Northern
Arizona University
University Honors Program
Instructor: Anne
Scott
Office Hours: TBA
Class Meeting Time: M/W at 12:30-1:45pm
Phone/Office: 3-2441,
Cowden 102; 3-9537, LA329
Course Prerequisites:
Admission to the Honors
Program. See also number 1 below, under “Course Requirements.”
Course Description:
Honors 190 is a reading-
and writing-intensive course designed to introduce you to a liberal studies
education. An important part of this course is your acquisition of specific
skills: close reading, analytical writing, cogent speaking, attentive
listening, and critical thinking. The readings for this class, as well
as the tasks required of you, have been carefully chosen and arranged in order
to make possible your attainment as well as enhancement of these skills, within
a learning environment that encourages your understanding and appreciation of
key issues that are at the heart of a liberal studies education. Your 190
instructors come from a variety of departments. Your instructors will help you
to define and explore these key issues in a manner that reflects their unique
training, specialties, and perspectives.
Course Orientation and
Goals:
In this course your
readings, writings, and class discussions will address, both broadly as well as
specifically, the theme of the human condition, and the ideas and issues
arising from this theme: e.g., the nature and function of being human;
societies, communities, and communication; morals, ethics, and ethnicities; power; gender; or identity, to
name a few. Through your readings and discussions this semester, you will work
to clarify these issues, refine your thoughts and attitudes about them, and
consider these issues within the context of the university.
By the end of this
course, you will:
§
Demonstrate
improved and refined capabilities in essential lifelong skills, including close
reading, analytical writing, cogent speaking, attentive listening, and critical
thinking.
§
Recognize
the complexities of the human condition from a variety of perspectives:
literary, historical, cultural, moral, social, and so on.
§
Appreciate
the role that you play as a member of the honors and/or university community
and as a citizen of the 21st century.
Note: The
following represents minimum requirements common to each section of Honors 190.
All sections will require the writing requirements as listed below. The
reading requirements, as listed below,
amount to approximately 70% of the total requirements for each section;
individual instructors will supplement these reading requirements with
additional materials (30% of the total amount of required reading). Note
also that guidelines for informal writing, formal writing, portfolios, bibliographies,
and class participation will be provided by your individual instructors.
1.
HON 190 and
HON191 may be taken in any order. (a) If you are enrolled in HON190 as your
first freshman Honors course, you must take the English Composition Exam in
order to pass this course. If you do
not pass the English Composition Placement Exam, you must take ENG 205
co-registered with HON191. (b) If you are enrolled in HON 191 as your first
freshman Honors course, you must take the English Composition exam in order to
pass this course. If you do not pass the English Composition Placement Exam,
you must take ENG 205 co-registered with HON 190.
2.
All
sections of HON 190 will read a selection of texts, taken from the groups
listed under “Course Texts” (see below). In addition to these readings, your
individual instructors will assign other reading materials to suit his/her
specific needs.
3.
You will
write a 3-page paper during the first two weeks of classes on the
University-wide Freshmen Summer Reading.
4.
You will
write 3 formal, analytical essays (the first 3-7pp., the second and third
5-7pp.) that explore topics and issues related to your readings and
discussions. You will also revise each of these papers through a peer-review
process.
5.
You will
complete a minimum of 13 pieces of informal writing, each 1 ½ - 3pp.
6.
You will
complete an annotated bibliography on a topic, book, or issue related to your
class readings or discussions, and containing a minimum of 5 secondary sources.
7.
You will
submit a collection of informal writing at the end of the semester that
consists of 10 of your best, revised informal writing assignments, and a 1-2pp.
“self statement.” You will be expected to participate thoughtfully and
intelligently in all class discussions.
8.
You will
submit 2 written assignments to the Freshmen Honors Program Assessment website.
The first assignment will be your 3-page paper on the Required Summer Reading
(see #3 above), and the second assignment will be your best formal essay. Your
instructors will clarify this procedure for you.
Assessment and Grading:
The goals and objectives listed above
will be assessed and/or graded in the following manner:
1. 15% of total grade: 1
3-7pp. formal essay on 1 text/reading.
2. 20% of total grade: 1
5-7pp. formal essay on 2 texts/readings.
3. 20% of total grade: 1
5-7pp. formal essay on 2 or more texts/readings.
4. 15% of total grade: 1
5-item (minimum) annotated bibliography on a topic related to class
readings/discussion.
