English 1000, Section 100

Doug Hunt, instructor: Office 107 Tate Hall: hours MWF 10-11:30 and by appointment

Phone 882-3076; Email HuntD@missouri.edu

The goal of English 1000 is to improve students' skill in writing academic papers. The strategy in this section will be to focus, especially in Papers 2 and 3, on papers comparable to those assigned in Writing Intensive courses. These papers require close analyses of "texts" (in this case, both written and visual ones) and the mustering of evidence to support an opinion about those texts. They also require the use and citation of outside sources.

Texts and Materials: Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Manual of Style, 4th edition. Taylor, Joshua C. Learning to Look, second edition. Highlighters in three colors. You may also want to buy a copy of the film you write about in Essay 3.

Some matters of classroom management:

1. I don't deduct points for absences. I may, however, drop students for absences if they miss six classes and have no realistic chance of getting a C in the class.
2. Assignments are due at the beginning of class. I don't accept late work unless I have okayed an extension the day before the work is due.
3. We workshop papers, meaning that students' work will be shown to other students and discussed in class. In a class this size it is virtually impossible to workshop anonymously. I will not, of course, discuss your grade with other students.
4. One function of this class is to ensure that students understand how to use sources properly and avoid plagiarism. Before you hand in any work, read sections 29 and 30 of A Pocket Style Manual (pages 115-123). In this class plagiarism, no matter how accidental or trivial, will always result in a grade penalty. Papers that involve plagiarism exceeding the accidental or trivial will be assigned zeros. In addition, I will report any incident of plagiarism that may be intentional to the Provost's office, which may administer penalties as severe as suspension or expulsion.
5. If you have a disability and need classroom accommodations, please notify me as soon as possible. You should also register with Disability Services, 882-4696. Other especially useful contacts are the Learning Center (882-2493) with its Writing Lab, and the Counseling Center (882-6601) for stress management, crisis intervention, and other services.
6. There are 550 points possible in this course. 

• Each microtheme is worth up to 10 points (10 for exemplary work, 9 for strong, 8 for average, 7 for meeting minimal requirements).
• Essay 1 is worth up to 10 points.
• First submissions of Essays 2-4 count up to 50 points, second submissions up to 100. The scale is 90% of possible points for A work, 80% for B work, etc.
• Final grades are computed on the same percentage basis: e.g., 495 (550 x .90) yields an A; 330 (550 x .60) yields a D. A student who falls 10 points or fewer short of a grade cutoff will get the higher grade with a minus attached. A student who falls 11-20 points short will get the lower grade with a plus attached. 520 points yields an A+.

<< Syllabi must include contact information and at least three set office hours per week.

<< If you deduct points for absences (a policy we discourage), you must have a clear written policy. It is common to drop students who miss the equivalent of two weeks of class. See section 5-4.

<< If you plan to workshop papers, give notice.

<< Syllabi must include information on plagiarism, its consequences, and ways of avoiding it.

<< A statement on accommodations for disabilities is essential.

<< Some syllabi include abstract characterizations of papers that will receive various grades (e.g., "An A paper will offer a novel insight into the subject matter, support that insight with strong evidence, etc.") The department doesn't provide such a "rubric" because the abstractions mean little until they are applied to particular cases.

<< The grading system should be explicit enough that students can compute their own grades. We discourage grading schemes that assign too many points for behavior other than writing behavior. See Section 4-4 (5).

<<Reading on the use of sources and avoiding plagiarism should be assigned and discussed before the due date of any assignment requiring multiple sources.

<<The syllabus should give enough detail to allow students to plan well in advance. Due dates, especially, should be noted.

<<Students should have a graded paper returned to them by the middle of the fourth week, ahead of the deadline to drop the class (9/27).

<<Allow ample time between the submission of a paper and its return with grades and comments.

Writing Assignments

Microtheme 1. Draft material (at least 500 words) for Essay 1. Bring three copies.

Essay 1: Warmup. A 750-word essay in which you discuss how something learned in school—though not necessarily in class—gives you insight into a story published in a local or national newspaper. List source as shown in A Pocket Manual of Style, page 152. (See also Essay 4 .)

Microtheme 2. A 250-word statement of why you believe the two painting you are comparing in Essay 2 can be fruitfully compared. What links them? What makes them different? Bring two copies of this and subsequent microthemes. Bring copies of the paintings if possible.

