Assignments

Paper 1

Description

Write a 600-800 word critical analysis of either Goodman's or Neusner's article from Structure of Argument . All essays should include a statement or summary of what you think the article is attempting argue, a discussion of the strategies the author uses to prove or support his argument, and an overall critical judgment, along the lines of "X's article is effective/ineffective because...." This last part should form the basis of your thesis. You should try to address both the strengths and the weaknesses of the argument you choose. Here are some approaches you might try:

• Use the concepts of ethos, logos, and pathos (credibility, logic, and emotion) from ch. 5 of SMH to analyze either article. How does the author use (or misuse) each of these types of appeals to form his argument? Does he rely more heavily on any one o f these appeals? Generally, a good argument will balance all three elements; is this argument balanced? (For more on ethos, logos, and pathos, see Joe Sigalas's Rhetorical Triangle handout).
  
• Use the concepts of claim, support, and warrant from Ch. 1 of SA to analyze either article. What is the author claiming? What evidence or reasoning does he offer to support that claim? What assumptions underly the author's argument? Be sure to point o ut any weaknesses in the support or warrants that could be challenged. You should look at the analysis of the Declaration of Independence in SA, pp. 21-22, not necessarily as a model for your paper, but as an example of how use these terms in analysis.
  
• Do an audience analysis of one of the articles. Who is the article trying to reach? How does the author tailor (or fail to tailor) his message to suit his audience? Even if the author is effective at targetting one audience, is he in danger of excludi ng others?
  
• Frame your analysis as a letter to Goodman or Neusner offering advice on how to improve his article. In addition to citing any weaknesses you may find, to be a helpful correspondent you should state what it is you got out of the article (so the author can judge how well he got his message across) and point out any particularly strong or effective points (so the author knows what he is doing right as well as what is going wrong). This approach may be slightly mo re informal than the others, but try to produce the same kind of careful analysis you would use in any of the other approaches.

Whatever your approach, you should offer specific examples from the text with page references so that your readers can find them as well. Do not worry too much about systematic documentation yet, but do use the text to support your argument about its effectiveness.

Due Dates

First draft: Monday, Jan. 19, by noon. Post to the Web Board .

Final draft: Thursday, Jan. 22, before class. Turn in via Submissions Page .

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Paper 2: The Idea of a University

Description

Write a 700-900 word synthetic essay on subject of education and the university. This should be your argument or position, supported or illustrated by at least two sources from our readings in The Presence of Others . All essays must use proper MLA-style documentation and have a Works Cited list. Here are some specific topics to get you thinking:

• Allan Bloom says, "The university has to stand for something" (53). Write an essay explaining what you think the university should "stand for." What values or ideals should universities be promoting? How could education be structured to accomplish such goals? In an ideal world, what would a college education provide students with?
• Until relatively recently, American universities and colleges have largely been the domain of a predominantly male, predominantly white, predominantly wealthy elite. Gender, race, and class have often been the basis for deliberate or practical exclusion of various groups. Should universities now be taking steps to remedy these exclusions? Should historically marginalized groups be forced to deal with college education on its own terms in order to gain entrance into mainstream culture?
  You may need to narrow the focus of your essay to just one group (women, African-Americans, etc.) or to a specific issue (affirmative action, multicultural curriculum, etc.).
• In several class discussions, I have heard the sentiment that college education is meaningless or irrelevent to most students. What is wrong with college today? How is the university experience failing to live up to your needs or expectations? You should probably focus on the college experience you know best -- UGA -- but also consider the more abstract issues of what students need and what education should be about.
• Some of the authors we have read, notably John Henry Newman and, especially, Allan Bloom seem to assume a natural incompatibility between the ideal of the "liberal arts" education and the practical demands of professional training. Do you agree? Could college education successfully combine specific professional knowledge with the qualities these men associate with the "liberal arts" or must one always be sacrificed to the other? Which kind of knowledge is more important? Are they as separate as Bloom and Newman make them out to be?
• Offer your own definition of what it means to be an "educated person." What kinds of knowledge or habits of thinking distinguish one as being "educated." What role do universities or colleges play in developing these qualities? What role can they play?

Due Dates (note changes from original syllabus)

Introduction: Friday, Jan. 30, "in class." Post to the Web Board a draft introduction containing your thesis and an overview of the issues you will be tackling in the essay.

