Composition II (ENG 101

Composition II (ENG 101.21): “The Food We Eat” Dr. Andrew Smyth

Spring 2005 EN D272

MW 3:25-4:40 203-392-6895

Office Hours: MW 5-6 p.m.; T 5-7 p.m.; and by Appointment

Course Description and Goals

This course gives you the opportunity to use reading, writing, research, and regular interaction with others in order to strengthen your abilities in these areas and in critical thinking. The primary type of writing in the course is argumentative, with research skills stressed throughout the semester. The course is centered on the general theme of food, with readings and most of your papers devoted to issues regarding the production, distribution, consumption, and economics of food on local and global scales.

To help us put one key issue of food—hunger—into perspective, this class requires a service component: each student will dedicate ten hours of service to the East Haven Foodbank during the course of the semester. If you cannot make this requirement, you should withdraw from this class immediately and sign up for another section of Composition II. You cannot pass this course unless you participate in the service component, which will be the source of a major paper and several other projects.

This course seeks to attain goals in three key areas:

1) Reading:

· Students extend their ability to analyze the structures and effectiveness of argument.

· Students engage in multiple readings to extend their understanding of conversation surrounding the class theme or issue.

· Students extend their knowledge of rhetorical terms to include terms for analyzing arguments, such as appeals to emotion, character, and logic; fallacies of argument; and claims, reasons, and warrants.

2) Writing:

· Students develop coherent points of view in relationship to complex ideas.

· Students analyze strengths and weakness of arguments, including their own.

· Students extend their ability to reflect on their writing processes.

· Students extend their ability to provide evidence and learn to evaluate the credibility of sources.

· Students extend their knowledge of research-based conventions.

· Students practice research-based writing in order to join a conversation about a topic rather than simply report on facts about a topic.

· Students write in a variety of genres and for a variety of audiences and purposes.

· Students extend their practice/experimentation with the conventions of writing that clarify and enhance meaning; students learn that error is a necessary and productive part of the learning process.

3) Critical Thinking and Community Awareness

· Students continue to learn the value of instructor and peer-based feedback on their critical reading, writing, and thinking processes.

· Students extend their own voice and points of view in their research based reading, writing, and thinking; students learn the integral role of active reading and writing play in their college careers.

· Students develop and extend their own contributions to broader conversations about the theme or topic.

· Students learn to see themselves as authorities and knowledge and research producers rather than knowledge reporters.

Texts & Materials

Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers. 4^th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson: Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings. Concise Edition. 3^rd Edition. New York: Longman-Pearson, 2004.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Perennial, 2002.

Grade Breakdown

Your grade will be determined by your midterm (10%) and final (80%) portfolios, plus quizzes and class participation (10%). Final portfolios will be presented and collected during our assigned final exam period. You cannot miss this final for any reason—I will not read or grade your final portfolio unless you are present and participate in final readings. Keep this in mind when making your end-of-the-semester travel plans.

8- to 10-page Research Paper 35%

Three 5- to 6-page papers 30%

Collaborative Paper 05%

Service Project 10%

Journals 10%

Quizzes & Class Participation 10%

Assignments

Research Paper: This project will be submitted on a step-by-step basis throughout the semester. You will do significant amounts of library research, along with fieldwork, direct observations, interviews, and a limited amount of web research. Your topic must concern a food-related issue, but there are so many possibilities here that you should not feel constrained. Your research paper should not be on a topic that you have done in high school or another class in college.

Three Shorter (5- to 6-page) Papers: These essays will require limited amounts of research. They will be argumentative, and all three must be fully revised for the final portfolio. The first essay must be fully revised by the time you submit your midterm portfolio. One essay will deal specifically with Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation.

Collaborative Paper: You and a partner (assigned by me) will collaborate on an essay. A primary criterion for your grade will be how well you work together to produce a coherent essay.

Service Project: As mentioned above, each student will have to volunteer at least ten hours of service to the Connecticut Foodbank in East Haven. You may be involved in a variety of activities, from food sorting to helping with calls and producing public relations documents. Your volunteer time, I recognize, will be shaped by your classes, work, and family obligations, but I strongly recommend that you try to spread it out over the semester, with a number of early visits as soon as possible. You will keep a log and reflective journal on your service, and I will need verification from a supervisor there that you have completed ten hours. I will provide you with an introductory letter and verification form. By the end of your semester, you will write a paper on your participation in this project and devote a section of your portfolio to your work in alleviating hunger in our area. You can check out their website at www.ctfoodbank.org.

Journals: Every week, you will write a 300-word journal for this class. The journal entry must be typed and formatted according to my sample sheet. Sometimes, the topic (or combination of topics) will be up to you, but I will often assign particular journals to complement what we are doing in class. At various points in the semester, I will ask you to bring your portfolios to class with all of your journals inside. I will check them and then we will do various activities with them that will require sharing your journals with numerous people. Thus, be forewarned, these are not private journals.

