Engl 1010 Critical Reading and Expository Writing, sec 5, O'Donnell, Fall 2019

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[ Policies ] [ Calendar ] [ Readings ] [ Best Student Essays This Term ]

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Calendar
last update: October 10, 2019

Week 7 -- Mon Oct 7; Weds 9; Fri 11

Monday

Read "How 'When They See Us' and 'Chernobyl' Make Us Look: These new true-story series manage to make depressing, traumatic material not merely watchable but mesmerizing." By Emily Nusbaum. New Yorker, June 17, 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/06/24/how-when-they-see-us-and-chernobyl-make-us-look Click here for a cached version: faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/whentheyseeus_chernobyl.pdf

Wednesday

A revised version of essay 3 is due. Edit and proofread carefully before you print it out. I will grade this version.

Also, bring your grammar handbook to class today.

Friday

Read the following three essays:

- "The Riddle of the Gun." By Sam Harris. January 2, 2013. samharris.org/the-riddle-of-the-gun/

- "Black Exhaustion." By Pilot Viruet. Matter [the original flagship publication of Medium], April 28, 2015. medium.com/matter/black-exhaustion-eb90b87c4476

- "The Enduring Power of Print for Learning in a Digital World." By Patricia A. Alexander and Lauren M. Singer Trakhman. The Conversation, October 3, 2017.

theconversation.com/the-enduring-power-of-print-for-learning-in-a-digital-world-84352

Week 8 -- Mon Oct 14=Fall break; Weds Oct 16=class cancelled; Fri 18

Friday

Read Chapter 5, "Writing a Thesis," pages 31-36

In You, Writing!, read Chapter Five, "Writing a Thesis," pages 31-36, here: open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/you-writing-a-guide-to-college-composition. 

Week 9 -- Mon Oct 21; Weds 23; Fri 25

Monday

Read "Putting Down Your Phone May Help You Live Longer: By raising levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol, our phone time may also be threatening our long-term health." By Catherine Price. The New York Times, April 24, 2019. www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/well/mind/putting-down-your-phone-may-help-you-live-longer.html

Wednesday

Draft of essay 4, op-ed/ viewpoint, is due. Bring at least 1,200 words, printed double-spaced in 12-point type, along with 2 extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for peer review.

Friday

In You, Writing!, read Chapter Six, "Organizing," pages 37-54, here: open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/you-writing-a-guide-to-college-composition. Print those 17 pages and bring the hard copy to class.

Week 10 -- Mon Oct 28; Weds 30; Fri Nov 1

Monday

- In You, Writing!, read "Citing Sources," pages 155-58 in Chapter Six, "Organizing," here: open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/you-writing-a-guide-to-college-composition. 

- Also read the section entitled "Key differences in MLA 8th Edition," in A Complete Guide to MLA 8th Edition, here online at easybib dot com: www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/mla-8/ultimate-guide-mla-eighth-edition/. Also, browse the rest of that page. 

Wednesday

Revised version of essay 4 is due.

Friday

Write a memo to me and your classmates, in which you propose a topic for essay 5. Include a generous working title for the essay you propose to write (including a subtitle after the colon). Describe why you are interested in the topic, and why you are qualified to write about it. 

Week 11 -- Mon Nov 4; Weds 6; Fri 8

Monday

Read "Unfriendly Climate." By Sonia Smith. Texas Monthly, May 2016. www.texasmonthly.com/articles/katharine-hayhoe-lubbock-climate-change-evangelist/

Wednesday

Draft of essay 5, writing in the nonfiction genre of your choice, is due.

Friday

Read "Most dominant athlete of 2018: Simone Biles--This was the year that the greatest gymnast of all time showed that not a damn thing will ever stand in her way." By Danyel Smith. ESPN The Magazine [RIP!], December 11, 2018. theundefeated.com/features/simone-biles-most-dominant-athlete-of-2018/

Week 12 -- Mon Nov 11; Weds 13; Fri 15

Monday

No reading assignment.

Wednesday

Revised version of essay 5 is due.

Friday

Read "Consider the Lobster: For 56 years, the Maine Lobster Festival has been drawing crowds with the promise of sun, fun, and fine food. One visitor would argue that the celebration involves a whole lot more." By David Foster Wallace. Gourmet Magazine, August 2004. Pages 50-64. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/lobster_dfwallace.pdf

Week 13 -- Mon Nov 18; Weds 20; Fri 22

Monday

Revision activities, today and all week. Click here for a revision checklist.

Wednesday

Read "The Really Big One: An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when." By Kathryn Schulz. The New Yorker, July 13, 2015. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Friday

No reading assignment. Bring to class the essay that you are revising.

Week 14 -- Mon Nov 25; Weds 27- Fri 29=Thanksgiving break

Monday

Read "Total Eclipse." By Annie Dillard. Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters. 1982. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/dillard_eclipse.pdf

Week 15 -- Mon Dec 2; Weds 4; Fri 6

Monday

No reading assignment. In-class revision exercises.

Wednesday

Your best essay of the semester, revised for publication on the web, due. Click here for final revision instructions.

Friday

Practice for final exam -- in-class writing. Click here for final exam instructions.

Final exam: Weds Dec 11, 8-10am