Course Syllabus

English 0802: Analytical Reading and Writing

Section 005, Fall 2025

Instructor: Sam Heaps, MFA, (they/them)

Office hours: Zoom Fridays 11am-2pm, please send me an email if you plan to attend virtual office hours. I am also available via appointment in person or online

Email: samantha.heaps@temple.edu

Email is the best way to reach me. I will aim to respond within 24 hours M-F.

If you write over the weekend, I will get back to you on Monday.

I cannot respond immediately to questions, especially those sent early in the morning or late at night.

Class Meetings: Monday / Wednesday 9-10:40am, Gladfelter 00764, August 25th-December 16th

Course Description

Welcome to English 802! This course will introduce you to the challenges and pleasures of college-level critical thinking, 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 program. These are our course goals and objectives:

learn how to read with curiosity and engage in thorough discussion of assigned texts in class
create and defend arguments of your own through effective rhetorical strategies and synthesis of others’ ideas
identify key arguments in published texts and the writing of your peer
revise your writing through multiple drafts and reflect on your own writing process

Course Theme

The theme of this class is the public sphere. We will begin by looking at our relationship to the internet, particularly our relationship to music and our cultivation and reflection of personal taste.

I do not presume that you are an expert on any of the topics we will cover, but I hope you will draw from the intersections of your personal experience with our readings and consider yourself an authority. I have chosen our course topics because they are somewhat familiar, and yet also academically complex. They are also interdisciplinary topics, and students from all majors should be able to find connections between their interests and the work of this course. In fact, we strongly encourage you to use your own perspectives and interests to develop research topics.

In this class, there are no right or wrong answers or opinions. As we will discuss, academic discourse involves weighing evidence and presenting a strong, well-argued position, and you will get lots of practice doing so in English 802. When you complete this course, you will have strengthened your critical thinking, reading and writing skills and will have established a set of good practices and habits.

Required Course Materials and Technology Specifications

You will not need to purchase books for this course, and we will not require any fees or other expenses. All readings and videos will be posted on Canvas.

Using Canvas and your Temple email are required for this course. Please familiarize yourself with our Canvas course site so that you understand where and when readings are posted.

Please check the technology specifications for using Canvas from computers and networks off campus. You will be submitting work online through Canvas for this course, and I will require the use of Google Docs for editing throughout the semester. We will talk more about how to provide suggested feedback for your peers later in the semester.

Feel free to consult Temple’s Information Technology Services for support: https://its.temple.edu/. Limited resources may be available for students who do not have the technology they need for class. Check the Dean of Students Support and Resources webpage for details.

Course Mode and Expected Student Workload

This course meets twice a week in person for in-class activities, discussion of readings, and to review and plan to write the major papers of the course. We will have occasional Canvas assignments in addition to the work we do in class. Students in all sections of English 802, regardless of course mode, should expect to spend about 8-10 hours a week on this course, including class time.

Course Requirements

Attend Class Regularly

Being present and engaged in this course is vital to your development as a college-level writer and thinker. Thus, it is expected you attend every class meeting. To allow for illness or other emergencies, you may miss up to four (4) classes without penalty. This may seem like a generous policy, but I recommend you save your absences as long as possible because you cannot predict when and how often you might become ill as the semester goes on.

Although I do not want you to miss class, every voice in discussion is critical, I do not want you to come to class if you are unable to participate due to serious mental health concerns, and/or are potentially infectious with COVID, the flu, or other transmissible illness. There will be no Zoom option if you’re absent because watching class on Zoom is not the same as participating in class. If you miss more than 4 absences, it will mean automatic failure for the course.

Please note that one-on-one conferences are considered equivalent to a class meeting for the purposes of the attendance policy; if you miss a scheduled conference it will count as a full class absence. Arriving late or leaving early will be counted as a half-absence, and thus two of these will equal one full absence. Also, if you are not prepared for class or not paying attention and it is distracting or detrimental to our community, I may ask you to leave and take an absence. This is especially true on peer review days where you must have a completed draft to participate.

I do not distinguish between “excused” or “unexcused” absences, and I do not wish to see doctor’s notes or other documentation of your illness. Why you miss class is your business. If you have DRS accommodations that allow extra absences, confer early with me early in the semester so we can come to an agreement about how many additional absences are right for this course.

Read and annotate our assigned readings before class.

Every paper you write in this class derives in part from our assigned readings and the discussions we have about them. When you read, take notes in the margins and/or keep a list of thoughts and questions to bring up in class. I am going to encourage you to print out texts before class for this reason. Sometimes, you may need to read a paragraph or a section more than once before it makes sense, and this is completely normal when reading dense academic publications or other types of long readings. I recommend that you talk to friends, family, and roommates about our readings, too! Talking about something is a great way to determine how you feel about it.

