English 2: Capitalism in Literature
English 2 Composition
Spring 2012
T.TH. 6:30-7:45 PM
Lauren Belski
lauren.belski@gmail.com
Office: 2311 Boylan
Required Texts
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut
Films:
Roger and Me
The Pursuit of Happyness
A Writer's Reference by Diane Hacker (Bedford/St.Martin's ISBN # 0312479824)
Course Goals
The first goal of any course is for you to exit the room asking questions and observing the
world in a way you haven’t before. What is literature? Why do people read it? What is
its purpose in our society? Why do certain works endure? What do they say about who
we, the readers, are? If you do not see a place for yourself, the reader, in the books you
study than you will not be able to ask why they say what they do and whether it is
relevant. Our goal is for you to realize that every piece of work is transmitting a
message. What is that message? How does it relate to the world we live in? Through in
class discussions, we will be guiding ourselves to draw connections between literature,
criticism, and the cultural climate of today. These connections will lead us to strong
questions that will drive research based on the themes of the class. From this research
each student will develop a thesis statement. These thesis statements will eventually
manifest themselves into research papers that reflect the independent, brilliant thoughts of
each member of the class.
Another goal: Not to be afraid of your ability to produce an independent, brilliant
thought.
One more: To write clearly and academically in complete sentences which are driven by
the need to communicate as opposed to the need to “take up space”.
Thematic Description
We will be exploring fiction and nonfiction works that explore the role of money and
capitalism in society. Specifically, how do the choices big businesses make effect the
lives of American people? And, inversely, how does the drive for wealth in a character
affect that person’s life? Through the exploration of these subjects, you will be expected
to make original observations on the work we read, and incorporate them into a well
thought out and researched essay.
Grading Rubric
Research Paper Total—55%
Topic Proposal—5%
Annotated Bibliography—10%
Rough Draft—10%
Final Research Paper—15%
Presentations—15%
Reading Responses—25%
Quizzes—20 %
Research Requirements
Research Paper:
The research paper will require individual, out-of-class
research on a topic loosely related to our readings and
discussions. Choosing a topic worthy of your interests
and passions is paramount to your success in this class.
Your research must be properly incorporated into your
writing using the Modern Language Association (MLA)
format. The assignments and course are designed so that
your research and writing will gradually evolve into a
polished product. For this reason, due dates are
mandatory for assignments involved with your research
paper, which include the topic proposal, annotated
bibliography, rough draft, and final draft. The final draft
will be due no later than the last day of final exams.
Topic Proposal:
You must hand in an official topic proposal in which you
identify a specific topic that you will research, the
connection between your topic and the themes of the
course, a tentative—but original and debatable—thesis, and
five appropriate sources with which you will start your
research.
Annotated Bibliography:
You must hand in an annotated bibliography which will
include a more clearly defined topic proposal, along with
annotations and bibliographic information for seven
primary and secondary sources that pertain to your
emerging thesis.
Rough Draft:
You must hand me a rough draft of your research paper. At
this point, your rough draft might be a mix between a draft
and an outline, but your introduction, thesis, topic
sentences, transitions, and quotes from other texts should
be identified and organized. The rough draft should be at
least 4 pages.
Other Requirements
Writing Exercises:
Though the goal of this class is to produce a research paper,
I am of the belief that creative writing leads to academic
thought and observation. Throughout this course you will
be producing personal essays based on your own
experiences as well as written responses to the texts as a
means to enrich your experience with the literature we
study.
Quizzes:
A quiz is my way of making sure you are keeping up with
the reading assignments. However, they are not your atypical type of exam. Any in-class written assignment you
are asked to work on, whether in a group or individually,
counts as “a quiz”. They are graded out of 5 points, and at
the end of the semester are averaged together for one
numeric grade.
Other Class Rules and Regulations
Attendance:
The English Department regulates that more than 3
unexcused absences is an automatic F. Being absent is not
an excuse for late papers.
Late Assignments:
Late assignments lose one letter grade for each day they are
missing and are not accepted after one week.
Plagiarism:
This is a free thinking zone where you are encouraged to go
out on a limb to think independently. Plagiarism is not
only an insult to your own intelligence, it’s academically
unacceptable. Anyone caught plagiarizing will receive an
automatic F on the assignment, and be subject to expulsion
from the course. A Writer’s Reference clearly defines what
constitutes plagiarism.
Office Hours:
My office hours will be between 4pm-5pm on Tuesdays
and Thursdays or by appointment. You will all be visiting
me at least once during the semester to discuss your
research assignments.
Schedule
DATE
TOPICS/READING ASSIGNMENT
T 1/31
What is Criticism? How are we critics?
Th 2/2
Ayn Rand, “The Meaning of Money” and “The Moral
Meaning of Capitalism”
What is our relationship to money?
Screening: Roger and Me, Library
Roger and Me discussion
T 2/7
Th 2/9
PAPERS/ASSIGNMENTS TO
HAND IN
“The Meaning of Money”
personal essay (3-5pgs)
T 2/14
The Great Gatsby (1-2)
8 Quotes, explanation
Th 2/16
Gatsby (3-5)
8 Quotes, explanation
T 2/21
CONVERSION DAY—no class
Th 2/23
T 2/28
Gatsby (finish book)
Grammar workshop
Th 3/1
Themes/Topics in Gatsby and Roger and Me
T 3/6
“What Should a Billionaire Give and What Should You”, Singer
TED Talks, Jessica Jackley Founder of KIVA
Th 3/8
Using your curiosity to find a research topic/Diana Hacker
T 3/13
Analyzing Texts: Is this useful for my research
Th 3/15
T 3/20
Th 3/22
T 3/27
“Class Clash”, personal
essay
Notes/Thoughts on how
these two pieces relate to
one another
Library Visit
Death of a Salesman, first half
Death of a Salesman, finish play
1 quote, two paragraph
analysis
1 quote, two paragraph
analysis
Proposal Workshop
Th 3/29
Naomi Klein, “Mergers and Synergy” from No Logo
T 4/3
Example Student Research Paper, group analysis, workshop
Annotated Bibliography
Th 4/5
Introduction/Thesis Workshop
A well-crafted
introductory paragraph
that introduces your topic
4/6-
SPRING BREAK
4/15
T 4/17
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater (chapters 1-3)
Th 4/19
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater (chapters 4-7)
8 quotes
T 4/24
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater (finish book)
Th 4/26
Rough Draft Workshop
T 5/1
Th 5/3
Rough Draft
“The Century of the Self” BBC, Part 1
“The Declaration of Independence,” and “The Bill of Rights”
T 5/8
Presentations
Th 5/10
Presentations
T 5/15
Last Class Roundtable Discussion, “WTF? OMG.”
Research Paper Due