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Texts: Library
Research Handbook, 3rd
ed. Available at the UH
bookstore or in PDF on Hamilton Library Website. Readings will be distributed
by instructor. [You will also need a spiral notebook for notes and a folder for
storing papers/drafts, etc.]
Purpose: We are
about writing, of course, but we are also about using that skill to conduct
inquiry. We will use environmental
issues and the concept of sustainability to create a broad parameter for our
investigations, but you will choose the specific topic for your researched
argument essay. Other assignments
will function as preparation for that final, culminating task.
By pursuing your interests within the broad topic of
environmentalism, you will understand the process of inquiry that underpins
research in all disciplines.
Practice in the inquiry process will sharpen critical thinking skills as
well as writing skills, preparing you for success in other courses you will
take at Manoa.
Methods: Writing
assignments are designed to facilitate a process of research: assessing a topic
for issues, gathering and evaluating data, constructing a research question,
making an argument based on evidence.
Topics will be real-world and the researched argument paper will reflect
that orientation in its recommendations.
Class time will involve discussion of issues, group work, and field
trips to Hamilton Library.
Learning how to use Manoa’s research library and its various databases
will be a key component of the semester’s work.
Student Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to 1) compose a text to achieve a specific
purpose and respond adeptly to an identifiable audience; 2) employ effective
strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading a text in order
to produce finished prose; 3) compose a text that makes use of source material
that is relevant and reliable and that is integrated in accordance with an
appropriate style guide; and 4) compose writing that expresses the writer’s
viewpoint and is supplemented by outside sources that have been critically
evaluated
Requirements and Additional Information
Grading: ENG 100 is graded on an A-F scale. TOTAL NUMBER OF
POINTS=100
A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69, F=below 60 points. Plus and minus grading system will be
used. Grading components include:
- Class
attendance, participation, library
exercises (15 points) Attendance is
mandatory. I should be notified
beforehand if you must miss class with a legitimate excuse, unless there is an
emergency. Participation in class means being prepared for and engaged in
whatever activities are scheduled.
In addition, there will be short exercises assigned from the Library
Handbook to prepare you for using library databases. More than 3 unexcused absences will
affect your grade.
- Summarizing
articles/readings (5 @ 3 points each): One
of your crucial tasks this semester will be to evaluate material for possible
use in your argument essay.
Effective summarization is an important tool for the process. You will be given formal summary
assignments, but you will be expected to create others on your own as part of
the investigation of your topic.
- Short
essays (2 @ 10 points each): To comprehend
the background to your topic, you will write short essays. One essay will be an observation paper,
the other a definition paper.
- Interim
reports (2 @ 5 points): These reports will
summarize and organize the facts on your topic in a preliminary way, as well as
place those facts into relevant broader contexts.
- Summary
Report (10 points): The final presentation
of facts learned about your specific topic/issue. This assignment will not only show you what you have learned
about your topic, but should also name what specific issues exist within your
topic for the argument essay to potentially address.
- Proposal
for argument essay (5 points): The summary
report presents information. In
this assignment you must propose how you will use that information to argue a
position about a specific issue that your investigation has uncovered.
- Researched
argument essay (25 points): Using the
summary report as a factual foundation, you will construct an argument on a
particular issue that is relevant to your topic.
DUE DATES for ASSIGNMENTS (Specific details for each writing assignment will be
handed out in class.)
N. B. Word counts are minimum required for each assignment
- 1/14 600
word diagnostic essay
- 1/21 300
word summary of two articles (600 words total)
- 1/26 300
word summary of one article
- 1/28 300
word summary of two articles (600 words total)
- 1/30 800
word definition paper (sustainability)
- 2/2 1000 word interim report: general
context
- 2/9 1000 word
observation paper
- 3/6 2000 word interim report: initial
information on your topic
- 3/20 3000 word summary report: synthesize
interim reports
- 4/6 300
word proposal for research argument essay
- 4/20 4,000 word draft
of researched argument essay + bibliography
- 5/6 5,000 word final draft
of researched argument essay + bibliography
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