I dislike giving reading quizzes, but I will do so as needed if it seems that too many of us are reading too quickly or aren’t thinking carefully about the readings before coming to class.

Complete all weekly coursework as announced in class or assigned on Canvas.

Occasional weekly coursework consists of small assignments and activities that we do on Canvas or in class meetings, and may include in-class writing, small group work, quizzes, and Canvas discussion posts or journal entries. Weekly coursework is essential for learning, and it will be graded as Complete (full credit) or Incomplete (no credit). Together, these activities will be worth 20% of your final grade. In general, I will give you a grade of Complete if you’ve met the basic requirements outlined by the assignment, and if you do not follow directions or submit your work on time, you will get a grade of Incomplete. A full policy about late weekly coursework is included below.

Write and revise four substantial papers through multiple drafts.

You will write four papers and submit them to me for feedback and guidance. Then, you will revise these drafts into final versions due in a final portfolio at the end of the semester. I will give you feedback for Papers 1, 2 and 3, and this feedback will be formative and intended to help you revise. You will not receive a binding grade on these drafts because I want you to revise them as many times as possible before the final portfolio. This is a great opportunity for you to take risks in your writing and argumentation, because there is no possible failure, only encouraged redirection.

It is relatively normal for students to receive feedback from me that indicates a draft is not yet passing in its current condition, and I do not want you to be discouraged by this. It simply means you have work to do, and because draft grades are not binding, there is no penalty for having a draft that is not yet passing. If you ever feel discouraged, talk to me, and I can help you plan for revision and feel hopeful about making improvements in your writing.

I give feedback on each draft only once if it is submitted on time, but we can talk about your drafts and revisions as many times as you wish if you bring them to me to discuss during conferences and office hours. Keep in mind that you may also bring your papers to the Writing Center at any stage in the writing process, and I encourage everyone to visit the Writing Center on a regular basis for this and other classes. More information about this is included below.

Participate in peer review workshops.

Peer review workshops allow you to read each other’s papers and practice giving suggestions for improvement that may result in deeper insights for your own writing process. We will do three peer review workshops (for Papers 1, 2, and 3), and these are clearly marked in the course schedule. The 10% of your final grade reflects whether or not you participated in these workshops, and like weekly coursework, peer review is assessed with either a Complete or Incomplete. Three completes will be an A, two Completes will be a B, and one Complete will be a C. Three Incompletes will be an F (or 0 credit) for the 10% that represents peer review in the final grade. If we do additional peer review workshops, they will be included in weekly coursework and not in the peer review portion of the final grade.

Meet with me twice for individual conferences outside of class.

We will meet for conferences in my office or on Zoom to discuss your progress, and I will offer you an optional conference at the end of the semester in case you need it. Dates, times, and modes for our conferences will be mutually arranged. I will let you know in class what you need to prepare for each conference, and if you arrive without it, I reserve the right to cancel our conference and give you an absence. If you fail to show up at a scheduled conference, it counts as an absence for the attendance policy.

Reflect on your writing process and your progress towards our course goals.

Evidence shows that self-reflection enhances learning and improves outcomes, and I will assign many opportunities for you to reflect on your work in this course. Short reflections will also be used in Paper 4 and will be important in our assessment of your final portfolio.

Submit a well-revised final portfolio at the end of the semester.

Your final portfolio will consist of four papers that you have revised multiple times. The grade on your final portfolio (60%) and the grade on the quality of your revisions (10%) are the majority of your final grade in the course. A rubric for final portfolios is included below, as is a detailed explanation of my grading process.

When you revise, you should do so as thoroughly as possible, which means addressing the issues noted in my feedback on your drafts and going above and beyond to address all of the ideas and suggestions that we discuss throughout the semester. For instance, our class readings serve as models of good writing to emulate and use as inspiration. Your weekly coursework, our in-class activities and my mini-lectures and explanations will give you ideas and plenty of practice for successful college writing. Individual conferences and peer review workshops will allow you to reflect on your progress and grow as a reader, writer and thinker. Final portfolios in which revisions only “fix” simple errors or address only things mentioned in my feedback are unlikely to result in grades of A or B for revision in your final grade, and a lack of serious revision will prevent final portfolio grades from being in the A range altogether.

How To Succeed in This Course

Be respectful when interacting with others in class and on Canvas.

