The New and Revised Syllabus

ENGLISH 110: SECTION: 8M4WA
(Monday & Wednesdays, 8:15-10:05 a.m.
Classroom: KY 326)

Instructor: Laura Reznick
Email: lreznick@gc.cuny.edu


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Required Texts (available in the Queens College Bookstore)

Seeing and Writing 3. Third Edition. Ed. Donald & Christine McQuade (0312434294)
A Writer’s Resource. Second Edition. Elaine P. Maimon, Janice H. Peritz, & Kathleen
Blake Yancey (0073259381)
The Complete Persepolis. Marjane Satrapi (9780375714832)
One Loose-leaf lined notebook for in-class writing assignments
A portfolio for all writing assignments to be turned in at the end of the semester

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Course Description

This course explores the relationship between seeing and writing. Oftentimes through the process of seeing, the images we observe inspire the language we write. In this course you will react to and write about a wide variety of visual stimuli (such as photography, paintings, graphic novels, and movies), in order to provide opportunities for critical thinking and composition about the visual stimuli observed.

Similarly, you will observe and employ imagery used in literature. Imagery is used in literature to refer to descriptive language that evokes sensory experiences. Using figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, personification, and assonance can create such images in the mind’s eye. Using a variety of readings, images, and different media, we will study and employ such stylistic literary devices with the aim of discovering how the act of reading approximates the act of seeing and how seeing often inspires writing.

The focus of this course is not only on the finished product, but also on the process of writing. Every successful essay undergoes an evolution and develops through multiple revisions. This is a workshop course in which you will often be required to share drafts and work in groups. You will turn in drafts for my and your peers’ consideration, and will alter and revise your essays based on these comments. The more feedback you get at each stage of writing an essay, the more you can become aware of the reader's needs, and the extent to which your writing fulfills them. We will read many essays and interrogate many images in this course and you will learn to respond to both their content and form. The hope is that you will apply this process of interrogation to your own work through rewrites and revisions, and furthermore that by moving fluently between the visual and verbal worlds, you will improve your analytic and compositional skills. Finally, by understanding that how we see affects how we make sense of the world, you will learn that writing is also an act of seeing.




Course Requirements

Writing: This is a writing intensive course. Expect to both read and write frequently in response to the assigned readings, class discussions, and on blackboard.


• Reading Assignments: You must read all of the assigned readings for this course. They will provide the material to which your essays respond. They will also furnish models of successful writing. We will be analyzing and deconstructing their constituent parts and how they crystallize to form effective arguments.


• Quizzes and In-class Writing: Often you will be expected to respond to the reading assignments. These responses will motivate you to read closely and carefully and allow me to determine any problem areas or misunderstandings. Performance on these responses will count towards your grade.


• Blog Journals: In addition to your formal essays, I will assign topics for daily journal entries. You may write these entries at http://seeingandwriting-reznick.blogspot.com. I may ask you to briefly summarize a reading assignment – what ideas/themes are being expressed? How do the author's stylistic elements relate to the main idea of an important theme? I may ask for a subjective response – how does the story, theme or style affect you? Does something in the text startle you, interest you, make you think or wonder? Use other entries to experiment further with things done in class, or for your own creative purposes. In-class writing exercises should also be collected on blackboard. Journaling is a good writing habit and will help you to generate ideas for your essays. I will review these journals and try to respond to them. Although you will not be graded on the content of your journal, the consistent (or inconsistent) fulfillment of it will account for a percentage of your final grade.


• Essays: This class will be structured around three essays and a final group presentation, each building on the skills you’ve learned from the last. Each essay will go through a draft phase, which I will collect and we will discuss in class. This draft will then be returned to you and you will revise it for a grade. Only the revised essays will be graded. All drafts must be typed in 12 point Times New Roman font. I will give you more information on the essays as the class progresses.


• Grading: Your grade will be calculated in the following way:

∗ Essay 1: 15%
∗ Essay 2: 20%
∗ Essay 3: 25%
∗ Essay 4: 20%
∗ Journal Entries: 10%
∗ In-class Participation and Quizzes: 10%


• Attendance and Participation: Because this is a discussion class and not a lecture course, attendance and active participation are paramount. More than three absences for any reason will negatively affect your grade. If you must miss a class try to notify me at least two hours ahead of time by email, and make an appointment to meet with me so that we can go over the material you’ve missed. You are responsible for getting any missed readings and to turn in any assignments on time. Failing to actively participate in class will negatively affect your grade in the same manner that missing a class will. In order to actively participate you must arrive on time to class having done the assigned reading or writing, and, once in class, engage in classroom discussion.

