Honors Composition Syllabus (spr '00)

honors composition

dr david wilson-okamura . english 1100-296 . autumn 2002 . e carolina univ

Aug. 21	W	Introduction
23	F	Read Snow, "The Two Cultures" and compose an 800-word response. Begin with a two-paragraph summary of Snow's argument. If you are persuaded by it, write about its implications, propose corollaries, or suggest refinements. If you disagree, show where it goes wrong and outline an alternative position.
26	M	Read Leavis, "The Significance of Lord Snow." Analyze his argument in 800 words; bring two copies of your analysis to class.
28	W	Read Williams on "Correctness" (ch. 2); workshop Leavis analysis.
30	F	Read Trilling, "The Leavis-Snow Controversy." Revise your analysis of Leavis and bring two copies to class.
Sept. 2	M	Labor Day
4	W	Read Williams on "Concision" (ch. 7); workshop revised Leavis analysis.
6	F	Drawing on your earlier response papers, write a 1,500-word essay on the idea of the two cultures; bring two copies to class.
9	M	Read Holub, "Science and the Corrosion of the Soul" (WEB); workshop two cultures essay.
11	W	Revise your essay; bring two copies to class; workshop revised two cultures essay.
13	F	FINAL DRAFT OF ESSAY 1 DUE. Read Arnold, "Dover Beach."
16	M	Read Williams on "Cohesion and Coherence" (ch. 5)
18	W	Read Arnold, "The Buried Life"; discuss first essay
20	F	Read Arnold, "The Scholar Gipsy"; discuss first essay (cont.)
23	M	Read Arnold, "Stanzas from the Grand Chartreuse." Write 800 words on Arnold and modernity: what special problems does Arnold think that the modern world poses, and how does he recommend that we respond to them? Bring two copies.
25	W	Read Yeats, "The Stolen Child" (in Early Poems); workshop Arnold response.
27	F	Read Yeats, "The Song of the Happy Shepherd" and "The Sad Shepherd." Revise your comments on Arnold; bring two copies to class.
30	M	Read Yeats, "The Indian to His Love," "To an Isle in the Water," and "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"; workshop revised Arnold response
Oct. 2	W	Using Aristotle's topics to jump-start a paper.
4	F	No class
7	M	Write 800 words on Yeats and modernity: what ideas does he share with Arnold? where does he differ from Arnold? Bring two copies.
9	W	Read Yeats, "A Coat" (in Early Poems); "The Scholars" and "Ego Dominus Tuus" (in Easter 1916); workshop analysis of Yeats and Arnold.
11	F	Revise your remarks on Yeats and Arnold. Bring two copies.
14	M	Fall break
16	W	Read Yeats, "The Double Vision of Michael Robartes" and "The Second Coming"
18	F	Drawing on what you have already written about Snow, Arnold, and Yeats, write a 1,500-word essay on the problem or problem that these three authors address. Is it the same problem? If so, what is it and how should we respond? Again, if the problems are fundamentally different, how do they differ? Is the response to one problem appropriate to others, as well? Bring two copies.
21	M	Read Stevens, "Sunday Morning."
23	W	Revise your modernity essay. Bring two copies.
25	F	Read Stevens, "The Idea of Order at Key West" (WEB); workshop modernity essay.
28	M	Revise your essay and expand it by 300 words. Bring two copies; workshop expanded modernity essay.
30	W	Revise your expanded essay. Bring two copies; workshop revised and expanded essay.
Nov. 1	F	FINAL DRAFT OF ESSAY TWO DUE.
4	M	Read Williams on "Shape" (ch. 8)
6	W	No new reading: we will discuss examples from student papers
8	F	No new reading: we will discuss examples from student papers
11	M	Read Barzun, "The Three Enemies of Intellect" (WEB)
13	W	Reread Snow. Write 800 words on the following topic: What is the purpose of a liberal arts education? Bring two copies.
15	F	Read Williams on "Emphasis"; workshop liberal arts essay.
18	M	Revise your essay on the purpose of a liberal arts education; bring two copies.
20	W	Read Barzun, "The Case against Intellect" (WEB); workshop revised liberal arts essay.
22	F	Reread Williams on "Concision" (ch. 7) Revise your essay for concision; bring two copies; workshop second revision of liberal arts essay.
25	M	Expand your essay to 1,500 words; bring two copies; workshop expanded liberal arts essay.
27	W	Thanksgiving holiday
29	F	Thanksgiving holiday (cont.)
Dec. 2	M	Read Williams on "Ethics" (ch. 10)
4	W	Revise your expanded liberal arts essay; bring two copies; workshop.
6	F	Final writing workshop.
9	M	FINAL DRAFT OF THIRD ESSAY DUE.

required texts

Arnold, Matthew. "Dover Beach" and Other Poems. New York: Dover, 1994.