Some of our readings include ideas that you might find controversial or uncomfortable. In college, students are meant to build critical thinking skills in a variety of contexts, and we want you to feel appropriately challenged and inspired by our course materials. We recommend that you use our classroom and Canvas site as a space where we can collaborate to examine ideas and arguments for mutual learning. As such, we all have a responsibility to try to make others feel comfortable learning, participating, and asking questions. Here are some ground rules for respectful interaction with me and your classmates:

Everyone may have an opinion, but everyone must recognize that an opinion is not a fact.
Everyone may write or say something that “comes out wrong.” If you do so, simply admit that what you said or wrote wasn’t quite what you meant and try again.
Everyone may change their mind (including me!).
Everyone has the responsibility to challenge others or disagree in a respectful, polite way:

“I respectfully disagree....”
“I hear you, but you might not have considered every perspective….”
“In my experience, that hasn’t been true….”
“Can you share your evidence to support that?”

Everyone must accept that their opinion may be challenged without getting defensive or upset (this can be hard!). When someone challenges your opinion, take a deep breath and consider what the other person is saying carefully before you respond.

Our differences, some of which are outlined in the University’s nondiscrimination statement, will add richness to this learning experience. We are all here to learn and work with others, and any activity that runs contrary to the spirit of learning and collaboration will not be tolerated. I am here to help foster a respectful and accountable space, and if a student seems not to participate in this space as described above, I will speak with them about it. However, explicitly hostile or hateful language, discrimination or abuse will never be tolerated.

Netiquette

Whenever we are engaged in online work through Canvas, we must be as appropriate and collaborative as we are in person. The term “netiquette” refers to standards of behavior appropriate for an online learning environment. The netiquette policy for this course is adapted from these core rules:

Remember the Human: When you aren’t face-to-face it can be easy to forget that you are communicating with a person who has feelings and emotions just like any other person. Please show respect for your instructor and for your classmates by being courteous in all written communication. Avoid sarcasm, which can be difficult to interpret in cyberspace.
NO YELLING, PLEASE: Using all capitals letters is often considered yelling online.
Read First, then Submit: Make sure you take time to carefully read instructions before beginning an assignment. Similarly, please read what you typed before submitting an assignment to check for grammar, typos, and other errors. Reading aloud before submitting is highly recommended.
Find Answers: Before asking a question, read the syllabus, check Canvas, and conduct an Internet search to see if the answer is easy to find. If these do not provide you with an answer, do not hesitate to contact me.

Lastly, we will sometimes use devices (phones, laptops) in class, and I expect you to use devices respectfully, which means staying on task and avoiding disruption to your classmates.

Consult with me during office hours and practice good time management.

I welcome you to visit me during office hours as listed on the first page of the syllabus. You can come see me for many reasons, including to say hello, to talk about one or more of your papers, and to discuss readings or ideas that have come up in class. Or, if you are struggling in the course and need help setting voluntary deadlines or figuring out how to approach an assignment, I encourage you to talk to me and see if I can help. If you are unavailable during my office hours, email me and we’ll try to find another time.

You may find that one of the biggest challenges in college is keeping track of your assignments and budgeting your time. I strongly recommend using a non-Canvas calendar, whether paper or digital, to keep track of due dates and course requirements. The calendar built into Canvas may seem helpful at first, but do not rely on it! Many students have made the error of assuming that the Canvas calendar is comprehensive only to find that they’ve missed an assignment or fallen behind in a course. Don’t make this mistake—trust me and use a secondary calendar.

Take advantage of campus resources.

Did you know Temple’s Student Success Center (SSC) offers tutoring for writers at the Writing Center? Writing Center tutors can help you understand and get started on your assignments, and they can also provide you with engaged, kind, and critical feedback on drafts of your work. The tutors are graduate and undergraduate students who are successful writers and experienced readers; all tutors have completed training in effective methods of coaching writers. Tutoring is free of charge and available by same-day session or pre-scheduled appointment. More information about the Writing Center, as well as other resources offered by the SSC by clicking the links above, by calling 215-204-0702, or visiting our “Front Desk” Zoom room via the Meeting ID at 929-916-654. You can also get help (even through live chat) with your research from the Charles Library.

Also, it is common for your first year at a new school to be stressful, and I want you to know you’re not alone and there are resources here at the university, such as Tuttleman Counseling Services and the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students offers a wide range of support for students who do not have enough food, who struggle with access to secure housing, who need emergency student aid, who are dealing with sexual assault, and who have similar problems and are unsure where to turn. Further, the Dean of Students provides specific forms of outreach and support for LGBTQIA students, international students, and veterans, among others. I strongly encourage you to seek out help from the Dean of Students when needed, and if you’re having trouble connecting to the proper resources, let me know and I’ll do my best to help by filing a CARE TEAM report or asking the team in First Year Writing for assistance.

