TruePropaganda

Syllabus: English 1A

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Course Info view as PDF ENGLISH 1A Fall 2004 Section 11: MTR 12:00-1:20 Room 6408 Section 14: MW 1:30-3:50 Room 6503 Section 17: TR 1:30-3:50 Room 6406 Foothill College Los Altos Hills, CA Contact Info Instructor: Tim Maxwell Office: F-11 E Office Hours: M 11:00-12:00 and by appointment Office Phone: E-mail: tmax@truepropaganda.com URL: http://truepropaganda.com Required Texts and Materials The College Writer, VanderMey et al. No Logo, Klein Information War, Snow An e-mail account An Etudes account A college-level dictionary A folder for the submission of your work A three-ring binder with tabbed dividers An 80-page spiral-bound notebook Course Goals The goals of English 1A are as follows: a) to guide you in writing effectively with a variety of distinct purposes and to different audiences, b) to teach you to use the principles and methods that will enable you to enter courses in many fields with confidence, c) to provide the tools to analyze the discourses you find there, and, d) on the basis of that analysis, to begin participating effectively in these other discourses, whether written, oral, or multimedia. More generally, you will how to think, write, and read critically at a college level. Course Overview Some of you might think of English 1A as just another requirement, something to be gotten out of the way before you can on to the really important stuff, whatever that is, your major, transfer, making loads of money, becoming famous, or you name it. Yes, it is required and the skills you learn here will be of great use to you to you in all of the courses you take that require writing. But, it does not end there. I would argue that without the critical thinking tools you have the opportunity to learn here you are virtually defenseless in the Information Age, vulnerable to those who wish to exploit you, dupe you, cheat you, corrupt you, or otherwise steal your personal power (or your community’s power) from you--usually without your even knowing it. The premise of this course is that we are, more than ever in human history, subject to high doses of political and commercial propaganda that is dangerous to our democracy and to the health of our society and our planet. The hope is that through training in propaganda analysis, basic reasoning, and critical reading and writing you will leave this class better equipped not just to succeed but to survive. Writing Assignments Each major take-home writing assignment requires a peer workshop and your reflection on your writing process. The descriptions of the following writing assignments will be expanded on individual assignment sheets. Take-home assignments: A. ESSAY 1: Defining your freedoms: A personal essay. (750 words, 80 points) B. ESSAY 2: Selling the military: A rhetorical analysis. (750 words, 80 points) C. ESSAY 3: Explain a theory of propaganda, then apply it. (750 words, 100 points) D. ESSAY 4: Propose a solution to a problem related to propaganda. (1000 words, 100 points) In-class writing: A. A midterm: Taking a position on a specific issue. (120 points) B. A final: A synthesis of your own writing in the context of propaganda. (150 points) Peer Critiques You will give respectful critiques of your classmates' work, making sure to give constructive commentary. Give the feedback you would like to receive from others. I will give credit to thorough, constructive critiques. Your hard work will also count toward your final grade. Also, you can learn much from helping others to improve. I will provide detailed guidelines for you to follow as you critique. Reflective Writing Upon your completion of each essay, you will have the opportunity to reflect on your process, writing an essay that holds a mirror up to your efforts -- both successful and unsuccessful -- in the making of a particular piece of writing. I will provide you with prompts for these. Submission Guidelines You will submit your work in a standard manila folder that has been marked clearly with your name and the class you are enrolled in. The folder will contain, in the order in which the work was completed, all the steps toward the completion of the assignment, including prewriting, outlines, drafts, peer reviews written for you, final draft, and reflective writing. Missing portions will result in a lowering of your grade. All essays must be typed in 12-point standard font (I suggest Palatino or New Century Schoolbook), be double-spaced, and have 1-inch margins. (Nothing else is acceptable.) Write your name, the class, the date, and the essay number (e.g. 2.1) in the top left-hand corner of the first page. Center the title below the heading. Use MLA style for documentation. For each typed essay, you will write at least two (2) versions, one for peer workshop and one that is revised for final submission. You will be given guidelines for a self-evaluation or reflection before the final version is due. Late papers will be penalized, unless previous arrangements have been made. (Not being in class does not excuse you from doing the work due to be turned in that day.) Rewritten second versions are possible only if the requirements above are met. Include the rewritten essay along with originals and a NEW one-page reflection in your folder. ETUDES Our use of Foothill's on-line classroom will be to enhance our experience in the brick and mortar classroom. One forum will be dedicated to free-form discussion of issues, while another will be used for specific assignments. All three of my English 1A sections will be part of this community; all of you will be studying similar material and so shall have much to discuss. I hope that some of you will find such communication engaging. Everyone is required to post in some substantial way every week. Think of it as an on-line journal. Your responses will be assessed qualitatively and quantitatively and your grade will either contribute or detract from your participation totals. Weekly Group Media Monitoring Each week one team of 3-4 students, members of groups we determine at the beginning of the term, will analyze how multiple sources of are handling a specific issue or a news story relative to one another. The group chooses an issue to focus on, such as National Guard troop call-ups, Iraqi elections, or elections polls in the U.S. then selects 5-6 media sources that are reporting on it to monitor. These sources may include TV, radio, internet, print, or any other media outlet. The group will assess the source using the guidelines provided. Groups will then create a web page they will submit to the instructor who will then publish on the web site. The