Professional Documents
Culture Documents
We will watch Spike Lees documentary Four Little Girls (1997) together outside of
class time. It is also available to view at the Film Studies Center, and you can also
stream it online: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3302971953362876297
Essays, Exercises, and Drafts
You will write four essays in this class. Before writing the revised version of an
essay, you will submit writing exercises and a complete draft. Exercises and drafts
are important aspects of your work in the class, and the more you invest in them,
the better your revised version will be.
When you submit your essays (both drafts and revisions) you should include a cover
letter to me in which you:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
You should be able to accomplish all this in a paragraph or so, though you are
welcome to write more.
Always double-space your work and use 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and
numbered pages. Cite using the MLA format. All drafts and revisions must be
submitted both electronically and in hard copy. Submit the electronic copies
of your essays via email in doc or docx format, and name your file as follows:
[lastname][essay#][D for draft or R for revision]. For example, my draft for the
second assignment would be named Hopper2D.docx. Bring hard copies of essays to
class. The hard copies of essays not due on class days should be delivered to the
dropbox outside the English department office in Linsly-Chittenden.
Workshops
In a spirit of friendship and fellowship, you will discuss your classmates drafts in
class, give them spoken and written feedback, and learn to be a good editor of
others work as well as of your own.
An important note: Editing does not mean proofreading. Proofreading means
correcting spelling and grammar. Editing means offering substantive suggestions to
clarify an authors ideas and their expression. You are expected to read your
classmates essays with an attentive, sympathetic, and skeptical editorial eye.
Youre more than welcome to proofread their prose as well, but youre not required
to. (Note: not all of your classmates corrections will be correct, so double-check!)
Everyone will have a draft discussed during a class workshop once. The workshop
dates will be scheduled by September 3. In the week of your workshop, I will post
your essay on Classes for your classmates to read.
Regardless of whether your workshop is being held that week or not, you will
prepare for workshop days by reading all the essays being discussed, and writing a
brief letter to each essays author in which you:
extensions require a Deans Excuse. You must turn in all the assignments to receive
credit for the class.
Essay 1 (close reading, 4-5 pages)
Essay 2 (comparative analysis, 6-7 pages)
25%
Essay 3 (researched argument, 8-10 pages)
Essay 4 (public writing, 2-3 pages)
20%
Participation (attendance, workshops, presentation, etc.)
10%
30%
15%
Course Calendar
This syllabus is subject to change. All changes will be emailed to the class and
posted in the email archive on Classes. You are responsible for keeping track of
them.
Essay 1
Religion and Race:
The Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham
Week 1
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Wednesday
August 28
Introductions and
Icons,
Timelines and Maps
Introducing Essay 1:
Religious Rhetoric
n/a
n/a
n/a
Friday
August 30
[Handout:
Elements of the
Academic Essay]
Diane McWhorter,
Carry Me Home
(excerpt)
Ch. 11 of TS/IS,
Entering Class
Discussions (this
chapter only posted
online for shoppers
waiting to buy the
book)
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Sept 2
Wednesday
Sept 4
LABOR DAY
NO SCHOOL
Documenting the
Civil Rights
Movement:
Four Little Girls
LABOR DAY
NO SCHOOL
