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INTRODUCTION TO...WELL, EVERYTHING,
REALLY
I realize that this course is titled "Introduction to
Liberal Arts," but it's really an introduction to most of the skills and habits
of mind that you're going to need to survive and thrive here at Monmouth over
the next four years. We're going to work on the links between reading and
thinking, writing and , listening and thinking, talking and thinking,
study skills and thinking...see the common element there? Right: an
introduction to the liberal arts is really an introduction to thinking at the
collegiate level.
It is also, however, an introduction to what makes
colleges such as Monmouth so special. Private liberal arts colleges are
one of the few places left in the world where you can explore both your own
interests and areas outside your own comfort zone. We'll encourage you to
do both, and hopefully this class will give you some tools not only to explore,
but also to relish what you find in those explorations. We believe that
learning is a lifelong process, and that curiosity shouldn't be limited to your
chosen field. Just because I'm an English teacher doesn't mean that I'm
not curious about how the world works, nor shy about asking a physicist how he
sees it working. Just because it's not my field doesn't mean that I can't
ask good questions, nor understand smart (and even difficult) answers. It
just means that I have to work to gain that understanding. And it's that
work of curious inquiry across disciplines which Introduction to the Liberal
Arts will help you engage, further, and succeed at.
It'll also give you concrete skills, however, which means
that we're going to work on those fundamental communication skills of reading,
writing, speaking and listening throughout the semester. Along with your
other first-year courses (English 110 and CATA 101), ILA will help you
understand what it takes to generate good ideas and make sure that others
understand them with clarity and insight.
COURSE GOALS
- Engage in the practice of reading, in order to see
books as sources of pleasure as well as knowledge;
- Engage in an effective critical thinking process;
- Utilize an effective writing process;
- Demonstrate proficient listening and speaking skills;
- Explain the distinctiveness and value of a liberal
arts education;
- Argue for qualities of an "exemplary life."
ATTENDANCE & GRADES
Here, let me just reiterate what the ILA webpage lays
out:
Attendance:
You are expected and required to attend all seminar classes and required
meetings of this course. Since this course is a seminar course that revolves
about class discussion, it is particularly important for you to be in class to
benefit from all that your fellow student-scholars and instructor have to offer.
After three unexcused absences, you will fail the
course.
Introduction to the Liberal Arts writing requirements:
A. An introductory essay of approximately 500 to 750 words that
will be assigned during the first week of class. Your instructor will expect you
to revise this essay.
B. Two formal 750-1250 word thesis-focused essays and one
formal 750-1250 word essay of autobiographical or biographical nature. (N.B.:
Nothing less than two pages (500 words) will receive a passing grade, since you
can't really explain your own name in less than two pages.)
C. Informal Writing: You will be expected to write informally
on a regular basis. Informal writing might include journals, free writing,
convocation descriptions and others.
D. A library-based research exercise as determined by your
instructor. This exercise (oral or written) will focus on the collection,
evaluation and citation of sources.
E. A comprehensive essay final exam.
Grading Guidelines:
50% Formal Writing, Informal Writing, and Research/Library Assignment
20% Class Participation/Oral communication in class
30% Quizzes, exams, final exam.
N.B. Failure to complete any major assignment is grounds to fail the
course.
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A Note on PLAGIARISM
This is really simple:
if you copy someone else's direct words or exact
ideas -- intentionally or not -- without giving them credit you
fail the class.
Universities and colleges are built upon the notion that ideas matter;
if you plagiarize someone else's ideas, you're denying that fundamental
tenet. Thus there will be zero tolerance for plagiarism in here.
(Please see also p. 23 "Academic Dishonesty" in the college's 2006-07
catalog and Section 55 of Hacker's Bedford Handbook.)
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The Mellinger Learning Center
The Mellinger Writing Center
is available for all students: strong as well as inexperienced writers
can benefit from suggestions and help from others. Even professional
writers get feedback from colleagues, friends, and editors. Our writing
fellows provide confidential help with any stage of the writing process:
generating ideas; organizing paragraphs; writing introductions,
conclusions, or transitions; or developing an analysis or topic.
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Note: This webpage
and calendar is subject to revision throughout the semester.
Whatever version is online here represents the current, active, and binding
syllabus.
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DATE |
READING |
WRITING/ASSIGNMENT |
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M 8/23 |
GET TO KNOW US! |
Essay One Assigned
"What Is A Liberal Arts Education?" Convocation
at 1:30:
It's ME! (Aren't you lucky?)