team will also be given ten to fifteen minutes of class time to present their findings to the class and to argue for their conclusions about their observations. The rest of the class will then have the responsibility to respond to the conclusions on ETUDES. The complete assignment can be found if you link to "media". The Wirebound Notebook Bring it with you to class everyday. This will be a place where you will be able to take notes develop your own ideas, record and respond to the ideas of others in the class, and practice your writing. Here you will perform all in-class writing activities. I will check it two times, once at mid-term and once at the end. USE IT TO RECORD NOT ONLY WHAT I SAY BUT ALSO WHAT YOUR PEERS SAY. Use it also as a reading journal, to record your thoughts as you read. Course Policies Attendance Because this course makes use of writing activities, in-class workshops, and small-group discussion, your consistent attendance is crucial to your success. If you must miss a class for religious holidays, medical reasons, or other valid reason, you must let me know as far in advance as possible of the absence and obtain information about the work you must do to keep up in class. If you miss a class for any other reason (sudden illness, family emergency, etc.), you should get in touch with me as soon as possible and arrange to make up the work missed. If you do not take responsibility for communicating with me about absences, I will contact you by phone or email and issue a warning about your standing in the course. Should you miss a second unexcused class, your work in the class will be seriously compromised, and a continued pattern of absences may jeopardize your enrollment in the class. The best policy, therefore, is to be in class, on time, every day! Conferences You will attend at least one conference with me during the course of the term. It will be scheduled during the week identified in the syllabus. You may choose to consult with me as often as you like during my office hours. Not showing up for a scheduled conference counts as an absence from class. Grade Disputes If you have a complaint about this course or wish to question a grade on an assignment, please write me a memo explaining the problems you are having with the course or my evaluation of your work. If you are not satisfied by my response or if you would like to discuss the matter further with me, we may meet. You may ask me to read an assignment again, reconsidering your work in light of points you have made about it. Many misunderstandings or problems can be worked out in such a meeting. Incompletes I will give a student an Incomplete in this course ONLY in this very special case: when the student has completed all of or the vast majority of the work in the class but, for some valid reason, cannot complete the course. Revising I stand by the principle that "writing is rewriting." You may revise as much as you want, up to the due date for the assignment. Your work will, as part of the process, be reviewed by your peers and/or by me. The revision of "final drafts" is possible if ALL previous steps in the writing process have been completed, including proper formatting. Revisions will be due no later than one week from the original due date. Grades on revisions can either improve or not. A weak revision can actually lower your grade. More careful proofreading does not constitute a revision. Evaluation Criteria A Excellent. Paper fully grasps the intent of the assignment. Asserts a complex thesis and fully develops it with grace and clarity. Is highly engaging to read. Is written in a voice and a style that are exceptionally suited for subject, audience, and purpose. Uses sound paragraphing. Employs a structure that is both logical and fitting for the assignment. Is virtually free of grammatical errors and misspellings. When applicable, uses appropriate documentation style with accuracy and consistency. B Good. Paper fulfills the basic expectations of the assignment. Asserts and develops a strong thesis. Is written with a voice and style appropriate for subject, audience, and purpose. Has clear prose, though it may be somewhat inconsistent or have some problems such as inflated diction, cliché, overuse of passive voice, or repetitiveness. Has logical structure, though, like the "five-paragraph essay" often is, it may be too rigid and without nuance or have overly mechanical transitions. May need some editing of occasional grammatical errors, such as comma splice, verb agreement, or pronoun reference. May require some further proofreading. C Fair. Paper may demonstrate a vague or only general understanding of the assignment. May either state a strong thesis idea, which it fails to develop fully, or state a weak or self-evident thesis with adequate development. May have style and voice that are fairly clear but that may be inappropriate for subject, audience, and/or purpose. May suffer from fairly weak prose, particularly with pervasive grammatical problems. May employ an ill-conceived or poorly executed structure that makes the logic of the paper hard to follow. May have had few substantive revisions made to it between drafts. D Poor. Paper may demonstrate that the writer has misread the assignment. Neither states nor implies a clear and consistent controlling idea. May show little development of ideas. May suffer from pervasive paragraphing and/or editing problems that make for difficult reading. May have had few or no substantive revisions made to it between drafts. F Failing. Come to see me if you get this grade or if you think you might. Grading Policy Grading Assignments in this class will be given the approximation of point values listed below: Essay 1 80 pts Essay 2 100 Essay 3 100 Essay 4 100 Midterm 120 Final 150 Media Watch 100 Quizzes 100 Participation 150 1000 Your final grade will be determined using the following scale: 900-1000 pts A 801-899 B 701-800 C 601-700 D 600 and under No Pass Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Plagiarism Students are responsible for maintaining honesty in scholarship. Work submitted for a course must be the student's own (or a group's work, if students have collaborated on an assignment). The use of someone else's words or ideas without acknowledgment and/or as your own will earn you an “F” for the assignment and may, depending on the judgment of myself and the college result in your being dropped from the course. Remember, if I suspect plagiarism, I have means of discovering your sources. I end up doing it far too often. Don't commit this mistake. It's not worth it. For a throrough examination of plagiarism and why you should not do it, click here.