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Paper
Topics for English 105 – Fall 2020
Theme: Pop Culture –
Analyzing What Shapes Us and Our Society
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 an aspect of Dustin Kidd’s book Pop Culture
Freaks (chapters 2-4 only)
Draft
due 9/21, Revision due 9/28
MLA Title page and Works Cited required
Make your own argument about an issue or idea
raised in Chapters 2-4 in Dustin Kidd’s Pop
Culture Freaks. Do not simply summarize the text. Make an argument about an aspect of the
book that you would need to prove or convince your reader of. Here is a way to focus your argument for a
2-4 page paper:
(1) Choose ONE chapter in the reading to focus on: Chapter 2: Race, Chapter 3: Class
OR Chapter 4: Gender
(2) Choose ONE pop culture
media (TV, film, advertising, fiction, music, news, etc)
to do a focused analysis of the representations of race, class or gender.
(3) List what Dustin Kidd said in your selected chapter about the
race, class or gender representations in popular media, and use his ideas as
a springboard for your own arguments. Are you agreeing with Kidd, providing a
counterargument, building on some of his ideas but coming to different
conclusions? Remember, all papers in this class are text-based analysis, so
be sure to incorporate Kidd and his arguments on the topic and media you have
chosen.
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Research Paper #2 (worth 10% of grade):
3-5 pages, 750-1250 words
Analyzing an aspect of Dustin Kidd’s book Pop Culture
Freaks (chapters 5-6 only)
Draft due 10/19, Revision due 10/26
MLA Title page and Works Cited required with a minimum of ONE outside source
(1) Choose ONE chapter in
the reading to focus on: Chapter
5: Sexuality OR Chapter 6: Disability
(2) Choose ONE pop culture
media (TV, film, advertising, fiction, music, news, etc)
to do a focused analysis of the representations of sexuality or disability.
(3) List what Dustin Kidd said in your selected chapter about the sexuality
or disability representations in popular media, and use his ideas as a
springboard for your own arguments. Are you agreeing with Kidd, providing a
counterargument, building on some of his ideas but coming to different
conclusions? Remember, all papers in this class are text-based analysis, so
be sure to incorporate Kidd and his arguments on the topic and media you have
chosen.
For Paper #2, you must
include a minimum of at least ONE outside source:
An important persuasive tool is effectively selecting and
integrating outside support to strengthen your own position and
argument. This is the function of research. The idea of research
is NOT to find information and ideas from “experts” to replace your own
ideas. In your writing, you are the authority and central voice, so
keep your argument as primary in the paper. You will use outside
research to further support, clarify, or in some cases provide alternative
viewpoints to show the weaknesses of a different position in
order to reaffirm/strengthen your own argument (this is providing
counterargument). Think of the research you will select and integrate
as evidence that will help YOU to strengthen YOUR argument, not to replace it
with someone else’s ideas. Never let research “take over” your
paper. Make your research work for you to further prove the argument that
you want to make about the reading.
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Paper #3 (worth 10% of grade): Midterm 90-minute essay exam
Analyzing
Chapters 1-3 in The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff
and Jonathan Haidt
Thursday, November 5th
Open book, timed essay exam on the assigned reading
from Module 3. In 90 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 90-Minute Midterm Exam: Thursday November 5th
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Collaborative
Research Paper #4 (worth 20% of grade): 4-6 pages, 1000-1500 words
Analyzing an aspect of The
Tipping Point (Chapters 1-5 only) by Malcolm
Gladwell
Draft due 12/8, Revision due 12/15
MLA Title page and Works Cited required with a minimum of TWO outside sources
Make your own argument about an issue or idea raised in Chapters 1-5 in
Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point. Do not simply summarize the text. Make an argument about an aspect of the
book that you would need to prove or convince your reader of.
For Paper #4, you must
include a minimum of at least TWO outside sources:
An important persuasive tool is effectively selecting and
integrating outside support to strengthen your own position and
argument. This is the function of research. The idea of research
is NOT to find information and ideas from “experts” to replace your own
ideas. In your writing, you are the authority and central voice, so
keep your argument as primary in the paper. You will use outside
research to further support, clarify, or in some cases provide alternative
viewpoints to show the weaknesses of a different position in
order to reaffirm/strengthen your own argument (this is providing
counterargument). Think of the research you will select and integrate
as evidence that will help YOU to strengthen YOUR argument, not to replace it
with someone else’s ideas. Never let research “take over” your
paper. Make your research work for you to further prove the argument
that you want to make about the reading.
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 2020
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 12/15 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.
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 Collaborative Partner
Evaluation” and upload the completed file.
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Paper #5
(worth 25% of grade): Final essay exam—2 ½ hours
Connecting
the course texts under the course theme “Pop Culture: Analyzing What Shapes
Us and Our Society”
Thursday, December 17th
Open book, timed essay exam on the assigned course
readings.
In 2 ½ hours (150 minutes), you will
compose an essay to a prompt connected to the assigned course readings 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:
“Health, Disease and Wellness.” 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, December 17th
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