Please note: This course format is available on the Web at the address in the corner of the page.  All essay topics, plus other important materials I'll give out in class over the course of the semester, will be posted to that address. 

Instructor: Dr. Stephen doCarmo
Office: Penn 131 
Hours: MWF 1:00-3:00 
Phone: 215-968-8267 
E-mail: docarmos@bucks.edu 

Required Texts
The New World Reader, 2nd ed.  Edited by Gilbert H. Muller. 

Catalog Course Description
English Composition I emphasizes the systematic study of writing effective expository prose and argumentation, stressing development and support of a clear thesis. Essays must demonstrate careful thinking, ability to synthesize sources, and must employ appropriate diction, sentence sense, and standard organizational strategies. Reading assignments will provide models of good writing and support for student compositions. 

Prerequisites
Writing Placement Test Score of 6 or higher or a grade of C or better in COMP107: Introduction to Rhetorical Skills. 

Learning Goals (as stated by Bucks' Language and Literature Department)
English Composition I has two primary concerns: 

(1) improving writing skills in multi-paragraph compositions and 
(2) developing critical thinking skills through reading, discussion analysis, and application of substantive expository prose and argumentation essays. 

Methods
Classes will consist of small-group discussions, big-group (or whole-class) discussions, small- and big-group writing workshops, occasional film viewings, and one-on-one conferences with me, your instructor. 

Course Requirements
There are four.  Here they are: 

1. You'll write four "at-home" essays, each pertaining to one of four reading units from The New World Reader.  These essays will need to be at least three pages long each and will need to demonstrate the qualities of good writing agreed upon by Bucks' Language and Literature Department: unity, coherence, good organization, varied sentence structure, proper punctuation, clarity and economy of usage, proper diction, and proper grammar.  We'll discuss these qualities in class before you start drafting your essays. 

I'll give you written instructions for each of these essays, but those instructions will be broad and interpretable enough to permit you to do your own thinking instead of just reciting back information and ideas familiar to you from class discussions.  And demonstrating your own insightful thinking is, as much as anything else, what you'll have to do to earn high grades on these essays. 

I'll put written comments on each of your at-home essays and will give them A-F grades, with "plusses" and "minuses" possible.  Due dates for final and rough drafts are on the course schedule at the end of this format. 

2. You'll write three in-class essays, each of them several paragraphs long and each pertaining to one of the final three reading units of the course.  Like the "at home" essays, these will need to demonstrate the qualities of good writing agreed upon by Bucks' Language and Literature Department and must be composed in response to written instructions I'll give you at the beginnings of the class periods when they're to be written. 

I'll put written comments on each of your in-class essays and will give them A-F grades, with "plus" and "minus" grades possible.  The dates on which you'll write them are on the course schedule at the end of this format. 

Please note that you need to get a passing grade ("C" or better) on at least one of these in-class essays to pass the course. 

3.  You'll need to take about ten unannounced reading quizzes on the assigned readings.  They'll be short (five questions each), they'll be given at the very start of class meetings, and they'll focus on key ideas and information from the readings.  I won't be out to get you by seeing if you memorized minutiae from the readings' footnotes.  I'll just be checking to see that you've read carefully enough to get the readings' major claims and ideas.  So read reasonably carefully before each class, with the TV and phone turned off, and you’ll do fine on these. 

I'll grade each of your quizzes on a 1-5 scale.  Get all five questions right and you'll get a "5," or an A, basically.  A "4" is a B, a "3" is a C, a "2" is a D, and a "1" is an F. 

At the end of the semester, I'll drop your lowest quiz grade before averaging the others. 

4.  You'll need to participate in class.  If you come to class regularly, on time, and prepared; participate in whatever in-class activities I've devised for that day; and are respectful to me and your classmates, your reading-quiz grade will be your participation grade.  If you don't do the aforementioned things, I reserve the right to adjust your reading-quiz grade to reflect the overall quality of your class participation as I see it. 

Grade Distribution 
Each of your "at home" essays is worth 15% of your final grade. 
Each of your in-class essays is worth 10%.
Your reading quizzes (the average of which I may adjust to reflect the quality of your class participation) are collectively worth 10%.

