Introduction to ENG 111 A Global Distinction Class

World at night from space. Telegraph, United Kingdom

Links to help you get ready to write (required): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/572/01/ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/606/01/ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/587/01/ Other required reading: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/index.html (great catch-all site for all sorts of writing scenarios and issues)

Often, when people find out that I teach English, the response is less than favorable:

Many people find writing to be an intimidating, frustrating experience. They have a difficult time learning how to communicate that thought which is so clear in their heads. Hopefully, through an assortment of writing assignments, you will become more comfortable with the writing process. Again and again, companies and agencies tell educators, Send us people who can communicate effectivelyorally and in writing. If you cant write well, or at least functionally, you lack power and necessary job skills. Check this out (link here now): http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/jobcenter/workplace/kay/2011-0530-skills-employers-want-part-ii_N.htm There are all sorts of sources, and they all want virtually the same skill set. Solve problems. Communicate well. Be motivated. Get along with others. I want this class to actually help with many of those things. An acquaintance was interviewing with a tech company. In the interview, he was asked about his experience with a CTR-60 server. He thought for a moment about bluffing his way through. In the end he said, I dont know anything about a CTR-60 server. But I can Google it and figure it out. Actually, turns out, there is no such thing as a CTR-60 server. He gave the right answer. You can find how to do almost ANYTHING by using Google, Bing, or YouTube. Dont understand Windows 8? Look it up. Cant figure out what irony is? Search it. Completely uncle ar on why there are issues in Syria now? Run that through a search engine and look it up. Now does that mean everything online is a valid, credible source that you should use? HECK no. Theres more garbage online than youd find in the city dump. So its up to YOU to determine if youre looking at something worthwhile. Wikipedia is a fun source. I use it to grab a quick bit of insight about something. But it is NOT an academic source and shouldnt be used in college. Why? Its an organic, living wiki that YOU could

change if you wanted to. Anyone can. And because of that, the info isnt always stable or correct. Use it to get your bearings on a subject, but dont use it for your research. Here are some useful source evaluating tips from the University of California at Santa Cruz:

Evaluate the quality and credibility of your sources

Not all information is created equal. Just because you find information at the library does not guarantee that it is accurate or good research. In an academic setting, being able to critically evaluate information is necessary in order to conduct quality research. Each item you find must be evaluated to determine its quality and credibility in order to best support your research. To evaluate a source consider the following: Authority

Who published the source? Is it a university press or a large reputable publisher? Is it from a government agency? Is the source self-published? What is the purpose of the publication?

Where does the information in the source come from? Does the information appear to be valid and well-researched, or is it questionable and unsupported by evidence? Is there a list of references or works cited? What is the quality of these references?

Who is the author? What are the author's credentials (educational background, past writing, experience) in this area? Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies?

Is the content a first-hand account or is it being retold? Primary sources are the raw material of the research process; secondary sources are based on primary sources.

Currency

When was the source published? Is the source current or out of date for your topic? What is the authors intention? Is the information fact, opinion, or propaganda? Is the author's point of view objective and impartial? Is the language free of emotion-rousing words or bias?

Purpose

Is the publication organized logically? Are the main points clearly presented? Do you find the text easy to read? Is the author repetitive?

That last one, Purpose, is REALLY important. There are tons of sources that have a very specific agenda. Be aware of Super PACs, special interest groups, political groups, lobby groups etc. Also, if you find a certain type of very opinionated or inflammatory info in one place, and it doesnt pop up

anywhere else, be wary. Like I said, there is a ton of junk out there. If you choose to read it, thats fine. Just dont use it in here. Im looking for credible, current, valid and useful material that doesnt have a clear agenda.

Some assignments in the class may not please you; some may give you new insights. I ask you to approach the class with an open mind and to be prepared to think and improve those writing skills. In order to do these things, I am asking you to reada lot. You can possibly skate by and not read. But if you truly intend to earn your education and want to earn more than a minimal grade, read. Try to understand how the writers are communicating their ideas. In addition to examining the content, look at the craft of the writing. See how the writers use things like narration, description, cause and effect, comparison/contrast, etc. to help you to understand, empathize and comprehend what they are saying. If youre confused about what youve reada term or a concepttake a few minutes and look it up! Im amazed at how many students will think, Huh! Now thats a new word. Wonder what it means. Oh well. Moving along If that describes you, you need to ask yourself what an education is all about anyway! Youre sort of supposed to learn stuff. (Its true.) So, if you dont understand why there is so much conflict in Jerusalem, you might want to visit a few news sources and check it out. When you realize that the city is holy ground for three major world religions, you can start figuring things out, and your world becomes at once bigger and smaller. This is a writing class. We have to have something to write about, so it will be a current events course as well. I expect for you to use newspapers, news magazines, online news sources and TV news to keep up with events. Its important to know whats happening around you. I am on SCCs global education team, and instead of the traditional reader for this class (which I find painfully boring), I am going to use global topics and unique perspectives. You dont live in a vacuum. You are as woven into the fabric of globalization as anyone else. It isnt an all good or all bad forcebut it is a force as real as gravity. It is important to understand the world around us. Dont be threatened by that. Learn from it and use it to help you be a better nurse, officer, accountant, teacher or techie (etc). If you take 18 hours of global distinction courses, you earn that recognition on your transcript. Todays employers appreciate people who are globally and culturally literate, and having that awareness may just give you a boost in an interview! To understand why we think a global focus is so imperative, link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE (If it won't link, copy into your browser) Watch now before you continue.