Late Policies

Weekly Coursework and Peer Review Workshops

Weekly coursework deadlines are firm because we sometimes use it as the basis for in-class discussions and activities. Also, weekly coursework is intended to build skills and habits over time. I will do my best to make deadlines clear on Canvas and to post announcements and other reminders on a regular basis. But ultimately, you are responsible for checking Canvas often and keeping track of weekly coursework.

Drafts Submitted During the Semester for My Feedback

Drafts of your papers must be submitted on time. If an extreme situation or sudden crisis arises that prevents you from submitting a draft for feedback on time, you may ask me for a one-week extension and I will say yes, no questions asked. However, your final portfolio must contain revisions of papers I have seen in draft form during the semester, and if you have not submitted a draft on time or within one week (using the extension), your final portfolio will receive a failing grade and you will have to repeat English 802, even if your other work is of passing quality or was marked complete.

I know this sounds harsh, but the reason for this strict policy is that I must see your drafts in a timely manner so that I can encourage continual improvement. Much like faculty in a math course, writing faculty need to see how you get from point A to point B to be sure you understand the process of writing that we are teaching in this course. The only possible exception to this late policy for drafts would be if you have a situation so significant that the Dean of Students or the CARE Team have reached out to me to ask for extra time or if you have already alerted me to a DRS accommodation that requires me to give you longer than one week extension; in these cases, we will work out arrangements and you will still be subject to the above policy using the newly agreed-upon revised due dates.

Also, if you decide to rewrite a paper from scratch after I have seen a version of it and given you feedback, you must submit the new draft to me before it goes into your final portfolio. If you do not, your portfolio will violate the above policy for having one or more papers I have not seen in draft form during the semester. If you are ever in doubt that you are working on a draft that is fundamentally “new” and unlike the one I gave feedback on, contact me to discuss. The purpose of this is to prevent plagiarism and to ensure, as stated above, that I can see your progress with a draft over time. If a paper appears to be wholly new and does not show how you got from point A to point B, the portfolio cannot be passing even if the quality of the new paper is satisfactory or above. I will not necessarily give you written feedback if you produce a wholly new draft, nor will we need to meet or discuss it unless I see a problem with what you’ve done. But I will be glad to support you starting fresh or improving a draft so much that it is unrecognizable from a first draft as long as you keep me in the loop and show me what you’re doing before the final portfolio is due.

The Final Portfolio

The final portfolio due date is listed on the schedule, and I have already incorporated an automatic, no questions asked, extension if you need it. But after the due date and the automatic extension date have passed, I cannot accept final portfolios and you will be given a failing grade for the course. The reason for this policy is that I need time to read final portfolios, to discuss final portfolios with other faculty in First Year Writing, and to calculate and enter final grades in TU Portal.

Occasionally, a student who had been making good progress has a true medical emergency at the very end of the semester that would make it impossible to complete a final portfolio on time. In cases like these, contact me to discuss an Incomplete, which is an arrangement that requires formal documentation of the emergency and approval of the Dean and other university officials. To qualify for an Incomplete, you must be in good standing in the course and have submitted drafts of Papers 1, 2, and 3 (that is, you must have completed the equivalent of more than 50% of the coursework and must be able to complete the remaining revisions on your own without guidance). If you believe you qualify for an Incomplete, you must speak to me about it before Monday, December 11 (the last day of classes) so that I can send you the paperwork and start the process of getting formal approval. Again, an Incomplete is not a casual arrangement and it does not apply in situations that are not true emergencies. It is not possible to arrange an Incomplete after the semester is over. For more information, see the full policy in the Undergraduate Bulletin.

Calculating Your Final Grade

Most of your final grade is determined by your final portfolio, worth 70%. The quality of your revisions and participation in peer review are worth 10%, and weekly coursework is worth 20%.

Your final portfolio will include fully revised versions of each paper along with one or more of your previous drafts to show your progress and document how you got from the first to the final draft. What I expect to see in your final portfolio is that your writing has improved over time and that you have met our course goals and objectives. To complete this course and get ARW credit in GenEd, you must receive a final grade of C- or above; a grade of D+ or below will require you to repeat the course.

Final portfolios are graded by committees of faculty from First Year Writing called Teaching Circles. We use a standard rubric (included below) to ensure that portfolios are read by more than one person and that grades across multiple sections are fair and consistent. That is, this system ensures that a C in one section of English 802 is equivalent to a C in another section of English 802, and all students can be assured that their work has been reviewed fairly and free from intentional bias. All faculty in First Year Writing participate in Teaching Circles, and this system of grading has been used successfully for decades at TU and in many other writing programs around the world.