Attendance
You get five free skips, "excused" or "unexcused" doesn't matter.  After that, your final grade for the course falls a half letter grade per absence (from a C+ to a C, for instance, or from a C to a D+, since there are no "minus" final grades at Bucks). 

Since I don't distinguish between excused and unexcused absences, you shouldn't burn all your skips thinking it'll be okay to miss more classes later should you get sick or have an emergency!  Your five skips are for sickness and emergency. So budget them wisely. 

Also, please don’t vanish from class for extended periods of time (more than two classes in a row) without getting in touch with me! 

Lastly, be sure to come to class on time.  Not only might you miss reading quizzes given at the start of the hour if you're late, but I'll count three late arrivals as an absence. 

Rewrites
You may rewrite two of your four "at-home" essays to improve their grades by up to one full letter grade.  If you do a rewrite, you'll need to 

a. turn it in within seven days of getting back the original essay, 
b. include the original essay, with my comments on it, and 
c. make significant improvements!  Simply re-arranging a few words or fixing some punctuation won't earn you a higher grade.

You may also revise one of your three in-class essays if you like, but let me know you intend to do so before you do it.  That way we can set you up with another hour-long session in which to do the revision. 

Please note that while essays turned in late can be re-written, the penalty for lateness never goes away (see the next item). 

Late Work
You may submit “at home” essays late at a penalty of one half-letter grade per weekday. 

In-class essays can’t be turned in late.  If there’s any reason, then, why you won’t be able to attend class on a day for which an in-class essay is scheduled, be sure to get in touch with me before that class period, so we can make other arrangements. 

You can't make up missed reading quizzes, either, since it wouldn't be fair to people who had to take them on time.  If you can’t be in class on a day you suspect a quiz will be given, call me in my office sometime before class that day (215-968-8267), and I’ll give you the quiz over the phone.  Please note, though, that taking the quiz that way doesn’t erase the absence. 

Skipping Assignments 
Sorry, but you can't. All writing assignments (the four at-home essays and the three in-class ones) must be submitted to me -- otherwise you can't receive a passing grade for the course. 

Back-up Copies 
You must -- must! -- save copies for yourself of every essay you turn in to me.  That way, in the highly unlikely event I lose one of your essays, you can re-submit it to me the moment we realize it's missing.  (In other words, "You lost my only copy" isn't a valid excuse for missing an assignment!) 

Cell Phones
Cell phones should be switched off before class!  Not even silent texting is okay.  If you're in the midst of an emergency that's going to require you to use your phone during class time, please let me know about it before class begins. 

Tutoring 
If you need help with a writing assignment for this course, please work either with me or someone in the Tutoring Center (Library 121). 

If you'd like to listen to the advice of a friend, family member, or classmate who's read a rough draft of yours, that's fine -- great, even.  But nobody besides me or a Bucks tutor should help you actually compose an essay for this course.  Please talk to me if you're confused about what constitutes too much help from others. 

Special Needs 
If you have a documented learning problem that requires you to have extra time on quizzes and/or in-class essays, please talk to me about it at the start of the semester, so we can make arrangements for whatever you need. 

Plagiarism 
This is from the College Catalog: 

The expectation at Bucks County Community College is that the principles of truth and honesty will be rigorously followed in all academic endeavors.  This assumes that all the work will be done by the person who purports to do the work without unauthorized aids.  In addition, when making use of language, information and some ideas not his or her own, whether quoting them directly or paraphrasing them in his or her own words, the student must attribute the source of the material in some standard form, such as naming the source in the text or offering a footnote.

Core Curriculum Goals & Objectives 
COLLEGE LEVEL WRITING I 

Goals 
Upon completion of College Writing Level I, students will: 
1. use the knowledge and skills they have developed to be critical thinkers and curious learners who dare to think, ask questions, and support what they say; 
2. apply successfully College Level Writing I skills/concepts to college writing in various disciplines, on the job, and in daily activities; 
3. apply proper strategies, concepts, guidelines, grammar, and English language fundamentals to produce well-organized, well-written academic prose. 

