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<h1>TEACHING PORTFOLIO</h1>
<p><i>Ken Alba<br>
Graduate Writing Fellow, PhD Candidate<br>
Boston University Department of English<br>
kenalba@bu.edu</i></p>
<i>Navigation:</i> This portfolio is written in Twine, a piece of software used to create interactive fiction. It is organized in two ways: by course and by type of material. You can use the navigation frame on the left to browse; alternatively, you can click [[here->INTRODUCTION]] to go to the introduction. The navigation frame on the left also has "Back" and "Forward" buttons, which should be used in lieu of your browser's buttons. <h1>Introduction</h1>
<p>This portfolio gathers together materials from the university-level courses I have taught in my time at Boston University: [[WR100: Kurt Vonnegut]], [[WR150: Kurt Vonnegut]], [[EN130: Science/Fiction]], [[WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era]], and [[WR152: Gender and Electronic Literature]]. Within each course, I have included a [[syllabus->SYLLABI]], the [[assignments->ASSIGNMENTS]] that the students were expected to complete, and selection of annotated [[student work->STUDENT WORK]] that generally includes both interlineal and end-comments. Although the reader can skip to the collections of particular material, the best way to navigate through this portfolio is by [[course->COURSES]]; I have composed for each course a small reflective introduction on the design of the syllabus, the strengths and weaknesses of the class, and what I learned from it as an instructor. This introduction, then, is principally concerned with my overall philosophy for teaching writing and how it has evolved over the past few years. This philosophy can be summarized as follows: meet students where they are, identify where they are most open to improvement, support their work towards that improvement, and keep in mind their humanity throughout.</p>
<p>Each writing course I have taught has included a mandatory self-assessment where students are encouraged to set their own goals and tell me a story about them as writers. Prior to 2019, I asked students to post these self-assessments publically; in 2019, however, I instead had them send me the assessments directly and found that I received more revealing, personal, and honest work. These assessments help me determine the strengths and weaknesses of each student's writing; this, coupled with my work with them on the drafts of their first papers, is as much diagnostic as anything else. I try, in each case, to identify 3-4 areas where the student can improve: 1-2 structural issues and 1-2 technical issues.</p>
<p>Because BU's student body comes from a fairly diverse set of backgrounds, these areas are idiosyncratic, and as such much of my nuts-and-bolts writing instruction takes place one-on-one, in workshops and in the drafting / revision process. If, however, I notice problems that seem to be more general, I take those into the classroom and hold a workshop on the topic. This approach, coupled with broader scaffolded instruction on conceiving, organizing, researching, and writing an academic paper, seems to me to be a more effective mode of teaching at the college level. Prior to coming to this realization, however, I had the tendency to overcomment, annotating each issue in a student's work exhaustively - as the reader can see from the commentary on papers graded for [[WR100->WR100: Kurt Vonnegut]]. This had the tendency, I'm afraid, of overwhelming students. Now, my annotations are sparser; I'll point out most problems in the first two pages, and then focus my annotations on two or three main areas of improvement through the rest of the draft. These interlineal comments are accompanied by lengthy endnotes where I articulate what, exactly, I'd like the student to focus on for their next paper (see, for example, my commentary on Paper 2 in [[WR120->WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era]]. This process also factors into my evaluation of the student's work: a large part of the grade a paper receives depends on the degree to which the student has worked on the problem we'd focused on earlier in the semester.</p>
<p>This approach has also shaped the way I write [[assignments->ASSIGNMENTS]], and the degree of freedom I give my students when designing them. Early on in my teaching career, I often fell into one of two pitfalls: either giving students so specific a prompt that I received 18 near-identical essays, or giving my students so broad of a topic that they had difficulty formulating a project in the first place. I now offer multiple options for most of my prompts, and make it clear on the assignment sheet and in class that I'm happy to entertain alternative topics, within reason. I have tried, where possible, to design prompts that target those areas that I have diagnosed as most generally in need of improvement for the particular students in the class - so one topic might require particular attention to a clear, sharp, and modular argument with topic sentences and an argument, for example, whereas another might focus on the integration of secondary sources. In my most recent two classes, I have taken this approach one step further and allowed my students to make a multimodal creative project that focuses on what most interests them in the classroom.</p>
<p>I have built this portfolio in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.twinery.org">Twine</a>, a tool used primarily to author interactive fiction that I have, particularly over the past two years, been experimenting with in the classroom in various ways: encouraging students to storyboard and outline their papers using it, teaching literary works written in Twine, and assigning students to compose their own works of interactive fiction in it. I've chosen Twine for its low barrier of entry and its high degree of customizability; my students need minimal technical instruction to figure out how to use it, but can, with a bit of work, acquire limited proficiency in HTML and CSS and in so doing design visually compelling works. Further, learning to use Twine means learning, to some degree, how the web works; in the classroom, I couple lessons on writing Twine stories with reading both the code that underlies them and the design choices that curate the information they present. In a cultural moment where the information we receive is often digital and always curated and designed, I believe it is necessary to teach our students how to read both text and platform; Twine helps me do that. Twine is not without its limitations, however; I cannot, for example, easily embed commented documents into this portfolio. Consequently, many of the artifacts - assignment sheets, student work, and so on - are linked here as shared Google Docs.</p>
<p>This portfolio aims to offer its reader a look at my teaching experience. It is, however, incomplete; its focus is the university-level courses that I have designed and taught. Although those courses are important, I have had the good fortune over the course of my career to work with a wide variety of students: with adults and GED-seeking young adults at New Haven Adult Education; with tech-savvy 7 to 17 year olds at iD Tech Camps in the summertime; with college-age students under the direct supervision of full-time professors as a TA working with Shakespeare and Detective Fiction. I also spent two years at Southern Connecticut State University as a writing tutor and held various private positions as a tutor in English and in Latin. This diversity of experience has given me, I think, a unique perspective on instruction that comes through in my overall teaching philosophy.</p>
