Instructor: Maria Eliades
Office: 115-17 Anderson Hall
E-mail: maria.eliades@boun.edu.tr
Office Hours: Th 1-5pm & by appointment
Class Hours: W 3-5pm, F 3-4pm
ENGL 112.01
Spring 2015
Expository Writing II
Syllabus
About me:
I’m here to help you be successful in this class, so please see me in my office if you need to talk about
anything. However, don’t wait until the day before an assignment is due to stop by or ask for an
appointment! If my office hours don't work for you, do get in touch or talk to me after class and we’ll find
an alternative. E-mails are also a good way to get in touch and ask for help. I generally don’t respond to
work e-mails late at night or at the last minute before an assignment.
Why you should attend class:
You won’t learn most of what you need to do with the readings or listed assignments. This syllabus is
designed to inform you of the due dates and assignments for the term, but without coming to class, the
techniques you’ll need to get them done and to get other university assignments done will be missing.
Course Objectives:
This course aims to improve your ability to write clearly, uniformly, and comprehensively in English. At
the end of this course, you'll be able to create and defend an argument, as well as compare and contrast
ideas with descriptive writing. By the end of the course, each member of our section will be able to form a
thesis statement, conduct library research, and write a well-argued research paper with points of analysis.
We’ll have regular short writing assignments that I will periodically collect during the semester. These
assignments are an essential part of your development not only as a writer, but also as a thinker.
Assignments will vary and will not be graded, though the completion of each assignment will count
toward your short writing assignments grade.
Revisions are an essential part of the writing process. Half of your grade on your essay and research paper
will come from the extent of your revisions. Remember that you are part of a community of writers and
scholars in training. The material and assignments in this course will form the basis of your academic
writing and can serve as a reference point for your future work.
How to succeed in this class:
Show up and participate. I cannot stress enough how important it is not only to show up to class but also to
come prepared (which means at the very least you’ve done your reading for the class and/or the
assignment) and to take an active role in the class itself. Showing up is good -and in fact attendance has a
direct correlation with your performance in your academic writing - but it won’t be enough to help you
learn. You must take charge of your own learning experience - which means you must be prepared to
speak up in class.
Note: You must attend 75% of all classes to turn in your Research Paper, which counts as a final
exam. This is a department policy.
Turn in assignments in their proper format and on time. Format is a stupid area to lose points on. Look at
the sample papers and follow their notation style, font, and layout. When I say the font is to be 12-pt
Times New Roman and double-spaced with 1” margins, that does not mean that 16-pt Arial single-spaced
is okay, nor does it mean that extra spaces between paragraphs are okay. I’ve been a commercial editor for
years. I’ll spot any of these infractions right away, and yes, I will deduct points if you do that.
If you are having problems with resetting spell check to American English for your assignments, please
seek out one of your classmates or one of our campus IT staff to fix it. Not following formatting and
spelling conventions looks sloppy and unprofessional.
For every day after a due date, I’ll subtract 10 points from your original grade. Losing points due to
turning things in late is another stupid way to kill your grade.
On a final note, I do not accept assignments sent via e-mail. Sending them in this way makes it both
difficult for me to make comments on them and easy for me to forget them. Call me a Luddite, but they
have to be printed out if you expect all the goodies from a writing class –commentary, credit, and a grade.
Be responsible by making sure that all parts of an assignment are present. If I say that I want you to hand
in the first draft with the final draft, I mean it. I don’t haul around more paper for my own exercise. Both
the first draft and final draft must be handed in on the final due date so that I’ll be able to compare your
progress from your first draft and to give you better feedback.
Do your reading. Occasionally I will “pop” a quiz on you to make sure you’ve been doing your reading
and that you’ve been staying on top of your work. I’ll mainly ask about central ideas and content to check
that you’ve prepared for class.
Revise. I cannot stress this enough. Turn in a final draft which looks almost exactly like your previous
draft with the exception of a few cosmetic changes (such as changing the format or changing a few
sentences) and I will give you a grade at least a whole letter below the quality of the writing, organization,
and research. A first draft is never perfect. Every researcher and writer needs to make significant changes
between their first and final draft to create a strong and worthwhile paper.
Create original work. Plagiarizing is a serious offense. Writing down some else’s ideas or work without
giving them credit is stealing. At Boğaziçi, we take plagiarism seriously. A plagiarized paper will get you
an F on that paper and will quite probably be reported to the university disciplinary committee. For more
information on plagiarism, see the “About Plagiarism” entry by BU’s Department of Western Languages
and Literatures (http://bit.ly/1oiOOam), as posted by BU’s Department of Philosophy.