Objectives 
Upon completion of College Writing Level I, students will be able to: 
1. identify and prepare well-written academic and/or business communications organized appropriately for the situation and the audience (2,3); 
2. demonstrate critical thinking skills such as synthesis, analysis, or argument, when writing or when analyzing all forms of written communication (1); 
3. locate, articulate, and develop a central idea for any written communication (2,3); 
4. tailor academic and/[or] professional prose for a culturally diverse audience (2); 
5. eliminate stereotyping and gender bias from all written communication (3); 
6. revise documents by editing for content, organization, style, readability, mechanics, and format (3); 
7. articulate requirements for academic integrity and apply appropriate methods for citing and documentation (3). 

CRITICAL THINKING AND READING 

Goals 
Upon completion of College Writing Level I, students will: 
1. identify the explicit and implied features of a communication, especially in arguments that put forth a conclusion (Analysis skills); 
2. integrate and/or combine knowledge from multiple sources to create new knowledge (Synthesis); 
3. assess the credibility of a communication and the strength of claims and arguments (Evaluation Skills); 
4. reason from what they know to form new knowledge, draw conclusions, solve problems, explain, decide, and/or predict (Inductive and/or Deductive Reasoning Skills); 
5. communicate and justify clearly the results of their reasoning. (Presenting Arguments Skills). 

Objectives 
Upon completion of College Writing Level I, students will be able to: 
1. identify the ideas presented and assess the interests, attitudes, or views contained in those ideas (1); 
2. identify the main conclusion of an argument (1); 
3. determine if the conclusion is supported with reasons and identify those that are stated or implied (1); 
4. demonstrate deductive and/or inductive reasoning (2); 
5. determine if an argument makes sense (3); 
6. determine if an argument rests on false, biased, or doubtful assumptions (3); 
7. list alternatives and consider their pros and cons, including their plausibility and practicality, when making decisions or solving problems (4); 
8. present an argument succinctly in such a way as to convey the crucial point of an issue (5); 
9. cite relevant evidence and experiences to support position(s) (5). 

COOPERATIVE EFFORTS: GROUP PROCESSES 

Goals 
Upon completion of College Writing Level I, students will: 
1. value cooperative work as a way to accomplish task goals; 
2. be open to possibilities. 
Objectives 
Upon completion of College Writing Level I, students will be able to: 
1. identify and practice elements of effective group process (1); 
2. practice effective small group communication skills (2). 
 

Course Schedule
All readings listed below are from The New World Reader, which you should bring to class every day! 

Scan for underlined items below if you want to know due-dates for important assignments. 

Wed. Jan. 23: Introduction to the course. We'll go over the course format, and I'll collect a writing sample from you. 
Fri. Jan. 25: We’ll begin Reading Unit 1, “The Challenge of Globalization: What Are the Consequences?” by discussing Thomas Friedman's "Prologue: The Superstory" (218-223). 

Mon. Jan. 28: Discussion of Pico Iyer's "The Global Village Finally Arrives" (223-27) and Joseph Nye, Jr.'s "Fear Not Globalization" (231-35). 
Wed. Jan. 30: Discussion of Barbara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes' "Life on the Global Assembly Line" (205-15). 
Fri. Feb. 1: Discussion of Johan Norberg's "The Noble Feat of Nike" (227-31). 

Mon. Feb. 4: Discussion of Mac Margolis's "It's a Mall World After All" (278-84). 
Wed. Feb. 6: Discussion of Benjamin Barber's "The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer?" (261-72). 
Fri. Feb. 8: We'll spend this day's class doing fact-finding for your first "at home" essay.  I'll also give out written instructions for that essay on this date. 

Mon. Feb. 11: Warm-up exercises for the first “at home” essay.  Be sure to bring your New World Reader to class. 
Wed. Feb. 13: Class replaced by one-on-one draft-developing conferences with me.  I’ll have passed around a sign-up sheet before this date. 
Fri. Feb. 15: Draft of "at home" essay 1 due.  Small- and big-group workshopping on drafts. 