You may occasionally feel frustrated with our grading system because unlike other courses where you can check Canvas and receive an immediate projected final grade, you will not receive a binding grade on your biggest assignments until the final portfolio is submitted. But try to remember that our system works to your advantage. You are the one who ultimately decides your grade through completing (or not completing) weekly coursework, participating (or not participating) in peer review, and revising (or not revising) your papers for the final portfolio. Your final portfolio is being graded not on where you began the semester but on the cumulative result of your work since the first day of class. If you think about it, giving early binding grades would be quite unfair in a course designed to see progress over time. There is some other good news, too: you may encounter a similar style of grading later in your coursework, such as in advanced major-specific Writing Intensive courses or senior capstone courses, and if so, we hope you’ll think back to all you learned in English 802. If you are ever feeling completely unsure of where your grade might be heading or how you’re doing in the course, please check in with me at conferences, at office hours or by appointment. I am always happy to talk about your papers in person or on Zoom, and I never want you to feel like your entire grade is up in the air or uncertain.

Course grading scheme:

A 93-100%

A- 90-92%

B+ 87-89%

B 83-86%

B- 80-82%

C+ 77-79%

C 73-76%

C- 70-72%

D+ 67-69%

D 63-66%

D- 60-62%

F 0-59%

University Policies

Policy on Recording Class Meetings or Conferences

This course will not meet on Zoom unless mandated by the university, which is highly unlikely. But we may meet on Zoom for conferences, and this is the official policy from the university that is applicable to conferences, which are official class business and similar to a class meeting: “recordings of class meetings will be allowed at [faculty] discretion [and particularly if a student in the class has an accommodation requiring such recordings]. Any recordings permitted in this class can only be used for the student’s personal educational use. Students are not permitted to copy, publish, or redistribute audio or video recordings of any portion of the class session to individuals who are not students in the course or academic program without the express permission of the faculty member and of any students who are recorded. Distribution without permission may be a violation of educational privacy law, known as FERPA as well as certain copyright laws. Any recordings made by the instructor or university of this course are the property of Temple University.”

Disability Accommodations Policy

Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact Disability Resources and Services at 215- 204-1280 or in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

If you are not sure whether or not you qualify for accommodations, go to DRS to get more information. DRS understands that some students may not arrive at Temple University with documentation for their accommodations, and they will work with you to figure out how best to proceed. It is up to you whether you want to send me your accommodations, but keep in mind that accommodations cannot be applied retroactively. It is highly advisable to reach out to me about your accommodation so that we can discuss it. Students should seek out assistance from DRS.

Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities Policy

Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. Please read the university’s policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy #03.70.02).

Policy on Academic Honesty

To protect yourself from engaging in academic misconduct, please read Temple University Statement on Academic Honesty for Students in Undergraduate Courses.

In general, all sources of information that you use in your papers must be identified as clearly, accurately, and thoroughly as possible. Plagiarism occurs when sources are used but not acknowledged and appear to be presented as your own original ideas. Of course, we do not want to discourage you from using other people’s ideas or data. Our aim is exactly the opposite – academic writing often involves a conversation with other writers. But you must always make clear your sources and you must always be sure that the work you submit is your own. Academic cheating, in general terms, is the breaking of the general rules of academic work and/or the specific rules of individual courses. It includes falsifying data or sources; submitting work in one course that was done for another course without the instructor's approval; having someone else complete your papers or any of your course work for you; or actually doing another person’s work.

If you plagiarize on a draft of a paper submitted before the final portfolio, I will give you one very serious warning and you will have a chance to revise the paper right away so that I can re-read it and see that you’ve corrected the errors. But if you plagiarize a second time or if plagiarism is found in your final portfolio, you will fail the course and will be reported to the University for academic misconduct. This policy is not negotiable. If you are uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, ask BEFORE you hand in the work. It will be too late afterwards.

Acceptable and Unacceptable Use of Generative AI Tools in This Course

Generative AI programs such as ChatGPT are exciting new tools that you may find useful in this class. As such, I have not banned them outright, and we may even use them occasionally in class activities. But AI cannot replace real human thinking and writing, and you should never use AI generated writing in place of your own work. Even in its most updated forms, AI has been known to reproduce biases, generate fake research sources, provide ideas within incorrect contexts, and spread disinformation and other harmful ideas. Human writing is the purpose of English 802, and we expect to see your genuine, human writing throughout the semester and in your final portfolios.

If you use AI in any form, you must acknowledge having done so in writing on anything you submit for this course. This site gives directions for citing AI in your papers, and if you use it for weekly coursework or other assignments, you must include a note at the end explaining how you used AI and why it was useful. Also, you are responsible for the information you submit based on an AI query (for instance, that it does not violate intellectual property laws or contain misinformation or unethical content).

