First-Year Writing
(FYW)
ENG 1 (1/S/P/F)
&
ENG 2 (2/P/F)
&
SST (1S/1P)
HANDBOOK
C.W. POST CAMPUS
OF LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY
2007—2008
FYW HANDBOOK FALL 2007
Table of Contents
Welcome
2
Thank You
2
A Brief Overview of First-Year Writing
2
Contact Hours, Student Credits, Instructor Credits
3
Writing Program Contacts
3
FYW Syllabi, Generally: ENG 1, ENG 2, SST
4—7
Things You Need to Know
7—11
Attendance Records
Office Hours
Information Technology: E-mail, Wireless, WebCT, Moodle…
Campus Bookstore
Photocopying
Course Schedule, Course Locations
Finals: You Must Convene Your Class During Its Scheduled Exam
Grading
Statement on Plagiarism
Disciplinary Problems: What to Do?
Teaching Observations and Evaluations
The Writing Center
The Courses, Specifically:
11—44
ENGLISH 1/1S/1P/1F (begins p. 11)
ENGLISH 2/2P/2F
(begins p. 37)
More detail about the courses, followed by sample syllabi.
SST 1S/1P
(begins p. 44)
Notes on the course, and on the required text.
Welcome
Welcome!
This handbook is a resource for people teaching First-Year Writing (FYW) courses:
COURSE TITLE
BULLETIN / SCHEDULE
DESIGNATION
Composition
Composition: Argument & Analysis
Reading & Interpretation
ENG 1
ENG 2
SST
Thank You
We’d like to take a moment to thank you in advance for your teaching. Writing courses,
especially first-year writing courses, are among the most teaching-intensive, timeintensive, hands-on courses the University offers. The First-Year Writing Program
appreciates what you do: We know how much time, intellectual energy, creative energy,
research, reading, curricular planning, and one-to-one conversation, feedback, and
interaction you put into teaching these classes, and we honor this work. Thank you.
A Brief Overview of First-Year Writing
ENG 1 and ENG 2 are composition courses; SST is a literacy course. While writing and
literacy are distinct, they are also, of course, deeply linked. Thus, First-Year Writing
includes both the writing and the literacy courses. You might be interested to know that
more Composition students have an attached Reading and Interpretation course than do
not; students with verbal SAT scores below 460 are registered for ENG 1S, and SST-1S;
students in the Program for Academic Success (PAS) are registered for ENG 1P and
SST-1P; for Fall 2007, more students are in ENG 1S + SST-1S, and ENG 1P + SST-1P,
than are in ENG 1 with no SST course. (Note: We also run a few sections each semester
of Composition with an “F” designation; these sections are for English Language
Learners [ELLs].) An awareness of how our students’ courses are configured, and of the
linked but distinct foci of Composition vs. Reading and Interpretation, allows us to create
distinct and complementary teaching and learning environments in the two courses.
The suffixes “S,” “P,” “F” do not suggest different curricular goals or standards for
sections of ENG 1 or 2, or SST. At the same time, the designations do suggest flexible
pedagogy, a variety of approaches to material, and some possible best practices and
strategies. For example, students in ENG 1S may benefit from more overt attention to
diction, and may need more encouragement to share their thoughts in discussion than
students in ENG 1; students in ENG 1P, who ideally have linked courses within the PAS
program, will be enriching course material with germane “outside” sources as a matter of
course; students in ENG 1F may be more skeptical than other students about “writing to
2
learn,” low-stakes writing, and exploratory writing, since many ELLs value “correctness”
above all else in writing. That said, every section is different, every student is different,
and we are different each time we teach; the best way to adapt your teaching to any given
class is the tried and true: Get to know your class, and adapt accordingly.
FYW Contact Hours, Student Credits, Instructor Credits
ENG 1 meets 2x/week for 80 minutes,
and is a 3-credit course for students, and a 3-credit course for instructors
ENG 1S meets 2x/week for 80 minutes,
and is a 3-credit course for students, and a 3-credit course for instructors
ENG 1P meets 2x/week for 80 minutes and once more during the week for 55 minutes,
and is a 3-credit course for students, and a 4-credit course for instructors
ENG 1F meets 2x/week for 80 minutes,
and is a 3-credit course for students, and a 3-credit course for instructors
ENG 2, ENG 2P, ENG 2F: as above
SST-1S meets 2x/week for 55 minutes,
and is a 2-credit course for students, and a 2-credit course for instructors
SST-1P meets 2x/week for 80 minutes,
and is a 2-credit course for students, and a 3-credit course for instructors
Writing Program Contacts
Dr. Edmund Miller, Chair, English Dept., HM 222A, x 4075, Edmund.Miller@liu.edu
Belinda Kremer, Coordinator, First-Year Writing; Director, Writing Center,
HM 217L, x3723, Belinda.Kremer@liu.edu
Dr. Wendy Ryden, WAC Coordinator, HM 217O, x2965, Wendy.Ryden@liu.edu
Dr. Richard McNabb, Associate Professor, English Department, former Coordinator of
Composition, specialist in Composition & Rhetoric, HM 217D, x2954,
rmcnabb@liu.edu
Robin Marshall, Department Secretary, HM 222, x2391, Robin.Marshall@liu.edu
3
The Syllabus, Generally: ENG 1, ENG 2, SST
The course syllabus is critically important: It offers a map of the course, it makes explicit
the theories and practices engaged by the course, and it allows your students to plan their
work and schedule their time appropriately. The syllabus as a text is quite fascinating,
with its own oft-used rhetorics and appeals; we hope you will enjoy not only planning
your course, but also designing your syllabus as a text rich with numerous, complex,
distinct goals. Our syllabi are one of the first places our students “meet” us and the
courses we share with them; syllabi transmit not only content, but also tone, style, and,
ideally, a sense of the excitement of intellectual enterprise.
You should give your students a complete syllabus at the start of the first class.
On the same date, you should submit copies of your syllabus to the Coordinator of
First-Year Writing, as follows:
1) e-mail your syllabus as an attachment, in Word, to Belinda.Kremer@liu.edu;
2) place 2 hardcopies of your syllabus in Belinda Kremer’s mailbox in the English
Department (HM 222).
If your syllabus is not finalized by the first day of class, as sometimes occurs, do be sure
and orient your students to the coming semester, and distribute at least the front matter of
your syllabus: Course number and section, course title, all of your contact information,
your office location and office hours, course description, course objectives, attendance
policy, statement on plagiarism, and so on. You will almost certainly want to also let
your students know how, essentially, they will be evaluated. During a first class, it is
sufficient to say something like, “Your grade will be a composite of your performance in
areas (x, y, z), with the bulk of your grade reflecting your performance in (x).”
We are required by state law to keep these syllabi on file. If you do not submit electronic
and hardcopies on the date of your first class, do so no later than the 2nd week of classes.
Your syllabus should contain the following items:
1. Course number, section number, generic course title & title of your section, semester,
e.g.: ENG 1S-7 Composition: The Fractured Century Fall 2007.
2. Your office location & office hours / your contact information. Office hours: You
need to schedule and maintain one office hour for each section you are teaching, up to
two sections. Beyond two sections, two scheduled and maintained office hours are
sufficient (i.e., if you are teaching 2 or more sections of ENG 1, you can schedule and
maintain 2 office hours per week, though many instructors do schedule an hour for
every section). Remember to include your office location, office phone number, and
office hours on your syllabus. If you include the English Department phone number
as well, include it as a supplement, and identify it as the English Department’s
number, not as your number. Some people give out their home phone numbers;
others do not. What matters is that your students have a way to contact you by phone.
4
An e-mail address, preferably your @liu.edu address, must also appear on your syllabus.
You’ll likely want to consider when you respond to email, and how often, and
communicate that to your students; the e-mail address does not imply that you are
available 24/7, only that you are available via e-mail. C.W. Post provides all instructors
and faculty with e-mail addresses and accounts; please contact I.T. at (516) 299-2281 if
you need to activate your account, and/or if you need any assistance using e-mail. FirstYear Writing, as a program, will assume that you check e-mail at least weekly, and will
use e-mail to let you know about events, news, initiatives, and programs, as well as
simply to be in touch.
3. A course description. You’ll want to describe your section, and its approaches and
themes, with specificity, of course. For the general course description, you can write
your own description, or borrow directly from the course descriptions sections of this
handbook (ENG1, page 11; ENG 2, page 17).
4. Course objectives. Again, this section can be taken directly from the course objectives
sections of this handbook, or you can express the objectives in your own way.
5. A list of required texts & materials. Please see “ENGLISH 1/1S/1P/1F, ENGLISH
2/2P/2F, More detail about the courses, and sample syllabi” (pages 11—43) and
the notes on SST (page 44) in this handbook for a more complete discussion of
required texts and materials. Briefly: In addition to a variety of texts you choose for
yourself, ENG 1 requires a writing handbook of your choice, ENG 2 requires the use
of Collide: Styles, Structures and Ideas in Disciplinary Writing (Kremer & McNabb,
eds. Boston: Pearson, 2007), and SST requires the use Reading, Writing and
Interpretation (4th ed., Love & Michaels, eds. Boston: Pearson, 2007). For ENG 1,
order through Post’s bookstore the handbook you choose; the required texts for ENG
2 and SST are ordered for you. The More detail… and SST sections will provide,
well … more detail.
6. A statement of the attendance policy. ENG 1, ENG 2, SST: Students who are
absent more than 6 times for a 2x/week section, or more than 3 times for a
1x/week section, fail the course. **Remember that for “P” sections, the
attendance policy is even more acute: Students in ENG 1P, ENG 2P, or SST 1-P
will fail the course for more than 4 absences in a 2x/week section, or more than 2
absences in a 1x/week section. For fairness’ sake, all sections follow the policy.
