ENGLISH 202B: WRITING IN THE HUMANITIES
Summer Session One 2013: M/W 6:00pm — 9:30pm
Location: 003 BusinessBldg
Instructor: Connie Bubash
Office: 129 BurrowesBldg
Office Hours: Fridays 4:00-5:30pm and Tuesdays by appt.
Email:
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES
This course encourages us to develop professionally in fields related to the humanities. In this class, we’ll learn from our unique viewpoints as students in various majors: film, religious studies, history, psychology, education, literature, languages, visual and performing arts, philosophy, and any other field that studies the human condition using analysis rather than empirical (scientific) approaches. This course (unlike other 202 courses) allows us to identify questions and topics common to the humanities. The texts we’ll be reading this semester showcase several key debates within the humanities: What is perfection? What is beauty? How do we think about suffering? What does it mean to be “alive”? What does intelligence mean? What does it mean to age well? What happens when we die? What gives a person dignity? Why should we care about these questions at all?
As we examine what it means to be “human,” using various methodologies applied to various texts, we can learn how to ask good questions, enter into sophisticated conversations, and make claims that we skillfully argue with advanced writing techniques. Our theme is “Professional Conversations”; you’ll find that every assignment asks us to think about what issues, controversies, trends, etc. are happening in our fields of study and future careers. This course intends to equip you professionally and academically as you grapple with what it means to “be human” in your field and think of your own contributions to your profession.
HALLMARKS OF WRITING IN THE HUMANITIES
1. Question Driven:What constitutes knowledge? Elicits an ethical response? Actualizes and constrains rhetorical situations? Sanctions the leading ideas that regulate your discipline?
2. Engaged in “Listening Rhetoric”: Writing in the humanities includes listening to other voices in both your own and other discourse communities, in establishing rapport, and in finding common ground. This practice includes using various sources and knowing how to read the professional literature surrounding any given topic you choose to write on.
3. Concerned with Critical Analysis of Texts as they relate to common notions and themes in the humanities.
4. Makes claims by using textual evidence to support particular perspectives and methodologies.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Leon Kass, Being Human: Core Readings in the Humanities (New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 2004) ISBN: 0393926397.
Phillip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (New York: Random House Publishing
Group, 1968) ISBN: 0345404475.
Richard Bullock and Francine Weinberg, The Little Seagull Handbook (New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, 2011) ISBN: 978039391151.
ASSIGNMENTS, ATTENDANCE, AND PARTICIPATION
Five formal assignments are required to pass the course. You will also be graded based on the frequency and quality of your class participation, and the consistency of your attendance.
Attendance at all classes is mandatory. Your unanticipated and therefore unexcused absences reflect poor classroom citizenship. Therefore, absences not excused for valid reasons and in advance may result in a lower grade for the course. In the event of illness or emergency, students should contact me as soon as possible and well in advance, and provide either an official doctor’s note or some other relevant documentation. Just as in your professional life, punctuality matters: late to class equals an absence for that entire class.
For similar reasons, and to ensure the fairness with which our evaluative criteria are applied in each instance, all assignments must be handed in on time. When there is a legitimate reason, and arrangements are made significantly in advance, a student may negotiate an official extension. In all other cases a late paper will receive a lower grade in the following manner: one full letter grade for each calendar day, an “F” yielding not a “60” but a “0” percentile.
Paper 1 Literacy Narrative4 pages10%
Paper 2 Annotated Bibliography5 pages15%
Paper 3 Literature Review5 pages15%
Paper 4 Literary Analysis4 pages15%
Paper 5 Job Application Package6 pages15%
SixBlog Posts300 words each15%
**Participation, Presentations, Quizzes, Attendance15%
**A NOTE ON TECHNOLOGY I understand that this class meets for an extended period of time (3.5 hours). In light of this, you can expect to get two breaks during each class to go to the restroom, eat a snack, and check your phone/email. If you have your cell phone out during class, your participation grade will suffer significantly. I will not take time out of class to tell you to put your phone away; simply be aware that I will be taking note of this.
GRADING
A Outstanding performance. Superior command of subject matter and exemplary performance on all project requirements.
B A well-developed command of subject matter. Conforms to the performance standards of the course but lacks some consistency in execution of effectiveness. Demonstrates good knowledge and understanding of the theoretical aspects of the course.
C Moderate success and effectiveness in the activity. Meets some of the performance standards, but lacks consistency. Does not excel in any one aspect.
D Meets only minimal standards. Poor and inconsistent performance and achievement. Rarely executes skills correctly. Evidences poor or extremely low degree of knowledge concerning the activity.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
In accordance with common sense and article 10 of PSU’s Code of Conduct, cheating, including plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty, are illegal. A suspected case of academic dishonesty will be referred to the College Committee on Academic Integrity, which may recommend academic probation, suspension, or expulsion. Whenever you refer to another person’s ideas or use their words, you must use proper citation.