Mon. Feb. 18: Final draft of "at home" essay 1 due, with all drafts, freewrites, critiques, etc.  We'll also begin Reading Unit 2: “Speaking in Tongues: Does Language Unify or Divide Us?” by discussing Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" (120-26). 
Wed. Feb. 20: Discussion of Chang-rae Lee's "Mute in an English-Only World" (126-30). 
Fri. Feb. 22: This is the day we lost to snow. 

Mon. Feb. 25: Discussion of Mary Blume's "If You Can't Master English, Try Globish" (130-34). 
Wed. Feb. 27: Discussion of Charles Foran's "Lingua Franchise" (134-38).  We'll also spend some time getting ready for Wednesday's in-class essay.
Fri. Feb. 29: In-class essay 1 due.  You'll write it in class on this day.

Mon. Mar. 3: Discussion of Ilan Stavans' "Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language" (138-46).
Wed. Mar. 5: Discussion of William H. Frey's "Multilingual America" (146-154).  I'll also bring you written instructions for your 2nd at-home essay on this day.
Fri. Mar. 7: Warm-up exercises for the second “at home” essay.  Be sure to bring your New World Reader to class!

Mon. Mar. 17: Class replaced by one-on-one draft-developing conferences with me.  I’ll have passed around a sign-up sheet before this date. 
Wed. Mar. 19: Draft of “at home” essay 2 due. Small- and big-group workshopping on drafts. 
Fri. Mar. 21: We'll begin Reading Unit 3: “The Clash of Civilizations: Is Conflict Avoidable?” by discussing Jamaica Kincaid's "On Seeing England for the First Time" (304-315). 

Mon. Mar. 24: Final draft of "at-home" essay 2 due, along with all drafts, outlines, peer critiques, etc.  We’ll also discuss Dinesh D'Souza's "The World in 1500 -- or the West as Backwater" (326-29). 
Wed. Mar. 26: Discussion of Karen Armstrong's "Fundamentalism Is Here to Stay" (329-35). 
Fri. Mar. 28: Discussion of Samuel Huntington's "The West and the Rest: Intercivilizational Issues" (335-40).  We’ll also spend some time getting ready for Monday’s in-class essay. 

Mon. Mar. 31: In-class essay 2 due.  You'll write it in class on this day. 
Wed. Apr. 2: Discussion of Amartya Sen's "A World Not Neatly Divided" (345-49). 
Fri. Apr. 4: Discussion of Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart's "It's the Women, Stupid" (340-45). 

Mon. Apr. 7: We'll spend this day's class doing fact-finding for your third "at home" essay.  I'll also give out written instructions for that essay on this date. 
Wed. Apr. 9: Class replaced by one-on-one draft-developing conferences with me.  I'll have passed around a sign-up sheet before this date. 
Fri. Apr. 11: Draft of "at-home" essay 3 due.  Small- and big-group workshopping on drafts. 

Mon. Apr. 14: Final draft of "at home" essay 3 due, along with all drafts, outlines, peer critiques, etc.  We'll also begin Reading Unit 4: "America and the World: How do Others Perceive Us?” by discussing Fouad Ajami's "Stranger in the Arab-Muslim World" (70-77). 
Wed. Apr. 16: Discussion of Alkman Granitsas' "Americans Are Tuning Out the World" (77-81). 
Fri. Apr. 18: Discussion of Dominic Hilton's "Fashionable Anti-Americanism" (86-94).  We'll also spend some time getting ready for Monday's in-class essay. 

Mon. Apr. 21: In-class essay 3 due.  You'll write it in class on this day. 
Wed. Apr. 23: Discussion of Roger Cohen's "An Obsession the World Doesn't Share" (81-86). 
Fri. Apr. 25: Discussion of Paul Johnson's "America's New Empire for Liberty" (95-101). 

Mon. Apr. 28: Discussion of Anne Applebaum's "In Search of Pro-Americanism" (101-109). 
Wed. Apr. 30: Discussion of Sasha Abramsky's "Waking Up from the American Dream" (109-119).  I'll also bring you written instructions for your fourth "at home" essay on this day. 
Fri. May 2: In-class viewing of a film relating to our "America and the World" unit. 

Mon. May 5: We'll spend this day's class doing fact-finding for your fourth "at home" essay. 
Wed. May 7: Class replaced by one-on-one draft-developing conferences with me.  I'll bring a sign-up sheet to class before this date. 
Fri. May 9: Draft of "at-home" essay 4 due.  Small-group workshopping on drafts. 

