Weekend Studies Program                            Instructors:           Christine Monnier

Winter 2003                                                                  Laura Anschicks

 

ASSIGNMENTS: WEEKEND 1

 

Essays and BNW worksheets should be delivered to each instructor by noon on the Thursday just before class meets.  All other work is due on Saturday morning of class at 9am.

 

E-mail by attachment (preferred method, saved as Word document. If you do not have Microsoft Word, save as Rich Text File—RTF—before attaching and sending):

·         anschick@cdnet.cod.edu

·         monnier@cdnet.cod.edu

 

Fax is second choice if students do not have access to e-mail or have word processing programs not compatible with Word.

Fax with name-on-each-page to Christine Monnier at 630-778-6820.

 

Fax with name-on-each-page to Laura Anschicks at 630-466-3879.

 

Hand delivery is also possible to Christine’s Mailbox, IC1028, Thursday by Noon.

 

 

READINGS and Homework activities:

For Sociology:

In Andersen/Taylor Essentials, read and take tutorial quiz:

Chapter 1: Sociological Perspectives and Social Research

Chapter 2: Culture

Chapter 3: Socialization

In Stark, complete Exercises 1, 2, & 3

 

For Social Psychology:

In Aronson’s Social Psychology, read and take quiz:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Social Psychology

Chapter 2: Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research

Chapter 5: Self-Knowledge: How we come to understand ourselves

Chapter 6: Self-Justification and the Need to Maintain Self-Esteem

In Ayers, complete exercises 1 and 2

 

For English:

All students: Read LBH 5 and note specific points you’d like to discuss in class. Use the LBH Response form for this and for any points you wish to make about your level assignments below. 

      Write: Compare the principles in this chapter to the thinking of the characters in Brave New World, chapters 1-4; jot down what principles of critical thinking they violate or fail to live up to and then give 3 examples from the novel.

        Attach this to the end of your essay as a separate sheet; the writing style can be in note format and use phrases rather than complete sentences.

 

101: Read LBH chapter 1, and 2

Do:

Chapter 1:

a)      Write out Exercise 3, following the directions to choose only three of the assignments listed. (You are to narrow topics only. Do NOT write the essays for the topics.)

b)      Make special note of “Writing academic papers” and jot down how this should affect your first paper. You may use the last question of the LBH Response form for this.

Chapter 2:

a)      In addition to what the essay assignment below asks of you, select one or two “Techniques for developing a topic” (see page 19 box) to use as idea gathering for your first essay and turn it in Saturday morning with other non-essay assignments.

b)      Read the rest carefully, paying attention to your thesis in your essay and your organization.

Chapter 4a: review paragraph structure as a preparation for writing your essay.

In your essay, I will be looking for where your skills lie in putting something like this together. I will expect an attempt at an introduction with thesis, a body of the paper with paragraphs organized around clear points, and a conclusion. You will have plenty of changes to develop your skills, so do the best you can on this, and we’ll go on from there. Take a chance!

 

102 and 103:

a)      Review the ideas in Chapters 1 and 2 of LBH

b)      Study Chapter 3 on process and revising.

c)      Keep track of your methods of drafting your first paper, jotting down what is asked below and submitting on the 1st Saturday of class for instructor review:

·         Use one or two pre-writing techniques from Chapter 2a and be prepared to submit this on the 1st Saturday of class along with other notes as specified next.

·         Select what seems to apply to you from Chapter 3 and discuss what techniques of drafting and revising that you used as you went along (such as how did you get started—and keep yourself going? how did you “gain distance” for revising? how did you go about editing? And finally, what do you think are the strengths and weakness of your approach and your paper?

d)      In your essay, I will look for your skills in putting an essay together. 103 students should also use the documentation system you learned in your 102 class; I will evaluate for this, but mostly it is to show me how much work we have to do. You may use MLA in this paper, but in future papers for this class, we will learn the APA documentation system; you may try it if you wish.

 

ESSAY ASSIGNMENT: After reading the sociology and social psychology texts and filling in the Response form for the first 4 chapters of Brave New World, write an essay on the following topic: Discuss how Brave New World illustrates the social science concepts relating to culture and self-formation.

 

This is a complex first essay, so we are going to help you out. Your discussion should include the following in the following order:

  1. Describe the culture of the title society, using terms (to be bold faced in your essay) from both social science texts. Remember that the concept of culture includes values, norms, beliefs and belief systems, all of which terms are addressed in your reading assignment for the social science classes. A good discussion of this should include
    • Definitions of the terms and/or their clear use in your sentences such that the meaning is evident;
    • Specific examples from the novel that illustrate the terms, along with the page number in parentheses.
  2. Discuss the significance of language in the world Huxley has created by describing the Sapir-Whorf Thesis from the sociology text and showing through examples from the novel how it explains the effect of language use in that society.
  3.  Finally, discuss how the culture forms the self through language and other agents of socialization (individuals, groups, institutions, etc.). Give two or three well-examined examples.

 

Hints for making this a good essay:

  1. Use the language of the topic assignment above (following the colon) to help you construct your thesis (LBH2b). Look at LBH 2c and 4d for help in structuring introductions.
  2. Follow the directions above to create the “body” of the paper. Each of the three subtopics may represent a single, well-developed paragraph, but more likely several related ones. If you are uncertain about paragraphs, check out LBH 4a for a review.
  3. Follow the order of the discussion suggested above. 
  4. Also note the repeated request for specific examples. These are what “prove” to a reader that you know what you are talking about and to support your assertions. They are the “meat” of the discussion.
  5. Finally, you need to conclude. A conclusion is not just a summary. In fact, in a paper of this length (4-6 pages, word-processed), a summary will usually feel too obvious.  A conclusion is just that: some insight you have come to as a result of your thinking about a subject. That insight is not a feeling, but an idea.

            To arrive at that idea, think about (brainstorm) what you have learned by doing this assignment. What have you discovered or been made aware of that you may not have noticed before? What have you learned about culture and how it shapes the individual? Or the power of language?

            A conclusion is the SO WHAT of the paper. It tells the reader why you and she have bothered with it. With what are you trying to enlighten the reader?

 

A final note: The essays due each weekend will help you pull together the relationship between the classes as well as help you to make application of the ideas to the world we live in. Because of this, they will be complex and require puzzling over material and forming thoughts about it that you can support. This kind of activity is the basis of college level learning.

Therefore, you may expect to struggle a bit, but with our accessibility, feedback, and opportunities for making assignments stronger, your struggle will pay off handsomely.