English I-A (Sect. 4): "The Art of Argument"
Fall 2000--Sandra Jamieson.
Class meetings: Tues., & Thurs. 11:50-1:05. 205 Embury -- Networked Writing Classroom.
Office hours: Mon 2:00-4:00, Tues. 10:00-11:00, Thur. 2:00-5:00: S.W.Bowne 118.
Telephone: Office: x3499. Home: 908-757-1051 (please call between 10 am and 9 pm only!).
E-mail: Office: sjamieso@drew.edu. Home: sjamieson@compuserve.com
English 1-A listserve: engl1A_004@courses.Drew.edu
Schedule, Fall 2000
Sept. 5 (Tue.): First class. Introduction to class. Interview a classmate you don't know. Try to learn as much as you can about his or her attitude to writing, language, argument, talking in class, etc.Homework: Write up your answers to interview to be presented in class Thursday.
Write an e-journal entry on this process. (To read more about e-journals click here.) Was it easy? What did you learn about yourself/other people in this process?
Sept. 7 (Thur): Discussion about
trust and peer response. (Check out the basic
ground rules for the class. What should we add?) Students
present their interviews to class.
Homework: Read
from Elements of Reasoning (ER) pp.1-11 (stop at "The End of Reasoning").
Make notes and bring them to class Tuesday. List and define any vocabulary
words and terminology that are new to you. (This is the only
way to expand your vocabulary--there are no shortcuts.)
Write an e-journal entry on the process
of reasoning and persuasion. Are you good at it? Why do you think you are/aren't
good at each skill? What is your most memorable experience of successful
persuasion? How did you achieve it?
Sept.
12 (Tue.): Hand in your notes and vocabulary
lists. Discuss last night's reading. Practice finding ethos,
logos,
and pathos in a "Newsweek" article on the minimum wage debate.
Homework:
Go and hear Michael
Beschloss speak at the Forum tonight. Think about his use
of logos, pathos, and ethos. How does he establish
his ethos? Are you convinced? What about his logos?
Did you find the content of his talk interesting? What about pathos?
Does he try to appeal to your emotions using humor, tragedy, or other techniques?
If so, is it effective? Take notes so that you can offer specific
examples of the points you want to make about the experience.
Write up your
findings about the effect of ethos, logos, and pathos
in the article you read in class today. How do they work together? Is one
more effective than the others? This is paper
#1 and is due Thursday Sept. 14.
Write an e-journal entry on the rhetorical
strategies (ethos, logos, and pathos) used by Beschloss in
his speech tonight. If you can't attend that speech, tell me in advance,
and write about what you did instead.
Sept. 14
(Thur.): Paper 1 due in class today.
Discussion of thesis, introduction, and topic sentences. Creation of a
revising outline from these aspects of the paper. Working in your interview
pairs, review these aspects in each other's drafts of the paper due today
(underline the thesis and the topic sentences or add them, and trace the
connections between topic sentences and the thesis).
Sign up for individual conferences with the instructor for Thur.
21st or Fri. 22nd (the list will be posted on the office door--don't forget!).
Homework: Read Elements
of Reasoning (ER) 12-20 and make notes (due in class Tuesday).
Revise the paper based on the work we did in class today. Also due in class
Tuesday 21st (bring the first draft and any notes, prewriting, etc.).
Write an e-journal entry on the relationship
between revision and ethos.
Sept. 15
(Fri.): Write an e-journal entry
in which you do the following: reread your e-journal response from
last Thursday (7th) and analyze the story you told of persuasion using
the principles of ethos, logos, and pathos. Write
another entry exploring the persuasive strategies you used the most the
time you were successful. Finally, offer an assessment of what you can
learn from this analysis.
Sept.
19 (Tue.): BRING YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK
CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS TODAY. Folder
#1 due in class today (Final paper, notes [including those on the Beschloss
lecture], and previous draft, and your printed out e-journal entries in
a manila folder--available from the bookstore).
General introduction to the Internet, the class listserve, basic web-searching,
and the K:/
Drive. Discuss the readings from ER in relation to
the electronic democracy project, Michael Beschloss, the films we will
see, Multicultural Awareness Week, etc. If your computer doesn't
work on the network or you've lost your password, GO TO THE COMPUTER AID
STATION AFTER CLASS TODAY AND MAKE IT WORK!!
