English 2115, Advanced Exposition                                                                      Prof. J. Moser
Spring 2018 4232B                                                                           
jmoser@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Office hours: W, 3-4 and by appt.                              
Course website: academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/moser

Course Description:
Bulletin description: 
Intensive study of and practice in writing the principal rhetorical forms
Training in principles of peer tutoring and three hours of tutoring writing in the Learning Center or other appropriate setting.

Pre-requisite: Students who have earned an A in both English 1010 and 1012 may enroll in this course. The course consists of class meetings (3 hours/week) and service as peer writing tutors in the Learning Center (3 hours/week).

English 2115 is a course in advanced composition. The course focuses on the close reading of paragraphs, long excerpts and full texts by accomplished stylists, coupled with the study of style and grammar to give students practice in producing clear, elegant prose in a variety of styles and with a variety of content. Students read literature spanning many periods, written in distinct styles for distinct purposes. Students engage in close analysis of the work of published authors and produce texts that imitate, through the skillful use of a wide variety of rhetorical techniques, particular themes, moods and styles.

 Course requirements:

1.      You are allowed 2 absences. Any additional absences will affect your final grade.

All work is due when assigned.  If you are absent, be sure to get the assignment from a classmate.

2.      Papers are due when assigned. You may hand in ONE paper late, but you must notify me and the paper may be no more than 1 week late.  No other late work will be accepted.

3.      The three formal writing assignments require second drafts in order to receive credit. Final drafts are due at the next class meeting.  You may email your work by midnight of the due date.

 Course writing requirements:
The length and complexity of the writing assignments grow throughout the semester. At the beginning, students engage in sentence and paragraph-level grammatical and syntactical analyses, learning the technical terms for sophisticated grammatical structures, the relationship between the use of these structures and their rhetorical effects, and incorporating these techniques into student prose.  Students write paragraphs that imitate the syntax and convey the mood of the model paragraphs. Throughout the semester, students do sentence-level exercises that reinforce the effective use of grammatical structures to produce specific rhetorical effects. As the course progresses, students read more challenging and complex texts, engaging in close analysis of stylistic and rhetorical patterns and producing longer, more ambitious prose to imitate the model texts. The three longer student writings (3-4 pages each, modeled on Twain, Proust, Nabokov,) are accompanied by close analyses of the students’ own writing, indicating the specific ways in which the student text captures the spirit and style of the model (1-page analysis). The final writing project is a 5-7 page paper on a choice of topics (determined after individual conferences, appealing to a range of student interests and abilities) that is an exercise in creative non-fiction, incorporating research techniques and documentation into a treatment of a topic of the student’s choice.

·         Course objectives:
At the end of this course, students should be able to:

o   write clearly, elegantly and imaginatively, in a variety of forms and for a variety of purposes and audiences

o   understand the structure of the English language, including aspects of syntax, phonology, and semantics

o   understand and analyze literary texts

o   understand literature in its interdisciplinary contexts (e.g., cultural, social, historical, scientific, psychological, and political)

o   understand and use literary and rhetorical terms

o   appreciate literary complexity, ambiguity, and paradox

o   understand of interrelation of language, culture, and society

Requirements:
Course materials and texts:
Bacon, Nora.  The Well-Crafted Sentence. 2nd ed.  Bedford/St.Martins.  THIS IS THE ONLY BOOK YOU NEED TO BUY
You can get the e-book at about half the price at bedfordstmartins.com/wellcrafted/formats and at the online bookstore.
Excerpts and longer works, distributed in class: DO NOT BUY THESE
     Nabokov, Vladimir. Speak Memory. NY: Vintage, 1989. 
     Proust, Marcel. Combray. Swann’s Way. (trans. Enright, Kilmartin, Moncrieff). NY: Modern Library, 1992.
     Twain, Mark. “Two Ways of Seeing a River”
 from Life on the Mississippi

Grades:
Participation:                                                                                                  20%
Short written work (grammar, sentence- and paragraph-level exercises)       15%
Paper 1 Twain)                                                                                               15%
Paper 2 (Proust)                                                                                              15%
Paper 3 (Nabokov)                                                                                          15%
Final paper:                                                                                                     30%

The tutoring component of this course will affect your grade in two ways:
            1. If you fail to fulfill the attendance requirements, your grade will suffer proportionately.
            2. If your in-class grade is borderline, the final evaluation of your work in the Learning Center will affect your final grade (for example, a grade that is somewhere between an A- and a B+ will be decided by the tutoring evaluation).

