1000.53
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SNAPSHOTS
Syllabus
Instructor: Brian Van Reet
Class meets:TR 2-3:15
Office hours: by appointment
Contact: bpvpnb@mizzou.edu or brianvanreet@gmail.com
Class website: http://comp.missouri.edu/wiki/index.php/1000.53#Syllabus
(Go to comp.missouri.edu, click on "mizzou wiki" in the sidebar, find our semester, then our class section)
Intro
- Welcome to English 1000.
- It's important not to think about this class as the required work you have to do before getting to the important stuff. Learning to write is possibly the most important skill you will acquire at MU. It will benefit you greatly to work hard in this class. Writing is like anything else: the more you give, the more you get.
- This is a workshop-model class, meaning that the emphasis will be on writing and reading what we're writing, not on lecturing.
- All assignments for this class will be posted online. This is so your classmates and I can easily respond to them. FERPA states that you have the right not to post any "personally identifiable information" online. PII includes things such as your name. If you choose not to waive this right, i.e., you won't post an assignment with your name on it online, you will hand in hard copies of all the exercises to me, and three hard copies of all major assignments (one for me and two for your classmates to review). I strongly suggest you participate online--it will make all our lives easier and save trees. If you know already that you don't want to post your name online as part of this class, please consider switching sections of ENG1000 with a friend if possible. Rest assured I will never ask you to post anything online that you wouldn't feel comfortable sharing in class.
Goals
- To engage in critical thinking: a mental process of "discernment, analysis, and evaluation" ([1]).
- To express these thoughts in written compositions. At a micro level, "composition" refers to "the study of sentence and paragraph level skills that make a person a 'literate' user of standard, edited written English" ([2]). We will develop such skills in this class, but only insofar as they help us to think critically. In a broad sense, "composition" refers to the way any artist arranges his/her work.
- To compose a final project out of smaller, cumulative projects, using both image and text. Your work will be posted in the context of this wiki. I encourage you to think of your audience as the entire class and not just the instructor. This will make things more interesting for all of us.
- Finally, to develop habits that will serve you in college and life.
Readings
- The textbook for this class is Picturing Texts. I encourage you to order a used copy online, to save money, but if you choose this route, order it ASAP. You have two full weeks before the first reading is due. Not having the book will not be an excuse.
- The style manual for this class is The Elements of Style by Strunk & White.
- Readings are to be completed on the day they are listed on the schedule below. Bring both books to every class meeting.
The Project
- Has four parts:
- Assignment: Snapshots: Part 1: Personal Exposition
- Assignment: Snapshots: Part 2: Historical Association
- Assignment: Snapshots: Part 3: Dealer's Choice
- Assignment: Snapshots: Presentation: Presentation
Evaluation
- You will be graded according to the following rubric, out of 1000 total points:
The Project
- 700 total points, the bulk of your grade.
Part 1 is worth 125 points.
Part 2: 300.
Part 3: 175.
The presentation at the end of the semester will be worth 100.
You will receive no credit for late work. Computers can crash and burn. Save your work obsessively, and back it up on a flash or external drive.
Your participation
- 300 points.
Includes the obvious, like participating well in class discussions (this does not necessarily mean talking a lot). Also includes in-class writing, doing the readings, not showing up late, not rustling around in your backpack 5 minutes before class ends, not having your cell phone constantly beeping or vibrating, and not getting caught on facebook when you're supposed to be doing an exercise.
Participation points are money in the bank - you can only lose them.
Policy on Absences
- You get three freebies. Miss any more, and not showing up to class will really hurt you (to the tune of one letter grade for each absence over three). The only excuses are illness, death, and university sponsored events. Documentation is required to excuse an absence.
- In accordance with MU policy, I will drop you if you miss six classes before the withdrawal deadline. When appropriate, I reserve the right to assign the grade of "FN," failure for nonattendance. Receiving this grade may make you ineligible for financial aid.
- Bill Cosby's 1st rule of success: "Show up."
Scale
900-1000=A
800-899= B
700-799= C
600-699= D
<600 = F
- I reserve the right to change the syllabus, although I promise to notify the class of any changes. If you come to class, you will be kept informed of what's going on.
Schedule
- Please bring your books to class every day.
26 Aug.: First Day
Review the syllabus.
FERPA Release.
How to create an author page in the wiki.
Online introductions.
28 Aug.: Identity
Survey: Media Modes (TV, internet, film, recorded music, live music, novel, short story, drama, poetry, dance) and which is most powerful?
