MCWP 50 / F
ALL
2013
FROM POT TO PROZAC
The Battles Over Legal and
Illegal Drugs
Instructor: Joshua Nordin
Email: jnordin@ucsd.edu
Office: HSS 2322
Office Hours:
Monday, 6:20pm – 7:20pm
Wednesday, 6:20pm – 7:20pm
Or by appointment
Class Days & Time & Location:
Monday and Wendesday
Section E00 (section ID 780991) meets from 3:30pm to 4:50pm in room 2333B
Section J00 (section ID 780996) meets from 5:00pm to 6:20pm in room 2333B
Class Websites:
nordinpot2prozac.wordpress.com
In 2007, approximately 460,000 people were in American prisons for drug offenses. In 2005, doctors prescribed psychopharmaceutical drugs like Zoloft and Xanax 118 million times.
Marijuana is the largest cash crop in many states—including California—and the budget of the
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is $2.4 billion, while sales of antidepressants in 2007 earned Big Pharma almost $12 billion. As these numbers indicate, taking drugs is central to the life experiences of millions of people in the U.S. Why are some drugs illegal and some legal?
Why do we stigmatize people who take antidepressants but flock to stoner films? While drug use has been debated for millennia, in the postmodern era—the last thirty years—drugs have become the focus of particularly intense debates about morality, humanity, reality, and psychology. This class will wrestle with some of the big issues surrounding legal and illegal drugs, with readings, discussions, and research papers focusing on such topics as the crack epidemic, medical marijuana, police procedurals, and the ethics of medical research and drug marketing.
Texts:

Muir 50: From Pot to Prozac.
(Available at the UCSD Bookstore.)

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph Williams. The Craft of Research.
Third edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. (Available at the UCSD
Bookstore.)

Hacker, Diana, and Nancy Sommers. A Writer’s Reference with Resources for
Multilingual Writers and ESL 7th Ed, customized for MCWP. New York: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2011.
NOTE : Please purchase the books as soon as possible . The bookstores return books to the publisher quickly.

There are only two required readings that do not exist in electronic form. To access these readings easily, login to gmail under the user “muirfifty” (password 50muir50). Once you

MCWP 50 / Nordin / Fall 2013 are there, you’ll see emails which have a subject line associated with each reading. The text itself is attached to that email.
Written Work: There will be three major assignments: An annotated bibliography of 10 entries; a paper proposal of 3-5 pages; and a research paper of 10-12 pages. Prompts will be handed out in class prior to the assignment due date. All written work must be typed and stapled.
Reading Commentary: Each day for which reading has been assigned, you must comment thoughtfully on the text(s) on the class blog by 9:00pm the night before class starts . Class discussions will be based on those comments, and they will be integral to your participation grade. Please note: Each section will have its own post to comment on, so please comment on the correct post.
Grades: Muir 50 is taken for a letter grade only. You must complete all assigned work and participate in all course activities including attendance, class participation, paper revision, workshops, etc. in order to receive a passing grade in the course. Failure to do so will impact your grade negatively.

Annotated and Evaluative Bibliography, including drafts & workshops 30%


Research Proposal, including drafts & workshops 15%
Research-based Paper, including drafts & workshops 45%

Participation 10%
Workshops: Because this is a writing class, part of the class will be devoted to workshopping papers. In order to receive credit for this part of the class, you must bring drafts of your paper(s) at appointed times to class for workshopping with your peers (number of drafts needed to be determined later). Also, you must give your peers concrete suggestions on their papers. Workshop participation is as important as participation during class discussions.
Portfolio: You are responsible for keeping all copies of all pieces of writing submitted throughout the quarter as well as back-up copies. If an assignment is lost or missing, you are responsible for replacing it. At the end of the quarter, you will submit your final portfolio, which includes all completed assignments. (A checklist is at the end of the syllabus.) Be sure to include drafts with my comments and your peers’ comments on them. The portfolio stays on file in the program for one year, but will not be returned unless you request it.
Attendance: If you miss more than two classes in the quarter, you may not pass the class. If you are late twice, it will count as an absence. Absent/tardy students must inquire from other students what was covered in class. Important information, including changes to the syllabus, may be discussed. Also, absent students must turn in assignments on time in either my mailbox in the MCWP office or in the black drop box outside the office. Missing a scheduled conference or a tutoring appointment also counts as one absence. Class participation, including being prepared to discuss the assigned texts, is crucial to this course. If you dare to sleep in class, you will be counted as absent. It is impossible to participate in the class if you are unconscious. If you do not participate in class, you will be counted as absent.

