Writing the Essay - Syllabus PDF

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Writing the Essay Instructor: Victoria Anderson Email: [email protected] Remote Office Hours Fridays 4-6pm or by appointment “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” -Anias Nin

Welcome to Writing the Essay. I know that some of you are questioning why you have to be here. Unless you want to pursue writing as a career, what more is there to learn? And besides, that blank page can be a brutal taskmaster. Who wants to sit in front of the computer for hours waiting for inspiration? Well, I could give you the answers that you want or expect to hear; that this course will prepare you for the rest of your years at NYU and beyond (and it will), and that this course will make you successful in these realms (and it will). While true, these are not the reasons at the core of why we do this course. The kind of writing, talking, reflecting and reading that we will do is not just a mandatory part of university life but it’s one of the most exhilarating aspects of being in college. While we are not meeting in person this Spring I am determined, with your help, to create an online classroom that reflects the same values of critical thinking and dialogue that have shaped my teaching for over 20 years.

So, whether or not you consider yourself a writer, by taking this course you are going to be asked to access that part of yourself that has something important to say, and we are going to practice together the art of saying it persuasively in writing. In every class we will practice the art of close reading, writing with attention to both the precision of our word choices and their musicality. We will learn how to revise written work meaningfully, “tasting” – as the famous memoirist and essayist Anais Nin proposes - our ideas more than once. There will be work done in pairs at times, and in small groups at others. You will meet with me for a conference twice this semester, and you will have opportunities to get extra help from the writing center if you need it. You will be given time to write in class, read each other’s work, and also get plenty of feedback on homework and drafts that you hand in to me. Additionally, we will be constantly asking ourselves to notice our own process. By reflecting on what we are doing while we are in the process of doing it, we will realize how we are changing.

Suddenly, by the end of the semester, you will find the blank page is not a threat, but a chance to weave together unexpected sources that will become a vehicle for your ideas. You will find great satisfaction in this play of mind and enjoy the challenge of writing well. Your writing toolbox will expand and you’ll be prepared to encounter your future courses in the university and the many contexts in the world where we are called upon to write and to read with greater nuance and confidence. Suddenly, the question of whether or not you are a writer won’t be relevant anymore because you’ll be too busy writing.

Required Texts:

•

A Digital Anthology for Writers – this is the main source for the readings for our class (free link via classes website see description and link below)

Mercer Street – a journal of exceptional student writing from last year (online version free for students, here is the link) https://wp.nyu.edu/mercerstreet/ •

A Digital Anthology for Writers A Digital Anthology for Writers is a free and accessible collection of readings that EWP faculty have identified as helpful sources and models of essay forms and writing moves for first-year writing students at New York University. You can find your required readings here, and you can use the Zotero Index to find sources for your essays. Please find video instructions for using the digital anthology here. NOTE: You need to be signed into your NYU Google account to access the readings. If you are prompted to “request access,” you are not signed into your NYU account. Please switch accounts rather than requesting access. (Access will not be granted to non-NYU accounts because of copyright restrictions.)

Reading and Writing Homework:

You will be given reading and writing assignments for each class that will lead to the writing of three longer essays. This process is called a progression, and there will be three progressions this semester leading to three final essays. We will be working with your homework in class, and I will be collecting them via the Classes website. All writing assignments are mandatory (see sections below for grading and policies related to late work). Working in this way we build to the writing of longer essays piecemeal, and in the end of each progression we will collect all of our assignments and drafts in a digital folder. This is your digital portfolio and I will be collecting your portfolio on classes at the end of each progression. Scroll down to the end of this document to see a basic “skeletal” schedule for the semester. You will be getting detailed assignments on the classes website for each class.

Timely Completion of Daily Exercises:

You will be handing in all your work and receiving feedback on the ‘classes’ website. Each assignment will be posted with a due date and time. Because I am always responding to your work quickly, immediately after I receive it, I cannot accept late work. For all exercises, drafts, and revised essays, I therefore have the same policy: For every 24-hour (or portion thereof) that the assignment is late, the grade for the Essay is lowered by one step. In other words, someone who turns in an Exercise or Draft three hours after the posted deadline will find that essay’s grade lowered (say, from an A- to a B+) even if the Revised Essay is turned in on time. If you do not turn in all the Exercises for a given Progression, you may not be allowed to turn in the Draft or Revised Essay. I will only accept late assignments if you are ill for a prolonged period of time or if you have made a prior arrangement with me to do so because of a family emergency or other unforeseen reason that keeps you out of class. For international students who access the class from a different time zone, or for religious practices or holidays we can make alternate arrangements that work for you. Please communicate with me in the first week of classes to make arrangements. Each of you has one “Grace Day” that you can use for a draft or revised essay deadline during the semester. You must notify me of your intention to use it more than 24 hours before the deadline, and you may not use your Grace Day on the final deadline for Essay #3 or your final portfolio at the end of the semester. Grace Days cannot be used for exercises, because the turnaround is too tight. 

