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Composition and Literature
English 112 Fall 2008
John M. Krafft
Office: 224 Rentschler Hall
Office Hours: Mon. 8:45– 9:15 and 1:00– 1:30
Tue. 1:00– 2:00
Wed. 1:00– 2:00
Thu. 10:15–11:15
Fri. 8:45– 9:15
and by appointment
Office Phone: 785–3031
Home Phone: 868–2330 (Call me at home at any time for any reason.)
E-mail: krafftjm@muohio.edu
WWW: <http://www.ham.muohio.edu/~krafftjm>
Texts:
Gwynn and Zani, eds., Inside Literature: Reading, Responding, Arguing
Hacker, A Writer's Reference, with Writing About Literature, 6th ed.
A novel you help choose
A collegiate dictionary
Syllabus:
Don't feel limited by the syllabus: read whatever else you want to whenever you want to. For one thing, it's fun. For another, reading something that hasn't been assigned can give you ideas about something that has been.
Bring Inside Literature and A Writer's Reference to class every day even if you don't think you will need them.
Mon. 8/25— Introduction to the course
Wed. 8/27— This syllabus: by now you are to have read it (including the computing guide) carefully, not just scanned it, highlighting points to remember or to ask me about; read all the selections in the fourth “Poetry” section in Gwynn, pages 820–44.
Fri. 8/29— Hacker, from “Academic Writing,” 57–90
Mon. 9/ 1— No class
Wed. 9/ 3— Walker, “Everyday Use,” 966–
Fri. 9/ 5— Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown,” 525–
Mon. 9/ 8— Hacker, from “Writing About Literature,” L-1–L-26
Wed. 9/10— Draft workshop: draft of paper 1 due
Fri. 9/12— Paper 1 due; turn in hard copy of your eScholar certificate (see requirement 6 below); workshop follow-up
Mon. 9/15— Third “Poetry” section in Gwynn, 576–601
Wed. 9/17— Discussion cont.
Fri. 9/19— Bambara, “The Lesson,” 384–
Mon. 9/22— Discussion cont.
Wed. 9/24— Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily,” 356–
Fri. 9/26— Discussion cont.
Mon. 9/29— Updike, “A&P,” 556–
Wed. 10/ 1— Draft workshop: draft of paper 2 due
Fri. 10/ 3— Paper 2 due; library instruction: Meet in the library-instruction classroom.
Mon. 10/ 6— Fifth “Poetry” section in Gwynn, 974–1010
Wed. 10/ 8— Discussion cont.
Fri. 10/10— Jackson, “The Lottery,” 787–
Mon. 10/13— O'Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” 1191–
Wed. 10/15— Discussion cont.
Fri. 10/17— Mid-semester holiday: no class
Mon. 10/20— Discussion cont.
Wed. 10/22— Draft workshop: draft of paper 3 due
Fri. 10/24— Paper 3 due; discussion cont.
Mon. 10/27— Glaspell, Trifles, 230–
Wed. 10/29— Discussion cont.
Fri. 10/31— Ives, Sure Thing, 1081–
Mon. 11/ 3— Ibsen, A Doll's House, 1010–, OR A NOVEL WE AGREE TO READ INSTEAD
Wed. 11/ 5— Discussion cont.
Fri. 11/ 7— Discussion cont.
Mon. 11/10— Discussion cont.
Wed. 11/12— Draft workshop: draft of paper 4 due
Fri. 11/14— Paper 4 due; Atwood, “Happy Endings,” 1231–
Mon. 11/17— Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” 1216–
Wed. 11/19— Discussion cont.
Fri. 11/21— Orozco, “Orientation,” 811–
Mon. 11/24— Discussion cont.
Wed. 11/26— Thanksgiving break
Fri. 11/28— No class
Mon. 12/ 1— Kafka, “A Hunger Artist,” 779–
Wed. 12/ 3— Swift, “A Modest Proposal,” 321–
Fri. 12/ 5— Discussion cont.
Mon. 12/ 8— Draft workshop: draft of paper 5 due
Wed. 12/10— Wrap-up
Fri. 12/12— Portfolio including paper 5 due
Finals week, 12/15– — No class: writing courses do not have finals.