You will likely be glad to know that instructors use their discretion to decide whether a
particular missed class might not constitute an absence for a particular student (for
example, because the student notified the instructor of the absence in advance, and a plan
was made to make up the work of the class). Such negotiations remain between the
student and the instructor, and do not imply a change in, or lack of adherence to, the
overall policy. We follow a shared attendance policy because FYW classes are highly
interactive, hands-on, and participatory, because writing happens in class, and because
every missed class means missed instruction and missed participation. At the same time,
we want, of course, for our students not only to succeed, but also to excel; not only to
5
pass their FYW courses, but also to be engaged in, and enriched by, them; not only to
learn writing, but also to learn the rules of engagement and the cultural capital of the
University. As guides and mentors in this process, we exhibit fair, judicious, and humane
decision-making. If you have a question about how to proceed with a particular student,
please talk with the Coordinator of First-Year Writing, particularly if you are unsure
whether to fail a student who has missed a number of classes for medical or legal reasons,
but who has tried all along to “make up” the work. We use the attendance policy, and the
importance of being in class and doing the work of the class, as a means of helping
students to succeed.
7. Criteria for grading. Be clear with your students at the outset about the relative weight
of formal essays, homework, class exercises, class participation, and so on.
ENG 1 and ENG 2 are writing courses: Syllabi will describe the weight of students’
assignments such that the bulk (recommended, 80%) of their course grade comes
from the series of essays they have drafted, developed, and revised under your
feedback. Remember that a diagnostic essay, recommended as a first-class assignment,
is a tool that lets you “meet” your students and their writing; as such, it shouldn’t be
formally graded, though it is important to offer feedback and evaluative comments on
such essays. Similarly, on essays still in the process of development and revision, you
will offer meaningful, concrete feedback, and comments, evaluation, and suggestions, but
not letter grades; by grading the final, revised essay but not the drafts, you evaluate
students’ texts at the end of the process, and include in that evaluation all of the steps of
the process.
SST is a course in reading and interpretation, and students should be evaluated
accordingly; there is more room in SST than in ENG 1 or 2 for students to be evaluated
on participation and in-class work, for example, provided that the participation and inclass work can be measured, concretely and objectively.
All FYW courses: In any situation where “participation” generates a student’s numerical
score, grade, or evaluative comment, you will want to clarify and make transparent what
constitutes participation, measure it regularly, and note it. In the absence of clear,
transparent, objective measures of “participation,” it is easy to ascribe hazy, occluded,
subjective measures, sometimes amounting to nothing more than whether a student and
instructor “like” each other. Obviously, being “likeable” is not a fair measure of student
success, but we are human, so we need to take care to use evaluative mechanisms that
truly measure students’ performances, not their personalities.
8. Due dates of all readings, assignments, projects, presentations, essays. You may
revise the schedule of due dates, but it is crucial that your syllabus announce these
dates. The schedule of assignments and major readings helps students to keep on
track — experienced instructors often comment that it helps them keep on track, too.
Be sure to include due dates for required revisions. ENG 2 instructors should be
especially careful to schedule due dates for the various steps in writing the research
paper. When scheduling due dates for essays and revised essays, be sure to
6
consider that students must receive their essays back from you, with feedback,
comments, and evaluative statements (but not grades), with time to take your
feedback, comments, and evaluative statements into consideration for the
revised essay, on which they will receive feedback and a grade.
As an example, a partial syllabus/timeline, including only the dates relevant to
the submission of, response to, and revision of two essays:
Week 2, Mon: Essay 1 due (textual analysis; 3 pages; see assignment
sheet for details). In-class workshops of Essay 1.
Week 3, Mon: Essay 1, with comments/feedback, returned.
Week 4, Mon: Essay 1 Revised due
Week 5, Wed: Essay 2, due (analysis of … etc.)
Week 6, Mon: Essay 2, with comments/feedback, returned.
Week 7, Mon: Essay 2 Revised due.
9. A syllabus/weekly course outline (see partial example, above), showing a clear, easyto-follow schedule of reading, writing, and other assignments for the class. If the
dates shift as the semester unfolds, simply pass out a revised syllabus.
Attendance Records
We have found over the years that it is very important to keep accurate attendance
records, complete with correct dates of absences. These records are often crucial at
semester’s end if a student decides to dispute a failing performance. The University
provides grade books; the department secretary will be happy to give you one, if you’d
like one. You can also use an Excel spreadsheet, grade-management software, or
anything that works for you. The data is necessary; the format is flexible.
Office Hours
Because office hours are so important, we reiterate here: All instructors are expected to
keep regular office hours, and to communicate them to their students on the course
syllabus, as described previously in this handbook. Schedule a minimum of one regular
office hour per week for each section taught, up to two hours per week, i.e., if you are
assigned two or three sections of composition, you should schedule at least two hours of
office time each week. Many instructors schedule more. The department secretary will
ask you for your office hours at the beginning of the semester and type up a schedule to
post on your office door.
Information Technology: E-mail, Wireless, WebCT, Moodle…
Information Technology (IT) is located in the Schwartz Library, on the entry floor; go
7
past check-out on your right, make the right-hand turn into the hallway, and then turn left
into the suite of IT offices. IT is also available on LIU’s website, and at 516 299 2281.
Contact IT for an .liu e-mail address, for wireless access to the LIU network for a laptop,
for setting up WebCT or Moodle courses, or for workshops and tech support and
learning support for everything from iMovie to course management software.
Campus Bookstore
The campus bookstore is located to the left of the Great Lawn, kitty-corner to the
Administration Building. The bookstore will fill orders you place for your courses, and
display your texts by course number, title, and section. You may place orders in person,
by phone (516 299 3561), or online (liunet.bncollege.com). If you are assigned a course
“late,” or fill in for another instructor or professor previously assigned to the course,
you’ll want to check with the bookstore to see if books have been ordered, so that you
can maintain or modify the order as you see fit. The campus bookstore is a Barnes &
Noble concession. You might want to know that many people have found books to be
more expensive at the campus bookstore than elsewhere.
Photocopying
The University will duplicate course materials for you; the process usually takes less than
forty-eight hours. A work-study student goes to Office Services on a daily basis. If you
want materials for, say, a Wednesday class, Office Services can provide them for you if
you leave the original and a request form by 10 a.m. Monday. See Robin Marshall for
details. You can also make up to 20 single-page copies per day on the copier in the
English Department, but it can not be used for bulk copying.
Course Schedule, Course Locations
The course schedule for any semester is available online, www.liu.edu, under Schedules
and Calendars. About a week before classes begin, room assignments are available here
as well, or you can check with the English Department (516 299 2391).
Finals: You Must Convene Your Class
During Its Scheduled Exam
Please be aware that you are required to meet your classes during the final examination
period, which occurs the week after classes end. This matter involves contact hours
mandated by the State Department of Education. If you do not administer a final during
the exam period, you may have students submit final essays, projects, or portfolios, or
give presentations, or you might return student work, or hold conferences. You can
handle the time in whatever way you see fit, but you may not simply end contact with
your students at the last regularly scheduled class meeting.
8
Grading
As of Summer 2007, the University is implementing online grade submission. Keep an
eye out for e-mails and fliers regarding the brief workshops/training sessions that will
orient you to this new submission process.
These are the grades the University accepts: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, F, I, W, UW.
Some of these grading possibilities require explanation:
D—Do not give a student a D if the student fails the portfolio reading or needs to repeat
the course for any reason. D is a passing grade; a D will not obligate the student to repeat
the course.
F—Failure. This is an appropriate grade if the student fails the portfolio reading or fails
to complete other course requirements. If a student is given an F, the student has to repeat
the course. The grade of F does affect the student’s cumulative average.
I—Incomplete. This is the appropriate grade if the student has failed to hand in some
small portion of required work for medical reasons, and you are willing to meet with the
student during the following semester to collect and grade missing assignments.
Incompletes are usually not appropriate in FYW courses, unless the missing
material is truly a minor matter. That is, a student should not be given an incomplete if
the student has failed to hand in two of the four required essays. Such a student should
repeat the course. All Incompletes must be approved by the Coordinator of Composition.
W—Withdrawal. This grade is a student option, not a grade given by faculty. That is, a
student can choose to withdraw from a class up until a certain week in the semester. If
appropriate, the grade is pre-entered by the Registrar.
UW—Unauthorized withdrawal. This is the appropriate grade if a student never appeared
or vanished at some point during the first half of the semester. If a student is given a UW,
the student loses the three course credits and has to repeat the course. The grade of UW
does not affect the student’s cumulative average; however, it will affect his Financial Aid
status. Please note that students do not have the option of receiving a UW in place of
a failing grade. All UWs must be approved by the Coordinator of Composition.
Statement on Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious and self-defeating business. As the University’s catalog states,
“the offense of plagiarism may be punishable by a range of penalties up to and including
failure in the course and expulsion from the University.” The English Department takes
this policy seriously and enforces it vigorously.
Disciplinary Problems: What to Do
9
Please bring any disciplinary problems—however minor—to the Coordinator’s attention
immediately, so that we can help. It is important that you participate in FYW’s policy on
attendance, and that you maintain consistently your own guidelines and policies on
collegial classroom behavior, the learning environment, and so on. If you are struggling
with a difficult student, you don’t want to be alone. It is a very serious matter, with
complex consequences, to eject any student from a classroom; please do so only if a
situation has become unsafe. Otherwise, remain calm, try not to let a difficult student
ruffle you, and come and discuss the problem so that we can help.
Teaching Observations and Evaluations
All instructors are observed by a full-time faculty member during the academic year; this
faculty member is available as a resource and as a mentor. Observations and mentoring
are intended primarily to give support to teachers through an ongoing dialogue about all
aspects of teaching. Other opportunities for faculty development include fall and spring
FYW workshops and WAC workshops.
As part of the mentoring process, all instructors are required to turn in a teaching
portfolio to their mentor at the time of their observation. The following items should be
included in your portfolio:
Material from Faculty
A course syllabus detailing course content, objectives, readings, and homework
assignments.
Instructional innovations with a description of their purpose and an assessment of their
effectiveness.
