English
1101-06: Composition I (#11093)
Fall 2005:
Monday/Wednesday at 9:30-10:45p (75 minutes), English Building 251
Professor Robert W. Hill
Office: EB 117
Office Hours: MW 9-9:25p, 12-12:25p; often online; and by appointment
(except for certifiable emergencies, not available
after noon on Fridays or before 9 a.m. on Mondays)
Telephone: 770-423-6346
E-mails (always send to both addresses): rhill@kennesaw.edu AND rhill41@gmail.com
RWH’s KSU Web site: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~rhill
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Nota bene: KSU Statement on Academic
Honesty (8-17-99)
and
KSU Student Code of Conduct
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ENGL 1101. Composition I. 3-0-3. Prerequisite:
ENGL 0099 and READ 0099 if required. Focuses
on skills required for effective writing in a variety of contexts with emphasis
on exposition, analysis, and argumentation. Also includes introductory use of a
variety of research skills.
THE MAIN TEXTS (always with you in class unless otherwise instructed):
Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland. 1884. 11 Sept. 2005 http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/flatland/. [Available at several online sites].
Borges, Jorge Luis. Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. New York: New Directions, 1964. ISBN 0811200124.
Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. New York: Vintage, 2004. ISBN 1400032717.
OTHER TEXTS (a list in progress):
A Beautiful Mind. Dir. Ron Howard. Perf. Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer
Connelly. Universal, 2001.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: MLA, 2003. ISBN 0-87352-975-8.
---. MLA Style
Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 2nd ed. New York: MLA, 1998. ISBN 0-87352-699-6.
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. 1984. New York: Ace, 2004. ISBN 0441012035.
Mosher, Mark. “Atemporal Labyrinths in Time: J.L. Borges and the New Physicists.” Symposium 48.1 (Spring 1994): 51-61. [Located with GALILEO].
Numb3rs. [Several tv episodes]. Perf. Rob Morrow, David Krumholz, Judd Hirsch.
Pi. Dir. Darren
Aronofsky. Writ. Darren Aronofsky and Sean Gullette. Perf. Sean Gullette.
Artisan, 1998.
Proof. Dir. John Madden. Perf. Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Hope
Davis, Jake Gyllenhaal. Miramax, 2005.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association. 5th
ed. Washington, DC: APA, 2001. ISBN 1-55798-790-4.
Shumate, Michael. “Hyperizons: From Page to Screen.” 10
Feb. 1997. 13 Sept. 2005 http://www.duke.edu/~mshumate/print.html.
[Located with Google].
Stoppard, Tom. Arcadia. New York: Faber, 1994. ISBN 0571169341.
Teacherly handouts, occasional movies, other suggested readings, and
on- and off-campus literary events.
Reading Schedule and Some Other Assignments
(in progress all term, rev. 9/21/05)
Monday, August 22: Intro to the course and to its
interdisciplinary intentions.
Wednesday, August 24: Have read Flatland;
view portions of episodes from Numb3rs.
Monday, August 29: Have read “The Garden of Forking
Paths,” “The Library of Babel,” “The Mirror of Enigmas,” “Borges and I.”
Wednesday, August 31: Have read “Preface” and
“Introduction” to Borges, “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” “Death and the Compass”;
in-class online “chats” among appointed study groups (recorded and posted to
Nicenet “Conferencing”).
Monday, September 5; LABOR DAY, NO KSU CLASSES
Wednesday, September 7: Discuss notes on some
of first versions of Essay 1.
Monday, September 12: Discuss classmates’
notes from 9/7/05; view "Man Hunt" episode from Numb3rs.
Wednesday, September 14: Have
read “The Lottery in Babylon,” “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,”
“The Circular Ruins,” “Funes the
Memorious,” “The Shape of the Sword”; discuss Mosher, Shumate, and MLA
(bibliography above).
Monday, September 19: Sam
Hazo reads at KSU in EB 251, 9:30a; ESSAY 1, 750-1000 words, in MLA
format, due by 9:30am in both print and e-copy.
Wednesday, September 21: Discuss
Essays 1; have read “Theme of the Traitor and the Hero,” “The Secret Miracle,” “Three
Versions of Judas,” “The Sect of the Phoenix,” “Partial Magic in the Quixote”;
discuss mathematical implications in selected Hazo poems and Wislawa
Szymborska’s “View with a Grain of Sand”; return Essays 1 at my office door by
noon Thursday, Sept. 22.
Monday, September 26: Have read “The Immortal,” “The
Theologians,” “Story of the Warrior and the Captive,” “Emma Zunz,” “The House
of Asterion,” “Deutsches Requiem,” “Averroes’ Search,” “Valéry as Symbol”
Wednesday, September 28: “The Zahir,” “The Waiting,” “The God’s Script,” “The Wall and the Books,” “A New Refutation of Time,” “Kafka and His Precursors.”
Monday, October 3: ESSAY 2, 750-1000 words,
in MLA format, due by 9:30am in both print and e-copy.
Wednesday, October 5: Have read “The Argentine
Writer and Tradition,” “The Fearful Sphere of Pascal,” “Avatars of the
Tortoise.”
Monday, October 10: Have read Mark Haddon’s The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Wednesday, October 12: FIRST ONLINE RESPONSE GRADES, AS OF NOON
TODAY; have read “A Note on (toward) Bernard Shaw,”
Friday, October 14: Last Day to Withdraw without Academic Penalty;
Monday, October 17: ESSAY 3, 750-1000 words,
in MLA format, due by 9:30am in both print and e-copy.
