LaGuardia Community College
Department of English
Cluster: America in the World
ENG 101: Composition
ENG 103: The Research Paper Email: laura.tanenbaum@gmail.com
Fall 2011 Office Hours: M-Th 11-12
Dr. Laura Tanenbaum
Phone: (718) 482-5747 M120F
Course Hours: M, T, Th 1-3:15 Writing Center: E111
Monday: E250
Tuesday: B228
Thursday: C415
“America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire.”
- Barack Obama, Speech at Cairo University
“I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam”
As the most powerful country in the world, the United States means many things to people around the world – to people who live there, to people who travel there to work, to people who leave, to people who fight in wars in which it plays a role, to people in countries whose governments and economies are influenced by its policies. Moreover, “the United States” or – more often but somewhat inaccurately – “America” – represents for many around the world not simply a place, a government or a people but a set of ideas. In addition, the particular history of slavery, racial segregation, and immigration has shaped these ideas in myriad ways. For some, the United States represents economic opportunity and individual liberty. To others, it represents the arrogance of empire, the excesses of capitalism and the force of the world’s largest military. To some, it has represented any contradictory combination of these impulses.
In Professor Miller’s class, you will learn about the historical evolution of American power, about how this country became so powerful, the different ways in which this power has been used, and how this has influenced the lives of ordinary people of diverse backgrounds, both in the United States and around the world. In Professor Martinez’s class you will examine global issues such as labor, migration, and development today, with a particular emphasis on the how the relations between countries and the policies of the United States shape these issues. In this class, we will be interested in all of these concerns, but, as a class focused on the craft of writing we will also look at more personal accounts. We will look at what a variety of writers have thought about American power, including the ways it has shaped their own lives and worldviews. The readings will take a variety of forms and will include the work of journalists, soldiers, politicians, scholars, and activists. We will pay particular attention to the experience of war, from the Vietnam War to the current Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
As we read and discuss these works, we will continue our journeys as writers. While all of us are capable of becoming lucid, powerful writers, most of us require extended practice to develop this skill. Towards this end, we will write extensively both in and out of class. Writing work for the 101 portion of the class will include a diagnostic sample, three formal essays, a final reflective in-class essay, as well as a range of shorter informal assignments which will help you understand and respond to our readings and the themes of the cluster. The formal essays final will be at least 600 words and will include direct support from our texts. Because so much of writing is rewriting, we will also spend time on the revision process. A rewriting of one of the first two essays will serve as your midterm. For our work in 103, we will complete a series of assignments that build to one longer research essay on a topic of your choice. The research essay will be at least 1200 words, typed, double-spaced and carefully proofread, and include proper documentation. This will also serve as the third essay in ENG101. Your work towards this essay will be coordinated with Professor Miller’s American History course and Prof. Martinez’s World Geography course.
Prerequisites: To enroll in this class you must have passed or been exempted from the CAT-W Reading and Writing Tests when you entered LaGuardia, or have passed ENG099 and the CAT-W Reading and Writing texts since entering LaGuardia.
Our writing work will help you succeed on the CPE test, which you must pass to graduate from LaGuardia and to transfer to a four-year CUNY school.
Grading:
101: In accordance with departmental policy, you must pass all written assignments –three formal essays, the midterm, and the final – in order to pass the class. You will have the opportunity to revise these assignments with the exception of the final exam. Grades will be based on:
3 formal essays: 15% each
Final In-Class Reflective Writing: 15%
In-class presentation on selected reading assignment: 15%
Participation (Includes in-class work, blog, reading quizzes, other informal assignments): 20%
Note: The midterm exam will be a revision of either essay 1 or 2. Your grade on the midterm will be reflected in your revised grade of this essay.
103: Grades will be based on:
Research Essay: 60%
In-Class Presentation of Research Project: 20%
Participation/In-class work/staged assignments: 20%
There are no incompletes in any of these cluster classes. This is a departmental policy and cannot be changed.