Mon. May 12: Final draft of “at home” essay 4 due, along with all drafts, outlines, peer critiques, etc. 
 
 

Instructions for the First “At Home” Essay 
15% of your final grade; rough draft due Fri. Feb. 15th; final draft due Monday, Feb. 18th 

Topic Questions and Essential Requirements
Please write a three-page (minimum!) essay in response to one of the following: 

1.  Are you more excited or frightened, on the whole, to be living in an increasingly “globalized” world, and why? 
2.  Is globalization changing the place where you live for the better or worse, and how so? 
3.  Point out a writer we’ve read who’s for or against some important aspect of globalization – and explain why you think that person is right or wrong in his or her opinion. 
4.  Answer some other question of your own devising.  Just be sure that 

• you run it by me first!; 
• it appears in bold print at the top of your first page, above your essay’s title; 
• it clearly pertains to matters we’ve been reading about and discussing in our course’s first unit; 
• it can’t be answered with a simple statement of fact; 
• it doesn’t beg an easy or obvious answer; and 
• it will make you a smarter person for having thought it through.

No matter which of the above questions you work with, you should directly quote two readings we’ve done for this unit from your New World Reader. 

You should also at some point in your essay cite pertinent facts or information drawn from a good website. 

You should have good introductory phrases in front of all direct quotes from our readings and all facts or information you cite from the Web.  Follow these examples: 

In his Newsweek article ‘It’s a Mall World After All,’ Mac Margolis states that “the planet appears deep in the grip of the retail version of an arms race” (279). 
According to the UN’s website, the UN’s position is that “poverty reduction should . . . be the centre of development efforts.”

You should make an effort to incorporate a little vocabulary we’ve picked up in this unit – words like capital, multinational, homogenize, nation-state, market, first world, developing world, privatization, commercialization, left, right (or liberal, conservative), and Western, to name a few. 

Your central purpose in this essay should be to persuade your audience of the validity of the idea expressed in your thesis statement (see below). 

Criteria (in the Form of a Checklist)
If you’re shooting for a high grade on this assignment, be sure that... 

_____ your essay has a clear and unmistakable thesis statement somewhere early on that makes a clear and direct answer to the topic question you’re dealing with; 
_____ your essay’s paragraphs all have good topic sentences at (or near) their beginnings, which state for your reader the idea of yours the rest of the paragraph will explain and support; 
_____ your essay’s paragraphs stay focused on the ideas their topic sentences present; 
_____ your essay is unified, with each and every paragraph clearly relating somehow to the thesis statement; 
_____ your essay is coherent, with all its sentences and paragraphs growing logically out of those preceding them; 
_____ your essay is clear throughout, with every idea explained well enough to be understood by someone not there in your skull with you; 
_____ your essay has sufficient support for its claims, in the form of quotes from texts we’ve read for class, facts and information drawn from good websites, and your own vivid observations about the world; 
_____ your essay is made up roughly 15% or so of direct quotes from two of our fourth-unit readings (that works out to three or four lines per page, on average – though it’s just fine if you’re doing paraphrasing beyond that 15%); 
_____ your essay at some point cites pertinent facts or information from a good website you should find on your own; 
_____ your essay’s quotes from and paraphrases of our readings – plus its facts and information drawn from the Web – are all introduced with phrases telling your reader whose words, ideas, or facts they’re about to hear; 
_____ your essay has a good introductory paragraph, which somehow “warms up” its reader before delivering your thesis; 
_____ your essay has as a good concluding paragraph, which sums up your thoughts and leaves your reader with something to keep thinking about on his or her own; 
_____ your essay keeps a formal, academic tone throughout (though it’s fine by me if you use contractions like “can’t”); 
_____ your essay is written for an audience of strangers (not just me) and laypeople (those not specialized in things you may be specialized in); 
_____ your essay is free of major grammatical errors (sentence fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences especially); 
_____ your essay holds spelling and punctuation errors an absolute minimum; 
_____ your essay has a good title, which should be in plain text and centered at the top of your first page; 
_____ your essay demonstrates some sense of style by using sentences of varying lengths – not just noun-verb-object ones over and over.  (This is a high-order skill, though!  Please concentrate on being grammatically correct before you worry about being stylistically sophisticated.) 

