WEDNESDAY 12/17: LAST CLASS!!

Your final papers are due on Wednesday. We'll do a pot-luck paper-drop-off goodbye party. Please bring cookies/chips/fruit/snacks along with your final paper and toast your classmates for a great semester.

I will not accept final papers via email, so you must come drop them off, even if you can't stay for the festivities.

*If you want your graded final papers back ASAP, bring a stamped, self-addressed envelope to hand in along with your paper.* If you don't bring an s.a.s.e., I will leave graded papers in an envelope in my box in the English Department for you to pick up after break.

I handed back your Aloft papers tonight. Unfortunately there's not enough time for me to give you a full week to do re-writes; if you want to re-write your Aloft paper, you must do so by FRIDAY 12/19. Drop your re-written papers in my box at the English Department by Friday, and then send me an email to tell me you've done so. I don't usually come in on Fridays--I'll be making a special trip--so I won't come unless I know that there are papers for me to pick up. I will not accept emailed re-writes because I need to see the original, with my comments, along with it.

You're still required to meet with me before you can do a re-write. Wednesday during or after the party would be a good time (I know, it's not very festive. I'm sorry.)

See you then...

Due Monday 11/15

Rough drafts of your final paper.

Student Evaluations

Instead of allocating class time to filling out student evaluations, Brooklyn College this year is doing evaluations entirely online. Please take a minute to go to http://portal.brooklyn.edu and fill out an evaluation for this class. It's totally anonymous, it's very helpful to me as a teacher, and there are benefits for you, too. Those benefits (per an email I got from the University) are:

• Immediate Grade Notification: Students who submit 100% of their evaluations will receive their course grades as soon as the instructor has registered them via WebGrading. Others will have to wait until December 31st.
• Early Access to Student Feedback, including Student Comments: Students who submit 100% of their evaluations will be given access in early January to their fellow students' feedback, in time for program changes for the spring 2009 semester. Other students will have to wait to see this feedback until after the last day to drop/add a course in the spring 2009 semester.
• Lottery Prizes: Students who submit 100% of their evaluations will have their names entered into a lottery to win cash prizes of $250, $100 and $50.

Thanks.

Your final research papers

In class on Monday, I handed out FINAL PAPER TOPICS. I'll embed the file below for those of you who weren't in class.

Please pay special attention to the instructions at the top of the document; this paper is different from previous papers in terms of the number of pages, the guidelines for references, etc. The subject matter for these papers is different from that of previous papers, but please note that your approach should be the same: I'm still looking for you to take sides on a given issue with a strong thesis statement, and then set out to systematically prove it.

For most of these questions, you'll need to do some preliminary research before you can come up with a thesis statement. FOR CLASS ON WEDNESDAY, you must bring in:
--a draft thesis statement
--an annotated list of references/sources that you used while formulating this thesis statement
--a list of other references/sources you plan to consult as you go forward with your research.
Please note that a rough draft is due on Monday, and then your final papers are due two days later--so the more you do now, the better position you'll be in then.

PLEASE NOTE, Wednesday we are meeting in the library. I've reserved room 120--the classroom where we did our library orientation at the beginning of the semester--for the class period. We will meet in the lobby at 5:00 and make our way there together. For those of you who are late, please proceed directly to room 120.

Final Paper Topics

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Due Wednesday 12/3

Rough draft of your Aloft paper. Please bring 3 copies, so you can get feedback from your classmates.

Please also bring your copy of "A Writer's Reference" and a copy of one of the outside sources that you used for your paper.

Due Monday 12/1

FINISH Aloft!

In class we'll talk about the last half of the book. You'll also get your in-class essays back, and we'll discuss your plans for expanding them into your third full-length paper.

Some follow-up info from our discussion on Wednesday

Here is an article from Friday's paper about the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant in Patchogue, Long Island, by a gang of local white teenagers: Immigrants Say Slaying Brings Bias to the Fore

And here is an overview of the linguistic theory of signs, symbols, and signifiers, which we discussed in class. It's complicated, and might take you a few minutes to tease apart, but this is the most straightforward description I could find; it's the concepts that are complicated, so even the simplest explanation will not be easy.