5. 15% of total grade:
participation. This portion of your grade will include some or all of the
following: class attendance; active and informed class discussions; active and
informed participation in study groups; write-ups of your study group meetings;
on-time submission of formal and informal writing assignments; diligent
attention to peer reviews of essays; an awareness of and respect for differing opinions;
one10-minute book report; submission of writing assignments to the Honors
assessment website; attendance at the sophomore/junior/senior Honors Symposium
in November, and other options as assigned by your instructor. Individual
instructors will specify the requirements for this aspect of your grade.
6. 15% of total grade: a
collection of informal writing consisting of a minimum of 10 pieces of informal
writing, revised; 1 copy of your best formal essay; and a 1-2pp. “Self
Statement.”
TOTAL: 100%
Note: each instructor will be responsible for providing a rubric or
formula for grade justification.
Seminars such
as this are joint enterprises and it is crucial that we come to speak, to
listen, and to contribute. Students who learn the most do so, among other
reasons, because they participate and involve themselves consistently and
earnestly in class discussions with their instructor and with other
students. Therefore, attendance is
extremely important, and students who miss class will be penalized as follows:
If a student has 4 or more unexcused absences, his or her
grade will be lowered according to the requirements specified by individual
instructors.
Academic dishonesty in all forms violates the
basic principles of integrity and thus impedes learning. More specifically,
academic dishonesty is a form of misconduct that is subject to disciplinary
action under the Student Code of Conduct and includes the following: cheating,
fabrication, fraud, facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism. Academic
dishonesty, as defined in the Student Handbook, will not be tolerated in
this class, and will be handled in the manner prescribed by this handbook.
Course Texts:
·
Summer
Reading:
o
Diane
Smith, Letters from Yellowstone
·
Education
Readings (one or more):
o
Cronon,
“Only Connect…”
o
Cousins,
“How to Make People Smaller Than They Are”
o
Bird,
“College is a Waste of Time”
o
Postman,
“Learning by Story”
o
Malcolm X,
selection from Autobiography of Malcolm X
o
Hirsch,
“Cultural Literacy”
o
McCarthy, The
Groves of Academe (selection)
·
Greek
Classics (one or more):
o
Sophocles, Antigone
o
Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
o
Euripides, Medea
o
Aeschylus, Agamemnon
o
Aristophanes,
The Frogs
o
Aristophanes,
The Clouds
o
Plato,
(selection)
·
18th
Century Satire (one):
o
Voltaire, Candide
o
Swift, Gulliver’s
Travels
·
Romanticism
and the Gothic (one or
more):
o
Shelley, Frankenstein
o
Wilde, The
Picture of Dorian Grey
·
Political
Writing (one or more):
o
Thoreau, Civil
Disobedience
o
Martin
Luther King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
·
Existentialism
o
Camus, The
Stranger
·
Environmental
Ethics (one or more):
o
Leopold, A
Sand County Almanac (selection)
o
Nabhan, Cultures
of Habitat (selection)
o
Thoreau, Walden
(selection)
·
Writing
Instruction
o
Maimon and
Peritz, A Writer’s Resource
NOTE: Individual instructors will assign additional reading as
necessary. Also, some of the materials listed above will be available through
Electronic Reserve or through various websites.
Course Schedule:
Note: The readings below reflect a
selection from the common texts listed earlier in this syllabus, as well as
readings assigned by your individual instructors. The pacing and spacing of
these readings will vary somewhat from instructor to instructor.
Week 1: Letters from Informal
Writing #1
Yellowstone
(summer
reading);
Selection of readings on
education
Week 2: Antigone Informal Writing #2
“Antigone” (in-class movie clip)
Week 3: Oedipus
Rex Informal
Writing #3;
Beowulf Rough
Draft of formal
paper #1; peer review
Week 4: Beowulf Informal
Writing #4;
“The
13th Warrior” Final
Draft formal
(evening showing) paper #1
Yvain
Week 5: Yvain Informal
Writing #5
“Monty
Python” (in-class movie)
Week 6: Candide Informal
Writing #6
Week 8: Frankenstein Informal Writing #8;
Rough
Draft of formal paper #2, peer review
Week 9: “Frankenstein” Informal
Writing #9;
(in-class
movie) Final
Draft of formal
paper #2
Week 10: Civil Disobedience Informal Writing #10
The Stranger
Week 11: The Stranger Informal Writing #11
Bibliography
due.
Week 13: Grendel Informal
Writing #13;
paper #3; peer review
Week 14: A Sand County Almanac (instructor
choice for
(selection) informal writing); Final
Draft of formal paper #3
Week 15: Letter
from A... (instructor
choice for
Selection
from Nabhan, informal writing)
Cultures
of Habitat