Outline for 8-23

I. Introduction

A. Who I am and why I am teaching this course
B. What this course is supposed to do

II. Syllabus

A. Readings

i. DO THEM!
ii. DO THEM EARLY! (because they're long)
iii. BE READY TO DISCUSS THEM!
iv. Reading questions: what are they, how should you approach them.

B. Lecture Notes will be on line by 5:00 on the day before class. If they are not, let me know as there may be a problem. Mostly these will just be outlines of the expected course content for that day. Usually we will get through about half of it. :-)
C. Quizzes will be given at the beginning of class on Wednesdays. Quizzes will cover material from both lectures and readings. We do not have to have discussed a particular aspect of a reading for it to appear on a quiz, as long as it was due by that day. The lowest two scores will be dropped, and because of this make-up quizzes will not be given, nor will students who are late for class be given extra time.
D. Grading is described in the syllabus.
E. Class Participation is described in the syllabus. You are expected to participate in class at least weekly. I will keep a list of students who contribute meaningfully each week, and weeks when you do not contribute something interesting you will lose 5% off of your class participation grade.

III. Papers

A. Different types of papers
B. What I expect, and how I will grade
C. Peer feedback papers
D. Writing Workshop
E. Academic Dishonesty

IV. Writing an Analytic Essay

A. Necessary Pieces

i. Purpose. What is the problem, issue, or question you want to address?
ii. Information. This is what you will use to make your point. It is what will become your evidence.
iii. Ideas. You must interpret the information. You must impose a logic on it and demonstrate why it is relevant. Information without interpretation is a newspaper article, not a college paper.
iv. Point of View. What is your angle. Note that this is different than subjectivity/relativism. It is not your opinion, but what you get after following the logic of your argument.
v. Assumptions. What are you taking for granted? Really thinking about this is the way to new insights, open-mindedness, and interesting writing.
vi. Conclusions/Implications. What have you come up with, and why is it important?

B. Organization

Generally, the introductory section should tell us what the problem is, why it is important, and perhaps what methods you will be using to shed light on the problem. Sometimes this is a good place for background information to set up the problem. The body of the paper needs a plan. You must follow your logic and the logic of the information where it leads, but this needs to be thought-through and organized to avoid losing the reader. The conclusion wraps up your ideas and shows that you delivered on what you promised in the intro. If you didn't, then you need to explain why, or rethink either your intro or your logic.

C. The Most Important Thing

The most important thing to keep in mind when writing papers in this class is that you need to make me want to read them. Therefore, they need to say something interesting (I will harp on this a lot) in a well-reasoned way. It is very easy to get into the habit of saying to yourself "Well, he asked for it, so he has to read it. It's not my fault that the topic is stupid so the paper is boring." That may well be true, but is immaterial. Consider my boring topics a challenge to be overcome. If you have nothing interesting to say, your paper will be boring to write and boring to read. Be sure to set aside enough time to avoid this tragedy by coming up with some way of looking at the question that is all yours, at which point the paper will become more fun for both of us. Do realize, though, that I am looking for novel ideas, not novel writing gimmicks to make your papers "fun".

V. First Assignment