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Paper Topics for English
100 online – Spring 2018
Theme: Memoir—Journeys
Through War
All the writing you will be doing in this course is reading-based.
This means that every essay you write will be a response to and analysis of the reading arguing a point of view
about the reading. If you write an essay that does not mention the reading or
directly examine the reading, it will be considered off topic and will
receive little to no credit. You will not be writing plot summaries. You will
summarize parts of the reading to support your argument, but summary should
not take over your paper. Each paragraph should serve to prove a clear and
specific point and all paragraphs should work together to prove one unifying,
thesis (opinion on the reading). For all papers, except the midterm and final
exam, you will be creating your own argument about the assigned
reading so that you are writing from a place of interest rather than duty.
You cannot pass this course if you fail to turn in one of the assigned
papers.
Follow
standard paper guidelines and know expectations as described in Chapter 3:
Paper Topics: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/3Papertopics.htm
Paper topics come in all shapes and sizes, but in general for an English
class, you can expect to find the following requirements:
·
Meet
stated page length requirements. Turning in papers that are under the
required page length sends a message
that the assignment was not taken seriously and that a lack of time, effort,
and consideration was put into the project.
·
Adhere
to due dates. Plan
ahead and break down the project into manageable stages, so you don’t
cause yourself
undue stress by doing things “last minute” or by hurting your grade through
missing due dates and not being able to turn
in assignments.
·
Use the
stated paper formatting standards. In an English class, the most common paper
formatting approach is MLA.
See Chapter 5 on MLA
Conventions.
·
Follow
the assignment. It is essential
that you follow the guidelines of the assignment or else you risk receiving
little to
no credit for your work. English
classes are also teaching students how to successfully complete college-level
tasks, so
take some time in the beginning to ensure you are doing what was asked.
·
Apply
writing standards in your paper.
This Rhetoric walks you through the fundamental essay components, so
apply these concepts to your writing.
There is also an Essay
Checklist in Chapter 4 that you can use to ensure you
have covered all the bases your instructor will be expecting in an academic
paper:
·
Seek
opportunities for additional help.
Writing can be an isolating experience but it
does not have to be. Use campus
resources to help you formulate your writing plan and to get outside
perspective and feedback on your writing.
You can visit
your instructor during office hours at any stage in the writing process. You can also use
the tutoring services offered in the
Learning Center: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/learningcenter/index.php. Getting feedback is one of the most
effective ways
to focus and improve your writing.
Use the Essay
Checklist to make sure you have all the necessary essay elements but here
is also a quick guide of things not to forget:
·
MLA formatting: on the first page, include your own title centered at the top, the
course info (your name, the class, the instructor, the date)
in the top left corner and in the top right corner of each page, your last
name next to the page number. Typed,
double spaced throughout,
font 12, one-inch margins and be sure to meet the page minimum (Please note: 10 pts are removed for each page the paper is under the
required minimum length and 5 pts for half a page under. Don’t go solely by word count but by actual length).
MLA Conventions (Rhetoric 170-183): http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/5MLA.htm
·
Creative title: Creating a strong, clear, appealing title
is an important part of any writing task.
The title is the reader’s first
introduction to
your piece of writing, and first impressions matter. Therefore, you want to create a title which
pulls in your reader’s interest and makes him
or her want to keep reading. Make your
essay stand out from the others and draw in your reader.
Creating Effective Titles (Rhetoric
153-154): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=153
·
Integrating Sources: When writing about texts,
you will want to include quotes and paraphrases and you want to make sure to
smoothly
integrate and properly document all your sources. Connect all quote to phrases that introduce
them (don’t drop quotes) and follow quotes
with the source information in parenthesis (usually the author’s last name
and the page number). Also, follow
quotes with your own analysis
explaining their significance.
Sources (Rhetoric 262-282): http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/10IntegratingSources.htm
·
Works Cited: when
you are writing about a text, you will always include a Works Cited even if
you are only citing the text you wrote about.
If you did research, include all your outside sources on the Works Cited page
as well. List the sources
alphabetically by author last name or
by title if there is no author.
Creating Works Cited pages
(Rhetoric 177-182): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=177
·
Revising and Editing: the best writing is rewriting so before turning in
an essay for a grade, use the advice on revising (making larger global
changes) and editing (making sentence level corrections) to ensure that you
have submitted your best work.
Revising (Rhetoric 143-152): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=143
& Editing (Rhetoric 155-161): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=155
·
Grading standards: every student should be striving for the ‘A’ paper
so know what criteria make an excellent paper by reviewing the
English department grading standards that your instructor will be using when
assessing your essay. Use the criteria
as the standard you are
using as you revise your essay.
Grading Standards (Rhetoric
197-198): http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/bellr/GradingMenu.htm
Five major
papers will be written for this class:
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Paper #1 (worth 10% of grade): 2-4
pages, 500-1000 words
Analyzing Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie
Draft
due 2/20, Revision due 2/27
MLA Title page and Works Cited required
Make your own argument about an
issue or idea raised in Robert Leckie’s memoir Helmet for My Pillow. Do not simply summarize the story. Make an argument about an aspect of the
book that you would need to prove or convince your reader of.
