Syllabus
ENG 112 — Composition & Literature
Spring 2012
Instructor: Andrew Buchner
Section: RP
Day/Time: TR 4:10-5:25
Location: 219 Bachelor
Office: Bachelor 333
Office Hours: Office hours are by appointment. Feel free to contact me at anytime to
set up a meeting.
Phone: 231-590-0763 Only call or text in case of an emergency
Email: andrew.buchner@gmail.com buchneal@muohio.edu
Twitter: If you would like to receive real time updates via text messaging, feel free to
sign up for the class twitter account: https://twitter.com/#!/AndrewTeach
Description
English 112, Composition and Literature, is a writing course focused on writing
critically and analytically about texts — “texts” broadly defined as including literary,
disciplinary, public, and popular texts; print and digital texts; and visual and aural
texts as well as verbal print text. The course explores the relationship between
writing and reading and interrogates how knowledge and meaning are constructed
through analyzing and writing about texts. Through four overlapping units, called
“inquiries,” ENG 112 teaches you various tools for textual analysis and “critical
reading” with the aim of producing a new text — your own critical response to what
you have read.
ENG 112 will help expand your understanding of what constitutes a text; will teach
you techniques for interpreting, critiquing, and evaluating texts; and will help you
write academic arguments about texts for academic, disciplinary audiences. The
course draws on the fields of rhetoric/composition to help you develop rhetorical
knowledge about writing contexts and composing processes, on literary studies to
help you develop critically aware strategies for critical reading and interpretation,
and on creative writing to help you explore and use alternative modes of
exploration and expression.
This section of ENG 112 will examine in detail several texts that speak to the effects
of economic forces on social reality—that is, how movements of money, resources,
and commodities affect our culture and how we live. There is an underlying
economic or “material” component to virtually every part of our society and how it
functions. While economic forces do not necessarily “determine” one’s social reality,
factors such as where a person lives, goes to school, what that person eats, reads, or
watches on television, and the overall range of options and opportunities available
to him or her is directly influenced by local, national, and international movements
of capital and resources. To understand how society and culture affect and are
affected by economic forces, this class will examine several texts that deal with the
violence that has plagued the southern border of the United States and northern
Mexico for several years now, where the profits from narcotics trafficking have
made kidnapping, extortion and murder everyday facts of life for entire
communities. Charles Bowden’s book Murder City deals with the fractured social
world of Juarez, Mexico, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world due
to the violence of the lucrative drug trade there. Breaking Bad, a critically acclaimed
TV drama starring Bryan Cranston, examines the effects of America’s demand for
narcotics on both sides of the border, and considers how economic choices can also
be ethical or moral decisions. Through a critical examination of these texts through
the lenses of class, economics and Marxist literary theory, we will explore the
connections between material reality, society and culture.
As a Miami Plan Foundation course, ENG 112 meets the broad goals of a liberal
education: to nurture your intellectual capabilities to think critically, to understand
diverse contexts, to engage with other learners, and to apply knowledge and skills
learned through effective reflection and action. More specifically, ENG 112 aims to
deepen your understanding of how texts work (in different contexts, for different
audiences, with different reading lenses) to shape meaning and our understanding
of the world. ENG 112 will introduce various interpretive and inventive approaches
useful for producing texts as well as for reading and analyzing them. ENG 112 will
teach you how to ask critical questions and conduct meaningful research-based
inquiry into texts. The essential skills developed in this course will help you in your
academic work at the university but also in your future civic, social, and professional
endeavors.
Course Goals
By the end of ENG 112, you should be able to:
• Write with a sophisticated understanding of how texts work — how texts hold
multiple meanings and have multiple effects depending on audience, context, and
methodological perspective.
• Engage in critical, close reading, making arguments using textual citation as
evidence.
• Understand the complexity of texts — how texts hold multiple meanings and
produce multiple effects depending on audience, context, and methodological
approach or perspective.
• Conduct research-based inquiries into the rhetorical, literary, historical, and/or
cultural contexts of a particular text or group of texts, employing various literary
and rhetorical methods for invention, analysis, and argument.
• Write effectively for specific audiences, purposes, and contexts, especially for
academic contexts and disciplinary audiences.