Writing Assignments:
The typical writing assignment in English 112 is an essay of about a thousand words that argues for a particular way of understanding a literary text. Such an essay must gain and hold readers' interest. It must tell relatively well-informed readers something they don't already know, or help them see something they think they know in a new way. Most readers do not care what you feel or believe or think, so don't tell them; they care what you know and can give them reason to think, so show them, and explain it.
Effective essays often need to include the results of careful research—not only online but in actual books from a brick-and-mortar library too. They explore, question and test; they examine, explain and demonstrate; they don't just report, but analyze, interpret and judge. They embody systematic critical thinking. Effective essays are also well written—logically and coherently organized, adequately developed, appropriately documented, and unmarred by lapses in grammar, diction, punctuation or the like.
I rarely assign specific topics for your papers; I usually give you some latitude to choose among topics or to shape your approach to a topic. Ordinarily, for your audience's sake, you should write about something the whole class has read, but if you want to write about something else, talk to me about it—first. Within the framework of the course and of any assignment, you should write about what interests you so much that you (1) want to learn all you can about it, and (2) want to get others interested in it. If you think you aren't interested, find a way to get interested (you can always talk to me) so you can be interesting.
Inside Literature offers many writing prompts, some better than others. Use any suggested topic to guide your thinking, not limit your explorations. You are welcome to discuss any of Gwynn and Zani's suggestions or your own ideas with me, since I may be able to help or may foresee difficulties you don't.
Few worthwhile assignments are ready-to-wear or one-size-fits-all. Most writing prompts need to be recast in your own language and then the results allowed to evolve so your papers read throughout like the expression of your own ideas and concerns. Try not to write (or think) as if merely or mechanically answering someone else's questions. Make the questions your own. Create papers with their own sense of purpose and source of interest. Your readers should not get the impression you had to be prompted or are taking an exam. Don't try to write only what you think I want; make me want what you write. If you don't, I may not read it.
Moving on to a new assignment doesn't mean abandoning the old ones. You will often be drafting one paper while revising or re-revising another and planning to revise yet another, and your thinking about one project can influence your work on the others. For example, in writing a new paper, you may discover a fresh approach to revising an old one; or you may find that writing a new paper gives you the opportunity to solve a problem left over from an old one. So new papers can build on the work you have done in old ones, and revised papers can seem more like entirely new essays than like reworked versions of old ones.
Course Objectives:
1. To recognize writing, including your own writing, as a means of exploration as well as expression; to cultivate the discipline and skills that foster confidence, fluency and effectiveness in writing; to cultivate and demonstrate maturity in thought and style.
2. To learn to engage and reward readers' interest.
3. To become sensitive to the effects of diction, imagery, sentence structure and organization in both what we read and what we write, and thus to gain greater control over the effects our writing choices have on our readers.
4. To learn to express observations in appropriate specific detail and to substantiate generalizations, assertions and claims with evidence.
5. To continue to develop skill in exposition and argument.
6. To achieve writing that is free of grammatical, mechanical, usage and spelling problems.
7. To cultivate the attitudes and skills that make reading both a pleasure and an occasion for critical reflection; to learn to read, discuss and write about literature sensitively, analytically and persuasively; to begin to question what literature is and does, how and why it does it, to and for whom; to begin to question what readers do to and with literature, how and why; to understand the historical, social and cultural contexts of literature (how it is influenced and, in turn, has significance and influence); in short, to become venturesome and sophisticated readers and writers.
8. To participate in open, free, thought-provoking discussion; to learn from and with others; to learn by helping others learn.
Procedures:
1. We will read and discuss fiction, poetry, plays and an occasional essay.
2. We will write and write, and rewrite and rewrite.
3. We will sometimes break up into small groups to discuss the readings, to develop plans for writing, and to do peer consulting/critiquing/editing.
4. We will study principles and techniques of effective writing.
5. We will sometimes discuss portions of your work read aloud, and I may sometimes pass out photocopies of your papers.
6. Try to stop by my office at least two or three times during the semester to talk—whether you need to or not. You can make an appointment or just drop in.
