English 102 - Composition II: Writing Through Literature

Sections 0863 & 0864

Fall I 2024 | 3 Credit Hours

Lecture-Discussion-Workshop

Contact Information:

Instructor: Professor Paul Fess

Instructor Email: pfess@lagcc.cuny.edu

Class Meetings: Asynchronous; Complete all work every Friday

Virtual office hours: Thursday 2-3

(or by appointment)

Office Hours link

Course Description:

Click here for the schedule of assignments and readings

Section Description:

This course is meant to help you hone your ability to write by thinking through the questions and provocations of literature. Throughout the semester you will work with important works of poetry, fiction, and drama, explore the ideas they raise, and craft your own responses in the forms of annotations, short posts, and essays.

The readings will be drawn primarily from nineteenth-century American literature. (The one exception will be the Shakespeare play; though, I would like to think of this in an American context.) This is a time when U.S. writers were struggling with finding their voices against the backdrop of the turmoil and optimism of U.S. expansion and struggles to make U.S. society more just for people of color, the working class, women, and other marginalized groups. From these primary texts you will develop your ability to make arguments about the significance of literature–and the written word more generally–as well as improve the work you have already done in writing college-level essays.

From the Course Catalog:

This course extends and intensifies the work of Composition I, requiring students to write critically and analytically about culturally-diverse works of literature. Students are introduced to poetry, drama, and fiction, employing close-reading techniques and other methodologies of literary criticism. Students will utilize research methods and documentation procedures in writing assignments of varying academic formats, including a research essay that engages literary critics or commentators. Admission to the course requires completion of Composition I.

Student Learning Outcomes & Objectives

Please see the “Introduction to English 102” handout

At the end of this course, you will be able to…

Demonstrate understanding of writing as a process that involves pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, proofreading, critiquing and reflection.
Write clearly and coherently in varied academic formats (such as response papers, blogs, formal essays, and research papers) with an emphasis on writing as a critical thinking process. Essays will vary in length between 600 and 2000 words, using standard written English (SWE).
Interpret and write critically about poetry, drama, and fiction while applying techniques of literary criticism including the close reading of literary texts.
Identify and evaluate forms of literary analysis, such as biographical context, historical context, and critical theory.
Read and write critically and analytically, including identifying an argument’s major assumptions and assertions and evaluate its supporting evidence and conclusions. As part of this process of inquiry and problem solving, students will be able to understand audience, voice, context and purpose.
Support well-reasoned arguments with evidence and communicate persuasively over a variety of contexts, purposes, audiences, and mediums.
Demonstrate an understanding of research methods including the use of appropriate technology and the ability to synthesize primary and secondary sources, while employing the conventions of ethical attribution and citation and avoiding plagiarism.
Write in class to strengthen writing skills and strategies.

Reading Material & Resources:

The reading schedule can be found here.
All course assignments can be found on our course site.

Course site guide:

Newsletters and Announcements: this is where I will post my weekly reflections on your work and give you information about upcoming activities. I will also post any announcements about opportunities I receive here. I will send out emails alerting you when I post something.
Reading: all reading assignments will be posted here
Assignments: All major assignments will be posted here
Blog Posts: This is where you will create your blog posts, most of which will be in response to something we’re reading
Resources: This is where I will put guides for navigating the site as well as any point I make about the writing or reading process.

All course readings will be available through our course reader on Manifold, linked here as well as on our course site

Here is the invitation link for our course reader

What technology or materials will I need?

I have tried to make most materials accessible across different kinds of electronic devices (computers, phones, tablets), so you should be able to do the work with the hardware you already have. Of course, if you have difficulties accessing the material let me know ASAP.
I will also include captions for screencasts and other methods of making course material accessible, but if this does not meet your needs please let me know.

Papers & Projects

I will issue specific prompts for all of these assignments. (All work must be original, as in created by you and representative of your thoughts. See the academic integrity part of the syllabus for more information about my policy.)

The schedule for when assignments are due can be found here.

The general expectation and point distribution is as follows:

Paper 1 (10%): This will be an essay in which you analyze a poem. Word count: 1000

Paper 2 (20%): This will be an essay in which you describe and reflect on your experience reading William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Word count: 1200

Paper 3 (30%): This will be an essay in which you analyze one or more of the works of fiction we read. Word count: 1500

Blog posts (20%): Throughout the semester there will be weekly blog posts due. Generally, you will respond to questions I pose to the class. Word count: around 150-200 words. (As part of these assignments, I would also like you to respond to at least one of your classmate’s posts.)

Annotations (20%): Throughout the semester you will annotate the literature we are analyzing using our Manifold course site.

Attendance

Attendance is counted by the tasks you complete. If you miss a task/assignment, you will be counted absent for that week. By department policy, if you miss more than two weeks of class, you will earn a failing grade.

If you are struggling with completing the work on time you should contact me. (This is the general piece of advice for the entire syllabus: stay in touch, and you will succeed at the course.)

What You Can Make Up

Making up missed work does not erase a week’s absence.
You may make up major graded work (such as papers or tests) if you missed class due to legitimate circumstances beyond your control (i.e., a documented illness or medical emergency; a family funeral; activities at which you officially represent the College). Let me know if these kinds of circumstances arise.