Over the weekend of Jan. 31-Feb. 1, read the introductions of the other members of your MOO group and respond to each one, explaining what you expect the rest of their papers to look like: what arguments they might make, what examples they might use, what articles they might draw from.

Rough draft: Tuesday, Feb. 3, before class. Submit to the Web Board.

Final draft: Friday, Feb. 6, before class. Turn in via Submissions Page .

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Paper 3: She Blinded Me with Science!

Description

Write a 750-1000 word synthetic essay on the subject of science and technology. This should be your argument or position, supported or illustrated by two or more sources from our readings in The Presence of Others and elsewhere. All essays must use proper MLA-style documentation and have a Works Cited list. Here are some more specific topics to get you thinking. As usual, feel free to pursue alternate topics, but please talk to me about what you want to do before embarking on an independent project.

• Write a defense OR a critique of Luddism or Luddites. Be sure to define what you mean by Luddism, drawing from the various definitions or representations in our reading, particularly "Interview with the Luddite" and the on-line Pynchon essay (note, these "definitions" do not necessarily agree in every respect), and to be specific as to what you find valid or invalid about the position.
• Kirkpatrick Sale, a self-proclaimed "Luddite," advocates a rejection of technology and a return to existence "in harmony with the rest of nature" (252). His interviewer, Kevin Kelly, challenges the possibility of such a rejection, accusing Sale of "giving up only technologies that are convenient...to give up" (250). In a similar vein, Lewis Thomas defends scientific inquiry with the statement: "Learning is what we do, when you think about it. I cannot think of a human impulse more difficult to govern" (239). Consider this question of how much we can escape from science and technology. Is it even possible to lead an nontechnological life?
• Consider the connection between technology, science, and education. What role can/should technology play in education? What should education tell us about technology? Are our norms of understanding of knowledge and education in "danger," as Sven Birkerts suggests, from the encroachments of technology? For this topic, you might want to hearken back to some of the essays we read for Paper 2, especially, Neil Postman's "The Word Weavers/The World Makers."
• Examine the rhetoric of the technology debate. Choosing two or more authors, look at the language they use to describe science and technology and to establish their positions within the debate. How do the engage or provoke the emotions of their audiences? How do they represent their opposition? How do they try to create a convincing ethos for themselves? In short, look at everything besides the strictly logical content of their arguments, comparing and contrasting the strategies and effectiveness of these approaches. Note: For this topic you will need to work a little bit harder to come up with a thesis, for it will be less a statement of position than an interpretation of the significance of your observations.

Due Dates (revised 2/12/98):

Audience Analysis: Homework for Thursday, Feb. 12 (complete before class). Post to the Web Board one or two paragraphs describing what audience you want to reach in your essay and how that will affect your argument. See the WB assignment for a longer description.

Introduction: Homework for Friday, Feb. 13. Post to the Web Board a draft introduction containing your thesis and an overview of the issues you will be tackling in the essay.

In class Friday, read the introductions of the other members of your MOO group and respond to each one (on the WB, explaining what you expect the rest of their papers to look like: what arguments they might make, what examples they might use, what articles they might draw from. Also comment on how well they have engaged the interest of their chosen audiences.

Rough draft: Homework for Tuesday, Feb. 17. Post a full draft to the Web Board.

Final draft: Due Thursday, Feb. 19, before class. Turn in via Submissions Page.

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Paper 4: Substance Abuse on Campus

Description

Write a 750-1000 word synthetic essay on the subject of substance abuse on campus. This should be your argument or position, supported or illustrated by two or more sources, either from the preliminary set I offered or that you discovered during your research. All essays must use proper MLA-style documentation and have a Works Cited list (yes, even for on-line sources. See SMH 640-642 for guidelines).

Due to the nature of this topic, I am not offering starter questions. Your initial reading and independent research shoulsd lead you toward a manageable topic that catches your interest. You should try to define a fairly narrow, specific issue for your thesis (for example, not whether drugs should be legalized, but whether the benefits of decriminalizing cannabis outweigh the possible harful effects of the drug). If you have questions or doubts about whether your topic will work, feel free to ask me.

