Faculty and Staff - Sharon Tisher - HON 310 Syllabus
Spring 2006
Sharon S. Tisher
Class: Wednesdays 2:10-5:00, 107 Colvin
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:
Class participation (attendance, preparation, quality and quantity of participation): 20%
Weekly assignments (collective quizzes, reaction papers, etc.): 30%
Final paper: 40%
Final paper presentation: 10%
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.
Final paper: Your final paper will be due on April 26, and 20 minute class presentations on the final papers will take place on April 26 and May 3. A "focus" or "thesis" statement for the final paper will be due on April 12. Conferences to help develop your final paper focus are encouraged, scheduled at your request. It is expected that the final paper will be an original comparative analysis of at least two texts (or films, etc.) related to the themes in the course, and that it will make use of additional materials addressed in the course to articulate the depth and breadth of your understanding of your chosen issue. One text may be one of those we address in class, the other should be one you choose as an extra reading. The texts not chosen as class units are fertile ground for a paper focus. Additionally many references in Why We Lie might inspire a paper.
The paper should be 10 to 15 pages double spaced, and free of grammatical and technical errors.
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. Unexcused 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 class, which you are free to use to share and exchange ideas about the class 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.
Helpful resources on 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
Schedule for First Classes
January 18: introductions, discussion of class requirements, selection of texts.
January 25: Why We Lie
Assignment: Due by e-mail to me (not folder) 10:00 a.m.
January 25.
1. Write 6 quiz questions (short answer, fill in the blank, true false, or multiple choice) covering important and interesting aspects of the Why We Lie text. Don’t include the answer with the question, but be sure you know the answer for class, and can cite to the relevant page of the text. No more than two questions from any one chapter.
2. In your own words, write two "hypothesis" statements that reflect in your view the most important and interesting arguments of the Why We Lie text. These reflect the point of view of the author, and do not have to be statements with which you agree.
In class we will discuss these and work with them to develop two or three hypothesis statements that we will carry forward to "test" in our examination of later texts throughout the course.
February 1: Honors texts matching exercise, and lie self-analysis.
Assignment:
1. Pick one example of an occasion in your life that you have lied. It may be a very minor, or a very major lie. Write a 2-3 page "reaction" paper regarding this lie, which describes it and addresses the following questions:
1. What motivated it, consciously?
2. Can you identify some other, unconscious motivations for it?
3. What did it achieve for you?
4. What was its impact on you?
5. What was its impact on others around you, both the recipient of the lie, bystanders, and if applicable relevant institutions?
6. Was it a "spontaneous" lie or a "cynical and calculated" lie (See text, p. 15). Or something else?
7. If you had to do it all over again, would you? Why or why not?
You may also address any other respect in which this experience illuminated the theories or observations made in the text.
This should be e-mailed to me by midnight the Tuesday before class, January 31. You will be asked to present regarding your paper in class. It will be understood that class discussions and presentations in this regard (and generally, in this course) are confidential when they relate to personal stories and do not go outside of the class.
2. Do the Honors texts matching exercise I will hand out. Bring it to class. I will check them to be sure you have done it, but not grade it. Use it to think about how perspectives on lying have changed across time and culture. This will be a focus of our class discussion.
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!
Back to Sharon Tisher
