CCWP04: The Self

Topical Overview

Conventionally, we conceptualise the Self in terms of metaphors such as an invisible force or an inner flame. We have labeled Self as an indivisible whole, as more than the sum of the individual neurons that make up the brain. This something is the brain's emergent awareness of its own way of organising information. Many scholars have studied the development of Self through the lifespan, describing a dialectical process that resembles an ascending spiral, and moving from thesis to antithesis, and finally to a higher level of synthesis. At its best, this process of spiraling growth results in someone like Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer, the philosopher who played Bach superbly on the organ, and spent most of his life running a free hospital in French Equatorial Africa. The main objective of this module is to investigate the topic of Self as the context for writing thoughtful, original essays that demonstrate the two central activities of critical thinking, namely identifying and challenging assumptions and exploring alternative ways of thinking and acting.

Rhetorical Overview

No matter what academic interests students pursue at NUS, writing well is one of the most useful skills they can acquire. Whether a student becomes an architect or a poet, his or her ability to write well will be indispensable. Therefore, every NUS Core Curriculum student must complete the Writing Programme requirement. The modules are designed to develop students' skills in written expression through refining skills in writing expository and argumentative prose.

This module, "The Self," will focus on the fundamentals of essay writing, in particular the skills of discovering the material relevant to exposition or argument (the classical rhetorical process called "invention"). Students will acquire the ability to organize material into an expository essay. They will learn how to find and develop a thesis, effective paragraphing, framing arguments for an audience and specific purpose, and the finer points of grammar, style and diction. The work will involve sustained practise in reading closely, detecting patterns of meaning in readings, locating overt and subtle assumptions in readings, and questioning these assumptions.

The overall objective of "The Self" is to gain command of arguing about a matter effectively in the essay form. While "arguing a point" is certainly a legitimate pursuit with very wide practical application, it can be a rather intellectually limiting and one-dimensional mode of argumentation. Instead, this module offers a more dialectical approach to argumentation, a process whereby counterarguments and counterevidence help the writer to reshape an original position and help the writer to grow intellectually. This approach is more complete than simply arguing a point or proving a thesis.

Course Objectives

"Study maketh a full person; conference a ready person, and writing an exact person." --Francis Bacon

In this module, you will learn how to present your ideas thoughtfully and clearly to an intelligent public audience for a variety of purposes. Specifically, you will write three essays: the first, a short three to four-page text; the second, five to six pages in length; and, the third, an eight to ten-page 'library research'-based document. In the process, you will learn how to identify worthwhile problems to explore; how to select and use evidence; how to clarify the assumptions, definitions and implications entailed by a thesis; and, how to structure your writing in a reader-friendly and cogent manner.

Course Structure

In order to achieve the course goals, the module has been divided into three units of instruction, each of which builds on the units before it. The first two units encompass six seminars each, and the third unit, eight seminars. The preparation for each seminar in turn introduces the process of reading, writing and thinking you will need to complete the essay for that unit.

Required Texts

There are two required texts. The first is a collection of readings, both sources and writing samples that the course team has put together for this module. The second required text, which you will purchase from the NUS Co-op, is A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker.

Course Requirements

1. A three to four page essay (Unit 1)
2. A five to six page essay (Unit 2)
3. An eight to ten page essay (Unit 3)
4. Several shorter writing activities which build towards the three essays
5. A five-to-ten-minute oral presentation on Essay 3
6. Attendance at seminars twice a week
7. Three individual (professor-student) writing conferences (one for each unit)

Contacting your Professor

Name:Dawn J. Dekle, Ph.D., J.D.

Office:

Office phone:

Office email:

Manuscript Form for Writing Activities and Essays

In this module, you will complete three essays and a variety of writing activities building up to the three essays.

1. All essays and writing activities should be printed in a size 12 font, in non-erasable black ink, double-spaced, on one side of white paper. Submissions to your professor by disc or e-mail will NOT be accepted.

2. Use a 1.5-inch margin on ALL sides.

3. For all writing activities, insert in a single-spaced block in the upper right- hand corner of your first page:

   • your name as it appears on your matriculation card
   • the course code and title [CCWP04: The Self]
   • your professor's name [Dr. Dawn Dekle]
   • your seminar group number [CCWP04: Group 1 or 2]
   • the title/number of the writing activity [Unit 1, 2 or 3 and subject]

   Begin your opening paragraph two double spaces beneath this single-spaced block of information. Number the pages of your exercise and staple the pages together. Do not use a paper clip.

