Advanced Composition

Lit 3304.5U1 Summer 2009

Identity, Culture, and the Writing Connection

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out
of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As
therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the
congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near
the door by this sickness... No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if
promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death
diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
John Donne, Meditation XVII

Instructor: Stacey Donald Ingrao

W 5:30-10:00
JO 4.708
Office: JO 4.134
Office hours: After class and by appointment
Email: sad011500@utdallas.edu

Course Description
Advanced composition aims to enhance your connection between active reading, critical thinking,
and thoughtful writing as you work on learning rhetorical strategies from the readings and
applying them to your own writing. This course is based on the notion that the development of
ideas is a communal process. As such, you will form writing groups devoted to the peer editing
process. We will explore a variety of texts including fiction, non-fiction, and electronic media and
analyze them for audience purpose and argument. As a community of writers, we will read,
discuss, and react to challenging texts; write short weekly reaction papers; and research, compose,
and revise two essays of substantial length.

Texts & Supplies

Verburg, Carol J, ed. Ourselves Among Others: Readings from Home and Abroad. 4th ed.
New York: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2000.
Williams, Joseph. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson
Longman, 2009.
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: MLA Association of
America, 2009.
A grammar handbook. You can find these at Half Price Books. Usually, they have a soft cover
and are spiral bound.
A UTD email account that you check regularly.

Grading
Essay #1-15%
Essay #2-15%
Portfolio-25%
Think pieces-25%
Peer Review/Participation-20%
Papers
In this course, you will complete two formal essays, three shorter “think pieces,” and a writing
portfolio that will showcase your progress over the semester.
Essay #1-You will bring in an essay of at least five pages from another class that you are
especially proud of or that you are particularly interested in. It does not matter what grade this
essay received as long as you feel strongly about the ideas presented. We will rework this essay.
Expect for it to double in length over the course of your drafts.
Essay #2-You will start this essay from scratch. It will be at least seven pages in length, involve
research, and address a topic from your chosen profession that you feel needs scholarly attention.
Think pieces-Think pieces are essays which give you an opportunity to reflect, consider, ponder -
that is, think about - ideas presented in the assigned readings and films viewed in class. Think
pieces are not designed to be research papers; you draw from the assigned readings and films for
the class and develop your own interpretation. Think pieces are generally about 500-550 words or
about 2 pages.

Submission Guidelines (Pay attention here; I won’t accept your essays if they don’t meet these
standards.)
Submit all manuscripts in hardcopy, stapled in the upper left-hand corner. Manuscripts should
conform to guidelines provided in Chapter 4 of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
(Seventh Edition) with the following additions/clarifications. Manuscripts must be typed on white
8½-x-11-inch paper in either New Times Roman or Book Antigua typeface (12 point type). Do
not use a title page. Minor corrections or insertions may be made neatly and legibly in ink
directly above the line(s) involved. Source documentation shall be in MLA style; citations and
List of Works Cited shall conform to Chapters 5 and 6 of MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers (Seventh Edition); use italic type to indicate book and publication titles. If notes
are required for clarity, they should be formatted as footnotes and consecutively numbered
throughout the manuscript. No electronic submissions will be accepted, nor will submissions be
accepted after the due date, unless late submission is approved by the instructor before the due
date. All written work shall include a short, descriptive title.

Late Assignments:
You will lose points for each late assignment; ten points for the first day the assignment is late
and five points for each day thereafter.

Attendance, Participation, and Related Issues

Because we only meet for ten classes this summer, attendance is crucial to your success in the
course. Please expect to attend EVERY class period. There is no way to make up class work, and
class participation is vital to our learning community. You are expected to come to class well-
prepared to participate in class discussion and group work with homework assignments
completed. Please expect your final grade in this course to drop one half of a letter grade for
every absence past one. Also, two tardies or leaving class early twice will count as one absence.
Two bonus points will be added to student’s final grades for perfect attendance.

▪ A NOTE: Attendance and participation are about being mentally present in class. Please turn
the ringers on your phones OFF. Vibrate is not acceptable unless you have an emergency
situation. Text messaging will not be tolerated in class. If texting, you will be asked to leave the
classroom and will have to have a private meeting with the instructor to gain re-entry to class on
the next scheduled meeting day. Please be present in the moment that you are in.
Peer Reviews/Workshops
Several class periods will have a peer editing section. Group members will bring two typed copies
of their rough drafts of essays-one for peer editing and one for the instructor. Failure to turn a
draft in to group members or the instructor will result in a lower final essay grade as well as point
reduction for peer review. Peer edits may not be made up.

Academic Ethics:
Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts, or omissions related to
applications for enrollment or the award of a degree, and/or the submission as one’s own work
material that is not one’s own. Scholastic dishonesty may involve, but is not limited to, one or
more of the following acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion, use of annotated texts or teacher’s
editions, and/or falsifying academic records.
Plagiarism is the use of an author’s words or ideas as if they were one’s own without giving
credit to the source, including, but not limited to, failure to acknowledge a direct quotation.
MANY CASES OF PLAGIARISM ARE THE RESULT OF CARELESS DOCUMENTATION
OR FAULTY NOTETAKING. Unfortunately, the reader who finds the error, not knowing the
writer's intent, can only assume the plagiarism is intentional. Intentional or not, plagiarism in any
paper will still carry serious penalties.

