New York University Writing the Essay Fall 2018 Truths are as much a matter of questions as answers. -Ozzie Zehner EXPOS-UA.1-090 Tues/Thurs 11:00am-12:15pm Rubin 108 EXPOS-UA.1-099 Tues/Thurs 12:30pm-1:45pm Rubin 110 David Ellis dae7@nyu.edu Office hours are by appointment Office: 411 Lafayette 201C on the 4th Fl across from Writing Center Mailbox is located in NYU EWP in 411 Lafayette on 4th Fl by the Writing Center Required Texts (Available in the NYU Bookstore. Please bring these texts to every class meeting) ▪ The Broadview Anthology of Expository Prose, 3rd Edition; ed. Laura Buzzard, et al ▪ Mercer Street 2018-2019, ed. Stephen Donatelli, et al (print or electronic versions available) ▪ Supplied Readings and texts (through NYUClasses or given out in class) Recommended Texts and Resources ▪ Oxford English Dictionary (available through NYU Libraries website) ▪ Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style (clear advice for writing sentences and paragraphs) ▪ MLA Style Center on-line source for MLA format and citation questions ▪ Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) on-line source for grammar and punctuation Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. -Sharon O'Brien Welcome to Writing the Essay Congratulations on your acceptance to NYU! You are embarking on a type of rite of passage—the required firstyear writing course—along with thousands of your NYU classmates and millions of others around the U.S. who are starting their first year of college. Here and elsewhere, the class is meant to prepare you to reason, research, and write in college, to ready you to participate and contribute to what is called academic discourse. However, there isn’t enough time in one semester to cover every type of writing assignment you’ll face in the next four years. Nor is there time to cover all the dictates of grammar, punctuation, and discipline-specific writing rules. We don’t even have enough time to cover the many kinds of essays that exist! While we will attend to the rules of writing when appropriate, we will direct our energy to the fundamental purposes of writing and the critical thinking at its heart. For us, writing will be a tool, an intellectual process for gathering, questioning, discovering, creating, and reporting knowledge. A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things, but how we see them. -Michel de Montaigne Course Background and Objectives Effective analysis, curiosity, reasoning, and communication are fundamental to all fields in the university, the workplace, and even to being a good citizen. These skills and dispositions, likewise, are the foundations for the type of reading and writing you’ll be doing in this class. The common root to this skill-set, whether as part of writing or otherwise, is the intellect. This course, then, is about thinking and our primary mode of communicating thoughts, language. You will be asked to think and write in the mode of an inquiring scholar, someone interested in seeking and discovering truths, someone who then formulates and shares those ideas with others. Along the way, you will generate an understanding of how these skills, dispositions, and processes link together as well as when, why, and how to call upon them. (See “Expository Writing Program Student Learning Outcomes” for a more detailed list). You will write a variety of short assignments, papers, and essays with increasingly complex requirements as the semester progresses. The progression of writing exercises that lead to each essay provide a foundation for other work in the university through practice in reading complex written and visual texts critically, gathering and questioning evidence inductively, formulating and pursuing a logical inquiry, making relevant connections among sources, identifying and applying alternate contexts, completing appropriate research, developing ideas, and then presenting your ideas and their implications in coherent, compelling essays. Course Assignments The course is divided unequally into multiple graded units, called “Projects Progressions,” a series of activities that lead to a final product, such as an essay. Each project is broken into interconnected reading and writing exercises, some of which will happen in class and some of which will be homework. Each Project Progression works toward a final product, such as an essay or paper. The formal, graded work for the course will primarily be your final projects. The final projects, however, will not be evaluated for a grade until all the work of the Project Progression is completed. You cannot pass the course without completing all the Project Progressions. Grades and Important Deadlines Final Grade Breakdown Project #1 DUE Oct. 4 (The Engaged Reader: 3-4 pgs): 20% Read, analyze, and interpret a short essay in order to reflect upon the implications of its ideas. In an informal, more familiar, yet persuasive essay, adequately represent your source text and the problem it presents. Draw upon experiences, the news, an art piece, or another essay to help you understand and evaluate the source text. Project #2 DUE Nov. 13 (Entering the Conversation 4-5 pgs): 25% Inspired by a problem presented in a source text, locate a “real world” event or controversy which elucidates, complicates, or contrasts the problem from the source text and its writer’s ideas. Consider how problems, ideas, and arguments Draw upon a variety of sources, including at least one peer-reviewed article as you articulate your own idea and argument. Project #3 DUE Dec. 13 (Texts in Context: Examining and Situating a Body of Texts around a Writer, Luminary, or Problem 5-7 pgs): 30% (Details to Come) Project #4 Various Deadlines (The Panel Presentation) Briefly Present (5-8 minutes) one of your projects and its implications to the class. 10% Class Participation, including timely arrival to class and conferences, ready for active engagement in discussion and activities: 7% 2 On-Time Completion of Readings, Homework, Assignments, etc.: 8% Class Web Page You will find announcements, assignments, the syllabus, and other important documents on the course NYUClasses page. You are responsible for accessing the assignments, etc. Please check the page frequently. Requirements for formal essays Each essay will have particular requirements and a more detailed rubric that you’ll receive during each Progression and will also be made available on NYUClasses. Each essay will have an accompanying portfolio (see below). All of the final versions of these essays must be turned in following MLA format (double-spaced, with 1” margins) and citation standards. All final essays have these standards: 1) requirements for the specific essay; 2) Have a thoughtful beginning, middle, and end; 3) Develop and explore an interesting problem and idea in a coherent way; 4) Have a tone appropriate for its intended audience and engaging style; 5) Be grammatically correct; 6) MLA format and citations; 8) Be turned in by the specified due date and time; you will lose half a letter grade per class for late essays. Essay Grades A-range is both ambitious and successful, achieving all listed standards with excellence and grace. Sources and other evidence are skillfully and thoughtfully integrated and represented ethically. B-range is ambitious and partially to mostly successful in achieving standards or meets modest aims well. Often, evidence is insufficiently represented, analysis or reflection incomplete, or the problem or idea lack larger significance. C-range omits one or more of the listed standards; or, has significant problems in