Quizzes and Class Participation: I will give unannounced reading quizzes on a regular basis. These take place at the beginning of class and cannot be made up. Class participation is discussed below, but do note that it includes all class writings, homework, and group activities.

Class Policies

Disabilities

As a student with a disability, before you may receive accommodations in this class, you will need to make an appointment with the Disability Resource Center, located in EN B 222. To speak with me about accommodations, or other concerns, such as medical emergencies or arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment as soon as possible.

Plagiarism

While much work in and out of class will involve collaboration with your peers, you are expected to maintain an exacting standard of academic honesty in all of your work. Apart from group projects, any work that you turn in must be completely your own. In all submitted works, you must responsibly give credit to all of your sources of information in the accepted style of the field. We will be reviewing the MLA and APA styles in class, but for your other classes, always ask your professor which style (there are many others) is appropriate for that field. I take plagiarism very seriously, even when it is “unintentional,” and will fail you for the entire course if you plagiarize anyone else’s work at any time during the semester.

Just to make sure that the concept of plagiarism is clear, since the consequences are so severe for it, I offer this definition and explanation: Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of anyone else’s words, composition structures, organization, and/or even ideas without proper documentation. That means that you can fail for the semester simply for getting an idea for your paper from Encarta, for example, and writing it out in your own words, without using parenthetical documentation and a full listing on your Works Cited page. Plagiarism also includes, under the above definition, getting ideas, bits of text, or whole papers from friends, roommates, former students, chat rooms, list-servs, websites, etc., and submitting that work as your own.

Attendance and Class Participation

Especially because we meet only twice a week, every minute of class time is extremely valuable. We write as a community—we do not follow some romantic conception of the great writer creating great works alone. From the very first day, you are going to have to get to know all of your peers, and throughout the semester, you will have to work together in the production of your writings. That means trust and responsibility are essential elements of the class, and that responsibility begins with being in class, on time, every day, well prepared. You are allowed three absences during the semester for any reason whatsoever; after that point, however, I deduct half a letter grade from your final grade for each additional absence, no matter what the reason. If you miss more than nine classes, you will automatically fail for the semester. I don’t do “excused” and “unexcused,” so please do not mention them to me.

At certain points in the semester, I will schedule “paired conferences” with you. That means that I will meet with you, two at a time, in my office for about twenty minutes, and the three of us will discuss papers and other matters. When you sign up for such a conference, you are responsible for being at my office on time with the required writing materials. If you don’t show up, the conference will not work for your partner, which is completely unfair. Thus, a missed conference will equal an absence, and it will result in a reduction in your paper grade.

Tardiness is rude and disruptive to class. If you are late to class, I will welcome you as always, but I will not count you present for the day.

Being present in the room, however, is not enough to earn the 10% of your final grade for this category. You must be prepared, having done the homework for the day, and you must be willing to work with different partners on a regular basis on various activities and assignments.

Class Decorum

This course is themed on food, so I am not going to outlaw all food and drink from the room. On the other hand, this is not a lunchroom. I have no problem with water bottles in class and the finishing of minor food items right before class, but you should not eat during class time. It’s distracting and messes up the room. Also, be forewarned: If you have food with you in class, don’t be surprised if you and your food become the subjects of observation and writing in class. Other people may need to view, sniff, touch, listen to, and even taste your food as part of class participation.

Turn off your cell-phone ringers and pagers when you come into the classroom. I have no tolerance for electronic interruptions during class time.

Regularly looking up at the clock, packing books up early, scheduling bathroom breaks in the middle of class, and related distractions all fall under the category of high school behavior. Such behavior doesn’t belong in a college classroom.

Respectful communication is essential for this class. Learn each other’s names in the first few classes, and address each other by name when speaking in class. You should address me as either “Dr. Smyth” or “Professor Smyth.”

Tentative Schedule (subject to almost certain revision)

January

24: Introductions. Diagnostic writing.

Homework: Read pp. 3-42 of Writing Arguments (hereafter WA)

26: Analyzing Arguments. Supersize Me.

Homework: Read pp. 1-31 of Fast Food Nation (hereafter FFN) and WA 43 -61. Write a journal describing a meal you had this week.

31: First essay assigned. Argument analysis practice.

Homework: Read WA 65-75.

February

2: Guest Lecture.

Homework: Read FFN 32-59 and WA 76-91. Write a journal in response to the guest lecture or what you’ve read in Fast Food Nation so far.

7: Workshop of first essay. Logical Structure of Arguments.

Homework: Polish your first essay.

9: First essay due. Toulmin analysis. Research Project assigned.

Homework: Read FFN 60-91 and begin brainstorming research paper topics. Write a journal in which you explore a possible research topic.