Homework:
Attend the Downward
Spiral Film Series film "The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews" (7:00-9:30,
UC 107) and make notes based on the stasis questions on ER p.17.
Bring your notes to class Thursday (21st)
Write an e-journal entry in response to
the film itself, or the event in general, and send it to me as an e-mail
message before 9 am on Thursday Sept. 21
Sept. 20-22 (Wed.-Fri.): Conferences with the professor (the list of times will be posted on my office door. Don't forget--and don't be late)
Sept. 21 (Thur): Hand
in your notes on the film. Discuss Tuesday night's film and
the issue of propaganda and politics. Consider the stasis questions
and the ways we can use them to reason through an issue.
Homework: Read
ER
pp.21-32 (stop at "Structures of Reasoning"). Make notes and bring them
to class Tuesday.
Write an e-journal entry in response to
the discussion of the Makah and the whale. Pay special attention
to the value claims on pp. 30-31. What value claims would you make
about this situation? Do you agree with any of those quoted
in ER, or do you have your own values about such things? If so, what
are they?
Sept.25-29:
This is Multicultural Awareness
Week (MCAW). Throughout the week there will be events,
lectures, and discussions for you to attend. Class is canceled
on Thursday to allow you to attend as many events as possible. I'll
see you there!
Homework: You
are required to attend at
least three events this week and make notes analyzing the way the
speakers utilize ethos, logos, and pathos. Think about
the external reasoning you hear. Is it effective? Why/why not?
What value claims are being made? What other stases do you see in
operation? Do people even agree about "what happened?" (i.e.:
to what extent is there a shared reality?) Bring your notes to class
Tuesday (Oct. 3rd)
You may write as many e-journal entries
in response to the events you attend as you like (bear this in mind if
you've been falling behind with e-journal writing!!)
Sept. 26 (Tue.): Hand
in your notes on the ER reading.
Discuss value claims and make a class-generated topoi about the issue of
tradition, the rights of ethnic groups, the environment, hunting, etc.
Introduce paper #2, a content analysis (what happened?). You
may explore this question in relation to the two Downward
Spiral Films you have seen or in relation to any relevant Multicultural
Awareness Week panels, films, or lectures (note the plural form here--you'll
need more than one lecture or film). Use the stases and/or topoi
to help you generate ideas for this paper.
Homework:
Attend the Downward
Spiral Film Series film "A Visitor From The Living" (7:00-9:30,
UC 107) or another Multicultural
Awareness Week event and make notes based on the stasis questions
on ER p.17. Bring your notes to class Tuesday (Oct. 3rd)
Sept. 28 (Thur): No
class today. Come and see me in my office if you have questions about
the paper or your writing in general.
Homework:
Attend Multicultural Awareness
Week (MCAW) events and think about your paper (This
is paper #2). A draft is due in class on Tuesday Oct. 3rd along
with your notes, and the topoi and stasis you used to generate ideas for
the paper.
Write an e-journal entry about your reaction
to prewriting. How did you decide which methods (topoi, stasis) to try?
Which was the most successful? Why do you think that is? Will you use this
method again?
Oct.
3 (Tue.): BRING YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK
CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS TODAY. Make sure your paper is
saved on your hard drive and in your network folder. Hand
in your notes on the film and/or other MCAW events. Refresh
knowledge about the K:/
Drive and the group editing folders. Save drafts of papers
into K:/ Drive folder. Discussion of
peer review and agreement on guidelines for review (consider these in terms
of cause and effect). Look at those in The Longman Writer's Companion
(p.29). Work on revising drafts in groups of three in class.
Check the guide
to editing using Wordperfect to remind you how you do this (available
only on campus.) Editors will write their names on the edited paper
and save it back in the K:/ Drive as "[author]'s revised draft" or "[author]'s
draft revised by [your name]".
Homework: Finish
revising your draft using the peer response from class today, due in class
Thursday, October 5th.
You are strongly encouraged to attend
the final Downward
Spiral Series film "The Triumphs of Evil" (7:00-9:30, UC 107).