Elements: Rule 1.
In-class reading: "Twilight of the Books"
Discussion.
How to upload an image to the wiki.
Catch-up the stragglers on author pages.
Q&A.
2 Sep.: Rhetoric
Style p. 15-17
In-class readings: The Rhetorical Triangle
Exercise: Analyze an advertisement.
Adbuster's ads.
Assign and discuss Assignment: Snapshots: Part 1.
Catch up stragglers on author pages and images.
4 Sep.: Theses
Style p. 2-5
What is a thesis? Thesis Statements
Read: "Should we lower the legal drinking age?"
Response writing: First, identify the author's thesis. Then identify the evidence he uses to support it. Which evidence is most effective? Why? In your analysis, you may want to use the terms we discussed last time (i.e., ethical, emotional, and logical appeals). Do you agree with the author's argument? If so, why? If not, what sorts of arguments could you use to rebut his?
In-class Revision: length, paragraphing, structure, proofreading.
9 Sep.: Comparing texts.
Reading due, pgs. 1-55 of Picturing Texts.
By now you should have something up on the wiki for Part 1; begin Feedback & Revision on Part 1.
Style, # 14, Active vs. Passive Voice.
Discuss reading. List a question.
Engaging critically with two texts: World Trade Center Attacks & Guernica Iraq
Exercise: Analyze and compare the two texts, using the chart on p. 18-19 of PT as a guide. Both these texts were composed using the medium of video, specifically, in the genre of youtube videos. What are some characteristics of this genre? Benefits? Drawbacks? Are these effective texts? (i.e. do they persuade the audience? do they inform the audience?)
11 Sep.: Style
Housekeeping: Importance of saving your projects on something other than the wiki. Good job on the last in-class writing. Part 1 due next week. Three questions - spread them out so everybody gets feedback. Check your discussion page. Revise. Read aloud. Revise. You are never done.
Elements p. 19-23 Make positive statements. Concision and Precision.
Exercise: Writing in Different Voices
Q&A.
16 Sep.: Identity
Part 1 due.
Style #'s 5 & 6
Mystory, one way of representing identity.
18 Sep.: Historical Associations
Elements # 17 & 20
"Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress"up to "were hunted down with dogs..."
"Greenspan: Ouster of Hussein Crucial for Oil Security"
Exercise: God, Glory, and Gold: Analyzing Motives
23 Sep.: Historical Associations.
Reading due, pgs. 100-115 & 230-246 of Picturing Texts.
Discuss reading. Immediate & Broad Contexts. Self, others, stereotyping.
AAR: 1000.53: Snapshots Part 1.
In-class correction & revision.
25 Sep.: Historical Associations.
Assign & Discuss: Assignment: Snapshots: Part 2
Exercise:BBC Photos of the Year
30 Sep.: Historical Associations.
Exercise: Pretend you are writing a note to a friend who understands next to nothing about economics. In your note, try to explain the current credit crisis. Do so as concretely, clearly, and concisely as possible. Even if you don't understand much about what is going on, assume that your friend knows even less, and explain what you do know.
2 Oct.: Historical Associations.
Style p. 70
7 Oct.: Historical Associations
A film in context: There Will Be Blood
Read "Muckraker"
Watch movie.
9 Oct.:
Reading due, Picturing Texts, pgs. 150-183.
Clarify assignment. Read the assignment. Start w/ the date and article. Direct to the beginning research page. Works cited - MLA style. Need title.
Watch movie.
14 Oct.:
Pop quiz.
Questions about assignment? Need to cite four sources. Works cited section. Title. Bring first draft to turn in on Thursday, double spaced, make sure your name's on it.
Finish watching movie.
16 Oct.:
DUE: 1st draft of Part 2
Discussion about the movie: What was your favorite scene and why? What qualities of Daniel Plainview make him distinctly American? What do you make of the role of women in the movie? What do you think the title means?
In class writing: First, reread the final paragraph of "An American Primitive"
The film is certainly a work of art, but for now I want you to think about it through "the smeary window that looks onto the larger world." Describe the "historically fraught context of its making?" Why make this movie--about the past--now? Take thirty minutes to respond to these questions in an essay.