Generative AI tools are not permitted in this course for the following activities:

To complete assignments or other writing that requires self-reflection or personal experience.

To generate full sentences or paragraphs that you incorporate into your own writing without acknowledgement.

To do group work unless I have specifically directed you to do so.

To peer review a classmate’s draft.

To generate full drafts or revisions (even if the revision is on your own, original draft).

If you are found to have used AI without acknowledgement on a small assignment, the penalty will range from an Incomplete on the assignment to an F for the course depending on the severity of the situation. If you are found to have used AI without acknowledgement on a draft submitted for peer review or my feedback, you will have one week to revise and resubmit or you will receive an F for the course. If you are found to have used AI without acknowledgement in your final portfolio, the penalty will be an F for the course.

Course Schedule

This schedule is subject to change; all changes will be announced on Canvas. Assigned readings can be found on each week’s Canvas module and under Files on Canvas. Please print, read, and annotate readings before each class.

While this syllabus provides a general outline of readings, I will be designing occasional Weekly Coursework activities, and tweaking scheduling, so please pay attention to the Modules on Canvas for scheduling each week.

Unit One

This unit focuses on our relationship to our individuality, our tastes (particularly our musical tastes), and the internet, one of our most commonly accessed public spaces. We will read a variety of articles and book excerpts on topics such as Spotify, self-image, and privacy. In discussions we will find intersections between these authors’ ideas and create generative questions about the authors’ understanding of the internet, and the intersection with our personal experiences. Throughout the semester you will show your understanding of the Rhetorical Situation through weekly coursework, and for Paper 1 you will imitate two of the authors’ writing styles to discuss your own favorite music album. our relationship to

Week 1

Class 1: Aug 25

Introductions and Ice Breaker
Review course syllabus and discuss our goals and objectives

Find Article on AI in classrooms you find interesting
Introduction Canvas Post

Class 2: Aug 27

Class Goals and Rules for Discussion
Discuss AI in Class
In-Class Writing Assignment

Complete Writing Assignment
Read “The I in Internet” by Jia Tolentino

Still deciding about staying in this course? Check the Registration Deadlines for drop/add here.

Week 2

Class 1: September 1 OFF FOR LABOR DAY

Class 2: September 3

Group Work
Discussion

HW:

Read excerpt, The People’s Platform by Astra Taylor
Read “The Ghosts in the Machine,” by Liz Pelly

Week 3

Class 1: September

Discuss Taylor and Pelly
Mini-Lecture on Rhetorical Situation

HW:

Read excerpt, Hole Studies, by Hilary Plum
Canvas Writing Assignment

Class 2: September 10

Discuss Plum

Discuss Rhetorical Situations and Connections / Differences between articles
Introduce Paper 1

HW:

Brainstorm Album for Paper 1
Read excerpts, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, by Hanif Abdurraqib
Do Generative Writing Prompt

Week 4

Class 1: September 15

Discuss Abdurraqib
Brainstorm for Paper 1 in Groups

HW:

Create Outline for Paper 1, start Draft of Paper 1

Class 2: September 17

Outline for Paper 1 Due

Time to work in class on Paper 1

HW:

Complete Draft of Paper 1

Week 5

Class 1: September 22

Peer Review for Paper 1

Class 2: September 24

Work in class on Paper 1

By Sunday at midnight:

Revise Paper 1 and submit it on Canvas for instructor feedback

Unit Two

(This Unit to be HEAVILY Revised by Sam, and will be replaced.)

This unit focuses on surveillance in public space and in the public sphere. We will read a foundational article in surveillance studies (Foucault’s “Panopticism,” which you are likely to encounter again at TU no matter what your major), and then we will read several articles about forms of surveillance that we may encounter in our daily lives. Think about questions such as: How much surveillance is acceptable to you? Does surveillance improve or detract from our personal safety? How can an average person resist or avoid surveillance if they wish to do so? How are institutions creating cultures of surveillance, such as those in schools and workplaces? How does a culture of freedom coexist with a culture of surveillance? Paper 2 will require you to use library resources to explore a topic of your choice related to surveillance.

