Composition II

ENG 201 Section 22 | Fall 2009 | Tue./Thur. 12:30-1:45 PM

Frnal grades were submitted on Dec. 30, 2009 at 4:02 p.m. To view your Grades and Transcripts, you will need to register with: eSIMS, the college registration tool: http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/2067.php

Assignments

• Class is completed.

Class Blogs

1. Tahsina Ahmed
2. Luis Alvarado
3. Danielle Carthorne
4. Janelle Coger
5. Daniel Cotter
6. Thomas Dicamillo
7. Sean Dolan
8. Timothy Finn
9. Christian Garces
10. Camille Gonzalez
11. Joshua Gross
12. Vincent Lapenta
13. Nia Luna
14. Bledar Mehmetaj
15. Sal Mingoia
16. Sal Mingoia
17. Ivan Melendez
18. Tiffany Morales
19. Justine Pagan
20. Nahirobi Peguero
21. Gelisa Rodriguez
22. Jennifer Santanello
23. Natasha Schaper
24. Kojusola Sosan
25. Robert Thomas
26. Joseph Tomczak
27. Julissa Velasquez
28. Pablo Villalba
29. Jennifer Vittini

How to Create a Blog

A blog is an excellent tool to improve your writing. It lets you see your work in a professional format. You can also edit your work, get feedback on it, and share it with others. In effect, you're a published blog author as soon as you create your blog!

To create a blog, go to www.blogger.com. After creating your blog, email the URL (blog address) to Michael Christian. Make your email "subject line" read "201 smith blog URL" (change "smith" to your last name). Here's a video about how to create a blog.

Text to speech

Hear a computer read words to you! Copy & paste at least your intro and conclusion paragraphs into this program and listen to the computer read it to you. I bet you'll catch a mistake or two, and eliminating those mistakes could boost your grade.

Internet Research

• Amazon Search Inside the Book feature. Read books for free. Search books for your search terms.
• Advanced Amazon search makes searching for books fun.
• Google.
• Domain search — You can use Google to search only within one specific website by entering the word "site" and a colon followed by the domain name followed by a space and then the search terms you're looking for. For example, here's how you'd find admission information on the Stanford University site: site:stanford.edu admission
• Google Books lets you search the full text of books and read many of them for free, like Amazon.
• Google Scholar "Stand on the shoulders of giants," as they say.
• Dictionary (Merriam-Webster)
• Thesaurus
• Rhyme Finder for the poet in you.
• To test a phrase, try a google site search in the NYT: site:nytimes.com your search term.

The Secret

Can be seen for free here in its entirety.