The Products of Teaching/Student Learning
Successive drafts of student papers along with the instructor’s comments on how each
draft could be improved.
Examples of graded student essays along with the instructor’s comments on why they
were so graded.
Composing the Teaching Portfolio
Items collected from the first two categories will be presented to the mentor upon his or
her observation of the class. The faculty mentor will then include comments in the
portfolio and turn it in to the Coordinator of Composition.
Teaching Portfolios will be compiled by FYW faculty every two years.
Student-Teacher Evaluations
In addition to University-wide student-teacher evaluations, FYW requires departmental
evaluations. Toward the end of each semester, you will be asked to administer a
student/teacher evaluation form. Instructions for administering the form will be included
with the evaluation sheets.
10
The Writing Center
The Writing Center, in Humanities 202, is a free academic support service, open to all
students, undergraduate through graduate. It is funded through The College of Liberal
Arts & Sciences, with the direct support of the English Department; its services are free
to students. Writing Assistants in the Writing Center are available to help students with
critical reading, analysis, drafting, research, revising, and editing; in other words, they
are available to help with all steps of the writing process.
The Writing Center is open:
Mondays—Thursdays:
Fridays:
9am——7pm
11am — 3pm
Please encourage your students to use the Writing Center. Students may also submit
essays online (www.liu.edu/writingcenter ) for feedback, though The Writing Center
strongly encourages students to first work face-to-face with Writing Assistants. Staff
members are available to visit any class, at any point during the semester, to give a brief
(5-minute) overview of Writing Center services, philosophy, and resources, and to hand
out fliers and take any questions your students might have. Please contact Belinda
Kremer (x3723; Belinda.kremer@liu.edu) for further information, or to schedule a class
visit.
ENGLISH 1/1S/1P/1F
I. DESCRIPTION OF COURSES AND PROCEDURES
English 1 is an introductory writing course that uses interpretation and analysis of
texts to promote clear thinking and effective prose. Students will learn the
conventions of academic writing. In addition, students will learn how to adapt writing
for various audiences and rhetorical situations.
Instructors are asked develop a theme for ENG 1 (Mutations, Work and the
Marketplace, Dreams, Trans/Gender in Film). The purpose of the theme is to provide
students with a sense of continuity in the course content. Students are to explore this
theme through writing, developing, and revising a series of three essays. The three
essays combined should total a minimum of fifteen revised pages. In addition,
instructors are to assign two in-class essays. At the end of the semester, all students
will choose two revised essays and place them in a portfolio with a revised in-class
essay. This portfolio will be read and judged by the student’s primary instructor. If
the portfolio is deemed unsatisfactory by the primary instructor, another English
Department faculty must concur with the assessment before the student receives a
failing grade for the course.
11
II. GOALS FOR ENGLISH 1, 1S, 1P, 1F
A. Students will practice writing as an act of discovery realized through recursive
patterns of generating, drafting, and revising their work. They will revise their essays to
discover and refine intentions and interpretations and to confront complexity.
B. Students will practice analysis as an act of breaking a text into parts and examining
the relationship among those parts for the purpose of interpreting and creating meaning.
In all cases, this act will include, among other factors, the consideration of an author’s
purpose and audience. Students will apply analysis to a variety of texts: visual, print, and
personal.
The First-Year Writing Program defines analysis as making “explicit (overtly
stated) what is implicit (merely suggested)” in both one’s subject and one’s own thinking
(Rosenwasser and Stephen 4). This is the guiding principle that underscores all of the
writing assignments in ENG 1 and ENG 2. Working within this guiding definition,
instructors often take different approaches to analyzing texts. For instance, instructors
often ask students to apply a literary interpretive analysis, a rhetorical analysis, a reader
response analysis, or a contextual analysis to a text. Although each method of analysis
requires writers to focus upon different features, all the methods are similar in that they
provide a way of looking closely at selected aspects of the text.
C. Students will consciously practice inferential thinking and will prove their abilities in
this area by striving to explain the connections between their claims and the evidence
they offer in support of those claims.
D. Students will distinguish weak from strong theses and will strive to write essays with
strong analytical theses.
E. Students will develop a greater awareness and understanding of the conventions that
govern various writing situations, especially those governing academic prose, and will
consider the applicability of those conventions to the individual assignments.
More specifically, teachers should clarify expectations in the following areas and
monitor student progress in meeting those expectations:
1. Tone/formality of language: Students will consciously consider the
appropriateness of the tone they adopt in individual assignments and
the need to write in a consistent tone.
2. Focus: Students will make clear and consistent use of a limited topic or
controlling idea.
3. Organization: Students will group related ideas together at both the
paragraph and essay level and demonstrate an understanding of the
role paragraphing plays in organization.
4. Coherence: Students will begin to employ the techniques of coherence
(repetition of key words, use of topic sentences, and transitions).
5. Clarity: Students will write sentences that are intelligible.
12
6. Correctness: Students will develop an awareness of their most
common errors in grammar and mechanics and will demonstrate
progress in eliminating those errors.
7. Citations: Students will develop an awareness of the conventions
governing citations.
F. Please note that students are required to turn in drafts of all major essays. These drafts
are not to be graded. Drafts are part of the learning/writing process. By assigning grades,
instructors send the message to students that there is a “correct” and “incorrect” way of
composing drafts. Furthermore, grading them does not encourage students to re-vision
their paper but merely to correct the “mistakes” identified in the essay by the instructor.
Drafts should be treated not as semi-polished products; rather they are part of the process
of composing a polished product that occurs much further along in the writing process.
That is, grading a student’s draft implies that all the planning, prewriting, drafting,
revision, and editing occurs primarily before writing that first draft. This practice
contradicts the very nature of writing.
III.
ENGLISH 1 ASSIGNMENT SEQUENCE
The following essay assignments are required for all ENG 1, 1S, 1P, and 1F sections:
In-Class Diagnostic Essay #1
Unit I: Analysis of a Visual Text or a Print Text (3-4 pages)
Unit II: Analysis of a Print Text (4-6 pages)
Unit III: Analysis of a Pair of Related Print Texts (4-6pages)
In-Class Essay #2: Reflection on a Text through the Lens of Personal Experiences
IV.
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
As an instructor in FYW, you have a great deal of flexibility in terms of curriculum,
materials, and approach. The single component already “set” for ENG 1 follows:
All ENG 1 sections require a writing handbook (grammar, usage, formatting, databases,
research conventions, citation ethics, citation styles, etc.). We highly recommend The
Little, Brown Compact Handbook, in its most recent edition: a great many people, over
time, have found this handbook to be their favorite. In any case, you must include a
handbook as one of your required texts, and list it on your syllabus. Because people use
different handbooks, you will need to order your handbook directly with the bookstore.
When ordering any text, be sure to specify the most current edition (or another edition, if
that’s what you prefer); the bookstore can look up this information for you. Include the
specific edition of each text on your syllabus, in case your students purchase their texts
elsewhere.
Other than a required grammar handbook, text selection is left to your discretion. The
texts you select should focus on a particular theme or themes, and be organized
13
thematically. Texts organized around the rhetorical modes (narration, description,
compare/contrast, etc.) are instructional texts; you can use such a text, but it should be in
addition to your content texts. Please call or visit the bookstore, or check with Robin
Marshall, regarding questions about how to order books.
Here is a partial list of books that have worked well in the past:
Readers:
Ford, Marjorie, and Jon Ford, eds. Dreams and Inward Journeys: A Rhetoric and Reader
for Writers. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 1998.
Lundsford, Andrea, and John Ruszkiewicz, eds. The Presence of Others. 3rd ed. Boston:
Bedford Books, 2000.
Cavitch, David, ed. Life Studies. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998.
Clee, Paul, and Violeta Radu-Clee, eds. American Dreams. 2nd ed. Mountain View, CA:
Mayfield, 1999.
Wiener, Harvey, and Nora Elsenberg, eds. The American Values Reader. Boston: Allyn
& Bacon, 1999.
Handbook:
Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. Longman. Be sure to check
for/order the most recent edition. The handbook is packaged with an exercise book.
Examination copies (with answer keys) are available through the Bedford/St. Martin’s
website. A handbook is required for all ENG 1 and ENG 2 courses; tell your ENG 1
students to keep their handbooks, so that they don’t have to buy another one for
ENG 2.
V.
PLACEMENT AND INDIVIDUAL COURSE POLICIES
A. ENG 1
Students are placed into the various versions of English 1 based on their SAT scores.
Students with SAT verbal scores between 460 and 600 are tracked into ENG 1. Students
with SAT verbal scores above 600 often test out of ENG 1 or are candidates for the
Honors Program.
B. ENG 1S
ENG 1S is a course for students with low verbal SAT scores—a score of 460 or below
places a student into ENG 1S rather than ENG 1. ENG 1S students are required to enroll
in SST 1S: Reading and Interpretation taught by another English Department faculty
member. ENG 1S courses are limited to 17 students.
C. Students who are non-native speakers of English are tracked into ENG 1F.
D. ENG 1P is for students in The Program for Academic Success (PAS). PAS accepts
students provisionally who do not qualify for regular acceptance at C.W. Post because
14
they have low combined SAT scores, a low verbal SAT score, or a low grade point
average in high school. Although these students do not meet all our minimum admissions
standards, they have submitted applications that indicate the potential for success in
college. If they complete their first year with a B average, they leave PAS and matriculate
as “regular” students.
Sections of ENG 1P meet an additional hour every week with the primary instructor. This
additional lab hour should be designed to promote a better understanding of the subject
matter. A list of suggestions for the tutorial hour is available in the PAS Faculty
Handbook you have received from Susan Rock (x3057), Director of PAS. PLEASE
READ THE PAS FACULTY HANDBOOK CAREFULLY, ESPECIALLY IF YOU
ARE TEACHING IN THE PROGRAM FOR THE FIRST TIME. It describes the
PAS program at length and sets out the goals that the students in the program are
expected to meet. Please keep these things in mind if you teach either ENG 1P or
ENG 2P:
It is very important to enforce the program’s policies on attendance and your
own policies on deadlines, etc. Many of these students failed to meet our
minimum admission standards because they never developed good study habits
and a sense of academic responsibility in high school. We do them no favors if we
let them slide through yet one more time; if we do, they will not be able to meet
the responsibilities of their upper division classes. PAS guidelines state that
students who miss more than four classes on a Tuesday, Thursday rotation, or
more than six classes on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday rotation will
automatically fail the course. The students have all signed contracts agreeing to
comply with these conditions; a copy of this contract appears in your faculty
handbook. PLEASE ENFORCE THE RULES.