The Details 
Your essay should be double-spaced throughout. 

Please put your name, course info, my name, and the paper’s due date in the upper-left-hand corner of your first page (and your first page only).  Like this: 

Joseph J. Schmoe, Jr. 

COMP 110, sect. N-17 

Dr. doCarmo 

February 18, 2008

You should have one-inch margins all around, on every page. 

You shouldn’t skip lines between paragraphs!  (If you can’t keep your computer from doing this, grow your essay accordingly.) 

Your essay is three pages long when it hits the bottom of page three! 

You may put page numbers in the upper-right-hand corners of your pages, if doing so doesn’t grow your margins. 

Don’t italicize or bold direct quotes.  And don’t physically separate them in any way from the text of yours they’re introduced into.  Just follow the models I’ve given you for incorporating quotes under “Topic Questions and Essential Requirements,” above. 

Your introductions to quotes and paraphrases shouldn’t mention page numbers, paragraph numbers, or info about where on the page the quoted material appears. Again, just follow the models I’ve given you for incorporating quotes under “Topic Questions and Essential Requirements,” above. 
 
 

Instructions for the Second “At Home” Essay 
15% of your final grade; rough draft due Wed. March 19th; final draft due Monday, March 24th

Topic Questions and Essential Requirements
Please write a three-page (minimum!) essay in response to one of the following:

1.  Is the U.S. helped or hurt for having so many languages spoken on its shores? 

2.  What is “good” English — and how important is it that those who live in America speak it?

3.  How should people in the U.S. feel about the fact that more and more people on Earth are speaking English? 

4.  Answer some other question of your own devising.  Just be sure that 

• you run it by me first!;
• it appears in bold print at the top of your first page, above your essay’s title;
• it clearly pertains to matters we’ve been reading about and discussing in our course’s second unit;
• it can’t be answered with a simple statement of fact;
• it doesn’t beg an easy or obvious answer; and
• it will make you a smarter person for having thought it through.

Please note: You can’t work with any question you already dealt with in your first in-class essay!

You should write in the third person for this essay.  (That means no “I,” “me,” “mine,” etc. – unless, of course, those words appear in direct quotes you’re using.)

Whichever question you work with, please be sure to directly quote two or three essays from our second unit.

You should also at some point in your essay cite pertinent facts or information drawn from a good website. 

You should have good introductory phrases in front of all direct quotes from our readings and all facts or information you cite from the Web.  Here are a few examples you can follow: 

QUOTE FROM A NWR ARTICLE: Amherst Latino-Culture professor Ilan Stavans writes, “I see in [Spanglish] the beauties and achievements of jazz” (140).

QUOTE FROM A GOOD WEBPAGE:According to the UN’s website, the UN’s position is that “poverty reduction should . . . be the centre of development efforts.”

PARAPHRASE OF A NWR ARTICLE: According to Canadian journalist Charles Foran, the English language doesn’t serve the interests of any one part of the world or any one type of politics exclusively (136). 

Your central purpose in this essay should be to persuade your audience of the validity of the idea expressed in your thesis statement (see below).

Criteria (in the Form of a Checklist)
If you’re shooting for a high grade on this assignment, please be sure that... 

