davywalter@berkeley.edu

Office Hours: Tuesday 11:00-1:00 in the Haviland Commons, or by Appointment 

Goals of the Course

In order to prepare students for the writing typically required in college-level courses and in civic discourse, this class teaches the composition of thesis-driven argumentative essays. Students will gain practice in composing brief to medium-length arguments that are focused, clearly organized, well supported and based on accurate critical reading of assigned materials. They will develop skills in summary, paraphrase, and quotation; incorporating multiple sources in the service of a unified argument; and in addressing multiple points of view. In addition, they may be introduced to library research as a tool of academic inquiry and gain practice revising for whole-text coherence, as well as for clarity and correct usage.

Learning Outcomes

1. Critical Reading: Students comprehend, analyze, and assess arguments presented both in assigned short to medium length non-fiction prose texts and in "primary" literary, philosophical, and artistic texts.

2. Formulating Thesis/Primary Claim: Students develop, in response to questions raised in course readings and research, a specific contestable claim to serve as focus and governing principle of an argumentative essay. 

3. Arrangement/Structure: Students organize papers on the whole-text and paragraph levels to facilitate reader comprehension and to meet the specific needs of different rhetorical situations.

4. Development: Students support their claims with sufficient, relevant, and credible evidence derived from reading and research (primary and secondary) and acknowledge and address counter-arguments.

5. Grammar and Style: Students write in a mature and credible civic and academic manner by avoiding basic usage errors, using accurate punctuation, and employing stylistic strategies that improve clarity and concision, and document reading and research in accordance with MLA or APA formats. 

6. Revision: Students revise drafts in order to improve content, structure, and clarity and correctness of expression, as well as to document sources accurately.

In this course you will be encouraged to:

• engage the process behind your "finished" writing in order to enhance its quality;

• consider interdisciplinary approaches to thinking, research, and writing;

• read and write with attention to audience and purpose;

• recognize and employ strategies of argumentation and organization that are most appropriate and effective considering a given document's audience and your purpose;

• recognize that rhetorical effectiveness often involves consideration of format conventions and use of visual and other media that support and enhance print text;

• in research, consult a wide range of primary and secondary sources;

• collaborate with others in research, writing, and revision;

• develop a comfortable, confident, flexible prose style;

• in response to peers' and others' writing, hone critical and editorial skills that will serve you in conceiving, writing, revising, and editing your own work.

Graded Course Components

Writing 

You will complete three (3) formal pieces. Paper format is as follows: All papers must be typed, in 12 pt font, double-spaced, with standard margins. Number the pages.

Draft Revision 

Your dedication and the process of improving your work is a critical component of the course. You will revise each of your three formal papers, and meet with me at least once during each revision.

Class Presentations, Informal Writing, Peer Reviews, Attendance, and Class Activities

You will be expected to present on the readings, individually and in groups, on a regular basis. Your presentations will involve identifying and explaining the components of a text. You will be pointing out the following:

• Its claims 

• Its language (style, figures of speech) and how they are working to support/convey the argument

• Its evidence, the kind of rhetorical arguments it is using—you can open this up to the class for discussion

• Its success, as an essay, as an argument, as a story, as an expression

Every student is a valuable resource for everyone else, and small-group assignments and peer reviews are essential to the class. Short, “informal” writing keeps you in practice for the longer papers. There will be three Peer Reviews in the quarter; you will read and respond to two other students’ major writing assignments and in turn receive feedback on your own paper. You are expected to take your role as critical reader seriously and to respond conscientiously to your classmates’ papers. Peer Reviews offer you valuable comments on your own writing and enable you to think about the assignment from a new vantage point.

Attendance Policy 

Students are expected to come on time to every class meeting and to participate actively throughout the semester. The class is progressive in nature, and based on in-class activities and in-class participation, so attendance is critical. More than four absences (for 90-minute classes) and five absences (for 60-minute classes) results in a grade penalty a third of a grade each extra class. This policy applies both to class meetings and mandatory one-on-one conferences. Repeated tardiness counts as an absence. Inform me ahead of time of any unavoidable class misses. Even when you miss class, you are responsible for any writing assignments due that day, and for finding out what we covered in the class.

The attendance works like a contract. If you fail to attend the required number of classes, I adjust the grade according to the policy. If you have to miss class due to COVID-19, please let me know the exact dates you were out due to COVID-19 and I will give you makeup assignment for missing those days.

Paper Grading

Grading: An “A” paper must have several qualities. 

• It must have an argument: this is more than just a claim. A well written argument should include a claim, the grounds for that claim and a thoughtful response to counter-arguments. 

• The claims of the paper must be modest and credible, rather than all-inclusive and indefensible.

• The evidence for those claims should be clear and supportive of those claims, and avoid logical fallacies.

• It must draw on in-class readings and discussions by practicing the critical reading and writing and rhetoric skills covered up to that point. 

• It must have a logical structure: sentences should lead logically to the next and develop logically out of the sentences previous to it, and paragraphs should lead logically to the next and be developing logically out of the paragraphs previous to it.  

• Its syntax must be sound (i.e. few to no grammatical or spelling errors) and its language (sentences, phrases, vocabulary) must be clear and comprehensible. 

• It addresses/resolves the comments made in the first draft and peer reviews and applies its own critical reading and, by extension, revision skills to the paper.

A “B” paper lacks one or two of these qualities

A “C” paper most of them

A “D” paper almost all of them. 

I will give “N/C” only to papers in which the writer has evidently expended little to no effort.

Plagiarism is not tolerated. Any plagiarism will result in an F in the course.

Course Grading