs of the class. Additional assignments may be added and posted on OpenLab each week. Students are responsible for completing all assigned reading before each class meeting. You are also responsible for having the reading in class.

 

T 1/30: Introductions; syllabus review
Th 2/1: In-class close reading exercises

T 2/6: Ann Charter, “Elements of Fiction” and Kate Chopin, “Story of an Hour”
Th 2/8: Excerpt from Bram Stoker’s Dracula

T 2/13: Excerpt from William Godwin’s Caleb Williams
Th 2/15: Essay 1 Writing Workshop

T 2/20: No class (classes follow a Monday schedule)
Th 2/22: Reading TBA/argumentative writing exercise

T 2/27: In-Class Essay/Essay 1
Th 3/1: Zora Neale Hurston, “Sweat”

T 3/6: Susan Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers”
Th 3/8: Susan Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers” continued

T 3/13: Glaspell and Hurston continued
Th 3/15: In-class workshop for the presentations

T 3/20: Graded group oral presentations
Th 3/22: Essay 2 Writing Workshop

T 3/27: Margaret Cavendish, The Convent of Pleasure
Th 3/29: Library

T 4/3: Spring Recess
Th 4/5: Spring Recess

T 4/10: Margaret Cavendish The Convent of Pleasure
Th 4/12: Margaret Cavendish The Convent of Pleasure; Essay 2 Due

T 4/17: In-class Research Essay Writing Workshop
Th 4/19: Diction; Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Bean Eaters,” Theodore Rothke, “Root Cellar,” Emily Dickinson, “341;” Poem for essay 3 due in class

T 4/24: Imagery and Figurative Language; Langston Hughes, “Harlem,” Billy Collins, “On Turning Ten,”          and others TBA
Th, 4/26: Imagery and theme; Robert Hayden, “Those Winter Sundays,” Theodore Rothke, “My Papa’s Waltz,” and others TBA

T 5/1: Sound; Dylan Thomas, “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night,” Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky,” Emily Dickinson, “Because I could not stop for Death,” and others TBA; Essay 3/Research Essay Due
Th 5/3: Theme: Sex and Love; Sharon Olds, “Sex Without Love,” John Donne, “The Flea,” Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”

T 5/8: Oral Presentations
Th 5/10: Oral Presentations

T 5/15: Final Exam Review
Th 5/17: Final Exam

T 5/22: Conclusions