Lunsford, Andrea. Easy Writer. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin's, 2002.

Stevens, Wallace. "The Emperor of Ice Cream" and Other Poems. New York: Dover, 1999.

Williams, Joseph M. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2003.

Yeats, William Butler. Early Poems. New York: Dover, 1993.

Yeats, William Butler. "Easter, 1916" and Other Poems. New York: Dover, 1997.

requirements

Reading, response, revision. Full-length essays are seldom composed in one long, continuous writing session. This structure of this class is such that shorter writing assignments are composed, revised, expanded or combined, and revised again in conference with your peers. As you revise, you will also continue to read more material on the given topic; some of this new material will no doubt be incorporated into your writing as you revise and rethink your arguments.

All assignments, including intermediate drafts, are to be typed and formatted according to the Chicago style as described in Lunsford.
First impressions count; so do spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Use 12 point Times Roman (or a similar font of the same size).
Double-space.
When you're done, do a word count and write the result on the first page of your paper.
Pages should be (a) stapled and (b) numbered by computer. Ask someone at the computer lab if you don't know how to do this already.

Essays. Over the course of the semester you will submit three finished essays on assigned topics. Late essays will not be accepted.

Attendance, Reading, and Participation. Your final grade in this course will be the average of your grades on the three finished essays. Theoretically, you could skip all the intermediate writing and revision and just turn in the three essays. In practice, though, the essays would probably be crap, and I would give you an F for the course--not exactly what your parents were expecting from someone in Honors Composition. So, in order to prevent that, I am going to require that you (a) come to class, (b) do the reading, and (c) turn in all of the intermediate writing assignments, even though none of them will figure into your final grade for the course. Let me be specific: miss three intermediate and you will receive an F for the course; the same fate will overtake you if you miss nine or more class meetings. The rationale for this has two parts. The first is practical, and I have already given it. The second is based on principle: a passing grade in this course implies that you have absorbed a tolerable amount of what it has to offer, and most of what this class has to offer cannot be found in a book; it is what happens at our class meetings. In short, you did not "take" the class if you did not go to class.
Note that this policy still leaves you some rope to hang yourself with: if you bring unrevised writing to class, your peers will notice but I may not, unless I happen to be sitting in with your group while they're discussing your work. Maybe you'll be able to make up for lost revision time before the final draft is due. Or maybe you won't; don't be surprised, though, if your next essay comes back in a body bag.

Email. Announcements and changes to the syllabus will be delivered by email.

Cell phones are here to stay, but they don't belong in the classroom. If you have one, turn off the ringer before class starts. If you answer a vibrating call alert during class, it had better be your mother calling from her deathbed; anything less urgent will have to wait until the end of class.

plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else's words or ideas in such a way that a reader cannot distinguish them from your own work. As such, it is a form of cheating. If you have questions about plagiarism, please ask me about it before your paper is due; after a paper is handed in it's too late to claim ignorance. The penalty for plagiarism is an automatic F for the course, in addition to whatever penalty the University sees fit to impose.

important times, phone numbers, addresses

Office: Bate 2137 (phone 252.328.6714)

Email: wilson-okamura@virgil.org

Office hours: MWF 2:50-4:30. Extra hours as needed and by appointment. If you'd like to schedule an appointment--and I encourage you to do so if these hours don't work for you--just grab me after class or give me a phone call and we'll set up a time. If you call my office and I'm not there, do try me at home, though not after 9:00 pm, please; the phone number there is 252-758-2585.

Email discussion group for this course: honors-comp@virgil.org.

Course materials on the web: http://www.virgil.org/dswo/courses/honors-comp

reference

These items can be found online or in the reference section on the first floor of the library.

Balay, Robert, ed. Guide to Reference Books. 11th ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1996.
Z1035.1.G89.1996 (not on the shelf; ask for at reference desk).

Honderich, Ted. The Cambridge Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1995. B51.094.1995.

Langer, William L. An Encyclopedia of World History. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972. D21.L27.1972.

Slavens, Thomas P. Sources of Information for Historical Research. New York: Neal-Schuman, 1994. D20.S62.1994.

Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sir Sidney Lee, eds. The Dictionary of National Biography [abbreviated DNB]. 21 vols. plus supplements. London: Oxford UP, 1921-. DA28.D47.