ENGL 481: Is Writing a Fad?, Spring 2019

Course Information

Course

  • Number: ENGL 481
  • Title: Is Writing a Fad?
  • Term: Spring 2019

Instructor

  • Name: Andrew Pilsch
  • Contact: apilsch@tamu.edu
  • Office Hours & Locations:
    • TR 12:45-2:15, LAAH 301

Course Description

This senior seminar explores the question of writing by exploring both ends of written culture: debates about writing in ancient Athens and the perceived decline in literacy brought about by computers. We will be reading a variety of works from both periods, exploring them from within the rhetorical tradition, and generally attempting to account for the way media, most prominently writing, structures culture and the transmission of knowledge.

Course Policies

These are the policies that govern our class. You are responsible for knowing the information on this page before contacting me regarding policy questions.

Email

I am available to answer email from 9:00am until 5:00pm Monday through Friday. Emails arriving outside of that time will be answered at my earliest convenience, but do not count on a quick answer to emails sent late at night or on the weekends.

Grading

Per university policy, I cannot discuss grades via email. Please visit my office hours if you would like to discuss your grade on an assignment.

Grade Values

  • A 90-100
  • B 80-89
  • C 70-79
  • D 60-69
  • F 59 or less

Feedback and Assignment Points

Before each assignment, I will provide you with a copy of my grading rubric for the assignment to give you a sense of what I will be targeting in each assignment. This sheet will break down each component of your grade and add up to 100 points. I will read each assignment, mark up a rubric, and provide a few paragraphs of comments on your assignment.

These points will be weighted according to the point breakdown described on the Assignments page, which will determine your overall final grade.

Absence / Tardiness

As discussed on the assignments page, to prove your presence in class, you are asked to submit a 3x5 notecard after each class with your name, a quote from the text you want to discuss, and an unanswered question you still have after class. This is all that is required to show attendance.

If you have an excused university absence (see below), you do not have to submit a card. If you have an unexcused absence, within a week of the class you missed, email me the quote from the reading you would have put on your card and a 2-3 sentence explanation of why you think it is interesting. You do not need to explain why you were absent if you don’t want; this email will excuse your absence.

Excused Absences

Student Rule 7 covers the cases in which absences will be excused and in which late work will be tolerated. The following conditions will be excused:

  • Participation in an activity appearing on the university authorized activity list. (see List of Authorized and Sponsored Activities)
  • Death or major illness in a student’s immediate family. Immediate family may include: mother, father, sister, brother, grandparents, spouse, child, spouse’s child, spouse’s parents, spouse’s grandparents, stepmother, step-father, step-sister, step-brother, step-grandparents, grandchild, step-grandchild, legal guardian, and others as deemed appropriate by faculty member or student’s academic Dean or designee.
  • Illness of a dependent family member.
  • Participation in legal proceedings or administrative procedures that require a student’s presence.
  • Religious holy day. (See Appendix IV.)
  • Injury or Illness that is too severe or contagious for the student to attend class.
  • Required participation in military duties.
  • Mandatory admission interviews for professional or graduate school which cannot be rescheduled.
  • Mandatory participation as a student-athlete in NCAA-sanctioned competition.
  • In accordance with Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, Texas A&M University shall treat pregnancy (childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy and recovery therefrom) and related conditions as a justification for an excused absence for so long a period of time as is deemed medically necessary by the student’s physician. Requests for excused absence related to pregnancy should be directed to the instructor; questions about Title IX should be directed to the University Title IX Coordinator.

Late Work

Under Student Rule 7.4, I am under “under no obligation to provide an opportunity for the student to make up work missed because of an unexcused absence.” However, I do accept late work and will take off 5 points for every day late. These points are removed after the paper is graded, such that a paper that would have received an 85% that was 3 days late will receive a 70%.

Additionally, if you are falling behind on a project and feel that you are not going to finish on time, email me 24 hours before the assignment is due to request an extension. In this email, propose how many additional days you will need to finish the assignment. Requests for extension that do not contain this information will not be honored.