DISABILITY ACCESS STATEMENT
The Pennsylvania State University encourages people with documented disabilities to participate in its programs and activities and is committed to the policy that all people shall have equal access to programs, facilities, and admissions. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation in this course, please tell me as soon as possible.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
May 13—Introduction to the Course
Homework due:
1. Read the syllabus closely and write down any questions that arise
2. Familiarize yourself with the course website
3. Purchase required texts from the bookstore
May 15—Literacy Narrative
Homework due:
1. Blog Post #1
2. In Being Human, Percy’s The Loss of the Creature (541), Niccol’sGattaca(34), Lewis’s That Hideous
Strength (49),Selzer’s Imelda (54), Wilson’s Naturalist (87), Feynman’s Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman (103), Nabokov’s Speak, Memory (296), and Wolff’s The Duke of Deception (344)
3. In The Little Seagull, W-1a, W-1b, W-1c, W-2f (editing sentences p. 11, and editing language p. 12),
W-3b (Describing p. 20 and Narrating p. 21), W-3c, W-3d, and W-8.
May 20—Literacy Narrative
Homework due:
1. Rough Draft of Literacy Narrative
2. Blog Post #2
3. In Being Human, Tolstoy’s War and Peace (190, 281, and 291), Eliot’s Middlemarch (153) and Silas
Marner (334), Barrie’s Peter Pan (261), Stevenson’s Child’s Play (531), and Swift’s Gulliver’s
Travels (395)
4. In The Little Seagull, S-6, S-9, L-1, L-2, and L-4
May 22—Annotated Bibliography
Homework due:
1. Final Draft of Literacy Narrative
2. In Being Human, Thomas’s The Wonderful Mistake (31), Braun’s The Science of Happiness (67),
Selzer’s The Surgeon as Priest (131), Gladwell’s Drugstore Athlete (555) Mann’s Buddenbrooks
(146), Klass’s Invasions (160), Bukovsky’s Account of Torture (218), and Jonas’s The Burden
and Blessing of Mortality (413)
3. In The Little Seagull, W-10, W-11, R-1, and R-2
May 27—NO CLASSES
May 29—Annotated Bibliography
Homework due:
1. Rough Draft of Annotated Bibliography
2. Blog Post #3
2. In Being Human, Shakespeare’s King Lear (455) and Sonnet 12 (436),Babbit’s Tuck Everlasting (403),
Thomas’s Fern Hill and Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night (430), Dickenson’s Pain has an Element of Blank (539), Camus’s The Plague (126), and Cather’s My Antonia (584)
3. In The Little Seagull,R-3 and R-4
June 3—Literature Review
Homework due:
1. Final Draft of Annotated Bibliography
2. Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Chapters 1-8)
3. In Being Human, Whitman’s I Sing the Body Electric (207)
3. In The Little Seagull, P-4, P-6, and P-9
June 5—Literature Review
Homework due:
1. Rough Draft of Literature Review
2. Blog Post #4
3. Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Chapters 9-16)
4. In Being Human, Hawthorne’s The Birthmark (5), and Bacon’s On Deformity (476)
5. In The Little Seagull, W-7, W-2b, W-2c, W-3a, W-3b, and W-3e
June 10—Literary Analysis
Homework due:
1. Final draft of Literature Review
2. Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Chapters 17-22)
3. In Being Human, Kaplan’s The Ballad of John Henry and Henry the Accountant (598), and
Shakespeare’s As You Like it (259)
3. In The Little Seagull, W-5, W-9, and W-12
June 12—Literary Analysis
Homework due:
1. Rough Draft of Literary Analysis
2. Blog Post #5
3. In Being Human, Hobbe’s Leviathan and Kant’s Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals
(571), Cummings’s Two Poems (410), Bacon’s Of Death (388), O’Flaherty’s Life (314), Cather’s The Professor’s House (307), and Stevenson’s Ordered South (300)
4. In The Little Seagull, S-1, S-2, and S-3
June 17—Job Application Package
Homework due:
1. Final Draft of Literary Analysis
2. Lynda.com playlist 1, 2 (all, except for “Refreshing your resume” and “Avoiding identity theft”), and 3
(“Entering the workforce”)
3. In Being Human, Longfellow’s The Village Blacksmith (596)
4. In The Little Seagull,W-4, S-5, S-7, and S-8
June 19—Job Application Package
Homework due:
1. Rough Draft of Job Application Package
2. Blog Post #6
3. Lynda.com playlist 4, 6, and 9 (“Creating a cover letter”)
4. In Being Human, Ruskin’s The Crown of Wild Olive (603)
4. In The Little Seagull, P-1, P-2, and P-5
June 21—
FINAL DRAFT OF JOB APPLICATION PACKAGE DUE IN MY MAILBOX (139 BURROWES BLDG) BY 4:00PM.