ENG101.CV1 - English Composition I (Freshman Seminar)
Prof. Eileen Joy
FALL 2006

Personal History, Bearing Witness, and the Ethics of Memory

Mondays/Wednesdays 12:00-1:15 (Peck Hall 2414)

"The need of truth is more sacred than any other need. Yet it is never mentioned." (Simone Weil, from The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind, 1949)

". . . . and I can hear Will talking, his voice rises, spreads in waves around me and I feel it hoist my arms and I open my mouth to breathe it all in and I am shaking, and I listen to my dead friend, my feet on his ribs, roots from a nearby oak woven through him like careful threads and he says I must remember him, I must remember how this place, this soil, these roots hold him like this late-December day holds the dizzy light and dense air." (Brad Land, from Goat, 2004)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Special Note: This section of English 101 is linked to History 111B-CV (Intro to Modern Western Civ.: On Memory and Forgefulness, Reality and Fiction in History) and fulfills a New Freshman Seminar requirement. The two courses (HIST111B & ENG101) offer you a unique learning opportunity: You will work with a cohort of students in two courses, which provides you with an opportunity to forge new social and intellectual networks. You will also begin to make connections between ideas in two courses, which is what college is all about--synthesizing information across disciplines. Here, you will have a deliberately constructed opportunity to do that, one that we hope will be a model for the rest of your learning at this university. In that regard, your experience in this section of ENG101 will be different from students who are not in this linked CIV experience. Further, while all the faculty teaching the linked ENG101 sections have worked and will continue to work closely in the planning of this learning experience, each of the linked ENG101 sections will be somewhat different from each other. Nonetheless, you can be assured that each section is comparable in terms of overall amount of writing, grading, and purpose, and that the sections are in line with the standards of the Expository Writing Program at SIUE. Each section will be unique. We feel that the opportunity to learn will be rich if you actively engage with the course.

The SIUE Department of English Language & Literature tells us that the first-year writing sequence at SIUE is designed to help students build upon what they have learned about writing in high school in order to successfully navigate the complex endeavor of becoming college writers. To that end, it is the hope that students who complete the first part of the sequence, ENG101, will:

• gain an understanding of rhetorical strategies and processes of analyzing and composing a variety of print, visual, and digital media
• gain a meta-awareness of their own development as writers
• use writing as a way of thinking through topics and ideas
• understand and use writing strategies and processes to analyze and write about issues that are important to specific audiences and specific purposes
• analyze the conventions of and write effectively in the university discourse community
• gain opportunities to collaborate effectively

And I would like to add that, in addition to learning how to use writing as a cognitive tool, and how to communicate our ideas in writing, we will also work to understand how LANGUAGE = POWER. In an increasingly technological world where much money is to be made deciphering genetic codes, constructing chemical micro-robots, designing artificial forms of intelligence, engineering "smart" cars, and the like, the ability to communicate effectively with others has not lost its significance. One might even say that the ability to communicate well--to express ideas clearly and even beautifully--is a vital necessity for success, the importance of which it would be dangerous to overlook. You may possess any number of abilities and skills in areas other than writing, but without a firm grasp of your language and culture and the skillful means to express yourself, whether in a love letter, inter-office e-memo, technical prospectus, or court brief, you cannot command attention or regard for yourself or your ideas. The 21st century is being hailed as the Information Age, as well as the Age of Technology, and the global airwaves are already jammed with billions of voices. In order to succeed, you must aim to stand above the crowd and be heard. You will want to be smart, articulate, sleek, stylish, daring, and commanding. Believe it or not, that's exactly what this course is all about.

But there is one last thing, too (perhaps most important to me): because this section is linked to your HIST111B course, one of the themes of which is "memory and forgetfulness," this course will also serve as a collective site for debate and dialogue over the ethics of memory--historical, artistic, personal, and otherwise.

COURSE OBJECTIVES (the more concrete version)

This is something slightly different, yet altogether connected to our “COURSE DESCRIPTION.” This is also a good example of an outline.

I. We are going to learn to read critically and think logically.

II. We are going to produce good writing by means of a process, and we are going to understand that the drafting process is a thinking process.

III. We are going to write to accomplish our own personal rhetorical goals while also being sensitive to the needs of our readers.

