ENG 108D C02/College Writing II

Fall 2008 , TR 3-4:45; Olney 309
Dr. John Beatty
Olney 157; 951-5004
Office hours: M 1–3, 5–6; TR 1–2; T 5–6; or by appointment
Home phone (610) 433-5339
beatty@lasalle.edu
http://www.lasalle.edu/~beatty/

This should link to an MSWord file for our 9/4 lab.

Here is a Web form that processes information about a reference and outputs an MLA citation as well as APA (some versions may differ). You can also try easybib.com.

Note: Here are the links that we will look at in lab Thursday, 10/9:

Course Description: This course builds on and consolidates writing competencies (usage, sentences, paragraphs, and essays) and reading (analysis, research) to prepare students for non-fiction writing likely to be encountered in academic contexts.

Course Objectives:
• To sharpen your abilities to summarize, analyze, and critique readings;
• To develop your skill in writing organized, coherent, and fully developed essays, and in recognition of other writers’ organizational strategies;
• To improve your proficiency in usage, grammar, and sentence and paragraph development, and your editing;
• To increase your understanding of the research process including the use of library and Internet resources, and of the documentation process.

Textbooks:

Moore, Christopher. Lamb. The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. New York: HarperCollins. 2002.

Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook With Exercises. 6th ed. New York: Pearson, Longman. 2007.

Instructional voucher payment of $5 to cover photocopies.

Recommended:
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th ed. New York: MLA, 1999. Any college dictionary.

Assignments:
You will complete five assigned essays of up to 800 words or three typed or word-processed pages in a standard font. An optional sixth paper may be offered. Some of these papers will require drafts that are submitted as part of the grading or brought to class for discussion within writing groups. There will be two in-class writing sessions based on material presented in the texts and in class, and there may be additional quizzes on readings or films. You will complete and present to class a final research paper on a topic I approve using skills developed in the course and building on assignments including library research.

Occasional brief homework assignments will be required and will contribute to the grades as listed in Grading below.

Requirements:

In addition to the assignments listed, you may be required to read periodicals of your choice and occasionally bring examples of writing problems to present in class. This is not a lecture course, and I expect you to participate in class. Attendance, alertness, and contribution to discussion affect your participation grade. So do interaction within writing groups, preparation for your conference, and your oral report. Keep backups of assignments on disk.

Professionalism:
Any course in college includes elements of professional behavior. Just as if you were “on the job,” I expect you to attend class. Roll will be taken at each class meeting. For any absence to be excused you must contact me beforehand and provide documentation of your excuse or have a friend do so if you are unable. Given normal extenuating circumstances, you will be allowed a total of two unexcused class absences. Further unexcused absences, or excessive excused absences will lower your final grade.

Assignments, tests or quizzes missed due to excused absences can be made up, but those missed due to unexcused absences cannot.

Adjustments to this document are to be allowed for, if not expected.

You are responsible for following the University’s and this class’s policies on submission of original work and acknowledgement of direct quotations or paraphrases from others’ writings (see the La Salle University Student Handbook). Plagiarism “consists of passing off the ideas, opinions, facts, words—in short, the intellectual work—of another as your own” (Prentice Hall Handbook for Writers). Clearly plagiarized work will result in a grade of “F” for the paper.

Some of you may be referred to the Sheeky Writing Center for assistance. It’s your choice to use their services or not; but they are available for all students, with or without referral. Here is a link to the full set of learning resources from our Learning Support Services.

Grading:


Grade assignment: A = 94 and above; A- = 90-93; B+ = 87-89; B = 84-86; B- = 80-83; C+ = 77-79; C = 74-76; C- = 70-73; D+ = 67-69; D = 60-66; F = below 60.
In other words: A = All major and minor goals achieved; B = All major goals achieved, some minor ones not; C = All major goals achieved, many minor ones not; D = A few major goals achieved but not prepared for further advanced work; F = None of the major goals achieved.

Doubles and the Core :

The so-called “double” is a key component of the core that all students at La Salle take as part of the general education requirements for graduation. These requirements supplement your major courses and help round out your education. Students often wonder why they have to take such courses. The flip answer is that, like broccoli and spinach, they are good for you, but the more legitimate answer is that they are the kinds of courses that can make a difference in your getting a job once you graduate.  All accounting majors at all accredited colleges and universities take the same basic range of accounting courses.  All nursing majors at all accredited colleges and universities take the same basic range of nursing courses. All political science majors at all accredited colleges and universities take the same range of political science courses. The core courses are designed to give you more general skills and preparation that employers consistently want those they hire to have in addition to any field-specfic course work and training: the ability to read, write and think clearly, an appreciation for art and music, a sense of what it means to be a good citizen, and a firm ethical grounding.

This particular double pairs your core writing requirement with your core religion requirement, and thus, as you’ll see from the syllabus below, will provide you with several types of general preparation and skills that you can call upon later in your job search and professional lives. You’ll also be in two classes with the same set of classmates.

This particular double

This section of English 108 will complement the paired section of Religion 150 and its more straightforward and obvious approach to Christianity by looking at Christianity in terms that are cultural, both high and popular. You will write shorter papers using different rhetorical modes and a longer research paper.  The bases for these papers will be a series of what can broadly be defined as “texts”: the religious paintings in the La Salle University Art Museum, lyrics from popular songs, stage musicals, fictional and documentary films, episodes of television series, works of literature, journalism, advertising and media campaigns, and academic research. Throughout the semester, there will be a variety of points of contact and connection between English 108 and Religion 150

While we will overlap with what goes on in Religion 150 on a weekly basis, there will be other obvious points of contact: the 108 research paper/150 pertinent issue paper; the film, The Mission, which will be taught in and form the basis of assignments in both classes.

More specifically, we might look at the following cultural reflections of religion—or you might use them as the basis for your research paper, about which we will talk further both in class and in individual conferences:

popular songs such as:
Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” “Sisters of Mercy,” and “Hallelujah”
Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” and “With God on Our Side”
Bruce Springsteen’s “Adam Raised a Cain”
Joan Osborne’s “What if God Was One of Us?” (introduces Joan of Arcadia)
Bruce Cockburn’s “What About the Bond?” “Great Big Love,” and “Wondering Where the Lions Are”
The Arrogant Worms’ “Jesus’s Brother Bob”
John Prine’s “Jesus—the Missing Years”
Kanye West's "Jesus Walks"

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals Requiem and Jesus Christ Superstar

Denys Arcand’s film Jesus de Montréal
Philip Gröning’s documentary Die groß Stille [Into the Great Silence]

episodes of the now-cancelled television series Joan of Arcadia and The Book of Daniel

Flannery O’Connor’s short story “The Displaced Person”
T. S. Eliot’s poem “Journey of the Magi”

advertisements for everything from hot dogs to toilet paper to automobiles and vacation packages that invoke religion
the media campaign and discussion surrounding the question “Just what kind of car would Jesus drive?”
the advertising and media debates about whether retailers should wish their customers Happy Holidays/Season’s Greetings/Merry Christmas
the architectural and cultural concept of the shopping mall as sacred space

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