Writing Conference Schedule

Just in case you forget where and when you're supposed to be meeting me:

Monday, October 1 (MAN 503)
10:00am: Szyman
10:15am: Raia
10:30am: Hallinan
10:45am: Kinnear
11:00am: Edwards

Monday, October 1 (NGT 456)
11:30am: Baldasare
12:00pm: Mattsey
12:15pm: Jaeger

Wednesday, October 3 (MAN 503)
10:00am: Fimognari
10:15am: Azucey
10:30am: Taylor
10:45am: Zeolla
11:00am: Berman

Wednesday, October 3 (NGT 456)
11:30am: O'Rourke
11:45am: Daly
12:00pm: Blanco
12:15pm: Doring

See you then.

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/26

There actually is NO assignment for Wednesday. Just keep plugging away on your essays. We'll spend some time discussing how the assignment will be graded --and have a few more things to say about capitalist America.

No Assignment for Wednesday, 9/26

'nuff said. Just keep working on your essay assignment.

Focused Freewriting Assignment

Focused Freewriting

As part of your contributions to class participation, I have already asked you to complete a number of in-class writing assignments. This current assignment, like the others, will not be graded, or even collected and looked at by me. However, unlike the others, this is a recurring assignment that will be a part of almost every class. From today forward, you will write for the first five minutes of the class period. Understandably, you might ask in response: about what should I write? I will write a question on the board at the beginning of each class; the question often (although perhaps not always) will be related to the reading and topic for the day’s discussion.

You will address this question using a technique known as focused freewriting. When you freewrite, you put your pen to paper and write nonstop for a set period of time. The point is not to worry about grammar, spelling, or organization, but instead to “think aloud” on paper. Write as fast as you can. If your mind suddenly dries up, just write “relax” or some other key word over and over again until a new thought enters your mind. Whatever you do, keep writing. (Of course, you can stop long enough to uncramp your hand.)

The purpose of this assignment is not to improve your writing skills, at least not directly –although any practice at writing, even if “exploratory,” may help with such skills. Instead, the aim here is to stimulate thinking about issues, questions, and problems raised by the question of American exceptionalism. This writing is intended for YOU, and you alone, so the standard features of formal writing, such as organization, sentence structure, and neatness do not matter. (While it is possible that, from time to time, I may ask for volunteers to read from their freewriting, response will be optional. I will always be sure to let you know BEFORE you start freewriting if I expect you to share it with others.)

Writing of this type can help students become more productive and focused thinkers. Research has shown that regular “journal” writing such as this can help students see that an academic field is an area of inquiry and controversy rather than just a series of facts to be mastered. The more you find yourselves asking questions and questioning answers, the more you will think like a true scholar rather than a passive trainee.

Remember, this will be an ongoing assignment. Unless I specify otherwise, you will need to freewrite at the beginning of each class. You are welcome to devote a separate notebook to your freewriting exercises and keep it as a kind of a class journal. Or you could scribble on various scraps of paper and toss them after class (although I think that you might find them useful in the future, at least for generating paper ideas). What you do with your freewriting is up to you. Still, I hope and expect that this exercise will help better prepare you for class discussion.

Time: 5 minutes at the beginning of each class (unless otherwise specified)

Essay Assigment #1

Essay Assignment #1

Critical Response Essay

Assignment: Download, and read, “A Look at American Exceptionalism,” by Norwegian journalist Martin Sellevold. The article is available here. After reading the article, write a short essay that offers a critical response to Sellevold’s argument. You need to first IDENTIFY his argument (something you have already done for your summary assignments), and then EVALUATE this argument. Is the author’s thesis persuasive or not? Is his reasoning flawed? Does he need additional evidence?

Your essay should be 3-4 pages, double-spaced, and typed with 1” margins. There is no need to include citations because, in this case, I know exactly what source you are using. However, if you quote from the article, please format the quotation properly.

Objectives: The goal of this essay is to help you make the transition from summarizing a text to offering a critical response, complete with thesis statement and supporting textual evidence. You will need to employ critical reading skills (to provide a close and detailed reading of the text) and critical thinking skills (to formulate a response to the reading). These critical reading and thinking skills provide the foundation for critical writing.

I suggest that you follow these steps in completing the assignment:

1. Read the whole work, noting key ideas and concepts (either annotating the text itself or keeping your own notes).
2. Determine the essay’s thesis and the main points that the author uses to support this thesis. Write a preliminary summary of each of these main points.
3. Formulate a (tentative) opinion about the essay with regards to the author’s success or failure in supporting the thesis. NOTE: This is different from agreeing or disagreeing with the author's thesis. Form an opinion regarding how effectively the author argues his/her point, whether you agree with it or not.
4. Move from a general reaction to the essay towards a more focused statement about it. In other words, edit the thoughts you formulated about the essay into one statement (your preliminary thesis statement).
5. Once you’ve identified a preliminary thesis statement, prepare a tentative outline that organizes each of the points you will use to support your thesis. This outline should identify what textual evidence you plan to use to support your ideas.
6. Once you have an outline, you are ready to start writing your first draft. Write the draft based on the outline, but do NOT feel that you have to slavishly follow it. If, while writing the essay, you discover alternative points or different ways of structuring your argument, modify the outline to match.