Reserach Component

One of the requirements of this assignment is independent research on your part. Using the prelimnary readings and on-line resources I have provided, you are to find at least two outside sources relating to this topic. Guidelines for this research were described in class on Thursday, Feb. 19. To recap, this research should involve some selection. Do not take the first two sites you see and consider your research done. Look for sites that can actually be of use to you and examine them in some detail, just as you would the traditional printed artiucles we used for previous papers. Use sites critically; the Web is notorious for its lack of quality control. just because a piece of information is sitting on a web page does not mean it is true. Initial research should be done over the weekend Feb. 20-22 and reported to the WB on Monday, Feb. 23.

Due Dates:

In class Monday (2/23): Post the results of your research to the WB.

Include in the posting the URL (address) for your sources and also an evaluatioon of each source. What useful features does the source contain (statistics, arguments, graphs, links)? How reliable is the source (Is it presented by a reputable organiuzation, or is it some random person's web page? Does it offer documentation for its information?) Is there any reason to suspect your source of being biased or of having an agenda? You are asking these question not just for yourself (although it is always good to ask them when evaluating any source of information), you are providing important information for your classmates' research.

Rough draft: Homework for Friday, Feb. 27. Post a full draft to the Web Board.

In class Friday, read the drafts of the other members of your MOO group and respond to each one. Focus particularly on style. What can the author do to grab and hold your attention? Where is langugae awkward or unclear?

Final draft: Due Wednesday, March 4, before class. Turn in via Submissions Page.

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Paper 5: Revision

What is a revision?

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines "revise" as to "examine or re-examine and improve or amend." The word derives, ultimately, from the Latin videre, to see. You are looking at, seeing, your paper again in the new light of your expanded knowledge and experience. Applying all you have learned this quarter about argument, organization, style and diction, and mechanics, your revision will be a thorough improvement of an earlier paper. To do this, you will need to go through several stages.

Selection:

Because this should be a thorough revision, you might not want to revise your best paper. If a paper does not need substantial improvements, it will not make a good revision assignment. On the other hand, your worst paper may not be the best choice either. If you struggled with a topic from start to finish the first time, you are unlikely to enjoy working with it a second time. The ideal paper for the assignment would have a solid core of interesting ideas and yet be somehow flawed in execution or presentation. You may choose any of the four previous papers, but if you think want to revise Paper 4, you need to tell me immediately so I can grade it and get it back to you quickly.

Self-Evaluation:

Part of this assignment (and of the writing process generally) is learning to critically evaluate your own writing. Re-read your original and ask yourself: Does it have an exciting central idea? Is it well supported? Are words well-chosen, are sentences well-constructed, and are paragraphs fully developed? In short, ask yourself if it is a good argument. Approach your essay as if it were one of the essays we read for class. Apply the same standards as you would apply to another's writing to determine if yours is powerful and convincing. For Friday's Web Board assignment, you must post a formal assessment of your essay.

Conference:

I want to meet with each of you individually to discuss your revisions. In particular, I want to make sure each of you is undertaking a viable revision project, as well as making myself available to answer questions. Regular class will be cancelled next Monday and Tuesday so that I can schedule these conferences. Sign up for a conference slot in class on Thursday. For your conference, you should have already selected your paper and performed your self-evaluation so tat we can discuss specific strategies of revision.

Revision:

Revision is more than the correction of grammatical errors and misspellings. Surface errors should be eliminated, of course, but you must go further and truly re-evaluate the effectiveness of your writing. You may need to reorganize your points; you may need to add more support; you may need to develop a new thesis. You will obviously want to consider my comments on the original, but these are neither binding nor comprehensive. Don't rely on me to have caught all your errors or to have made the best suggestions for revision. Follow your own instincts as to what the essay needs to make it better. Your goal should be to create a "perfect" paper.

Due Dates:

Self-Evaluation: Post your self-evaluation to the WB during class, Friday, March 6. Respond to your group's evaluations over the weekend, March 7-8.

Rough draft: Post a rough draft of your revision to the WB before class, Wednesday, March 10.

Final draft: Due Friday, March 13 by the end of class. Turn in via Submissions Page.

A Note on Grading:

This revision does not replace the original paper, nor is it averaged with the original. It will be graded as a separate assignment, though the depth of the revision undertaken will be taken into consideration. Insufficient revision (e.g., only correcting mechanical errors) is grounds for failing the assignment. Also note that the editing failure policy is still in effect. Proper MLA documentation and a Works Cited list are required even if they were not on the original paper.