7. I will gladly hold workshops or study sessions outside class to demonstrate my grading, discuss revising, work on grammar, or whatever you like.
8. If you need an accommodation based on the effect of a disability, contact the Office of Disability Services in 120 Rentschler Hall (785–3211). If you have already registered with the office and would like to discuss arrangements for this class, talk with me privately as soon as possible.
Requirements:
1. Punctual completion of all assigned reading.
You must have completed reading each assignment by the time we begin discussing it. You can't discuss intelligently what you haven't read in its entirety at least once. Even those readings we may not have time to discuss at length are important and useful (I wouldn't assign them if they weren't), and I will assume you have completed them and can draw on them by the due date.
2. Informed and thoughtful participation in class discussion and group work.
3. Satisfactory and punctual completion of all writing assignments—drafts, essays, revisions, exercises, and so on.
4. You will turn in your papers by e-mail as attached Word (.doc—not .docx) files. (I will return papers as printouts, usually within one to two weeks.) Follow standard formatting guidelines as if you were handing in hard copy, especially since you will be making printouts for yourself, for other members of your group, and occasionally for me. Double space (not necessary when doing free writing or other informal work), and leave a one-inch margin all around. I will ask for paper copies of drafts and some miscellaneous work, but otherwise, if I don't specify hard copy, assume I want a file.
5. When we do group work on drafts, you will need enough photocopies or printouts of your draft for everyone in your group, including yourself, to have one—and one for me. To be certain of having enough, bring five (5) paper copies. Do not simply bring your laptop to class and expect others to read from the screen.
6. You will learn to understand and avoid plagiarism (or practice what you already know) by working through the online Miami eScholar tutorial and taking a short test at <http://elearn.lib.muohio.edu/miamiescholar/>. Plan ahead: the tutorial and test may take an hour or more. When you pass the test, you will be e-mailed a certificate to print out and give to me on the day your first paper is due. The certificate implicitly attests that you understand what plagiarism is and therefore cannot plead ignorance if you are later found guilty of having committed it. (Also see elaboration 16 below.) I will not grade your first paper until I have received a hard copy of your certificate.
If you would like even more online help understanding plagiarism, you are welcome to use a tutorial provided by Indiana University, where the policy on plagiarism is very similar to Miami's: <http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eistd/index.html>.
7. If I refer you to the Office of Learning Assistance for tutoring, you must begin going there promptly (within a week) and continue going until you solve your writing problems. You are welcome to get help from your cousin who is an English teacher or from your friend's step-mother's uncle in addition, but not instead of going to Learning Assistance. OLA staff and tutors keep records, and I check.
Attendance:
If you miss more than three classes, I may consider you ineligible to pass the course. (According to University policy, absence for certain religious observances is not an attendance issue as discussed here: see MUPIM 10.1.) If you miss a class, you will still be responsible for what you miss, including assigned reading, for obtaining any other assignments, information or material you need, and also for punctually handing in any written work due or assigned that day. If you come to class late, leave early, or are unprepared, I may count you absent.
Grading:
Miscellaneous informal writing, drafts, first four compositions and intermediate revisions: 1/3
Final revisions of two compositions: 1/3
Last new composition: 1/3
If you fail to hand in two writing assignments, including drafts, on time, I may consider you ineligible to pass the course. You can find yourself in trouble quickly if you are, or appear, negligent, so keep on your toes, and keep in touch with me.
According to University policy, a student may withdraw from a full-semester course through the ninth calendar week of the semester. After the end of the ninth week, a student may not withdraw from a course unless a petition is approved by the Interdivisional Committee of Advisers. For the full policy, see <http://www.miami.muohio.edu/documents_and_policies/handbook/>.
Elaborations and Advice:
1. Keep up with your reading and writing, and always be sure to bring your books, notes and papers to class with you. Even one or two students' not having done their work can damage the substance and morale of class discussion. So if you come to class unprepared, I may ask you to leave and count you absent. I hope that won't happen, since it too can damage class morale. We won't have time to discuss everything you read, but that doesn't mean you don't need to read it or can't use it. If you think reading something we don't discuss is a waste of your time, talk to me about it.