 

English 2115, Advanced Exposition                                                                      Prof. J. Moser
Spring 2018                                                                                       
jmoser@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Office hours: W, 3-4, and by appt                                                                           4232B
Course website: academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/moser

Course Description:
Bulletin description:
Intensive study of and practice in writing the principal rhetorical forms.

Training in principles of peer tutoring and three hours of tutoring writing in the Learning Center or other appropriate setting.

Pre-requisite: Students who have earned an A in both English 1010 and 1012 may enroll in this course. The course consists of class meetings (3 hours/week) and service as peer writing tutors in the Learning Center (3 hours/week).

English 2115 is a course in advanced composition. The course focuses on the close reading of paragraphs, long excerpts and full texts by accomplished stylists, coupled with the study of style and grammar to give students practice in producing clear, elegant prose in a variety of styles and with a variety of content. Students read literature spanning many periods, written in distinct styles for distinct purposes. Students engage in close analysis of the work of published authors and produce texts that imitate, through the skillful use of a wide variety of rhetorical techniques, particular themes, moods and styles.

 Course requirements:

1.      You are allowed 3 absences. Any additional absences will affect your final grade.

2.   All work is due when assigned.  If you are absent, be sure to get the assignment from a classmate.

3.  Papers are due when assigned. You may hand in ONE paper late, but you must notify me and the paper may be no more than 1 week late.  No other late work will be accepted.

4.      The four formal writing assignments require second drafts in order to receive credit. Final drafts are due at the next class meeting.  You may email your work by midnight of the due date.

 Course writing requirements:
The length and complexity of the writing assignments grow throughout the semester. At the beginning, students engage in sentence and paragraph-level grammatical and syntactical analyses, learning the technical terms for sophisticated grammatical structures, the relationship between the use of these structures and their rhetorical effects, and incorporating these techniques into student prose.  Students write paragraphs that imitate the syntax and convey the mood of the model paragraphs. Throughout the semester, students do sentence-level exercises that reinforce the effective use of grammatical structures to produce specific rhetorical effects. As the course progresses, students read more challenging and complex texts, engaging in close analysis of stylistic and rhetorical patterns and producing longer, more ambitious prose to imitate the model texts. The three longer student writings (3-4 pages each, modeled on Twain, Proust, Nabokov,) are accompanied by close analyses of the students’ own writing, indicating the specific ways in which the student text captures the spirit and style of the model (1-page analysis). The final writing project is a 7-10 page paper on a choice of topics (determined after individual conferences, appealing to a range of student interests and abilities) that is an exercise in creative non-fiction, incorporating research techniques and documentation into a treatment of a topic of the student’s choice.

        Course objectives:
At the end of this course, students should be able to:

o   write clearly, elegantly and imaginatively, in a variety of forms and for a variety of purposes and audiences

o   understand the structure of the English language, including aspects of syntax, phonology, and semantics

o   understand and analyze literary texts

o   understand literature in its interdisciplinary contexts (e.g., cultural, social, historical, scientific, psychological, and political)

o   understand and use literary and rhetorical terms

o   appreciate literary complexity, ambiguity, and paradox

o   understand of interrelation of language, culture, and society

Requirements:
Course materials and texts:
Bacon, Nora.  The Well-Crafted Sentence. 2nd ed.  Bedford/St.Martins.  THIS IS THE ONLY BOOK YOU NEED TO BUY
You can get the e-book at about half the price at bedfordstmartins.com/wellcrafted/formats
Excerpts and longer works, distributed in class: DO NOT BUY THESE
     Nabokov, Vladimir. Speak Memory. NY: Vintage, 1989.
     Proust, Marcel. Combray. Swann’s Way. (trans. Enright, Kilmartin, Moncrieff). NY: Modern
         Library, 1992.
     Twain, Mark. “Two Ways of Seeing a River” from Life on the Mississippi

Grades:
Participation:                                                                                                  15%
Short written work (grammar, sentence- and paragraph-level exercises)       15%    
Paper 1 Twain)                                                                                               15%
Paper 2 (Proust)                                                                                              15%
Paper 3 (Nabokov)                                                                                          15%
Final paper:                                                                                                     25%

The tutoring component of this course will affect your grade in two ways:
            1. If you fail to fulfill the attendance requirements, your grade will suffer proportionately.
            2. If your in-class grade is borderline, the final evaluation of your work in the Learning Center will affect your final grade (for example, a grade that is somewhere between an A- and a B+ will be decided by the tutoring evaluation).

