Prof. Scott Peeples
Office: 22B Glebe St. Rm. 201 / 953-1993
peepless@cofc.edu http://www.cofc.edu/~peeples/
Office Hours: MW 10:30-12:00 TR 1:00-2:00, and by appointment

GOALS / OBJECTIVES
By the end of Honors 105, students should
" Write and read for college-level inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating in response to a variety of texts
" Read actively to understand and analyze the content and rhetoric of texts
" Focus on a purpose when creating a text
" Shape a written work according to the requirements of genre, occasion, and audience
" Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, which may include finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources
" Integrate their ideas with the ideas of others effectively
" Document their work appropriately
" Recognize that creating and completing a successful text is a process requiring multiple drafts
" Develop strategies for invention, and drafting, revising, editing, and proof-reading essays
" Understand conventions of organization and structure
" Follow the conventions of standard American English.

GRADED WRITING

Four major essays

Definition (3-4 pp., due 9/15) 30 pts.
Rogerian persuasion (3 pp., 10/2) 25 pts.
Causal analysis (4-5 pp., 10/30) 40 pts.
Walden / interview (3-4 pp., 12/1) 30 pts.

In-class writing: 2 pts each. On most class days, I will give you a writing prompt based on the reading for that day. The goal is not to write a polished essay but simply to generate ideas in more-or-less complete sentences. If your response shows that you've read the assignment and tried to respond thoughtfully, you'll get 2 pts. For writing that shows little effort or little familiarity with the text, I will assign 1 point. No significant effort/familiarity, no credit. No make-ups. Approx. 30 pts. total

6 short writing assignments: 5 pts.each. Two of these are reports on public lectures or forums, such as those sponsored by the College of Charleston; they are due within a week following the event. The other four are described on the syllabus and due on the dates indicated. 30 pts. total

Mid-term exam 10 pts.
Final exam 25 pts.

Approx. 220 total available points.

TEXTS
Donald Lazere, Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy (Paradigm)
Henry David Thoreau, Walden (ed. Bill McKibben; Beacon Press)
Andrea A. Lunsford, Easy Writer (3rd ed., Bedford/St. Martin's)
Gordon Harvey, Writing with Sources (Hackett)

SCHEDULE

8/23 Intro

8/25 Lazere, pp. 3-30

8/28 Lazere, pp. 33-50

8/30 Lazere, Ch. 3, pp. 242-43 (As a rule, read the "topics for discussion and writing" when they're part of the assigned chapter - but you don't have to write any responses unless I announce it as an assignment.)

9/1 Lazere, pp. 89-108 + supplemental reading (either handout or Web-CT)

9/4 Harvey, pp. 1-13

9/6 Work on definition essay

9/8 Group meetings

9/11 Group meetings

9/13 Work on definition essay

9/15 Definition essay due / Lazere, pp. 125-30

9/18 Lazere, pp. 130-47

9/20 Lazere, pp. 222-234 / Find a passage of about 150-300 words that include "dirty" (as defined by Lazere) words and other examples of manipulative language described in Ch. 9. Photocopy or print the passage, and write a one-page rhetorical analysis of it, using Lazere's analysis on pp. 232-33 as a guide. (5)

9/22 Lazere, Ch. 11

9/25 Lazere, 351-67 / Go to http://typology.people-press.org/typology/ and take the survey created by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

9/27 Group Meetings

9/29 Group Meetings

10/2 Rogerian essay due

10/4 Lazere, Ch. 12

10/6 Review for mid-term exam

10/9 Mid-term exam

10/11 Lazere, pp. 298-320

10/13 Bring in a copy of an article that helps clarify the issue addressed by Kozol and Bennett; write a 100-200-word explanation of how your article adds to your understanding of what has caused the problems in "failing" public schools. Post your explanation on Web-CT. (5)

10/16 Lazere, pp. 485-500 (bottom)

10/18 Lazere, pp. 500-511

10/20 Lazere, Ch. 21. Bring in a newspaper or magazine report (not an op-ed) on a specific issue related to economic inequalities in the US. Write a 200-word paraphrase of the article, and post it on Web-CT. (5)

10/23 Research causal analysis essay.

10/25 Group meetings

10/27 Group meetings

10/30 Causal analysis essay due.

11/1 Walden ("Economy")

11/3 Walden ("Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," "Reading," and "Sounds")

11/6 Fall Break

11/8 Walden ("Solitude" through "The Village")

11/10 Walden ("The Ponds" through "Brute Neighbors") + One-page essay: Relate some passage from the first half of Walden to one of the essays you've written so far (or one of the essays in Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy). (5)

11/13 Walden ("House-Warming" through "The Pond in Winter")

11/15 Walden ("Spring" and "Conclusion")

11/17 Work on interview assignment

11/20 Work on interview assignment

11/22 - 11/24 Thanksgiving Break

11/27 Bring transcription of interview to class

11/29 Work on interview essay

12/1 Interview essay due

12/4 Course wrap-up

12/8 Section 1 final exam (8-11)

12/11 Section 3 final exam (12-3)

POLICIES

1. Attendance and participation are requirements of this course. If you miss more than four classes, I will deduct two points from your final grade for each additional class you miss. (For example, if you miss six classes and your numerical grade for the course is an 81, it would turn into a 77.) You should save the four absences you're allowed for illnesses and emergencies, because I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences when I calculate grades.

2. Portfolios: Keep your major essays and short (5-pt.) essays in a two-pocket folder, and use that folder to turn in each of the major essays. Don't keep other materials, such as your syllabus and class notes, in this folder. The portfolio allows both of us to check your progress from essay to essay and serves as a back-up record of your grades.

3. Criteria for graded writing: I look primarily for content (evidence of original thinking, claims supported by textual evidence and logic), then effective organization of sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into a coherent essay. Next I am concerned with the clarity of your sentences and your ability to vary sentence structures, and on the mechanical correctness of your writing.

***Late penalty: one letter grade for each class period an essay is late; one letter grade for each weekday an essay is late after classes end. I will not accept any written work after the date of the exam.***

I will assign number grades to your essays.
On a 100-pt. scale, A = 92 or above, A- = 89-91, B+ = 86-88, B = 82-85, B- = 79-81,
C+ = 76-78, C = 72-75, C- = 69-71, D+ = 66-68, D = 62-65, D-59-61, F = 58 or below.

If you want to improve your grades, talk to me about how you can write better exams and essays in the future: that's what I'm here for. However, I will not allow you to retake an exam or do an additional assignment for extra credit.

4. Documentation and plagiarism: We'll discuss integrating sources into your essays in class, but you can also consult Gordon Harvey's Writing with Sources.. For the specifics of MLA documentation, check the handbook (Easy Writer). My homepage includes a link to a documentation site, the C of C library web page provides easy access to MLA documentation guides, and copies of the complete MLA Handbook are available at the reference desk. I will turn over any paper that I suspect is plagiarized to the Honor Board, and if the student who submitted that paper is found in violation of the Honor Code, he or she will automatically fail this course.