CMM 480
Special Topic: Scholarly Literacy
Fall 2009
Tuesday, 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.; Smith 232
Stephen D. Cooper, Ph.D.
Smith Hall 246
(304) 696-2733
Monday 12:00 – 2:00 pm
Tuesday 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Wednesday 12:00 – 2:00 pm
Thursday 1:00 – 3:30 pm
Friday 12:00 – 2:00 pm
Other times by appointment.
Sometimes it’s the little things that mess you up, when you’re working on a paper.
Maybe your writing mechanics have gotten a little sloppy, since you last studied grammar and punctuation in grade school. (Or maybe your school didn’t even offer serious training in the intricacies of the English language—eek!) Maybe all your college profs figured you’d learn about citation formats in some other prof’s course. And maybe, now that personal computers have become cheap and powerful, you figure that spell-check and grammar-check are good enough substitutes for doing your own proofreading.
So now your papers are coming back decorated with red ink and you’re hearing the repeated comment—phrased a little nicer than this, of course—that you better get your writing skills up to a professional level. In your spare time after all your required coursework. (Spare time—yeah, right.)
But wait—there’s more. Big things can hurt you, too—foundational skills in critical thinking. Maybe you’re not altogether clear about the difference between a topic and a thesis, or not familiar with the structured ways a skilled writer can use evidence to support a thesis he or she is arguing. Or maybe nobody ever told you that argumentation, in the scholarly meaning of the word, is actually a good thing to do. And that it’s important to be able to see the difference between a good argument and a bad argument, when somebody’s trying to sell you on an idea.
Maybe
you can Google up a big pile of sources for a paper, but you can’t tell what’s
good from what’s
total garbage
inferior quality. Or maybe you’ve learned that using the academic databases
instead of the generic search engines will at least restrict the hit list to
material your profs say is OK to use, but you still don’t quite know what to do
with all that
stupid crap
scholarly material once you’ve gotten it—so you wind up with a paper that’s
essentially a bunch of quotations glued together with close paraphrases. And
even though it’s not plagiarism, you’re not confident you know exactly what you
said in the paper, if you said anything at all of your own.
Hey—maybe the problem isn’t just about writing. Maybe you find yourself staring at page after page of assigned reading, and it’s all starting to blur and you can’t make sense of it no matter how hard you try. At best you can memorize enough of the stuff to get by, but your gut tells you that you don’t really understand it. And if your life depended on it, you might not be able to explain what that stuff on the page has to do with real life—if anything.
Relax, pilgrim. You’re not alone, I assure you.
We’re talking about scholarly literacy as the essential input/processing/output routines for your brain. By no means is it a walk in the park to attain a high degree of intellectual performance, but it just might be one of the best things you’ll ever do for yourself. This course is designed to refine—or create—the crucial skills in acquiring scholarly information, thinking about it, and sharing your thoughts as a scholarly text of your own creation.
So what’s the payoff, exactly, for all your hard work in this course?
· Conceptual understanding of the logical structure of arguments.
· Fundamental skill in using evidence to support argument.
· Familiarity with common fallacies in arguments.
· Better-developed critical thinking.
· Greater skill in managing source material.
· Improved ability to sequence ideas and structure written work.
· Improved accuracy in your writing mechanics.
Your personal goal is two-fold: fill the gaps in your current conceptualization of scholarly literacy, and take your skill in doing this kind of knowledge work to the next level.
When you look over this syllabus there may well be some activities or products which scare you a bit; you’ll wonder if you’ll be able to handle the tasks. Again, pilgrim: relax and trust the Force. Know that your insecurities can be excellent indicators of the things you need to work on.
Keep in mind that opportunities often present themselves as challenges—and know also that this course was designed with that axiom in mind. Look ahead to the time when you’ll enjoy the satisfaction of having taken your literacy skills to a level you used to think you could not attain.
Your success in this course is in your own hands. As in so many other activities, your commitment is crucial. At one level, this is simple: come to class, be prepared for the class, and participate in the class. At a deeper level, this is complex; only you can say you will do that, and then do what’s necessary to keep that promise to yourself.
Cooper, S. D. (2006). Watching the Watchdog. Spokane, WA: Marquette.
Eggenschwiler, J., & Biggs, E. D. (2001). Writing: Grammar, Usage, and Style. New York, NY: Wiley.
