SYLLABUS FOR WR 39B, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL WAR
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE, WINTER 2000

*2023 Note. Links and most procedural information have been removed from this archival version of the syllabus.

COURSE INFORMATION: Writing 39B Expository Writing. MWF 10:00 – 10:50 a.m., Humanities Interim Classroom Facility (HICF) 100F. Code 21218. Instructor: Alfred J. Drake. Email: ajdrake_at_ajdrake.com. Office: Humanities Instructional Building (HIB) 409. Office hours: MW 11:00 – 11:50 a.m. and by appointment.

REQUIRED TEXTS AT UCI ANTEATER BOOKSTORE

Ebest, Sally. et al. Writing from A to Z: The Easy-to-Use Reference Handbook. 3^rd edition. Mountain View: Mayfield, 2000.

Hollowell, John. A Student Guide to Writing at UCI. Ed. Raymond Zimmerman. 7^th edition. Edina: Burgess, 1999.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

Peterson, Linda et al. The Norton Reader. New York: Norton, 2000.

COURSE RATIONALE, POLICIES, AND ACTIVITIES

What is 39B? Welcome to Writing 39B, a class designed to help you become a good reader and a proficient writer. 39B will prepare you to succeed in 39C (research), and 139 (the upper-division writing seminar).

Prerequisites: If you have not satisfied the Subject A requirement, you must pass WR 39A or 39A/Plus Humanities Core S/A (with a “C” or better) before enrolling in WR 39B. If you are required to take ESL courses, you must complete those courses before enrolling in WR 39A or WR 39B. If you are not sure about your ESL status, check with the ESL program in HIB 200.

Add/Drop/Pass-No Pass Policy: If you want to drop in the first two weeks, ask your instructor for a drop card. After the second week, you may not drop this course without permission from the Assistant Director of the Writing Program, Dr. Ellen Strenski (HIB 405, 949-824-5355). Such permission is rarely given. The same is true of attempts to change from a grade to the pass/no-pass option, or vice versa. If you are trying to add this class, your instructor can do that within the first two weeks if there is room for you. Otherwise, talk to the Composition Office (HIB 420, 949-824-6717). They are open from 8-12 and 1-5 Monday through Friday.

Second-Day Rule: If you are absent on the second day of class (Wednesday, April 5th.), you will lose your place on the class roster or the waiting list. If you lose your place, you must drop this course yourself by obtaining a drop card from the instructor and submitting it to the Registrar. You will not be dropped automatically.

What is the goal? My main goal this quarter will be to help you improve your analytical skills and your writing. I will grade your work in part on your success in improving your grammar and other basic skills. Still, perfection is not a practical goal for a ten-week course. The goal is tangible improvement that will allow you to deal confidently with other writing classes, meet the demands of the workplace or graduate school, and explore your thoughts. I’ve designed study guides and a paper-commentary system to help you deal with the most common writing difficulties. I’ll leave aside the finer points of style in favor of building confidence in analysis and grammar.

What is all this about reading? The meaning of texts is not self-evident; exploring meaning demands attentive, disciplined, yet imaginative interpretation. I hope that this class helps you gain a sense of confidence in your ability to read and write critically and constructively. Most or all of you will, in some capacity, be writers and readers all your lives, especially if such terms are taken broadly, not confined to their usual literary connotation. Putting some effort into doing these things well in our current academic setting will be valuable to you in future.

Course as Contract: I think of this class as an ethical contract: I will come to class prepared to help you understand the texts assigned and to work with you afterwards, and you will read the assigned materials attentively, show up for class having done your work on time, and be willing to improve your writing.

Attendance and Assignment Completion Policy: Please attend class on time. More than three absences may affect the course grade; an even greater number of them may result in failure. You must complete all four papers; otherwise, you will fail the course without exception. Those who keep failing to complete their work or to attend class will fail the course as well. Only a “C” or above grade for the course counts as passing.

Conferences: I suggest that you meet with me this quarter for at least two of your paper assignments. Conferences usually last 20-30 minutes, and during them I can offer you individually tailored advice that it would be difficult to provide in class or in the comments I make on rough drafts. I direct those comments at the class as a whole. Conferences are a major time commitment on my part and only a small one on yours, so please write down the time and location of appointments and keep them.