Tentative Course assignments:

Monday, Jan 29: Diagnostic essay

Wednesday, Jan. 31: Learning Center orientation (1300 B, 2:15)

Monday, Feb 5: Well-Crafted Sentence; chap 2 t. Review of grammar terms and tenses. p. 34, Ex 2E. Post answers to blackboard.

Wednesday, Feb 7: Post hw from Well-Crafted Sentence online.

Monday, Feb. 12: No classes; Lincoln’s birthday

Wednesday, Feb. 14: Read Twain's "Two Ways of Seeing a River" (in-class handout. If you were absent, you can find a pdf online). Look closely at the language and style in each of the three paragraphs. We will do a close analysis of this essay in class on Tuesday, Feb 20

Monday, Feb. 19: No classes; Washington’s birthday.

Tuesday Feb 20:  Conversion day; follow a Monday schedule (WE MEET) Bring the printout of Twain’s essay to discuss in class.

For Wednesday, Feb 21: Outline an essay modeled on the Twain essay. Your first two paragraphs should present two different views of a place, person, toy, etc. They are both the views of one person, views shaped by the passing of time or the acquisition of knowledge or skill. The third paragraph should be an analogy that parallels the ideas behind paragraphs 1 and 2, but is taken from a totally different field. Post online, and respond to two of your classmates’ postings.

For Monday, Feb. 26: First draft of Twain essay---bring copy to class.

For Wednesday, Feb 28: Post revision of Twain essay; respond to two of your classmates’ Twain essays by analyzing the stylistic techniques that are borrowed from the model.

For Monday, March 5: In class: Well-Crafted Sentence, chap 3;

Wednesday, Mar 7--- p. 48, Ex 3F (active/passive).. Post online

Monday, Mar. 12: Well-crafted Sentence, Chap 4

Wednesday, March 14: Post online: Well-Crafted Sentence, chap. 4, exercise 4D, p 67-68 on correlative conjunctions: neither/nor. either/or, not only/but also...

For Monday, Mar 19: Well-Crafted Sentence,; Chapter 4

For Wednesday, Mar21
: Post p. 74, 4G

For Monday, Mar 26: Well-Crafted Sentence chap 5: p. 89-91, 5E

For Wednesday, Mar 26: Finish chap 5

SPRING BREAK, MARCH 30-APRIL 8


For Monday, April 9:  Proust excerpt;
Read closely the madeleine excerpt from Proust (in-class handout). Pay particular attention to the stylistic devices Proust uses.

For Wednesday, April 11
: first draft, Proust imitation. Use a sensory experience as a trigger to describe a long-buried memory. Be sure to use some of the rhetorical devices we discussed in class to create a Proustian mood. Submit by email before midnight

For Monday, Apr 16
: second draft of Proust assignment. HARD COPY ATTACHED TO THE FIRST DRAFT. Due in class. Well-Crafted Sentence, Chap 6

For Wed., Apr 18:
 Post exercises from Chap 6 on blackboard.

For Monday, April 23: Read closely the three excerpts from Nabokov's Speak Memory. Note and be prepared to discuss the stylistic devices in those excerpts

For Wed., April 25: First draft of Nabokov imitation (1-2 pages). You can imitate any of the three excerpts, or, if you would prefer, do a close reading of any of the 3 excerpts (look at the in-class handout of sample student writing to see a model of close reading)

For Monday, April 30:  Well-Crafted Sentence, Chap 8: Do Ex. 8D in the book. Read Shamengwa, p. 159-174, before you do the exercise.

For Monday, May 2:
Second draft of Nabokov imitation;  post on blackboard and analyze the Nabakovian stylistic techniques or mood of two of your classmates’ postings.