Weston, A. (2000). A Rulebook for Arguments (4th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.
Your choice of good-quality paperback dictionary.
You can use these web tutorials to learn APA format conventions:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx
Learn this four-step technique for reading course materials. It’s probably different from what you’re used to doing, and there’s a good chance you’ll find it works much better.
· First browse the entire passage you’ve been assigned. Let your eyes go where they want to: check out the headings, bold-faced terms, diagrams and figures, whatever paragraphs catch your attention. Just get a general sense of what’s in it.
· Next, look for summary materials the book might include. There may be an overview at the beginning, a wrap-up at the end, a glossary of key terms, a bullet list of take-away ideas. Use these to get a good sense of what’s in the passage.
· Then read through the assignment in sequence. Take your time with this. Highlight passages, make margin notes in the book, write things down in your notebook. By all means, mark up your books! You own them, and this will help you tremendously in learning the material.
· Finally, make notes about things you don’t fully understand in the reading. Ask about these things, in class.
Oh—and keep your dictionary handy. Stop and look up any unfamiliar word, when you’re doing the third step. How else can you figure out what the sentence actually means, eh?
This four-step process won’t require much more time, but I think you’ll find you have a far better grasp of the material as a result. Try it and see.
As an added bonus, you even get points for bringing those notes (the fourth step) to class. Wow! Here’s the 411 on these reading notes:
Handwritten is fine. Keep a notepad with you as you do the reading, and jot down questions about passages, puzzlements of any sort, eureka! moments, and yeah, but... moments. Be sure to note the page numbers for the passages that prompt your reactions. Put your name on the top, and turn it in at the class when that reading is due.
The rapid development of the World Wide Web has opened a great many wonderful opportunities to all of us. It has also made it easier than ever to misrepresent someone else’s work as our own.
Don’t do it.
Plagiarism is a fool’s shortcut. Not only do you cheat yourself of the opportunity to learn and grow, but you expose yourself to severe academic penalties.
Plagiarism is dishonest. In the I Ching there is a saying that sincerity inspires respect. Even if nobody catches you, you’ll still know you cheated. Earn your self-respect through your own hard work.
There’s little opportunity for plagiarism in this course; check out the assignments and that will be apparent. But after you’re done with this course, you’ll never even be tempted to “borrow” someone else’s work. You’ll be having way too much fun thinking for yourself and putting your thoughts into your own words.
Week 2 – September 1
Spend some quality time with all three of the books. Do the first step of the four-step procedure for reading scholarly text: browse the material. Make reading notes on them—all three of them.
Based on your browsing, what material in Weston and Eggenschwiler/Biggs looks most useful to you? Do a separate section—with a heading—for each book. Then do an overall summary, with its own heading: a bullet list of the top five items, rank-ordered, with rationale. Get personal; relate this stuff to your needs and current abilities.
Bring to this class a paper (or two) of yours which gave you trouble in some way, or with which you’re dissatisfied.
Week 3 – September 8
Weston: intro, ch. 1.
Eggenschwiler/Biggs: intro, ch. 1, 2. Do the chapter checkouts, for practice, and mark the answers in the book.
Watchdog: go back and browse the entire book, with the writing assignment in mind.
Choose a passage in Watchdog which contains an argument, as Weston defined that term. (Hint: check the Introduction, Economics of Blogs, and Public Sphere chapters for arguments by the book’s author—but the bloggers are quoted making various arguments throughout the book.)
Do three things, each in its own section with its own heading:
(1) Quote the passage with a proper APA citation in text. Edit it, so that only the essential elements of the argument are left. In this section, only words from the original text appear, but not all of the words in the passage.
(2) Reduce the argument to its essential logical components, in your own words. Paraphrase the original argument as concisely as possible, while still including all the essential elements of the argument.)
(3) Comment on the original passage with regard to each of Weston’s six rules in ch. 1. A bullet list is appropriate for this section.
Week 4 – September 15
Weston: ch. 2, 3.
Eggenschwiler/Biggs: ch. 3, 4. Do the chapter checkouts, for practice.
Watchdog: the Introduction.
Consider the Introduction of Watchdog as an argument by analogy, making some claim (i.e., reaching a conclusion) about the structural relationship of the blogosphere to the mainstream media. Do these things, each in its own section with its own heading:
(1) State that conclusion in your own words, then quote the sentences in Dog which state it or imply it.