Grading:

Here is the breakdown of each essay’s worth for the semester: Essay #1 – 20% Essay #2– 30% Essay #3 – 40%  Participation/Composure -10% (see below for details). 

Grading for Individual Essays:  -An “A” -range essay is one that achieves the aims of the progression in an impressive display of the skills practiced in class. It has a clear and coherent structure that poses problem or question in the beginning, and moves towards an insight at the end through the representation and analysis of carefully selected evidence that is appropriately calibrated for the rhetorical stances requires by each progression. -A “B”-range essay is one that is ambitious but only partially successful, or one that achieves modest aims well.  -A “C” range essay has significant problems in articulating and developing its idea and argument but strives to perform the requirements despite being confusing to read in places.  -A “D”-range essay may engage concepts or sources but generally does so superficially; it may fail to address the expectations of the assignment.   -A failing essay is usually significantly shorter than the assigned length; it addresses the assignment superficially but doesn’t attempt to offer any original insight; while it may cite sources, it fails to engage either sources or ideas. An essay that is less than half the assigned length and does not fulfill the most basic expectations of the assignment does not count as successful completion of the assignment and earns a “0.” Such an essay puts its author in jeopardy of failing the course.

Words of advice on getting a good grade: The best way to receive a B or higher grade is to attend to the work we do in class with the individual exercises which build to the longer essay. Each class is built around and important principle of writing that ranges from the familiar to the academic, tools that will serve you in any academic or professional setting. I consider the feedback I give to you on exercises and drafts as actionable directives. Make changes in your draft or exercises based on the work we do in class and the suggestions I give you on your exercises and drafts.

Formatting: Your assignments will all be passed in on the Classes website. The format should follow MLA guidelines:

• • • • • •

double spaced; 12 point Times New Roman font; side margins no larger than 1.25”; no extra space between paragraphs; numbered if longer than two pages heading/ name/date top left corner  

Participation/Composure:

10% of your final grade consists of your active participation and the way you comport yourself in our online classes. I look forward to collaborating with you to create a set of shared values around online participation and composure so that we can get the most out of our time together.

Online Attendance Policy:

Because writing classes proceed by sequential reading, writing, and thinking work, consistent and on-time attendance in person with your camera on as much as humanly possible is essential-especially in an online community. Students who miss significant time during a progression often have difficulty completing that progression successfully. I will therefore reach out to you and to your advisor if you are absent with excuse 2 classes in a row or from any 3 out of a possible 8 classes. Regardless of your performance on the progressions, if you are absent without excuse 5 times, your final grade will be lowered a full letter grade (e.g., from a B+ to a C+); if you are absent without excuse 7 times, you will not be able to pass the course. Please note that religious observance and documented illness or family emergency are grounds for an absence to be completely excused. Please communicate with me via e-mail and we can strategize the completion of your work or meet to make up missed lessons.

In all cases of absence, you should communicate with me as soon as possible about arranging a schedule for completing any missed work. Though I will make every effort to keep you updated if you are absent, it is difficult to replicate the in-class workshops where the concepts you will need to master are introduced and practiced.

Lateness:

Coming late to class is disruptive to others (especially online) and hurts your own sense of well-being and connection to the work of the class. All lateness will be noted on your attendance record. That being said, it is chronic lateness that will begin to affect your grade.

Respect:

The dialogues and class discussions we have about readings and currents events can sometimes consist of culturally charged topics of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Let's always be respectful of others with the language and tone of our comments, and speak up if we feel uncomfortable. Let's also be patient with each other as we explore new territory, we all have different levels of cultural competency and we are here to learn and to grow. I am here to help you develop the language to articulate your ideas on the page and in class, but I am also not perfect. If you need to speak to me after class about something that you think could have been done in a more articulate and respectful way, please do. You will not be penalized in any way for calling my attention to a problem in the class.

Learning Styles:

The course is designed to push you to approach your reading and writing skills with more rigor and nuance than ever before, and sometimes this may feel uncomfortable and overwhelming as you gain new tools for your writing toolbox. Having said that, we all come to the classroom with specific strengths and lacks. Some of us are terrific at instant reading comprehension, while for others it takes more time for an idea to sink in. Some of us are great at listening to instructions while others do better with a clearly written prompt. I will be offering options for approaching texts and assignments that will attend to various learning styles and lessen some of the anxiety. We will be reading from the textbook of course, but also looking at works of art, listening to radio pieces, and even doing some drawing to help us deepen our understanding of a problem or idea. One assignment may be done in two ways, as a straightforward draft or as a fictional letter to the writer you are analyzing. These options are not to confuse you but to acknowledge he diversity of our learning styles. If you have a particular learning style that works better for you, or if you have a challenge to your learning that I need to know about in order to better help you, visit office hours or grab me after class to let me know.

Extra Help/Support:

-If you would like extra online tutoring I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you take advantage of tutoring at NYU’s writing center. You can meet with a tutor who is also an EWP instructor six times per semester for 45 minutes. Go to this website http://ewp.cas.nyu.edu/object/writing.center to register and book your 45 minute appointment online.