Working Drafts: I require that exploratory drafts and reasonably complete working drafts be turned in at a set due date before I accept any final papers. Late drafts may affect the final grade for the paper in question. I expect working drafts to be typed, double-spaced, spell-checked, and reasonably edited. Failing to turn in a rough draft makes me suspect plagiarism, and I reserve the right to refuse to read the final draft.

Comments on Working Drafts: My grammar markings for individual words and sentences will correspond to the abbreviations listed on the “Grammar Key” sheet that you will receive along with your marked draft. That hard-copy sheet is keyed to the explanations you will find in the web page entitled “Grammar.” (Link removed for archival copy.) Please familiarize yourself with this system by examining the relevant web page. I do not usually mark entire papers because editing is an important part of your job as a developing writer. I may, therefore, mark about two-thirds of your draft, taking care to catch a few instances of a given writing problem. Then you can look up the problem in the Grammar Guide and find subsequent problems of the same type.

Late Paper Policy: Late essays will be marked down 2/3 grade for the first meeting they are late, 1/3 grade for each meeting thereafter.Don’t write your papers at the last minute! Obviously, at my discretion and in accordance with my sense of fairness, illness or legitimate emergency may earn an exemption from this rule.

HOW YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL BE EVALUATED

JOURNAL REQUIREMENT: By “journal entries,” I simply mean your responses to selected study questions that you can find by clicking on the “study questions” hyperlink at the top (the “navigation bar,” as it’s called) of this web’s pages. You can find instructions and a lettered list of journal entries in the “study questions” page. All entries are due in class the day we plan to discuss the relevant texts. After that I’ll still accept them, but will mark them as late. Lots of late entries will affect a student’s grade for the journal requirement, so please keep up with the reading. Word-process your responses and label them according to the entry numbers (as “A,” “B,” etc.) I’ll hang onto them so they make up a file of responses to be graded at an appropriate point in the quarter and then at the end of the quarter for a percentage of the course grade. Most likely the percentage will be around 10%.The objective of keeping a journal is that your responses should prepare you for class discussion and for writing essays.

PEER EDITING REQUIREMENT: The purpose of peer editing (which may make up a percentage of the course grade) is to help writers get a better grip on their own ways of structuring arguments and a better sense of their own stylistic strengths and weaknesses. 1. On the day the working draft is due, everyone will bring two extra copies (aside from the one to be given to me) of the draft and exchange them with the other two members of his or her peer-editing group. 2. Then, in class, each writer will read the other two writers’ papers in accordance with guidelines we will work out in class. 3. Once the essays have been edited, the editor should sign and return the edited drafts to the writer. 4. Finally, on the day the final draft is due, students will include in their folders the two copies of their own paper that others have signed and edited.

SCHEDULE: WORKS DISCUSSED ON DATES INDICATED

WEEK 2

Mon., April 10. Have read Whitman’s “The Death of Abraham Lincoln” and bring to class your responses to at least three of the study questions for that reading. (Always bring your blank study question sheet — with all five questions, I mean — since our discussions in class don’t revolve only around the questions you have chosen to respond to.) Please bring a copy of your first paper prompt so we can discuss the first paper, the rough draft of which is due this Friday. Sometime this week, before you write your rough draft, you should read my handouts “Deductive Essays” and “Analysis,” both of which you can find on the navigation bar at the top of this page.

Wed., April 12. We will move to Douglass’ “Expression of Gratitude . . . .” Same procedure — bring text, all study questions, and your responses to selected study questions.

Fri., April 14. Bring 3 copies of rough draft responding to Paper One prompt. Peer editing day; one copy of rough draft due to me during class.

WEEK 3

Mon., April 17. Bring your rough draft or a newer version of it. Also bring the Whitman text. We will revisit Whitman while working on the papers — writing exercises will start becoming a regular feature of the course alongside discussion of our usual study questions.

Wed., April 19. We will revisit Douglass while working on rough drafts and writing task to be specified Monday in class.

Fri., April 21. Final workshop on Assignment One; introduction to Assignment 2.