IV. We are going to analyze our writing processes and modify them when necessary to strengthen our ability to communicate.

V. We are going to learn how to focus on a central idea and how to develop and support a topic through sustained discourse.

VI. We are going to learn principles for organizing our writing and how to utilize formal conventions to strengthen our message.

VII. We are going to learn how to develop confidence in our own judgment.

VIII. We are going to learn how to locate, evaluate, and integrate primary and secondary source material into our writing.

IX. We are going to always be on the lookout for ways to increase the powers of our vocabulary, both verbal and cultural, in order to empower ourselves.

REQUIRED TEXTS

A good, thick collegiate dictionary is highly recommended. In addition, be aware that the online Oxford English Dictionary is available on Lovejoy Library's website.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

3 FORMAL ESSAYS (20% each = 60%)
1 MULTIMEDIA ESSAY -- (GROUP PROJECT) (15%)
SHORT INFORMAL PAPERS (25%)

PAPER FORMAT

Follow these guidelines for submitting final work:

• use 8-1/2" x 11" white paper printed on one side only
• double-space the text
• use 1"-margins all the way around
• use a 12-point Times New Roman font
• staple paper in the upper, left-hand corner
• number each page of the paper
• include a heading on first page (upper left-hand corner) that includes: your name, date, title of course (ENG101.CV1), and my name (Prof. E. Joy)
• ALWAYS have a creative title (that is centered on the first page below heading)

REVISION POLICY

I am happy to consider revisions of major essays you would like to rewrite for a higher grade (with the exception of the final essay), with the following provisions:

• you meet with me first to formulate and discuss your plans for revision
• the revision must represent SUBSTANTIAL change of the original paper; in other words, it must demonstrate significant improvement in global issues such as focus (is the paper focused on a clearly-defined topic, and is the writer's purpose clear?), or arrangement (is the order of the content logical and easy to follow?), or development (is there enough detail and support for the reader to clearly understand the ultimate issue?), or tone (is the writer addressing the audience appropriately for the purpose and occasion?)
• only one revision allowed per paper
• the revision must be submitted within two weeks of the original paper's return to the student

WRITING CENTER

This support service resides in Peck Hall #1419 (Chad Verbais, Coordinator). Writing consultants are available there to work with you by appointment on ANY writing assignment, at any point in the drafting process. Smart students, no matter how advanced or limited their writing skills, understand the benefit of such a service and regularly seek it out.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS

If you feel that you are entitled to special accommodations (for example, a volunteer note-taker, interpreter, special desk, or extra time on tests), please contact the Disability Support Services office in Rendleman Hall #1218 (Jane A. Floyd-Hendey, Director), and they will help you fill out the necessary paperwork.

LATE PAPER POLICY

I do not accept late papers. Period. If there is an extraordinarily good reason for needing an extension on a paper due date, let me know in advance, and I will be kind.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Attendance, promptness, and participation are essential to success in college courses. Faculty members recognize that unexpected occasions may arise when a student must be absent from class, but my general attendance policy is that if a student is absent more than the number of required class sessions per week (in this case, that would be more than 2 sessions), I have the option of lowering the student’s final course grade by one letter grade for each additional session missed.  Furthermore, if absences become excessive (more than two weeks' worth of sessions), the SIUE Registrar, at my request, reserves the right to withdraw the student administratively. For more information on this, please consult the following: SIUE Class Attendance Policy. Failure to attend class in a responsible and committed manner may thus be grounds for failure in or administrative withdrawal from the course.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Any student found engaging in an act of academic dishonesty will be promptly dismissed from the course with a grade of "F." By "academic dishonesty," I mean PLAGIARISM (the act of representing the work of another as one's own), which the University considers a grave breach of intellectual integrity. All definitions, terminology, concepts, and patterns of organization taken from an outside source must be identified and given credit in any essay or exam you write--whether it be for the English department or any other department. For more detailed information on this, please consult the following: SIUE Plagiarism Policy.

GRADING SCALE

PLEASE NOTE: You will receive a separate grade for ENG101 and HIST111. While the courses are linked, the grades are not. Also, students must be enrolled in both courses simultaneously; therefore, if you drop one course, you must drop both!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

SW=Seeing & Writing