You might want to write an e-journal response
to this film too. Did you know about the genocide in Rwanda? Do you
know anything else about Rwanda? What do you think of the criticism
of the UN, the US, and others? Are you persuaded that it is justified criticism?
How did the film achieve this?
Write an e-journal entry on your reaction
to peer response. Do you like other people looking at your paper? Did you
expect their feedback to be useful? Was it useful? Discuss how and why
you decided to follow or ignore certain pieces of advice. Remember to put
a copy of this entry into your folder.
Oct. 5 (Thur): BRING
YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS TODAY.
Folder
#2 due today (Final copy of the paper; your prewriting--stasis,
topoi, etc.; peer edited drafts; a clean copy of the paper you brought
to class on Tuesday; all notes--whether I've seen them or not; and all
e-journal entries I haven't seen yet. Put all of this in a manila
folder). Introduction to the electronic
democracy project (EDP) webpage and resources. For
the next four weeks you'll be working on three separate papers and projects
that use the same resources. YOU MUST KEEP UP--or you'll fall seriously
behind!!
Project
#3 (for Folder #3, due October 17).
Project #4 (for Folder #4, due November 7).
Project #5 (for Folder #5, due November 9).
In class I'll be divide students into teams of three for projects 4 and 5. General discussion of the assignments and brief analysis of a website using the analytical tools students will use for project #3.
- NOTE: Between now and November 7 at least one member
of each team will be expected to post to the class listserve every day--even
if it is to say that your candidate did nothing today--which is hard to
imagine will be the case. Everyone will be expected to read the postings,
note any similarities or differences between the campaigns, and offer general
comments and arguments about the campaigns and the candidates). Each team
can decide how to divide up the labor.
Write an e-journal entry about the electronic democracy project. What are your initial responses to it?
Oct. 10 (Tue.): Reading day--no class.
Homework: Read Elements of Reasoning (ER) pp. 95-109 (Chapter 6: "Values"). Make notes and bring them to class Thursday. (You'll need them for paper #3, so I won't collect them until I collect Folder #3.) Keep checking those resources and posting to the candidate log!!
Write an e-journal entry assessing how well you used the reading days. Did they help you? Should we have more reading days?
Oct. 12 (Thur): BRING
YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS. Discussion
of the Stases of Definition and Value and how they relates to the electronic
democracy project and your third paper. In class, work
with your team members on the log, or alone on your website analysis.
Homework: Work
on paper #3, due in class on October 17.
Write an e-journal entry using one of
the "Reasoning Practice" questions in ER, pp. 80-82 or 109-110.
Each question represents one e-journal entry, so if you're behind, here's
a way to catch up!
Oct. 17 (Tue.): BRING YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS. Paper #3 due in class today. Peer revision using the K:/ Drive and the guidelines developed in class on October 3rd. Check the guide to editing using Wordperfect to remind you how you do this (available only on campus.) Discussion of any problems any group has encountered. Discussion of mid-term portfolio, due by 5 pm on Friday October 20. Sign up for appointments to pick up and discuss the portfolios on October 24, 25, or 26th.
Homework: Revise paper #3 based on the feedback you received in class today. Continue reviewing your sources and posting to the listserve and your progress log. Read all of the postings ready for class on Thursday and take notes so that you will be able to refer to them. I may ask to collect those notes in class Thursday.
Write an e-journal entry in response to the electronic democracy project. How do you like it so far? Should it be continued? What have you learned? How do you feel about this new knowledge?
Oct. 19 (Thur): BRING
YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS. Folder
#3 due in class today (the paper, your drafts and peer response,
a clean copy of the draft you bought to class Tuesday, your notes, your
prewriting, your revising outline, and your and all e-journal entries I
haven't seen yet in a manilla folder) Discussion of
the rhetorical strategies the candidates have used in their campaigns.
Review of the candidate logs so far, and discussion of the topics that
each candidate seems to be addressing. Three of these will be the topics
for in-class debates to be held on October 31 and November 2. Discussion
of the debates and the ways teams will organize for them.
Homework: Read
ER
pp. 111-119 (Chapter 7: "Procedure and Proposals"). Prepare your
mid-term portfolio.
Write an e-journal entry using one of
the "Reasoning Practice" questions in ER, pp. 119-120.