MCWP 50 / Nordin / Fall 2013
Prerequisites: You MUST have fulfilled your Subject A and Muir 40 requirements to be in this class. You will NOT receive credit for this class without first fulfilling the prerequisites.
Conduct:

Always bring your reader or assigned text to class.

Assigned readings are to be completed before class.

Please come prepared to discuss the material in a thoughtful manner.
 Turn off your mobile phones. I will answer your cell phone if it rings, and you’ll be sorry.

Do not check your email in class. Do not send anyone an instant message. Do not send anyone a text message. Doing these things when you should be participating in class will signal to me that you are not participating in class, and I will make you absent.
 I don’t care if you bring coffee or soda or bottled water to class. I would prefer that you do not eat in class. If you are starving, then a small, quiet snack is okay. A full meal is not.

Be respectful to classmates and instructor. Any comments or actions that instigate or contribute to a disrespectful or hostile environment in the classroom will not be tolerated.

Any individual who, as a result of their words or behavior, silences their classmates will be held accountable.
Paper Submission: The only acceptable way to submit a final paper to me—other than in person—is to place it in my mailbox or the black drop box outside the Muir Writing Program office. (Some paper drafts and assignment may be sent by email.) You will be asked to use a specific documentation and format style according to each assignment; this will be made clear with each assignment. All papers also must be:

The correct length: e.g., a 5-page paper is 5 full, to-the-bottom-of-the-page pages.

Typed in Times Roman, 12-point (no larger, no smaller)
 On 8 ½” x 11” white paper
 1” margins left, right, top and bottom

Double-spaced

Stapled

A header on every page that includes your name, the assignment, and a page number
While every draft will eventually be turned in with the portfolio in hardcopy format, every draft will initially be turned in and commented upon electronically. Please submit your work by

emailing me a copy in .doc format
 copying-and-pasting your work into the body of the email to which that document is
attached.

labeling your .doc file in this format: o LastName_proposal_draft1
Turnitin.com: Final papers must be uploaded to http://ted.ucsd.edu and submitted to turnitin.com, an online database that checks your paper for matches with websites, published work, and other student papers. Failure to submit your papers to turnitin.com will result in an F for the course.

MCWP 50 / Nordin / Fall 2013
Late Papers: Late papers are not accepted unless special arrangements are made with me before the due date— NO EXCEPTIONS!
Email Account: Sign up for a free UCSD email account immediately. The official form of communication at UCSD is email, and you must use your UCSD email account to communicate with the university, Muir Writing, and me. The Academic Computing office is located in APM 2113; their website is http://acs.ucsd.edu. Check your inbox at least once a day for course announcements. If contacting me by email, please use appropriate email etiquette.
Academic Honesty: Plagiarism is strictly prohibited. In general, plagiarism is defined as failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words (
A Writer’s Reference
1999). In addition to paper materials (books, articles, etc.), plagiarism also refers to quotations and ideas from web sources. See “Avoiding Plagiarism” in the Reader Appendix for a more thorough discussion. When in doubt, ask me for clarification.
Academic Integrity: Students are expected to do their own work as outlined in the
UCSD Policy on Academic Integrity published in the UCSD general catalog
( http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/ AcadRegu.html
, click on “Academic Regulations”). Therefore, students must do their own work, including the translation of work written in a language other than English. Also, it is against the policy to “recycle” a paper written for one course and turn it in for credit in another course, including a Muir Writing course. In other words, if you took a
Muir Writing course before, you may not turn in a paper you wrote for that earlier course! Acts of academic misconduct will not be tolerated. Any student who engages in suspicious conduct will be confronted and subject to the disciplinary process.
Online Course Evaluations: Each Muir Writing Program student is asked to complete an online Course Evaluation. A link to the evaluation, along with instructions for accessing and completing the evaluation, will be emailed to your UCSD email account during
Week 8. Print out the Confirmation Page—the final page of the online evaluation—and submit it as part of your final portfolio.
Useful Websites:
Muir College Writing Program: http://www-muir.ucsd.edu/muir-writing
MLA 2009 documentation style: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Non-sexist language: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_nonsex.html
Schedule (subject to change):
Week 1 M 9/30 Introductions, class expectations, the syllabus, library skills and research.
A SSIGNED :
Summary of pastel “discovery” + response to Rose article + make a list of topics of interest + read syllabus in preparation for quiz
W 10/2 Discuss: Emergency (handout); Rose, “Remediation at the

Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Fri 10/4
M 10/7
W 10/9
M 10/14
W 10/16
F 10/18
M 10/21
W 10/23
F 10/25
MCWP 50 / Nordin / Fall 2013
University” (handout); The Craft of Research, Chapters 3-5.
Introduction to the research project; share early ideas.
A SSIGNED : Draft 0 of annotated bibliography.
Draft 0 of annotated bibliography due.
Discuss: Denham, “Amplifications of Deviance Surrounding Illicit
Drug Use” (e-copy);
The Craft of Research, Chapters 6-7; E1-E2 in A Writers Reference
A SSIGNED : The annotated bibliography (handouts + discussion of entries)
Discuss: Whyte, et al, Social Lives of Medicine (reader); Huggins,
Drug War Deadlock: The Policy Battle Continues (e-copy) .
A
SSIGNED
: The paper proposal.
Draft 1 of annotated bibliography (3 entries) in class
Discuss: Blackman, “Drug War Politics” (e-copy). E3 in Writers
Reference
Short workshop
Discuss: Berardi, Info-labor/precarization (e-copy)
Review: Whyte, et al, Social Lives of Medicine (reader)
Group workshop on annotated bibliography.
Draft 1 of paper proposal due (2-3 pages) by email to me by 6pm.
Draft 2 of annotated bibliography (6 entries) due in class.
Discuss: Healey, “The New Medical Oikumene” (e-copy); The
Craft of Research, Chapters 8-9; A1 in A Writers Reference
Group workshop on proposal.
Discuss: Karp, Is It Me or My Meds? (reader); A2 & A3 in A
Writers Reference
Group workshop on proposal – so bring most current work to class
Draft 2 of paper proposal due (3-4 pages) by email to me by 6pm
CONFERENCES: NO CLASS!
Each student will meet with me individually for 20 minutes. In these meetings, we will discuss your proposal, your annotated bibliography, and any questions you have regarding the course and upcoming work. These conferences are meant to be helpful and informative for you, and we will spend most of the time talking about your own writing. Come prepared with paper, pen, questions, and concerns.
A missed conference is considered an absence.

Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
M 11/4
W 11/6
M 11/11
W 11/13
F 11/15
M 11/25
W 11/27
M 12/2
W 12/4
MCWP 50 / Nordin / Fall 2013
Discuss: R3 in A Writers Reference
A
SSIGNED
: The paper.
Group workshop for both annotated bibliography and proposal
Final draft of annotated bibliography due
(10 entries) + Final draft of paper proposal due (3-5 pages) due by email to me at 11:59pm.
Group workshop for both annotated bibliography and proposal
VETERAN’S DAY HOLIDAY. NO CLASS.
Draft 1 of research paper due (3-4 pages) in class.
Discuss: “Dr. Kush”; The Craft of Research, Chapters 10-13; The
Craft of Research, Chapters 14 and 16; C1-C4 in A Writers
Reference ; questions/issues regarding final paper
Group workshop on research paper.
Draft 2 of research paper due (5-6 pages) by email to me by 11:59pm.
CONFERENCES: NO CLASS!
View: Winter’s Bone.
View: Winter’s Bone.
Draft 3 of research paper due (8-9 pages) in class.
Group workshop on research paper.
Discuss: The Craft of Research, Chapter 17.
Draft 4 of research paper due (10-12pp)
Group workshop on research paper.
Final Draft of the research paper due, 10-12 pages
Portfolio due.
In class reflection.