Please be thorough and frank when you complete the PAS midterm evaluation forms.
These forms help determine what kind of tutorial help the student is given and whether or
not the student is allowed to continue in the program. The forms are very important in
determining whether the student has the potential to remain in college. And some of the
students in PAS may not be ready for college yet—so please be candid about these
matters at midterm.
It is also very important to provide students in PAS with a structured academic
environment: Please give them a course outline the first week of class; please
make sure you communicate your expectations for their performance clearly. And
tell the students if they are in jeopardy of failing; they should know their
weaknesses early, so they can improve their performance.
VI. DUTIES OF ENG 1, 1S, 1P, and 1F INSTRUCTORS
1. Meet class every scheduled period. Begin on time; end on time; work with students
for the full class period. If you are unable to meet your class because of illness, please
15
call the English Department ASAP so that we are aware of the class cancellation, and
can post a notice about it.
2. Keep accurate attendance records, including correct dates of absences.
3. Prepare a syllabus to hand out to your students on the first day of class. Submit copies
of your syllabus to the Coordinator of Composition no later than the second week of
class.
4. Assign at least fifteen pages of revised prose and two in-class essays. In addition,
fifteen pages of informal writing must be assigned (journals, short responses, reaction
papers, etc.). You may, of course, assign as much additional writing as you like.
5. Give sufficient and timely feedback on essays.
6. Attend scheduled meetings. The Department requires all adjunct instructors to attend
the first orientation meeting in September. You will be notified of mid-semester
meetings or workshops, and of WAC workshops; among such meetings and
workshops, the Department requires that you attend one each year.
7. Turn in the teaching portfolio, if due, and all other forms required throughout the
semester.
8. For ENG 1P instructors: Remember that the additional lab hour attached to this
course is a mandatory additional class hour, not an optional conference hour. So, be
sure to schedule regular class work for this period.
VI.
OUTCOMES ASSESSEMENT
To pass ENG 1, 1S, 1P, or 1F, a student’s work must be collected in a portfolio and
deemed satisfactory by the student’s primary instructor. A portfolio is a collection of a
student’s best-revised work resubmitted at the end of the semester as a representation of
cumulative achievement. To pass the course, the primary instructor must pass the
portfolio.
How the Portfolio System Works
As students write during the semester, they will keep all successive versions of their
various papers in a working portfolio. Although each work will be evaluated as a single
instance of their writing, their final evaluation will be based on a variety of written pieces
that show the diversity of their accomplishments. The basic requirement is that students
must produce two in-class essays, two revised essays, and a reflective letter, put them in a
folder, and submit the completed portfolio to their instructor for cumulative evaluation.
Close to the end of the semester, with the help of the instructor and their classmates, the
students will select the pieces of revised writing for their portfolio. Students must present
a satisfactory portfolio to pass the course. Another English Department instructor must
16
concur with the primary instructor if the portfolio is deemed unsatisfactory. If a student
does not pass the portfolio evaluation, he does not pass the course. Passing the portfolio,
however, does not ensure a passing grade for the course. The grade for the course will
include such other factors as attendance, class work, timely submission of work, and
other criteria determined by the instructor.
17
ENGLISH 2/2P/2F
ENGLISH 2/2P/2F
I. DESCRIPTION OF COURSE AND PROCEDURES
ENG 2 is a course in analysis and argumentation, focusing on scholarly research and
documentation. Building on the work begun in ENG 1, the course develops knowledge of
complex rhetorical and stylistic techniques. ENG 2 culminates in a library research
paper.
II. GOALS FOR ENGLISH 2, 2P, 2F
Although ENG 2 continues strategies introduced in ENG 1, the course focuses more
explicitly on writing about texts, including literary texts. In ENG 2, students learn to read
more closely and to situate texts in broader symbolic, historic, and sociocultural contexts.
In addition, students are introduced to rhetorical conventions of writing in other
disciplines.
Specifically, students will learn to:
•read literature and related texts purposefully to establish contexts for analyses
•analyze texts rhetorically, taking into account knowledge gained through
research
•locate and evaluate relevant secondary sources to support their analyses
•develop research strategies, including ways of incorporating and documenting
quotations, summaries, and paraphrases
•develop and revise thesis-driven arguments supported by close reading of
primary texts and secondary materials
•improve their command of style and mechanics.
III. ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSE
As an instructor in FYW, you have a great deal of flexibility in terms of curriculum,
materials, and approach. The few components already “set” for ENG 2 follows:
Collide
All ENG 2 sections require Collide: Styles, Structures and Ideas in Disciplinary Writing
(Kremer & McNabb, eds.; Pearson, 2007). Collide is an anthology of original, researchbased essays and articles, accompanied by reflective pieces on the research and writing
process. The volume was purpose-built for ENG 2 at Post; its contributors are (or were at
the time of writing) all C.W. Post faculty. The volume contains a set of questions
(“Think. Write. Ask.”) after each essay and reflective piece, to help students engage the
rhetorical considerations of the various texts, and to develop their understanding of
analysis and argument. These sections can also serve as a guide for instructors, in terms
of the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) component of ENG 2; the questions are
geared toward developing students’ strategies for reading, writing, researching, and citing
in various disciplines.
“Writing Projects” related to the volume’s 3 sections (“When Bodies Collide,” “When
Motives Collide,” “When Languages Collide”) can provide a complete curriculum for
writing projects germane to the WAC component, or can serve as examples or guides for
18
such projects. You will want to teach intensively a minimum of 6 of the Collide essays,
in terms of fulfilling the curricular goals of studying argument and analysis across
various disciplines. You may find good reason to use more of the essays for reference or
reflection, or for intensive study if the collection’s themes and concerns fit with your
section’s themes and concerns.
Regarding Collide as a required text, please offer your students an overview of
“Composition: Argument & Analysis” (ENG 2) that includes its WAC curriculum, and
orient your students to the origins and purpose of Collide, including that all students in all
sections of ENG 2 will be using the volume. Plant an early seed by encouraging your
students to hold onto their texts at the end of the semester; the volume is intended to
serve as a reference for research, writing, and citation in a number of disciplines they will
encounter while fulfilling their core requirements at Post, and while pursuing their
majors. In other words, this is a text not only for their semester of ENG 2, but also for
their career as college thinkers and writers.
Please note that neither Collide editors nor contributors have received or will receive
royalties of any kind. Rather, one dollar for each text sold is donated to the awards fund
for excellence in teaching (instructors) and writing (students) in First-Year Writing.
Other Required Texts
Other required texts for English 2 should include three thematically related texts, and
a textbook on research methods and procedures. For Fall 2007, Collide has been
ordered for all English 2 sections, and will appear on the C.W. Post Bookstore’s shelves
alongside the texts you order for your section.
The following are examples of themes and thematically related works. These
examples use literature as primary texts.
1. “American Dreamers”: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; Twain’s The
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court; Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
[Supplemental texts, to be used as secondary sources, might include an excerpt from
Lawrence’s critical essay on Franklin; an excerpt from Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism; articles on Twain’s attitude toward race relations; articles on
Long Island’s Gold Coast community; etc.]
2. “New York in Literature”: Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener; James’s Washington
Square; Doctorow’s Ragtime [Supplemental texts: Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn
Ferry”; excerpts from Marx’s Economic Manuscripts of 1844; articles on gender roles
and their relation to urban settings; excerpts from James’s American Scene describing
immigrant populations; etc.]
3. “Gender Issues”: The Scarlet Letter; Red Badge of Courage; The Custom of the
Country [Supplemental texts: Puritan tracts; Fuller essays on 19th Century woman;
articles on war, nationalism, and masculinity; articles on the “new woman,” divorce laws;
etc. Bedford Books, Inc. has a good cultural edition of “The Yellow Wallpaper.”]
Other examples of themes include “The Family in Literature” (Hamlet, Washington
Square, All My Sons); “Love in Literature” (Romeo and Juliet, The Scarlet Letter, The
Virgin and the Gipsy); “The Businessman in Literature” (Sister Carrie, The
If your interests and expertise allow you to teach, in detail, the compositional and
strategies of non-literary texts (for example, visual media, or non-fiction
prose), you can structure an Eng 2 course around non-literary, thematically related
texts.
19rhetorical
Metamorphosis, Death of a Salesman); “American Autobiography” (Franklin’s
Autobiography, Harriet Jacobs, Incidents of a Slave Girl; Henry Miller, Tropic of
Capricorn); “Nature and the Individual” (The Tempest, Whitman/Dickinson poetry,
Walden); “Travel and Literature”; “Monsters in Literature”; “Utopia.”
The essays and the research may be focused specifically on texts you are using for the
course, or on an issue connected to the theme you have chosen for your course. In a
course titled “Xenophobia and the American Dream,” for example, one of the essays
might be an analysis of a memoir, such as Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, while the
research paper might be a study the impact of late nineteenth-century immigration on the
American Dream.