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<hr>
<i>Continue to [[COURSES]]</i><h1>Assignments</h1>
<h4>WR100: Kurt Vonnegut</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/18mYUxPaiCrqmhPz6nOO-A-CjYAkqpZpKJP54qskZ_pI/edit">Paper 1: Critical Analysis</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ZGKGMq8PpGG1dcpQWZIRDbg8XK38ncp-rokanVNr5I/edit">Paper 2: Making an Academic Argument</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LmBe70Hr2r0PX5whmpBDeA2D5FGPRALyt-Bx88uiMNg/edit">Paper 3: Fiction and Personal Identity</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N5SLR1kVlRuc4gr_gTj0WL35eiq7V5im82ILaP_W6zA/edit#heading=h.gjdgxs">Final Portfolio Guidelines</a><br>
<h4>WR150: Kurt Vonnegut</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/16v604imGnxbElMBf9-53I6t8bJ2ELAAsqdsg-skqpzM/edit">Self-Assessment</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-XrWo1oOGTTK41yORuXRAwzwYzrSKecAx1BzRGjpSBY/edit">Paper 1: Writing as Conversation</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y-06sUot8UxTO3jLDRQVWjGPTMnDyCATeF5bMAgFlyE/edit">Scaffolded Research Assignment</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MtXeKUShioG_llVgI82aVoH5LRXfckARQ4tp36RzNfM/edit">Paper 2: Prescriptivism and Descriptivism</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mCDDJjKr8QCARhrmWJePh83E2cRaA7n7rst2Y-7bOW4/edit">Oral Presentation</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lnzPvbco03aYTqfnxd0r6vSWJ2E4FM1HknKNCXYCoag/edit#heading=h.gjdgxs">Final Portfolio</a><br>
<h4>EN130: Science/Fiction</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IPEWKBXtbfFzPy7HvIVtMjraa2I_bMkEr4YGqTuTSq4/edit">Paper 1: Close Reading</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j_wJ82gNrJYeWxdRJ1grFRtez2xI-n3XpHEktuLDmHg/edit">Paper 2: Arguing, With Sources</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ig80ZZX0KS5v7qOomywgAUkxV9vCd6ySj5TN6MmwKKI/edit">Midterm Exam</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-AAHaHswzDGGje_icK1tU8PSu-KGDi8asuV4EByjouU/edit">Final Exam</a><br>
<h4>WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era</h4>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aSPKYc2-PKTDHP_465DM36am-i27cWtwLPMTleAjk_4/edit">Self-Assessment: You as a Person, a Writer, and a Technologist</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U4Lv_0Ey7adNru6hgBMGYm_NAWJQsURNeddv6zyxmQY/edit">Paper 1 Introduction Draft</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href= "https://docs.google.com/document/d/17mYpVVCBqPctXDala9IHu2VJFlWf838h-qF7Wu_bXTE/edit">Paper 1: Defining a Concept</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href= "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1adh9xgnmLEMM8QJMlxSinlK5tTVVVVba-GUCEXSF0Hg/edit">Paper 2: Making an Academic Argument</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xYtCc9_cqX8bc6rEpRHAwkn6J4UzBR88znYCwEZp4PI/edit">Creative Project: Making an Interactive Fiction w/ Twine</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wekcd5t7r-6eCe8iht7FRXT9jIfMQ3MmK8CDQYYY-4U/edit">Final Portfolio Assignment</a><br>
<h1>Syllabi</h1>
<p>Below are links to the syllabi for each [[course->COURSES]] presented in this portfolio. Notably, much of the material in the syllabi is standard from course to course; the 'Course Schedule' section, at the end of each syllabus, is more idiosyncratic and more informative.</p>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XEulnxfHjuc7Hj-n8kHF6QVSglBB25SawsJNl-PRPvc/edit">WR100: Kurt Vonnegut</a>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XEasmwdWqsEArlKYoUmc0G2BjO3Ji-zshg7VJbl-0sc/edit">WR150: Kurt Vonnegut</a>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TWyqG4Jx2iAwQLFZKEP4cGruuVB1LAP5umgnGSh56Mw/edit">EN130: Science Fiction</a>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/12dDy9uRI3yaScWx9Em7i2_FztHVVgW1DVZBtiB4httk/edit">WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era</a>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KzgxIUVSyrSUoxr8QK8Z6ndM60qdCq9b/edit?dls=true">WR152: Gender and Electronic Literature</a><hr>
<h5>KENNETH ALBA's<br>Teaching Portfolio</h5>
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<a class="sidebar-link">[[INTRODUCTION]]</a>
<a class="sidebar-link">[[COURSES]]</a>
<a class="sidebar-link">[[SYLLABI]]</a>
<a class="sidebar-link">[[ASSIGNMENTS]]</a>
<a class="sidebar-link">[[STUDENT WORK]]</a>
<a class="sidebar-link" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wP-ycCt6r1sUWt-kvP1Jqo5ndCGq6HQha_ADTjb1qEw/edit" target="_blank">CURRICULUM VITAE</a><h1>Courses</h1>
<p>Each course below contains a brief introduction, a syllabus, a collection of assignment sheets, and a selection of student work. The courses are presented in chronological order: WR120 was offered in Fall of 2016, WR150 in Spring 2017, EN130 in Fall 2017 and Spring 2018, WR120 in Fall 2019, and WR152 in Spring 2020.</p>
[[WR100: Kurt Vonnegut->WR100: Kurt Vonnegut]]
[[WR150: Kurt Vonnegut->WR150: Kurt Vonnegut]]
[[EN130: Science/Fiction->EN130: Science/Fiction]]
[[WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era->WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era]]
[[WR152: Gender and Electronic Literature->WR152: Gender and Electronic Literature]]<h1>WR100: Kurt Vonnegut</h1>
<i>Fall 2016</i>
<p><b>Course Description: </b><i>In the introduction to his World War II novel Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut
says that “we are who we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” This course takes up this definition of personal identity as a focus, using the fiction of Kurt Vonnegut as an entry into that question: how does what we do relate to who we are? We will read one of his novels (Mother Night) and many of the short stories collected in Welcome to the Monkey House, alongside theoretical works by Judith Butler, John-Paul Sartre, and Friedrich Nietzsche (among others), an Intelligence Squared debate, and creative nonfiction by David Foster Wallace.</i></p>
<p>This course was the first I designed and taught on my own. As such, it was not without problems; for example, I regretted limiting the course to a single author, and the second unit, on descriptivism and prescriptivism, was only loosely tied to the course topic. That said, I believe this course was ultimately a success; Vonnegut is a good author for teaching writing, in part because his writing is so accessible to first-year students and in part because his own work on the subject of writing is remarkably lucid. Despite the lack of cohesiveness, the readings on the syllabus (particularly David Foster Wallace's piece on prescriptivism and George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language") successfully introduced students to critical principles of writing, and their work was better for it.</p>