21 Oct.:
Tour the Museum of Art and Architecture. Meet outside the building. Be a few minutes early if you can, so we can start promptly at 12:30...ooops, I meant 2pm
23 Oct.:
In-class exercise: Pretend like you are a reporter covering the cultural beat (museums, musical events, art exhibitions, etc.). Using the notes you took at the Museum of Art and Architecture, as well as your general impressions of the place, write a story for your newspaper that captures what it's like to visit the museum. Write in the first person, but try to be an objective, dispassionate observer (or else why would your readers trust you?). Make us see, hear, feel the museum. With that said, you can also play the role of discerning critic, answering questions like, "Is the museum worth seeing? What were its best and worst qualities/exhibits?"). Avoid the "Like / don't like" construction.
Alternate exercise for those who missed the museum: Pick a place that you know well. Write a story that captures the essence of that place. Stay focused on specific details.
28 Oct.: Feedback
Notes on common problems in your drafts of Part 2:
Structure / focus.
Some of you are trying to write about too broad a topic. The history of music is too broad a topic for a 2,000 word essay. People have written 2,000 pages on that subject and not exhausted it. Focus down to something manageable.
Structure. Ask yourself, "Where am I starting, and where am I going? What moves do I have to make to get there?" Does each paragraph build on the last? Writing is like building a physical structure: you can't build the roof on the ground, pour the cement for the foundation on top, throw up some walls, and expect it to be livable. This isn't to say you must have a blueprint or outline completed at the get-go, but as you look back over what you have written, to revise it, you need to have a plan in mind - some idea of what the house is going to look like from a distance. Restructure what you have written according to this mental image.
Step back from the individual words, sentences, paragraphs, and see the big picture.
Group like information - You might have to move sentences from paragraph to paragraph, combine paragraphs, delete sentences, etc.
Does each paragraph have a topic sentence?
The first sentence of a paragraph should give the reader some clue as to what's coming. Opening a paragraph with a quote almost never works. Don't try it. The last sentence of a paragraph should restate the main idea. You can get creative with topic and closing sentences - they don't have to be boring (i.e., "This paragraph is about x."), but they should give the reader some idea of what the paragraph will be about.
Evidence never stands on its own. Give the example of a lawyer in a criminal trial. You have to set up the evidence, present it, and then explain and analyze it. Walk the reader step by step through your thought process. Don't assume they will jump to the same conclusions you did.
Many essays failed to do the "connecting work." For example, one essay started out with the author's love of nature, and then moved to an article about drug-trafficking, never returning to nature. This is a frustrating structure for the reader, because it seems too random. What are some connections between nature and drugs?
There were also instances of the opposite problem: making things too neat and tidy. Our experience of the world is of a complicated, messy place, one which resists simple explanations. So when a piece of writing wraps things up too neatly, we intuitively know the writing isn't true. Don't be afraid to point out the inconsistencies, ironies, confusions. These are oftentimes the most interesting and illuminating things. Your writing itself should be structured, but if you try to impose too much structure on the world through your writing, it will come off as false.
Making unsupported generalizations. A common problem. In one example, the author says research has found women laugh more than men, but in the author's experience, the opposite is true. The author goes on to describe women and men in general terms, but does not give specific instances or anecdotes to support the assertion that men laugh more. The end result is that the author has not convinced us. The research is specific and convincing - the author's opinions are less so, because they are not backed up by STORY. Avoid blanket statements. Telling a story is always more powerful than telling about something.
Reluctance to interject personal opinion. This applied to a few essays, usually ones about controversial social topics: euthanasia, abortion, war, etc. It's okay to take a stand on these issues, and doing so will probably make the essay more lively. Here's what I mean by taking a stand. You might be wrong if you say abortion is wrong. I could argue with that. But you can never be wrong if you say abortion makes you feel x. Or euthanasia reminds me of y. This is the difference between stating something as fact, and stating it as opinion, your personal reaction. You can't be "wrong" when you present your reactions to a controversial issue, as long as you make it clear they are yours, and not universal. The reader might not share these reactions, but she can't very well say you didn't have them, or that they aren't genuine.
Do a peer review.
Return my feedback on your 1st draft of Part 2. Begin Revision.
30 Oct.: A poem into a cartoon
Read "The Raven".
Watch The Simpsons.
Exercise: Write a short essay addressing the following questions: What is lost in translating Poe's poem to a cartoon? What is gained?
4 Nov.: No class.
Vote or die trying!
6 Nov.: Metaphors & Similes
DUE: Final draft of Snapshots: Part 2.
In-class exercise: Create metaphors, similes, identify cliche.