Suggested Textbooks for Teaching the Research Paper
Ruskiewicz, et al. Beyond Words: Reading and Writing in a Visual Age (Longman)
Beyond Words can serve as a platform for either ½ of the ENG 1/ENG 2 series; it
teaches textual analysis, argument, and research; it’s compellingly written; it’s appealing,
and well-packaged; if used as a base text, it will easily connect to (or organically suggest)
other, thematically-related texts. Through its in-chapter suggested analyses, assignments
(formal and informal), and explorations, it provides more ideas for discussion, research
and writing than could possibly be used in any single semester. Some advantages of
Beyond Words include that it both teaches the research process specifically and is a
composition anthology with a great variety of contemporary texts, and that it references
the kinds of texts (websites, blogs, vlogs, viral videos, television shows, movies) with
which our students voluntarily engage, and offers pedagogically sound means through
which to teach those texts. If used in ENG 2, it’s best to use the first couple of chapters to
review/refresh students on analysis, and then to focus on the latter half of the text, since
ENG 1 naturally calls for a focus on the first half of the text. For anyone looking for a
recommendation, this text is strongly recommended.
Other suggestions:
Weidenboner and Caruso, Writing Research Papers (St. Martins)
Ballenger, The Curious Researcher (Allyn and Bacon)
When ordering any text, be sure to specify the most current edition (or another edition, if
that’s what you prefer); the bookstore can look up this information for you. Include the
specific edition of each text on your syllabus, in case your students purchase their texts
independent of the bookstore.
IV. ENGLISH 2 WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
At least thirty pages of writing are required for ENG 2. Of the thirty pages, fifteen
must be revised under the direction of the instructor. In addition to the research paper,
other writing requirements include three or four formal papers (two to four pages in
20
length) as well as informal writing exercises. Not included in these page counts is an
annotated bibliography, which is to accompany the research paper.
Formal Essays
Essays might consist of the following:
•Analyses of literary characters or themes within literary texts.
•Analyses of sociocultural texts, histories, works of psychology, etc.
•Explications of poems or of scenes within plays or novels.
•Comparisons of two opposing viewpoints (of characters or of authors).
•Summaries and comparisons of two secondary sources with different viewpoints.
•The application of research ideas (from criticism, literary theory, biography,
history, or
sociology) to a literary work.
•Fully developed personal responses to literary works.
•Other kinds of essays that foster an understanding of writing research papers.
Informal Writing
The informal writing may consist of summaries of primary or secondary sources, short
character analyses, journals, paragraph-length answers to questions about primary texts,
short personal responses to primary texts, short essay quizzes, or free-writing. The idea
here is not only to make sure students are reading the primary texts, but also to keep them
focused on issues or themes that can later be used for developing formal essays.
The various kinds of informal writing exercises should be periodically submitted to
the teacher along with related formal papers; they should be reviewed so as to make sure
the students are taking these assignments seriously. If the instructor wishes, the informal
writing may be evaluated in the same way as quizzes are evaluated.
Teaching about the Use of Research Materials
From the beginning of the semester, students should be encouraged to discover
research material, partly via the Internet but mostly in the library. Teachers might want to
distribute some related secondary sources (for example, excerpts of journal articles or
book chapters) to be used for class discussion and in-class writing exercises concerning
the proper ways of incorporating the research material into a formal essay.
V. ENGLISH 2 PORTFOLIO REQUIREMENTS
The Research Paper Requirement
•The student must submit a research paper of approximately 5 to 10 pages.
•The research paper must have a title page, a “Works Cited” list, and
documentation should be done according to MLA style. Four or more citations
from secondary sources must be used and incorporated into the essay.
•The student must submit all drafts leading up to the final draft of the research
paper; a photocopy of at least one article used for the term paper (the parts of the
article used for direct quotation or paraphrasing should be highlighted).
21
•The student must submit an annotated bibliography containing a minimum of ten
secondary sources, at least four of which are being referred to within the essay.
The bibliography should consist largely of hard copy sources—that is, research
available on library shelves. The bibliography may not consist of research drawn
exclusively from the Internet.
The Revised Essay Requirement
•In addition to the research paper, the student must submit one of his or her other
formal essays.
•The student must also submit early drafts of the essay.
VI. GRADING THE PORTFOLIO
•The research papers should be reasonably well organized.
•The papers should be relatively free of grammatical errors.
•The papers should reveal a strong grasp of the correct way to incorporate source
material
into the body of an essay—that is, a reasonable grasp of the principles of
paraphrase and
direct quotation.
•The format of the “Works Cited” sheet should be reasonably accurate: students
should
show a firm grasp of MLA style.
•For additional criteria, please see the attached grading rubric.
Instructors of English 2 and all related courses will evaluate their own students’
portfolios. Both formal papers in the portfolio must receive a passing grade in order for
the student to receive a passing grade in the course. If a portfolio receives a failing grade,
the teacher is to have the failing portfolio reviewed a second time by a member of the
Composition Committee.
SAMPLE SYLLABI
Following are two sample syllabi: one for ENG 1S, one for ENG 2.
The syllabus for ENG 1S focuses on the theme of “Work and the Marketplace,” and
includes detailed assignment sheets.
The syllabus for ENG 2 reflects a course in which the class generates and refines some of
its texts and local themes under the guidance of the instructor; note that some of the texts
listed are not themselves thematically, nor even yet known, but that other texts listed
provide multiple, concrete structures in which to generate and explore themes. The ENG
2 syllabus serves as one example of how flexibly an FYW course might be designed,
even while adhering to the set curricular imperatives.
22
ENGLISH 1S SYLLABUS
WORK AND THE MARKETPLACE
Instructor:
Dr. Richard McNabb
Office:
Hm 217D 299-2954 (office), 299-2391 (messages)
Office Hours: MW 9-10 and by appointment
REQUIRED TEXTS (Note to new instructors: These texts are examples only!! They
are not required, or even necessarily available— choose what you like from the texts out
there.)
Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. 5th ed. Longman, 2004.
Cavitch, David. Life Studies. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997.
Rosenwasser, David, and Jill Stephen. Writing Analytically. New York: HarcourtBrace,
1997.
OTHER REQUIRED MATERIAL
 A pocket folder for turning in portfolios
 White, lined loose-leaf paper
 Copies of your work as needed for class discussions and workshops
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND GOALS
Central to this course is the question of how written texts create meaning, and how we, as
writers, can create meaning with our own texts. The purpose of English 1S is thus
twofold: It is to help you learn more about the reading process and how you as a reader
participate in the construction of a text’s meaning; and second, to help you write
effectively about what you have read. By the end of the course, you should have a better
understanding of and greater skills in critical reading, writing, and thinking.
To foster the understanding of what it means to read, write, and think critically, the
following tasks will be asked of English 1S students:
*Develop strategies for analyzing complex texts
*Analyze complex texts through close reading.
*Analyze how authors use textual conventions to achieve their purposes.
*Write essays that develop your analysis with specific evidence drawn from the texts
you read.
*Incorporate other writers’ interpretations into your analyses.
*Learn reading and writing strategies that can be applied to your work in other courses
and your profession.
23
MAJOR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
Essay I Analysis of a Visual Test
Essay II Analysis of a Print Text
Essay III Analysis of a Pair of Related Texts
Essay IV Analysis of an Educational Experience
Portfolio
Other Written Assignments
In-class essays
Homework
15%
20%
20%
20%
Due Oct 20
Due Nov 12
Due Dec 3
Due Dec 16
Due Dec 10
10%
15%
Each essay must go through at least two drafts, one of which I must see and comment on.
I will not grade a paper unless I have seen at least one previous draft of that paper.
COURSE POLICIES
Grading: Requirements for particular essays will vary, but in all cases the grade will
reflect the papers’ effectiveness, which I have broken down into three major areas:
content (this includes maturity and sophistication of thought), organization, and
expression. You cannot receive a passing grade in this class unless you have
submitted all major assignments and completed the final portfolio. To receive full
credit, all written assignments must be submitted on time, in the proper format (to be
explained), and with the required supporting materials (e.g., all drafts, in-class writing,
etc.) associated with that particular assignment. Again, I will not grade a final draft
unless I have previously read at least one draft and unless that draft accompanies
the final draft. Late essays will not be accepted without penalty unless you have
arranged with me before the due date to turn the paper in late. Computer problems are
not acceptable excuses for late papers. Be sure to keep a copy of each assignment in the
(rare) event that I lose it. If you do not have a copy, you will have to rewrite the lost
assignment.
Essay Format: Essays should be neatly typed and double-spaced. Place essays in a pocket
folder with drafts and other assignments. Do not use a cover page. On the first page of
your essay, put your name, ENG 1S, my name and the date. Move 5 hard returns down
and title your essay—do not underline your title. Start your text another 5 lines down
from title. Final versions of essays must be accompanied by the draft on which I
commented.
Attendance: Attendance is very important to you and your classmates’ progress in the
class. More than 6 absences for any reason will result in a failing grade for the course.
Tardiness: Please arrive on time and prepared for each class period. Participation does
factor into your final grade.
Plagiarism: Under present C.W. Post policy, the offense of plagiarism or cheating is
punishable by a range of penalties, including failure in the course and expulsion from the
University.
24
Portfolios: The C.W. Post Freshman Writing Program uses portfolios to improve student
writing skills and to increase consistency in grading. In order to pass this course, your
portfolio must be given a “pass” grade. Your portfolio will contain two revised essays
and two in-class essays for a total of four essays. I will work with you in choosing which
essays to include in your portfolio. NOTE: Succeeding with the portfolio does not
guarantee passing the course (see handout).
Weekly Syllabus
(subject to change)
W Sept 8
Introduction to class; in-class essay #1
Hmwk: Explore Questions
M Sept 13
Unit I: discuss assignment; ICA—ad example
Hmwk: Rd WA ch. 1; LS Erdich, Twitchell
W Sept 15
discuss analytical writing; discuss rdings; ICA#1—construct an ad
Hmwk: pick 2 ads for essay I; Focus I.1
M Sept 20
NO CLASS
Hmwk: Rd Fowles (handout); LS Goodman, Dworkin
W Sept 22
discuss rdings; ICA#2—education ads
Hmwk: WA ch. 2, 4; SW ch. 2; Focus I.2
F Sept 24
Focus I.2 Due in my box Hm 316 by 3:00 pm
M Sept 27
discuss topics/thesis; ICA#3—workshop a thesis
Hmwk: Rd WA ch. 5; SW ch. 3, 4; develop a topic/thesis
W Sept 29
discuss organization
Hmwk: Rd sample essays; write an outline and introduction
M Oct 4
organization, cont.; discuss sample essays
W Oct 6
draft #1 due; peer review
F Oct 8
Draft #2 due (include peer review comments) in Hm 316 by 3:00 pm
Hmwk: Rd WA ch. 9; SW ch. 6, 7; Bring copy of draft to class
M Oct 11
Revising for style; ICA—revision (from essays)
Hmwk: revise 2 paragraphs
W Oct 13
Style, cont.
