"Education, Knowledge, & Culture"
a Drew University First Year Seminar, Fall 1998.
Sandra Jamieson, Associate Professor of English
Writer's Journal Position papers (papers #1 & #2)
Annotated Bibliography
The class newsgroup and newsgroup instructions
Comparison (paper #3)
Summary/description
Day-to-day syllabus
Analysis papers (papers #4 & #5)
Due dates.
In addition to writing in your personal journal, you will post one public journal entry to the class journal. You may decide to post a copy of a personal entry--for example a response to a reading--but you should also write some entries in response to entries written by your classmates. You may post to this group as often as you like, but you must post at least once a week. You may decide to post more often in place of some personal entries--but you must discuss this option with me first.
Because extensive research has shown that writing every day has the same impact on a person's writing as working out has on his or her body, every student will keep a Writer's Journal as part of this class. You will be required to write in your Writer's Journal at least four times a week (every day is the ideal, but is not always realistic). While you will not be graded on the content of the Journal, you will be graded on the seriousness with which you address the issues raised and the frequency with which you write (I will give extra consideration to people who write an entry every day). Therefore it is important that you read the instructions carefully, and ask questions if they are not clear.
Your first and second writing assignments will be position papers. A position paper is just that: a statement of your position on a specific topic (in this case, the arguments presented in each of the first two books we will discuss). An effective position paper begins with a brief background on the topic at hand (cultural literacy or education and knowledge), and then sets out a clear position on the topic. This position functions as a thesis and the remainder of the paper presents an argument in support of that thesis (position) based on the reading. Position papers can be any length, but tend to be 2 to 3-pages long. Although they express only the personal opinion of the writer, they must be rigorously argued and every assertion must be supported with textual evidence. A position paper could be read aloud as part of a debate or class discussion (although in this class they probably will not be).
I will not grade the first position paper, but I will write comments so that you can do a perfect job on the second paper--which I will grade. I may ask you to rewrite the first paper or both of them until they are satisfactory as college writing.
Your third piece of writing is not a paper but I will assign it an informal grade. This piece of writing will develop from your library session on September 22. Your task is to select unfamiliar items from each of the two lists (E.D. Hirsch’s and Simonson and Walker’s) and look those things up in the library. Once you have does this, your group will summarize the relevant information or describe the item. Finally, the group will write a paragraph assessing whether the things on its list are really essential knowledge for the educated American. Each entry should be about one paragraph long and will be read to the class. Those that are deemed essential information will be posted on this page.
Annotated bibliographies have two parts. The first part is a citation using MLA style (see The Longman Handbook) and the second part is an annotation telling readers what the article, book, film, etc. is about. The first sentence of a good annotation is a summary of the thesis of the piece or the essential plot details in the case of a work of fiction. The next two or three sentences summarize the evidence or major plot details. For example, an annotated bibliography entry for the 1996 Common Reading, Christina Garcia's Dreaming in Cuban:
Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York: Ballantine, 1992. Multiple perspectives on the history and lives of three generations of a Cuban family. The grandmother, one daughter, and three grandchildren remain in Cuba; another daughter emigrated to the US with her husband and daughter; and a son lives in the Czech republic. Events are told from the perspective of several characters, and reflect the political, generational, and mental state of each character. Themes include immigration/emigration, communism/capitalism, age, gender, culture, race, history--and who tells it, religion/beliefs. There is strong color symbolism and elements of magic realism.
You might not know all of this information (for example, magic realism) but include what you do know if it seems relevant.
Your third paper will be a comparison and contrast paper. You are to consider one of the topics listed below and explore and evaluate the similarities and differences between the author's assumptions about reading/literacy and culture and the subsequent argument he or she presents. When you have made your comparisons, formulate a thesis and write a description of what leads you to your thesis stating what the relevant positions are and which author you find most persuasive (this is not just one sentence making a simple argument; it is a brief explanation of the situation from which your thesis arises).
Sample thesis: X believes that only when we have knowledge of our own culture can we be truly literate in the national language. Y and Z, on the other hand, both argue that we must learn the culture of the dominant group before we can fully master its language, regardless of whether we are members of that group, although they differ on whether we should write in the language of the dominant group. My own experience of writing corresponds with that of Y--I had to learn to value my culture before I believed I had something to say and then I found it most effective to write it in a way that those in power could not ignore--so I find her argument the most persuasive.
If you quite literally plug your ideas into the structure above, you will have not only an effective thesis, but also a rough outline for your paper (of course, you may adopt your own thesis structure if you prefer). You will explain this thesis more carefully in your introduction, and then spend your paper exploring the underlying assumptions in the essays you have selected, and explaining your assertion that one is the more persuasive argument. You are advised to consult the Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers for more discussion of the construction of an appropriate thesis.
Your final two papers will be analysis papers in which you think critically about one of the readings and explore in detail one aspect or theme you see reflected there. For example, as you study Paradise, you might be struck by the way different characters react to the history of Ruby and decide to compare that reaction (how do men react in comparison with women? How do members of Steward and Deacon's generation react in comparison with the young people?) Or you might be struck by the way the culture of the Convent evolves over the course of the story and develop a theory to explain that. As you study Ceremony, you might reflect on how Tayo merges the two cultures of his heritage to make a new culture with new ceremonies. Or you might use your research to trace the ways that Silko uses cultural knowledge unknown to most non-Hopi (does your new knowledge simply add another layer to your appreciation of the story or does it make sense of things you didn't understand before?). What kind of education should Tayo have had? What about the inhabitants of Ruby? What do you think they might find useful in Hirsch's list? What might be on a list of essential knowledge designed by Tayo or Billie Delia? How would it differ from a list designed by another character in either novel? Think hard, dig deeply, and give yourself a mental workout as you come up with topics for these papers!
Your final portfolio is the place for you to reflect on your work for the semester. Into that portfolio you will put your final paper and all of the work you have handed in throughout the semester (in any order you like). Then you'll read the whole thing and write a preface introducing the work and discussing the themes you find. What issues have you returned to again and again in your journals and perhaps your papers too? What questions remain unanswered? What issues would you like to explore more fully in the future? Have any of of your ideas changed? What constitues an educated person? What is a culturally literate person? How will you become one?