Week 6

Class 1: September 29

In-Class Reflection for Paper 1
Introduce Foucault and begin reading him as group

HW:

Read and annotate Foucault’s “Panopticism”
Create Discussion Questions connecting Foucault to Unit 1

Class 2: October 1

Discuss Foucault

HW:

Read Gray, “Urban Surveillance and Panopticism: Will We Recognize the Facial Recognition Society”
Read Gans & Mann, “When the Camera Lies: Our Surveillance Society Needs a Dose of Integrity to be Reliable”
Read Pfau, “Artificial Intelligence: The New Eyes of Surveillance”

Week 7

Class 1: October 6

Discuss Gray, Gans & Mann, and Pfau

HW:

Complete the first Library Module

Class 2: October 8

Introduce Paper 2 Assignment
Do in-class Library Search for Paper 2

HW:

Read Alrawi, “Immigrants are not Felons: A Legal Analysis of Immigrants’ Civil Rights Chilling Effect: Issues Caused by Ice’s SmartLINK App Surveillance”
Read Bhuiyan, “Health Data Privacy post-roe: Can our information be used against
us?”
Read Holpuch, “Two Women Sue Apple Over AirTag Stalking”

Week 8

Class 1: October 13

Discuss Alrawi, Bhuiyan, ad Hopuch

HW:

Brainstorm for Paper 2
Reading TBD

Class 2: October 15

Library Visit

Hw:

Work on Paper 2
Sign up for Individual Conferences

Week 9

Class One: October 20

Individual Conferences

HW: Complete Draft of Paper 2

Class Two: October 22

Peer Review Day

HW:

Complete Paper 2

By Sunday at midnight:

Revise Paper 2 and submit it on Canvas for instructor feedback

Unit Three

Literacy, defined as the variety of ways in which we communicate through reading and writing, has been a key concept in recent debates on education, technology, science, health, and the media. In this unit, we will explore two debates about literacy to inspire you to write a persuasive argument on a topic of your own choice related to literacy for Paper 3. First, we will discuss book banning and other forms of censorship in education, and we will explore questions such as: How does censorship impact teachers, students, and communities? How often do we censor ourselves and why? What motivates those who want to limit access to certain ideas and texts? What do debates about censorship and freedom of speech tell us about our social and cultural values? Second, we will explore debates about generative AI tools like Chat GPT, Bard and Copilot. What does it mean to be human and/or literate if generative AI can read and write (and think?) for us? What benefits and risks are there with generative AI, and what are the social and cultural values that are reflected and created by AI? How might generative AI shape the future?

Week 10

Class One: October 27

In Class Reflection for Paper 2
In Class Activities / Discussion related to Literacy and AI

HW:

Read Camp, “I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead.”
Read Aleem, “What the New York Times' college cancel culture essay gets wrong about censorship”
Read Cooke “How Book Banning Campaigns Have Changed the Lives and Education of Librarians”

Class Two: October 29

Class Discussion of Articles

HW:

Read Teacher’s college “What You Need to Know About the Book Bans Sweeping the U.S.”
Flaherty, “Shaping the Narrative”
Savat, “Free Speech? Nearly Half of Americans Self-Censor, Study Finds”

Week 11

Class 1: November 3

Discuss Articles
Introduce Paper 3

HW:

Read Buolamwini, “Artificial Intelligence Has a Problem with Gender and Racial Bias. Here’s How to Solve It.”
Read Calvet-Bademunt and Mchangama, “AI chatbots refuse to produce ‘controversial’ output: Why that’s a free speech problem”
Read Slimi, “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Higher Education: An Empirical Study”
Mollick, “AI’s ability to write for us—and our inability to resist ‘The Button’—will spark a crisis of meaning in creative work”

Class 2: November 5

Discuss readings; brainstorm topics and talk about plans for library research for Paper 3

HW:

Work on Paper 3: create an outline, do some free-writing to organize your thoughts, produce some chunks of text that might be used in your paper, continue searching for sources and reading/thinking to figure out what you want to say in Paper 3

Week 11

Class 1: November 10

Bring a copy of your Proposal to class and submit it to Canvas for instructor feedback
In small groups, discuss your Proposal and help each other decide what to work on next and how to address ideas that might still be unclear

HW:

Work on Paper 3
Sign up for Individual Conferences

Class 2: November 12

Individual Conferences

HW:

Work on Paper 3

Week 12

Class 1: November 17

Work on Paper 3 in-class

Class 2: November 19

Peer Review of Paper 3
Review the course syllabus sections on the final portfolio and grading
Discuss best practices for revising your papers

By Sunday at midnight:

Submit Draft of Paper 3 for instructor feedback

Week 13

OFF FOR FALL BREAK

Week 14

Class 1: December 1

Introduce Paper 4

Work day for Revising Papers and Paper 4

Class 2: December 3

Library Day

Week 14:

Class 1: December 8

Additional Peer Review
Final Work Day

Class 2: December 10

Reflection Activities

Monday December 15 Final Portfolios Due in-person drop off, or in my Mailbox in Mazur Hall by the end of our usual class time. If you need a few extra days, you may submit your final portfolio any time until Wednesday, December 17 at midnight, no questions asked and no late penalty applied.