Spike Lee, Four Little
Girls
LABOR DAY
NO SCHOOL
n/a
Ch. 1 of TS/IS,
Starting With What
Others are Saying
Week 3
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Sept 9
WORKSHOP
Letters to your
colleagues
Wednesday
Sept 11
Documenting the
Civil Rights
Movement:
A Time for Burning
Your colleagues
essays
&
Ch. 2 of TS/IS,
The Art of
Summarizing
Ch. 3 of TS/IS,
The Art of Quoting
n/a
Essay 2
Religious Tolerance, Religious Liberty:
Mormons, Muslims, and Others
Week 4
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Sept 16
Introducing Essay 2:
Comparative Religion
Will Herberg,
Protestant Catholic
Jew (excerpt)
Essay 1 Revision
Robert Wuthnow,
America and the
Challenges of
Religious Diversity
(excerpt)
Wednesday
Sept 18
Mormons
Ch. 4 of TS/IS,
Three Ways to
Respond
Joanna Brooks,
The Book of Mormon
Girl (excerpt)
n/a
Adam Gopnik, I,
Nephi: Mormonism
and its Meanings
Ch. 5 of TS/IS,
Distinguishing What
You Say from What
They Say
Week 5
Class Content
Readings DUE
Assignments DUE
Monday
Sept 23
Muslims
n/a
Paul M. Barrett,
American Islam
(excerpt)
Wednesday
Sept 25
Ch. 6 of TS/IS,
Planting a Naysayer
in Your Text
Jess Row,
Amritsar
Others
n/a
Ch. 7 of TS/IS,
Saying Why It
Matters
Week 6
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Sept 30
Structure
Essay 2 Draft
Wednesday
Oct 2
WORKSHOP
Ch. 8 of TS/IS,
Connecting the
Parts
Ch. 9 of TS/IS,
Academic Writing
Doesnt Always Mean
Setting Aside Your
Own Voice
Letters to your
colleagues
Essay 3
Researching Religion
FIELD TRIP: BY NOVEMBER 14 YOU ARE REQUIRED TO VISIT A PLACE IN NEW HAVEN
ASSOCIATED WITH THE RELIGIOUS TRADITION YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT.
Week 7
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Oct 7
Introducing Essay 3:
Varieties of Religious
Research
William James,
Varieties of Religious
Experience (excerpt)
n/a
[Handout]
R. Marie Griffith,
American Religions
(excerpt)
Ch. 10 of TS/IS,
The Art of
Metacommentary
Wednesday
Oct 9
NO CLASS
Remember to sign
up for individual
meetings on
Monday or
Tuesday instead!
NO CLASS
Essay 2 Revision
(turn in the hard
copy to the dropbox
in LC)
Week 8
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Oct 14
Wednesday
Oct 16
LIBRARY DAY
(meet at Bass)
From Topic to
Question Research
Proposal Workshop
n/a
n/a
Essay 3 Research
Proposal
Ch. 12 of TS/IS,
Reading for the
Conversation
Week 9
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Oct 21
Essay 3 Annotated
Bibliography
Wednesday
Oct 23
NO CLASS
FALL BREAK
Ch. 14 of TS/IS,
Writing in the Social
Sciences
NO CLASS
FALL BREAK
Week 10
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
October 28
Textual Studies
Judith Weisenfeld,
Hollywood Be Thy
Name (excerpt)
n/a
[Handout:
A Short Guide to
Writing About Film]
NO CLASS
FALL BREAK
Wednesday
October 30
Cultural Studies
Essay 3 Draft
Week 12
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Nov 4
Wednesday
Nov 6
WORKSHOP
Social Sciences
Your colleagues
essays
Mark D. Jordan,
Recruiting Young
Love
Letters to your
colleagues
n/a
Week 14
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Nov 11
History
Leigh Schmidt,
Restless Souls
(excerpt)
n/a
Wednesday
Nov 13
Lived Religion:
Field Trip
Presentations
Essay 3 Revision
Essay 4
Religion in Person, Religion in Public
Week 15
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Nov 18
Public Writing:
The Personal Essay
Michael Warner,
Tongues Untied:
Memoirs of a
Pentecostal
Boyhood
n/a
Wednesday
Nov 20
Public Writing:
The Op-Ed
Ashley Makar,
Communion on
Chemo
3 op-eds on religion
in America written
this year
PRINT THEM!
n/a
Week 15
Class Content
Readings DUE
Writing DUE
Monday
Dec 2
Public Writing:
Theories of Religious
Discourse
Jeffrey Stout,
excerpts from
Democracy and
Tradition and Blessed
are the Organized
n/a
Wednesday
Dec 4
Public Reading