2. When we do group work on drafts, you will need to bring enough photocopies or printouts of your draft for everyone in your group, including yourself, to have one—and one for me. (Do not simply bring your laptop to class and expect others to read from the screen.) Five copies should be enough. Plan ahead. You will not have time to go print or copy once class begins. Allow plenty of time to contend with heavy traffic, computer problems, misbehaving printers and out-of-order copiers. Be on time, and be prepared. Your group needs you, and you need your group; so I cannot logically excuse you for missing a workshop or for not having enough copies of your draft—a complete working draft. If you are not prepared, or if you don't drop off a (paper) copy of your draft for me at the beginning of class, you will have a week to attempt to persuade me, in writing, not to count you absent.
3. Plan ahead, and don't wait till the last minute to begin an essay. You will need plenty of time to think, research, experiment, write, rewrite, and rewrite some more. Don't take for granted that I will give you extra time if you ask for it only after a paper is due. (If you are serious about your work, you will think of the draft date as the due date, the date by which you must have something very much like a finished essay, not “just a draft.”) But before an assignment is due, we can negotiate. If you have a problem with a due date, discuss it with me outside class.
4. If you miss a class, you will necessarily miss something (not just work, but an experience) it would be better not to miss. The class, and especially your workshop group, will also miss having the benefit of your participation. Unfortunately, missing class for a good reason is just as detrimental as missing class for no particular reason. If you know you are going to miss a class, see or call or e-mail me in advance to let me know, partly for courtesy's sake, and partly so I can help you get an early start on overcoming as much of the loss as possible. As with a problem you foresee getting a paper done on time, if you know something that, for your sake, I ought to know, be sure to let me know. Don't leave me guessing. If you have ever been stood up by your date, you know that not getting in touch does send a message. Even illness is not an automatic excuse, especially if you don't call or e-mail me. Simply telling me during the next class that you missed the previous one is irresponsible and insulting. In any case, if you miss either two writing assignments (including drafts) or more than three classes, I may consider you ineligible to pass the course, unless within one week you make a successful detailed written case—an eloquent and persuasive demonstration of your merits as a writer and an asset to the class—for being kept on the roster. Since I am concerned about the effects that missing assignments or classes can have on your writing, you will have the chance to show me in writing that I don't need to worry.
5. We already have some forty-five appointments here over the next four months, so you should not make any medical, dental, legal or other appointments that encroach on class time. You should also be able to say no to an employer who wants you to work during or inconveniently close to class time. If you are in school, in part, so you can get a better job someday, you shouldn't let the worse job you have now get the better of your education. Vacations during the semester also seem frivolous compared to your education. If such an attendance issue arises, discuss it with me ahead of time outside class.
6. Determine to arrive by the time class begins and to stay until it ends. If you ever do arrive late, be discreet and polite about entering, or wait for a lull and then knock. Don't come in while I am reading to the class. Don't walk in front of the class or in front of anyone, including me, who is speaking to the class. If you carry a pager or a phone, turn it off (don't just set it to vibrate) before class begins. Plan not to leave even briefly during class, since it is inevitably distracting. If you must leave, say something to me, or to a neighbor who will tell me, about when or whether you will be back. Otherwise, I may count you absent.
7. Whatever you name your files as you work on your papers (paper1, third.eng, shakespeare-essay.revision5), name the copies you e-mail to me exactly as I specify below, based on (1) your Miami unique ID, (2) the assignment number, and (3) your English 112 section letter (ignoring the H common to all sections on the Hamilton campus). Do not confuse the name of the file with the title of your paper or with anything else written in the file.
Give the files you send me names consisting only of your unique ID plus the number of the assignment plus the letter of your course section, in that order, with no spaces or other characters between elements. For instance, if I were turning in my second paper and were a student in section [H]B, I would save a copy of my paper as a file named krafftjm2b and e-mail that file.