Deadlines: Your first draft of the essay will be due IN CONFERENCE with me on either Monday, October 1 or Wednesday, October 3. (A sign-up sheet for conference times will be available in class a week ahead of time.) We will meet one-on-one for a 15-minute conference concerning the draft. You should bring TWO COPIES of the draft paper (you will read one copy while I read the other).

Based on availability, you can decide which of the two days you will meet with me, but be aware of the trade-offs involved. For example, meeting Wednesday gives you more time to complete your first draft, but leaves you with less time for revision. If you absolutely cannot make the scheduled meeting times, contact me to arrange an alternative meeting time.

Your final draft is due on Wednesday, October 10, at the beginning of class. You should attach your first draft, because I will want to see how much you have revised the essay since your draft. You can attach either a clean copy of your first draft or, preferably, an edited copy with your notations (and, in some cases, mine).

Just to be clear, these again are the deadlines:

Monday, October 1/Wednesday, October 3
First Draft Due (2 copies)

Wednesday, October 10
Final Draft Due (w/ 1st draft attached)

Grading: Grading will be based on the criteria provided in your syllabus. However, four additional considerations will also be factored into your grade:

• If you do not meet with me in conference to discuss your first draft, I will deduct a full letter grade from your grade for the assignment.
• If you hand in your essay late, without a valid and documented excuse, I will deduct a full letter grade from your grade for the assignment.
• If you do not attach your first draft to the final draft, I will deduct a third of a letter grade from your grade for the assignment.
• In general, you should revise extensively between the first draft and final draft. A lack of revision will be reflected negatively in the final grade.

Assignment for Monday, 9/24

Besides starting work on your Essay Assignment, read (and, if you want, summarize) Seymour Martin Lipset's article, "Still the Exceptional Nation?" I handed out copies in class. If you missed class, however, you can obtain a copy from the online holdings of the library; it was published in the Winter 2000 issue of the Wilson Quarterly (Winter 2000, Vol. 24, Issue 1, beginning p. 31).

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/19

The title of this post is actually a misnomer: there is no assignment for next time. Make sure you are caught up on your reading, however, as we may continue our discussion of race if we have time.

Assignment for Monday, 9/17

Please read Tocqueville, Chapter XVIII (18), "The Present and Probable Future Condition of the Three Races Which Inhabit the Territory of the United States." You do not have to read the entire chapter, which is very long, but only the first third of it. Specifically, read:
-- All of the introductory section
-- All of the section titled, "The Present and Probably Future Condition of the Indian Tribes which Inhabit the Territory Possessed by the Union"
-- The beginning of the section titled, "Situation of the Black Population in the United States, and Dangers with Which Its Presence Threatens the Whites," up until the discussion of Ohio and Kentucky. (Stop reading at the paragraph that begins, "The State of Kentucky was founded in 1775, the State of Ohio only twelve years later.")

Let me know if you have any questions about what to read. As a reminder, please note that you can feel free to summarize this reading.

Assignment for Wednesday, 9/12

For Wednesday, you will read something that was written a little more recently than Tocqueville - although only by about 60 years or so. Please read Frederick Jackson Turner's famous essay, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." First presented in 1893, the entire essay is available online here; however, you only need to read the second half of the essay, beginning with this paragraph:

"Having now roughly outlined the various kinds of frontiers, and their modes of advance, chiefly from the point of view of the frontier itself, we may next inquire what were the influences on the East and on the Old World. A rapid enumeration of some of the more noteworthy effects is all that I have time for."

If you end up printing the essay, this means that you only need to print/read from around page 8 to 15. (I don't think you'll find the footnotes helpful, so don't bother with them either.)

ALSO: Make sure you look over the Summary Guidelines we discussed in class, and especially read the Sample Summary that was handed out (and also available here). You may not have read the original reading that it summarizes, but the sample should give you a general idea of what I'm looking for in a summary. Bring any questions about the sample, or summaries in general, to class on Wednesday; you will need to summarize the next assigned reading over the weekend.

Assignment for Monday, 9/10

In Tocqueville's Democracy in America, read Volume 1, Chapter XVII, "Principal Causes which Tend to Maintain the Democratic Republic in the United States." Please note that you do NOT have to read the entire chapter; there are some sections about religion that we will likely read later in the course, plus some stuff about Europe that we will not. Instead, read the first paragraph, and then the materials following these sub-headings:

• Accidental or Providential Causes Helping to Maintain a Democratic Republic in the United States
• Influence of the Laws upon the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States
• Influence of Manners [or Mores or Customs] upon the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States
• The Laws Contribute More to the Maintenance of the Democratic Republic in the United States Than Do the Physical Circumstances of the Country, and Mores [Manners] Do More Than the Laws

That will give us plenty to talk about. Enjoy your weekend.