• Locate, evaluate, integrate, and cite sources effectively and ethically.
• Practice close, critical editing of your writing according to audience, purpose, and
context.
• Articulate and reflect critically on your own reading and composing practices,
including your rhetorical decisions about the production and delivery of writing.
Required Texts and Materials
Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields, Charles
Bowden
Breaking Bad: The Complete Third Season (available to you streaming at no cost
via the Interactive Language Resource Center website
[https://ilrc.cas.muohio.edu/]. All episodes of Breaking Bad are also available
streaming through Netflix, as well as on Amazon Instant Video. If streaming
options do not work for you due to technical or bandwidth limitations, you
need to purchase BB Season 3—it can be purchased for around $20 on
Amazon and through many other online retailers). You are responsible for
keeping up with assigned viewings.
 College Composition at Miami, Volume 64 (Hayden-McNeil, 2011-2012).
Highly recommended though not required: Buy the RV, We Start Tomorrow:
The A.V. Club’s Guide to Breaking Bad – This eBook is available for $2.99 from
Amazon and includes all of the A.V. Club’s reviews and recaps of every episode from
seasons 1-3, as well as cast and crew interviews. Can be purchased here:
http://goo.gl/FzO4v
 VLC, a free, lightweight, open-source media player for Mac & PC that plays a large
variety of media files, and video files particularly. This will be used to watch certain
clips I may make available to you throughout the semester. You can download it
here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Other assorted films and texts that will be assigned throughout the semester and
made available to you via Niihka or other electronic means.
 A laptop computer with wireless access — bring to class, fully charged, every
class period
 A Dropbox.com account for backing up your work (or other suitable means of
backup, like a USB flash drive)
 A Chalk & Wire e-portfolio account (to be provided; paid for already out of your
technology fee)
Major Projects and Course Requirements
There will be FIVE major required writing assignments (4-6 double-spaced pages,
or its equivalent, per inquiry) and many shorter, informal assignments for a total of
approximately 40-50 double-spaced pages, or its equivalent, of writing. For each
major paper, you will be expected to do brainstorming and inventional activities,
write a complete draft, submit that draft for review and feedback, and complete a
significant revision.
Primary Inquiry
Project / Requirement
Points Toward
Final Grade
1. Close/critical
Critical/analytic essay demonstrating use of 15
reading
close/critical reading inquiry. Focused on one
major work (or a set of related shorter works).
Final paper = 3-4 pages.
2. Cultural/historical (a) Research essay or report, annotated
10
interrogation
bibliography with introduction, or literature 20
review. Final paper = 2-4 pages.
(b) Critical/analytic essay demonstrating use
of historical and/or cultural inquiry. Focused
on multiple shorter works + secondary
research. Final paper = 4-6 pages.
3. Discourse Analysis Students research different portrayals of a
15
current event and seek to outline the different
ideological positions behind each writer and
analyze the ways in which each position is
determined by social factors.
4. Engaged Reflection Students will reflect on the themes and
15
readings they have done in the class. They will
also reflect on their own work. They will write
about the ways their views of certain things
have changed or been altered by the work we
have done.
Participation
Participation includes in-class activities and 15
workshops, short in-class writing assignments,
discussion board postings, etc.
Reading Quizzes
Students will be responsible for completing 10 10
reading quizzes throughout the semester to
show they have kept up with the assigned
reading.
TOTAL
100
Grading Scale and Policies.
A 100-94
A- 93-90
B+ 89-87
B 86-84
B- 83-80
C+ 79-77
C 76-74
C- 73-70
D+ 69-67
D 66-64
D- 63-60
F 59 and below
• Grading is done on a 100 point scale. The amount of points earned for total
coursework correspond to a letter grade according to the scale above. We will
discuss grading policies throughout the term as needed.
• You must complete all five of the individual major writing assignments to receive a
grade of C or higher in the course.
• All assignments should be submitted on time. Late major assignments (the five
inquiry projects detailed above) will have their grades reduced by 1/3 letter grade
for each day late: An A paper turned in one day late would receive an A-, two days
late would receive a B+, etc. Late in-class assignments will also receive lowered
grades.
