Syllabus for Spring Session 2011
January 1, 2009
*This document may change at any point during the semester. I will notify you immediately of any such changes.
Syllabus
Week One: Introductions
[short week]
Day 1: Course Overview, Syllabus, Introductions, Readings: Chapter 1
Day 2: Discussion of reading: Argument. Discussion of Writing.
Week Two: The Ethical Appeals and Rhetorical Analysis
Day 1: Rhetorical Terms, Readings: Chapter 2
Day 2: “Arguments from the Heart: Pathos.” Readings: Chapter 3 and 4
Day 3: Culture and Argumentation: Readings: Chapters 3 and 4
Week Three: Discussion and the Precis
Day 1: Discussion, Readings; reread article
Day 2:: Discussion, Readings: Reread article
Week Four: Drafting the Precis
Day 1: Review notes, draft part 1
Day 2: Review Part 1: “Wallflowers at the Revolution”
Week Five: Revising the Precis
Day 1: Review part 3, assign oral presentation
Day 2: Oral Presentations, continue working on Precis
Week Six: Editing, Grammar, MLA and Polishing the Precis
Day 1: Grammar Workshop, Review Precis
Day 2: Beginning Unit Two, Read Chapter 5
Day 3: Discussion of Toulmin-style model
Week Seven: Developing a Sound Argument
Day 1: Discuss Chapter 7, Readings: Chapters 6 and 7
Day 2:Discuss Chapters 6 and 7, Readings: Chapter 8
Day 3: Discuss Chapter 8, Readings
Week Eight: Background for Your Argument
Day 1: Discuss Readings; Precis revision due
Week Nine: Drafting your argument
Day 1: Thesis Statements and Paragraph Development
Day 2: Introduction Drafting
Day 3: Writing Workshop
Week Ten: Revising Your Argument
Day 2: Revision Workshop
Day 3: Guided Argument Due, Readings: Chapter 11
Week Eleven: Proposal Arguments and Research
Day 1: Discuss Chapter 11; Readings Chapters 12 and 13
Day 2: Discuss Chapters 12 and 13; Research Workshop
Day 3: Library Day
Week Twelve: Drafting Your Proposal/Research Argument
Day 1: Thesis Statements and Paragraph Development; Guided Argument Revision Due
Day 2: Introducing Drafting
Week Thirteen: Oral Presentations, Research Argument Due
Day 2: Oral Presentations
Day 3: Oral Presentations
Week Fourteen: Revision
Day 1 Revision Workshop
Day 2Resarch Argument Revision; Assign Reflective Letter
Day 3: Writing Workshop
Week Fifteen: Portfolios
Day 1: Assign Portfolios
Day 2: Portfolio Workshop
Day 3: Portfolios Due
Final Exam TBA
[...] Syllabus for Spring Session 2011 [...]
[...] 2) Course Proposed Syllabus Page [...]
Facebook can be used for many different things. It is one of the websites where you can just click a button to see what your friend is doing back home or what someone looks like that you have seen in a couple years. The whole facebook network is great for college kids and was made for only college kids to keep update information on what is going on for relationships and friendships with your inner circle of friends.
When I sign on to facebook I tend to go right to messaging friends that are signed on at the moment. This is what I consider to be the most useful tool that can be used on this site. While status are fun to read I tend to use the newsfeed to actually keep me up to date with the news of my friends. I guess its like a social news website.
When I want to get my news in the real world I don’t usually watch the television for it. I go to PortlandPressHerald.com, this give me hometown information with more national news too. I don’t have a lot of time to watch CNN or anything like that. So I need to get the up dates as fast as possible and the website is very good at keeping the news very fresh.
The best way to keep up with popular current events and social news the internet really keeps it a lot easier to find what I need to know. While the newspaper and actually calling people to find out what is going on in their life, which is very time consuming. Facebook basically breaks it down to find as soon as possible.
