Course Schedule

Readings are from The Norton Sampler, unless otherwise specified.

Week 1 (Aug 31 – Sept 2): Course Introduction.
Readings: Introduction (3-20), including the two Dillard essays.
Reading response 1

Week 2 (Sept 7 – 9): Readings: Description (21-25); McDonald "The View from the Bridge" (37-41), Hodgman "No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch" (47-53).
Example (93-99), The Onion "All Seven Deadly Sins . . ." (101-105).
Reading response 2

Week 3 (Sept 14 – 16): Readings: Browne "The Invisible Flying Cat" (106-109), Hentoff "Jazz: Music Beyond Time and Nations" (116-122), Wu "Homeward Bound" (123-126). Rules for Writers sections 1-2 (Generating Ideas, Drafting)
Reading response 3

Week 4 (Sept 21 – 23): Essay 1 draft (descriptive essay) peer review.
Rules for Writers sections 3-4 (Global revisions, Paragraphs)
Essay 1 due Sept 23.

Week 5 (Sept 28 – 30): Readings: Classification and Division (127-130), Tan "Mother Tongue" (132-139), Watts "The Color of Success" (140-145), Asimov "What do you Call a Platypus?" (146-153), Jacoby "The Rise of the Blended American" (159-162)
Readings Response 4

Class event: Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra presents "A Tribute to Tito Puente." GMU Center for the Arts, Saturday, Oct 2 at 8:00 pm

Week 6 (Oct 5 – 7): Readings: Process Analysis (163-167), Piven and Borgenicht "How to Fend Off a Shark" (170-173), Katz "How Boys Become Men" (174-178), Keillor "How to Write a Letter" (187-191).
Rules for Writers sections 8-9 (Active verbs, Parallelism); 19-20 (Sentence fragments, Run-ons)
Reading Response 5

Week 7 (Oct 14) [Columbus day recess. Monday classes meet Tuesday; Tuesday classes do not meet]:
Essay 2 due (classification / division) Oct 14.

Week 8 (Oct 19 – 21): Readings: Comparison and Contrast (200-204), Dalfonso "Grammy Rewards" (206-208), Davis "Body Imperfect" (209-211), Catton "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts" (212-217), Sedaris "Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa" (233-240).
Reading Response 6

Week 9 (Oct 26 – 28):Readings: Definition (241-244), Barry "Guys Vs. Men" (246-253), Iyer "In Praise of the Humble Comma" (254-259), Wheeler "How Come the Quantum?" (260-264), Hughes "Bop" (265-268).
Reading Response 7

Class Event: Jazz for Justice performance. Friday, Oct 29, 8:00 pm. Harris Theater

Week 10 (Nov 2 – 4):
Rules for Writers sections 32-35 (comma, semicolon, colon)
Essay 3 (comparison / contrast) due Nov 4

Week 11 (Nov 9 –11): Readings: Cause and Effect (276-282), Diamond "Who Killed Easter Island?" (295-302), Gates "A Giant Step" (303-308). Introduction to Library Research.
Reading Response 8

Week 12 (Nov 16 – 18): Readings: Argument (314-319), Jefferson "The Declaration of Independence" (322-327).

Class event: Movie night [TBA]

Week 13 (Nov 23) [Thanksgiving recess]: Logic exercises. Rules for Writers section 47 (evaluating arguments)

Week 14 (Nov 30 – Dec 2): Peer review Essay 4 (Music 107 term paper). Introduction to Library research.
Essay 4 due Dec 2.

Week 15 (Dec 7 – 9): Library research. Rules for Writers sections 48-50 (research guide), 54 (MLA style documentation), 59 (APA style documentation)
Library research assignment due Dec 9.