Sowhat DOES it all mean? Well explore that idea and many others, and work on writing techniques in the process. The forum prompts will go along with the readings (and occasional videos), so in order to participate, you'll have to read before you respond and always reference the text or related resources. Review the syllabus for more about how forum essays make up your grade. When you post, be sure you're posting intelligently and thoughtfully. Don't write knee-jerk reactions. Use your critical thinking skills to analyze things from a variety of perspectives. You dont have quizzes and tests in the class. You do have forum/postings and essays, along with a few formal papers and a research project. Treat the forum essays like essays. They will be public, for your classmates to see and comment on, but they arent going to be one paragraph (or two). they need to be essays that generously cite from the sources in the class. Your opinion is welcome, but that opinion needs to be substantiated with the material in class (other research is fine; just please cite.) We will practice using effective rhetoric. In other words, were going to learn how to argue. Th at sounds negative, but it shouldnt. To argue effectively means you dont need to throw plates or curse. Effective argumentation means you can see the argument from all angles, and you can make a case with logic, reason, and factual documentationnot just emotion. This means that when you encounter a reading or discussion that you oppose, I ask you to step back and realize this:

The person who believes XYZ has just as valid opinion as I do. Therefore, when I call him/her a Godless idiot who is a waste of oxygen and who is going straight to hell on a Greyhound bus, I am acting immature, unprofessional and rather undemocratic. I am not asking you to change your opinion or like someone elses. But you do need to accept that people are not going to agree. Your opinion on capital punishment will likely not convince me and vice versa. However, I respect that because we live in a country that is supposed to value independent thought; you have a right to think the way you think. IF you are to convince me of something, you cannot do so through name-calling. You must do so by presenting a carefully thought-out case, with logic, reasoning, and facts. Speaking of avoid capital punishment (along with gun control, euthanasia, and abortion) as a research topic in this class. The reason for this is that there are no new arguments. These topics are sadly overdone. Nothing new to say. Stale as an 11 pm burger under the heat lamp.

Before you write, you need to understand how an essay is structured. (See Shape of an Essay at the beginning of this Moodle Book and also: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/318.htm

The Nuts and Bolts of Getting Started The introduction of the essay consists of a statement that is a hook or an attention-getter. It narrows down the topic into a thesis statement. A thesis statement is the point, the main idea of what your essay is about. An essay with a weak thesis is doomed to be a weak essay. A thesis should generally be argumentativethis simply means that someone could look at it and say, Nah, youre wrong. If you could get that response, you have something to work with. A weak thesis makes a difficult and unfocused paper. Many times, when a student has trouble progressing with a paper, the issues is an unfocused, unarguable thesis. For example: A weak thesis would be: Cancer is a disease. Well, who can argue with that? You really have nothing to work with, nothing to say for a paper. A more helpful thesis would be:

Americans could reduce cancer rates if they would simply eat more fruits and vegetables, reduce their fat intake, and get off their behinds. Now, you have something to argue and that argument will propel your paper forward. Even if youre writing about a personal topic, you can still have an argumentative thesis. You could say: The teenage years were my very worst years. Thats arguable. Your mom, who had to change all of your diapers and clean up when you decided to paint the walls in the living room with shoe polish, might disagree. Thus, you have a point to be proven. Think of a thesis this way: Say it concisely. Then prove it . After you include your thesis statement, you will organize your paper into major points. Usually, in papers of the size well be writing in this class, you will have 3-5 points to discuss. You can divide points into sub-points if necessary. Each paragraph should have about 4-6 closely related sentences. You will need a transition sentence between paragraphs to keep your essay flowing smoothly. You will then write a conclusion that will reinforce your thesis.

It is very helpful to form an outline before you write the essay itself. Im not concerned with a formal outline with Roman numerals and capital letters, etc. Just think of an outline as a plan, a roadmap to a completed essay. See link on course materials page in Moodle to Shape of an Outline. An informal outline for a paper on a time you learned a valuable lesson might be: Introduction: Hook: I wasnt a bad child; I was merely misunderstood. (Hint: Never start a paper with This essay is about Boring!) Thesis: Though my intentions were not evil, I realized that eavesdropping on adults would eventually result in problems I had not anticipated. Body: Point one:

Background info on my eavesdropping habit. Point two: Specific example of successful eavesdropping. Point three: Example of when things went wrong. Point four: The consequences of getting caught. Point five: The lesson I learned. Conclusion: Tying it all together. See how simple it is to write an outline. After you construct such an outline, you can go back in and continue to add detail and examples until you have voila!a paper!

Give this format a try as you put together your first essay assignment.

Next: Tackle the first forum assignment! See Week One to-do list.