English 102 Writing 2 Honors
Writing and
Critical Thinking
Spring 2004
Dr. Andrew Sachs asachs@buffalo.edu or asachs5963@aol.com
Class Time: 11—11:50 MWF
Rooms: Clemen 206 and Clemen 128 (the computer
room)
Office Hours: 1—1:50 MW Clemens 313 or by appointment
Welcome to English 102., Writing and Critical Thinking. In many ways this course, especially the first few weeks of the semester, may be much like other writing courses you have had. You will work on (among other things) the always difficult tasks of finding and narrowing topics, writing thesis statements, formulating clear and effective organizations, developing paragraphs, arguing, integrating outside research, and revising drafts to a polished form. Grammar, syntax, and other issues will be treated on an as-needed basis.
However, this class may be different from your previous writing class experience.
Course Goal and Philosophy:
This course is aimed primarily at improving student’s engagement with disciplinary subject matter.
The premise of this class is that integrating writing and other critical thinking activities into the course increases students’ learning while teaching them thinking skills for posing questions, proposing hypotheses, gathering and analyzing data, and making arguments, applicable to any discipline or interest. Sucessfully integrating writing and critical thinking tasks may increase teaching and learning pleasure too: class discusssions may be richer, students may become more fully engaged in their learning, and the quality of their performance may improve.
To appreciate how writing is linked to learning and critical thinking, we can begin with a brief discussion of how we might define critical thinking.
Critical Thinking Rooted in Problems. The education philosopher John Dewey (1916) rooted critical thinking in the student’s engagement with a problem. “The most significant question which can be asked, “ says Dewey, “about any situation or experience proposed to induce learning is what quality of problem it involves. ” Problems, for Dewey, evoke student’s natural curiosity and stimulate both learning and critical thought. Only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem first hand, seeking and finding his [or her} way out, does [the student] think.”
Part of the difficulty of teaching critical thinking, therefore is awakening students to the existence of problems all around them. Meyers (1986), who agrees with Dewey that problems are naturally motivating, argues that teachers ought to begin every class with “something that is a problem and a cause for wonder” Meyers quotes philosopher and chemist Michael Polanyi, who claims that “as far down the scale of life as worms and even perhaps amoebas, we meet the general alertness of animals, not directed towards any specific satisfaction, but merely exploring what is there: an urge to achieve intellectual control over the situations confronting [them].” Presenting students with problems, then, taps into something natural and self-fulfilling in our beings. As Brookfield (1987) claims, critical thinking is “a productive and positive” activity. Critical thinkers are actively engaged with life.”
This belief in the natural, healthy, and motivating pleasure of problems—and in the power of well-designed problems to awaken and stimulate the passive and unmotivated student—is one of the underlying premises of this class.
The Link Between Writing and Critical Thinking. Given this view of critical thinking, what is the connection with writing? Quite simply, writing is both a process of doing critical thinking and a product communicating the results of critical thinking. Writing instruction goes sour whenever writing is conceived primarily as a “communication skill” rather than as a process and product of critical thought. If writing is merely a communication skill, then we primarly ask of it, “Is the writing clear?” But if writing is critical thinking, we ask, “Is the writing interesting? Does it show a mind actively engaged with a problem? Does it bring something new to readers? Does it make an argument?” Academic writing, as this course explains, begins with the posing of a problem, a “solution” that must be supported with the kinds of reasons and evidence that are valued in the discipline. Writers produce multiple drafts because the act of writing is itself an act of discovery or, in Dewey’s terms, of “wrestling with the conditions of the problem” at hand. Behind the scenes of a finished product is a messy process of exploratory writing, conversation, discarded drafts, and midnight agony.
A crucial step in teaching critical thinking is to develop good assignment problems for students to think about. Tasks will range from major disciplinary issues down to tiny questions about the meaning of a key passage in a course reading. The kind of questions you ask in this course depend on the nature of the questions you tend to ask (in your discipline; in your life in generally) and on the subject matter that you choose. This means, that for the most part, you will be allowed and encouraged to write about topics that interest you. You will be given plenty of room to think for yourself.