Technology

In the 21st century, it is unreasonable to accept “my computer died” as an excuse for late work. If you are working on assignments on a computer, please back up your work offsite. Sites such as Dropbox and Google Drive provide space for storing copies of your work; even a USB drive can be enough. I have recently started using BackBlaze and found it to be a great and inexpensive online, automated backup. Save multiple times throughout each work session to both your backup and your computer’s copy. In this class, I hold you accountable for making sure your technology is working correctly.

Academic Integrity

Aggie Honor Code. “An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.” It is the student’s responsibility to know the Aggie Honor Code and to understand what constitutes scholastic dishonesty and to avoid it all costs. Anything (particularly plagiarism and cheating on quizzes or projects) that appears to be a violation of the Aggie Honor Code will be reported to the appropriate authorities. For additional information please visit: http://aggiehonor.tamu.edu/.

Also, the following is a helpful resource for describing kinds and severity of plagiarism. Note this graphic is not from A&M, where rules may differ: http://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Infographic_Did-I-Plagiarize1.jpg

American with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact Disability Services, in Cain Hall, Room B118, or call 845-1637. For additional information visit http://disability.tamu.edu.

Assignments

Assignment Due Date Value
Participation Cards Daily 20%
Paper 1 Pre-work: Annotated Bibliography 02.28.2019 10%
Paper 1: Periodizing Writing 03.19.2019 03.24.2019 25% 30%
Paper 2 Pre-work: Thesis + Outline 04.26.2019 10% 15%
Paper 2: Research Paper 05.03.2019 35%

Participation Cards

Starting the second week of class, you will be required to bring a 3”x5” notecard to class each day. These cards will serve to record your attendance in class. More importantly, they will structure class participation.

There are three required elements on a participation card for it to count as attendance:

  1. Your name (top of card)
  2. A passage that stuck with you from the reading (front of card)
  3. An unanswered question based on class discussion (back of card)

At the beginning of each class, I will give you two minutes to write out one sentence from the reading that stuck with you: that you loved, that you hated, or that confused you (you may also bring a prepared card, if you like). We will begin class discussion by going around the room and reading our passages. This activity will serve to spark our discussion of the reading.

At the end of each class, I will give you three minutes to write out (in complete sentences) an answer to the following: “What topic did we raise today that is going to keep you up tonight? If nothing, what should we have asked that would keep you thinking into the night?” This is your chance to show me what you learned in discussion, what you wished you had learned, and/or what you still want to learn. I will be using these to help shape future discussions.

If you cannot attend class, please email the quote you would have put on your card and a 2-3 sentence explanation for why you chose the quote in question.

Paper 1 – Periodizing Writing

For our first paper, you will produce a research paper investigating the issues surrounding writing in a particular period or area (defined how you see fit but subject to my approval). Periods would need to correspond to the times and geographies we use to divide up the English major:

British Periods

  • Medieval British
  • Early Modern British
  • 18th Century
  • British Romanticism
  • Victorian
  • Modern British
  • Contemporary British

American Periods

  • Early American
  • 19th Century American
  • Modern American
  • Postmodern American
  • Contemporary American

Further, you can focus your research onto a particular topic or area, say “Early Modern Drama” or “Harlem Renaissance Modern American” or “American Science Fiction.” If you choose a particular topic, please make sure to briefly ask me after class, in office hours, or via email for approval.

Having selected your period, you will need to do extensive research to be able to articulate what interesting is happening in terms of writing during this period. Not only will you be articulating how writers in your period thought about themselves but also how contemporary critics account for authorship discussions. Additionally, you will want to document and account for any major writing or publishing technologies that emerge during your period. For instance, if you wrote about Medieval British authorship, you might need to account for the rise of monastic scribal culture. A paper on American Science Fiction would want to discuss magazine publication.

There is more than enough information on authorship during any of these periods to fill a paper of this length, so you will also have to exercise some critical judgement in order to focus on the most important or most interesting narrative to structure your paper. This paper will challenge not only your curatorial instincts but also ask you to work on finding sources, reading sources, summarizing with appropriate detail, and, finally, synthesizing information into a cohesive whole. While driven by others’ insight, this paper will still need to be argumentative: you are assembling existing scholarship into your own story about authorship during the period you choose.

