MT ROYAL COLLEGE
COURSE SCHEDULE & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
English 2201-081: Intermediate Composition
Spring 2007
Monday–Thursday 12:00–1:50pm
Instructor: Robyn Starkey
Email: rstarkey@mtroyal.ca
Office: EA3138
Phone: 440 7280
Office Hours: I will usually be available before class between 11:30 and 12.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, Everything’s an Argument, 3rd edition.
English 2201 Course Pack of Required Readings.
There is no set Style Guide, as I assume you have one, but if you do not, then you should
purchase one; see me for suggestions. You will also need a good, college-level dictionary
and thesaurus. I prefer the Oxford English Dictionary, Canadian Edition.
DISTRIBUTION OF MARKS
Participation
In-Class Assignments
Research Essay
Self-Portrait & Oral Presentation
Final Exam
5%
40%
15%
15%
25%
CLASS AIMS
The aim of this course is to improve students’ ability to write and read intelligent
arguments. Reading critically and analysing what you read are vital components of
writing good arguments yourself. We will examine a variety of arguments, and through
this discussion, we will work towards developing each student’s own academic voice.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION
Since every semester I struggle with Blackboard, and it really is the most horrible
program, and everyone HATES it, this semester I am trying something new.
I am putting course material and links on a WordPress blog. If you need copies of
handouts, or extra info, this is the place to go. There are links to the site from My Courses
and Blackboard. The site is: http://omgihateblackboard.wordpress.com/
I'll open Blackboard so that you have access to the Digital Drop Box, but that is all we
are going to use it for.
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SUBMISSION OF WORK
All major assignments must be completed to receive a passing grade in the course. Due
dates are clearly indicated on this handout. Late work will be penalized at the rate of 3
percentage points (1/3 of a letter grade) per day.
Emailed assignments will not be accepted.
If you cannot make it to class the day an assignment is due, you may submit your work to
the English Department office – EA3146. You may also submit work in the Digital Drop
Box on Blackboard.
In-class assignments are due at the end of class. It may be possible to negotiate an
extension, but only if you can demonstrate that you have complete substantial work
during the in-class writing time.
Students who do not attend class on assignment-writing days will receive a mark of zero
for the assignment. If you have a serious reason for missing class, you may negotiate a
make-up assignment, but only if you explain your situation BEFORE the due date.
IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
Because Spring semester takes place in such a condensed period of time, students often
find it hard to complete the same number of take-home assignments that they would
complete in a longer semester. This class has been designed with weekly in-class
assignments in order to keep the amount of homework manageable. Each week, in the
Thursday Lab class, you will be required to complete a writing assignment. If preparation
is required, you will be given guidelines or instructions for the assignment earlier in the
week. Lab time is designed to be used for writing, for consultation with your instructor,
and for peer review. These assignments are due at the end of Thursday’s class.
TIME MANAGEMENT
In this course, there are two tasks that require steady individual work over a period of
weeks. Together they total 35% of the total marks for the course. It is your responsibility
to make sure you keep up with these assignments on a regular basis. Students who leave
substantial amounts of work until the last minute are unlikely to receive a grade higher
than a C+.
PLAGIARISM
All work submitted must be your own. In essays where research is required, appropriate
citation must be provided. Plagiarism is a serious offence; students are advised to read,
mark and understand the College regulations governing academic integrity in the Code of
Student Conduct. You can get a copy of the code from the Office of Student Conduct, or
on the MRC Website: <http://www.mtroyal.ca/officeofstudentconduct/>
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ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION
All students are expected to attend all classes. Students who miss more than 6 hours of
class time (i.e. 3 classes) are at serious risk of failing the course. Because this course
takes place in Spring, over a condensed period of time, it is very easy to fall behind;
missing one week of classes in Spring semester is like missing 2 weeks of class in a
regular semester.
Required reading for classes is listed in the schedule below. Readings from the Course
Pack are mostly essays that we will discuss in class. It is absolutely essential that you
read these essays BEFORE class, so that you will be prepared to discuss them. Readings
from Everything’s an Argument are designed to provide you with background and
additional information on the basic issues and concepts we will be covering in class. It is
a good idea to read this assigned reading before class, but if you are pressed for time, you
may catch up on this reading after the class in question. If you need more help or
clarification on the material we cover in class, then you should explore the relevant
chapter in Everything’s an Argument – even if the reading is not specifically assigned, it
will still be helpful.