What You Can’t Make Up

Minor work: blog posts and annotations.

Revision Policy:

You are allowed to revise your first two at-home papers for a better grade. However, you should follow these rules: 1) you must have turned in the first and final drafts on time. 2) you must meet with me and present a revision plan. (This will be a detailed, written course of action to address the comments I gave you on your graded essay.) 3) you must turn in the revised paper within about TWO WEEKs of getting the first grade. We will work out the specific deadline in our meeting.

Online Environment

I want everyone to have a good experience in this class. Be respectful of each other's differences, and help me foster a class environment where everyone feels empowered to learn. If something in this class makes you uncomfortable, please let me know. I will do my best to remedy the situation.

Academic Integrity

You cannot submit writing generated by artificial intelligence or copied from someone else. Any work you submit that is not original will receive a failing grade.

We will discuss plagiarism and originality in further detail as the semester progresses and hopefully arrive at useful working definitions of these terms that we, as a community of writers and thinkers, can be satisfied with. We will use A.I. for various exercises–particularly the annotations and Paper 2–as we explore the writing process, and we will work toward an understanding of the affordances of A.I. tools that hopefully doesn’t diminish our individual perspectives.

The bottom line, though, is that what you turn in for a grade must be your work. As you are completing assignments for the class here are some things to consider:

Your responsibility to yourself: This course presents an opportunity for you to explore how you express your thoughts in writing. This is a crucial tool for communicating your perspective to other people, and it is an important part of your intellectual growth. Using other people’s ideas as part of contextualizing your own is part of this development, but these ideas should never substitute for what you actually think about a topic. Likewise, A.I. may be a useful tool for brainstorming, but you should never let it do the thinking for you.

Your responsibility to our community: In this class we will be reading and writing together. In addition to my comments (and grades) on your work, your classmates will give you feedback and you will learn about the writing process from each other. This means that it would be a waste of everyone’s–mine, as well as your colleagues’--time if you present work by others (or robots) as your own.

LaGuardia’s policy on academic integrity: This document outlines the consequences of turning in someone else’s work as your own, which includes turning in work generated by A.I. Possible consequences: a failing grade on the assignment, a failing grade in the course, suspension, and expulsion. Any paper exhibiting plagiarized work will fail immediately, thereby lowering your overall final grade. If the case is severe (more than one or two sentences), you will also fail the course, and your work will be reported to the college via an Academic Integrity Complaint.

Emergency Communications Policy

I will email you if there are any sudden or major changes to the schedule or assignments. I will also post to the “Newsletter and Announcement” section of the course site.

If you have an emergency, please email me: pfess@lagcc.cuny.edu

Accessibility

Please let me know, in person or by email, if you have any accessibility issues with the course. You can also register with the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), which provides services for students with disabilities to ensure access to College programs. They offer personal, academic, career, and accommodations counseling, evaluation referrals, testing for learning disabilities, and adaptive/assistive technology. They are located in M 102, and can be reached at (718) 482-5279 (TTY x6057). http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/osd/

Schedule

Unit I: Poetry

Week 1 (09/05-09/09/13)

Part 1

Welcome!
Please complete the following tasks:

Watch the introductory video
Register for CUNY Academic Commons

Here is a video about creating an account

Follow these instructions

Sign up for our Manifold reading group
Watch this video about posting to the blog
Read my welcome letter
Familiarize yourself with our course page

Introductory blog post:

Please write a blog post introducing yourself using this prompt

Watch the video linked above about how to post to the blog

Write a comment or question for at least two classmates’ posts

Part 2:

Sign up for a Manifold account
Read:
Annotate these poems based on this prompt

Week 2 (09/16-09/20)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate these poems based on this prompt
Review Paper 1 assignment

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog

Week 3 (09/23-09/27)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate these poems according to this prompt

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog

Unit 2: Drama

Week 4 (09/30-10/03)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate these scenes according to this prompt

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog
Paper 1 due by Friday

Week 5 (10/07-10/11)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate these scenes according to this prompt
Review assignment for Paper 2

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog

Week 6 (10/15-10/18)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate these scenes according to this prompt

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog

Week 7 (10/21-10/25)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate these scenes according to this prompt

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog

Unit 3: Fiction

Week 8 (10/28-11/01)

Part 1

Read:
Annotate this reading according to this prompt

Part 2

Respond to this prompt on the course blog
Paper 2 due by Friday

Week 9 (11/04-11/08)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate this reading according to this prompt
Review Paper 3 assignment

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog

Week 10 (11/11-11/15)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate this reading according to this prompt

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog

Week 11 (11/18-11/22)

Part 1:

Read:
Annotate this reading according to this prompt

Part 2:

Respond to this prompt on the course blog

11/25-11/29–Happy Thanksgiving!

Week 12 (12/02-12/06)

Paper 3 due
Conferences and Revision of paper 1 or 2

Week 13 (12/09-12/13)

Conferences and Revision of paper 1 or 2

Course Syllabus