Pre-Work: Annotated Bibliography

To prepare for this assignment, I ask that you produce an annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography gives the source as an MLA works cited entry, followed by a short paragraph summarizing the argument of the source. Sources should be alphabetized. Summary paragraphs should be focused on summarizing the relevance to your paper.

You will need to produce ten annotated entries for this bibliography. Please consider using [Zotero](https://www.zotero.org/) or [EasyBib](http://www.easybib.com/) to generate your citations. I am less interested in grading this on correctness of citations than I am on seeing that you have found useful and scholarly citations and that you have generated thoughtful summaries.

Paper 2 – Research Paper

For this assignment, you will write an 8-10 page, argumentative essay exploring some aspect of the course texts. You may use outside research, your own interests, or other texts you have read (novels, etc). Your topic is up to you but should in some way respond to the topic we have been exploring this semester.

We will talk in class about developing a thesis and how to turn an idea or interest into an argument. Additionally, this assignment will ask you to build on the skills in research and summarization we developed in the first assignment.

Pre-Work: Thesis and Detailed Outline

In advance of writing your final paper, I ask you submit a thesis statement that meets the requirements we discuss in class. Additionally, I ask you to submit a sample bibliography and a detailed, point-by-point outline of your final paper.

Books to Buy

While the majority of our readings will be eTexts linked from the schedule, there are a few books you will need to purchase, either from the campus bookstore or online.

  • Plato, Phaedrus, Tr: Alexander Nehamas & Paul Woodruff, ISBN 0872202208
    • You are required to buy this translation of Phaedrus; a different edition will not be acceptable
  • Plato, Symposium, Tr: Alexander Nehamas & Paul Woodruff, ISBN 0872200760
    • You are required to buy this translation of Symposium; a different edition will not be acceptable
  • McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiore, The Medium is the Massage, ISBN 1584230703
  • Flusser, Vilém, Does Writing Have a Future?, ISBN 0816670234

Schedule

Week 1 – Introductions

Tue 01/15

Thu 01/17

Week 2 – Early Writing

Tue 01/22

Thu 01/24

Week 3 – Sophists

Tue 01/29

  • Anonymous, “Dissoi Logoi”

Thu 01/31

  • Alcidamas, "Those Who Speak From Written Texts"

Week 4 – Isocrates

Tue 02/05

Thu 02/07

  • Isocrates, “Against the Sophists”

Week 5 – Socrates I

Tue 02/12

  • Plato, Phaedrus, 227a-243e

Thu 02/14

  • Plato, Phaedrus, 244a-274a

Week 6 – Socrates II

Tue 02/19

  • Plato, Phaedrus, Rest
  • Conducting Research
  • Organizing Sources / Notes

Thu 02/21

  • Plato, Symposium
  • Conducting Research
  • Organizing Sources / Notes

Week 7 – Socrates III

Tue 02/26

  • Plato, Symposium, 172A-199C

Thu 02/28

  • Plato, Symposium, Rest
  • Paper 1 Pre-Work Due

Week 8 – The End of Authorship

Tue 03/05

  • Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author”

Thu 03/07

  • Paper 1 Workshop
  • Summarizing Sources

Week 9

Tue 03/12

No Class

Spring Break

Thu 03/14

No Class

Spring Break

Week 10 – The End of Authorship

Tue 03/19

  • McLuhan, "The Medium is the Message"
  • McLuhan and Fiore, The Medium is the Massage
  • Paper 1 Due
  • Paper 1 Workshop

Thu 03/21

Week 11 – Literacy I

Tue 03/26

Thu 03/28

Week 12 – Literacy II

Tue 04/02

Thu 04/04

Week 13 – Media

Tue 04/09

Thu 04/11

Week 14 – Writing's Future I

Tue 04/16

  • Flusser, Does Writing Have a Future?, pp. 3-45

Thu 04/18

  • Flusser, Does Writing Have a Future?, pp. 47-85

Week 15 – Writing's Future II

Tue 04/23

  • Flusser, Does Writing Have a Future?, pp. 87-131

Thu 04/25

  • Flusser, Does Writing Have a Future?, Rest
  • Paper 2 Pre-work Due
  • Paper 2 Due 05/03