Course Schedule

Date Topic Assignments
8/28  Course Overview Read: Syllabus
8/30  Learning to Learn Read: Wikiversity – The Socratic Method

Plato – Meno

Due: Join OpenLab

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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

City Tech Library Plagiarism Tutorial

In Conversation – Plagiarism and Ethical Citation

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 SuccessDeveloping 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

Summarizing and Quoting

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

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

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

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

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)

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