<p>As the reader can discover in the student work linked below, a problem I had this semester was limiting my feedback. Rather than narrowing my focus to a handful of actionable writing issues, my comments this semester were, I believe, overly specific and overly exhaustive. As I continued to teach, I honed these comments down to be more particular without being overwhelming.</p>
<h4>Syllabus:</h4>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XEulnxfHjuc7Hj-n8kHF6QVSglBB25SawsJNl-PRPvc/edit">WR100: Kurt Vonnegut</a>
<h4>Assignments:</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/18mYUxPaiCrqmhPz6nOO-A-CjYAkqpZpKJP54qskZ_pI/edit">Paper 1: Critical Analysis</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ZGKGMq8PpGG1dcpQWZIRDbg8XK38ncp-rokanVNr5I/edit">Paper 2: Making an Academic Argument</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LmBe70Hr2r0PX5whmpBDeA2D5FGPRALyt-Bx88uiMNg/edit">Paper 3: Fiction and Personal Identity</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N5SLR1kVlRuc4gr_gTj0WL35eiq7V5im82ILaP_W6zA/edit#heading=h.gjdgxs">Final Portfolio Guidelines</a><br>
<h4>Student Work:</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vo-TDo-AOoPE8eMwLh_-dCy5XekjYB7zQ2sgge4RsZc/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (A)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jlg1XScJz97DazfERAte7DnC_Qu3Osfbt8tqsSC47S8/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (C/C-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href=https://docs.google.com/document/d/19IqIg6IJOlYivgHj2-EoIq0zwv2BMybV8pIA2hCZNPw/edit>Paper 2: Draft w/ Comments; </a>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gpJ03UYXobtjE2j_22hK9UMdy8ZOFlHcXAGe1O8y83k/edit">Graded w/ Comments (A)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F4jpfagNXpglndCAulsHC8z2Mfu_IWUFJk9t1tvhoxA/edit">Paper 2: Draft w/ Comments;</a><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V1oS1n9CtW41AQ0iR-ZP2UWowThuT7XSF1M1KhXKyDs/edit"> Graded w/ Comments (C+/B-)</a>
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<i>note: this paper is not anonymized because it is available in the </i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-9/higgins/">WR Journal</a><i>, where it won a prize. See its entry there for a brief introduction on my part.</i><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F22kczpimZlPK_OXLNvgjJ2iBxZ4wqRQYFJLpIXqQrs/edit">Paper 3: Graded w/ Comments (A-/A)</a><br>
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<i>Return to [[COURSES]]</i><h1>WR150: Kurt Vonnegut</h1>
<i>Spring 2017</i>
<p><b>Course Description: </b><i>In the introduction to his World War II novel Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut
says that “we are who we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” This course takes up this definition of personal identity as a focus, using the fiction of Kurt Vonnegut as an entry into that question: how does what we do relate to who we are? We will read one of his novels (Mother Night) and many of the short stories collected in Welcome to the Monkey House, alongside theoretical works by Judith Butler, John-Paul Sartre, and Friedrich Nietzsche (among others), an Intelligence Squared debate, and creative nonfiction by David Foster Wallace.</i></p>
<p>This course was a revision of my Fall 2016 section of [[WR100->WR100: Kurt Vonnegut]]. This gave me the opportunity to omit the readings that didn't work and to spend more time on those that did. I also focused my actual writing instruction this semester; this was the first time that I adopted my current approach to teaching style in the classroom. Rather than subjecting the class to general lectures on writing style, I now diagnose struggles that most of the class share on the first paper and structure my lectures appropriately.</p>
<p>I also added an additional novel, <i>Cat's Cradle</i>, to the syllabus for WR150. I chose <i>Cat's Cradle</i> because of the wealth of criticism available about it; because many people have written about it, my students had more to look for.</p>
<p>This course's primary weakness was a focus on content to the (possible) exclusion of more research-based and writing-based instruction. Although much of the content encouraged students to think critically about genre and discourse communities, some of it would have fit better in a literature class than a writing one. Consequently, most of the actual writing instruction took place in one-on-one meetings or in the drafting and revision process. Although this approach has its strengths, the primary of which is the way it allows me to customize my instruction for each student, I wish I'd spent more time on writing in the classroom. The syllabi I composed for [[WR120->WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era]] and [[WR152->WR152: Gender and Electronic Literature]] focus more squarely on teaching writing, to the students' ultimate benefit.</p>
<h4>Syllabus:</h4>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XEasmwdWqsEArlKYoUmc0G2BjO3Ji-zshg7VJbl-0sc/edit">WR150: Kurt Vonnegut</a>
<h4>Assignments:</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/16v604imGnxbElMBf9-53I6t8bJ2ELAAsqdsg-skqpzM/edit">Self-Assessment</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-XrWo1oOGTTK41yORuXRAwzwYzrSKecAx1BzRGjpSBY/edit">Paper 1: Writing as Conversation</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y-06sUot8UxTO3jLDRQVWjGPTMnDyCATeF5bMAgFlyE/edit">Scaffolded Research Assignment</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MtXeKUShioG_llVgI82aVoH5LRXfckARQ4tp36RzNfM/edit">Paper 2: Prescriptivism and Descriptivism</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mCDDJjKr8QCARhrmWJePh83E2cRaA7n7rst2Y-7bOW4/edit">Oral Presentation</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lnzPvbco03aYTqfnxd0r6vSWJ2E4FM1HknKNCXYCoag/edit#heading=h.gjdgxs">Final Portfolio</a><br>
<h4>Student Work:</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lXOtvsbjOhhJt8ZJ5lVKySI6IoZrYXYwa0a66qe-DeA/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (A-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bQeWA8TPnks0n3rgJC0AP0JL_QBXk4eXif_wjDB5gEo/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (B)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1coR3cJXx9c6PDYnpUbzTzvgfM-947paMU2aeAQgt8HA/edit">Paper 2: Graded w/ Comments (A/A-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Blby9RmRKi_1xUOVJWcMr9VSVFwLuClHVUBMJ5ZH0vM/edit">Paper 2: Graded w/ Comments (C)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WTF9U_bkAwodr1qMz6ayUQlkOZYacyhklegv5E2n5KE/edit">Paper 3: Graded w/ Comments (A/A-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k6eBK2GnK4Xnd8CFLEtj4DbSTSiuJZc24P37spNrZhk/edit">Paper 3: Graded w/ Comments (C/C+)</a><br>
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<hr>
<i>Return to [[COURSES]]</i><h1>EN130: Science/Fiction</h1>
<i>Fall 2018, Spring 2019</i>
<p><b>Course Description</b>: <i>This course explores what it means to be 'human' by looking at various science fiction texts that trouble straightforward definitions of humanity. By looking at the monsters, aliens, androids, and cyborgs that populate scifi, we will sketch a genealogy of the genre from Frankenstein forward and survey various theories of the self in order to explore the utopian and dystopian possibilities suggested by these hybrid, uncanny post-humans. We will be particularly attentive to issues of race, gender, disability, and otherness more broadly, as well as to how our ideas of who we are change in an age of social media and MMOs.</i></p>