• Conferences: You will meet with me once during the semester to discuss your work and your feelings about the course. In these conferences we will discuss your progress, your concerns, and your goals. Please do not limit our meetings to these conferences. I will also be happy to talk to you at other times about any questions or concerns you have.

• Peer Review and Workshops: Each of the three essays you will write during the semester will be discussed in a workshop group. I will assign you to a workshop group for each essay and you must bring enough copies of your draft for everyone in the group. Consequently, you are not only responsible to me, but to each other. Come to class prepared to discuss; try to engage with other students' writings as you will with those of the other writers we will read. Be constructive, and approach your classmates' work as you would have someone approach your own. Address the ambition as well as the result. Take notes on the work itself – don’t rely on memory. (That said, this is not a correspondence course. I expect each of you to express yourselves aloud in class so your peers can benefit from your comments.)

• Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious offence and is an act of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism is stealing and passing off the ideas or words of another as one's own, using another's production without crediting the source, or presenting as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. Queens College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g. plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The college is committed to enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to College Integrity Procedures. It will be very difficult to succeed at plagiarizing as, "Queens College has a pilot license for the use of Turnitin, a system that detects plagiarism by comparing students' essays to a large database of essays and web content." (Queens College Provost Office). Any use of plagiarized materials will be reported to the Dean and will result in a failing grade for the course.

Course Schedule


Week 1

Wednesday August 27 Introduction


Week 2

Monday September 1 No Class



Wednesday September 3 “Writing Matters”– pp. 3-25
Seeing and Writing

Week 3

Monday September 8 pp. 27-49
Seeing and Writing
Learning Across the Curriculum – Chapter 1 – A
Writer’s Resource
Blog



Wednesday September 10 Annie Dillard’s “Seeing” – pp.108-117
Alfred Leslie’s “Television Moon” – pp. 90-92
Seeing and Writing
Blog







Week 4

Monday September 15 “Challenging Images” – pp. 598-611
Isabel Allende’s “Omayra Sanchez” pp. 612-615
Seeing and Writing
Writing and Designing Papers – Chapter 2 – A Writer’s Resource


Wednesday September 17 Essay #1 – First Draft
Peer Review


Week 5

Monday September 22 Peer Review
Blog


Wednesday September 24 “Chapter 2: Coming to Terms with Place” – pp. 139-149
Edward Hirsch’s – “Edward Hopper and the House by
The Railroad (1925)”
Seeing and Writing
Blog

Week 6

Monday September 29 No Class

Wednesday October 1 No Class


Week 7

Tuesday October 6 Second Draft of Essay #1 Due
Eudora Welty’s “The Little Store” – pp. 154 – 160
E.B. White’s “Once More to the Lake” – pp. 162 -167
Blog


Wednesday October 8 No Class






Week 8

Tuesday October 14 First Draft of Essay #2 Due
Peer Review

Wednesday October 15 Peer Review
Blog


Week 9

Monday October 20 Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” – Chapter 1, “The Veil” – pp. 3-9
Persepolis
Seeing and Writing – pp. 360-361
Blog

Wednesday October 22 Second Draft of Essay #2 Due
Persepolis – pp. 10-32
Blog
Week 10

Monday October 27 Persepolis –pp. 33-53
Blog


Wednesday October 29 Persepolis –pp. 54 - 79
Blog
Week 11

Monday November 3 Persepolis – pp. 80 - 110
Blog
Watch Film

Wednesday November 5 Persepolis –pp. 111-134
Blog
Watch Film



Week 12

Monday November 10 Persepolis – pp. 135 -153
Blog

Wednesday November 12 First Draft of Essay #3 Due
Peer Review


Week 13

Monday November 17 View “Baraka”



Wednesday November 19 “Visualizing Composition: Metaphor” p. 545
Exercise p. 545
Seeing and Writing
Stylistic Devices (handout)



Week 14

Monday November 24 Second Draft of Essay #3 Due
Richard Selzer’s “The Knife” (handout)
Blog

Wednesday November 26 Sylvia Plath’s “Ariel” (handout)
Robert Hass’ “Meditation at Lagunitas (handout)
Blog


Week 15

Monday December 1 Chapter 6 “Reading Icons – pp. 499-507
Guy Davenport’s “The Geography of the Imagination” pp. 508 -513
Seeing and Writing
Blog

Wednesday December 3 “She Can’t Smile Without You” pp. 516-531
Sally Stein’s “Passing Likeness” pp. 533-544
Seeing and Writing
Blog






Week 16

Monday December 8 Tom Perrotta’s “The Cosmic Significance of Britney
Spears” pp. 568- 574
Seeing and Writing

Wednesday December 10 Group Meetings


Week 17

Monday December 15 Final Group Presentations