EL 4055:Research Writing
Professor Amie Parry
Fall 2013
Time: THU 09:00-12:00
Place: A110
Office A118;extension 33215
amie.parry@gmail.com
Course Description:
This course is designed for third year students who are able and willing to do a lot of weekly readings, both assigned and independent, and writing (weekly assignments), or who plan to do graduate study in literature, cultural studies, or related fields. The course has three objectives: 1) to familiarize students with the techniques of close reading and sharpen students' interpretive skills in constructing their own sustained analysis of a literary text; 2) to guide students in the use of the MLA format for writing academic papers; 3) to teach students how to frame and then develop their reading as a response to the ongoing critical discussions of the primary text, a process that includes learning to search for, evaluate and incorporate secondary sources (literary criticism and theory on individual texts, writers, literary movements, and historical periods). Over the course of the semester each student will write a paper that involves independent research and that can be used as a model for writing samples and for later research writing projects. Our primary text is Marilyn Chin's Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen. Research materials include excerpts from Stuart Hall's Modernity and Judith Halberstam's "Queer Temporalities and Postmodern Geographies."
Course Policy:
Students will be graded on the following: weekly writing assignments; the final research paper and preliminary drafts; and lively class participation. We will think about writing as a process, so detailed rewriting is required, and the process of rewriting is part of what students will be graded on. Rewriting (and rethinking) will partly be done in class workshops, so attendance is mandatory. Up to three absences are permitted; if you miss more than three class meetings or more than three weekly homework assignments, you will be advised to withdraw. Grades will be calculated according to the following breakdown: weekly workshops (writing assignments, attendance and class participation): 50%; final paper and drafts: 50%. Missing more than two assignments is grounds for failing the class, as is plagiarism.
Textbooks:
Course Reader, available at Gaoguan.
Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen, available at Cave's.
Schedule:
| Part One |
| Research Issues, Cultural Practices: Space, Time and Modernity |
| W1 |
09-19 |
Holiday, no class |
| W2 |
09-26 |
Sample student paper: Wang. Hall, Modernity (M), “Introduction,” 7-18; Short Guide to Writing about Literature (SG), “Critical Thinking: Arguing with Yourself” 32-35.
HW: Reading: Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen (RMV), “Moon,” 13-17; SG, “Writing about Fiction,” 139-141 (plot and character),146-152 (foreshadowing; setting and atmosphere; symbolism), 157-161 (point of view), 179-182 (checklist on how to brainstorm for fiction analysis), and 258-260 (checklist on how to brainstorm for interpreting poetry). Writing: First short paper: 1-2 page analysis of how one of the above literary elements constructs the sense of space or time in “Moon.”
|
| W3 |
10-03 |
Introduce “The Question of Cultural Identity.”
HW: Reading: M, 596-606; SG, “Taking Notes” and “What to Document: Avoiding Plagiarism.” Course Reader, Appendix 8 (on summaries). Writing: Summary, M “The Question of Cultural Identity,” section 1.2.
|
| W4 |
10-10 |
No class. |
| W5 |
10-17 |
Workshop on summaries. Discuss M, 601-606. Introduce 2.1
HW: Reading: M, 606-611; RMV, 18-73 (Parts 1 -2). Be prepared for timed in-class writing quiz.
|
| W6 |
10-24 |
Quiz on reading assignment. Discuss: RMV and the modernist, Marxist and Freudian death of the modern subject.
HW: Reading: M, 611-618. Finish RMV. Go over SG: “Remarks about Manuscript Form” 291-297.
|
| W7 |
10-31 |
Quiz on reading assignment. Discuss M, “The Question of Cultural Identity.”
HW: Second short paper.
|
| W8 |
11-07 |
Paper workshop; introduce Halberstam.
HW: Reading: "Queer Temporalities and Postmodern Geographies" (QT), from In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives, 1-11.
|
| Part Two |
| The Writing Process: “Brainstorm, Freewrite, Research, CHAOS, Freewrite, Outline, Draft, Outline, Revise, Edit.” (from The Student Writer) |
| W9 |
11-14 |
Discuss QT; view "Crayon" and "Telephone" videos.
HW: Writing: final paper proposal and outline. Topic idea due online by 11-28. Final proposal and outline due 12-12. (Refer to samples in our course reader).
Make up class date: ______. Conferences on topic ideas.
|
| W10 |
11-21 |
Sports Week. No class. |
| W11 |
11-28 |
No class. |
| W12 |
12-05 |
Outline workshop. Sample papers with questions: Wong, Ting. |
| W13 |
12-12 |
Revised Outline due. Workshop.
Make up class date:_______. Conferences on individual research and questions.
HW: Logical fallacies website; prepare one brief presentation.
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/home
|
| W14 |
12-19 |
Manuscript form; definition of terms; counterarguments; logical fallacies presentations.
HW: Final draft.
|
| W15 |
12-26 |
Final draft workshop.
HW: Revision plan. (refer to sample)
|
| W16 |
01-02 |
Review/revision plan workshop. Title workshop.
HW: Revised final draft.
|
| W17 |
01-09 |
Revised final papers due. |
| W18 |
01-16 |
Final discussion on unanswerable questions. |
|
