Syllabus, Schedule, & Assignments

Readings for Class

Assignment 1:
News Articles

Assignment 2:
Resources

Class Related Materials

The main purpose of English 100 is to introduce you to the conventions of academic writing.  And while academic writing means different things to different people, there are some common elements. We write to communicate to others—whether they are colleagues, professionals in their fields, or friends.  We write to convince others that our position has validity.  We write to discover new things about our world as well as ourselves.  For that matter, the process of writing is epistemological—a way of coming to know.  Writing can become a medium for self-reflection, self-expression, and communication, a means of coming to know for both the writer and reader. 

Learning to write requires writing.  Writing is a craft, and as a craft, writing can be learned and refined.  Ultimately, writing takes practice, and as a writer, you will have plenty of opportunities to write both in the classroom as well as outside.  With that said, the goal I have for this class—one that all writing courses share—is to give you, as students, enough practice writing so that you will become more effective writers by the end of this course than you were at the start.   Also, you will gain a greater understanding of what you need to continue to develop as writers.

As we delve into this semester, I also hope you will discover that writing, reading, and learning are intricately intermeshed.  Writing is based on experience—experience with a text or personal experience—and that reading is a means to broadening experiences, especially when actively engaged by reading dialectically (as opposed to polemically).  Much of the readings, lectures, and discussions may challenge more commonly accepted assumptions and beliefs.  You will be required to critically rethink and reevaluate popular concepts and ideas (this may also challenge your own ideas so please try to keep an open perspective).  One of the main goals for this class will be to try to understand how language informs and shapes our culture and society as well as our everyday lives and practices.

I assume you already think critically (you would not have made it to college otherwise).  Now we will try to go beyond critical thinking skills; we will reflect on a range of possibilities and positions.  We may find ourselves asking more questions rather than finding easy answers.

Schedule:

• Weeks 1-5:  Schedule covers August 25 to September 22 [HTML Version][pdf Document]
• Weeks 5-10:  Schedule covers .... [HTML Version][pdf Document]
• Weeks 10-15:  Schedule covers .... [HTML Version][pdf Document]
• Conference Schedule for November 17-25th:  [pdf]

Essay Assignment:

• Assignment 1: The Textual/Visual Analysis Essay [pdf Document]
• Assignment 2:  The Texual Analysis Essay [pdf Document]
• Assignment 3:  The Reflective Analysis Essay [pdf Document]

Fulwiler, Toby .  The Working Writer.  2nd ed.  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:  Prentice Hall, 1999.

• “Strategies for Revision."  [pdf].
• “Focused Revision."   [pdf].

Johnson, Allan G.  "Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination."  Privilege, Power, and Difference.  Mountain View, CA:  Mayfield Pub, 2000. [pdf]

Katz, Jackson.  "Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity."  Rereading America.  Eds.  Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle.  Boston:  Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.   [pdf]. 

Kimmel, Michael S.  "Masculinity as Homophobia:   Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity."  The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality. 2nd ed.   Mountain View, CA:  Mayfield Pub Co, 2003. [pdf].

Ore, Tracy. "Constructing Differences." The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Pub Co, 2000. [pdf]

Ore, Tracy.    "Maintaining Inequalities:   Systems of Oppression and Priviledge."  The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality.    Mountain View, CA:  Mayfield Pub Co, 2000. [pdf]

Rosenwasser, David  & Jill Stephen.  “What is Analytical Writing?”   Writing Analytically.  Fort Worth:  Harcourt Brace 1997. [pdf]

Zinn, Howard.  "American Ideology."  Declarations of Independence:  A Cross-examining American Ideology. New York:  Harper & Row, 1990. [pdf]

Zinn, Howard.  "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress."  A People's History of the United States:  1492 - Present. New York:  HaperCollins, 1999.  [pdf]

Mainstream News Media

Click on the images below to see the larger images.  You may read some of the articles online or on pdf file by clicking on the links.

	Batnesar, Romesh.  "Awstruck."   Time.  March31, 2003.  [pdf]
	"Bombing Iraq."  Time.   March 31, 2003.
	"Why They Hate Us:  The Roots of Islamic Rage and What We Can Do About It" in Newsweek.  October 15, 2001.   [link]
	"The Enemy Below."  Newsweek.   Novermber 5, 2001.
	"Afghanistan Under Attack." Newsweek. October 29, 2001.

Conference Schedule for November 17-25th:  [pdf]

Mainstream and Alternative News Articles:  Some suggested pairings of mainstream media sources to alternative media souces for Assignment 2.  [link]

Alternative Media Websites
(in alphabetical order)

AlterNet
www.alternet.org. A project of the Independent Media Institute. Includes some of the best alternative points of view on social issues.

Common Dreams News Center
www.commondreams.org. Alternative analysis and best of the mainstream press.

Cursor
www.cursor.org. A critical look at the media on international issues.

Democracy Now News
www.democracynow.org. Daily radio show. Audio and video are useful for contrasting with mainstream news.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
www.fair.org. Excellent articles critiquing mainstream media coverage of the crisis. Good links.

Foreign Policy in Focus
www.fpif.org. Valuable background readings on foreign policy issues.

The Independent (U.K.)
www.independent.co.uk. Some of the best reporting on the war and terrorism. Articles by Robert Fisk are among the finest in the world. See also reporting by The Guardian in Great Britain www.guardian.co.uk.

Independent Media Center
www.indymedia.org. Immediate reporting of anti-war protests and resources for linking the current crisis to issues of global inequality.

The Iraq Journal
www.iraqjournal.org. Reports directly from Iraq as well as links to alternative sources of information on Iraq.

Media Workers Against the War
www.mwaw.org. A British site offers alternative perspectives on the current war.

The Nation
www.thenation.org. Provocative articles on the crisis. Some classroom-friendly. Helpful links.

The Progressive
www.progressive.org. Excellent, readable articles on the war and loss of civil liberties.

War Times
www.war-times.org. A free paper with clear writing, available for bulk distribution.

Z Magazine and Z Net
www.zmag.org. Articles, reviews, and resources from a progressive perspective.

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader:  To view many of the files, you will need to download Acrobat Reader.  Acrobat Reader is free to download from Adobe's website. 

Electronic Reserve (University of Arizona Library): Find articles and reading for class. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it, please download the free version.