Oct. 20 (Friday): Your mid-term portfolio is due at the English Office by 5 pm today
Oct. 24-26: come to my office to collect and discuss your mid-term portfolio and your progress so far. The sign-up list will be posted on my office door in case anyone forgets what time they signed up for!
Oct. 24 (Tue.): No
class today. Meetings with me to collect and discuss your midterm
portfolios and your progress in the course so far.
Homework: Read
ER
pp. 121-136 (Chapter 8: "Becoming a Citizen Critic").
Write an e-journal entry using one of
the "Reasoning Practice" questions in ER, pp. 136-137
Oct. 26 (Thur): Discussion
of "Procedure and Proposals" and "Becoming a Citizen Critic" and the ways
we can solve problems and persuade others to act in specific ways.
Discussion of the in-class debates. Each political group will present the
argument of its candidate on one of the three topics we select on October
19 with the goal of persuading the other students to vote for the candidate.
Your task here is to achieve effective persuasion using the strategies
of argumentation learned so far in this class--regardless of how you really
feel about the candidate.
Pay special
attention to logic and diversions of reasoning (also known as logical fallacies).
Don't fall into any of these traps in your debate papers!
Homework: Prepare
for in-class debate.
Oct.
31 (Tue.): In-class debate, teams 1 and 2.
Homework: Teams
3 & 4 should work on perfecting their presentations for Thursday.
Teams 1 and 2 should work on revising their papers for Folder #5, due on
November 9. All teams need to continue to post to the candidate log.
Write an e-journal entry in response to
the debates today. What did you learn? Where you persuaded?
Nov. 2 (Thur): In-class debate,
teams 3 and 4.
Homework: Each
team will compile and print out their candidate log and write a brief,
collaborative, introduction to the log discussing the strategies used by
the candidate and the issues of most importance to him/her. This, along
with the notes/text used in the two in-class debates are due by in class
on Tuesday November 7 and will be graded as Folder
#4 (I will give the same grade to
each member of the team unless I see that one member has not been pulling
his or her weight. That person will earn a U).
Write an e-journal entry in response to
the debates today. What did you learn? Where you persuaded?
Nov. 7 (Tue.): Election Day. If you are eligible to vote, don't forget to do it!
Folder #4 due in class today (includes the candidate log, your collaborative introduction, and a sealed envelope from each team member with a paragraph about who did the most work for the project and what the team might have done to strengthen its work. Finally, estimate the percentage of the work that each member did.)
Discussion of the importance of sentence structure and punctuation to help us achieve the ethos we desire and to help our audience understand what we are saying. Revise unpunctuated sentences. Discuss. Then work on "Dear John" letter in pairs. Read and discuss "Man on Death Row" article.
Homework: Work on revising your paper for Folder #5, due on November 9.
Revise your paper based on the discussion in class and make it beautiful. Pay especial attention to paragraph development. Final paper and all prewriting, drafts and peer revisions due in class Tuesday.
If you voted today, write an e-journal entry on how it felt. If you didn't, watch the election coverage on t.v. and write an e-journal entry on your reaction to how your chosen candidate did
NOTE: On November 8, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Drew will host a one day conference: "The Uses and Abuses of Language in Holocaust/Genocide: Facing a Challenge Still With Us Today." This conference will pick up on some of the themes in the film series and discusses some crucial aspects of language. If you would like to attend one or more sessions at this conference, let me know. (Yes, you can write an ejournal article on this.)
Nov. 9 (Thur): BRING YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS.
Folder #5 due in class today (the final draft of the paper, your notes, prewriting, drafts, and peer revisions--make sure that you correctly cite all sources--and all e-journal entries I haven't seen yet).
Introduction of the next topic (on which you will write paper #6). The class will choose between free speech on the internet and the protection of property on the Internet. Explore relevant websites once a decision has been made.
Homework: Continue to explore websites--find the most shocking/blatent/surprising and bookmark them.
Consult the web page for the Free Speech On-Line Campaign and consider the arguments made there. Write an e-journal entry on your response to the page and any ways that it might influence your paper.
