Writing 20 Winter 2010 Syllabus

Writing 20 Written Discourse Winter 2010 Tim Fitzmaurice

Sections 6 & 7 MWF 2-3:10 & 3:30-4:40 in Crown Classroom 202
timfitz@ucsc.edu, 459-2483
Office Hours: Wed 1 to 2 and by appointment in Crown 111

Required Texts:
Ainsworth, Alan, 75 Arguments: An Anthology.
Albom, M, Tuesdays with Morrie
Canada, fist stick knife gun (You should begin to read these books now.)

Required Work:
1. Write four formal essays, and revise two of them thoroughly.
2. Work with the Writing Assistant regularly.
3. Meet with the Instructor twice.
4. Do the in-class assignments & oral work, and submit all assignments on time.
5. Attend every class and participate in the discussion. If you will be absent, please let me know as soon as possible. Call or email.

Academic Honesty
It is important that you write your essays yourself without help from unknown sources outside of the class. I need to know how you are doing your work. Then I can help you to do it better. You will be assigned to a writing assistant for help in writing and revising your essays for the ELWR requirement. Please tell me if you need other help.
In addition, you need to be careful about quoting sources or using words from other writers. Be sure to give credit for every quote you use. Put quote marks around everything and use a parenthesis to tell me who said it first. If you use other people’s ideas, you need to tell where you got those ideas too, even if you do not quote the exact words. Good writers quote others. So citing sources won’t make your writing weaker. It will make it stronger. But you must give credit.

English Language Writing Requirement (ELWR)
Even if you do not need to satisfy the ELWR, the class still requires that you write four essays and two thorough revisions. If you have satisfied the ELWR already, then tell me what goals you have for this class when we meet. I will try to make sure the class is an effective experience for you.
If you need to satisfy the ELWR Requirement, you have to do a few extra things. In this class we will write four essays and revise two of them. We will use those revisions for the ELWR Portfolio. To pass ELWR this quarter, you have to take an in-class exam for one hour, write a letter to the reader about your writing, and submit two essays (totaling 8 to 12 pages long). Each essay includes two drafts, an original draft with my marks on it and a final revision. The two essays will be from our class this quarter. So you should write every essay with a view to revising it to satisfy the ELWR requirement.

Essay Format
On essays for this class please use white paper and black ink, do not give me cover sheet or titles pages, leave space in the margins for my marks, double space, avoid unusual type fonts, write your name, the class, and the date in the upper right corner of the page, make sure the date is accurate, write revision if it is a rewrite, give every essay a title, put a page number on each page, and staple the essay in the upper left hand corner. I will comment on emailed essays, but I need a hard copy to mark the essay and I expect you to provide this. I do not accept essays by email unless we have some previous agreement. And even then, I expect a hard copy to follow.
Any essay in our texts can be used as source material for any essay you write. But no Web material is allowed. No Google. No Wiki. If you have a question about this—or need an exception—talk to me. But I am pretty clear that you need to stay away from the web.
Essay Assignments: (You will receive a full page of description for each of the following assignments. But here is a brief description of what to expect. I may change the assignment significantly if events warrant.)

Essay 1 is on Censorship.
Using the essays provided in Ainsworth, 75 Arguments, especially Chapter 2, please write an analysis of the problem of freedom of expression and its limits. Quote the essays in our texts at least three times for all essays in this course, more if indicated.

Essay 2 is an essay on Identity and Culture.
For this essay we will reach into several chapters in Ainsworth, from Chapter 3, 4, 7 and 9. You will argue that cultural differences need to be understood and either used for happiness and success or modified. Note the essay by Maria Root, “Within, Between, and Beyond Race” or Patel’s “The Media and its representation of Islam and Muslim Women” or Edwards “… Bring me Home a Black Girl” or Sullivan’s “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage.” You can look at culture is many different ways.

Essay 3 will be based on a reading of fist stick knife gun by Geoffrey Canada.
The essay will be supplemented with an oral report on a topic from Canada, wherein you will explain his position on some issue and your view of the same issue.

Essay 4 is on Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.
You have a wide variety of options, including
a. Death
Since it is the central theme of the book, it is a common choice of topic. It is challenging to say the least to write about this in an organized way. I recommend simpler concepts.
b. Education.
The book demonstrates a different attitude and approach to education. You could write about rethinking education like this.
c. Choose one of the book’s themes
In class we discussed many of the themes of the book. You could choose one of these themes as well and look at what the book said about it and what you thought about it. The themes include family and forgiveness and love and materialism.