English Composition I
Prof. Albena Vassileva
English Composition 1010 (0328; ENGL 1010; Section MW12BF) Fall 2012
Day and Time: Monday/Wednesday 12:50-2:05 p.m. Room 2154 (Boylan)
Office Hours: M.W. 12:15-12:45 p.m., W 2:30-4:30 p.m; Office: Boylan Hall, Room 4215
Phone: (718) 951-5829; E-mail: AlbenaLV@brooklyn.cuny.edu
“The Brooklyn College English Department, a community of scholars, teachers, and writers, is responsible for many
programs, from introductory writing, to several undergraduate English concentrations, to graduate study in literature
and creative writing. Our students come to us with an extraordinary range and variety of skills and backgrounds. We
endeavor to teach them to read and think critically and creatively; to be appreciative of the written word, in its many
contexts and uses; to conduct research; to express their ideas both in oral and written work, correctly and cogently. We
hope to instill in them an understanding of the beauty and importance of language and literature, from the past to the
present, and from a multiplicity of traditions and languages (in translation), as well as to expose them to various
theoretical and critical approaches to the examination of literary texts. Our goal is to teach them the values of
respecting a plurality of ideas and points of view in preparation for graduate programs, careers, and citizenship in the
global community our world has become. We endeavor to construct our programs and curricula, hire faculty, and
interact with students and each other in keeping with the goals of academic excellence, a student-centered campus, and
responsibility to the community, as set forth in the Brooklyn College Strategic Plan.”
Required Books and Materials:
Kirszner, Laurie, and Stephen Mandell. Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and
Guide (Tenth Edition). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007 (ISBN: 0-312-44586-5).
The book is available at Shakespeare & Co. Booksellers
Recommended books: A recent, college-level dictionary such as The American Heritage
Dictionary or Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
General Description: This course introduces students to expository writing and acquaints them
with the process of, and major strategies in, analytical reading and writing about texts. Students
learn to compose, revise, and edit short essays that state a point of view and support it in a wellorganized sequence of paragraphs. The course also teaches the fundamentals of English grammar
and syntax. Students acquire the skills of critical thinking, summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and
comparing texts. At the end of the semester, all students in English I take an Exit Examination,
which asks them to write an essay in response to several readings.
Course objectives: By the end of the course, students should demonstrate the ability to:
Select and limit topics for written compositions.
Formulate and state clearly the point of each composition.
Write unified and coherent paragraphs including good topic sentences, transitional words and
phrases, and a significant organization of the evidence.
Use style and tone appropriate to the topic and audience.
Summarize, paraphrase, quote, and compare texts.
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Write persuasive, well-developed, and coherent essays.
Revise essays to achieve the most effective expression of the intended ideas.
Analyze selected texts and write critically about them.
Use a variety of sentence types.
Practice correct punctuation, and sufficient command of syntactic and grammatical structures.
Recognize and avoid incorrect and ineffective usage and constructions, such as fragments, fused
sentences, comma splices, dangling modifiers, and errors in agreement, tense, case, and spelling.
Writing Assignments:
All classes will start with a discussion of your questions to the new readings and the homework
on those readings when such has been assigned. You will also have quick quizzes at the
beginning of some class periods designed to check your familiarity with the new chapters and
material before we start our in-depth discussion of them. (Quizzes and class participation
amount to 15 % of the final grade).
English Composition is a writing-intensive class, and it is imperative that you write on a
constant basis both formally and informally. You will write ten essays in this course (both
outside class and in class) and a final exam. The first essay, as well as the mini-essays, will not
be graded. However, if you fail to submit your mini-essay or if it does not follow the required
format, you will get an F for that essay. The take-home essays should be double-spaced, 3 to 4
pages long. Exercises in grammar and syntax will be assigned both in the classroom and as
homework. Rewrites of the essays will not be accepted. However, you will be encouraged to
submit multiple drafts and required to submit at least one rough draft (the mini-essay) prior to
submitting the final essay. We will have a workshop discussing your rough draft of each of the
essays before you are required to hand in the final version of that essay.
All essays and other written assignments are to be handed in on the assigned day. If a paper is
not submitted by the end of the class period specified, the grade will be reduced a full letter (A
becoming B, and so on). For each additional class that goes by before you submit the paper, you
will lose another full letter (B becoming C, and so on).