NOTE on Inquiry Drafts: Drafts of the major assignments are required. You will
receive substantive written comments from me and recommendations for
improving your final draft–but you will not receive a separate grade. Grades for each
Inquiry assignment will be based on your final draft. It is imperative that you take
advantage of the revision process, taking into consideration both my comments and
those your receive during Peer Response while preparing your final draft.
• Specific criteria for each major assignment will be explained and developed in
class. However, all writing you produce in ENG 112 should meet the following
general criteria: (a) The writing meets the requirements and parameters for the
assignment; (b) the writing is intelligent, well-informed, respectful of others,
grammatically competent and stylistically fluent, well organized, and, most
importantly, rhetorically effective for its purpose, audience, and context; (c) the
writing includes all proper MLA citations and is your own original work.
• Participation is a vitally important component of ENG 112, constituting a
significant portion of your grade for the course. There are a number of ways that
you will be expected to participate and/or collaborate in ENG 112: Posts on the
Blackboard discussion board, in-class collaborative activities, peer review sessions,
technology and social media exercises, and general classroom discussion.
Unwillingness to participate in collaboration, coming to class unprepared, and
excessive absence or tardiness can all lower your participation grade.
Other Course Policies.
Academic Integrity/Plagiarism
As a Miami University student, you are expected, in Provost Herbst’s words, “to
adhere to the highest standards of academic and personal integrity” — and two key
features of academic integrity are honesty and truthful representation of self. The
assumption in ENG 112 is that the writing you submit is your own original
writing — that is, produced originally for this class. The expectation is that you will
appropriately identify that portion of your work which is collaborative with others,
or which is borrowed from others, or which is your own work from other contexts.
In other words, you should credit others’ contributions to your work. You should
not claim, as your own, writing that is not your own. To do so is considered
plagiarism, a serious violation of the principle of academic integrity.
To copy someone else’s writing without acknowledging that use is an act of
academic as well as professional dishonesty, whether you borrow an entire report
or a single sentence. The most serious forms of academic dishonesty are to “buy” an
entire paper; or to have someone else write an assignment for you; or to turn in
someone else’s entire paper (or significant portions of an existing piece of writing)
and call it your own. These forms of dishonesty constitute serious breaches of
academic integrity. If you have doubts about whether or not you are using your own
or others’ writing ethically, ask the instructor.
For further details about Academic Integrity at Miami University — including a
detailed list of examples of academic dishonesty and procedures and penalties for
dealing with instances of academic dishonesty — see
http://www.muohio.edu/integrity/undergrads.cfm.
Attendance
Much of the learning in ENG 112 happens through “engaged learning” in class: via
in-class inquiry activities, in-class writing assignments, class discussion, and group
interaction that cannot be easily made up or replicated outside of class. Class time
will be highly interactive — requiring frequent participation, discussion, team work,
in-class writing, and responding to writing. For this reason, attendance at all class
sessions is expected. You are allowed a maximum of 3 unexcused absences in this
course. Having more than 3 unexcused absences will result in a lowering of your
final grade for the course (by 1/3 grade per additional absence). Excessive tardiness
may also lower your participation grade; if you do not make it to class by 9.15a, you
will be marked absent for the day.
Consult Section 1.9.A of the Student Handbook (2009-2010 edition) for detailed
policies regarding attendance.
Backing Up Your Work/File Formats
You are responsible for keeping copies of your written course work — at least two
copies in two different locations — so that if you should have an MSF (massive
system failure), you can recover your work. I encourage all of you to get in the
practice of using cloud storage–some file-storage solution that exists on a remote
server (Dropbox.com is a fabulous, FREE tool for online cloud-based backup—start
an account today!) as well as your own physical backups (Flash drives, external
HDDs, etc.). While technology disasters do occur, there are very simple things you
can do to prevent the loss of your important personal data–even if it simply means
emailing a copy of your draft to yourself via Gmail. Take care, and save frequently.
The only acceptable file format for written essays is .doc, NOT .docx. .Docx files are
becoming increasingly common, and most recent word processing software can
handle them; however, for the sake of everyone’s sanity, we will stick to using the
format most widely accessible to all users: .doc.