Major Papers. You will complete four major paper assignments. The assignments will range in length—two or more pages--depending on the task. Some assignments are built in stages, mini papers might lead to other papers, then a final product. Papers will require drafts, unless you are told otherwise
Portfolios. You will need to purchase a portfolio (roomy folder) in which you will collect and turn in your papers.
Saving Papers and course writing. Please purchase a floppy disk so that you can keep back up copies of in class writing and papers..
Class exercises. Class exercises are often assigned, on an as-needed basis. These exercises are not
individually graded; however, you get credit or deduction depending on if you do them or not. (Plan on about fifteen of them; they cannot be made up if missed.)
Metaphor and Analogy Papers 10%
Media Review 15%
Argument Research Paper 20%
Synthesis Research Paper 25%
Class Exercises 5%
Engagement 5%
Final Portfolio 10%
Paper Policies and Procedures.
· Each paper takes about a week for the instructor to evaluate and grade.
·
Late papers will
take two or more weeks to return
· Papers that require a Works Cited list will fail if they do not include a Works Cited page, formatted according to the Modern Language Association’s guidelines. Do not use any other format! Papers that use a “different” format fail automatically! .
· Papers, including drafts, must be formatted according to the Modern Language Association’s guidelines for formatting papers. At a minimum, this means that all essays, including drafts, must be typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. All papers must have a heading. Papers must have page numbers (papers without page numbers will automatically receive a deduction of ½ a letter grade). Papers’ pages must be staple together.
·
You must submit final versions of every paper in order to receive a passing grade in the course.
·
Mechanics (grammar, syntax, spelling, etc.) will receive
deductions on a cumulative basis. This
course assumes that you already are competent in these areas, meaning that you
can recognize and fix your own writing errors.
However, we will use class time to study these issues if a sufficient
number of student papers demonstrate the need for remedial work. Otherwise, there is plenty of help available
with your instructor outside of class or at the writing center.
·
Unless otherwise indicated, papers must be turned in as
hard copy, in your portfolio, in class.
They should not be turned in individually and on line.
Readings. Please purchase The Little, Brown Handbook, Brief Version by Jane Aaron, at the bookstore. This is a handbook of rules for writers, covering the basics of composition. You must bring it to class each class day.
On occasion, you will be given additional readings in the form of short handouts and/essays designed to supplement your class learning.
Attendance. You must be in class, and you must be on time. Attendance is kept on a spot check basis. You are allowed not less than one week but no more than two weeks of absences before your final grade begins to suffer, to an extent determined by me. I reserve the right to fail any student who misses seven or more classes. If you are more than ten minutes late, you will be marked absent for the day.
Etiquette. Please turn off cell phones before coming to class. Sleeping in class, carrying on
private conversations, and otherwise—“misbehaving”—is noticed by your instructor and classmates. Such behavior reflects poorly on you, is disrespectful to others, and it will definitely affect your grade.
Likewise, enthusiastic, well intentioned, and relevant participation is rewarded!
Although
you can expect some “lively” discussion in class, students are expected to
respect gender, sexual identity, racial, religious and other differences in
others.
Incompletes The Incomplete grade may be given only to
students who have (1) fulfilled the attendance requirement for the course and
(2) completed all but one of the written assignments.
The campus has a Writing Center (no appointment necessary). For issues outside of writing (study skills, counseling, special services, financial aid), the campus is equipped with many student support services. I am happy to refer you to any of these, especially if you suspect that you have a disability—physical, learning, social—which might impede your progress in the class. Do not procrastinate in seeking out help; there is plenty of help to be had!
Mid-semester conferences. Conferences will be held on February 27 through March 3, before the March 5 deadline for dropping the class. By February 27 you will have completed three of your four major paper assignments. Students should bring a letter of self-evaluation to the conferences.
Semester completion. Revision Workshops. Plan your semester so that you have completed your last major paper (the Synthesis Paper) by April 9. The final two weeks of the semester consists of revision workshops. On April 26, the last regular class day, you will turn in you final portfolio, which consists of 3 revised papers.
Calendar
Repetoire of Ways that Students will be given Thinking Tasks
Thinking of Questions that You Want to Address.
A crucial first step in this class is to develop some good problems for you to think and write about. To that end, develop a stockpile of critical thinking problems based on your course’s subject matter.
