| Date | Topic | Assignments |
| 8/28 | Course Overview | Read: Syllabus |
| 8/30 | Learning to Learn | Read: Wikiversity – The Socratic Method
Due: Join OpenLab Sign up for a City Tech New York Times Subscription |
| 9/4 | The Writing Process – Prewriting | Read: James Bessen – “The Automation Paradox”
In Conversation – Understanding Rhetoric, Audience, Writer, Purpose, Brainstorming Excelsior OWL – Prewriting Strategies Writing For Success – Apply Prewriting Models Lab: Prewriting/Brainstorming |
| 9/6 | Plagiarism | Read: Excelsior OWL – Plagiarism – Click through and read all the slideshows and do the self check quizzes |
| 9/11 | NO CLASS | NO CLASS |
| 9/13 | The Writing Process – Arguments and Logic | Read: Clinton Lawson – “America’s 150-Year Opioid Epidemic”
Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking Sections 1.1 – 1.7 |
| 9/18 | NO CLASS | NO CLASS |
| 9/20 | The Writing Process – Arguments and Logic | Read: Austin Frakt – “Overshadowed by the Opioid Crisis: A Comeback by Cocaine”
Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking Sections 1.8 – 1.12 Excelsior OWL – Modes of Persuasion |
| 9/25 | The Writing Process – Thesis | Michael Pollan – “My Adventures With the Trip Doctors”
Excelsior OWL – Argumentative Thesis Writing For Success – Developing a Strong, Clear Thesis Statement Due: Personal Essay Draft (in class) – 2 copies Lab: Peer Review |
| 9/27 | The Writing Process – Summarizing and Quotation | Read: Ezra Klein – “How Politics Makes Us Stupid”
In Conversation – Introduction to Summary Writing |
| 10/2 | The Writing Process – Transitions | Read: Daniel DeNicola – “You don’t have a right to believe whatever you want to”
Excelsior OWL – Paragraphing & Transitioning Lab: In-Class Writing #1 |
| 10/4 | The Writing Process – Revising and Editing | Read: Skye C. Cleary – “Human Nature Matters”
Excelsior OWL – Revising and Editing Writing For Success – Revising and Editing |
| 10/7 | Personal Essay Final | Due: Personal Essay Final Draft (on Blackboard) |
| 10/9 | Read: Stephen T. Asma – “What Religion Gives Us (That Science Can’t)”
Lab: In-Class Writing #2 |
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| 10/11 | Read: Jeff Sebo – Should Chimpanzees Be Considered ‘Persons’? | |
| 10/16 | Read: Vasilis Kostakis – “Utopia Now”
Due: Compare/Contrast Draft (in class) – 2 copies Lab: Peer Review |
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| 10/18 | Read: Michael Robillard – The ‘Killer Robots’ are Us | |
| 10/23 | Read: Matthew Stewart – “The 9.9 Percent is the New American Aristocracy”
Lab: Individual Essay Review |
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| 10/25 | Read: Andrew Jacobs – In Sweeping War on Obesity, Chile Slays Tony the Tiger” | |
| 10/28 | Compare/Contrast Final | Due: Compare/Contrast Final Draft (on Blackboard) |
| 10/30 | Introduction to Research | Read: Aaron R. Brough & James E.B. Wilkie – “Men Resist Green Behavior as Unmanly”
Lab: Introduction to Research |
| 11/1 | Midterm Essay | In-Class Midterm Essay |
| 11/6 | The Research Process | Read: Andrew Reiner – “Talking to Boys the Way We Talk to Girls”
Due: Research Question and Thesis (in class) Lab: In-Class Writing #2 |
| 11/8 | Doing Research | Read: David McGlynn – “In the #MeToo Era, Raising Boys to Be Good Guys” |
| 11/13 | Read: Jeff Goodell – “Can New York Be Saved?”
Lab: Reliable and Academic Sources, Evaluating Sources |
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| 11/15 | Academic / Reliable Sources | Read: Bill McKibben – “Winning Slowly is the Same as Losing” |
| 11/20 | Scholarly Communication / Peer Review | Read: Jason W. Moore – “The Rise of Cheap Nature” |
| 11/22 | NO CLASS | NO CLASS |
| 11/27 | Organizing Research | Read: Hans J. Morgenthau – “Death in the Nuclear Age”
Due: Annotated Bibliography (in class) |
| 11/29 | Read: Henry David Thoreau – “Civil Disobedience” | |
| 12/4 | Read: 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) |
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| 12/6 | Read: Ta-Nehisi Coates – “The Case for Reparations” | |
| 12/11 | Read: Emily Badger, Claire Cain Miller, Adam Pearce, & Kevin Quealy – “Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys” | |
| 12/13 | Hand out/Read Final Exam Reading | |
| 12/16 | Research Essay Final | Due: Research Essay (on Blackboard) |
| 12/18 | Final Exam | |
| 12/20 | Final Exam Make Up | |
