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English 802: Analytical Reading and Writing, Fall 2025

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About this Course

Welcome to English 802! This course will introduce you to the challenges and pleasures of college-level reading and writing. Once you have completed English 802 with a C- or better, you will have completed one of the required foundational courses in the General Education programLinks to an external site.. These are our course goals and objectives:

identify key arguments in published texts and the writing of your peers;
create and defend arguments of your own through effective rhetorical strategies and synthesis of others’ ideas;
use the conventions of academic discourse, including
- coherent and logical organization
- Standard English grammar and syntax
- correct citation and evaluation of research sources;
revise your writing through multiple drafts and reflect on your own writing process.

Course Theme

Our course theme is literacy in the age of AI and conspiracy theories. In Unit One, we will read about the concept of literacy, and you will write a rhetorical analysis of a course text. In Unit Two, we will explore literacy and generative AI (artificial intelligence). You will write a paper that synthesizes multiple texts and responds to ideas from this unit. In Unit Three, we will explore literacy and conspiracy theories (and other related topics, such as misinformation, disinformation, hoaxes, and “fake news”). You will write a well-researched persuasive argument on a topic related to the unit theme. In Unit Four, we will reflect on what we have learned this semester, and you will revise your papers into a Final Portfolio to demonstrate that you have achieved our course goals.

Instructor Information

Name: Mustafa Paghdiwala
Email: mustafa.paghdiwala@gmail.com
Phone: 215 801 0404
Office Hours: TBD
Contact Policy: Please reach out to me at any time for assistance with the course or just to chat about the field or navigating university life. The best way to reach me is to send me a message through the Canvas inbox or email me at mustafa.paghdiwala@temple.edu. I will generally respond within 48 hours, Monday through Friday. Please do not send a follow-up email before 48 hours have passed.