HONR 207: Honors Seminar in Diversity Pluralism and Difference the Housing Crisis
Order ID 53563633773 Type Essay Writer Level Masters Style APA Sources/References 4 Perfect Number of Pages To Order 5-10 Pages Description/Paper Instructions
HONR 207: Honors Seminar in Diversity Pluralism and Difference the Housing Crisis
Fall 2011
Class: MF 2:30 – 3:45
Office Hours: M 11:30-12:30
F 10:30-11:30
Dr. Beth McCoy, Department of English Classroom: Welles 119 Office: Welles 232A
If I tell you something, you will stick to it and limit your own capacity to find out for yourself.–Shunryu Suzuki, Not Always So.
I’m becoming sympathetic to houses as they breathe in books and movies and my life…Meg Vasey, “Houses,” Geneseo Class of 2007.
Course Summary:
This course will examine through multiple perspectives the housing crisis/bubble/mortgage crisis— in other words, that long-percolating disaster of which many became aware in Fall 2008. Students should be prepared for the fact that as part of their literary and cultural study of houses, home, and housing, the course will also engage whiteness and anti-blackness.
Student Learning Outcomes:
By semester’s end, you will:
- write multiple meditations on longstanding and contemporary conversations about art, authorship, appropriation, and aesthetics, issues that are crucial to African American literary and cultural studies, and, by definition, American and global cultural studies;
- demonstrate an ability to write critically, thoughtfully, and with evidence (rather than writing simply by position-taking) about the above issues, using multiple sources;
- have engaged first-hand the difficulties and rewards of attempting to build conversations about aesthetic and political issues, including talking about race as an “intellectual proposition” (Joyce Middleton’s term). As Thomas Jefferson’s “Query XIV” demonstrates beyond all doubt, when it comes to art, literature, “race,“ and politics in the U.S., all four terms have been entangled from the start.
Required Texts:
William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham.
Toni Morrison, A Mercy.
Michael Lewis, The Big Short.
Allison Bechdel, Fun Home.
Additionally, we will be viewing films (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, House of Sand and Fog) and documentaries (Inside Job, Frontline episodes), as well as listening to This American Life radio programs..
Means of Assessment: Response Papers (3 at 20% each) 60% Discussion Forum on mycourses 20% Class Participation 20%
Response papers: There are three (3) of these listed on the syllabus, 2 pages, typed, single-spaced. You will receive a prompt that presents you with a critical question/issue and some primary texts to use in considering the question/issue (of course, by the time you get most of the prompts, you’ll have a lot of reading under your belt; this material is fair game for you i f you consider it to be relevant). I will grade each paper individually and then average the grades together at semester’s end. These papers are informal and are designed to help you reflect on complex issues, raise good questions, and synthesize multiple theories and texts. They are not argument-driven, formally structured essays; indeed, I have found that folks who stick to something like the 5-paragraph essay, DBQ, or “critical lens” format (usually because it’s familiar and safe) end up hamstringing themselves–how?
The best papers:
- Possess a purposeful focus, demonstrating the importance of narrowing down the scope of your reflections/analyses in order to have enough space to unpack your assumptions/what you are using to make a claim.
- Take risks.
- Provide concrete support/illustration/exemplification for your paper’s claims, using a blend of direction quotation, paraphrase, specific description, all of which are attributed clearly to their source (e.g., “According to Tate,” “Joyce suggests,” “Neal (quoting Jones) ..”)
- Feature purposeful, mindful synthesis of multiples sources and ideas.
- Teach your reader (who cannot get inside your head) what you are thinking/why it’s important so that even when your reader doesn’t agree with you, s/he can still say, “Ah, but I see what you’re getting at here.”
- Inquire beyond the obvious and raise questions about implications and complexity.
- Will meaningfully/purposefully/independently integrate observations/insights from other readings where relevant
Adequate or average papers:
- Will generally address the prompt and will attempt to synthesize multiple sources and ideas.
Inadequate papers:
- May be full of mechanical errors (though inadequate papers can also be mechanically perfect). They may simply summarize a text. They may avoid a major part of the prompt. They may seek to follow every step of the prompt but be unable to develop anything specifically.
Discussion forum on mycourses.geneseo.edu ( 20% of your final grade): New posts will be put up just about every week; you need to check in regularly.
I will grade the posts portfolio-style at semester’s end. The grade will be based on consistency of posting (do you post regularly? do you just start posting at the end of April?), originality,
complexity, specificity, carefulness of writing (this INCLUDES SPELLING AND OTHER MECHANICAL STUFF), whether you write well-developed paragraphs or just a few sentences, and your efforts towards building to a conversation, which means listening and considering other’s thoughts in addition to itching to contribute your own. I’ll look to see if you’ve been weaving in reading/course concepts and building on that reading as the semester goes on. I’ll also look to see if you’ve been weaving in your own conversations with your class mates in your own posts, as well as to see if you’ve been replying to others’ posts. To give me concrete evidence of this, on the last day of class, you will give me printouts of what you think are your five BEST posts (you can paste them all sequentially onto the page to save paper).
Class participation: I take this grade very seriously, but folks seem to have a hard time believing me when I write/say that. Thus, the following criteria will determine your participation grade (my thanks to Professor Rutkowski for the schema and much of the specific wording). The criteria focus on what you demonstrate and do not presume to guess at what you know.
- A. Demonstrates excellent preparation: has analyzed reading exceptionally well, relating it to other material (e.g., readings, lecture, course material, discussions, experiences, etc.).
Offers analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of reading (e.g., puts together pieces of discussion and lecture to develop new approaches that take the class further).