Cell Phones, Text Messaging, and Other Distracting Stuff
Technology in the classroom is meant to facilitate learning, not distract from
assigned tasks. Your primary classroom device (laptop, netbook, iPad, etc.) can and
should be on your desk. Please keep mobile phones silent and stowed away. If you
need to take a call or text message, please leave the class. If off-task technology use
becomes a chronic problem, your participation grade may be lowered for the
semester. Please use common sense when it comes to your mobile tech, and above
all don’t distract or disrupt the class.
Helpful Resources.
• Your classmates. Rely on one another for the questions you have regarding the
readings, the work we’re doing in class, software we may be using, etc. You all, both
individually and as a collective, embody a vast bank of knowledge and experiences.
• Your Instructor. I will do all I can to assist you in succeeding in this course. Feel
free to meet with me during my office hours or another scheduled time. Email is a
reliable way to contact me and I will try my best to respond in a timely manner. I am
also available via Google Talk/IM by appointment; if you would prefer to chat
electronically, please email me and we’ll arrange a time to do so.
• IT Support Desk (http://www.units.muohio.edu/mcs/suppctr/suppdesk/). The
support desk is the main point of contact for technology questions at Miami. If you
are having trouble with MUWireless, these are the folks who will help you.
• Equipment checkout at the library. The King Library Circulation Desk checks out
digital cameras and laptops to students. The digital cameras can be checked out for a
four-hour period and students are allowed to leave the library with the camera.
Laptops can be checked out for a three-hour period and they must be used inside
the library. The Circulation Desk also offers for sale flash drives, digital camera
memory cards, blank DVDs, and blank CDs.
• Howe (King Library) and Windate (18 Peabody) Writing Centers. The Howe
Writing Center is located on the main floor of King Library. The Center is staffed
with writing consultants from many different academic areas. In a one-on-one
workshop, a staff member will consult with you concerning work-in-progress, final
drafts, research style, and many other aspects of writing. It is best to schedule an
appointment ahead of time, but you may also walk in on days when they have
consultants available. For further information, visit the student resources site at
http://www.units.muohio.edu/cwe/studentresources/.
• If you have a learning disability, please speak to me early in the semester so we
can discuss your learning style. I am willing to work with you to establish a plan for
academic success and life learning. You can also obtain additional information and
support from the Office of Learning Disabilities Services 513-529-8741 or The Office
of Disability Resources 513-529-1541.
• The Learning Assistance Center. Provides tutoring and other academic services,
including Writer’s Bloc, a free, drop-in writing center, and a Learning Disabilities
Program. It is located in the Campus Avenue Building. For more information, contact
the Office of Learning Assistance at 513-529-8741 or Disability Resources at 513529-1541.
• The Student Counseling Service. Located in the Health Services Center, this office
provides a wide range of counseling services. For more information, call 513-5294634.
• Your Own Web Site/Server. Every Miami student has a web space (called Universal
Disk Space, UDS) for storing files and for designing and publishing a website. To
publish web pages on the Internet, follow the instructions at
http://www.muohio.edu/wwwsetup. Your web page address will be
http://www.users.muohio.edu/UniqueID/ (UniqueID should be replaced with your
own unique ID).
• Miami University Technology Guide
(http://www.units.muohio.edu/mcs/information/policies/shtml). This is a list of
MU’s policies on such matters as computer security, responsible use of computing
resources, and MU Net account policies.
ENG 112 — The Four Inquiries
Inquiry #1 — Close, Critical Reading is the practice of thoroughly understanding
and critically engaging texts. Basic questions of close, critical reading include: What
is this text about? What does this text mean? How does this text mean (that is, what
strategies does it employ to create meaning)? What does this text do (that is, what
effects is it likely to have?) In this process, readers actively examine relatively short
texts, such as a section of a speech, a dialogue in a play or novel, or the visual
elements of a website, and work to “ask good questions about texts, make inferences
and connections, develop interpretations, use research and critical thinking
effectively to develop their own answers, and write essays that engage with the
critical conversation” (Linkon, 2005). This process of close reading is recursive,
requiring frequent re-reading and further inquiry. It is in a sense a small-scale
model of all textual interpretation and is essential for developing larger arguments
about the meaning of an entire work. This process of close, critical reading will also
explicitly connect to writing practices throughout the course, as a consideration of
the interplay between reading strategies and writing practices will inform how we
read other’s texts as well as our own texts. Such critical reading strategies will
extend to an interrogation of reading and writing as meaning-making practices, and
will serve as a starting point for the consideration of any text through the entirety of
the course.