4. For all essays, insert in a single-spaced block in the upper right- hand corner of your first page:
   • your name as it appears on your matriculation card
   • the course code and title [CCWP04: The Self]
   • your professor's name [Dr. Dawn Dekle]
   • your seminar group number [CCWP04: Group 1 or 2]
   • the essay number, indicating whether it is the first draft [Essay 1: first draft, etc].

   Center your essay title two double spaces beneath this single-spaced block of information. Begin your opening paragraph two double spaces beneath your title. Number the pages of your essay and staple the pages together. Do not use a paper clip.

   With each first draft you submit, you are required to submit a letter to your professor about your essay. The letter need not be exhaustive - a page, typed in double-space is about right. In your letter, you will tell your professor what your focus/thesis is, and what you think are your essay's main strength and weakness. The main purpose of this activity is to help you become an attentive critic of your own writing, by having you articulate for yourself and your professor what your essay's focus is, where you feel your essay works, and where you feel it needs more work. This letter should always be stapled to the front of your essay draft.

   Always turn in the first draft of your essay (with your professor's comments on it) along with your final version. The order of materials to be submitted is as follows:

   • final draft of essay
   • letter to professor on first draft
   • first draft with professor's comments on it

   You may use a folder when submitting these materials or staple them together. Do not use a paper clip.

5. Always proofread your work carefully after you have run a spell-check, since the computer doesn't know you meant two not too or to; knot instead of not; or fill rather than full.

   I halve a spelling checker;

   It came with my pea sea.

   It plainly marks four my revue

   Mistakes I dew not sea.

   I've sent this message threw it,

   And I'm shore pleased to no

   It's letter perfect in its weigh;

   My checker tolled me sew.

                           --Anonymous

6. Always keep a back-up of all writing that you submit to your professor.

Essays

"A plausible impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility" --Aristotle

By developing your essays through a process of planning, drafting and revising, you will learn how to write an essay that has something interesting to say. Your professor will comment on your drafts, but will grade only your revisions.

The first essay invites you to explore the question "When is the transition to adulthood?" by reflecting on a significant aspect of adulthood. You will select one short text (extract) from either the course reading packet or your own reading to work closely with. The objective of this first essay is for you to identify and explicate for an intelligent, public audience how your interpretation of the extract has modified, enriched, transformed or challenged your understanding of some significant aspect of the "Adult Self." In writing this essay, you will focus on developing strategies for asking good questions, critically analyzing texts, and working with evidence to explain your position.

The second essay invites you to add to the rich intellectual discourse surrounding the question "What is the effect of context on the Self?". The course presents you with an array of readings, each of which offers an interpretation of the "Protean Self." You can select two texts and show how their interpretations create a paradox, ambiguity, problem, mystery or illusion. Your objective in Essay 2 is to show why it is reasonable to believe that the paradox, etc. exists and why your readers should be concerned about it. In writing this essay, you will continue to practice strategies for asking good questions, critically analyzing texts, and working with evidence to explain your position. In addition, you will focus on strategies for forming arguments and counterarguments to support your position.

The third essay invites you to consider the being and becoming of a Self by reflecting on the larger question, "What is an ideal Self?" This essay builds on the skills used in the first two essays but with three major differences. First, you determine your topic, centering on the choice of an individual that our society has honored in some fashion as an "Ideal Self." Second, instead of developing a thesis and evidence with two sources, you will be working with multiple sources. And third, you will search out and develop source materials to persuade an intelligent, public audience of the merit of your position. In doing this essay, you will learn how to do library research and information management.

Writing Activities

"Don't write merely to be understood. Write so that you cannot possibly be misunderstood." --Robert Louis Stevenson

You will prepare for each essay by doing a sequence of writing activities, designed to introduce you to the process of reading, writing and thinking necessary to complete the essay. These preparatory activities will be short, usually less than a page in length, and are due on the dates indicated on the syllabus. Your professor will collect and read these ungraded but required responses, but will not comment extensively on them. Rather, these responses provide you with the opportunity to try out ideas and take some risks as you work towards completing your essay.

Seminars

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." --Chinese proverb

The purpose of the Writing Programme is to help you become a strong writer. Since writing does not exist in a vacuum but in the connections writers make between what they observe, read, hear, and experience, the overarching aim of this module is to provide a forum in which you make contact with the world through the written and spoken word. The seminars are an important part of this process. In these seminars, you will occasionally listen to short, informal lectures. Most of the time, however, you will explore your views of professional writers' work as well as one another's work. Always remember to bring the texts we are discussing to class.