I personally don’t use Facebook or twitter. I used Facebook at one time in my life but stopped because of personal reasons. I strongly believe that if someone really wants to talk to me then they will come to find me. I really didn’t know how to use Facebook when I did have one. I will be honest; I am unaware of the world around me. I don’t watch the news and I don’t usually watch television all that much if at all. The news that I usually get is from my email. I open up Yahoo, and I see what is happening in the world on the website. Even though I see the news, there are usually just a few stories and if they are not headlined, then I don’t look at it.
My idea of social media is the fact that most people find out about what is going on today by use of social networking sites like Facebook and twitter. Social media is a way for people in today’s modern culture to express their ideas and opinions. However, these ideas and opinions can quickly fall prey to the “telephone effect.” Many stories can become altered to make people believe what they want to believe. These are the downsides to social media. However, there are many advantages to being a member of the social media. You become aware of things quicker than people who don’t have it. Many invitations and celebrations are posted on social networking sites. Also, these media’s are a great way to keep in touch with your home and old friends.
I have not been contributing to my community as much as I would like to. I believe that it’s in part due to the fact that I am not in my hometown and I feel like Bangor, Maine is not where I belong. In high school I was part of a group that was similar to the boys and girls club. We mentored younger kids and helped them with any problems that they may have faced. In doing that we also did so much community service. I racked up close to three hundred hours of community service in my high school career. In order to graduate a student needed to have 23 ¼.
Out of the four base types of arguments Fact is one of the most interesting to me. A factual argument I have been in before was when I was roughly ten years old, my vision started becoming blurry. I told my mother several times I could not see far away and eventually how the eye sight became worse. Finally she took me to the doctors where they asked me to read letters off of a white sheet of paper. I could not see many of the letters and started laughing because of frustration. My mother felt I was goofing off and still did not believe I could not see. She brought me to the eye doctors where they did tests. Before the results my mother told me I would be grounded if my results came back okay, yet sure enough I knew they would not come back okay since these were my eyes and I could tell. I now wear contacts and glasses at all times and my mother still finds times where she apologizes for not believing in me.
One example of an opinionated argument was a while back my car was having problems and I knew my brakes were starting to go. The way the car was squeaking and hesitating to stop were some of the key points that my car was not working properly, not to mention when a person uses an object on a daily basis, usually they get used to and learn the object and can tell if something is going on. I spoke to my mother, step father, and grandfather about the car and they said that because of the cold weather, this was the reasoning for the squeaking and the car was simply old. I kept insisting to get the car checked but because I do not have much money I could not go find out on my own. Finally a few weeks later the car started to smell almost as if the car was about to explode. Finally my grandfather took the car into a shop and sure enough saw my brakes were 80% gone and the wheel barring was not moving on its own. Though I may not know much about cars, I knew my own and my opinion that something was going wrong with my car was in fact correct.
One of the most interesting arguments that came about in my life when it came to arguments was a belief argument about god. A man I used to work with had completely different religious beliefs than me. One day we brought up these differences and spoke about what we truly believed. This man went on saying how could I believe in a person I could not see, hear, or physically have evidence on. He then went on about how many facts scientists have about people coming about from apes and I kept on with my own opinion. Eventually this man asked me again how I could believe in something I could not see. I simply responded “can you see the air and the wind” and he responded with nothing. I believe in the end I won the argument.
The last type of argument is prejudice which I have been in myself quite a few times. Back in high school when we were applying for colleges one girl made a comment on Facebook about how if parents do not earn enough money then kids should not be able to go to college since it is unfair that parents who work hard cannot get good financial help. Coming from a home where my mother has a learning disability and bi-polar, I know firsthand what life is like to struggle with not much money. I had messaged her saying how she should watch how she brings things up since a lot of what she said was quite hurtful and my financial help with the government and state is what got me into college. She eventually apologized when she realized how much her comment affected me mentally, but the comment still comes into my mind at times.