Northern Arizona University
University Honors Program
Honors 190:
Seminar in Critical Reading and Writing, I
Instructor: Dr. Rosa Gomez Dierks
Office Hours: M/W: 2:00- 3:00 pm; T/Th: 2:00-3:00 pm and by appointment
Class Meeting Time: MWF: 8:00-8:50; 10:20-11:10; 11:30-12:20/ TTh: 4:00-5:15pm
Phone/Office: 523-0252
Cowden Hall Rm 159
Course Prerequisites:
Admission to the Honors Program. See also number 1 below, under “Course
Requirements.”
Course Description:
Honors 190 is a reading- and writing-intensive course designed to introduce you
to a liberal studies education. An important part of this course is your acquisition
of specific skills: close reading, analytical writing, cogent speaking, attentive
listening, and critical thinking. The readings for this class, as well as the tasks
required of you, have been carefully chosen and arranged in order to make
possible your attainment as well as enhancement of these skills, within a learning
environment that encourages your understanding and appreciation of key issues
that are at the heart of a liberal studies education. Your 190 instructors come from
a variety of departments. Your instructors will help you to define and explore
these key issues in a manner that reflects their unique training, specialties, and
perspectives.
Course Orientation and Goals:
In this course your readings, writings, and class discussions will address, both broadly as
well as specifically, the theme of the human condition, and the ideas and issues arising
from this theme: e.g., the nature and function of being human; societies, communities,
and communication; morals, ethics, and ethnicities; power; gender; or identity, to name a
few. Through your readings and discussions this semester, you will work to clarify these
issues, refine your thoughts and attitudes about them, and consider these issues within the
context of the university.
By the end of this course, you will:
 Demonstrate improved and refined capabilities in essential lifelong skills, including
close reading, analytical writing, cogent speaking, attentive listening, and critical
thinking.
 Recognize the complexities of the human condition from a variety of perspectives:
literary, historical, cultural, moral, social, and so on.
 Appreciate the role that you play as a member of the honors and/or university
community and as a citizen of the 21st century.
Course Requirements:
Note: The following represents minimum requirements common to each section of
Honors 190. All sections will require the writing requirements as listed below. The
reading requirements, as listed below, amount to approximately 70% of the total
requirements for each section; individual instructors will supplement these reading
requirements with additional materials (30% of the total amount of required reading).
Note also that guidelines for informal writing, formal writing, portfolios, bibliographies,
and class participation will be provided by your individual instructors.
1. HON 190 and HON191 may be taken in any order. (a) If you are enrolled in HON190
as your first freshman Honors course, you must take the English Composition Exam
in order to pass this course. If you do not pass the English Composition Placement
Exam, you must take ENG 205 co-registered with HON191. (b) If you are enrolled in
HON 191 as your first freshman Honors course, you must take the English
Composition exam in order to pass this course. If you do not pass the English
Composition Placement Exam, you must take ENG 205 co-registered with HON 190.
2. You will read the following texts: Summer Reading Required of All Freshmen (see
below under “Course Texts”); Sophocles’ Antigone; Voltaire’s Candide; Shelley’s
Frankenstein; Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience; Camus’ The Stranger; and King’s Letter
From A Birmingham Jail; Nabhan, Cultures of Habitat (selection); Leopold, A Sand
County Almanac (selection); selection of essays on education. These readings are
applicable for the Fall semester. Readings for HON 190 are reviewed yearly and may
change in subsequent years.
3. You will write 3 formal, analytical essays, each 5-7pp., that explore topics and issues
related to your readings and discussions. You will also revise each of these papers
through a peer-review process.
4. You will complete a minimum of 13 pieces of informal writing, each 1 ½ - 3pp.
5. You will complete an annotated bibliography on a topic, book, or issue related to your
class readings or discussions, and containing 5 secondary sources.
6. You will submit a portfolio at the end of the semester that consists of 10 of your best,
revised informal writing assignments, and a 1-2pp. “self statement.”
7. You will be expected to participate thoughtfully and intelligently in all class
discussions.
Assessment and Grading:
The goals and objectives listed above will be assessed and/or graded in the following
manner:
1.
2.
3.
4.
15% of total grade: 1 5-7pp. formal essay on 1 text/reading.
20% of total grade: 1 5-7pp. comparative essay on 2 texts/readings.
20% of total grade: 1 5-7pp. comparative essay on 2 or more texts/readings.
10% of total grade: 1 5-item annotated bibliography on a topic related to class
readings/discussion.
5. 20% of total grade: participation. This portion of your grade will include some or all
of the following: class attendance; active and informed class discussions; active and
informed participation in study groups; write-ups of your study group meetings; ontime submission of formal and informal writing assignments; diligent attention to
peer reviews of essays; an awareness of and respect for differing opinions; one10minute book report; and other options as assigned by your instructor. Individual
instructors will specify the requirements for this aspect of your grade.