Microtheme 3. 250-500 words of draft material in which you discuss how one of your paintings achieves its "expressive content." You should use at least three of the key terms Taylor italicizes on page 63.

Microtheme 4. 250-500 words of draft material on the other painting in the pair, using at least three of the key terms.

Microtheme 5. A polished version of your first one or two pages of Essay 2.

Essay 2: Comparison of Two Paintings. Each member of your working group should select a different "local" work from the list below and write a paper comparing it to another painting with a similar subject matter, but a different impact on the viewer. Roughly speaking, you will be writing a comparison like that Joshua Taylor writes in the first chapter of Learning to Look, except that

• your reader will need more background on the subject, the artist, or both
• you won't face Taylor's difficulty of using your essay as a preview of chapters to come.

You needn't mimic Taylor's academic voice in your essay, but you should skillfully apply vocabulary and terms of analysis from his book. As in Taylor's analysis of the two crucifixion scenes, the critical question for your essay is how "expressive content" is achieved. Assume that you have readers who know what well-informed members of your class know: Don't spend words explaining principles Taylor has explained; save them for giving useful information about the particular paintings you choose. Your paper should be 1500-2000 words long.       

You must use and properly cite at least two sources other than the Taylor book in your essay. Use MLA citation form as described in A Pocket Manual of Style, pp. 113-154. Attach a color copy of the painting you compare to the local work and a photocopy of any pages from which you have quoted (except those from Taylor).

Microtheme 6. A description (about 250 words long) of a scene from your movie for Essay 3. The scene should make it clear how visual elements, dialogue, and other sound effects (e.g., music) work together to achieve what Taylor might call "expressive content."

Microtheme 7. A polished version of your first one or two pages of Essay 3.

Essay 3: Movies as Teachers. For this assignment, each member of your working group will choose a different film to analyze. The film should be one marketed to an audience of children (toddlers to pre-teens). We’ll develop a list of eligible films in class. Write a paper that alerts your readers to one lesson the film may impress on children, showing both what the lesson is and how it is taught. Remember as you work that children may "drink in" lessons without being entirely conscious of them, let alone able to articulate them. Assume that your readers are educated adults interested in movies and in children. Give them fresh insight either by showing a less-than-obvious message or by explaining less-than-obvious aspects of the technique used to convey the message (or by doing both). You may deal with a constructive or destructive lesson, and you may spend part of your essay evaluating its merit. Your essay should be about 1500 words long and must incorporate and cite at least two sources other than the movie itself.

Microtheme 8. 500 words of draft material for Essay 4

Microtheme 9. Complete draft of Essay 4.

Essay 4: A Scholarship Essay. The General Education Program at the University of Missouri offers a Hesburgh Scholarship of $1,000 to a freshman every year. (For details, see http:// gep.ps.missouri.edu/Hesburgh/Hesburgh.html). As part of the competition, students write a 750-word essay on an assigned topic. The topic currently listed follows:

Choose a story from the front page of the New York Times (available free to MU students) and relate the story to something you have learned or an experience you've had in a General Education course.

Your assignment is to write an essay that could be entered in the Hesburgh competition. The standards by which your essay will be evaluated are those applied by the Hesburgh selection committee: "substantive content, clarity, cogency, originality, effective order and presentation, skillful development of ideas, and correct grammar and punctuation."

<<A short, simple paper (like Essay 1) that is graded and commented on can serve as a "diagnostic" for both the teacher and the student.

<< A microtheme is a short paper, often used as a preliminary step toward a longer one. In this particular course, the microtheme receives a grade, but little comment, and is used as a basis for peer review.

<<A general assignment that includes choices of particular subjects gives students some freedom of choice and can be used to set up productive peer review, since no two students in a working group are writing on the same subject.

<<The first substantial assignment (Essay 2 in this class) sets the tone for the rest of the semester. At a university like ours, where students are expected to go from English 1000 into classes that require academic writing skills, it may be best to give an obviously academic and challenging assignment at this point.

<< Though at first glance Essay 3 may seem easier than Essay 2, it adds dimensions of analysis. Now there are not just pictures to analyze, but plots, scenes, and characters.

<<The final essay is deliberately less complex than the two that precede it. It also points out of the classroom, in the sense that the student must think of an audience (contest judges, in this case) other than the teacher. An assigned op-ed piece or other form of public writing could serve a similar purpose in another course.