For Wed., May 4
: Read Tuchman, "This is the End of the World"
Click on this link and download

For Monday, May 9: Read David Foster Wallace, "Consider the Lobster." Copy and paste this link. Print out and bring the article to class: http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster18ff.html?currentPage=1

Monday, May 14: final paper presentations

Final Paper:
This is an exercise in creative non-fiction, a synthesis of academic and personal writing. Write a 6-8 page paper that is framed by documented research but told from an eye-witness, first-person point of view. This paper could take the form of a series of letters, a diary, an eye-witness news report.

Place yourself at the scene. For example, you might live through Hurricane Katrina; you might attend the coronation of a king or queen; you might be a bride in Sparta; you might be one of the "lost boys" living in the U.S. Pick a topic that intrigues you and that offers an array of scholarly sources (academic articles, books, film, interviews, music...). You must have at least 4 sources.

Write a 6-8 page paper in a format that fits the eye-witness perspective of this project. Use formal documentation (check owl@perdue.edu) and use either footnotes or endnotes so as not to interrupt the flow of the narrative.

Due Wed., May 9
1.  
Proposal and outline (by email so we can look at these together in class)
2.  Annotated bibliography (hard copy to be handed in in class; also by email). I will bring two sample final papers to class.
Due Monday, May 21: Final version of the paper---by email.

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TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:


Monday, Aug. 28:  Introductions; literacy narratives

For Wednesday, Aug. 30: In-class writing

Monday, Sept. 4: Labor Day; no classes

For Wed., Sept. 6:
Well-Crafted Sentence, p. 34, Ex 2E (bring to class)

For Monday, Sept. 11: Take a paragraph from an essay or creative piece that you've written.  Do a close reading of that paragraph, identifying adjective, adverb and noun clauses. 
What can you say about your use of a variety of different sentence structures?
Send the paragraph, with the close analysis, as an attachment in word before class meets.

For Wednesday, Sept. 13: Read Twain's "Two Ways of Seeing a River" (in-class handout. If you were absent, you can find a pdf online). Look closely at the language and style in each of the three paragraphs.

For Monday, Sept 18: Outline an essay modeled on the Twain essay. Your first two paragraphs should present two different views of a place, person, toy, etc. They are both the views of one person, views shaped by the passing of time or the acquisition of knowledge or skill. The third paragraph should be an analogy that parallels the ideas behind paragraphs 1 and 2, but is taken from a totally different field. Bring to class on Wednesday

For Monday, Sept. 25: First draft of Twain essay due by midnight. If you haven't emailed me your outline, please be sure to do so before you write.
Well-Crafted Sentence,
 p. 48, Ex 3F (active/passive)

 For Wednesday, Sept. 27Model sentences for imitation (Hemingway, etc). Well-Crafted Sentence, chap. 4, exercise 4D, p 67-68 on correlative conjunctions: neither/nor. either/or, not only/but also...

For Monday, Oct. 2p. 74, 4G, 1. Well-Crafted Sentence

For Wed., Oct. 4: Well-Crafted Sentence, Ex. 5E, p. 89-91.
For Wednesday, Oct 6: Herodotus imitation, with accompanying paragraph analyzing in what ways your imitation resembles Herodotus's writing.

Monday, Oct 9: No classes; Columbus Day

For Wed., Oct. 11
:

Read the three Herodotus handouts closely (distributed in class on Wed, 9/11).. Note and be prepared to discuss the stylistic devices in those excerpts

 

For Mon., Oct. 16: Well-Crafted Sentence, p. 74-75, Ex 4G

First draft of Herodotus excerpt posted online.  Check Blackboard for our class discussion thread. 
You need to post your Herodtus imitation online before class on Wednesday, Oct. 18. 


Here are some samples from past classes:

This is what the manatee looks like: it is light gray all over, and has a tail shaped like a giant clover, and its body looks like an oval blob, and its back is flat and hard. With a short stubby neck, a fat husky face, showcasing its spiky whiskers, the manatee is about the size of a mini-van. This is what the manatee is like: it lives among the sea critters of the Florida Keys, feeding off weeds and algae, idly roaming the shallow sea bottom, but it is no ordinary mammal. It has the eyes of a lazy beast, and lumpy, rough skin down its back. While other whales and fish swim deep in the ocean, the goofy manatee swims towards the crowd of ships and boats near the shore—waiting for their propellers to cut its back. Why does the manatee do this? I have seen several manatees swim to their deaths—these kamikaze sea cows, slowly diminishing in populace. That’s enough on the subject of manatees.