That file-naming scheme is convenient and safe—for me. I can account for your files quickly and easily according to unique ID, assignment number and section letter. I will immediately delete all other files as irrelevant, unsolicited and possibly dangerous.
The easy way to rename an open file is to use the “save as” function on the File menu. To rename a closed file, find and select its name in a file list, press F2, edit the name, and press Enter.
Word automatically adds the extension .doc to every file name (producing file names like krafftjm2b.doc), but that should not affect the part of the file name you control.
While we're on the subject of names, for my convenience, any paper you send me should have your name at the very top (not counting the header, and even if you also include your name in a header or footer), flush left, with no blank lines above it and with nothing else on that first line.
8. This course should challenge you. Reading critically and writing effectively require thinking, and thinking involves questioning (if not changing) what we think we think—possibly even who we think we are. Thinking (reflecting, weighing, testing, evaluating and re-evaluating) is not the same as simply having an opinion; it is much more difficult.
9. Mere opinions as such—mine or yours—don't count for much. Of course we have opinions: so what? If you have ever been stuck beside a bore in a waiting room or on an airplane or bus, you know opinions are not in themselves interesting just because someone has them; so no one else is likely to care about your opinions just because you have them. Readers care about the experiences, perceptions and judgments your writing lets them share and makes them care about. If you present an experience vividly, render a perception precisely, or construct a well-reasoned, amply-supported argument, you offer readers the opportunity to see and feel and think as you do. When you have the chance and the responsibility to do that, merely flaunting your opinion is a cop-out. If your opinion matters in such a case, readers will probably assume it coincides with, indeed stems from, your reasoning, and you might actually spoil your effect by invoking mere opinion.
10. I don't try to force my opinions on you. I do, however, press you to provide the reasons and evidence for what you say. I urge you not to rely on unsupported opinions, but to develop your opinions into credible judgments. I do have many strong convictions on a variety of subjects, but that doesn't mean I expect you to think only what I think: it would be tiresome and pointless if you did. Even when your essays take positions I share, though, I have to read as if I don't already agree with you so I can judge the effectiveness of your presentation. As your English instructor, I am more concerned with how well you reason and express yourself than with what you think. And as a devoted reader, I am eager to have your writing persuade me to think as you do.
11. Good papers come in many forms; so do bad papers. And papers often have both strengths and weaknesses. To evaluate something as complex as an essay with something as starkly simple as a letter grade is difficult. A letter grade can't always adequately represent either a paper's quality or a reader's response. But we seem stuck with the conventional system, crude as it is: A=Excellent; B=Superior; C=Competent; D=Unsatisfactory; F=Unacceptable. (If I resort to a split grade, like A/C, C/F, or even D/B, to indicate a marked discrepancy in content/presentation, the lower grade prevails.) In any case, more important than grades to your development as a writer are the notations and comments I make on your papers. Study them carefully, discuss them with me, then revise, revise, revise. Your grades are in your hands. Grades on revised papers replace grades on earlier versions. I encourage you to make the most of your opportunities to improve, and I will be happy to help you.
12. Since effective writing almost always requires repeated, more or less extensive rewriting, I welcome you to revise and resubmit any paper any time (any time, that is, before the last week of class). I encourage you to revise and resubmit papers, not just for the chance to improve your grades, but to improve your writing skills. Even an excellent paper is worth revising, since you can always learn something in the process. At the end of the semester, you will be required to hand in revisions of two papers, regardless of how many papers or how many times you have revised already. But don't wait until then to cultivate your revising skills; like any other skill, revising is something you learn to do well by practicing.