-We will also meet twice this semester on individual zoom meetings to answer your pressing questions ands tackle individual needs together. The meetings will be about 20 minutes long, and will take place during the drafting phase of the progression. Note the following: If you miss your scheduled conference you will not be able to make it up.

-The Moses Center for students with disabilities can provide support for you if you need accommodations due to a learning disability for this or any other course. You must register with the Moses Center in order to access their services. Go to : http://www.nyu.edu/students/communities-and-groups/students-with-disabilities.html for more information.

Academic Integrity: Please review the below description and links on what constitutes plagiarism. Any student who plagiarizes will fail the progression and

may fail the entire course, depending on the extent of and the circumstances surrounding the offense, which will be decided by me as well as a director from the program. Please come to me if you have any concerns about whether your work or a portion of your work may count as plagiarism. It would be great to bring it up in class during the revision process as I am sure your own doubts are also held by others. Of course you will be incorporating the writing, artworks, and other modalities of expression of others into your own writing, and part of the course is learning to do so responsibly.

As you summarize, represent, quote, and paraphrase the delicious and compelling ideas and images of others remember that Plagiarism is theft. More specifically, plagiarism is presenting as your own:

• sentences from another writer’s work without using quotation marks; • a paraphrased passage from another writer’s work; • text, ideas, or simply information sourced form the internet; • somebody else’s work with your name on it; • a purchased paper or “research” from a term paper mill.

Other forms of academic fraud include: • “collaborating” with students from another section and then submitting the paper as individuals • submitting the same paper for two or more courses without the knowledge and the expressed permission of all teachers involved. • giving permission to another student to use your work for a class.

Also Note: Term paper mills (web sites and businesses set up to sell papers to students) often claim they are merely offering “information” or “research” to students and that this service is acceptable and allowed throughout the university. This is a LIE. If you buy and submit “research,” drafts, summaries, abstracts, or final versions of a paper, you are committing plagiarism and are subject to stringent disciplinary action. The University will not be making allowances for you if you thought that you were within your legal rights as plagiarism is based on fact not intention. Students at NYU have been expelled for plagiarism.

Citing Electronic and Other Sources • • • • • •

MLA Style Center (https://style.mla.org/) Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/) for accepted forms of documentation and on using electronic sources. http://cas.nyu.edu/object/bulletin0810.ug.academicpolicies http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/plagiar.html http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/integrity/pages/plagiarism.html http://www.virtualsalt.com/mla.htm

“Skeletal” Course Schedule Spring 2021 T/TH. Refer to ‘classes’ website for HW prompts and to turn in assignments. Class # 1 2 3 4 5

Date Month 28 2 4 9 11

Jan Feb Feb Feb Feb

Day Thursday Tuesday Thursday Tuesday Thursday

Notes Introduction/syllabus review Representation, problem and conceptual reading Intertextuality and Bridging Experience as Evidence/Image Assign no homework (Mini Break begins Friday 2/12 through Monday 2/15) Note: NYUSH “Go local” students begin Spring Festival break through 2-19

6

16

Feb

Tuesday

------

18

Feb

Thursday

7 8 9

23 25 2

Feb Feb Mar

Tuesday Thursday Tuesday

10 11 12 13 14

4 9 11 16 18

Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar

Thursday Tuesday Thursday Tuesday Thursday

15

23

Mar

Tuesday

16 17 18

25 30 1

Mar Mar Apr

Thursday Tuesday Thursday

19 20 21 22

6 8 13 15

Apr Apr Apr Apr

Tuesday Thursday Tuesday Thursday

23 24 25 26

20 22 27 29

Apr Apr Apr Apr

Tuesday Thursday Tuesday Thursday

“WRITE IN” first draft /returning to evidence/Conference sign up see google doc Daylight Savings Time 3-14 *NOTE* No Class: Legislative Day. Classes meet on Monday schedule Draft wkshp quote incorporation Draft Workshop MLA Progression # 1 ‘Deepening’ due on classes website by 11pm Essay #2 Introduction: Reckoning with a Controversy Bridging and Assessment “WRITE IN”/Mapping Conversation Model Texts Mercer Street TBD Assign no homework (Mini Break begins Friday 3/19-ends Sunday 3/21) Rough Draft wkshp: Complexity and Coherence sign up for conference #2 Draft wkshp: Recursive Movement Final Reckoning Draft Workshop Progression# 2 ‘Reckoning’ Due to classes website by 11pm Interpreting Patterns Conceptual Context Critical Context Assign no homework (Mini Break begins Friday 4/16through Monday 4/19) Returning to the Object Draft Workshop: sign up for optional conferences Draft Workshop /reflections and evaluations Draft Workshop/reflections and evaluations

27 28

4 6

May May

Tuesday Final Essay ‘Text in Context’ Due to classes by 11pm Thursday SUMMATIONJLast Day of T-Th Classes...