WEEK 4

Mon., April 24. Paper One Final Draft due in two-pocket folder along with commented-on rough draft and peer-edited drafts others did for you. Note that this date has changed from Friday of Week 3. I will introduce Booker T. Washington and provide study questions and journal instructions on his “Atlanta Exposition Address” (1895).

Wed., April 26. We examine Washington’s speech and the study questions to which you have responded.

Fri., April 28. We examine Washington’s speech and the study questions, and have a workshop on style in his speech.

WEEK 5

Mon., May 01. We briefly discuss responses to workshop on Washington’s style, and then move on to Du Bois’s “Strivings of the Negro People” and study questions for that text. I will hand out a workshop page on Du Bois’s essay.

Wed., May 03. Today we will finish discussing the study questions and Du Bois style questions and do a thesis workshop for paper two.

Fri., May 05. Peer editing day — please bring three copies of your three-page draft of paper two. I will bring the peer editing instructions.

WEEK 6

Mon., May 07. Bring in a copy of your draft, new or the same. We will hold a thesis workshop. I will also make available a signup sheet for optional Paper 2 conferences.

Wed., May 09. Bring in a copy of your draft, new or the same, along with a copy of the “Analysis” handout. We will hold a writing workshop on analyzing passages.

Fri., May 11. Paper 2 final draft due today along with rough draft and peer-edited drafts others did for you. Brief introduction to Unit 3, the text for which you will have to get from Reserves. The selection from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man will be in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Library Reserve at the Gateway Study Center, call number PS 508.N3 N67 1997, pp. 1515-40.

WEEK 7

Mon., May 14. Bring a copy of our selections from Ellison’s Invisible Man along with your responses to the study questions for the “Prologue,“ which is the only chapter you need to have read before class today.

Wed., May 16. Bring a copy of our selections from Ellison’s Invisible Man along with your responses to the study questions for Chapter 1.

Fri., May 18. Bring a copy of our selections from Ellison’s Invisible Man along with your responses to the study questions for the “Epilogue.“

WEEK 8

Monday, May 22. Peer editing day. 3-page rough draft due. The draft must be typed and double-spaced, and it should have a basic structure: a beginning, middle, and, if possible, a conclusion.

Wed., May 24. Bring in a copy of your draft, new or the same. We will work on aspects of writing.

Fri., May 26. Bring in a copy of your draft, new or the same. We will work on aspects of writing.

WEEK 9

Mon., May 29. Memorial Day Holiday — no school.

Wed., May 31. Paper 3 final draft due today along with rough draft and peer-edited drafts others did for you. Brief introduction to Unit 4. The texts are as follows:

Malcolm X. “The Black Revolution” (1964) and “Letters from Abroad” (1964). (This material is on Antpac’s electronic reserve. Follow the above Malcolm X hyperlinks (removed from this archival copy) to gain access to these two texts. You can also access these texts at the Gateway Study Center in the anthology Malcolm X Speaks.

Fri., June 2. Have read the King Jr. speech and the following handout: “King, Jesus, Thoreau, Gandhi.” There will be a discussion of study questions for King’s “Declaration against the War in Vietnam.”

WEEK 10

Mon., June 5. Have read Malcolm X’s “The Black Revolution” (1964) and “Letters from Abroad” (1964). Bring journal responses as usual. We will discuss responses in class.

Wed., June 7. Style workshop on King and Malcolm X. Then, a brief discussion of comparison and contrast structure, accompanied by handout on that subject.

Fri., June 9. 1. Peer editing, the usual procedure.

FINALS WEEK

Monday-Thursday, June 12-15. I will be available for conferences that you can sign up for during the tenth week.

Friday, June 16 or earlier. Turn in your folder for Unit 4 in one of the following two ways:

1) Give me your folder personally in HIB 409 Friday of Finals Week between 3:30-before 5 p.m. The Department closes at 5, so please don’t be late.

2) Turn in your folder anytime during Finals Week up to Friday before 5 p.m. at the Composition Office in HIB 420, where I have a box. If you do this, call or email me and let me know that you have turned in your materials. I will email your individual Unit 4 grades/comments and course grades around June 20-21.