13. Two-thirds of your grade for the course will be based on three papers: your last new composition (see note 3, above) and final revisions of two earlier papers. You get to choose which papers to revise. Choose the two you think will let you demonstrate your best work. Those may or may not be the ones that earned the highest grades before. Choose what you can make into your current best, and think of these revisions as new opportunities—as, in effect, new papers too. (Note: Resubmitting unrevised papers will not fulfill this requirement, and there is more to revising than just editing.) The last new composition gives you the chance to show what kind of writer and how self-sufficient you have become. You will show in that paper how much discipline, skill and judgment you have developed, how well you have learned to produce successful finished writing by revising and editing your own work on your own initiative. I weight your grades the way I do to ensure both an advantage for you and the integrity of the course. If you don't do very well at first, that won't necessarily hurt you in the long run. If you learn to revise well, that can help you. But finally, you have to demonstrate your achieved level of competence; that is why you cannot receive a grade for the course that is more than one letter higher than the grade on your last new composition. Apart from that constraint, especially in borderline cases, I try not to figure your course grade rigidly mathematically, but look for trends that may tip the balance in your favor.
14. A word about grades and effort. No one else may ever be able to tell how much effort you (or I) put into writing, so you will do well to cultivate your own capacity for honest self-appreciation. Learn to gain satisfaction, at least in part, from your own sense of having done your best. If your work is good enough to please certain readers or good enough to earn a certain grade, fine. If it isn't, at least you will have the reward of knowing you did your best. No one else can give you that reward, and no one else can deprive you of it. Sometimes it is the only reward we get, so we had better value it. I can't accurately judge or possibly grade your effort. Even if I thought I could, I shouldn't reward you for what I take to be your effort any more than I should punish you for what I might take to be a lack of effort. You may work hard but achieve little (as far as others can tell), or, in rare cases, work seemingly little but achieve splendor. What counts for your readers is your writing itself, not what they may imagine you put into it. Besides, writing which suggests it required great effort may not be very effective, while the most graceful and fluent writing often seems effortless.
15. To write papers that are well informed, thoughtful and persuasive, you often have to consult literary history, literary criticism and a variety of nonliterary research resources. Both pure curiosity and the practical need to know should motivate you. But beware how you use critical, biographical, historical and other research (and never stoop to the likes of Cliffs [sic] Notes). You need good judgment to know what criticism, for instance, is useful and how to use it profitably in making something new. One of your obligations is to be interesting, and it is nearly impossible to be interesting if you merely rehearse what others before you have written. Not many things are more tedious and exasperating than recycled lit-crit clichés. When in doubt, talk to me.
Meanwhile, here are a few research guidelines:
1. Carefully evaluate the sources you use. Good sources are authoritative (well written by well-informed people with recognizable claims to expertise in their subjects), up to date, verifiable and as unbiased as possible. Beware of anonymous sources. Avoid sources described as “for students,” since, ironically, they are usually anything but authoritative.
2. For research in the humanities, web-based sources alone are likely to prove inadequate. Some are excellent, but many are untrustworthy or insufficiently scholarly. Books and the articles in academic and professional journals (journals which, though not all web-based, are increasingly available on the web) are usually more reliable.
3. If you start with encyclopedias, digests, summaries, compilations, reviews, popularizations or the like, don't stop with them. Follow the references and links in such works to their sources: primary documents, such as literary and historical texts, and complete scholarly essays and books.
4. Read what you write about: don't just read about it.
16. Little of our language and few of our ideas can ever be entirely original; but there are uses of other people's words, ideas and findings that we are ethically obliged to acknowledge. When you do research and your work is influenced by it (when you quote, paraphrase, summarize or borrow information or ideas—and this goes even for the discussions in textbooks and reference works), you must acknowledge your intellectual debts, explicitly in the body of your essay, in notes, and/or in a works-cited list. Otherwise, you may be guilty of plagiarism. (For instance, if you write that “Frankenstein is the story of childbirth as it would be if it had been invented by someone who wanted power more than love,” or if, without quoting, you claim that Victor Frankenstein preferred the would-be security of absolute technological control to the risks of cooperative natural human interaction, you must give credit to Edward Mendelson for this argument, preferably with a parenthetical citation keyed to an entry for The Things That Matter in your works-cited list.) Formal research is only an example; you can incur the same obligation informally by reading the newspaper or surfing the web. So even if you think you already know what plagiarism is, see The Miami Bulletin: The Student Handbook (available in hard copy or
online <http://www.miami.muohio.edu/documents_and_policies/handbook/academic_regulations/acadregspv.cfm>) on the meaning and consequences of academic misconduct. Plagiarism is among the most serious, most contemptible, most intolerable of academic offenses. Don't risk it. Carefully document your references to the literature you write about and to any historical, cultural, critical or other sources you use in MLA style.