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Research Paper #2 (worth 10% of grade):
3-5 pages, 750-1250 words
Analyzing Jarhead by
Anthony Swofford
Draft due 3/20, Revision due 4/2
MLA Title page and Works Cited required with a minimum of ONE outside source
Make your own argument about an issue or idea
raised in Anthony Swofford’s memoir Jarhead. Do not simply summarize the story. Make an argument about an aspect of the
book that you would need to prove or convince your reader of.
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Paper #3 (worth 10% of grade): Midterm 75-minute essay exam
Analyzing
the assigned reading from Breaking News by Martin Fletcher
Tuesday, April 17th between 6am and midnight (the
latest you can begin the exam to get the full 75 minutes is 10:44pm)
Open book, timed essay exam on the assigned reading
from Breaking News. In 75 minutes, you will compose an essay to
a prompt about the reading that will be given to you on the day of the exam. You will not need to include a Works Cited
or outside research. There is no
required page length but you will want to fully answer all parts of the exam
question in a focused, organized and well-developed essay using the texts as
the
basis of your response.
Preparing for the midterm exam:
Before taking the exam, review Chapter 11: Timed
Writing (pages 274-285), http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/11TimedWriting.htm). The best way to prepare is to annotate your
text and take a practice 75-minute exam before the midterm. There is a non-graded practice exam you can
take in Canvas. Click on Module 3 to
assess the practice exam.
Take the 75-Minute Midterm Exam: Tuesday, April 17th
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Collaborative
Research Paper #4 (worth 20% of grade): 4-6 pages, 1000-1500 words
Analyzing Persepolis by Marjane Sartrapi
Draft due 5/15, Revision due 5/22
MLA Title page and Works Cited required with a minimum of TWO outside sources
Choose
an issue or aspect in the graphic novel Persepolis,
and write a collaborative research essay that asserts your own analysis of
the significance of this book or an aspect of the book. You are not summarizing her story but
rather arguing your point of view about its significance.
What is a collaborative paper?
Students will select a partner (or we can assign partners in class) and write
the paper together in teams of two.
I've assigned this type of paper
in my classes for many years and consistently these are the strongest papers
I get over the semester. Working with another person can show you
your strengths and weaknesses and help you produce an excellent paper. As you work with a partner, is it vital
that you each work collaboratively
and equally. Also remember that you
will be completing a Collaborative Paper Evaluation on your partner and on yourself. Also, on the essay you
turn in for a grade, you will indicate who wrote which part of the paper to
ensure that the work was shared. If
you have any difficulties with your
partner, let me know immediately and we can have you write the paper
separately. I want this to be a
positive experience for everyone.
Names on the Paper
You and your partner need to
only upload one copy of the paper and it does not matter whose name you
submit it under. Just be sure that
both of
your names are on the paper. As
this is a collaborative paper, you and your partner will write the paper together but you will indicate which body
paragraphs each was the principle writer for (each student must write a
minimum of 2 pages each of the final paper). Indicate this information next
to your names on the first page. For example, the top left header will
contain the following information:
John
Ramirez (wrote paragraphs 1-4 & 7)
Jun
Chan (wrote paragraphs 5-6 & 8-10)
English
100
21
May 2014
And
for the page numbers in the upper right corner of each page, you will
hyphenate the last names of the authors, i.e. Ramirez-Chan 1
Uploading the Collaborative Partner Evaluation on 5/15 before midnight:
(1) Download the Collaborative Partner Evaluation:
http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/bellr/ReaderWorkshoppingCollaborativeMenu.htm
Complete both
pages: assign both you and your partner a grade on the project and then
answer the questions. This evaluation
is confidential and your
partner will not being seeing this evaluation. If you did not have a partner, submit a
written reflection on your experience in writing the paper to get credit.
(2) Log into Canvas, click where it says “SUMBIT by 5/15: Collaborative
Partner Evaluation” and upload the completed file.
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Paper #5
(worth 20% of grade): Final essay exam—2 ½ hours
Connecting
the 4 course texts under the course theme “Memoir—Journeys Through War”
Thursday, May 24th between 6am and midnight (the latest
you can begin the exam to get the full 2 ½ hours is 9:29pm)
Open book, timed essay exam on the 4 course texts: Helmet for My Pillow, Jarhead, Breaking
News and Persepolis.
In 2 ½ hours (150 minutes), you will
compose an essay to a prompt about the reading that will be given to you on
the day of the exam. You will not need
to include a Works Cited or outside research.
There is no required page length but you will
want to fully answer all parts of the exam question in a focused, organized
and well-developed essay using the assigned texts as the basis of your
response.
Preparing for the final exam:
Before taking the exam,
review the advice in the Rhetoric, Chapter 11: Timed
Writing (pages 274-285), http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/11TimedWriting.htm). The best way to prepare is to annotate the
texts and take a practice 150 minute
exam before the midterm. You can create possible final exam questions for
yourself which connect the works we have read through the course theme:
“Memoir—Journeys Through War.” Take at
least one practice essay exam before the actual final exam. There is a
non-graded practice exam you can take in Canvas. Click on Module 5 to assess the practice
exam.
Taking the 2 ½ hour Final Exam: Thursday, May 24th
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