Write out four final examination essay questions for each of all of your other courses—questions that you think require both subject matter knowledge and critical thinking. In class, we will then discuss the kinds of critical thinking needed and the relative difficulty of each question, sometimes offering suggestions on ways to improve questions to elicit the kinds and levels of critical thinking you think that your instructor in these classes seeks.
Such questions will be integrated into the fabric of this course, as starting points for other critical thinking activites, and formal and informal writing assignment, where in all cases , they can stimulate curiosity, drive inquiry, and promote learning.
The point of these question also, is to find questions (disciplinary problems) whose inquirers must
develop and support provisional answers to.
Paper Three Project:
Thinking skills goal: To increase students’ ability to engage the art of question asking in a particular discipline.
Writing goal: communicate the results of your thinking in a seven to ten page research paper.
Evaluation goals: Pragmatic: nuts and bolts (sentence mechanics, paragraphing, etc)
Phase one: Break into groups and brainstorm ten possible questions related to one of the the topics below. After this phase, groups must then refine their lists into the two or three best questions and explain to the class why each question is a particularly good one.
Researches often pose questions that have the following generic structure:”What is the effect of X on Y”? For example, “What is the effect of varying amounts of light on the growth of Escherichia coli?’” or “What is the effect of an improved freshman advising system on students’ retention rate between freshman and sophomore years?” Using these examples as models, develop three good research questions that you could ask about each of the following topics: steroids, day-care centers, the human immunodefiency virus, gangs.
Phase two: Submit to the class and to the instructor a three to four page prospectus that describes the problem or question that you plan to address and shows why the question is (1) problematic and (2) significant. (The prospectus later serves as a rough draft of the introduction). Attach to the prospectus an annotated bibliography of no less than 10 sources. These sources may not include websites.
In responding to the prospectus, the class will guide the student toward an appropriately delineated question and thesis.
Phase three: Submit to class two sentences—your introductory question and your thesis statement. These will be written on the board and checked for focus and direction. Conceptual problems at this stage can often be solved in class, or though individual or group conferences or though referral of the student to a writing center consultant.
Phase four: Write an essay of seven to ten pages on one of the topics that you have chosen. Use the introduction of your essay to engage your reader’s interest in the problem that you would like to address in your essay. Show your reader what makes the question both significant and problematic. The body of your essay should be your own response to this question made as persuasive as possible though appropriate analysis and argumentation, including effective use of evidence.
Major Paper Assignment I
Creativity Exercise:
Thinking Skills goal: To engage a writing exercise that stretches language and thinking skills in valuable ways and leads to interesting class discussions about the role of language in shaping what we know.
Writing goal: To communicate the results of your thinking in three , two to three page papers.
Evaluation Goals: Sentence mechanics, expository, paragraphing, formatting—creativity/development
Metaphor Games, Extended Analogies.
Phase One: Metaphoric or analogic thinking looks at X from the perspective of Y. It can make the familiar strange or the strange familiar. In a two to three page essay construct your own metaphors for the writing process. Afterward we will compare the insights arising from each other’s metaphors. “Writing a formal essay is like---------(pulling teeth? Having a baby? Swimming? Building a model airplane? Baking a cake? Growing a garden? Enduring torture?).
Phase Two: Next, this game will be extended to comparative analogies: “Creative writing is like---------, but formal essay writing is like--------.” Use the previous statement to extend your analogy into a two to three page paper.
Phase Three: Because analogic thinking is ubiquitous, it is an easy matter to create metaphoric or analogic games for topics in any discipline. Here are just a few examples: “Baroque music is like -------, but romantic music is like-------.” “The difference between Aquinas’s view of the human person and Kierkegaard’s view is like the difference between --------- and ---------.” More freewheeling thinkers might push metaphor games for playful limits with metaphoric questions such as these: “How does the weather change as you go from Freud’s view of personality to B.F. Skinner’s?”
For this two to three page write in response to the question: “ If George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein were car designers, what would be the differences in their cars?”.
Students almost always enjoy metaphor games, which opens up complex questions about language, reality, and thought. Finding the apt metaphor can be a wonderful exercise in clarifying a concept. But as the fallacy of false analogy reminds us, metaphors can also obscure and distort.
August
26 T Introductions
28 R Lecture and Discussion: Writing for the Professions
September
2 T Assign
and begin paper one. Topic: Why
writing is or is not important to one’s
intended career. Minimum requirements: three to four pages typed; a draft and revision.