<p>This was the first English course I made myself. Although the course topic - Science Fiction - was chosen for me, the design of the rest of the course was up to me. I was pleased with the course's description, which articulates what separated my class from other science fiction classes.</p>
<p>This was also the first time I taught electronic literature in the classroom. I was pleased and impressed with how well the students did with e-lit and have, in my subsequent classes, incorporated more of it.</p>
<h4>Syllabus:</h4>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vUmOr7EmHf6GrC90aCz7k7w7KQKIg4FwHmcEQ_yYeu0/edit">EN130: Science/Fiction</a><br>
<h4>Assignments:</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IPEWKBXtbfFzPy7HvIVtMjraa2I_bMkEr4YGqTuTSq4/edit">Paper 1: Close Reading</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j_wJ82gNrJYeWxdRJ1grFRtez2xI-n3XpHEktuLDmHg/edit">Paper 2: Arguing, With Sources</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ig80ZZX0KS5v7qOomywgAUkxV9vCd6ySj5TN6MmwKKI/edit">Midterm Exam</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-AAHaHswzDGGje_icK1tU8PSu-KGDi8asuV4EByjouU/edit">Final Exam</a><br>
<h4>Student Work:</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PEzoaj5MS2YVpcfAh--imzcb5Z6HIQHrKIJQtNuTVzs/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (B-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RYsKMjpYMMAn7I8PHUeNDog8CMOd5dl2nQBbzTecUgU/edit">Paper 2: Draft w/ Comments;</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aRONfPmuNL9R3AihpUbYwhzXa0B2IRAFjzwO1ry_4AI/edit">Final Draft: Graded w/ Endnote (A)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lUMW4LmXOl1cGgkD5ttImQY8VFwpDVO8hyNrXPIUEJQ/edit">Paper 2: Draft w/ Comments;</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VimZ9AILkSKkjl4uYj_cFA6fqvPDrKnU3pAEQMLWxkg/edit">Final Draft: Graded w/ Endnote (B/B+)</a><br>
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<i>Return to [[COURSES]]</i><h1>WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era</h1>
<i>Fall 2019</i>
<p><b>Course description:</b><i> In 2003, researchers at UC Berkeley’s School of Information estimated that humanity had accumulated approximately 12 exabytes of data up until the advent of the personal computer; this year, the International Data Corporation estimates that the global datasphere has grown to more than 33 zettabytes – 33,000 exabytes – and that we can expect to accumulate 175 zettabytes of data by 2025. This startling growth has led Luciano Floridi to call ours the “zettabyte” era, and to argue that this glut of data affects nearly all facets of contemporary life, from the entertainment we consume on Netflix to the selves we perform on social media. This course takes up problems of the information age and reads them alongside relevant literary texts. We will read and write critically about texts by Caryl Churchill, Tom Stoppard, Samuel Beckett, Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge, James Tiptree, Jr., N. Katherine Hayles, as well works of interactive fiction.</i></p>
<p>This course's topic was heavily informed by my own research into the relationship between the literary and the informational. It was a more focused course than my section of [[WR100->WR100: Kurt Vonnegut]], which is reflected in the syllabus and in the scaffolded assignments listed below. I experimented here on starting and ending with alternative genre assignments: opening with a paper focused on defining a concept rather than arguing a point, and closing with a creative project made in Twine. Both experiments were ultimately, from my perspective, successful; my students responded well to the challenge, and (in particular) their creative work was ultimately spectacular.</p>
<h4>Syllabus:</h4>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/12dDy9uRI3yaScWx9Em7i2_FztHVVgW1DVZBtiB4httk/edit">WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era</a><br>
<h4>Assignments:</h4>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aSPKYc2-PKTDHP_465DM36am-i27cWtwLPMTleAjk_4/edit">Self-Assessment: You as a Person, a Writer, and a Technologist</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U4Lv_0Ey7adNru6hgBMGYm_NAWJQsURNeddv6zyxmQY/edit">Paper 1 Introduction Draft</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href= "https://docs.google.com/document/d/17mYpVVCBqPctXDala9IHu2VJFlWf838h-qF7Wu_bXTE/edit">Paper 1: Defining a Concept</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href= "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1adh9xgnmLEMM8QJMlxSinlK5tTVVVVba-GUCEXSF0Hg/edit">Paper 2: Making an Academic Argument</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xYtCc9_cqX8bc6rEpRHAwkn6J4UzBR88znYCwEZp4PI/edit">Creative Project: Making an Interactive Fiction w/ Twine</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wekcd5t7r-6eCe8iht7FRXT9jIfMQ3MmK8CDQYYY-4U/edit">Final Portfolio Assignment</a><br>
<h4>Student Work:</h4>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vhtQ3tk4Ove_hr2n3Z49xGQsd0Q0VRoXCRxkSX0fGdU/edit">Paper 1: Draft w/ Comments; </a><a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z58Rm-aXN92dZMHNGU0-oIzaz5bKKcpfp8KhxrAqEuE/edit">Graded w/ Comments (B-)</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jjpEhCuWQWW9yvy7Pheq37qwM7Opl0MlZLGI8SsvccY/edit#">Paper 1 :Draft w/ Comments; </a>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jjpEhCuWQWW9yvy7Pheq37qwM7Opl0MlZLGI8SsvccY/edit#">Graded w/ Comments (D+)</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/11pfw63cg2SRRyU8it_WAGatem-YrXgLtEpwfy5O7qKo/edit">Paper 2 Graded w/ Comments (B)</a>
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<i>Anonymizing these final projects would require tampering with the students' code; I've instead asked the following two students for permission to include their final projects in this portfolio.</i><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://especiallygreatliterature.com/projects/Final/McGinnFinal.html">Charles McGinn's Final Project</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lFmqp8H7uRFbk2Jhz3DNr9QE72gTzXJWGyrRdU9gWWQ/edit">Charles McGinn's Reflective Essay</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://especiallygreatliterature.com/projects/Final/DykeFinal.html">Benjamin Dyke's Final Project</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I6P3xo1ywNX6SbRu-FvinAB4bO_KSY_4UUDz4kF0njY/edit">Benjamin Dyke's Reflective Essay</a><br>
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<hr>
<i>Return to [[COURSES]]</i><h1>WR152: Gender and Electronic Literature</h1>
<i>Spring 2020</i>