17. An effective paper, besides being well organized, coherent, adequately developed and correctly executed, ought to have a clear thesis, sense of purpose and source of interest. Try not to write as if you are merely fulfilling an assignment or taking an exam. Write because and as if you have something interesting you want to say. Your job as a writer is to engage and reward readers' interest. Don't book-report. Discuss a work's plot or situation only insofar as doing so grounds or advances your argument. You should, however, use direct quotations or cite specific passages from the work(s) you are writing about as evidence to support your analysis or clinch your points. Assume your readers are generally well informed—people you can interest and indeed must interest. If you write about something you believe your readers know little or nothing about, be sure you give them good reason to care about what you offer them. When you write about something your readers already know a lot about, your aim should be to enlighten them further or to change their minds in some way, and to persuade even those who may not agree with you that at least you are making a thoughtful and reasonable case.
18. The purpose of an interpretive essay is to help its readers understand, appreciate and experience literature more fully. Assume your readers have read the work(s) you write about—thus there is no need for extended summary or for repeating the obvious at length—but that they have perhaps not read it the same way or as carefully, patiently, thoughtfully as you have. Since not every reader knows, notices or comprehends all the same things, you may very well develop insights that can enlighten your readers. You may, for example, be intrigued, puzzled or delighted by something that baffled, annoyed or entirely escaped another reader. If in your paper you work out such a problem for that other reader (not to mention for yourself), you can spread your intellectual wealth and pleasure around. The most effective and manageable interpretive papers often focus on one aspect or part of the work under study (structure, or one scene or chapter; diction and imagery, or one image; theme, or one issue or question; speaker, situation or point of view; one character or relationship) and relate the part to the whole.
19. What it might be better to call the strategy than the purpose of a personal-response essay is usually to show how a literary work relates to your own experiences and values. You might explain how and why the literature touched you deeply or angered you intensely. Or you might explain how the literature helped you understand an important event or sequence of events in your life. Or you might explain how you respond to certain literary characters—why, for instance, you find one admirable and another less than admirable, and what your reaction says not just about you and your values but about the literature itself. This kind of paper is more difficult to do well than it may seem. As in any paper, you have an obligation to engage and reward readers' interest. You know from having been on the listening end that talk for its own sake about oneself, one's life, one's opinions and values is not in itself necessarily interesting. You have to give readers some reason to care. Remember to appeal to readers' interests—likely in the circumstances here to include the literature—the occasion, after all, for your paper. Don't write the paper you might just as easily have written about yourself if you had never read the work in question. So, you might focus on how the work(s) helped you understand yourself, your experience(s), your values in a way you didn't and couldn't before. Or you might explain how your peculiar resources of experience and knowledge help you understand the literature in a way others might not be able to without the aid of your special insight. You might even explore how reading the literature changed you or your values.
Preliminary Technical Notes:
The computing guide that follows covers the basics of MUNet, e-mail and computer security, explains some word-processing requirements, offers advice about word-processing dos and don'ts, and walks you through the steps of turning in a paper by e-mail.
Your Miami address is the one I will use when I need to e-mail you. You will be wise to write to me from your Miami address, since, when you do, your full name, not just your e-mail address or nickname, is displayed at the receiving end. If you write to me from an account that is not set up to allow display of your real name, my spam filter may block your messages, or I may not recognize them when I look through my in-box or my quarantine folder. If you would rather be Peggy Jones than Margaret Jones, or Bob Smith than Robert Smith, that's fine; but if you write as Pinky or The Hulk or eagle273 or your father's girlfriend, I won't know who you are and may not think finding out is urgent.
If you would still rather use a different e-mail service (Gmail or Hotmail, for instance), configure your entry in the university directory (<http://www.muohio.edu/ph>) so any mail sent to your Miami address will be forwarded to the address you prefer. And configure your preferred mail program to display your real name for the people you write to.