_____ your essay has at or near the end of its introductory paragraph a clear and unmistakable thesis statement that makes a clear and direct answer to the topic question you’re dealing with; 
_____ your essay’s paragraphs have at or near their beginnings good topic sentences that state the idea the paragraph will explain and support; 
_____ your essay’s paragraphs stay focused on the ideas their topic sentences present;
_____ your essay is unified, with every paragraph clearly relating somehow to the thesis statement; 
_____ your essay is coherent, with all sentences and paragraphs growing logically out of those preceding them;
_____ your essay is clear throughout, with every idea explained well enough to be understood by someone not there in your head with you; 
_____ your essay has sufficient support for its claims, in the form of quotes from texts we’ve read for class, facts and information drawn from good websites, and your own vivid observations about the world;
_____ your essay is made up roughly 15% or so of direct quotes from two or three of our second-unit readings (that works out to three or four lines per page, on average – though it’s just fine if you’re doing paraphrasing beyond that 15%); 
_____ your essay at some point cites pertinent facts or information from a good website you should find on your own;
_____ your essay’s quotes from and paraphrases of our readings – plus its facts and information drawn from the Web – are all introduced with phrases telling your readers whose words, ideas, or facts they’re about to hear;
_____ your essay has a good introductory paragraph, which somehow “warms up” readers before delivering your thesis;
_____ your essay has as a good concluding paragraph, which sums up your thoughts and leaves readers with something to keep thinking about on their own; 
_____ your essay keeps a formal, academic tone throughout (though it’s fine by me if you use contractions like “can’t”); 
_____ your essay is written for an audience of strangers (not just me) and laypeople (those not specialized in things you may be specialized in);
_____ your essay is free of major grammatical errors (sentence fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences especially); 
_____ your essay holds spelling and punctuation errors an absolute minimum; 
_____ your essay has a good title, which should be in plain text and centered at the top of your first page;
_____ your essay demonstrates some sense of style by using sentences of varying lengths – not just noun-verb-object ones over and over.  (This is a high-order skill, though!  Please concentrate on being grammatically correct before you worry about being stylistically sophisticated.) 

The Details
Final drafts should be word processed, not handwritten.

Your essay should be double-spaced throughout.

Please put your name, course info, my name, and the paper’s due date in the upper-left-hand corner of your first page (and your first page only).  Like this:

Tommy Tutone

COMP 110, sect. N-17

Dr. doCarmo

February 18, 2008

You should have one-inch margins all around, on every page.

You shouldn’t skip lines between paragraphs!  (If you can’t keep your computer from doing this, grow your essay accordingly.) 

Your essay is three pages long when it hits the bottom of page three!

You may put page numbers in the upper-right-hand corners of your pages, if doing so doesn’t grow your margins.

Don’t italicize or bold direct quotes.  And don’t physically separate them in any way from the text of yours they’re introduced into.  Just follow the models I’ve given you for incorporating quotes under “Topic Questions and Essential Requirements,” above.

Please put a page number in parentheses at the end of each direct quote from or paraphrase or an article from The New World Reader.  Again, please follow the examples under “Topic Questions and Essential Requirements,” above.

Your introductions to quotes and paraphrases shouldn’t mention page numbers, paragraph numbers, or info about where on the page the quoted material appears. Once again, just follow the models I’ve given you for incorporating quotes under “Topic Questions and Essential Requirements,” above.
 
 

Instructions for the Third “At Home” Essay 
15% of your final grade; rough draft due Friday, April 11th; final draft due Monday, April 14th

 
Topic Questions and Essential Requirements
Please write a three-page (minimum!) essay in response to one of the following questions:

1. What things don’t most Americans understand about religious fundamentalism that they should?

2. What lessons would it be nice for West and East to learn from each other?  

3. Is the West-versus-East cultural war a fact we all have to deal with or a dangerous fiction we all need to let go of?

4. Are religious fundamentalists right or wrong to think of the West as their enemy?  (Please note: You can work with this question only if you didn’t do so in your last in-class essay!)

5.  Answer some other question of your own.  Just be sure that 

• you run it by me first!;
• it appears in bold print at the top of your first page, above your essay’s title;
• it clearly pertains to matters we’ve been reading about and discussing in our course’s last unit;
• it can’t be answered with a simple statement of fact;
• it doesn’t beg an easy or obvious answer; and
• it will make you a smarter person for having thought it through.

Whichever question you work with, please be sure to directly quote two or three essays from our last unit.

You should also at some point in your essay cite pertinent facts or information drawn from a good website.  

You should have good introductory phrases in front of all direct quotes from our readings and all facts or information you cite from the Web.  Here are a few examples you can follow:  

A QUOTE FROM A NWR ARTICLE: In his article “Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language,” Amherst Latino-Culture professor Ilan Stavans writes, “I see in [Spanglish] the beauties and achievements of jazz” (140).  