How Do I Do Well? As you can see, this is a set of demanding, college-level courses. They will also be exciting, stimulating, and fun.
Attendance: This is a quickly paced class with a rapid turnover of readings and assignments. Missing even a few classes will severely affect your ability to keep up with our work. You will also miss important discussions and lessons that can be recreated outside of class. So be on time, prepared, well rested, with cell phones and pagers turned off, in order to get the most out of class.
If you miss more than six hours of 101 or four hours for 103, you may fail the course. Note a class period for 101 and 103 period is two hours long. You are responsible for keeping track of your number of absences, and you are required to take the initiative for making up the work you have missed. If you think you may be over the limit, don’t just stop coming! Come talk to me and we’ll work together to resolve the problem.
Required Texts: They Say, I Say.
Course Packet
A USB drive to save and work with your writing in class.
They Say, I Say is available at the bookstore. The course packet is available in the copy shop in the basement of the B building, 30-20 Thompson Ave. You must purchase these texts. If you’re on financial aid, you may be able to get a voucher to help pay for your books. Bring all texts we’re working with class.
Plagiarism: As writers, we need to let our readers know when we’re using the ideas and words of others. Plagiarism happens when a writer passes off the work of another as his or her own. This includes copying materials, in whole or in part, from published sources or web pages, buying papers from a "paper mill," hiring someone to write a paper for you, or failing to properly attribute sources used in your writing. The minimum penalty for plagiarism is a grade of zero for the assignment; a second offense will result in failure in the course.
General Course Outline: This gives a general sense of our work together in this class. For specific assignments and dates, you must come to class.
Please note that writing assignments are listed under the week in which they will be introduced and assigned: you should complete the reading by the start of the next week, in which they will be discussed.
All readings are from course pack unless otherwise noted.
PROLOGUE: What is Empire?
Week 1
Course Introduction: America as Idea
Diagnostic Writing Sample
Introduce Blog
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”
PART I: Journeys and Encounters
Week 2
Working with Writing: What is an Essay?: Work with They Say, I Say
Pre-Writing for Essay #1: Brainstorming and Organizing
Travel and Empire: Read Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place
Kennedy Odede, “Slumdog Tourism”
Life and Debt (film)
Week 3
Drafts of Essay #1
Immigrants and Exiles:
Richard Wright, “I Choose Exile”
Moustafa Bayoumi, “How Does It Feel to Be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America”
Week 4
Essay #1 Due
Prewriting for Research Essays: Newspaper Exercise
Prewriting for Essay #2
Family Encounters: War, Money, and International Adoption
Daughter from Danang (film)
John Seabrook, “The Last Babylift”
PART TWO: Little Americas
Week 5
Work with graded Essay #1 and drafts of Essay #2: Revision
The United States and Global Corporations: Then and Now
Greg Grandin: Fordlandia
Eric Schlosser, “Global Realization”
Week 6
Essay #2 Due
Prewriting on Research Essays
American War, American Fortress
Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone
“Talk to an Iraqi” (video)
PART THREE: VIETNAM: A Case Study
Week 7
Work with Research Topics and Sources
Work on Revisions
Read Howard Zinn, “The Impossible Victory: Vietnam”
H. Bruce Franklin, “Legacies of Denial”
Hearts and Minds (film)
Week 8
Revisions of Essay #1 or #2 Due
Who Fights and Why?
Read Appy, “Class Wars”
Tim O’Brien, “On the Rainy River”
Annotated Bibliography Due
Week 9
Group Work: Towards Research Drafts
Crossing Boundaries
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of American Empire (pages 151-208) *(Note that this reading is not in the course pack; you will buy this book for Professor Miller’s class.)
Sir, no Sir! (film)
Week 10
Research Drafts Due
Hollywood Strikes Back:
Read H. Bruce Franklin, “From Realism to Virtual Reality”
Anthony Swofford, Jarhead
Film Clips
Week 11:
Presentations on Research Projects
In-Class Revision of Research Essays
Week 12:
Research Essays Due
In-Class Reflective Writing