In the first few weeks of class, you will find there is a lot of assigned textbook reading on
Research and Documentation, and background reading on Argument. This material is
designed to support and expand on class discussion. Additional homework and
preparation will be assigned in class. Students need to come to class prepared to
participate fully in both group and individual work.
Most classes will involve discussion of one or more set texts; readings are indicated in
the detailed course schedule below. Classes will also include discussion of writing issues
and group activities. In addition, because this is a composition course, we will do a range
of writing activities in class. All of these activities will contribute to your class
participation mark.
Please note: There are no marks awarded in this course for attendance. Simply showing
up to class will not earn you marks unless you also participate in discussion and other
activities.
If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed. The
best way to do this is to contact me by email.
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Date
Topic(s) & Required Reading
Work Due
N.B. Lab assignments are due on Thursdays
Week 1
May 1
May 2
May 3
Introduction: goals and expectations
Introduction to Argument
Murray “The Maker’s Eye” 8-12
Everything’s… Chapter 1
Intro to the Lab – Short essay
Week 2
May 7
May 8
May 9
May 10
Introduction to Analysis
Jones “I’m losing my patience…” 13-21
Coupland “The Yukon” 1-1
Everything’s…Chapter 5
Minimum Standard Review
Freyer “All My Life for Sale” 22-33
Logos
Martin “The Egg and the Sperm” 60-75
Everything’s…Chapter 4
Analysis 1
Self-Portrait
Proposal
Week 3
May 14
May 15
May 16
May 17
Context and Credibility
Film: Outfoxed
Everything’s…Chapter 16
Research and Documentation
McCabe and Trevino “Honesty and Honor Codes” 76-81
Everything’s…Chapters 18-20
Orwell “Politics and the English Language” 99-109
Research Assignment
Essay Proposal
Week 4
May 21
May 22
May 23
May 24
Victoria Day – No Class
Film: An Inconvenient Truth
Williams “Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp” 49-59
Library Research Session
Analysis 2
(There will be an extra reading for this assignment.)
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Date
Topic(s) & Required Reading
Work Due
N.B. Lab assignments are due on Thursdays
Week 5
May 28
May 29
May 30
June 1
Pathos
Yashinsky “Talking Him In” 44-48
Everything’s…Chapter 2
Ethos
Staples “Just Walk on By” 34-38
Everything’s…Chapter 3
Woolf “Professions for Women” 39-43
Letters to the Editor
Letter Assignment
Week 6
June 4
June 5
June 6
June 7
Style 1 - Metaphor
Stothers “Weeding the Friendship Garden” 82-86
Atwood “The Female Body” 144-146
Everything’s…Chapter 12
Style 2 – Repetition
Donne “For Whom this Bell Tolls” 90-91
Arguing Logically
Steinem “Supremacy Crimes” 110-114
Everything’s…Chapter 17
Writing Assignment
Research Essay
Week 7
June 11
June 12
June 13
June 14
Oral Presentations
Everything’s…Chapter 15 might help if you are nervous
Film: Killing Us Softly
Everything’s…Chapter 14 ESSENTIAL READING
Moore “Idiot Nation” 115-121
Klein “The Branding of Learning” 122-143
Advertising Analysis
Week 8
June 18
June 19
June 21
June 22
Swift “A Modest Proposal” 147-155
Everything’s…Chapter 13
Tan “The Language of Discretion” 156-163
Vocabulary Choices 164-173
Revision
Final Essay
Self-Portrait
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English 2201
Self-Portrait Project
The purpose of this assignment is for you to produce a piece of reflective, personal
writing. You have the entire semester to work on this piece. Thus, it is expected that the
finished product be a polished, sophisticated and substantial piece of work. The
Minimum Standard of Correctness applies to this task, with an emphasis on the word
“Minimum”.
A successful Self-Portrait will be a distinctive and unique piece of writing. You should
focus on exploring experiences or aspects of yourself that make you different to other
people. Thus, when you think about the focus of your project, you should concentrate on
making the scope of it narrow and deep, rather than a summary of your life so far.