Wednesday, October 19: Discuss Essay 3; have read “Inferno,
I, 32,” “Paradiso, XXXI, 108,” “Ragnarök,” “Parable of Cervantes and the Quixote,”
“The Witness,” “A Problem,” “Everything and Nothing,” “Elegy.”
Monday, October 26: Discuss Borges, Haddon, and
Essay 4.
Wednesday, October 28: In-class group work on Essay
4.
Monday, October 31: ESSAY 4, 750-1000 words,
in MLA format, due by 9:30am in both print and e-copy.
Wednesday, November 2: Discuss Essay 4.
Monday, November 7: Group work on Portfolios.
Wednesday, November 9: Group work on Portfolios.
Monday, November 14: Discuss readings.
Wednesday, November 16: Discuss readings.
Wednesday-Sunday, NOVEMBER 23-27: FALL HOLIDAY, NO
KSU CLASSES:
Monday, November 28: Discuss readings and
Portfolios.
Wednesday, November 30: PORTFOLIOS due by 9:30am, in
both hard and e-copy.
Monday, December 5: Take deep breaths.
Wednesday, December 7: Return Portfolios, graded;
FINAL ONLINE RESPONSE GRADES, AS OF NOON TODAY.
Monday, December 12: Final Examination,
9:30-11:30pm: Portfolio presentations by study groups.
Here are several
ways we’ll establish and maintain an active learning community during this
semester:
(a)
Inform
me immediately about your access to and skill with computer technology;
(b)
Follow
our evolving syllabus at my KSU web site and its reiterations in Nicenet and
WebCT;
(c)
Send
a “Here I am” message to BOTH my e-mail addresses above, including your most
accessible telephone number(s);
(d)
Using the Class Key that I will announce the
first day (Class Key: 5Z37Z85EZ7), join our class at http://www.nicenet.org;
(e) Using your WebCT number and PIN number, join our Web CT class at http://courses.kennesaw.edu/webct/public/home.pl?action=print_home;
(f) Spend at least fifteen minutes twice a
week online, writing thoughtful responses to our readings/viewings, class
discussions, classmates’ writings, etc., being sure all the while to maintain
civil, respectful, considerate rhetoric in dealing with our co-workers in this
important enterprise. (I will read everything but will intrude rarely.) Do NOT duplicate
responses, but you must have roughly equal numbers of responses at each site.
(g)
Meeting
only twice a week, we need always to attend class unless a genuine emergency
prevents (usually medical).
EVALUATION PROCEDURES: Your final grade will be determined according
to the following formula:
(a) Average of two grades on response
writings—10% (A or F, graded at midterm and at end of course: viz., appropriate
numbers, quality of engagement, and distribution between WebCT and Nicenet)
(b) Four essays = 30%
(c) Four essays revised for Portfolio + your
“cover” essay = 50%
(d) Exam-day Portfolio presentations by Study
Groups = 10%
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Because this is a university-level class,
I believe that attendance is a matter of student responsibility. However, my experience
has been that students who miss more than one week’s worth of classes find it
difficult to perform at acceptable levels, often placing unfair demands upon
their classmates to “help out” or “cover.” The assumption in all such classes,
for me, is that students want to be here (for their own various reasons) and
thus will be here.
This class begins at 9:30pm and ends at
10:45pm. Persistent tardiness or leaving class early is considered equivalent
to an absence.
If you are absent,
I expect you to communicate with me as soon as possible—in person, by
telephone, or in writing—about any work that you miss. Students should not miss
class on a regular basis with no explanation and expect, at the end of the
course, to receive special consideration of any kind.
RESPONSE WRITING:
“Response writing” includes in-class
writing assignments and online responses. The category does not include posting
your assigned essays online nor work written as part of in-class assignments
such a group chatroom activities. Group “chats” outside of class will count if
they are recorded and subsequently posted for classmates to read,
Online response writings will not be graded for grammar, spelling,
mechanics, etc., but for their regular, conscientious contribution to our ongoing
class discussion. Bluntly, either it’s done or it isn’t. Unless otherwise
instructed, you should post responses in both Nicenet AND WebCT for classmates’
edification and delight. Do NOT duplicate responses, but you must
have roughly equal numbers of responses at each site.
Response writings serve several functions
in this class. They can be the basis for class discussion when they are written
at the beginning of class; they can guide your preparation for the following
class when they are written during or at the end of the period. Those responses
written at the end can also indicate to me material that needs further
explanation or development at the next meeting. I expect you always to use
those writing assignments to develop your ideas and to improve and strengthen
your writing abilities. I see these papers serving you as an ongoing dialogue
with yourself about issues raised in the course objectives and evolving ideas
that will emerge in our class discussions.
Formal writing
assignments, however, must demonstrate a serious effort to deal with writing
problems that have been pointed out in earlier writings. In addition to my comments on your work and in-class
lectures, I will be glad to work with you during office hours to facilitate
your improvement as a writer. You can also work with the Writing Center
(located on the second floor of the Humanities Building) on those elements of
the writing process that give you trouble.
EXPECTATIONS:
I expect students to take their work
seriously, to come to class prepared and willing to participate, and to treat
peers and their ideas with respect. I expect students to read well, think well,
write well, and speak well as members of this English 1101 community. And enjoy
the ride.—RWH, 9/11/05
[This page created January 7, 2003; last revised,
September 21, 2005.—RWH]