Hmwk: revise 2 paragraphs
25
F Oct 15
Revisions due in my box by 3:00
Hmwk: Rd Heimel, Spickard, Steele (Handouts)
M Oct 18
discuss rdings; intro to Unit II: discuss assignment
Hmwk: Rd LS Van Gelder, Rauch; answer “Analyzing This Section”
questions for both essays
W Oct 20
Final Draft of Essay I due by 4:00; discuss rdings; ICA—Little Engine
Hmwk: rhetorical analysis of an op ed piece (NY Times, Time, etc.)
F Oct 22
Rhetorical Analysis due in my box by 3:00
Hmwk: Rd WA ch. 6, 7; pick essay for Unit II
M Oct 25
Organization, thesis
Hmwk: Rd sample essays; draft introduction and thesis
W Oct 27
Organization, cont.; sources; discuss rdings
Hmwk: Draft essay II
M Nov 1
Draft #1 due; peer review
Hmwk: consult revision worksheet handout
W Nov 3
Draft #2 Due with peer review sheet; Intro to Unit III
Hmwk: answer one “Focus” question from LS pg. 177
F Nov 5
“Focus” question due in my box by 3:00
Hmwk: Rd SW ch. 8; answer question from handout
M Nov 8
discuss rdings; ICA—“Americans”
Hmwk: Rd LS Ehrenreich, answer #3 (pg. 320); pick essay for Unit III
W Nov 10
discuss rdings; ICA—“Cultural Baggage”
Hmwk: annotate your chosen essay (see SW ch. 8 for guidance)
F Nov 12
Final Draft of Essay II & Annotated Essay due in my box by 3:00
Hmwk: Answer “Analyzing This Selection” questions for your essay
M Nov 15
Organization/Thesis; ICA—thesis workshop
Hmwk: draft intro/thesis
W Nov 17
Organization, cont.
Hmwk: draft essay II
M Nov 22
Draft #1 of Essay III due; peer review
Hmwk: Revise draft
26
T Nov 23
W Nov 24
M Nov 29
Draft #2 of Essay III due in my box by 3:00
No Class—Happy Thanksgiving
Intro to Unit IV, discuss assignment; ICA—participation
Hmwk: Rd LS Tan, Simmons, Rodriquez, Woolf, Gates; answer
Language and assimilation questions
W Dec 1
discuss rdings; discuss organization/thesis
Hmwk: Rd SW ch. 11, 12; limited topic
F Dec 3
Final Draft Essay III & Limited Topic Due by 3:00
Hmwk: Stage Three—Journal Entries; Rd sample essays
M Dec 6
discuss rdings; organization/thesis, cont.
Hmwk: draft essay IV
W Dec 8
F Dec 10
discuss portfolios; peer review
Final Portfolios DUE in my box by 10:00am
Hmwk: draft essay IV, cont.
M Dec 13
Draft of Essay IV due; peer review
Hmwk: revise draft
Th Dec 16
Essay IV Due; Evaluations
27
ENG 1S
Unit I: Analyzing a Visual Text
This assignment asks you to analyze the persuasive power of images. We are
surrounded by images that have designs on us, that urge us to buy things, go places,
believe ideas, and so forth. Often the messages of these images are fairly subtle. Perhaps
the most powerful and pervasive images in our culture come to us through the medium of
magazine and television advertisements. This essay focuses on helping you learn to
analyze the persuasive nature of these images.
By images we mean both the advertisements’ pictures themselves and also the
images of self and society that they project. When we discuss the persuasive nature of the
ads we can ask both: How does this ad persuade me to buy this product? and How does
this ad persuade me to be a certain kind of person, to adopt a certain self-image, or to
strive for certain values?
What you will develop through this assignment is the ability to understand and
explain the persuasive power of advertisements. We will look at the constituent parts of
these advertisements—setting, furnishings, and props; characteristics of the models,
including their clothes, gestures, hair, facial expressions, and poses; camera angle and
lighting; the interplay between the visual images and the verbal copy—and ask how all
these parts working together contribute to the rhetorical effect of the advertisement.
Along with way, we raise questions about how advertisements shape our sense of who we
are and what we value.
Writing Assignment:
Choose two magazine or TV advertisements that sell the same kind of product but
appeal to different audiences (for example, a car advertisement aimed at men and one
aimed at women; a cigarette ad aimed at upper-middle-class consumers and one aimed at
working-class consumers; a clothing ad from The New Yorker and one from Rolling
Stone). Describe the ads in detail so that an audience can easily visualize them without
actually seeing them. Analyze the advertisements and explain how each appeals to its
target audience. To what values does each ad appeal? How is each ad constructed to
appeal to those values? In addition to analyzing the rhetorical appeals made by each ad,
you are to evaluate or criticize the ads, commenting on the images they convey of our
culture.
(Assignment sheet adapted from Ramage & Bean, The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing)
28
ENG 1S
Unit II: Rhetorical Analysis of a Print Text
Your essay will be a specialized type of argument called a rhetorical analysis. Although your
ultimate goal will be to arrive at an assessment of the rhetorical effectiveness of the piece, your primary
task will be to determine what the writer’s purpose is, what strategies s/he chose to use, and why s/he used
those strategies. You must also discuss the effect of such strategies on a typical audience. (You must
assume that our class is the typical audience.) It will be necessary to discuss the essay in very detailed and
specific terms, perhaps word by word in some cases.
I suggest that you proceed as follows: First, decide how to interest readers in your essay and write
an introduction that invites reading. Be sure you can state, somewhere early in the paper, in a sentence, the
writer’s purpose in writing the essay. Next, write a narrow and precisely worded thesis statement that
embodies your purpose in writing the essay. Take care to limit what you attempt. It would be far too much,
for example, to try to argue that an essay was convincing because the writer used many effective examples,
his/her reasoning was sound, his/her tone created a reasonable persona, and his/her writing style was not
dense. You must analyze in depth a limited topic in the space you have.
A final word of caution: Don’t merely summarize the writer’s argument or get caught up in
arguing for or against the position s/he takes. Remember, your purpose is not to agree or disagree with the
writer, but to argue that s/he is effective or ineffective in achieving her purposes because of specific
strategies s/he uses. The question this essay should answer is not “what do I think about this issue” but
“who is the primary audience for this text? What is the writer’s message for that audience? How does the
author get that message across? Through what types of appeals? Are these appeals effective for the
intended audience?”
Be sure to develop your analysis sufficiently, using quotations, paraphrases, and summaries to
support your assertions. Explain to your readers exactly how a certain strategy works (or doesn’t work)
with you and move from there to whether that would be the case with most readers. Finally, conclude your
essay in a way that tells your readers the societal significance of the issue the writer is arguing for or
against and why it’s worthwhile to read an analysis of an essay on this issue. Leave the readers with a
feeling of closure. Don’t merely summarize what you’ve already said.
Organization and Development
The essay should be organized around the criteria you decide are relevant for your analysis/
evaluation. Rhetorical consideration may include:
Audience: What audience (or community) does the creator seem to be targeting? How do you
know? What assumption does the creator make about the reader’s prior knowledge, biases, values? Is the
creator a member of the community she or he addresses?
Appeals: What logical appeals does the creator use? Does the creator use sound reasoning and
evidence? Are major objections overlooked? What emotional appeals does the creator use? Are these fair or
are they manipulative? How does the creator establish credibility or develop a persona? Do you find the
creator trustworthy? What makes you trust one creator and not another? Does it have anything to do with
the communities you belong to or the ones you perceive the creator as belonging to?
Examples: You can develop your analysis in many ways: you might describe the writing
techniques in concrete details or contrast them, provide analogies for how they work, and so on.
Quotations: Inserting quotations to illustrate your claims about the texts are crucial to your
success.
Effectiveness: Are the appeals the writer uses appropriate to the audience (community) he or she
is addressing? Do they serve the writer’s purpose? In other words, the effectiveness of the appeals and
strategies should echo your thesis statement.
29
ENG 1S
Unit II
DRAFTING GUIDELINES FOR ESSAY II
Where and when was this piece published?
What was the occasion? (Was there a big controversy going on just then?)
What, if anything, do I know about the writer? His/Her vested interest in the outcome of
the issue? His /Her associations? His/her values?
Who was the original audience?
What is the author trying to do and why? (purpose, social or political motive)
How credible is the author? Why?
Is the piece primarily using logical or emotional appeal (or both equally)? Why?
Logical: Does the source use facts, statistics, reasoning, etc.? How reliable do the
facts seem? Why? Is opposing data presented? Is it necessary? Why? If opposing
claims are presented, how are they handled?
Emotional: Does the author appeal to his audience’s values or emotions? Which,
specifically? Does he do this explicitly or implicitly?
Ethical: How does the author establish his/her own credibility?
Does the writer call for action or a change in policy?
How could this piece be better?
30
ENG 1S
Unit II
Possible Organization:
1. Understand and be able to briefly summarize the message your text is trying to get to
the readers.
2. Derive the writer’s intended purpose from textual evidence (use quotations from the
article to support your assertion).
3. Describe the characteristics of the target audience.
4. Describe the various strategies and appeals the author uses to achieve his or her
purpose(s) and use examples from the text to illustrate the various appeals.
5. Evaluate how appropriate and/or effective the strategies the author is using are in
convincing this particular audience.
Internal Organization for Individual Paragraphs
Paragraphs in the body of your essay can each be organized by the acronym PIE,
which stands for: Point, Illustration, and Explanation.