Successful Self-Portraits written by past students have included:
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a narrative essay about the death of a family member, which also explained how
that death shaped the writer’s life;
a short story about a significant weekend;
a series of short essays on the writer’s political views, presented in a blog;
an essay which included research on a disease and a discussion of the writer’s
personal experience with this disease;
a collection of descriptive paragraphs about the student written by other people,
and accompanied by a reflective essay on those written opinions;
an essay about how a childhood experience shaped the writer’s life;
a detailed description of a set of objects, and an explanation of their significance
to the writer.
There are a number of essays in your Course Pack which make use of personal
experience. If you are looking for inspiration, the essays by Coupland, Cofer, Freyer,
Woolf, Yashinsky and Tan are all examples or models you can examine when thinking
about how you are going to shape your Self-Portrait.
You are strongly encouraged to consider making use of media other than print on paper
for this project. If you wish, you may publish your essay as a weblog, make a web page,
or use any other alternative media that you discuss with Robyn.
There are a number of elements that make up this project. You must submit a proposal,
give an oral presentation that outlines your project to the class, write an abstract that
explains what you wanted the project to accomplish, and, of course, hand in the final
project.
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As this project is a work in progress throughout the semester, there are several due dates.
Project Proposal
Length: 150-200 words
Due Date: Wednesday, May 9
Your Proposal needs to outline your ideas for your Project, including the format. You
will receive feedback and suggestions in return. Once your Proposal is approved, you
may not make major changes unless you consult with Robyn.
Oral Presentation
Length: 4-5 minutes
Presentation date: Monday, June 11
The purpose of this presentation is to give a progress report to the class on your project.
You will receive feedback from the entire class. This presentation is worth 1/3 of your
total mark for the Project.
Presentation Requirements
Your Presentation must give an outline of your whole project, which includes an
explanation of why you chose the particular format, and what you hope your finished
piece will accomplish. You may use media such as overheads, posters or PowerPoint if
you wish.
You must include a reading of at least 300 words that you have written as part of the final
Project.
The purpose of the Oral Presentation format is to encourage students to communicate
their ideas to one another. Thus, presentations that are inaudible, incomprehensible, or
substantially shorter than the required length will not receive a passing grade.
Students who do not complete this portion of the project will receive a mark
no higher than a C on the final Project.
Final Project
Length: a minimum of 1000 words, including the Abstract
Abstract Length: 150-200 words
Due Date: Wednesday, June 22
Your final project must be accompanied by an Abstract that summarises the content and
purpose of your project. In cases where the major project is online (e.g. a website) your
abstract must be submitted in hard copy format and contain an address for the final
project.
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Research Essay – News Media
Length: 1000-1500 words
Proposal Due: Thursday, May 17
Due Date: Thursday, June 7
The Task
For this essay, you will develop a topic and write a persuasive, analytical essay on the
news media. Your essay must include analysis of one or more news sources; you must
also include some research to support your opinions.
Suggestions – feel free to modify these, or to develop one of your own:
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focus on a particular news story and look at how it is presented in different (local
or international) newspapers;
choose a specific news source (e.g. Air America Radio, CBC Newsworld), follow
it closely for a week and then present an analysis of its priorities and political
agenda;
watch several news broadcasts (local, national and/or US) on one evening, and
write an essay that analyses and comments on the differences or similarities;
choose an alternative news source (e.g. CBC’s The Hour) and examine how it
comments on mainstream news – you might ask yourself if it really is
“alternative”;
make a study of news blog/s (e.g. www.dailykos.com) and look at how they
present news;
choose a satirical program that comments on the news (Rick Mercer’s Monday
Report, or The Daily Show with John Stewart), and write an analysis or
commentary on its relationship to the news.
Before you develop your topic, visit the course weblog and check out the blogroll for
links and ideas for this task.
Research and topic development
There will be a Library Research Session on Wednesday, May 23; it is designed to help
you develop your ideas, find materials and get yourself organised to do your research.
You will find this session most helpful if you have a reasonably firm idea about your
essay topic before you come to the session. You will be able to use some of your time in
the session to explore available resources and (if necessary) refine your topic.
Presentation and Citation
All research must be documented; quotes from and references to news sources must be
accompanied by correct citation in MLA format. Your essay must include appropriate
citation and a list of Works Cited in MLA format. No other citation style is acceptable.
The Standard of Referencing and the Minimum Standard of Correctness apply to this
task.
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