(2) List the points of similarity (between the blogosphere and the MSM) which the author mentions as support of the analogy. Also mention any other similarities you can add.
(3) List differences between the blogosphere and the MSM which the author might note in the chapter. Likewise go on to mention dissimilarities you can add.
Week 5 – September 22
Weston: ch. 4.
Eggenschwiler/Biggs: ch. 5, 6. Do the chapter checkouts, for practice. Also read pp. 155-157.
Do a topic outline of ch. 2 in Watchdog. Start at the chapter level and work down just to the level of particular media controversy. (Hint: you only need browse the chapter to be able to do this!)
Week 6 – September 29
Weston: ch. 5, 6.
Eggenschwiler/Biggs: ch. 7. Do the chapter checkout, for practice.
Watchdog: the Rathergate scandal, pp. 54-77.
Think of the controversy over the purported National Guard memos as an extended, complex, deductive argument; the conclusion is that the memos on which 60 Minutes based its reporting were forgeries. (Note that the book author isn’t making that argument, himself; the bloggers are.) Take this big long argument apart into smaller, discrete syllogisms related, in some way, to that conclusion. For each component argument, state in your own words its major and minor premises. If it’s an enthymeme, supply the implied premise. (This passage resembles the Sherlock Holmes example in rule #28 of Weston, right?)
Put each component argument into its own graf, and include page references to indicate the corresponding passages in Watchdog. Mark the implied premises, where you’ve supplied them.
Week 7 – October 6
Weston: ch. 7, 8, 9.
Eggenschwiler/Biggs: ch. 8, 9. Do the chapter checkouts, for practice.
Watchdog: ch. 2.
Chapter 6 of Eggenschwiler/Biggs described various types of phrases and clauses. In this assignment you’ll look for examples of these constructions in the introductory passage of the Watchdog section on memes (middle of p. 97 through the first full graf of p. 99).
So, you’re looking for these kinds of phrases: prepositional, participial, gerund, and infinitive. You’re looking for independent clauses, and also for these kinds of subordinate clauses: relative, noun, and adverbial.
Set up a two-level bullet list of all those constructions. For each, quote a Dog passage which is an example of it. If a particular construction doesn’t appear in the passage, say so.
Wrap the paper up with a different bullet list. (Distinguish the two with separate headings, K?). Decide which three constructions are most frequent in that Dog passage. List them, and for each of the three quote three examples of it in the passage.
Week 8 – October 13
Weston: appendices I and II.
Eggenschwiler/Biggs: ch. 10, 11, 12. Do the chapter checkouts, for practice.
Watchdog: ch. 6.
Consider the Economics of Blogs chapter as a complex, extended argument that bloggers are rational actors. List the various bits of evidence (including smaller, component arguments—i.e., premises which themselves need to be supported) the author presents for that conclusion.
What type of argument, in Weston’s terminology, does it seem to be? Say why you see it that way. You get bonus points for noting limitations of the argument or identifying counterexamples!
Week 9 – October 20
Review everything we’ve read so far in Weston and Eggenschwiler/Biggs.
Week 10 – October 27
Spend some quality time with both these online tutorials:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx
Choose one of your own papers with a lengthy reference list; copy the reference list into this assignment. Annotate each work in the list, with regard to the way the entry is formatted. Correct boogered entries: show before and after versions, and explain the revisions you made. Affirm correct entries: say why they were correct, just as they were.
From the same paper, choose six citations in text. Reproduce the complete sentence in which they appeared. Do the same thing: fix them if they were wrong, stand by them if they were right.
Week 11 – November 3
Spend some quality time on these pages:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic_outline
Do a topic outline of one of your own course papers, just the way you submitted it. If you see some logically misplaced passages in the outline, indicate them and say where’d you move them. If your material was badly sequenced overall, write an entirely new outline covering the same material. Attach a copy of the paper, so I can compare the outline to the full text.
Week 12 – November 10
Eggenschwiler/Biggs: ch. 13, 14, 15, 16.
Watchdog: Introduction.
Do a topic outline of the Introduction in Watchdog.
Week 13 – November 17
Watchdog: ch. 8.
Do a topic outline of the Public Sphere chapter in Watchdog. Go at least three levels deep, throughout.
J Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Week 14 – December 1
Review all of the readings! Bring notes on material you want to go over again, before the final exam.