A QUOTE FROM A GOOD WEBPAGE: According to its own website, the UN’s position is that “poverty reduction should . . . be the centre of development efforts.”

A PARAPHRASE OF A NWR ARTICLE: Canadian journalist Charles Foran, in his article “Lingua Franchise,” says the English language doesn’t serve the interests of any one part of the world or any one type of politics (136).  

Your central purpose in this essay should be to persuade your audience of the validity of the idea expressed in your thesis statement (see below).

Criteria (in the Form of a Checklist)
If you’re shooting for a high grade on this assignment, please be sure that... 

_____ your essay has at or near the end of its introductory paragraph a clear and unmistakable thesis statement that makes a clear and direct answer to the topic question you’re dealing with;  
_____ your essay’s paragraphs have at or near their beginnings good topic sentences that state the idea the paragraph will explain and support; 
_____ your essay’s paragraphs stay focused on the ideas their topic sentences present;
_____ your essay is unified, with every paragraph clearly relating somehow to the thesis statement; 
_____ your essay is coherent, with all sentences and paragraphs growing logically out of those preceding them;
_____ your essay is clear throughout, with every idea explained well enough to be understood by someone not there in your head with you; 
_____ your essay has sufficient support for its claims, in the form of quotes from texts we’ve read for class, facts and information drawn from good websites, and your own vivid observations about the world;
_____ your essay is made up roughly 15% or so of direct quotes from two or three readings from our last unit (that works out to three or four lines per page, on average, though it’s fine if you’re doing paraphrasing beyond that 15%);  
_____ your essay at some point cites pertinent facts or information from a good website you should find on your own;
_____ your essay’s quotes from and paraphrases of our readings – plus its facts and information drawn from the Web – are all introduced with phrases telling your readers whose words, ideas, or facts they’re about to hear;
_____ your essay has a good introductory paragraph, which somehow “warms up” readers before delivering your thesis;
_____ your essay has as a good concluding paragraph, which sums up your thoughts and leaves readers with something to keep thinking about on their own;   
_____ your essay keeps a formal, academic tone throughout (though it’s fine by me if you use contractions like “can’t”);  
_____ your essay is written for an audience of strangers (not just me) and laypeople (those not specialized in things you may be specialized in);
_____ your essay is free of major grammatical errors (sentence fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences especially); 
_____ your essay holds spelling and punctuation errors an absolute minimum;   
_____ your essay has a good title, which should be in plain text and centered at the top of your first page;
_____ your essay demonstrates some sense of style by using sentences of varying lengths – not just noun-verb-object ones over and over.  (This is a high-order skill, though!  Please concentrate on being grammatically correct before you worry about being stylistically sophisticated.) 

Please note that the above are presented roughly in order of importance, with vital criteria near the top and less vital ones near the bottom.  Any of them, though, can damage your grade if totally neglected, so try to pay each some mind!    

The Details 
Final drafts should be word processed, not handwritten.

Your essay should be double-spaced throughout.

Please put your name, course info, my name, and the paper’s due date in the upper-left-hand corner of your first page (and your first page only).  Like this:

Lydia Lunch

COMP 110, sect. N-17

Dr. doCarmo

April 14, 2008

You should have one-inch margins all around, on every page.

You shouldn’t skip lines between paragraphs!  (If you can’t keep your computer from doing this, grow your essay accordingly.) 

Your essay is three pages long when it hits the bottom of page three!

You may put page numbers in the upper-right-hand corners of your pages, if doing so doesn’t grow your margins.

Don’t italicize or bold direct quotes.  And don’t physically separate them in any way from the text of yours they’re introduced into.  Just follow the models I’ve given you for incorporating quotes under “Topic Questions and Essential Requirements,” above.

Please put a page number in parentheses at the end of each direct quote from or paraphrase or an article from The New World Reader.  Again, please follow the examples under “Topic Questions and Essential Requirements,” above.

Your introductions to quotes and paraphrases shouldn’t mention page numbers, paragraph numbers, or info about where on the page the quoted material appears. Once again, just follow the models I’ve given you for incorporating quotes under “Topic Questions and Essential Requirements,” above.