Rules for this class blog:
- Do not do unto others unless you want others do onto you. 己所不欲，勿施于人。
- Remember individual and cultural differences!
- Do onto others what others do onto you!
ENGL 10600 394: Creating Yourself, Creating Your Culture
Xianfeng Mou
Instructor information:
| Name: Xianfeng Mou | Phone number: 49-44797 (shared with three offices) |
| Office: Heavilon 210 | Email: imfeng@purdue.edu (extremely moody)swallowaswan@gmail.com (fairly reliable) |
| Office hours: Thursday and Friday 1:30-2:20 p.m. or by appointment | |
Course information:
| Number and section | ENGL 10600 259 & ENGL 10600 394 |
| Time | MTWRF 12:30-1:20PM |
| Venue | Mon—Conference: Heavilon 223Tues—Lecture: Heav 109
Wed—Conference: Heav 223 Thurs—Computer: Enad 130 Fri—Lecture: Heav 108 |
Textbook:
Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, ed. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston/St. Martins, 2007. 7th Edition.
Other class related materials and handouts will be accessible through Blackboard vista or the Internet. You will be frequently required to provide copies of your paper for peer editing.
Course objectives:
Just as the title of the book indicates, the primary goal of this course is to help you become a careful reader, thinker, and writer. To think and write critically, one has to pay special attention to the cultural contexts that the texts are produced as well as the cultural contexts that the texts are interpreted. Writing, or any form of composition, constitutes an act of meaning making, of carrying out an intelligent dialogue with obvious or implicit articulators out there, and advocating what you strongly believe in. As a result, this course takes writing as fulfilling both its personal and social functions through sequenced assignments to integrate you with the Purdue community, with the American culture, and in some instances the entire globe. Of course, you will also obtain college-level research skills. You will go through five major genres of writing. By the end of the course, you will be able to,
- Narrow down the scopes and work within realistic limitations
- Learn who you are and present yourself to the world through writing
- Connect yourself to larger cultural contexts by carrying out informed intellectual dialogues with other researchers through reading and writing
- Acquire college-level research skills through archival research and field research, and carry over such skills to other areas of college life
- Explore how contexts influence both the production and consumption of textual information
- Employ appropriate forms for frequently used genres by following academic conventions
- Approach a complex issue from multiple perspectives, appreciate the pluralism, and make well-rounded argument yourself
- Integrate your own originality with contributions from your predecessors and credit them with proper academic acknowledgement
- See yourself and your culture globally and equip yourself with tools to make a positive change
Course policies
Attendance:
- You are required to attend all class sessions. Those who have complete attendance will earn four (4) extra credits to adjust your final course grade. If you miss one, you earn three (3) credits for adjustment; two, you earn two (2); and three, you get one (1).
- However, emergencies happen, so you are allowed four (4) absences without penalty, disregarding medical emergencies. There is no distinction between excused or unexcused absences.
- If medical emergencies pop up, you must provide written documentation from a person of authority, such as your physician or the Dean of Students.
- After four absences, the fifth absence means your final grade for the course will be dropped one full letter; six (6) absences, two full letters. Seven (7) absences will result in an automatic failure of the course. Therefore, if situations occur (e.g. prolonged medical situations) where you have to have more than seven (7) absences, it is your responsibility to go to the Office of the Dean of Students so that the Counselors or the Dean will suggest ideal solutions for you and notify me in writing of your special need. In that case, you need to discuss arrangements with me promptly.
- You will be considered absent 15 minutes after class starts.
- Attendance regarding conferences is mandatory as regular sessions.
- Should you find you have to miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what we have covered during that session and what particular changes or assignments we have made or practiced. So, get the contact information from one or two classmates, just in case.
- It is suggested that you do not choose to be absent when a paper is due.
Deadlines and submissions:
- Papers are due on their designated deadlines at the beginning of the class with two Printed Copies accompanied by Electronic Submission. For instance, our class runs from 12:30 to 1:20, so if you cannot come and you submit it electronically at 1:22pm, it is regarded as late. You must hand in printed copies that follow the paper format and are neatly stapled together.
- When you submit your final draft, hand in the previous draft that bears my comments and your notes and put them all in a paper folder so that I can evaluate your progress during the project.
- The Department forbids students dropping papers into the Main Office. Nor can you place it in envelopes and glue it onto my office door in case it might be stolen. Therefore, if you have to miss a class, make sure you put your papers on my office desk beforehand or ask a responsible classmate to turn it in for you.
- Since each step of one project is closely linked with another, late papers disrupt progress of the whole class. Therefore, in principle, no late paper is accepted.