How has knowledge or skill from this course made a difference in a paper in another course, this semester? (Assumption: that it has, in fact!) Be specific, and give concrete illustrations. Big breakthroughs are great, but don’t overlook small refinements, either.
Dead Week – December 8
If you choose to revise any of the weekly assignments, this is the deadline to turn them in.
Final Exam – December 15
Each of the weekly written assignments is worth a maximum of 50 points toward your term grade. This is how you earn those points:
Writing mechanics: 15 points.
Includes spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, word choice, general appearance of the page.
Relevance: 10 points.
How well your paper accomplishes the specified task.
Concepts: 25 points.
How skillfully your paper uses the course concepts and terms to get the job done.
You have the option to revise and resubmit any three of the weekly assignments. Put the revisions together with the originals, and turn them in by our meeting during Dead Week. The grades on the revisions will replace the grades on the originals.
Here are the point values which add up to your course grade:
In-class prompts 50 points, in all 50 possible
Written Assignments 12 @ 50 points 600 possible
Midterm Exam 1 @ 100 points 100 possible
Final Exam 1 @ 100 points 100 possible
Pop Quizzes 100 points, in all 100 possible
Reading Notes 50 points, in all 50 possible
Total 1,000 possible
A = 900-1,000
B = 800—899
C = 700—799
D = 600—699
F = below 600
I reserve the right to reject assignments after their due dates pass. If you know you’ll have trouble making a deadline on any of the work, get in touch with me in advance so we can make some arrangement. The key to success in this course is simple: take this course seriously, and think ahead.
That makes the attendance policy obvious, too: if you take this course, come to class. The penalty for blowing off class is losing the knowledge you would have gained from our activity that day, and losing the points you would have earned toward your grade that day.
That’s the tough part. Here’s the love part: if something is going on in your life such that you know you will not be able to attend a particular class, contact me in advance of that date. I will be glad to meet with you during office hours to keep you up to date.
The same logic applies to the written work. If you know that you’ll have a problem with a due date, contact me in advance so we can work something out. Missing a deadline and then making lame excuses just won’t cut it. If you don’t turn in a written assignment when it’s due you get a zero. Ouch! Don’t hurt yourself like that, K?
You can understand what I mean, then, by calling this tough love. I sincerely care about your success in this course. But if I were to let you get away with doing less than your best in this course, or to give you the impression that life is about doing the minimum necessary to get by, I’d be devaluing you. Again, sincerity inspires respect. I want to earn your respect, and I hope you want to earn mine.
Remember that you are a student at a first-class state university, and this is a professional context for all of us. Be sure the papers you turn in reflect your professionalism. All your written work must be typed, double spaced, with normal margins and font size. The quality of your thinking is the most critical aspect of your written work; there’s no need to blow smoke, ever. Be sure your name, the course number, the due date of the assignment, and the number of the assignment are at the top of the page. Written work is written work; unless we make prior arrangements, email is not acceptable as a way to submit an assignment.
When you’re having trouble with an assignment or you know you won’t make a deadline, don’t suffer in silence. Call me! That’s what I’m here for. My office hours are listed on this syllabus, and we can meet other times by appointment.
Here’s what it all comes down to:
My job is to create an environment in which you can succeed.
Your job is to succeed.
but wait! there’s more...
The University wants to be sure you know about these things:
academic dishonesty policy
http://www.marshall.edu/president/Board/Policies/MUBOG%20AA-12%20Academic%20Dishonesty.pdf
computing services acceptable use policy
http://www.marshall.edu/ucs/CS/accptuse.asp
weather closings
http://www.marshall.edu/www/policy_07.html
accomodations for students with disabilities
http://www.marshall.edu/disabled
Policy for Students with Disabilities: Marshall University is committed to equal opportunity in education for all students, including those with physical, learning and psychological disabilities. University policy states that it is the responsibility of students with disabilities to contact the Office of Disabled Student Services (DSS) in Prichard Hall 117, phone 304 696-2271 to provide documentation of their disability. Following this, the DSS Coordinator will send a letter to each of the student’s instructors outlining the academic accommodation he/she will need to ensure equality in classroom experiences, outside assignment, testing and grading. The instructor and student will meet to discuss how the accommodation(s) requested will be provided. For more information, please visit http://www.marshall.edu/disabled or contact Disabled Student Services Office at Prichard Hall 11, phone 304-696-2271.
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