Assignment Archive

• - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Archive Follows - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• Assignments. The best way to make up for missed classes is to spend three hours writing a blog post (before our next class meeting) about the subject we covered on the day(s) you were absent. (See "Assignment Archive" below.) Then notify me by email when you're done. Every class: Extra credit for guys who come to class dressed like Prince Charles (shirt and tie) and gals who arrive like Princess Diana (skirt suit).
• The following are past assignments; posted here for archival purposes.
• Due Thurs. 9/3 - Come to class prepared to discuss Introductions. Read p.109-111 (section 2) of Elements of Rhetoric by Richard Whately in which he talks about types of introductions. Extra credit: bring to class a military jacket, military hat, black armband, or American flag. Extra credit for guys who come to class dressed like Prince Charles (shirt and tie) and gals who arrive like Princess Diana (skirt suit).
• For Fri. 9/4 - Create your blog and email the URL to Professor Christian. This assignment is due by Friday 9/4 at midnight but you should get a jump start on it by doing it sooner. See below for instructions on how to create a blog.
• Due by Monday 9/7 at 2:00 p.m.: write a one paragraph intro to a book about Cubism in your blog. (State that your topic is important, misunderstood, and/or neglected by other writers.) Add a photo or painting if possible.
• Due Tuesday 9/8 - Read, and mark up, your copy of the Plato handout, which is Book 10 of Plato's The Republic. Read lines 4024 to 4162. You only need to read the part about Homer and how Plato criticizes poetry. You can ignore the opening part of the book and the conclusion (about the immortality of the soul). The section we'll be focusing on is in the middle of the book. Before reading it, you may wish to read the first 4 paragraphs of this summary.
• Thursday 9/10/09 - come to class prepared to discuss comparison and contrast.
• Tuesday 9/15/09 - Please read A major inducer of anticarcinogenic protective enzymes from broccoli: Isolation and elucidation of structure by Yuesheng Zhang and others. (No need to print it. I will bring hard copies to class for you.) Also, if possible, watch this video, featuring the article's author, Dr. Paul Talalay. Here's a second video featuring Dr. Paul Talalay.
• Thursday 9/17 - class canceled. Due Thursday 9/17 – Write an abstract for a science article, modeled on the abstract in the broccoli paper. Your abstract should be totally made up and invented and should have three parts: a statement of fact, a summary of your experiment, and a one-sentence conclusion. It should be at least 60 words. Example: “ABSTRACT: Eyesight is aided by vitamin A. Carrots were chosen for this experiment because of their high vitamin A content. Fifteen college students were fed three carrots a day for one year. Six subjects developed stomach ulcers and dropped out of the study. One became anemic. The remaining 93 were then tested for night vision. The before and after tests revealed that 56 percent had significantly improved night vision. We conclude that dietary vitamin A may have a role in improving night vision.”
• Tuesday 9/22 - Please read Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception handout.
• Thurs. 9/24 - Please bring the Salinger essay to class today. We will continue our discussion of footnotes. Due by midnight: a blog post that is a footnote to a Huxley paper, the footnote to be at least 60 words. You can define a term, talk about Huxley, mention a related topic, or just talk about anything related to Huxley's use of mescaline. You can make your footnote longer and you can drop it into your first essay assignment to help meet your word count. Nothing from Wikipedia, please.
• Due Thurs. 10/1 by 10:00 p.m.- Essay 1. Topic: Huxley's The Doors of Perception. 1,000 words minimum. Use an introduction in which you say your topic is important, misunderstood and/or neglected. Include a roadmap paragraph in which you tell what will be covered in the essay and include a thesis sentence. Underline your thesis sentence. Compare Huxley to something in body of essay. Use subheadings. Use a conclusion. Use at least one footnote to a book with a citation and tangential remarks. 1" margins. Times New Roman (or, better yet, Georgia font). Put name on page 1 and ENG 201. Email as an attachment to Michael Christian with this email subject line: 201 smith e1 [all lowercase, change "smith" to your last name.] No Wikipedia. Name your essay file 201 smith e1 [all lowercase, change "smith" to your last name]. Here is an example of a perfect essay on Huxley. No late papers accepted.
• Tues. 10/6 - Read Frank Sulloway's article on birth order, Birth Order and Sibling Competition. Be sure to underline and write marginal notes on every page because I will test you on your ability to read critically and thoroughly. Try to find at least one point you understand from each page. Don't worry if some of it is over your head!
• Thurs. 10/8 - Read George Orwell's essay "Why I Write." Be sure to underline (or highlight) and write marginal notes on every page. It is not sufficient to simply underline or highlight, you must also write at least one note on each page. Also be prepared to discuss the MLA in-text citation style. Please review this link before class. We will also begin our discussion of the New Journalism.
• Tues. 10/13 - Read the chapter "Asides and Commentaries" from The Art of the Footnote by Francis A. Burkle-Young and Saundra Rose Maley.
• Thurs. 10/15 - class canceled. Blog post due by midnight. Post to your blog a comment about the New Journalism. Quote a book, and use an MLA in-text style reference. 60 words minimum. Include a photo, if possible. No wikipedia. The more you write the better for you since you'll be able to use this post as a footnote to help meet your word count for essay # 2 (due 10/27/09).
• Tues. 10/20 - please read the Hunter S. Thompson handout, which is chapter 1 and chapter 2 (pages 3-15) from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. You should also come to class prepared for the Hunter S. Thompson contest. Prepare by looking at some Hunter S. Thompson videos on YouTubeto study his speaking style and come to class with a prepared line or two that you can say in HST style.
• Tues. 10/27 - Today we looked at coherence, revising, rewriting, and editing.
• Thurs. 10/22 - CUNY Proficiency Exam (CPE) overview. These two videos may prove of interest: CUNY CPE Video 1 and CPE Video 2.
• Tues. 10/27 - Essay 2 due by midnight - Topic: Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. 1,250 words minimum. You may use your Huxley essay as a footnote (or footnotes). Include at least two footnotes to books. Email as an attachment to Michael Christian with this email subject line: 201 smith e2 [all lowercase, change "smith" to your last name.] Name your essay file 201 smith e2 [all lowercase, change "smith" to your last name].
• Thurs. 10/29 - Connotation and denotation. Introduction to Transcendentalism.
• Tues. 11/3 - Transcendentalism - Thoreau. Read the handout, which is a selection from Chapter 1 of Walden.
• Due Sat. 11-7-09 by midnight. Write a 200-word post about literary criticism. What do you think it should do? What is its purpose? Your opinion! Include a photo if possible to illustrate your post. Include at least one MLA in-text citation from a book. Here is where you can talk about your favorite author or writer or a favorite movie. Then explain what literary criticism can do. (For example, a book review or an article or book written about your favorite author: what is the purpose of such criticism?) I encourage you to use the John Jay library Web site online. You might begin by going to http://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/ and look under the photo where it says "Shortcuts to Popular Databases." Click on that and select the first option "Academic Search Complete." Then enter your email and password. In the next screen, select "Choose Databases" (this is in small print in blue at the top). Then click where it says "Select / deselect all." Then click "OK." Then on the search page enter "literary criticism" or another term you wish to search for, and click on the box across from it and select "SU Subject Terms" and click "SEARCH." You will find many online sources that you can read the full text of from your computer.
• Tues. 11/10 - Biography 1. Read the selection from Margaret A. Salinger's Dream Catcher: A Memoir. Also the Dinitia Smith articles about J.D. Salinger. Hear a computer tell you what we need to do for next class. See author Joyce Maynard interviewed by Charlie Rose. Begin watching at 25:10 for Joyce Maynard segment.
• Due Thursday 11-12-09 by 12:30 p.m. (For those who did not do it already!) Write a 200-word post about literary criticism. What do you think it should do? What is its purpose? Your opinion! Include a photo if possible to illustrate your post. Include at least one MLA in-text citation from a book. Here is where you can talk about your favorite author or writer or a favorite movie. Then explain what literary criticism can do. (For example, a book review or an article or book written about your favorite author: what is the purpose of such criticism?) I encourage you to use the John Jay library Web site online. (For info on how to do this, see the assignment archive dated 11/7/09.)
• Thurs. 11/12 - Biography 2 (J.D. Salinger). Read J.D. Salinger's short story "Teddy" as well as Tony Magagna's article "Orange Peels and Apple-Eaters: Buddhism in J.D. Salinger's 'Teddy.'"
• Tues. 11/17 - Transcendental Meditation. Please read handouts carefully.
• Thurs. 11/19 - Please read William Hazlitt's essay "On Personal Character" and the excerpt from chapter 1 of Jerome Kagan and Nancy Snidman's book The Long Shadow of Temperament. (Here is a video on Hazlitt quotes.)
• Prior to writing e3, you are encouraged to email your thesis sentence to Michael Christian for review. (Use subject line “201 smith thesis” and change “smith” to your last name.)
• Misc - Here's a link to Duncan Wu's book, William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man.
  