Plagiarism, because it is a form of theft, burglary, kidnapping, or dishonesty that interferes with
the goals of education, must carry severe penalties. The policy for Lit 3304.5U1 is that an
assignment containing plagiarized material receives an automatic "F," and may be turned
over to Judicial Affairs.

All final drafts of essays will be submitted electronically to turnitin.com as well as in hard copy to
the instructor.
1. Go to turnitin.com
2. Create an account (all you need is an email address and a password. Make sure you write
them down.)
3. Enroll in Lit 3304.5U1 (class ID# 2739478, password: THINK)
Upload final drafts of assignments when appropriate.

Incomplete Grade Policy

As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work unavoidable missed
and if the student has completed 70% or more of the required course work.

Student Conduct, Discipline, Academic Integrity, Handicap, and Religious Holiday

information
This information is contained in the UTD publication A to Z Guide, the Handbook of Operating
Procedures, and the Rules and Regulations, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System.
All of these publications are available online at utd.edu.

Useful Information
Disability Services-SU 1.610 (972-883-2098)
Student Counseling Center-Student Union 1.608 (972-883-2575)
UTD writing center- McDermott Library, 2nd floor, room 2.402 (972-883-6707)
McDermott Library reference librarian- Linda Snow (972-883-2626)
 Daily Schedule
Ourselves Among Others will be referred to as OAO
Style: Lessons in Grace and Clarity will be referred to as Style
Selections marked with an * will be available via electronic course reserve

May 27th-Focus: Introduction

June 3rd-Focus: Coming up with a good idea

Discuss the preface and “Lesson One” in Style
Discuss the “Introduction for Students” in OAO
Discuss “The Art of the Fiesta” by Octavio Paz in OAO
View film
Due: Bring your five-page essay with a written plan to rework it.

June 10th-Focus: Consider the Obvious

Discuss “Lesson Two” in Style
Discuss “The Gentleman” in OAO
Discuss Wickberg, Daniel. “Heterosexual White Male: Some Recent Inversions in American
Cultural History.” Journal of American History 92.1 (2005): 136-57. (Can access through library
databases-search for the journal by name, then issue number, and so on. Call the library if you
have trouble.)
Workshop
Due: bring two drafts of either your position paper or the first essay to class for peer
review.

June 17th-Focus: What Makes a Good Sentence?

Discuss “Lesson Three” in Style
Discuss “Woman as Other” and from OAO
Discuss “An Introduction to Female Masculinity: Masculinity without Men” in Female
Masculinities by Judith Halberstam*
View film
Due: Position Paper #1 due (please upload to turnitin.com)

June 24th-Focus: Avoiding Talking a Lot without Saying Anything

Discuss “Lesson Five” in Style
Discuss “The Disposable Rocket” in OAO
Discuss the introduction and first chapter of Between Men by Eve Sedgwick*
Due: Final draft of essay #1 (Please don’t forget to upload to turnitin.com)

July 1nd-Focus: Cutting the Crap (Think Feng-Shui Writing)

Discuss “Lesson Seven” in Style
Discuss “One Man’s Mutilation is Another Man’s Beautification” in OAO
View film

July 8th-Focus: Living Thoughtfully, Writing Thoughtfully

Discuss “Lesson Six” in Style
Discuss “Against Interpretation” by Susan Sontag*
Discuss “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” by Walter Benjamin*
Due: Position Paper #2 due (don’t forget to upload to turnitin.com)
July 15th-Focus: What happens when People No Longer Value Thinking?
(Or Grammar?)
Discuss “Lesson Two” in Style
Discuss “Future Schlock” and “Yearnings” in OAO
Workshop
Due: Bring two copies of rough draft for your final research essay to class.

July 22nd-Focus: Maintaining Your Voice

Discuss “Lesson Eight” (only pages 97-108) in Style
Discuss “I Want a Wife” by Judy Syfers (available online in full text)
Discuss Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. “Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl.” Critical Inquiry 17.4
(Summer 1991): 818-37. (Available through JSTOR via the library databases.)
Due: Bring two copies of a rough draft for position paper #3 to class.

July 29th –You are What You Eat: Consumption and Superheroes
Discuss “Lesson Four” in Style
Discuss “What Makes Superman so Darned American?” in OAO
Discuss Hughes, Jamie. “Who Watches the Watchmen?: Ideology and ‘Real World’
Superheroes.” Journal of Popular Culture 39.4 (Aug 2006): 546-57. (You can access a full-text
version of this article through the MLA Bibliography database-go through the library homepage
to search for articles.)
View film clips
Due: Position Paper #3 (don’t forget to upload to turnitin.com)

August 5th-Due: Essay #2 (please don’t forget to upload to turnitin.com) and Portfolio. Please
bring them to my office by 7:30 p.m.

The contents of the syllabus are subject to change at the

instructor’s discretion.