Inquiry #2 (A & B) — Cultural/Historical Interrogation is the longest inquiry in the
course, involving two major interrelated writing papers. This inquiry builds from
and extends the close reading practices of Inquiry #1 first through in-depth
research into the historical and cultural contexts shaping the production and the
reception of texts and then cultural/historical textual analysis. All texts are
distributed and circulated in particular contexts that change over time — and those
distributions and circulations change their meanings. For example, Shakespeare’s
Othello was originally written and seen by audiences in the context of Elizabethan
England; the contexts for modern readers (or viewers) of the play are, of course,
quite different. For the first major assignment of this inquiry students will research
and produce an academic research essay or, perhaps, an annotated bibliography
with critical introduction about some aspect of specific cultural/historical contexts
shaping a text (or texts) that they are reading. The focus will be on the processes of
research, on the effective and ethical integration and synthesizing of sources, and on
proper textual citation. Then, for the second major assignment, students will
develop their own argument about the text(s) they are reading based on their
research into contexts, integrating some of their cultural/historical research so as to
build their textual analysis argument — putting their research to work so to speak.
By attending to the cultural and historical contexts (and thus the ideologies) shaping
the production and reception of texts, students will gain critical thinking and critical
research skills needed to read and write more effectively.
Inquiry #3 — Creative and Critical Application focuses on applying to a new text/s
the critical reading tools learned in the first two inquiries. Such elements as
metaphor, narrative, figurative language, kairos, audience, and dialogue shape the
meaning we make from all texts, including government reports, politicians’
speeches, news articles, news events, cultural developments, etc. Although not
everyone will choose to become literary scholars or rhetoricians, all educated
persons need to be able to use literary and rhetorical methods for textual inquiry. In
this inquiry you may, for example, compare and contrast how two news articles
about people with disabilities use narrative techniques to position the persons
mentioned in specific ways. Or you might look at the BP Gulf oil well blowout and
study the figurative language to describe the event, analyzing who uses what
language and why (e.g., Act of God, unfortunate accident, environmental disaster,
blowout). Or you might examine a key idea or group of terms shaping the discourse
of your chosen disciplinary field of study. Or you might examine a cultural or
technological development — e.g., the genesis and development of cell phones —
using literary, rhetorical, cultural, and historical modes of interpretation. The
Inquiry #3 assignment might result in a paper, but it could result in a multimedia
product, a video, a web site, or a creative piece of some kind, depending on the
parameters the instructor chooses. It should be addressed to a broader audience
that includes non-academic readers. A significant assignment within Inquiry #3 will
be a short proposal (1-2 pages), a detailed plan in which the students describe a
project, explain what they will produce and why, and seek approval for it.
Inquiry #4 — EPortfolio Reflection builds from critical reflection of your own
reading and writing that you will engage in throughout the course. To critically
reflect means both taking a meta-perspective on your own reading and writing
processes as well moving beyond thinking of yourself and considering rhetorical
situations such a purpose, audience, and context. In every inquiry and for every
major assignment, you will write a Writer’s Letter, reflecting on your reading
processes for the text(s) you are analyzing and your composing processes and
rhetorical decisions for the assignment you wrote. . For Inquiry #4 you will write an
extended essay about your learning in the course and how you have met the specific
course outcomes — but your focus in this essay should be broader than merely the
ENG 112 course. Examine and reflect on your entire recent experiences as a writer
and communicator (over the past year, in your first year of college), in other college
courses, in your professional and personal life. Over the past year or so, how have
you developed and learned, overall, as a writer? You will engage in textual analysis
of your own writing, integrating textual citation into your essay. This essay will
accompany your eportfolio that will include all major assignments and all Writer’s
Letters from your previous assignments.