There is another world beyond ours, powerful where we are weak, awful where we are feeble, containing terrible creatures that are like distorted images of our own. The only possible routes
 between the worlds are contained within the depths of mirrors. These borders were closed long ago, for our own protection. The beastly inhabitants of that shadow world were forced back down, stripped of their strength, imprisoned in our reflections.

But the people talk, on occasion, of the day on which the animals of the mirror will return. In the depths of the mirror, there will appear faint, deviating lines. Steadily, the animals will begin to change—steadily they will grow—they will throw off servile replication and assume their own forms. From inside the mirrors will come the faint sound of ringing arms, and from the inside of polished spoons, and crystal dinner plates, and women’s closets, the barriers will shatter. They will break through. And this time, they will not be contained.


For Monday, Oct. 23, you need to analyze the Herodotean devices in two of your classmates' imitations and post your response online.

 




Ex. 5E, p. 89-91
. For Wed., Oct. 18: .Well-Crafted Sentence chapter 6

For Wednesday, Oct 25: Read closely the madeleine excerpt from Proust (in-class handout). Pay particular attention to the stylistic devices Proust uses

If you were absent, copy and paste this link for the excerpt: http://ww3.haverford.edu/psychology/ddavis/p109g/proust.html


For Wed., Nov 1: first draft, Proust imitation. Use a sensory experience as a trigger to describe a long-buried memory. Be sure to use some of the rhetorical devices we discussed in class to create a Proustian mood.

Starting Monday, Nov. 6:  Each student will post a 250-word (minimum) response to the tutoring experience, and respond (in at least 150 words) to two of your classmates on the course's blackboard site. This is a weekly assignment.

For Monday, Nov. 6: Well-Crafted Sentence, Chapter 6 and 7

For Wed., Nov. 8: Well-Crafted Sentence, Ex 7C, 7G, 7H
Hard copy due in class---second draft of Proust assignment.

For Monday, Nov 13: close reading of Nabokov excerpts distributed in class

For Wed., Nov. 15: first draft of Nabokov imitation due

 For Monday, Nov. 27: Second draft of Nabokov posted to blackboard;  Email 2nd draft, with paragraph of self-analysis, by Sunday, Nov 26.  Respond to two of your classmates' writing by Wed., Nov 29


For Wed. Nov 22:
 Well-Crafted Sentence, Ex. 8D,E,F   Read Shamengwa, p. 159-174, before you do the exercise

We will look at sample final papers in class on Monday, after Thanksgiving.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING


Due Monday, Nov 27: Read David Foster Wallace, "Consider the Lobster." Essay distributed in class, or copy and paste this link. Print out and bring the article to class: http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster18ff.html?currentPage=1

Due Wednesday, Nov. 29:  Read Tuchman, "The End of the World: the Black Plague" (distributed in class)
Final proposal and annotated bibliography. Bring 3 copies of your proposal to class.

Monday, Dec. 4: Well-Crafted Sentence, Chapter 9

The last two class sessions will be devoted to student presentations of their final papers. Email to reserve your presentation spot:

Presentations: Each presenter has 10 minutes to describe (and display on the screen) his or her topic and annotated bibliography. Be prepared to discuss how you plan to organize your paper and to answer your classmate's questions.



Wednesday Dec. 6: Leah, Aleeza, Mary
Monday, Dec. 11: Xavier, Joanna, Sandra, Star

 

Final Paper: Due Monday, Dec 18 by MIDNIGHT (EMAIL) OR IN MY MAILBOX (2308B) BY 3PM.
This is an exercise in creative non-fiction, a synthesis of academic and personal writing. Write a 6-8 page paper that is framesby documented research but told from an eye-witness, first-person point of view. This paper could take the form of a series of letters, a diary, an eye-witness news report.

Place yourself at the scene. For example, you might live through Hurricane Katrina; you might attend the coronation of a king or queen; you might be a bride in Sparta; you might be one of the "lost boys" living in the U.S. Pick a topic that intrigues you and that offers an array of scholarly sources