The point, or topic sentence of the paragraph, makes a claim or statement that
relates to the primary argument of your paper, then relates this statement to the textual
evidence you will use to support your main idea.
The illustration consists of evidence from the text, which may be paraphrased,
quoted directly, or summarized.
The rest of the paragraph explains the connection between this textual illustration
and the point you are making in the paragraph and/or in the paper as a whole.
31
ENG 1S
Unit III: Analyzing a Pair of Related Print Texts
The injunction to “make something of yourself” is invariably about work, a
command to find worthy employment. From early childhood, we’re encouraged to
imagine the possibilities. We ask, and are asked, “What do you want to be when you
grow up?” The question suggests the options are limited only by our desires, but, as the
selections in Part 6 in Life Studies make clear, satisfying employment can be hard to
come by. Indeed, work is often corrupting, exhausting, and demoralizing. Most of us
find ourselves at some point worrying about a discrepancy between the work we want,
our ambitions, and the demands of the marketplace. Over time we all define and redefine
what we value in a job.
For this assignment, we will be examining the notion of “work rules” as defined
by the essays in Life Studies. You will be asked to analyze how TWO of the writers
included in part 6 of Life Lessons define and put forth an interpretation of what counts as
valuable or meaningful work. To help guide your analysis, use the following framework:
The word professional is widely and often carelessly used to signify someone’s
attitudes and special skills. What does the concept mean to the (TWO) writers
included in Part 6? Clarify the standards, values, and occupations that define it
for these writers. On the basis of their experiences, how would they also illustrate
or define a careless or misleading use of the term?
This assignment, therefore, asks you to argue for a particular interpretation of how the
TWO essays define “work rules,” that is, as it relates to the questions stated above.
As stated in Unit II, throughout your essay, you will focus on making connections
between what you observe about a text (the textual evidence) and what you find
significant about that evidence. It will not be enough for you to merely collect interesting
quotations from the text. You will need to shape the textual material into analytical essay
by demonstrating for your reader exactly how you were able to connect what you observe
in the text with your thesis. In this way, you will articulate your individuality as a reader,
writer, and thinker.
Keep in mind that you are not accountable for the ultimate truth of your texts:
there are no right or wrong conclusions that can be drawn from analysis, only more or
less convincing interpretations. As you construct your essay, you will make an
association about one of the many meanings of the texts you are reading. Since each text
is complex and subject to a variety of interpretations, your goal is to argue for one
interpretation, supporting your assertions with evidence from the texts, including
quotations, paraphrases, and occasional summaries. Note that your interpretation should
not be contradicted by direct evidence from the texts. Research is not required in this
unit.
32
ENG 1S
UNIT IV: ANALYZING AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Overview
This unit requires you to explore a variety of thoughts and experiences regarding
your formal education and then to fashion those thoughts into an essay intended for an
audience other than yourself. You will be asked to think about yourself in terms of the
language(s) you use, the reading and writing you have done, the assimilation or
segregation you have witnessed or experienced in educational settings, the nature and
quality of the institutions you have attended, the lessons you have been taught, the
methods that have worked well—or not so well—for you, and the role you have
developed or are in the process of developing regarding your formal education as you
have experienced it or would like to experience it.
The essay that you write for this unit should explore, reflect upon, and assess a
limited topic that comes from the broad topic of your formal education. Keep these key
verbs in mind as you work your way through the process required in this unit:
Explore: to search into or range over (a limited topic) for purpose
of discovery
Reflect: to think or consider seriously
Assess: to evaluate; to estimate the value and other features of; to
form tentative opinions about
Serious consideration, discoveries, tentative opinions—these are the materials of this
essay.
Stage One: The First Days
I will assign many readings and related writings early in this unit. Each reading
will address one of the subtopics listed in the following section, and each daily writing
assignment will ask you to honestly and thoroughly explore your thoughts and
experiences in relation to that subtopic. The goal in these early days is for you to produce
a wealth of written reflection on your formal education so that you can discover what
aspects of it interest you. You will select your limited topic from these early writings and
draw upon them, whenever possible, to actually create your essay.
33
Stage Two: The Limited Topic and the Method
You must, early in the process of drafting this paper, establish a limited focus,
something that grows out of the writing you produced in response to the daily
assignments. You should make your choice based upon the following criterion:
Instead of choosing an aspect that you feel strongly about, choose an aspect of
your education that puzzles you, that strikes you as important but that you do
not think you fully understand, preferably one about which you have conflicting
or contradictory feelings.
Because the method of writing this paper is exploration, you need a limited topic
about which you have not formed hard and fast opinions. In this paper, you should begin
with questions, with uncertainties, and use your writing to circle the topic, to range
around it, to examine it from as many viewpoints as you find relevant, to think through
possible answers to your questions. You will not be required to reach hard and fast
conclusions in this paper, only tentative ones.
The limited topic is due Sept 21. You will need to identify your limited topic and
write about why you have chosen this way to limit your essay when there are dozens of
other possibilities.
Stage Three: Journal Entries
Once you have determined what aspect of your education you would like to
explore, I will ask you to reflect on that particular topic—in writing—every day for a
series of two days. I will ask you to treat this part of the process as you would a diary or
journal entry. What follows are general instructions for how to compare this part of the
process.
Each day for the next two days, you must make a two-part entry in your journal.
DATE YOUR ENTRIES. Part One must open with the words “Today I think (or
believe) . . .” and must go on to say what your thoughts about your topic are on that day.
(Today I think that my education does not encourage individual thinking or expression . .
.). Each day’s entry must differ significantly from what you wrote the previous day, but
of course you may reread previous entries to prime yourself, and you may even go so far
as to write about the same ideas only in a different perspective.
Part two must open with the words “I remember . . .” and must go on to record
some memory you have related to your topic. Here’s your chance to remember details,
anecdotes, sense impressions, what you thought and/or what you felt at particular
moments in your education. These “I remember” parts must draw on your own
experiences as well as on your memories of other peoples’ experiences.
34
Stage Four: Drafting the Paper
The Question:
Examine everything you have written about your limited topic. What basic
questions are you exploring in what you have written? Try to derive one or two central
questions that you can use to guide your drafting process. Posing the questions and
exploring tentative answers to them based on your experience and reflection is what this
paper is all about.
The 1st Draft:
Type your one or two questions at the top of sheet of paper. Skip several lines.
Now write 1000 words about your limited topic drawing on all the writing you have
already done. Use your questions to help you shape and select your thoughts. I have no
rules in mind for how you should shape your material. I only know that it must have a
shape of some kind and that it is your job to begin figuring out what.
We will be work shopping papers in class. Be sure to bring enough copies for
every classmate. Each paper will receive feedback from both your classmates and me.
35
Questions for Stage One
Language (answer 1 of the 2 questions)
1. Define and illustrate the different “Englishes” (or other languages) you use in
your educational training. In what situations, and with whom, do you use each kind of
language?
2. Do you think your educational training thus far has required you to change any
fundamental aspect of yourself such as your language, your beliefs, or your behaviors?
Support your answer.
Assimilation (answer #3 and one other)
1. Do you remember being misunderstood or mistreated by a teacher or administrator?
Narrate and analyze the event. What was the basis of the misunderstanding? How do you
think the person(s) who mistreated you justified the mistreatment?
2. How has your gender or ethnic background been presented in your textbooks,
classroom atmosphere, advising sessions, and various class discussions?
3. Describe the atmosphere of your high school education. Is it one of assimilation or
segregation? If you witnessed segregation, on what differences was that segregation
based—racial? gender? class?
4. How do you think your educational training has tried to indoctrinate you into the
system? How do they try to assimilate students? Be specific.
Participation (answer #2 and one other)
1. Have you been labeled, placed, tracked, or trained during your years so far as a
student?
2. What big, over-arching lessons about yourself and the purpose of your education has
your education taught you thus far?
3. Has your classes, teachers, advisors sent you any contradictory messages about
yourself and the purpose of education? Support your answer.
4. Up to this point, have you been receiving an education or claiming one? Support your
answer.
36
ENGLISH 2-4
SPRING 2006
BEYOND WORDS: THE VISUAL AGE
BELINDA KREMER
Class meets:
Monday M, W Lib 226 9:30-10:50
Office hours: M,W 11:15-12:15, and by appointment
E-mail: belinda.kremer@liu.edu
Office phone: (516) 299 3723
COURSE DESCRIPTION
ENG 2 is a course in analysis and argumentation, focusing on scholarly research and
documentation. Building on the work begun in ENG 1, students develop knowledge of complex
rhetorical and stylistic techniques, and produce argumentative essays based on analysis and
research.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
ENG 2 continues strategies introduced in ENG 1, but the course focuses more explicitly
on writing about texts. In ENG 2, students learn to read closely and to situate texts in broader
symbolic, historic and socio-cultural contexts. In addition, students are introduced to rhetorical
conventions of writing in other disciplines.
Specifically, students will learn to:
•read literature and related texts purposefully to establish contexts for analyses
•analyze texts rhetorically, taking into account knowledge gained through research
•locate and evaluate relevant secondary sources to support their analyses
•develop research strategies, including ways of incorporating and documenting
quotations, summaries, and paraphrases
•develop and revise thesis-driven arguments supported by close reading of primary
texts and secondary materials
•improve their command of style and mechanics.
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
Texts, available @ C.W. Post bookstore:
Beyond Words: Reading and Writing in a Visual Age. Ruskiewicz, et al.
Collide: Styles, Structures, and Ideas in Disciplinary Writing. Kremer & McNabb.
37
Other texts:
1) You will be picking up The New York Times weekly (free at several locations on
campus), and reading the Science Times section each week.
2, 3) Based on our reading of Beyond Words and the Science Times, and based on topics of
interest generated through our readings, discussions, analyses, and writing, we will
choose websites/web pages, films, videos, blogs, vlogs, photographs, and other visual
arts & graphics through which we will consider, analyze, create, and write about visual
culture. Once we have established, early in the semester, what these texts are, they will
be both required and formally assigned.
