Prof. Michael Gavin
English 101, M-3082
office hours: 8-9, 12-1 pm MWF and by appointment, Office M3069
(301) 322-0577
email: gavinmh@pgcc.edu
Website: http://academic.pgcc.edu/~mgavin/
English 101-English Composition I
Throughout this semester, we will engage with multiple forms of media, from essays to
short stories, from film to commercial media to hone our thinking and writing skills.
Although many of the discussions we have will revolve around issues of race, nationality,
gender, and identity, the focus will be on critical thought and writing. At the crux of the
course are the following questions:
How does media, in all its forms, help us to understand the concept of culture, race, and
history?
How does our identity become formed? Does it relate to the era in which we live, things
we read, watch or do?
Where is there opportunity to view problematic representations of identity in media? To
what extent do we have power to reshape ideas about identity through media or criticism
of it?
Course Outcomes for English 101
Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:
(1.) Write informative, analytical, and argumentative essays
(2.) Formulate restricted, unified, and precise thesis statements for essays
(3.) Organize essay content into introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs
(4.) Compose restricted, unified, and precise topic sentences for paragraphs
(5.) Write unified, coherent, and well-developed paragraphs
(6.) Apply grammar and usage rules correctly
(7.) Use appropriate diction
(8.) Write clear, concise sentences
In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to conduct basic research:
(1.) Use the library resources to locate and evaluate material relevant to specific topic
(2.) Take notes in sufficient detail and with accurate citation
(3.) Demonstrate their understanding of the concept of plagiarism by not using a source
without proper acknowledgment
(4.) Synthesize several different sources into an essay to support its thesis
(5.) Quote, summarize, and paraphrase responsibly within that paper
(6.) Document sources according to the MLA format.
Required Texts
Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. 5th edition.
****The rest of the readings appear on the internet, and are available either through the
College’s Research Library or the website given to you on the syllabus. Part of
successful completion of the course is to demonstrate the ability to retrieve information
using technology. Hence, you are responsible for getting the articles designated on the
syllabus, reading them, and speaking of them on the date they are listed on the syllabus.
However, if you have a legitimate problem finding an article, I will supply you with it the
class day prior to the date we will discuss it, but only if you allow me sufficient time to
do so.
An on-line version of this syllabus is available at http://academic.pgcc.edu/~mgavin/.
There, you can link directly to the on-line articles and to the College’s Online Database.
Use the address http://www.pgcc.edu/library/online.htm. Once, there, go to ‘Research
Library, and use the article name and author’s name in quotes to search for the article.
For example to find the article for March 8th, type the article name and author in the
search box exactly as appears below:
“Run to Daylight” and “S.L. Price”
Class Format and Grading Criterion:
Class participation, which encompasses writing, reading, and discussion is 15% of your
final grade. You are required to share your insights from the readings with us. If you do
not, you are robbing the class of potential ideas and thereby limiting classmates’
progression in writing and critical thinking. Therefore, you must come to class prepared
to discuss and/or write about each assignment.
A note about all participation:
One of the hardest things to do is to learn how to stay within the bounds of academic
discussion--and not resort to personal attacks--when you disagree strongly with a member
of a classroom. However, this is a skill we all must learn. You don’t have to agree with
a member of our classroom, but you must respect that individual. Personal attacks will
not be tolerated, in the classroom or through peer response. Additionally, please do not
mistake quantity of participation with quality. Lastly, any extra-curricular discussion in
class will not be tolerated.
Attendance: The Department of English stipulates that absence from one fourth of the
classes, for whatever reason, is grounds for failure. Tardiness or leaving early will be
counted as absences. If you miss class or if you are late, you did not participate in the
fullest capacity. Hence, absences will directly affect your participation grade. Beyond
that, any absence over two will result in a lowering of the grade by one-third (A to an A-
). Five absences, despite the reason behind them, will result in failure of the class. You
are responsible for material covered and disseminated in class. Therefore, it may be
helpful to exchange phone numbers with members in the class to insure you can get the
information you missed. If you know you will be late or absent for a class, please let me
know ahead of time.
Academic Integrity Code/Plagiarism: The college is an institution of higher learning
that holds academic integrity as its highest principle. In the pursuit of knowledge, the
college community expects that all students, faculty, and staff will share responsibility for
adhering to the values of honesty and unquestionable integrity. To support a community
committed to academic achievement and scholarship, the Code of Academic Integrity
advances the principle of honest representation in the work that is produced by students
seeking to engage fully in the learning process. The complete text of the Code of
Academic Integrity is in the 2004-2005 Student Handbook (pages 41-43) and posted on
the college's website.
Code of Conduct: The Prince George's Community College Code of Conduct defines
the rights and responsibilities of students and establishes a system of procedures for
dealing with students charged with violations of the code and other rules and regulations
of the college. A student enrolling in the college assumes an obligation to conduct
himself/herself in a manner compatible with the college's function as an educational
institution. Refer to the 2004-2005 Student Handbook, beginning on page 39, for a
complete explanation of the code of conduct, including the Code of Academic Integrity
and the procedure for dealing with disruptive student behavior.
Late Papers and assignments: The pace of this course is fast. To keep up, you must
turn all papers and assignments on the date they are listed on the syllabus. Papers are due
the minute class begins, no exceptions. You should be sure to turn all papers in, no
matter how late, because a completed assignment--even an F--receives some points where
as an assignment that is never completed receives a zero. You may not e-mail your final
paper to me.