11 Nov.: Design & Polish
Reading due, Picturing Texts, pgs. 432-462.
Read "McPaper"
Respond to # 1
13 Nov.: Character
What makes a character?
Exercise: Creating a Character with Ebay: Group project. Find an interesting item for sale on ebay. Write up a character sketch of the person selling the item. Come up with an intriguing reason as to why they are selling it. "To get money" is not intriguing, unless you go into more detail. Why do they need money. Try to make your character as much of an individual as possible. Make us people he or she is real.
18 Nov.: Critiquing Design
Composition & New Media
When we compose, we move bits of information around to form something coherent and aesthetically pleasing. Writing uses letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs as its building blocks. If the writing is successful, these abstract symbols are transformed into ideas, images, stories, characters, entire worlds. Writing is just one means of composition. People also compose with line, color, musical notes, photographic film, and increasingly, with new media such as computer codes and digital video.
HTML is the acronym for hypertext markup language, the predominate language used to create web-pages.
Who knows anything about how HTML works?
How are compositions in HTML different from a purely written form, like an essay?
Best and Worst Websites:
Critic
Critical
Criticism
Critique
What is critique?
Simply put, a critique is a form of discerning judgment. There are different types of critique. In one form, critique can mean a systematic inquiry into a doctrine or series of concepts. For example, Karl Marx wrote a critique of capitalism. In another form, a critique can be focused on a single work, i.e., poem, film, novel, painting, website.
The author of such a critique usually makes an argument about the quality of the work being judged. Like the quality of the work, the quality of the argument can range from strong to weak. The stronger the argument, the more likely the reader will accept its conclusions.
Here's an example of a weak critical argument: "This website is about bicycling. I like to bike, and so I check this website often. It's a pretty good website - I like it."
Why is this a weak critique? It might help to think in terms of the rhetorical triangle (emotional appeals, logical appeals, ethical appeals).
Here's an example of a stronger critical argument: "This website is about bicycling. The content of the site is user generated: each user creates an account, and then adds descriptions and uploads pictures of his or her favorite bike trails. Users can then review and rate the descriptions and pictures added by others. Since users get to create the content and rate each other, there is a high chance they will check the website often. People who like to bike are often independent and competitive, and the fact that the website plays off these traits makes it successful."
Why is this critique stronger than the first?
What are some forms of critique that you encounter in day-today life?
Dry Run:
Missouri.edu Missouri: best, worst, or somewhere in between? Hint: One effective way to critique something is to compare it to similar things, things that fall into the same genre. What is the genre here? Does Mizzou's website fulfill the expectations of the genre?
Exercise: Critique a Website
Pick a website that you know and use. Don't pick Facebook, Myspace, or any of the sites we've already talked about. Once you've picked a website, write a short critique of it.
20 Nov.: Presentations
Part 3 DUE
Stephanie
Chris, Christina, Tyler
Sam B
Melissa
2 Dec.: Presentations
Brianna
Ashley F
Tom
Kevin
Ashley
4 Dec.: Presentations
Emily
Jordan
Kristen
Danielle
Geoff
9 Dec.: Presentations
Scott
Tommy G
Evan
11 Dec.: Class evaluations.
Statement on Plagiarism
Plagiarism is passing someone else's work as your own. It can also include submitting the same assignment in multiple classes, without permission. If you are unsure what plagiarism is, check out this site. If I catch you plagiarizing, you will fail.
Statement on Respect
I will never punish you for disagreeing with me or anyone else, even if you hold unpopular views. I will not, however, tolerate disrespect or bigotry. We will maintain a level of civil discourse in this class.
Disabilities
If you have a disability or otherwise need special accommodation, please let me know.
Author Pages
Create an account on the wiki and sign in. Click the "edit" to the right of "Author Pages" and add your name to the list.
Enclose your name in double brackets to create an internal link to your author page.
Resources
Feel free to add outside or inside links to whatever resources you find helpful.
Research in Ellis for Beginners: Starter guide to the library.
Wikipedia: Free encyclopedia, edited by anyone who wants to. A lot of good information and bibliographies - although some info can be misleading or just plain wrong.
Using Images in the Wiki
Help on the Wiki
del.icio.us: Nice resource for compiling bookmarks.
Artifacts: A Journal of Undergraduate Writing at the University of Missouri
The Rhetorical Triangle: There are many different versions of this concept. This is a decent summary.
Adbusters: spoofs of advertisements, and cultural critiques.
Alternet.org: alternative news source.