- If you fail to turn in one draft on time, 10 (ten points) will be deducted from your entire project grade; two failures, 20 points. You also lose the privilege of coming to the following conference section. If you turn in a half-finished draft (e.g. a paper of 1.5 pages), 5 (five) points will be deducted. In that case, it is recommended that you find comments and suggestions elsewhere, such as the Purdue Writing Lab. Another possible consequence is that you cannot participate in scheduled peer editing when a paper is due.
- However, if extreme situations occur and you let me know beforehand with support from a written document, you can be allowed to have an extension in rare situations. But you need to convince me first. Recently I have been taught not to believe people too easily.
- If you must be absent on medical reasons, you are still responsible for completing the assignments on time if you want to claim the credits. Only written proof of emergencies will exempt you from this ruling.
- Regarding paper format, all papers handed in should (a) be typed, double-spaced using 12-size font; (b) de done in black ink on 8 ½”X11″ white paper (please use only one side of the paper); (c) have one inch margins on all sides; and (d) display your name, my name (for identification purpose), draft number, and page numbers.
Conference requirement:
Conferences are mandatory. You will be required to meet with me regularly during the semester. You need to prepare questions that you want to ask me beforehand. It is also recommended that you write down the main concerns we have discussed during conference to speed up your revision. Be prepared. In other words, when you come to the conference, you must provide evidence showing that you are moving forward with your project, such as your questions and concerns, an outline, a working draft, sources you are using, and so on.
Classroom participation and etiquette:
You are expected to come to class on time, having completed designated assignments and thought about the ideas and issues carefully. Your cooperative and constructive participation to the best of your ability is extremely important to your final grade for the course.
Every student is equal in the classroom and enjoys equal rights to articulation. When controversial issues are debated, conduct your argument intelligently and professionally and avoid personal attacks. If someone disagrees with you, that does not necessarily mean they are attacking you as a person. They are simply asking you to consider the issue from a slightly or conspicuously different perspective. Well-rounded arguments or papers usually give others’ opinions and oppositions careful consideration to show the writer is well-informed and is not talking with strong bias. This is extremely important because some experts say any writing is argumentative in nature since the writer always wants to make a point.
Grading principles:
During the course of the semester, you will be required to complete five major projects: your autobiography, a personal narrative, a literature review, an interview report, and an argumentative essay. You need to complete all major assignments in order to receive a passing grade. Specific guidelines regarding each major project will be available as the course moves forward.
There is no final exam for this course. Your grade comes from your everyday effort.
| Writer’s autobiography | 15% |
| Personal narrative | 15% |
| Literature Review Essay | 20% |
| Interview Report | 20% |
| Argumentative Essay | 20% |
| Presentation | 5% |
| Attendance | 5% |
Percentage scales run as follows: 100-90 A; 89-80 B; 79-70 C; 69-60 D, 59-below F. Plus and minus will be adopted.
Computer use:
Generally speaking, no food or drink is allowed in the computer lab because of the computers. But university regulations and practical considerations shall prevail. Activities not related to the class in progress are not permitted, either.
Academic honesty:
You must give appropriate acknowledgment to other people’s work and contributions—such as their ideas, unpublished papers, published papers, emails, oral expressions and presentations, their online web pages, in short anything that does not come directly out of your own head—through proper citations. Let me stress again it does not matter what format their ideas are in, print, digital, published or not. Plagiarism, which is presenting another person’s work as your own, results in serious consequences from the University. Please refer to University guidelines at <http://www.purdue.edu/ODOS/administration/integrity.htm>. If you are not sure about a certain issue, feel free to ask me, a librarian, or other people-in-the-know. Once I detect intentional plagiarism (e.g. academic theft) or in some cases hindering another student’s progress, I will immediately report the case to appropriate university authorities. Under no circumstances will such dishonorable and unethical conduct be tolerated. Please consult University policy on plagiarism carefully.
Campus Emergency:
In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances. Here are ways to get information about changes in this course. Blackboard Vista web page, my email address: imfeng@purdue.edu and my office phone: 494-4797.
Writing lab:
The Writing Lab, located in Room 226 Heavilon Hall ((765) 494-3723), is a great resource for you to take advantage of. You are strongly recommended to go there regularly for extra help. Please remember to bring your Student ID for identification and project guidelines with you so that the staff can tailor the tutoring especially for you.
Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (Owl), famous far and wide, is also a great resource bank for you to beef up your writing skills as well as your business writing needs. You are encouraged to go and browse through it.
Here is the link and address: Purdue Online Writing Lab < http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ >
Reminder:
Always remember to save a new draft with a new file name in your ENGL106 Folder that you set up in your Career Account Directory or your own computer.
Always remember to backup your files. You do not want to panic when somebody deletes your files and you find you do not have a backup. I have experienced that horror.
If you are using a public computer, always remember to save your file and log off your account whenever you leave your computer. You do not want anybody to access your account while you are away even for five minutes.
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