Faculty and Staff - Sharon Tisher - HON 112 Syllabus
Spring 2006
Sharon S. Tisher
Section : Tuesday & Thursday, 10:00 a.m., Colvin 107
Lecture: Tuesday, 3:30 – 5:15, 101 Neville
Office hours: Tuesday 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
307 Winslow Hall
Call if you plan to come in or want to schedule another time.
Office phone: 581-3158
Home phone: 866-0023
Email: FirstClass
Grading: I will base grades 75% on written work and 25% on class participation. For students showing consistent effort and substantial progress during the course of the semester, final grades may not be based on strict averages of paper and exam grades. Subsequent improved work on papers may be weighted more heavily than earlier work.
Class participation: Class attendance is very important, and any absences should be explained, in advance if at all possible. Active participation in class discussion (by volunteering, not waiting to be called on) as well as excellent attendance will be required for an "A" in class participation. Every Tuesday, class may start with each student giving short (1-2 minutes) comments on the week’s readings. Every Thursday, students will be expected to hand in an informal 1-2 page "lecture reaction paper," describing your reaction to the lecture and the week’s reading, tying them together with other material in the course and your own ideas and experiences. These may also be sent by email before class. I will react to them, but not grade them. They are considered in your class participation grade.
Written work: Graded written work will consist of three formal essays of 5 to 7 pages typed, double spaced and a two hour final exam. Essays should not involve research, but should be purely original analyses. There can be no good writing, and no good thinking, without reworking. Therefore you will have an opportunity to rewrite your papers. You may turn in a rewrite of any of your papers up to one week after the original is returned to you. A drama performance may be substituted for the third paper.
Paper Due Dates: February 8, April 5, April 21 (in class or e-mailed before)
I will give assignments for the formal essays approximately two weeks before the due date. I may grant extensions for good cause (usually, documented medical excuse or family crisis). You should make every effort to contact me before the due date in this regard. Late papers will be graded down one grade for every 24 hrs. or part thereof that they are late.
First Class Conference: There is a First Class Conference folder set up for this section, which you are free to use to share and exchange ideas about the class, lectures, and readings. It is entirely optional. Some students have requested it in the past. My own preference is to focus the dialogue on our in-person encounters in class. I don’t intend to participate in the First Class Conference unless asked to.
Intellectual Honesty and Plagiarism, Outside Research :
. To use another’s words and ideas with no acknowledgment is theft – plagiarism. Unintentional or intentional plagiarism is prohibited, and is grounds for failure in the course and possible expulsion from the university. In general, you must avoid presenting someone else’s ideas as your own. You are also requested for this course not to research other writers’ ideas about these works. Your reactions to and analysis of the works we will study should be your own, as influenced, of course, by the lectures, class and outside of class discussions, First Class conferences, and the introductory and editorial material in the texts, which is generally optional reading. If you do summarize someone else’s ideas or if you cite a fact from a book or article, you must have a reference to that person after the fact or idea. (e.g., Inanna, Wolkstein essay, 137) Not having these references indicates that the ideas are your own. Pretending that someone else’s ideas are your own is plagiarism.
Accommodations: If you wish to request an accommodation for a disability, please advise me and contact Ann Smith, Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities (onward Building, 1-2319) as early as possible in the semester.
Drama Performance Option: Instead of writing a third paper, students may form groups of two to six, and perform one of more scenes of a relevant play. The performances will be the last week of classes. Time frame for your selection should be at least 3 minutes per participant. Everyone should have a speaking role, roughly of equivalent duration. You do not need to be a good actor, or to have prior acting experience (though it would help) to do well on this option, but you do need to put your heart and soul into performing, not just reciting, the play. The performance should include presentation of a synopsis of the rest of the play, and presentations (including class discussion) at the conclusion of the performance relating the play to other materials we have studied in the course. Costumes, props, etc. are at your discretion, but certainly enhance the performance. Two plays that fit very well into this semester’s readings are Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist (a satire), and Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (story of a scholar who sells his soul to the devil for knowledge). These are challenging because of their somewhat archaic, Shakespearean, English. (Don’t do Shakespeare, since that’s for the following semester). A delightful comic alternative would be something from the genre of Commedia Dell’Arte, a bawdy, improvised, slapstick comedy that began in the Middle Ages in Italy and was popular for several centuries thereafter. See following Website for a description of the main characters and history of the Commedia Dell'Arte:
http://condor.stcloudstate.edu/%7Ethfs/commedia/studyguide.html
See the following for someone's contemporary script, which you could perform:
http://www.richard-nathan-scripts.com/love_and_war%201.htm
See the following for some tips on how to perform Commedia:
www.mimeguy/commediaClassPlan02.htm
Your grade for the performance will in all likelihood be a group grade, unless there is an obvious slacker, in which case grades will be modified to reflect individual effort.
Interlude Weeks: This semester includes two free weeks to be used at the preceptor’s discretion. During the first week, Feb. 7, we will read and discuss materials regarding medieval alchemy during section meetings. I am undecided as to the second week, April 11, we will probably spend extra time discussing The Inferno.
Recommended readings:
Writing style and mechanics:
Diane Hacker, A Writer’s Reference, St. Martin’s
Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, Macmillan
Zinsser, On Writing Well, Harper
Philosophy:
Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World, Berkley
First Paper Topics (Due February 21)
Choose one of the following essay topics:
1. Confessions and The Golden Ass. Proposition: These are essentially two life stories; one in the form of a pious prayer and one a magical comedy. Both share, however, an essentially gloomy vision of the possibilities of human life on earth, and yearn for a spiritual escape. Write an essay agreeing or disagreeing, in whole or in part, with this proposition.
2. The Odyssey and The Golden Ass. Write a focus statement that clearly identifies one major point of comparison between these works, and presents your perspective regarding that comparison. Write an essay proving the focus statement.
