Rewriting America. What is America? Many think this
is an easy question that we can answer by core concepts that have become
dominant in American culture and society.
America is the land of freedom, individual opportunity, equality
(between different sexes, races, ethnicities, abilities, and sexual orientations),
and liberty. Or is it? Where have these concepts come from, and what
do they really mean? Should they be
taken as natural facts, or are they rather social conventions that cloud some
of the more pressing problems facing us today?
What mythologies do we tell ourselves about America and what are the
consequences? This class will challenge
the cultural myths and conventional assumptions that structure American culture
and society, while examining, interrogating, and researching important current
events. Through course readings, class
discussions, research, and writing assignments, students will think and write
about a complex topic in a variety of ways, all in an effort to learn how to
write well at the college level.
In this class students will
be introduced to the rhetorical, conceptual, and stylistic demands of writing
at the college level. This class guides
students through the writing process, search strategies, and how to incorporate
secondary sources into their own writing.
Students will gain experience in the library and on the Internet to
enhance their skills in accessing and using various types of primary and
secondary materials. Students will learn
how to read critically and make use of a variety of sources in expressing their
own opinions, ideas, and perspectives in writing. Assignments include four longer writing
assignments, numerous short writing assignments, peer review, and revisions.
Required Texts:
Gary
Colombo, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle, Rereading
America, 9th edition
Gerald Graff and Cathy
Birkenstein, They Say, I Say: The Moves
that Matter in Academic Writing, 3rd edition
Richard Bullock and
Francine Weinberg, The Little Seagull
Handbook,2nd edition