<p><b>Course Description: </b><i>This class will take a thoughtful look at the relationship between electronic and written storytelling through an examination of the history of electronic literature. Works will include Shirley Jackson's "The Patchwork Girl," Cat Manning's "What Isn't Saved (Will Be Lost)," and Time Magazine's 2014 Game of the Year, "80 Days." Students will engage with scholars who ask questions about art in new media (N. Katherine Hayles, Nick Montfort, Walter Benjamin), gender and race performance (Judith Butler, Lisa Nakamura and Peter Chow-White), and the relationship between video games and literature (Naomi Alderman, Tamer Thabet). Students will ultimately apply their research towards the creation of a work of interactive fiction. Together we will build a framework for understanding how interactive fiction has evolved from "choose your own adventure" children's books to evocative texts that raise provocative questions about the nature of the gendered subject in the information age.</i></p>
<p>Because this course is still being taught, there isn't much material for it yet. Stay tuned for more soon!</p>
<h4>Syllabus</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KzgxIUVSyrSUoxr8QK8Z6ndM60qdCq9b/edit?dls=true">WR152: Gender and Electronic Literature</a><br>
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<i>Return to [[COURSES]] </i><h1>Student Work</h1>
<p>The following student work is annotated in two primary ways: extensive interlineal notes and an endnote with a grade. It has been anonymized where possible. Each paper here was submitted in response to its corresponding [[assignment->ASSIGNMENTS]]; see the appropriate [[course->COURSES]] for a more holistic picture.</p>
<h4>WR100: Kurt Vonnegut</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vo-TDo-AOoPE8eMwLh_-dCy5XekjYB7zQ2sgge4RsZc/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (A)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jlg1XScJz97DazfERAte7DnC_Qu3Osfbt8tqsSC47S8/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (C/C-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href=https://docs.google.com/document/d/19IqIg6IJOlYivgHj2-EoIq0zwv2BMybV8pIA2hCZNPw/edit>Paper 2: Draft w/ Comments; </a>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gpJ03UYXobtjE2j_22hK9UMdy8ZOFlHcXAGe1O8y83k/edit">Graded w/ Comments (A)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F4jpfagNXpglndCAulsHC8z2Mfu_IWUFJk9t1tvhoxA/edit">Paper 2: Draft w/ Comments;</a><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V1oS1n9CtW41AQ0iR-ZP2UWowThuT7XSF1M1KhXKyDs/edit"> Graded w/ Comments (C+/B-)</a>
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<i>Note: this paper is not anonymized because it is available in the </i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-9/higgins/">WR Journal</a><i>. See its entry there for a brief introduction on my part.</i><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F22kczpimZlPK_OXLNvgjJ2iBxZ4wqRQYFJLpIXqQrs/edit">Paper 3: Graded w/ Comments (A-/A)</a> <br>
<h4>WR150: Kurt Vonnegut</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lXOtvsbjOhhJt8ZJ5lVKySI6IoZrYXYwa0a66qe-DeA/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (A-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bQeWA8TPnks0n3rgJC0AP0JL_QBXk4eXif_wjDB5gEo/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (B)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1coR3cJXx9c6PDYnpUbzTzvgfM-947paMU2aeAQgt8HA/edit">Paper 2: Graded w/ Comments (A/A-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Blby9RmRKi_1xUOVJWcMr9VSVFwLuClHVUBMJ5ZH0vM/edit">Paper 2: Graded w/ Comments (C)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WTF9U_bkAwodr1qMz6ayUQlkOZYacyhklegv5E2n5KE/edit">Paper 3: Graded w/ Comments (A/A-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k6eBK2GnK4Xnd8CFLEtj4DbSTSiuJZc24P37spNrZhk/edit">Paper 3: Graded w/ Comments (C/C+)</a><br>
<h4>EN130: Science/Fiction</h4>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PEzoaj5MS2YVpcfAh--imzcb5Z6HIQHrKIJQtNuTVzs/edit">Paper 1: Graded w/ Comments (B-)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RYsKMjpYMMAn7I8PHUeNDog8CMOd5dl2nQBbzTecUgU/edit">Paper 2: Draft w/ Comments;</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aRONfPmuNL9R3AihpUbYwhzXa0B2IRAFjzwO1ry_4AI/edit">Graded w/ Endnote (A)</a><br>
<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lUMW4LmXOl1cGgkD5ttImQY8VFwpDVO8hyNrXPIUEJQ/edit">Paper 2: Draft w/ Comments;</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VimZ9AILkSKkjl4uYj_cFA6fqvPDrKnU3pAEQMLWxkg/edit">Graded w/ Endnote (B/B+)</a><br>
<h4>WR120: Literature in the Zettabyte Era</h4>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vhtQ3tk4Ove_hr2n3Z49xGQsd0Q0VRoXCRxkSX0fGdU/edit">Paper 1: Draft w/ Comments; </a><a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z58Rm-aXN92dZMHNGU0-oIzaz5bKKcpfp8KhxrAqEuE/edit"> Graded w/ Comments (B-)</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jjpEhCuWQWW9yvy7Pheq37qwM7Opl0MlZLGI8SsvccY/edit#">Paper 1: Draft w/ Comments; </a>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jjpEhCuWQWW9yvy7Pheq37qwM7Opl0MlZLGI8SsvccY/edit#"> Graded w/ Comments (D+)</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/11pfw63cg2SRRyU8it_WAGatem-YrXgLtEpwfy5O7qKo/edit">Paper 2 Graded w/ Comments (B)</a>
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<i>Anonymizing these final projects would require tampering with the students' code; I've instead asked the following two students for permission to include their final projects in this portfolio.</i><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://especiallygreatliterature.com/projects/Final/McGinnFinal.html">Charles McGinn's Final Project</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lFmqp8H7uRFbk2Jhz3DNr9QE72gTzXJWGyrRdU9gWWQ/edit">Charles McGinn's Reflective Essay</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://especiallygreatliterature.com/projects/Final/DykeFinal.html">Benjamin Dyke's Final Project</a><br>
<a target = "_blank" href = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I6P3xo1ywNX6SbRu-FvinAB4bO_KSY_4UUDz4kF0njY/edit">Benjamin Dyke's Reflective Essay</a><br>TODO LIST:
- Introduce WR120
- Introduce WR152
- Populate WR152
- Introduce "Courses"<h1>WR 100-I2 Kurt Vonnegut </h1>
<h4>Fall 2016</h4>
MWF 4:00pm-5:00pm
Instructor: Ken Alba
Office: 236 Bay State Road, Room 441
Office Hours: Monday, 2:30-3:30pm and by appointment
Contact: kenalba@bu.edu
Classroom: CAS 222
<h4>COURSE DESCRIPTION</h4>
WR 100 and WR 150 make up a two-semester sequence of writing courses required of most Boston University undergraduates. They are designed to help all students acquire skills and habits of mind essential both to their academic success and to their future personal, professional, and civic lives. WR 100 and WR 150 are taught as small, topic-based seminars. Different sections of these courses address a range of different topics. The specific topic of this section of WR 100 is the fiction of Kurt Vonnegut
In the introduction to his World War II novel Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut says that “we are who we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” This course takes up this definition of personal identity as a focus, using the fiction of Kurt Vonnegut as an entry into that question: how does what we do relate to who we are? We will read one of his novels (Mother Night) and many of the short stories collected in Welcome to the Monkey House, alongside theoretical works by Judith Butler, John-Paul Sartre, and Friedrich Nietzsche (among others), an Intelligence Squared debate, and creative nonfiction by David Foster Wallace.