Nov. 14 (Tue.): BRING YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS. Show us the websites you found over the weekend! In-class writing. An argument about free speech on the Internet/property rights. Four teams of three (new teams), two proposing that the internet be limited, two proposing that it remain unlimited. List topoi and write a rationale for each. I will collect these at the end of class.
Homework: Read ER pp.32-46 (bottom of the page).
Write an e-journal entry in response to websites we viewed in class today. Were you surprised by them? Concerned? Entertained? What do you think of your classmate's reactions? Do you think anyone would have reacted differently if we hadn't been viewing them in class?
Nov. 16
(Thur): Discussion of Tuesday's reading and ways you can use
induction, deduction, or the Toulmin model to help structure an argument.
Homework: Using
one of the methods discussed in class today, use the topoi you generated
in class Tuesday to shape an outline for an argument for or against Internet
restrictions. Write a draft of that paper and bring it and the outline
to class on Tuesday. Try this even if you don't normally write outlines.
This will be Paper
#6--due in class Tues. 21.
Write an e-journal entry in response to
Elements
of Reasoning. Do you like it? Is it useful? Should I use it again in
English 1-A? You can respond to anything you like, but make an argument!
Nov. 21 (Tue.): BRING YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS.
Paper 6 due in class today. General discussion of the ways that structure and logic enhance ethos and logos. Review of the diversions of reasoning and how to avoid them. Peer review of papers in class using the K:/ Drive.
Homework: Revise the paper using the discussion in class and the peer response you received in class today. Due on November 27 in Folder #6.
Wed 22-Sunday 26 Thanksgiving recess -- no
classes
Homework: Sleep,
eat, and relax....
Nov. 27 (Tue.):
Folder
#6 due in class today (your final
draft, your rough drafts and all of your notes, peer revisions, the outline
you made, the topoi from class, etc. and all e-journal entries I haven't
seen yet).
Discussion of paper #7. What needs to be changed at Drew?
How might we change it? What about New Jersey? We will develop
various topoi together in class. Your assignment is to write a letter
explaining why change is necessary and proposing the change you recommend.
(You might want to review your notes for Chapters 7 and 8 as you work on
this.)
Homework: Using
the prewriting developed in class today, write a draft of the paper with
a clear argument about what needs to be done (this is paper
#7). A draft is due in class Thursday
Nov. 30 (Thur): BRING
YOUR COMPUTER, NETWORK CABLE, AND POWER CABLE TO CLASS. In class
peer response to issues discussed in class Tuesday and also to paragraphs
(see The Longman Writer's Companion p.30-39). Check the guide
to editing using Wordperfect to remind you how you do this (available
only on campus).
Homework: Revise
your paper and make it perfect. Use the discussion of paragraphs
in The Longman Writer's Companion p.30-39 to help you. The
paper is due (along with drafts etc.) in class on Tues. Dec. 5.
Dec. 5 (Tue.): Folder #7 due in class today (your final draft, your notes, drafts, and peer responses, and all e-journal entries I haven't seen yet). Discussion of sentence structure. Select the best and worst sentences from your paper, write them out, and fix the worst ones. Discussion of best examples. General discussion of the final portfolio, the preface essay, and the process of grading for this course.
Homework: Reread all of the work you have done this semester and write an analysis of the progress you see, the things you still need to work on, and the piece of work of which you are most proud. This is Paper #8. Your thesis will be a general statement about yourself as a writer, and you will use your work as evidence to support your claim. This paper will be the preface for your final portfolio due at 5 pm Friday.
Dec. 7 (Thur): Last class. Final
discussion of paper #8 and the final portfolio (due Friday). Evaluations
of the course, and of yourself. Sign up for appointments to collect
portfolio and final grade.
Homework: Final
perfecting of the portfolio and paper #8. Give your portfolio a title.
Dec. 8 (Fri.):
Final
portfolio due at 5 pm tonight (containing
a clean copy of three papers you have written for this class this semester.
Paper
#8 is the preface to the portfolio and should be placed at the
beginning after the table of contents and the acknowledgments page).
Homework: Sleep....
Dec. 12-14 (Tue-Thur): Appointments to collect your final portfolio and grade from my office. Don't forget to grade yourself!
12 - 13 Reading days
14 - 20 final exam period
That's it!
No exam, 
you're done.
Have a great break.
