Week 11 Homework

Here's your homework for next week.

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First, since you're getting into your last and most involved major essay, Essay 4, I'll give you another week with no additional written home work.

So, between now and next week, all you need to work on is your Essay 4 first draft (due Wednesday, 4/1). The best idea would be to start by collecting articles. Shoot for at least four (the required minimum), and no more than six or seven (eight or more is way too much, and usually indicates that you're kind of fudging your research simply by listing more sources at the end). Work on each of these articles one by one, on its own. Build a kind of mini-argument, or at least a basic discussion and explanation set-up for each, then see if you can weave a bigger argument once you've got of all your mini-arguments/discussions written out.

Here's my request, though: Even if drafts are due Wednesday, I urge you to try to get some writing done before Monday, or even just planning if that's all you have time for. My suggestion: Have something ready to work with before you come to class, either saved online or on a flash drive that you can bring with you. On Monday, we'll be meeting in the computer lab in room AA-444. There, you can open up your draft, wherever you are in working on it, and I can come around and give you comments, or you can just work on your own. Whatever you prefer.

One more thing: Apparently all computer labs on campus have slightly limited seating. So if you have a laptop that you like to use when working on your essays, I encourage you to bring it with you. If you're comfortable typing and saving files on another device, such as an iPad, consider bringing that. Otherwise, we might end up with a pretty strict first-come-first-served situation at AA-444. (Only one person can work on an essay on a given computer at a time, right?)

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As for reading homework, I'll just give you one article to read. But it's a decently sized one.

To think about both how a writer constructs a research paper by using "They Say / I Say" moves and staying in a single Stasis (the Stasis of Definition) and how he moves through his research sources one at a time and credits them fully wherever he can, read Atul Gawande's article, "Hellhole," all about how a doctor considers the practice of solitary confinement in US prisons:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/03/30/hellhole.

And that's it. Make sure you're prepared for class next week. Again, next class, Monday, 3/30, we'll meet in the computer lab in room AA-444, and we'll mostly work independently on Essay 4 first drafts. Attendance is still required. In other words, I will still assign points for being there and doing work. But on Wednesday, I'd like to focus on more course material and maybe have a discussion or two. And if I feel inclined, I might throw a pop quiz -- about anything! It could be either stuff we discussed in class previously or this article that I've provided above, or both.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, email me as soon as you can.

See you again soon.