<h4>COURSE GOALS</h4>
Although they vary in topic, all sections of WR 100 and WR 150 have certain goals in common. In WR 100, you will develop your abilities to:
• craft substantive, motivated, balanced academic arguments
• write clear, correct, coherent prose
• read with understanding and engagement
• plan, draft, and revise efficiently and effectively
• evaluate and improve your own reading and writing processes
• respond productively to the writing of others
• express yourself verbally and converse thoughtfully about complex ideas.
<h4>COURSE REQUIREMENTS</h4>
As a writing seminar, WR 100 requires both a good deal of reading and writing and your active involvement in a variety of class activities. Specific course requirements are:
• self-assessment
• additional exercises as assigned
• three major papers
• final portfolio
• one conference with your instructor
• attendance and participation
<h4>BLACKBOARD AND EMAIL</h4>
Our class has a Blackboard site that contains the syllabus, assignments, and other course-related materials. You can log in to our Blackboard page at http://learn.bu.edu/.
Please bookmark our course page in your browser and check it every day for announcements. I will also be emailing the whole class if there is a particularly important update or schedule change – make sure that your BU email works; set up forwarding if you use a different account.
Email Policy: I welcome your email communications. Please allow 48 hours for a response.
<h4>ASSIGNMENTS</h4>
You will be given a range of assignments in this course, including a self-assessment, various reading and writing exercises, three major papers, and a final portfolio. Much of this work will not be graded, but that does not mean it is unimportant. Students who prepare diligently for class, participate actively, and take the homework exercises and drafts seriously generally learn more and write better final papers than those who do not.
Self-Assessment: At the beginning of the semester, you will be asked to submit a written self-assessment in which you take stock of your reading and writing abilities and establish some personal goals you wish to pursue over the course of the semester. For grading purposes, your self-assessment will be considered your first exercise.
Exercises: We will use the term exercises to refer to various low-stakes assignments and activities that you will be asked to complete over the course of the semester. You will do some of these exercises in class; others will be given as homework. I recommend that you purchase a notebook to contain your inclass writing and that you bring this notebook with you to class each day. Out-of-class writing will generally be posted to Blackboard. Your exercises may not receive explicit grades, although you will receive credit for completing them on time. Your performance on these assignments may also affect your participation adjustment (see below).
Major Papers (drafts and final versions): We will use the term draft to refer to unfinished or preliminary versions of your three major papers. You will be required to write at least one draft of paper 1 and at least two drafts of papers 2 and 3. For papers 2 and 3, one of your drafts will receive comments from me, either in written or verbal form; the other will receive feedback from your classmates. Drafts will not receive explicit grades, although you will receive credit for completing them on time. Remember that you are more likely to write a better final paper if you write a substantive draft. Your performance on your drafts may also affect your participation adjustment (see below). Your course grade will be determined primarily by the quality of the final versions of your major papers. All drafts and final papers must be word-processed and be documented in either MLA or Chicago style. Please include a word count (available as a function on most word processors) at the end of all written work.
Portfolio: Throughout the semester, you will build an e-portfolio on Digication that will allow you to reflect on your experiences as you encounter course materials and craft and revise written work. When you submit Paper 1 and Project 2, you’ll be asked to select a pair of artifacts to accompany your final draft and to write a short reflection. At the end of the semester, you will be asked to submit a final version of your portfolio that will cover the entire semester, containing your self-assessment, major papers (drafts and final versions), other supporting artifacts, and an introductory essay.
The portfolio provides you with an opportunity to document and reflect on your development as a reader and writer over the course of the semester. Your portfolio will contain work that has already been graded. This work will not be re-graded in the portfolio. Rather, your grade for the portfolio will be based on those things that make the portfolio itself a coherent work: the introduction, any additional framing (annotations, captions, etc.), the selection and arrangement of artifacts, and overall organization.
Electronic portfolios through Digication: Throughout the semester you will be adding to and refining a website of your own using the BU sponsored software Digication. By enrolling in the course you’ll be able to log on to the central website: http://bu.digication.com
Week to week you will post material to the website, documenting your work in the course and enabling you, your peers, and the instructor to evaluate and reflect on your progress in a holistic way. All written assignments should follow standard MLA format and should be posted on your e-portfolio site by the date and time listed in the syllabus.
Please note that you often will be asked to bring a hard paper copy of your work to class for peer editing or in-class revision as well as posting it to your e-portfolio.
Format: Because you will be posting, reorganizing, and storing your work on Digication for yourself and others to access, you should be systematic in how you name and file your assignments. Doing so will help you keep track of your work so that you can draw on it when assembling your Final Portfolio. Please save your files in Microsoft Word format and use the following protocol to name the files you post:
login-assignment-draft#
For example, if I were a student in the class and were posting my first draft for the first paper, I would name my file “kalba-paper1-draft1.doc”.
Sharing of Student Writing: Experienced writers routinely share their work with others, because they understand that the best way to improve a piece of writing is to test it out with actual readers. In this class, you will learn how to respond productively to the writing of others and how to use feedback from others to improve your own work. All students in the class will be required to share at least one draft of each paper. If you are concerned about sharing your writing, please talk with me about your concerns.