developing and articulating its idea; or, engages texts and concepts superficially or minimally meets all standards. D or F work is seriously deficient in several of the listed standards. Revisions You will have opportunity to apply for one project revision at the end of the semester. Revision applications are available to all who turn in a completed portfolio and final essay on time. The grade on the revision will be averaged with the first earned grade. Portfolios In preparation for creating the final projects you will complete several formal and informal writing exercises as well as read assigned texts. Writing assignments must be turned in by their due dates to receive credit. Please keep all of the writing generated for the class, including in-class writing, informal exercises, and essay/project drafts, which you will compile into a portfolio to be handed in at the end of each progression. Since these exercises are integral to writing your essay, no project will be graded without a complete portfolio. Conferences We will meet at least twice outside of class to discuss your progress with a particular essay/project and the course. Conferences will be held for each project during the drafting period before the final essay is due. This will be an opportunity for you to bring in particular questions or concerns and a chance for us to work closely on your writing project. You will have opportunity to schedule these conferences. Participation Although a small part of your overall grade (10%), preparation for class and participation in class—reading, homework, discussion, peer workshop and evaluation—will be of inestimable value for your essays, as classes are designed in practice and purpose toward writing essays which show rigorous analysis of evidence, exploration and development of evolving ideas from the evidence, and coherence in a cogent and engaging manner. 3 Attendance Because this class proceeds by sequential reading, writing, and thinking work that build upon each other, consistent and on-time attendance is essential. Students who miss significant time during a progression often have difficulty completing that progression successfully. I will therefore reach out to you and to your advisor if you are absent without excuse 2 classes in a row or from any 3 out of a possible 8 classes. Regardless of your performance on the progressions, if you are absent without excuse 5 times, your final grade will be lowered a full letter grade (e.g., from a B+ to a C+); if you are absent without excuse 7 times, you will not be able to pass the course. Religious observance and documented illness or family emergency are grounds for an absence to be excused. If you do miss a class, you are responsible for the missed material. Communicate with a classmate to find out what you missed and what you will need for the next class meeting; do not e-mail me looking for this information, though as a courtesy please e-mail me before your absence. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity The academic community takes plagiarism very seriously. Teachers in our writing courses must report to the Director of the Expository Writing Program any instance of academic dishonesty in student writing, whether it occurs in an exercise, draft, or final essay. Students will be asked to explain the circumstances of work called into question. When plagiarism is confirmed, whether accidental or deliberate, students must be reported to the Dean of their School, and penalties will follow. This can result in failure of the essay, failure in the course, a hearing with the Dean, and/or expulsion from the university. This has happened to students at New York University (taken from the EWP website). For more information about plagiarism and academic integrity, please see NYUClasses. Please bring any questions to class. You can also seek more information at this website: http://cas.nyu.edu/page/academicintegrity A Note on Respect and Self-awareness The classroom is a place where the free exchange of ideas can occur in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. Our classroom will be a place to explore and question, too. Exploring and questioning can be uncomfortable. Please be courteous and respectful and open to others, their viewpoints and perspectives, while also displaying a willingness to speak your mind with the same expectation of courtesy and respect. Students are encouraged to bring breaches of respect to my attention or the attention of the Expository Writing Program directors. This includes problems such as disruptive or disrespectful behavior, and prejudice on the basis of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation. All complaints are kept confidential. Use of laptop computers and other electronic devices On occasion I will ask you to bring a laptop or other electronic device for a particular activity, such as conducting research. I ask that you do your note-taking and in-class writing in a paper notebook, as many of our activities will be geared toward pen and paper work. If you do elect to use a laptop on a regular basis, please do so respectfully. Our class is a small seminar and anything you do beyond simply taking notes or writing will be distracting to your classmates and me. Absolutely no texting, email checking, or web browsing in the classroom please. Support The Writing Center provides additional support for student writers at NYU. Writing Center consultants are EWP faculty; they can provide an outside perspective on a draft, be a sounding board as you develop ideas, or help you better understand where you want to take an essay. You can book appointments in advance through the online scheduler, or walk in. University Learning Center provides more basic help and workshops about grammar, writing tips, etc. 4 Moses Center for Students with Disabilities provides comprehensive services and programs for undergraduate and graduate students with hearing and visual impairments, mobility impairments, learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders, chronic illnesses, and psychological impairments. Note about changes If a need arises to adjust our schedule or any other important matters, you will be informed of the changes in class and on NYUClasses. Essay deadlines will not be moved earlier. Final Note and Acknowledgment of Receipt While a good deal of writing practice is solitary—the writer alone with the page—we shouldn’t forget that writing is frequently a communal act. We write for readers, we write in response to issues and texts outside of ourselves, we participate in particular discourse communities, and, along the way we borrow and quote as we formulate ideas and essays, to name just a few examples. No writing or ideas exist in isolation. The more you read, write, share, and participate in class the stronger your individual work becomes, so that you become responsible for the authorship of your own ideas even as you acknowledge what and who has influenced your thinking. I acknowledge that I have read this syllabus and will maintain academic integrity. Name Signature Date Optional Permissions: Writing can also become communal through the publication of research about writing pedagogy, or when used as a model (like the writing found in Mercer Street) for other students or instructors. Please consider making your work available for these purposes. There is no additional credit or harm if you chose to participate or not. I grant permission for my classwork, with my name removed, to be used for research and/or as instructional material in future classes. Name Signature Date 5 6