6. 15% of total grade: an electronic portfolio consisting of a minimum of 10 pieces of
informal writing, revised; 1 copy of your best formal essay; and a “self statement.”
TOTAL: 100%
NOTE: See attached grade rubric
Attendance, Academic Dishonesty Policies:
Seminars such as this are joint enterprises and it is crucial that we come to speak, to
listen, and to contribute. Students who learn the most do so, among other reasons,
because they participate and involve themselves consistently and earnestly in class
discussions with their instructor and with other students. Therefore, attendance is
extremely important, and students who miss class will be penalized as follows:
If a student has 4 or more unexcused absences, his or her grade will be
lowered as follows: 4 to 6 unexcused absences : 1 point; 7-10 absences:2
points; more than 10 absences: failing grade.
Academic dishonesty in all forms violates the basic principles of integrity and thus
impedes learning. More specifically, academic dishonesty is a form of misconduct that is
subject to disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct and includes the
following: cheating, fabrication, fraud, facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism.
Academic dishonesty, as defined in the Student Handbook, will not be tolerated in this
class, and will be handled in the manner prescribed by this handbook.
Course Texts:
Required Summer Reading for Freshmen
Sophocles, Antigone
Voltaire, Candide
Shelley, Frankenstein
Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
Camus, The Stranger
Selection of readings on education: Cronon, “Only Connect...”; Cousins, “How
to Make People Smaller Than They Are”; Malcolm X, from The
Autobiobiography of Malcolm X; Bird, “College is a Waste of Time and
Money”; Hirsch, “Cultural Literacy”; and Neil Postman, “Learning by Story.”
Selection from Nabhan, Cultures of Habitat
Selection from Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
King, Letter From A Birmingham Jail
Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual
Harrison, Lawrence E. and Samuel Huntington, eds. Culture Matters: How Values Shape
Human Progress
Rochester, Martin, Between Two Epochs: What is Ahead for America, The World, and
Global Politics in the 21st Century
Note: with the exception of the education readings and King’s Letter..., you will purchase
your books at the University Bookstore. King’s Letter... and the selection of education
readings will be available to you through photocopy or on library reserve. Thoreau’s
essay will be available to you on electronic reserve.
Course Schedule:
Note: Boldfaced readings will occur across all sections of Honors 190 in the basic
chronology listed below; individual instructors of Honors 190, however, will modify the
pacing and spacing of these assignments to a degree, in order to accommodate additional
reading and writing assignments particular to their own classes.
Week
Reading Assignments
Writing Assignments
Week 1:
Required Summer
Informal Writing #1
Reading for Freshmen;
John Nichols, The Milagro Beanfield War
Harrison and Huntington, eds., Foreword, Introduction and
Chapters 1 and 2: Culture, Attitudes, Values, Beliefs and
Microeconomics of Prosperity
Week 2:
Antigone
Informal Writing #2
Harrison and Huntington, eds. Chapter 10:
Traditional Beliefs and Practices- Are Some Better than Others?
Week 3:
Rochester, The Puzzle, PART ONE
Informal Writing #3;
Rough Draft of
Formal Paper #1;
Peer Review
Week 4:
Candide
Informal Writing #4;
Final Draft of Formal
Paper #1
Week 5:
Candide
Informal Writing #5
Harrison and Huntington, eds. Chapters 13 and 14
Culture, Gender and Human Rights
Week 6:
Rochester, Putting the Pieces Together,
PART TWO
Informal Writing #6
Week 7:
Frankenstein
Informal Writing #7
Week 8:
Frankenstein
Informal Writing #8;
Rough Draft of
Formal Paper #2;
Peer Review
Week 9:
Harrison and Huntington, Chapters
3-9
Informal Writing #9;
Final Draft of Formal
Paper #2
Week 10:
Civil Disobedience
Harrison and Huntington, Chapters
20 and 21
Informal Writing #10
Week 11:
The Stranger
Informal Writing #11
Week 12:
The Stranger
Informal Writing
#12;
Bibliography Due.
Harrison and Huntington
Chapters 15 and 16
Week 13:
Rochester, Solving the Puzzle, Part Three
Informal Writing #13;
Rough Draft of Formal
Paper #3; Peer
Review
Week 14:
A Sand County Almanac
Harrison and Huntington, Chapters
17 – 19
(instructor choice for
informal writing);
Final Draft of Formal
Paper #3 Due
Week 15:
“Letter from A...”
Selections from Cultures
Of Habitat
(instructor choice for
informal writing)