<h4>GRADING AND EVALUATION </h4>
Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
Reading Responses: 5%
Paper 1: 15%
Paper 2: 25%
Paper 3: 35%
Final Portfolio: 15%
Participation: 5%
Paper grades include credit for drafts submitted.
Your final grade may also be adjusted to reflect your attendance.
Late and Missed Assignments: You are allotted two days of grace that can be applied to the submission of any of your final draft papers beyond the due dates indicated on the schedule below. This eliminates the need to request extensions and allows you some flexibility in managing your workflow. After you use up your days of grace, graded assignments will be penalized by one-third of a letter grade for each day they are late. Days of grace cannot be used for drafts or exercises. If you submit a homework exercise or draft late, I cannot promise to read it in time for my comments to be useful to you. If you do not turn in drafts, you are still responsible for turning in final versions of your papers when they are due. Please note too that we will regularly work with our exercises and drafts in class. If you are habitually late with your assignments, you will be unable to participate fully in the class.
Attendance: Since this course is a seminar, your regular attendance and participation are essential both to your own learning and to your classmates’ learning.
You may miss three classes without penalty. Additionally, missed conference appointments will be counted as absences and, because it is impossible for you and for your peers to learn from a workshop if all students do not come prepared, you will be counted as absent if you come to a workshop without the required draft. Under ordinary circumstances, missing more than one week of class will lower your final grade. Missing more than two weeks of class may lead to a failing grade in the course. Note that these absences need not be consecutive.
The second week of absences (4-6) will lower the final course grade by a third of a letter for each class missed (e.g., B becomes B-, B- becomes C+). Seven or more absences (more than two weeks) will be grounds for an “F” in the course.
If you have a special obligation that will require you to miss several classes (e.g., varsity athletics, religious observances), please talk with me at the beginning of the semester.
<h4>CAS CENTER FOR WRITING </h4>
At the CAS Center for Writing (100 Bay State Road, 3rd floor with a satellite office at Mugar Library) students enrolled in WR courses can receive one-on-one consultations about their writing with welltrained tutors familiar with WR assignments. When you visit the center, you should expect to be actively involved in your session. Tutors will work with you at any stage in your writing process, but they will not edit or correct your paper for you. Rather, they will work with you to help you do your own best work. The center is a resource for all WR students. Whether you consider yourself to be a strong writer or a weak one, you can benefit from consulting with a tutor.
The CAS Center for Writing is open Monday through Friday. Hours for the current semester are posted on the website below (common hours are between 9 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.). While the center accepts walk-in visits, you are strongly encouraged to make an appointment in advance. Because of the high demand for consultations, students are limited to one reservation per week. You may schedule a session online:
http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/the-writing-center/
You may also schedule a session in person at the CAS Center for Writing or by calling 617-358-1500. Cancellations must be made at least 9 hours in advance.
<h4>WR</h4>
The CAS Writing Program publishes an online journal of exemplary writing from WR courses. If you are interested in looking at samples of successful WR papers, or if you just want to read some good essays, I encourage you to visit the journal:
http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/
<h4>PLAGIARISM</h4>
Plagiarism is the passing off of another’s words or ideas as your own, and it is a serious academic offense. Cases of plagiarism will be handled in accordance with the disciplinary procedures described in the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Conduct Code. All WR students are subject to the CAS code, which can be read online:
http://www.bu.edu/academics/resources/academic-conduct-code/
Penalties for plagiarism can range from failing an assignment or course to suspension or expulsion from the university. In this class, we will discuss conventions for using and citing sources in academic papers. If you have any questions about plagiarism, I invite you to speak with me.
<h4>RESOURCES </h4>
CAS Writing Program: Administers all WR courses and the CAS Center for Writing. You may contact the Writing Program if you have any concerns about your WR class.
100 Bay State Rd., 3rd Floor
617-358-1500
Boston University Libraries: Offer a wealth of online and print resources. Research Librarians will introduce you to the many resources the library offers in any field of research. They can work with you to develop a research plan and organize your sources. The Research Center welcomes you for walk-in consultations on the first floor of Mugar Memorial Library or at any other library on campus. Research appointments can be made at http://www.bu.edu/common/request-an-appointment/.
Mugar Memorial Library
771 Commonwealth Avenue
Phone: 617-353-2700 http://www.bu.edu/library
Educational Resource Center: Offers tutorial assistance to all undergraduate students in a range of subjects, including writing. You should use the Writing Program’s Center for Writing for your WR classes, but you may wish to visit the ERC for tutorial assistance in other subjects.
100 Bay State Rd, 5th floor
Phone: 617-353-7077
http://www.bu.edu/erc
CAS Academic Advising: A central resource for all questions concerning academic policy and practice in the College of Arts and Sciences. The office is headed by the Associate Dean for Student Academic Life and has a staff of fifteen faculty advisors and five academic counselors. All students can receive academic advice about and assistance through this office. Students who have not yet declared concentrations can receive pre-registration advising through this office.
100 Bay State Rd. 4th Floor
Email: casadv@bu.edu
Phone: 617-353-2400
http://www.bu.edu/casadvising/
Here are links to the advising offices of other BU colleges:
CFA: http://www.bu.edu/cfa/resources/advising/
CGS: http://www.bu.edu/cgs/students/fact-sheets/academic-advising/
COM: http://www.bu.edu/com/current-students/student-services/
ENG: http://www.bu.edu/eng/current-students/ugrad/advising/
SAR: http://www.bu.edu/sargent/current-students/academic-services-center/
SED: http://www.bu.edu/sed/faculty-staff/handbook/admin-and-org/ (see Student Affairs Offices)
SHA: http://www.bu.edu/hospitality/academics/advising/
SMG: http://management.bu.edu/undergraduate-program/academics/advising/
Office of Disability Services: Responsible for assisting students with disabilities. If you have a disability, you are strongly encouraged to register with this office. You may be entitled to special accommodations in your courses, such as additional time on tests, staggered homework assignments, or note-taking assistance. This office will give you a letter outlining the accommodations to which you are entitled that you can share with your teachers. If you require accommodations, you must present me with an official letter from Disability Services.
19 Deerfield Street, 2nd floor
Phone: 617-353-3658
http://www.bu.edu/disability
<h4>COURSE MATERIALS</h4>
Please purchase these exact editions of Mother Night and Welcome to the Monkey House. We will be referring to sections by their page number and that’ll be more difficult if you have different editions. Your books can be purchased at the BU Bookstore or on Amazon.com.