At least one seminar in each unit will be used for peer review. The texts used for these discussions will be the essay drafts written by you and your peers. The purpose of these peer review workshops is to develop a communal conversation about a particular text and the process of its writer. In these peer review seminars, you will work in groups of three to four to discuss each other's drafts, using a specific list of questions or issues to guide your review.

Much of what you will learn in this module will occur to you in seminar discussions as you listen to each other's ideas, enriching and sharpening each other's thought. Seminars are a joint endeavor, and everyone's participation is essential. Please come to the seminar ready to contribute.

Writing Conferences

"Spoonfeeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon." --E.M. Forster

You will have three individual writing conferences with your professor over the semester (one for each essay). A missed conference is tantamount to an absence.

Conferences will usually take place in the week after you submit your essay draft (see syllabus for actual conference dates). Given that each conference is only 15 minutes long, you will need to be focused to make the most of this time. You should come prepared to discuss your ideas and plans for revision, i.e., talk about specific problems you're having and possible solutions. Your professor will listen and offer advice, but only if you seem to need it. The point, after all, is to learn to write well on your own. Do not think of your professor as an editor or as someone who is there to "correct" your papers for you. See him/her instead as a guide or coach, someone who knows and understands the conventions that you're trying to learn and who would like to help you develop your own ideas.

Typically, your final draft will be due for submission in the seminar a week after your writing conference.

Grading

"It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it." --Anonymous

The three essays represent the bulk of your grade, and are weighted to reward you for improvement. That is to say, your essays will be developed through a process of planning, drafting and revising, and only then will they be graded. Your grades will measure what you have learned (or still need to learn) in the course, how well you have worked on your essays, and the thinking and writing abilities your essays demonstrate. Your professor will, however, consider your total course work in determining your overall grade for the module. This includes the 5-to-10-minute oral presentation on Essay 3, your active participation in seminars, conferences and your timely completion of writing activities. Success in the module depends on your responsible individual and group endeavor. You will receive more detailed grading criteria for each of the essays and the oral presentation in class. But, to give you a general idea of the kind of writing we value, here are the characteristics that we will encourage in your work.

Your essays and oral-presentation should:

• develop an idea in a coherent and interesting way
• support that idea with thoughtfully selected evidence
• provide your target audience with sufficient contextual information to follow your argument easily
• express your thought clearly and concisely, in prose that conforms to educated conventions of grammar, spelling, referencing/citation, and punctuation
• clearly signal emphasis and connections between ideas
• create a cogent introduction, development and conclusion.

A work gives an impression of excellence in all the areas above.

B work gives an impression of general superiority in all the areas above.

C work is average but demonstrates competence in all the areas above.

D or F work is below average and is seriously deficient in one or more of the areas listed.

Office Hours

If you would like to talk to your professor about the course in general or any aspects of your writing, s/he will be available to meet with you by appointment during her/his consultation hours (posted on your professor's office door) or at a time that is mutually convenient. Please be punctual for all appointments. And, please call your professor if, due to unforeseen circumstances, you are running late or have to cancel an appointment. Your professor will brief you on his/her preferred method of arranging appointments in seminar.

E-mail

Your professor checks email at least once a day in the morning and (sometimes again in the evening). Your professor's email address is: . Please check your own e-mail daily. If you don't have an e-mail account, please acquire one immediately. You will be responsible for information (administrative details, reminders, brief notes, etc.) that your professor sends via email.

Writing Programme Policy on Attendance

Because instruction in the Writing Programme proceeds by sequential writing activities, your consistent and punctual attendance is essential.

Excused absence

An excused absence (from seminars, writing conferences with your tutor, and panel discussions) is an absence covered by

• a medical certificate (a copy of which you must submit to your professor immediately upon your return to University); or
• a letter from the Dean (covering special events such as athletic meets, debates, concerts, and conferences).

Unexcused absence

All other absence will be deemed unexcused. You are allowed one unexcused absence over the semester. Two unexcused absences will result in a warning letter, which could result in your being officially excluded from the course and failed. This is in keeping with University policy, as indicated in the NUS Arts & Social Sciences 1999-2000 handbook, p.19, section 18 (a) and (b).

Writing Programme Policy on Meeting Deadlines

Because your Writing Programme module is a planned sequence of writing, to pass the course, you must write all three essays, within the schedule of the course, and not in the last few days of the semester, after you have fallen behind.

All deadlines in the Programme are firm, because the essays build on each other. Late work will not be accepted. If you have a legitimate reason for not being able to submit a piece of work in timely fashion, contact your tutor before the due date of the assignment, providing the necessary documentation - from your doctor in the case of a medical emergency; your parents in the case of a family emergency; or the Dean of your Faculty in the case of other university commitments.