3. Matthew and Confessions (write on either 3A or 3B, depending on your perspective)
"….even if there were no metaphysical or traditional grounds for believing in a god, men would postulate one simply as a pretext for living hard, and getting out of the game of existence its keenest possibilities of zest." William James, "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life."
3.A. How does the God presented in Matthew represent an experience of "living hard" [i.e. intensely] or of the "keenest possibilities of zest"? How is that experience refined, altered, contradicted or reiterated in St. Augustine’s faith?
3.B. What aspects of the God presented in Matthew are inconsistent, in your view, with the experiences of "living hard" or of the "keenest possibilities of zest"? How are those aspects refined, altered, contradicted or reiterated in St. Augustine’s faith?
Second Paper Topics – Due April 11
ALL papers should have a focus statement rather than a title, and incorporate a careful, clear, text-based exposition of the principal relevant arguments in the assigned texts, written with the assumption that your reader has not read the texts. This applies to visual as well as written texts. NO research should be involved in your papers. See Ten Commandments for guidelines on writing.
1. War – Holy and Just. Compare the concepts of Holy War in the Islam readings and Just War in St. Thomas Aquinas and the handouts I gave you from St. Augustine. You may, if you like, consider the applicability of these concepts to
the war in Iraq; I would suggest that your analysis include both the perspectives of the U.S. administration and of the Iraqi insurgents.
2. Time and the origins of the universe. Compare Maimonides and Augustine on time, or the origins of the universe, or both. (Focus on Augustine Book XI on time and XII on the creation of the universe.) Pay careful attention both to the substance of their opinions and their styles of writing; how do their respective styles elucidate their philosophies?
3. Civilization, Discontent, and Christianity. In Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud argues that "the victory of Christianity over the heathen religions" owed its success to a "deep and long-standing dissatisfaction with the then existing state of civilization" . Discuss how the mysticism readings and Dante illustrate this fundamental dissatisfaction. How does Christianity, or mysticism, respond to this dissatisfaction?
Third Paper Topics
Due Date: April 27. It is recommended that all options except 3 start with a focus statement.
1. Machiavelli, Dante, and Tennyson. Compare Machiavelli’s perspective on one aspect of the human condition (defined in your focus statement) to the perspective in Dante’s Inferno and in Tennyson’s Ulysses. The weight of your analysis should focus on Machiavelli, rather than Dante or Tennyson.
2. Fine arts option. Choose one Leonardo Da Vinci painting (a color reproduction, either from the Honors CDRom or a book, but not one of the paintings we discussed in class). Choose one painting or sculpture from the Middle Ages. Create a "word portrait" of each and, using some of the other texts from this semester, use your analysis of these works of art as a springboard to explore some key differences between the culture of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance. You may refer to The Making of the West text (available for borrowing from Debra Small in Colvin office) as well as to lectures in developing this essay, but rely solely on your own interpretation of the works of art. Attach a color photocopy of the works you will be discussing, unless they are from the CDRom.
3. Creative option. "I never had sex with that woman." So testified President Bill Clinton, under oath, regarding White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Nick Machiavelli, a Democratic Senator from New York State, and Dante Aligheiri, a Republic Senator from a Bible Belt state, are serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the midst of its deliberations on whether or not to recommend impeachment of the President. Over dinner in a Capitol Hill restaurant, they discuss the proceedings. Neither Senator has read the other’s famous book, and each is eager to quote from their texts, and use them to persuade their colleague of the correct course of action in this case. Recreate their dialogue, managing to convey the essence of each writer’s moral perspective, to apply it to President Clinton’s situation, and to portray what you might imagine to be their respective personalities.
Tisher’s Ten Commandments for Analytic Essays
These are guidelines. You won’t necessarily be struck by lightning for occasionally deviating from them. But careful consideration of these principles will make you a better writer.
1. Write a manageable focus statement, then prove it in the essay. Be an effective advocate for your proposition.
2. Intrigue and captivate the reader with your first sentence.
3. Write a first paragraph that is a step by step roadmap of the whole of your analysis (often best written later rather than earlier in the process).
4. Create a discrete task for each paragraph, and arrange your paragraphs in a logical order. Introduce the task in the first sentence of that paragraph. This first sentence should be a statement of opinion or analysis, not of fact.
5. Paragraphs should be at least five sentences long and each sentence should relate to the idea expressed in the introductory sentence of the paragraph. For example, if you’re comparing two works in one paragraph, you should reference both and state the essence of the comparison in the first sentence. Don’t shift topics in midstream in a paragraph. If you’re summarizing plot, your summary should be essentially relevant and related to the point of the paragraph.
6. Text is the essential raw material of your analysis. Every paragraph except perhaps the first should quote from text (here’s where you use your reading notes). Don’t just throw in block quotes that seem to be relevant. When you use a longer quote, spend at least as much space after the quote analyzing it and tying it into your argument. Experiment with weaving short quotes – a few words – into your own writing.
7. Use the grammar and spell check functions of your computer – they work! Avoid passive voice. Usually avoid the "I" word.
8. Once you’ve mastered the basics, experiment with metaphors and creative word choice – for verbs as well as adverbs and adjectives. Get used to browsing a thesaurus.
9. When you’re done with the first draft, have a friend read just the first sentences of each paragraph and then try to guess the general progression of your argument. If your reader’s confused, rewrite those first sentences so they relate to one another in a logical sequence and to the focus statement.
10. (Hardest of all) The final paragraph should not be purely repetitive. Lift your reader just one step beyond all that went before in your analysis. Slightly surprise and delight her. Note: a very integrated essay will hint at this revelation in the first paragraph.
Good writing can inspire, entertain, persuade, and make good things happen in the world. Possess that power!
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