Mendham 1 of
CALENDAR FOR COLLEGE WRITING II
Professor:
Date
Week 1
10/31
Fall 2007, FPU
Tracy Mendham
Topic and Assignments
Readings Due
COURSE INTRODUCTION
Go over syllabus, expectations for the course,
introductions.
Week 2
Required: In the Conscious Reader, Sarah Lyall,
“Germaine Greer’s ‘Cruelty TV’” (Shrodes 327-330)
Recommended: In A Writer’s Reference, “C1: Planning”
(Hacker 3-13) and “C2: Drafting” (Hacker 14-18)
11/5
RESPONDING TO POPULAR CULTURE
Journal: Answer one or more of the questions at the
end of “Cruelty TV”
Required: Gloria Steinem, “Wonder Woman”
(Shrodes 272-281)
Recommended: “C3: Revising” (Hacker 18-23) and “C4:
Writing Paragraphs” (Hacker (24-37)
11/7
PEER REVIEW
Essay 1 Peer Draft due
Journal: Answer one or more of the questions at the
end of “Wonder Woman”
Week 3
Required: Marina Warner, “Fantasy’s Power and
Peril” (Shrodes 281-285)
Roger Ebert, “Great Movies” (Shrodes 296-298)
Recommended: “C5: Designing Documents” (Hacker 3754), “MLA 1: Supporting a Thesis” and “MLA 2: Citing
Sources; Avoiding Plagiarism” (Hacker 355-362)
11/12
RESPONDING TO CULTURE & LITERATURE
Journal: Answer one or more of the questions at the
end of “Fantasy’s Power and Peril”
Required: Lahiri, Chapters 1-3
Mortimer Adler, “How to Read Stories” (handout)
Recommended: “A1: Writing about Texts” (Hacker 57-66)
and “MLA 3: Integrating Sources” (Hacker 362-369)
11/14
ENGAGING WITH CHALLENGING TEXTS
Essay 1 Instructor Draft due
Journal: Choose a scene of cultural transition in Ch
1-3, and describe the role that food and/or clothing
have in the scene.
Week 4
Required: Lahiri, Chapters 4-5
Recommended: “A3: Evaluating Arguments” (Hacker 7785) and “MLA 4: Documenting Sources” (Hacker 370-381)
11/19
PEER REVIEW, & THE NOVEL
Essay 2 Peer Draft due
Journal: Describe Gogol’s expectations or desires for
love and intimacy and in what ways they might differ
from those of Ashima and Ashoke. To what extent do
you believe your own ideas of love and marriage
conform to or are shaped by your culture?
Required: Lahiri, Chapters 6-8
Recommended: “R1: Conducting Research” (Hacker 318332)
3
Mendham 2 of
11/21
NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
Journal: Compare a meal in Chapters 5-8 to a meal
you eat this week. Identify commonalities.
Week 5
Required: Lahiri, Chapters 9-12
Recommended: “A2: Constructing Reasonable Arguments”
(Hacker 67-76)
11/26
THE NOVEL, CONTINUED
Journals due for mid-semester evaluation
Journal: Did the novel the Namesake allow you to
think of America in a new way, and if so, how? How
did it change your idea of India?
Required: Doctorow, “Ultimate Discourse” (Shrodes
394-397)
Italo Calvini, “Why Read the Classics?” (Shrodes
860-865)
Recommended: “R1: Conducting Research” (Hacker 318332)
11/28
LITERATURE AND CULTURE
Essay 2 Instructor Draft due
Phone message/podcast: Identify a story that has
done for you one of the things Doctorow claims in the
last 3 paragraphs of “Ultimate Discourse.” Leave a
phone message of 3 or 4 sentences saying what the
story is and how it connects to Doctorow’s ideas.
Week 6
Required: Nikolai Gogol, “The Overcoat” (Gogol 79103)
Recommended: “R2: Evaluating Sources” (Hacker 333341)
12/3
INDIVIDUAL AND WORLD
Journal: Apply what Italo Calvini says about the
worth of reading the classics to “The Overcoat”
Required: Orwell, “The Principles of Newspeak”
(Shrodes 611-621)
Recommended: “R3: Managing Information: Avoiding
Plagiarism” (Hacker 341-349)
12/5
PEER REVIEW; INDIVIDUAL AND ANGUAGE
Essay 3 Peer Draft due
Journal: Answer one or more of the questions at the
end of “Newspeak”
Week 7
“The Individual in the New Age” by Andrew Grosso
(Shrodes 545-549)
Recommended: “MLA 5: Manuscript Format; Sample
Paper” (Hacker 404-412)
12/10
INDIVIDUAL AND “BIG BROTHER”
Journal: Answer one or more of the questions at the
end of “The Individual in the New Age”
Required: “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins
(handout)
Auden, “The Unknown Citizen” (Shrodes 758-760)
Recommended: “W1: Glossary of Usage” (Hacker 123-137)
12/12
RESPONDING TO POETRY
Essay 3 Instructor Draft due
Journal: Answer one or more of the questions at the
end of “The Unknown Citizen”
3
Mendham 3 of
3
Week 8
Required: “Leading Beyond the Nation-State” by
Howard Gardner (Shrodes 711-715)
“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King (Shrodes
572-275)
Recommended: “W2: Wordy Sentences” (Hacker 137-140)
12/17
PEER REVIEW; LEADERSHIP
Essay 4 Peer Draft Due
Journals due for evaluation
Journal: Answer one or more of the questions at the
end of “Leading Beyond the Nation-State”
Required: Baldwin, “The Discovery of What it Means
to Be an American” (Shrodes 730-735)
Faulkner, “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech”
(Shrodes 609-610)
Recommended: “W5: Exact Language” (Hacker 151-156)
12/19
REDISCOVERING IDENTITY
Essay 4 Instructor Draft due
Phone Message: Describe in two or three sentences
what you believe the individual’s responsibility to his
or her community is, and what you think society’s
responsibility to the individual is.
How to Complete Phone Message/Podcast Assignments
Call 1-800-749-0632
Enter Channel Number 12483
Enter Password 3848
Speak
Press # when done speaking
At the prompt, select 1 to listen, or 2 to publish
Select 2 to publish. You're done!
Summary of Essay Assignments
Essay 1: Reality Television
Essay 2: Persuading Readers to Act
Essay 3: Literary Analysis: The Namesake (What doe the novel show us about the world as it really exists?)
Essay 4: The Individual and Community