Contributes significantly to ongoing discussion: keeps analysis focused, responds very thoughtfully to other students’ comments, contributes to cooperative argument building, suggests alternative ways of approaching material and helps class analyze which approaches are appropriate, etc.
Demonstrates active involvement daily.
- Demonstrates good preparation: knows reading well, has thought through implications of reading.
Offers interpretations and analysis (more than just the facts) to class. Contributes well to discussion in an ongoing way: responds to other students’ points, thinks through own points, questions others constructively, offers and supports suggestions that may be counter to majority opinion.
Demonstrates consistent, ongoing involvement.
- Demonstrates adequate preparation: knows basic reading facts, but does not show evidence of interpretation or analysis.
Does not offer to contribute to discussion but contributes to a moderate degree when called on.
Demonstrates sporadic involvement.
- D. Present, not disruptive.
Tries to respond when called on but little response.
Any response is frequently a summary or appropriation of what instructor said in class. Demonstrates infrequent involvement in discussion or tries to make up lost discussion ground
by monologuing.
- E. Absent frequently and thus unable to contribute.
RUBRIC
QUALITY OF RESPONSE NO RESPONSE POOR / UNSATISFACTORY SATISFACTORY GOOD EXCELLENT Content (worth a maximum of 50% of the total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 20 points out of 50: The essay illustrates poor understanding of the relevant material by failing to address or incorrectly addressing the relevant content; failing to identify or inaccurately explaining/defining key concepts/ideas; ignoring or incorrectly explaining key points/claims and the reasoning behind them; and/or incorrectly or inappropriately using terminology; and elements of the response are lacking. 30 points out of 50: The essay illustrates a rudimentary understanding of the relevant material by mentioning but not full explaining the relevant content; identifying some of the key concepts/ideas though failing to fully or accurately explain many of them; using terminology, though sometimes inaccurately or inappropriately; and/or incorporating some key claims/points but failing to explain the reasoning behind them or doing so inaccurately. Elements of the required response may also be lacking. 40 points out of 50: The essay illustrates solid understanding of the relevant material by correctly addressing most of the relevant content; identifying and explaining most of the key concepts/ideas; using correct terminology; explaining the reasoning behind most of the key points/claims; and/or where necessary or useful, substantiating some points with accurate examples. The answer is complete. 50 points: The essay illustrates exemplary understanding of the relevant material by thoroughly and correctly addressing the relevant content; identifying and explaining all of the key concepts/ideas; using correct terminology explaining the reasoning behind key points/claims and substantiating, as necessary/useful, points with several accurate and illuminating examples. No aspects of the required answer are missing. Use of Sources (worth a maximum of 20% of the total points). Zero points: Student failed to include citations and/or references. Or the student failed to submit a final paper. 5 out 20 points: Sources are seldom cited to support statements and/or format of citations are not recognizable as APA 6th Edition format. There are major errors in the formation of the references and citations. And/or there is a major reliance on highly questionable. The Student fails to provide an adequate synthesis of research collected for the paper. 10 out 20 points: References to scholarly sources are occasionally given; many statements seem unsubstantiated. Frequent errors in APA 6th Edition format, leaving the reader confused about the source of the information. There are significant errors of the formation in the references and citations. And/or there is a significant use of highly questionable sources. 15 out 20 points: Credible Scholarly sources are used effectively support claims and are, for the most part, clear and fairly represented. APA 6th Edition is used with only a few minor errors. There are minor errors in reference and/or citations. And/or there is some use of questionable sources. 20 points: Credible scholarly sources are used to give compelling evidence to support claims and are clearly and fairly represented. APA 6th Edition format is used accurately and consistently. The student uses above the maximum required references in the development of the assignment. Grammar (worth maximum of 20% of total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 5 points out of 20: The paper does not communicate ideas/points clearly due to inappropriate use of terminology and vague language; thoughts and sentences are disjointed or incomprehensible; organization lacking; and/or numerous grammatical, spelling/punctuation errors 10 points out 20: The paper is often unclear and difficult to follow due to some inappropriate terminology and/or vague language; ideas may be fragmented, wandering and/or repetitive; poor organization; and/or some grammatical, spelling, punctuation errors 15 points out of 20: The paper is mostly clear as a result of appropriate use of terminology and minimal vagueness; no tangents and no repetition; fairly good organization; almost perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word usage. 20 points: The paper is clear, concise, and a pleasure to read as a result of appropriate and precise use of terminology; total coherence of thoughts and presentation and logical organization; and the essay is error free. Structure of the Paper (worth 10% of total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 3 points out of 10: Student needs to develop better formatting skills. The paper omits significant structural elements required for and APA 6th edition paper. Formatting of the paper has major flaws. The paper does not conform to APA 6th edition requirements whatsoever. 5 points out of 10: Appearance of final paper demonstrates the student’s limited ability to format the paper. There are significant errors in formatting and/or the total omission of major components of an APA 6th edition paper. The can include the omission of the cover page, abstract, and page numbers. Additionally the page has major formatting issues with spacing or paragraph formation. Font size might not conform to size requirements. The student also significantly writes too large or too short of and paper 7 points out of 10: Research paper presents an above-average use of formatting skills. The paper has slight errors within the paper. This can include small errors or omissions with the cover page, abstract, page number, and headers. There could be also slight formatting issues with the document spacing or the font Additionally the paper might slightly exceed or undershoot the specific number of required written pages for the assignment. 10 points: Student provides a high-caliber, formatted paper. This includes an APA 6th edition cover page, abstract, page number, headers and is double spaced in 12’ Times Roman Font. Additionally the paper conforms to the specific number of required written pages and neither goes over or under the specified length of the paper. GET THIS PROJECT NOW BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK TO PLACE THE ORDER
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