I can reply to a message from any address, but please do not ask me to initiate a message to you at a non-Miami address.
Another way to avoid having your messages mistaken for spam even when they do display your real name is to use a specific, informative subject line. Don't leave it blank, and don't say simply “Hi” or “Help,” as spammers often do.
If you have any technical questions, problems or anxieties after reading through the computing guide, ask for help from a member of the Computing Services staff in Mosler 304 (785–3279). Be sure anyone who helps you understands that you need to follow my instructions exactly—without taking shortcuts or making substitutions.
Since this is not a remedial writing course, we should seldom need to resort as a whole class to the handbook or to grammar exercises. Your handbook is, however, an essential resource, and I take for granted that you will consult it—and your collegiate dictionary—regularly. Of course, if you have trouble using your handbook or have questions it doesn't answer, I am always ready to help.
In addition, the Office of Learning Assistance, in 102 Rentschler Hall, offers tutoring and remedial help in many subjects, including reading and writing. Learning Assistance services are free to all students. You don't have to wait for me to recommend tutoring if you want help, and you are welcome to go for tutoring just to build your confidence. If I do refer you to Learning Assistance, consider that an additional assignment with the force of a requirement, a sign that you may not be able to pass without such help (see requirement 7 below).
For our purposes, “draft” refers to a complete draft (sometimes called a working draft), a much more highly evolved version of a paper than what some people call a “rough” draft. I rarely refer explicitly to rough drafts since I take for granted the necessity of your working far beyond such drafts. The draft you bring to a draft workshop should have many qualities of a finished essay. It must not be a rough draft, since the rougher it is, the less it will serve the purposes of the workshop. If you expect to receive credit for a draft, you must have much more than a series of notes, an outline, a mere paragraph or a hastily written page. On the other hand, you should not feel you have already written the last word by the time you reach the draft workshop: keep an open mind about taking advice and making further revisions.
You cannot receive a grade for the course that is more than one letter higher than the grade on your last new composition. This is a matter of principle, not just math.
Again, however, the purpose and dynamics of group work make it hard to negotiate around draft workshops. You need to have a reasonably well-evolved, complete draft, and need to be present to work with it and with other people and their drafts. Just being present without a draft, or missing class but handing in a draft won't do, since it deprives you and your classmates.
When you send me a revised paper during the semester, simply substitute r (for revision) for the section letter in the file name you use—krafftjm2r, for instance. The revised papers you turn in on the last day, however, will be papers 6 and 7, so name those files using those numbers and your section letter as explained above.
“Save as” also allows you to change the word-processing format. That is a handy feature if you don't usually use Word, since I accept files in Word (.doc) format only. Even if you do use Word, you must not send me .docx files.
The rewards of reading include discovering the new and even being transformed by it. We should beware of trying to make texts over in our own image or of letting them tell us only what we already believe.
Instead of using hand-written checks, circles and underlining, I use word-processing stars, number signs and question marks. Think of them like this:
* means “good point” or “well said”;
# means “look here” (notice a problem that should be obvious to you);
?? means “what?” or “why?” or “how so?” or “give examples or evidence,” or “explain further”;
#?marks an omission, a questionable usage or a usage requiring adjustment elsewhere;
#//marks a problem with parallelism.
If you aren't sure you understand why I marked something the way I did, just ask.
Effective writing involves much more than mere correctness. Conventional spelling, punctuation and grammar alone cannot make a paper successful. But even a few seemingly minor lapses can weaken or ruin an otherwise promising paper by distracting readers or by destroying their confidence in or respect for the writer.
For the goals of the Miami Plan as they are reflected in the description of this course, see, for example: 1) thinking critically—objectives 3, 5 and 7, procedure 4, and elaborations 8-10, 15 and 17-19; 2) understanding contexts—objectives 3 and 7, and elaborations 5 and 19; 3) engaging with other learners—objective 8, procedure 3, requirement 2, and elaboration 2; and 4) reflecting and acting—objectives 1-3, and elaborations 3, 12-14 and 19. |