• Tues. 11/24 - Essay 3 due by midnight. Topic – Self-discovery. 1,500 words. Please include at least 5 MLA-style in-text citations to five different books. No wikipedia. Include a bibliography. Email as an attachment to Michael Christian with this email subject line: 201 smith e3 [all lowercase, change "smith" to your last name.] Name your essay file 201 smith e3 [all lowercase, change "smith" to your last name].
• Thursday 12/3 - Last day to turn in any work or revise anything. We will discuss The Chess Players by the painter Thomas Eakins, and the writer Anais Nin.
• Tues 12/8 - Quiz Show. Come to class prepared to participate in an oral exam demonstrating your mastery of all the topics we covered this semester. The best way to prepare is to look over your notes and your annotations on all the readings we did. Tom Wolfe video: http://www.youtube.com/v/5Hr_HNCqTtY&hl=en_US&fs=1&
• Thurs 12/10 - Last Class. Award ceremony. Attendance becomes more critical as the semester draws to a close and this is the most important class of the semester. To nominate yourself, or a class member, for an award, Email to Michael Christian with this email subject line: 201 smith nomination [all lowercase, change "smith" to your last name.] You can nominate in the category of "class participation" or "never late or absent" or "never absent." You are encouraged to nominate yourself. Link to Certificate of Academic Excellence award.