Dictionary. Thesaurus. Any contemporary (new or used) versions of these will serve
you.
Course pack / handouts: I will likely distribute a course pack; handouts, definitely.
A journal—folder, binder or portfolio: in which to organize and store your writing,
exercises, drafts, lecture notes, in-class reading responses: all of the writing you generate for this
course.
A digital storage format—disk, CD, portable HD; possibly, documents attached to email: in which your drafts & revisions are available, at all times class is in session.
PLEASE NOTE...
Participation and Attendance
The course is premised on your attendance at each class, but more than that, on your
active participation in the creative and intellectual work of each session. To actively participate,
you must first set aside enough time to fully engage the assigned readings and writing, to think
about them, and to begin making connections within and between them. If, at any point in the
semester, you feel you need help, please, come to my office and talk to me.
Any absence restricts your opportunity to learn the course materials and concepts, and
slows your individual progress, and impedes our momentum as a learning community. If you
must miss a class, you are still responsible for all assignments, materials and due dates relevant
to the day, as well as for being prepared for the following class. The course meets just 25 times;
any absence is a significant absence. More than 6 absences for any reason will result in failure in
the course. Plan not to miss class.
38
Assignments / Grading
All reading and writing assignments are due at the beginning of class. To receive full
credit, you must turn in assignments on time. If you haven’t finished an assignment, though,
please don’t skip class; come to class, and talk to me about an extended deadline. Do note that
timeliness is a minimum expectation and a pattern of lateness will lower your grade. Each of the
4 essays, including its attendant readings, in-class assignments, drafts & final product count for
25% of your grade. Late work loses 10% per day.
Format for Work, Quality of Work
You will type or word-process all of your writing assignments. Proofread a hardcopy of
your work with care. Errors in punctuation, spelling and grammar detract from your writing.
Quality: whether you are turning in a draft or a revision, turn in the very best possible text you can
produce at that time. At a minimum, “very best possible text” includes careful proofreading;
careful proofreading produces, again at a minimum, the absence of typos and the absence of
glaring errors in mechanics and usage. Those are the absences. What is present in quality work?
Answers: intellectual rigor; lively language; fresh images; importance; invitations to readers; a
mind at work. If you are going to develop and heighten these qualities in revision, you must first
bring them to life in draft.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is intellectual theft. Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words or ideas 
in part or completely  as your own, without attributing the source. Plagiarism will result in
failure in this course and it is grounds for expulsion from the University.
39
READING, WRITING
Read actively.
How does the author interest you?
How is the text structured?
What kind of piece is this?
Who’s talking, and why?
What is the author’s distance from the subject?
How does the author’s distance from the subject relate to your experience of the text?
What is this about? What’s it really about?
Which images are peripheral? Which images, if any, are central?
How often, when, and to what effect is figurative language used?
How does the author establish credibility?
What keeps you reading?
If your attention drifted, where did it drift, and why?
Why does this subject matter? Why does this piece of writing matter?
Respond.
Note your questions, comments, thoughts, ideas, connections—in the margins, or
elsewhere.
Talk back.
Write back.
Ask questions.
Find out more.
Write.
40
ENG 2-4
BEYOND WORDS: THE
VISUAL AGE
M, W 9:30-10:50
Lib 226
Belinda Kremer
office: HM 217L
office hours: M, W 11:15-12:15 and by
appointment
Belinda.Kremer@liu.edu; 516-299-2732
SYLLABUS
WEEK 1: JAN 23, JAN 25
M Jan 23: Class overview, introductions, in-class writing.
Tu Jan 24: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Jan 30, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Jan 25: in Collide, read: Introduction. Dinan essay. Davis essay. Come to class ready to write
about the ways the two authors use evidence to make their arguments.
WEEK 2: JAN 30, FEB 1
M Jan 30: in Beyond Words, read: Preface. Prelude. Paying Attention: Reading Texts.
Tu Jan 31: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Feb 6, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Feb 1: Paying Attention: Reading Texts.
WEEK 3: FEB 6, FEB 8
M Feb 6: in Beyond Words, Getting Attention: Composing Texts.
Tu Feb 4: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday, Feb
13, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Feb 8: 1st essay due.
WEEK 4: FEB 13, FEB 15
M Feb 13: in Collide, as assigned in class. In Beyond Words, Picturing Ourselves: Writing to
Express Identities.
Tu Feb 14: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Feb 20, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Feb 15: 1st essay revised, due.
WEEK 5: FEB 20, FEB 22
M Feb 20: In Beyond Words, Seeing Places: Writing to Describe Landscapes and Environments.
Tu Feb 21: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Feb 27, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
41
W Feb 22: 2nd essay due. Workshop.
WEEK 6: FEB 27, MAR 1
M Feb 27: In Beyond Words, Moving Pictures: Writing to Tell Stories.
Tu Feb 28: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Mar 6, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Mar 1: workshop
WEEK 7: MAR 6, MAR 8
M Mar 6: workshop
Tu Mar 7: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Mar 13, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Mar 8: 2nd essay revised, due.
WEEK 8: MAR 13, MAR 15
M Mar 13: In Beyond Words, Mapping Ideas: Writing to Inform and Explain.
Tu Mar 14: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By
Wednesday, Mar 22, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next
week.
W Mar 15: in Collide, Pires essay and Gargano essay.
WEEK 9: (NO CLASS MAR 20); MAR 22
Tu Mar 21: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Mar 27, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Mar 22: 3rd essay due. Library research/ evaluating sources.
WEEK 10: MAR 27, MAR 29
M Mar 26: in Beyond Words, Exploring Design: Writing to Analyze.
Tu Mar 28: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Apr 3, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Mar 29: in Collide, McNeil essay. Library research/ using and citing sources/ avoiding
plagiarism.
WEEK 11: APR 3, APR 5
42
M Apr 3: 3rd essay revised, due.
Tu Apr 4: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Apr 17, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Apr 5: workshop
SPRING BREAK
WEEK 12: APR 17, APR 19
M Apr 17: in Beyond Words, Debating Culture: Writing to Advocate and Persuade.
Tu Apr 18: Pick up (free in Hillwood Commons) or purchase the New York Times. By Monday,
Apr 24, read the “Science Times” in its entirety, and bring it with you to class next week.
W Apr 19: in Collide, Kamler essay.
WEEK 13: APR 24, 26
M Apr 24: 4th essay (research paper) due. workshop: development and revision of research
papers.
W Apr 26: workshop: development and revision of research papers.
WEEK 14: MAY 1
43
M May 1: workshop: continued development and revision of research papers.
FINALS WEEK: FINAL PORTFOLIO DUE AT START OF SCHEDULED FINAL. Note: no late
portfolios will be accepted. Your final portfolio consists of your first draft
and your final revision of your 4th essay (research paper), and a first draft
and a final revision of one of your three shorter essays (choose the essay you
think is your strongest). To pass ENG 2, you must submit a passing final
portfolio.
FINAL EXAM CONSISTS OF:
1) Handing in your revised 4th essay (research paper)/final portfolio on time.
For your final paper, your audience consists of your peers and me. To hand in
your final research paper/ portfolio on time, you will, at the start of the
scheduled final, hand in:
 (for your peers): 20 (or the number of students in our class at that time)
copies of your developed, revised research paper, single-spaced, double-sided;
to be collated so that all students in the class have a full set of the final
product of everyone in the class;
 (for me): one copy of your developed, revised research paper (7 full pages
minimum, 8 pages maximum), double-spaced, single-sided; as well as the initial
draft of your research paper; as well as (to complete your ENG 2 portfolio), a
1st draft and a final copy of one of your three shorter essays.
The process of collecting, organizing, physically collating, and then
distributing, as a collection, everyone’s work will take a couple of hours.
We will generate a title for the collection, make a table of contents, and
along the way, each of you will tell us a little about your research project,
and read an excerpt of your text. Plan on being in the room for the entire
period of the scheduled final, though it’s possible that we’ll break sooner
than that. I will provide refreshments.
44
SST 1S, 1P: Reading & Interpretation
The SST courses are essentially literacy and study skills / study strategies courses.
Students whose SAT scores determined their placement in ENG 1S have an SST 1S
section; likewise, PAS students, who are enrolled in ENG 1P, have an SST 1P section.
As stated earlier, in “A Brief Overview…,” more of our Composition students have an
SST section than do not.
SST 1S and SST 1P both use a required text, ordered automatically for all sections by the
Coordinator of First-Year Writing. The text is Reading, Writing, and Interpretation, 4th
ed. (Love & Michaels, eds. Boston: Pearson, 2007).
The required text outlines the course progression for SST. Its table of contents can be
carried directly to your syllabus, in terms of order and content. Most instructors like to
bring in real-world texts on which to practice the literacy skills the course covers.
If you are teaching an SST-1P section, check with Dr. Susan Rock, Director of the
Program for Academic Success, to clarify any questions you might have about SST-1P
relative to ENG 1P and to “linked” courses within PAS. The linked courses will provide
natural, relevant, real-world textual examples and connections to assignments. Also, be
sure that you have the PAS handbook, which will orient you to other important features
of PAS courses.
If you are teaching a 1S section, you will likely want to invite your students (or require
your students) to bring in some texts they are reading for other courses, and to bring in
texts yourself.
For all sections, the required text provides a scaffolding. It is concrete and detailed about
skills as “basic” as highlighting and as “simple” as identifying topic sentences.
Admittedly, its subject matter is less than sexy. However, we would not have the SST
courses nor the required text if experience had not shown that SST students need this
reinforcement in reading and interpretation strategies. Building from the literacy/study
skills scaffolding of the text, meaningful assignments will engage real-world texts and
real-world assignments. Students might study and practice strategies in Reading,
Writing, and Interpretation, and then apply them to reading and interpreting a complex
nonfiction text—say an essay on child psychopaths in Harper’s— with the instructor as a
guide.
45