First Informal Writing Assigned |
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T 8/24 |
The Road from Coorain: "The West" |
First Informal Writing Due |
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R
8/26 |
The Road from Coorain: "The West" |
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F 8/27 |
The Road from Coorain: "Coorain" |
Essay One Due |
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M 8/30 |
The Road from Coorain: "Childhood" |
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T 8/31 |
Essays Returned & Discussed Bloom's Revised Taxonomy & The
Writing Process |
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R 9/2 |
The Road from Coorain: "Drought" |
Revising: Understanding the Question |
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F 9/3 |
The Road from Coorain: "Drought" |
Revising: Definitions, formal and personal |
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M 9/6 |
The Road from Coorain: "Schooling"
["Mother Jones: Labor's Conscience and the Worker's Champion" Simon
Cordery, Barnes Electronic Classroom, 7:00 p.m.] |
Revising: Text for precision, text for discussion |
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T 9/7 |
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Revision: Analysis -- using text for making your point |
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R 9/9 |
Peer Revision Day for Essay One Revision |
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F 9/10 |
The Road from Coorain: "Finding the Southern Cross"
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M 9/13 |
The Road from Coorain: "The Nardoo Stones" |
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T 9/14 |
The Road From Coorain "Recharting the Globe" |
Essay One Revision Due
Autobiographical Essay Assigned |
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R 9/16 |
Jill Ker Conway
Convocation |
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F 9/17 |
What'd We Learn?: Debriefing the Convo
& The Road From Coorain "The Right Country" |
Learning to Write, as Well as Think: Freewriting |
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M 9/20 |
How the Heck Do You Write an Autobiography? |
Learning to Write: Planning |
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T 9/21 |
Academic Honesty
Convocation |
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R 9/23 |
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Autobiographical Essay Peer Revision Day |
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F 9/24 |
STUDY SKILLS SESSION |
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M 9/27 |
Mother Jones, Introduction
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Learning to Write: Revision |
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T 9/28 |
MJ, Chapters 1 & 2
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Autobiographical Essay Due |
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R 9/30 |
MJ, Chapters 3 & 4 |
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F 10/1 |
Why a Union is Like an iPod |
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M 10/4 |
Guest Lecturer: The Author of the Book We're Reading, Simon Cordery |
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T 10/5 |
History and Traditions of the College Convocation |
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R 10/7 |
MJ, Chapters 5 & 6
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F 10/8 |
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M 10/11 - T 10/12 |
Fall Break |
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R 10/14 |
MJ, Chapters 7 & 8
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F 10/15 |
Convocation:
From the
Cornfields to the White House: Reflections on Trying to Make a Difference |
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M 10-18 |
Class Cancelled |
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T 10/19 |
Dan Morrison
(Civic Engagement) Convocation |
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R 10/21 |
MJ, Chapters 9, 10, & 11 |
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F 10/22 |
Stearns:
"Why
Study History?"
MLA Citation and The Timeline
Assignments |
Stearns Informal Assigned:
Stearns:
"Why Study History?"
:
Reread this essay and write a one to two-page informal where you choose one
of his reasons for studying history and argue why it is the most important
reason of all. Justify your choice by using a specific example, pulled
from your own life or cultural history, and showing how it relates to some part
of Stearns' essay directly. (This means you must first of all justify one claim
over all the others, then connect your example to direct quotes from Stearns'
piece as part of your justification.)
Start Timeline Work
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M 10/25 |
Introduction to the Library (Hewes Library) |
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T 10/26 |
Gopnik "Introduction" |
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R 10/28 |
Gopnik "Introduction" |
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F 10/29 |
WACKERLE CENTER INTRODUCTION |
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M 11/1 |
Gopnik, "Lincoln's Mind" |
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T 11/2 |
Gopnik, "Lincoln's Mind"/"Darwin's Eye" |
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R 11/4 |
A Death in the Family |
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F 11/5 |
Research Day (Hewes Library) |
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M 11/8 |
Gopnik, "Darwin's Eye" |
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T 11/9 |
Gopnik, "Lincoln in History" |
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R 11/11 |
Timeline Presentations:
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Timeline Bibliographies and
Assessments Due |
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F 11/12 |
Timeline Presentations:
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Timeline Bibliographies and
Assessments Due |
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M 11/15 |
Gopnik, "Darwin in Time" |
Be Working on Essay Three |
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T 11/16 |
Gopnik, "Conclusion,"
and Catch-Up |
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R 11/18 |
Sacks, "To See and Not To See" |
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F 11/19 |
Sacks, "A Surgeon's Life" |
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M 11/22 |
Sacks, "An Anthropologist on Mars" |
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T 11/23 |
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Peer Revision Day for Essay Three |
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11/24-28 |
Thanksgiving Break |
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M 11/29 |
Nervous Conditions |
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T 11/30 |
Nervous Conditions |
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R 12/2 |
Nervous Conditions |
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F 12/3 |
Nervous Conditions |
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M 12/6 |
Nervous Conditions |
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T 12/7 |
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F 12/10, 6:00 PM |
FINAL EXAM |
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