After Wednesday, December 17 at midnight, it is too late to submit your final portfolio.

There is no final exam for this course. Once you submit the final portfolio, you have completed your work for English 0802. I will grade your final portfolio and calculate your final grade, and then I will enter final grades on Banner before the end of the grading period.

Please note that I do not upload comments on final portfolios because you’ll have already gotten plenty of feedback from me throughout the semester. But if you want some brief feedback on your final portfolio or if you have any questions about your final grade, you may contact me via email. I will do my best to respond to you in a timely manner.

English 802 Portfolio Grading Criteria

A-range portfolios:

The writer demonstrates facility in making nuanced, original, and well-researched arguments addressed to the course theme.
The writer accurately represents others’ ideas and constructs subtle and complex arguments in relation to others’ ideas in all three papers.
The writer demonstrates full awareness of academic audience in all three papers, the papers are well-organized and the research is well-integrated.
There are virtually no errors in syntax, grammar, mechanics, usage, style, and documentation.
The portfolio demonstrates that the writer has improved over the course of the semester, and it is clear that the writer worked hard to revise and edit their papers. The writer is reflective about their progress and demonstrates an excellent understanding of their own writing process and development as a writer.

B-range portfolios:

The writer demonstrates facility in making thoughtful and well-researched arguments addressed to the course theme.
The writer accurately represents others’ ideas, with only minor exceptions, and constructs clear and sometimes complex arguments in relation to others’ ideas in all three papers. Occasionally, the writer may make reductive or black-and-white analyses in one or more of the three papers, but these are minor and do not negate or seriously undermine the arguments.
The writer demonstrates good awareness of academic audience in all three papers, and the papers are generally organized well and the research is nicely integrated, though one or two sources may be not credible.
There may be a few errors in syntax, grammar, mechanics, usage, style and documentation, but none of these errors impede the reader’s understanding of the writer’s arguments.
The portfolio demonstrates that the writer has improved over the course of the semester, and there may be indications that the writer of the portfolio worked hard to revise and edit their papers. The writer is reflective about their progress and demonstrates solid self-awareness about their development as a writer.

C-range portfolios:

The writer makes good arguments addressed to the course theme.
The writer accurately represents others’ ideas, though the articulation of these ideas may be limited or confusing in one or more of the three papers.
Research for the arguments is generally done at an adequate level, meeting requirements for the assignments, and the writer may show some difficulty in connecting research to their own arguments in one or more of the papers. There may also be one or more papers in which some sources are not credible.
The writer demonstrates some awareness of academic audience in all three papers, and the papers are organized well enough to follow the arguments, but the organization of one or more of the papers may be reductive, simplistic, confusing, and/or under-developed. Sometimes C-range portfolios contain one or more papers that include padding or sections in which the writer has made leaps of logic.
There may be one or more papers in which there are serious errors of syntax, grammar, mechanics, usage, style and documentation, but these errors should not seriously undermine the comprehensibility of the arguments.
The portfolio demonstrates that the writer has improved over the course of the semester, but there may be indications that the writer of the portfolio did not pay close enough attention to revision or editing of all three papers. The writer is at least somewhat reflective about their progress and development as a writer, but it may be lacking in quality and possibly quantity.

Failing (D and F) portfolios:

The writer demonstrates an inadequate ability to make arguments addressed to the course theme.
The writer has not represented others’ ideas correctly in one or more of the three papers, and it is likely that the writer makes reductive or black-and-white analyses. The writer may demonstrate some awareness of academic audience, but there are serious organizational problems in one or more of the three papers that make it difficult or impossible to follow the arguments, and one or more papers includes simplistic, confusing, or under-developed ideas.
Research for the arguments is generally done at a basic or level, possibly meeting requirements for the assignments. But with respect to research, the writer cannot adequately connect others’ ideas to their own arguments in one or more of the papers. There may also be one or more papers in which the required number of sources is missing and/or in which sources are not credible.
One or more of the three papers may not show basic formal achievement in sentence structure, transitional words and phrases, appropriate pronoun use, and other elements of writing necessary for full comprehensibility of the writer’s arguments.
The portfolio may demonstrate that the writer has improved over the course of the semester, and the papers may show considerable improvement from first drafts, but the writer may not yet be able to revise or edit well enough to complete the papers at a C-range or above level.
The writer may be reflective about their progress, but it is lacking in quality and possibly quantity.
Sometimes, failing portfolios themselves are inconsistent and contain two passing-level papers and one failing paper, but in these cases, the entire portfolio receives a failing grade because all three papers must be at or above a C- grade to pass the course.