If you miss a class during which an essay is to be submitted, you are still responsible for
submitting (e-mailing) the essay on the same day AND bringing a hard copy of it the next time
you attend class. Otherwise, the assignment will be treated as a late submission. If you do not
submit a certain essay, you will receive the grade of F for that essay. If you miss a meeting in
which an in-class essay/mini-essay is written and have not contacted the professor to reschedule
the essay prior to that meeting, you will get an F on the essay.
Attendance:
Because much of your most important work will be done in class, attendance is mandatory.
Students are allowed to miss three days without penalty. Each successive absence will result in a
lowering of the final grade.
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Six unexcused absences will result in an F for the course. If you miss a class during which a
writing assignment is given, you must get the assignment from another student in the class. You
will still be expected to submit this assignment on time.
Avoid being late. Being late twice is equivalent to one absence. Leaving the classroom
during the class period (unless you have a valid excuse) will also result in an absence.
Decorum:
You will be expected to participate in all class activities and to avoid all forms of disruptive
or inappropriate behavior.
You will not be allowed to use any electronic devices in the course of the class period.
All cell phones should be turned off before entering the classroom.
Should you ever fail to meet these expectations, you will be marked absent and may even be
instructed to leave the classroom.
Final Course Grades:
The passing grades for the course range from “A+” (very exceptional work) to “C-“ (barely
satisfactory work). There is no “D” grade. A grade of “F” will be given for excessive absences or
failure to complete all writing assignments. A grade of “NC” will be given when a student, despite
regular attendance and completion of all assignments, fails to produce satisfactory work. The
distribution of grades is as follows:
Essays
Class participation and writing assignments
Final Exam
65 %
15 %
20 %
Evaluation criteria for written work:
The Unsatisfactory Paper.
The D or F paper either has no thesis or else it has one that is strikingly vague, broad, or
uninteresting. There is little indication that the writer understands the material being presented. The
paragraphs do not hold together; ideas do not develop from sentence to sentence. This paper usually
repeats the same thoughts again and again, perhaps in slightly different language but often in the
same words. The D or F paper is filled with mechanical faults, errors in grammar, and errors in
spelling.
The C Paper.
The C paper has a thesis, but it is vague and broad, or else it is uninteresting or obvious. It does not
advance an argument that anyone might care to debate. "Henry James wrote some interesting
novels." "Modern cities are interesting places."
The thesis in the C paper often hangs on some personal opinion. If the writer is a recognized
authority, such an expression of personal taste may be noteworthy, but writers gain authority not
merely by expressing their tastes but by justifying them. Personal opinion is often the engine that
drives an argument, but opinion by itself is never sufficient. It must be defended.
The C paper rarely uses evidence well; sometimes it does not use evidence at all. Even if it has a
clear and interesting thesis, a paper with insufficient supporting evidence is a C paper.
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The C paper often has mechanical faults, errors in grammar and spelling, but please note: a paper
without such flaws may still be a C paper.
The B Paper.
The reader of a B paper knows exactly what the author wants to say. It is well organized, it presents
a worthwhile and interesting idea, and the idea is supported by sound evidence presented in a neat
and orderly way. Some of the sentences may not be elegant, but they are clear, and in them thought
follows naturally on thought. The paragraphs may be unwieldy now and then, but they are
organized around one main idea. The reader does not have to read a paragraph two or three times to
get the thought that the writer is trying to convey.
The B paper is always mechanically correct. The spelling is good, and the punctuation is accurate.
Above all, the paper makes sense throughout. It has a thesis that is limited and worth arguing. It
does not contain unexpected digressions, and it ends by keeping the promise to argue and inform
that the writer makes in the beginning.
The A Paper.
The A paper has all the good qualities of the B paper, but in addition it is lively, well paced,
interesting, even exciting. The paper has style. Everything in it seems to fit the thesis exactly. It may
have a proofreading error or two, or even a misspelled word, but the reader feels that these errors
are the consequence of the normal accidents all good writers encounter. Reading the paper, we can
feel a mind at work. We are convinced that the writer cares for his or her ideas, and about the
language that carries them. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Permission is granted to nonprofit educational institutions to reproduce this document for internal use provided that the Bok Center's authorship and copyright are acknowledged.
Course Outline:
WEEK 1
Aug. 27: Introduction to the course and syllabus. Writing a diagnostic essay: “The Person and/or
Place that Inspired My Dreams” or “The Place I Call Home”
(Essay 1)
Aug. 29: Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (up to p. 34)
WEEK 2
Sept. 3: NO CLASSES – LABOR DAY
Sept. 5: Understanding Thesis and Support (pp. 30-35).
Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (pp. 34-117)
WEEK 3
Sept. 10: Chapter 3: Arrangement (pp. 37-49).
Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (pp. 118-198)
Sept. 12: Chapter 6: Narration. Structuring a Narrative essay.
Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (199-249)
In-class Outline and mini-Essay (Essay 2)
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WEEK 4
Sept. 17: NO CLASSES SCHEDULED
Sept. 19: Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (250-end)
Writing Workshop on Narrative Essay.
WEEK 5
Sept. 24: Chapter 7: Description. Structuring a Descriptive Essay. Suzanne Berne, Ground Zero (p.
162-65)
Narrative Essay Due (Essay 3)
Sept. 26: NO CLASSES SCHEDULED
WEEK 6
Oct. 1: Discussing Sample Descriptive Essays. Ozick’s “The Shock of Teapots” (handout)
Revising and Editing a Descriptive Essay
Oct. 3:
In-class Descriptive mini-Essay (Essay 4)
WEEK 7
Oct. 8: COLLEGE CLOSED – COLUMBUS DAY
Oct. 10: CONVERSION DAY – MONDAY SCHEDULE
Writing Workshop on Descriptive Essay
WEEK 8
Descriptive Essay Due (Essay 5)
Oct. 15: Chapter 8: Exemplification. Structuring an Exemplification Essay
Brent Staples, “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” (240-43)
Jonathan Kozol, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” (252-59)
Oct. 17: Chapter 14: Planning an Argumentative Essay: choosing a topic; taking a stand; dealing
with the opposition.
Structuring an Argumentative Essay. Using Deductive and Inductive Arguments. Recognizing
Fallacies
WEEK 9
Oct. 22: Debate 1: Should Gay and Lesbian Couples be Allowed to Adopt? (623)
Essay 1: Tom Adkins, “Traditional Mother and Father: Still the Best Choice for Children” (625)
Essay 2: Becky Birtha, “Laws Should Support Loving Households, Straight or Not” (630-32)
Revising and Editing an Argumentative Essay
Oct. 24: Debate 2: Should U.S. Citizens be Required to Carry National Identity Cards? (613)
Essay 1: William Safire, “The Threat of National ID” (614-16)
Essay 2: Alan M. Dershowitz, “Why Fear National ID Cards?” (618-20)
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WEEK 10
Oct. 29:
In-class Argumentative mini-Essay (Essay 6)
Oct. 31: Writing Workshop on Argumentative Essay
Debate 3: Should the Draft be Reinstated in the United States? (635)
Essay 1: William Broyles Jr., “A War for Us, Fought by Them” (637-40)
Essay 2: Rick Jahnkow, “For Those Who Believe We Need a Draft” (643-47)
WEEK 11
Nov. 5: Chapter 11: Comparison and Contrast. Structuring a Comparison-and-Contrast Essay.
Discussing Sample Comparison-and-Contrast Essays.
Argumentative Essay Due (Essay 7)
Nov. 7: Bharati Mukherjee, “Two Ways to Belong in America” (415-18)
WEEK 12
Nov. 12: Deborah Tannen, “Sex, Lies, and Conversation” (440-44)
Nov. 14: Revising and Editing a Comparison-and-Contrast Essay.
Casebook: Does Media Violence Cause Societal Violence? (669)
Essay 1: Sissela Bok, “Sizing Up the Effects” (671-74)
Essay 2: Gerard Jones, “Violent Media is Good for Kids” (678-82)
WEEK 13
Nov. 19: Essay 3: Oliver Stone, “Memo to John Grisham: What’s Next – ‘A Movie Made Me Do
It’?” (686-88)
Essay 4: Michael Zimecki, “Violent Films Cry ‘Fire’ in Crowded Theaters” (691-94)
Nov. 21:
In-class Comparison-and-Contrast mini-Essay (Essay 8)
WEEK 14
Nov. 26: Writing Workshop on Comparison-and-Contrast Essay
Nov. 28:
Sample Exit Exam (handout).
Comparison-and-Contrast Essay Due (Essay 9)
WEEK 15
Dec. 3: Discussion of the Sample Exam Essays
Dec. 5:
In-class mini-Essay: Sample Exit Exam (Essay 10)
WEEK 16
Dec. 10: Review session. MLA Guidelines for the Documentation of Sources (767-77)
Dec. 12: Final remarks. Preparation for the Exit Exam
Final Exam: Friday, December 14th from 10:30 - 12:30
The honor code is in effect for every assignment in this class.
The syllabus may be changed at the discretion of instructor.