You may hand in a first draft of any or all papers prior to handing in a final draft. I will
make comments accordingly. However, the final papers may not be rewritten.
Typing: All final drafts of essays must be typed. One-inch margins are required, in a
font that is reasonable--Times, Helvetica, or Geneva, 12 point--and double-spaced.
Disabilities: If you have a diagnosed physical or learning disability that requires
accommodation, please see me after class or during my office hours to discuss
arrangements.
List of Assignments
All of the assignments will be explained in-depth through the use of an assignment sheet.
Papers 1-3 should be 550 words, about two full pages in 12 point font following the style
criteria identified above.
Name of Assignment
In-Class Discussion
Paper #1
Paper #2
Paper #3
Paper #4/Research Paper
Final Exam
Grade Weight
20%
10%
15%
20%
25%
10%
Final notes: All grades in this course are non-negotiable. All assignments must be
completed and turned in for you to pass the class.
Please, please, please, come to my office hours, feel free to approach me about this class
or any other topic, and be kind enough to disable all cell phones and pagers before
entering the class.
January 23:
Introduction to class and classmates
January 25:
Introduction to class rules, policies, and assignments
Free Writing exercise
January 27:
Introduction to Genre and discussion of media
January 30:
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King
Print out from the internet and read:
http://www.almaz.com/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html
February 1:
Opposing Points of View
“An Idea Whose Time Has Come” Manning Marable
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/323.html
“A Childish Illusion” Shelby Steele
http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/Newsweek/2001/08/27/315040?e
xtID=10037&oliID=229
February 3:
Clips from Ethnic Notions
Clips from Unforgivable Blackness
Nichols, Bill. “Getting to Know You.” Theorizing Documentary.
Ed. Michael Renov. New York: Routledge, 164-174. (handout)
February 6:
Assign Paper I
In-class writing, split up into groups for peer review
February 8:
“One Internet, Two Nations” Henry Louis Gates
http://www.black-collegian.com/african/gatesinternet1299.shtml
February 10:
Discussion and writing time for Paper I
February 13:
Peer Review of Paper I
February 15:
Clips from Do the Right Thing
“Becoming Desensitized to Hate Words” Ellen Goodman
(handout)
February 17:
Chapter 5 from Media Culture, by Douglass Kellner (handout)
February 20:
No class, President’s Day
February 22:
Paper #1 Due
Terrell Owens Monday Night Football Commercial
“The Great Indecency Hoax” Frank Rich
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1126-06.htm
February 24:
Assign Paper #2
Clips from Malcolm X
Angell, Elizabeth. “Witness to Change.” Independent.
January/February, 2006. (handout)
February 27:
Continue discussion from above
In Research Library, find:
Davis, Lisa Selin. “Do-Something Documentaries: Effecting
Change Beyond Affecting Attitudes.” Independent, April, 2005.
40-45.
March 1:
Clips from Twighlight, Menace II Society, and/or Boyz ‘n’ the
Hood, and Farenheight 9/11
In class writing time for paper #2
March 3:
“How Urban Myths Reveal Society’s Fears” Neal Gabler
(handout)
March 6:
Peer Review of Paper #2
March 8:
Find in Research Library:
“Run to Daylight” S.L. Price. Sports Illustrated. December 12,
2005.
Clips from Iraq War
March 10:
Hurricane Katrina
In Research Library Find:
“The Saints Come Through” Michael Silver. Sports Illustrated:
September 19, 2005
OR
“Dark Days.” Gary Smith. Michael Silver. Sports Illustrated:
September 12, 2005
March 13:
Paper #2 Due, Paper #3 Assigned
March 15:
Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address”
“Gettysburg Address” (attached to syllabus)
March 17:
“Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls” Katha Pollitt (handout)
March 20:
“Male Bashing on TV” Michael Abernathy
http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=693
March 22:
Catch up Day
In class writing time with group
March 24:
Peer Review of Paper #3
March 27:
Find in Research Library
“The Skinny” Richard Brookhiser
March 29:
“The Fat Girl” Richard Dubus (handout)
March 31:
Paper #3 Due, Paper #4, research paper, assigned
April 1:
“Can I Get a Witness” Sherman Alexie (handout)
April 3:
“Flight Pattern” Sherman Alexie (handout)
April 5:
MLA documentation lesson
Very important, do not miss this class, and don’t forget
Your Rules for Writers book
April 7:
TBA
April 10-16
Spring Break
April 17:
“Cultural Baggage” Barbara Ehrenreich
April 19:
“Two Ways to Belong to America” Bharati Mukherjee
April 21:
In-class discussion of final paper
Last day to withdraw from classes
April 24:
Unfinished Business
April 26:
Meetings in my office
April 28:
Meetings in my office
May 1:
Meetings in my office
May 3:
Meetings in my office
May 5:
Meetings in my office
May 8:
Final Paper Due
May 15:
Final Exam
Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new
nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that
war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who
here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow
this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far
above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember,
what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who
fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under
God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the
people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth.
Second Inaugural Address
Fellow countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office,
there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a
statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now,
at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly
called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention
and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The
progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public
as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high
hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously
directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it-- all sought to avert it. While the
inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the
Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war-seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated
war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other
would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over
the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and
powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To
strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents
would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more
than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already
attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even
before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result
less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God;
and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare
to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces;
but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered-that of neither has been answered fully.
The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it
must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If
we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence
of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he
now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the
woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from
those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly
do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass
away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two
hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood
drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three
thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether."
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us
to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's
wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his
orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among
ourselves, and with all nations.