Required texts:
-Course Reader, available at Hısar Fotokopi
Recommended Resources:
-On researching and writing about history -on reserve at the library:
Brundage, Anthony. Going to the Sources: A Guide To Historical Research and Writing.
Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 2008.
Burke, Peter. Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images as Historical Evidence. Ithaca, NY: Cornell,
2001.
Cullen, Jım. Essaying the Past: How to Read, Write, and Think about History. Great Britain:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
McDowell, W. H. Historical Research: A Guide. Great Britain: Pearson, 2002.
-Dictionaries:
Merriam-Webster's College Dictionary
Compact Oxford English Dictionary
-Thesauri:
Roget's Thesaurus
Oxford Learner's Thesaurus
-Online:
The Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/12/)
Research papers:
You will produce two original research papers during this course, based on material from HIST
102, HIST 106, or ENGL 112. If you are not currently taking these history courses or would like to use
material from other courses (or from outside of your courses) to write your paper, please ask me.
Grades:
Participation (Attendance, speaking up in class, pop quizzes, and other in-class assignments): 25%
Research Paper 1: 25%
Research Paper 2: 25%
Reaction Papers: 25% (8.3% each)
Class Schedule and Assignments:
Week 1
February 9-13
Wednesday
Introduction to approach and methods for ENGL 112
Assignment 1 in class
Friday
Research Methods I -Secondary Sources
+ Research Paper I Assignment
HW: evaluate sources
Reading: Going to the Sources, p. 19-32; Essaying the Past, p.129-147
Week 2
February 16-20
Wednesday
On writing a reaction paper
Research Methods II - Primary Sources
Assignment 1 Due
Reading: Going to the Sources, p.95-117
Bonus reading: “Finding Monographs and Using Catalogues” and “Finding Journals, Magazines, and
Newspapers: Using Indexes,” The Information-Literate Historian, p. 44-85
Friday
Writing and revising introductions review
Reading: “Shitty first drafts,” Bird by Bird
HW: Chart the differences between CMS and APA as seen in the CMS and APA papers
Week 3
February 23-27
Wednesday
On Chicago Style
Reading:
The Chicago Manual of Style Online
CMS/APA difference chart due
Friday
Peer Review
First half of Research Paper I Due
Week 4
March 2-6
Wednesday
Creating an annotated bibliography
Reading: “Writer’s Block,” Bird by Bird
Friday
Formatting Day -Class location TBA
Research Paper I Annotated Bibliography Due
Week 5
March 9-13
Wednesday
Research Paper Activity + Peer Review
First Full Draft Due
Friday
How to give a presentation, part 1
Week 6
March 16-20
Wednesday
How to give a presentation, part 2
Reading:
“What was the hipster?”, Ch. 7
Friday
Assignment 3 (mini presentations) Due in Class
Research Paper I Due
Week 7
March 23-27
Wednesday
Research Paper I Presentations
Friday
Research Paper I Presentations
Week 8
March 30 - April 3
Wednesday
Research Paper I Presentations
Reading:
A History of the Modern Middle East, p.133-170
Friday
Assignment 4
Assessment and critical thinking of a reading
HW: Reaction Paper 1
Reading:
Going to the Sources, p.57-94
Week 9
April 6-10
Wednesday
Film/Documentary Screening -Film TBA
Reading: Eyewitnessing, Introduction and Chapter 1
Friday
Film/Documentary Screening continued
Reaction paper 1 Due
Week 10
April 13-17
Wednesday
Analyzing Images and Writing Review
Reaction Paper 2 due
Research Paper II Annotated Bibliography Due
Reading:
From Essaying the Past:
“Making a Case” p.71­88, “Strong Bodies (I)” p.90­97, “Strong Bodies (III)” p.107­114
Bonus Reading:
“Evaluating source material” and “Research Notes,” Historical Research: A Guide, p. 109-132
Friday:
Peer Review
First half of Research Paper II due
Week 11
April 20-24
SPRING BREAK - NO CLASSES
Week 12
April 27 - May 1
Wednesday
Peer Review
Full first draft of Research Paper II Due
Friday
NO CLASS (May Day)
Week 13
May 4-8
Wednesday
Research Paper II Presentations
Research Paper II due
Friday
Research Paper II Presentations
Week 14
May 11-13
Wednesday
Research Paper II Presentations