Strunk, William. The Elements of Style, 4th ed. Ithaca, N.Y. Pearson. Print.
Turabian, Kate L., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. Student's Guide to Writing College Papers. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2010.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Mother Night. New York (2009). Random House. Print.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Welcome to the Monkey House. New York (2009). Random House. Print.
All other required readings will be posted on the Blackboard site. You will always be expected to print those materials and bring them to class on the day on which they are due. Failure to bring materials to class will negatively affect your grade.
Email Policy: I welcome your email communications. Please allow 48 hours for a response.
<h4>COURSE SCHEDULE</h4>
** Depending on class needs, this schedule may be altered. If you are late or absent from class, it is your responsibility to find out about any modifications to the schedule.
** Readings from Turabian’s Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers will be added as I assess class needs.
W 9/7: Course introduction; self-assessment assigned
Reading due: Syllabus
F 9/9: Paper 1 assigned
Assignment: Log into Blackboard
Reading due: KV’s Wikipedia page (discussion of Wikipedia as a source to follow)
Writing due: Post self-assessment to Blackboard
M 9/12: [Final day to add or drop a WR class]
Final portfolio assigned
Reading due: The Declaration of Independence (selections)
Reading due: Wikipedia, “Dystopias”
Reading due: KV, “Harrison Bergeron” (7-14)
W 9/14: Reading due: Turabian, Chapter 5
Reading due: KV, “Welcome to the Monkey House” (30-51)
F 9/16: Introduction workshop: introductions as problem statements
Reading due: Turabian 6.1-6.3 and 7.2.3 – 7.2.7
Reading due: KV, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” (315-)
Writing Due: Reading Response 1
M 9/19: Map or storyboard workshop
Reading due: Intelligence Squared Debate: “Should Assisted Suicide Be Legal?”
Reading due: Turabian Ch.8-9 and Ch. 12
W 9/21: Assignment: Map or storyboard for Paper 1 due 30 minutes before class
Reading due: KV, “Deer in the Works,” (222-238)
Writing due: Reading Response 2
F 9/23: Peer workshop on Paper 1
Reading due: KV, “The Euphio Question” (189-205)
Reading due: Turabian Ch. 12 and 15
Writing due: First draft of Paper 1
M 9/26: Reading due: KV, selections from Player Piano
Reading due: KV, “EPICAC” (297-305)
W 9/28: Reading due: KV, “Report on the Barnhouse Effect” (173-188)
In-class writing; sentence dissection focused on issues common to the class.
F 9/30: Assigned: Paper 2
Reading due: KV, “Miss Temptation” (75-89)
Writing due: Final draft of Paper 1. Bring a hard copy to class.
M 10/3: Reading due: KV, “Where I Live” (1-6)
Reading due: KV, “New Dictionary,” on prescriptivism vs descriptivisim (118-123)
Reading due: Stephen Fry, “On Language”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY
W 10/5: Reading due: Strunk and White, Chapter 4
Reading due: Geoffrey Nunberg, “The Decline of Grammar”
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97mar/halpern/nunberg.htm
Reading due: Mark Halpern, “The War that Never Ends”
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/03/a-war-that-never-ends/376801/
F 10/7: Writing Workshop: Troubleshooting common problems from Paper 1
Reading due: “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
Writing due: Reading Response 3
T 10/11: [Substitute Monday schedule]
Reading due: “Tense Present,” DFW, on prescriptivism vs. descriptivism.
http://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/HarpersMagazine-2001-04-0070913.pdf
W 10/12: Reading due: Turabian readings on transitions and conclusions
Reading due: Strunk and White on transitions and conclusions
Reading due: KV, “Next Door” (pp)
F 10/14: Reading due: KV, “D.P.” (161-172)
Writing due: First Draft Paper 2 due
M 10/17: Peer Workshop
Reading due: Selections from Stephen King, On Writing
W 10/19: Workshop on transitions and conclusions
Reading due: KV, “The Foster Portfolio” (59-74)
Writing due: Reading Response 4
F 10/21: Reading due: KV, “The Lie” (238-253)
Writing due: Second Draft Paper 2
M 10/24: Reading due: KV, “Unready to Wear,” (254-269)
Reading due: KV, “The Hyannis Port Story” (147-160)
W 10/26: Reading due: KV, “Who Am I This Time,” (15-29)
F 10/28: Reading due: KV, “More Stately Mansions” (134-146)
Writing due: Final Draft of Paper 2
M 10/31: Reading due: Selections from “Existentialism is a Humanism,” J.P. Sartre
Reading due: “Working with a model from WR”
Reading due: Choose a sample student paper from WR
W 11/2: Reading due: KV, Mother Night, Introduction – ch5
Writing due: Reading Response 5
F 11/4: Reading due: Selections from Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender
Constitution,”
Writing: Paper 3 assigned
M 11/7: Reading due: KV, Mother Night, Chapters 6-12
W 11/9: Reading due: KV, Mother Night, 13 – 20
Writing due: Reading Response 6
F 11/11: Reading due: KV, Mother Night, 20 - end
Reading due: Hannah Arendt, selections from “Eichmann in Jerusalem”
M 11/14: Reading due: Selections from Austin and Searle on performative speech acts
Writing due: Paper 3 Argument Map, Storyboard
W 11/16: Peer Review Workshop
Writing due: Paper 3 First Draft
F 11/18: Paper 3 Presentations
Reading due: KV, “The Kid Nobody Could Handle” (270-283)
M 11/21: Paper 3 Presentations
Reading due: KV, “Tom Edison’s Shaggy Dog” (111-117)
W 11/23: Paper 3 Presentations
Reading due: KV, “The Long Walk to Forever” (51-58)
F 11/25: Peer editing; sentence workshopping
Writing due: Paper 3 Second Draft
M 11/28: In-class writing; sentence workshopping
Reading due: KV, “All the King’s Horses” ( 90-110)
Reading due: Turabian Ch.14
W 11/30: NO CLASS
F 12/2: Reviewing Portfolio requirements
Writing due: Final draft of Paper 3
M 12/5: Portfolio Workshop
Reading due: KV, “The Manned Missiles” (284-296)
Writing due: First draft of final portfolio; emphasis on introduction, table of contents
W 12/7: Reading due: selections from KV, Man Without a Country
F 12/9: Introduction to WR150, What To Expect, What We Learned
M 12/12: Course evaluations, wrap-up
Writing due: Final draft of final portfolio