14: Library Research Instruction.

Homework: Read WA 92-109. Be sure to bring Raimes handbook on Wednesday.

16: MLA instruction. Second essay assigned. Supersize Me.

Homework: Read FFN 92-110 and write a journal on hunger.

21: Presidents’ Day—No Class!

23: Fast Food Nation Quiz. MLA practice.

Homework: Read FFN 111-132 and WA 110-118. Write a journal on any topic.

28: Workshop on second essay.

Homework: Work on research proposal. Write a journal on the any experiences with hunger you’ve ever had.

March

2: Research Proposals due.

Homework: Read FFN 133-148 and WA 119-136.

7: Portfolio Workshop.

Homework: Read WA 137-162.

9: Midterm Portfolios Due (They will include the second essay). Visual arguments.

Homework: Read FFN 149-168 and write a journal on visual arguments.

14: Fast Food Nation Quiz.

Homework: Work on research papers.

16: Preliminary Research Bibliography due.

Homework: Read FFN 169-254 and write a journal about your research project.

Spring Break

28: Collaborative Essay assigned.

Homework: Read WA 165-173.

30: Collaborative Essay work in class.

Homework: Read FFN 255-270 and write a journal on any topic.

April

4: Collaborative Essay due.

Homework: Read WA 174-212.

6: Third Essay assigned.

Homework: Read FFN 271-290.

11: Annotated Bibliography due.

Homework: Work on draft of third essay.

13: Workshop on Third Essay.

Homework: Polish third essay.

18: Third Essay due. Conference sign-up.

Homework: Read WA 249-271.

20: Proposing arguments.

Homework: Work on Research Paper. Monday’s drafts must be fully documented.

25: Research Paper full rough draft due.

27: Service Project.

May

2: Research Paper final draft due.

4: Service Project.

9: Portfolio Workshop.

11: Final Evaluations.

Final Exam: TBA

January 2005

Mr. Tony Spinelli

Director of Volunteer Services

Connecticut Foodbank

150 Bradley Street

East Haven, CT 06512

Dear Mr. Spinelli:

_______________________________ is a student in my Composition II class (ENG 101.21) this spring at Southern Connecticut State University. We are studying issues surrounding food and hunger in the course, and each member of the class is dedicating ten hours of service time to help alleviate hunger in our area.

I would appreciate it greatly if ______________________ could volunteer at the Foodbank and write about her or his experiences and learning. The student would keep a log of hours donated, which she or he would need to have verified by the end of the semester (first week of May). If this presents any inconvenience, please let me know and I will make proper adjustments.

Thank you for all of the work your organization does for the hungry in our community, and for allowing us to participate in your program.

Sincerely,

Andrew J. Smyth

Assistant Professor of English

203-392-6895

smytha2@southernct.edu

Foodbank Log Name ______________________________

Date Time Duties Performed

_______ ________ ______________________________________________________

Sample Journal

What strikes me the most about the movie Supersize Me is the familiarity of the fast-food experience. I have consciously avoided eating in fast-food restaurants for the last four years, only using them when stuck in airports or in situations where there aren’t any other choices. Nevertheless, as I watched our narrator walk into McDonalds after McDonalds, I knew how easy it would be to start hitting the drive-through and ordering a Quarter-Pounder value meal on my way home. I could actually smell the grease as I watched the documentary—and it was appetizing. No irony here: I really miss being able to wolf down hamburgers and fries while driving around town.

What I remember upon reflection, though, is how bloated and uncomfortable I felt after downing the value meal. I remember once hitting McDonalds on the way to see my parents for a weekend, maybe ninety minutes before I got there. I ordered my usual combo, gulped it down, along with every last fry in the box. Then, when I got home, my mom was serving dinner—pot roast. It’s one of my favorites, which she knows, and that’s why she served it. But the Quarter-Pounder with cheese and all those french fries were sitting in my stomach like the proverbial lump of lead. I knew I needed to eat heartily so as not to hurt my mom’s feelings, but it got gross halfway through the plate. I thought to myself later, why would I ever want to sacrifice delicious pot roast for the crap I eat day after day at McDonalds?

The scene in the documentary where he tries to eat a supersize meal in the car and then ends up vomiting confirms the decision I made not to eat at McDonalds again. That much food, all at once, when you are not used to it, is toxic. It’s like going on a drinking binge, something the doctors in the documentary confirmed. Even they seemed astonished at how much their patient’s health had deteriorated in just a few weeks.

Eric Schlosser, in Fast Food Nation, talks about the dark side of the production of fast food, but I think it’s the consumption end that is driving things. As he notes, the synthetic smell of french fries in the factory can make your mouth water. How do we resist such good smells and tastes? Think about how much better home-made food is, and go for the greater pleasure.

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