4 R Peer Group Work; discuss writing and revision
9 T Paper I, draft and revision due, turned in in portfolio. Paper II: Media Review,
assigned. Three to four pages. Draft due:
Tuesday, 16 Sept. For next class
bring in a copy of a media review for group reading and discussion.
11 R Read and discuss copies of reviews
16 T Media Review drafts due. Peer Review
18 R Library Tour
23 T Media Review due, in portfolio.
25 R Open
30 T Assign and Discuss Essay III: The Persuasive Essay, five to seven pages
October
2 R Sentence Mechanics
7 T Thesis
9 R Topic Sentences
14 T Paragraphs
16 R Integrating Outside Sources
21 T Citing Sources
23 R Argumentation
28 T Draft of Persuasive Essay Due
30 R Peer Review and Workshop, Persuasive Essay
November
4 T Introductions and Conclusions
6 R Persuasive Essay Due
11 T Open
13 R Organization of the Paper Body. Research Paper and Annotated Bibliography Assigned
Research Paper is 8-10 pages. Bibliography must document at least five sources.
18 T Annotated Bibliography Due (Be sure to keep a back up copy)
20 R Workshop Research Paper Thesis
25 T Workshop Continued
Semester Break November 26--28
December
2 T Sensitivity to Bias in Writing
4 R Last day of class. Research Paper due. On this date, three of your papers must be
turned in in your portfolio.
May
19 M Course Introduction, Impromptu Essay assigned. Draft due: Thursday, May 22
20 T Activity: in class writing. Review concept of writing as a process
22 Th Draft of Impromptu Essay due. Workshop papers. Review sentence mechanics
26 M No class. Memorial Day
27 T Final version of Paper I due, turned in in portfolio. Media Review assigned. Draft
due: Monday, June 2
29 Th Review thesis, organization, and sentence mechanics
June
2 M Media Review drafts due. Workshop papers.
3 T Open
5 Th Final version, Media Review due, in portfolio. Assign Persuasive Essay. Draft due
Monday June 9
9 M Persuasive essay draft due. Workshop. Discuss introductions, conclusion, thesis,
organization, evidence, integrating outside sources, and the Works Cited page.
10 T Continue discussion of Monday’s topics.
12 Th Final version of Persuasive Essay due, in portfolio. Assign Research Paper. Draft due:
Tuesday June 17
16 M Library Research Day. On this day you will be free to go to the library to conduct
research
17 T Research Paper drafts due. Workshop.
19 Th Workshop continued
23 M Research Essay final version due, in portfolio. Discuss Reflection Essay
24 T Open
26 Th Reflection Essay, final version to be
written in class.
28 F Peer review continued
March
3 M Essay III final version due, in portfolio
5 W Assign Essay IV (Persuasive essay), draft and three copies due 19 March, final version
due 24 March
7 F No class
10 M Watch videotape about essay IV. Read about Arguments (83—99); also Research and
Documentation (384—484)
12 W Review arguments, evidence, incorporating outside sources, specific purposes and central
ideas for persuasive essays.
14 F Continue with discussion of above topics
17 M Open
19 W Draft, three copies due Essay IV; peer review in class
21 F Peer review
24 M Essay IV final version due in portfolio
26 W Library Tour
28 F Essay V (Research essay) assignment. Proposal due April 11. Final version due April 28
Homework: Review MLA documentation guidelines and working with sources
31 M MLA guidelines and incorporating sources (we will emphasize how to incorporated
source material into paragraphs)
April
2 W Continue above. For next class, come prepared to write your specific purpose and thesis
on the board for a workshop
4 F Workshop
7 M Workshop
9 W Workshop
11 F Proposals due
14 M teacher/student paper conference
16 W conference
18 F No class
28 M Research Paper (final and only version) due with proposal, in portfolio
30 W Letter of Reflection
assigned. Due May 9. Homework: Writing for Business (524—527)
2 F In class drafting of Letter of Reflection
5 M Letter of Reflection continued
7 W Open
9 F Turn in portfolio with Letter of Reflection
on top, and all papers below
12 M Last regular class day
Final Exam period to be announced. Activity: portfolio review