California Polytechnic State University,
San Luis Obispo
English Department
Dr. Johanna Rubba
ENGL 495 Language and
Gender Fall 2011
Assignments
Assignments
go back in time as you scan down the table.
Link to 495 Home
Page
This list goes back in time – the most recent assignment is at the top.
This page will be updated on a continuous basis. Always do assignments
in the order listed.
LAST UPDATED 11/25/11
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- Date assigned: 11/25/11
- Monday, 11/28: Presentation of term paper project to your classmates.
Instructions are posted on Bbd, and can also be found here.
Your groups can also be found on Bbd and here.
- Wednesday, 11/30: Course evaluations; summary of course content;
exam review session. BRING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS.
- Paper due dates reminder: Soft (e-mail) draft to be submitted
no later than 5 pm Wednesday, 11/30. Hard copy final draft due Monday,
December 5, by 5 pm. Place your paper outside my office door, in the plastic
bin. Be sure you have a BACKUP copy in two places. Use the time between
submitting the first draft and the final draft to edit and proofread your
paper thoroughly. This time is not for major content changes to your paper.
Follow the formatting and editing instructions carefully -- these are given
in checklist form under "Formatting
Requirements" in the term paper instructions.
- Visit my
Editing Tips
page for advice on persistent problems. Remember that every error
you make will cost an 8th of a point. Reread the Draft Information (now the
third item in the Course Materials list on BBd).
- I spent a good deal of time today re-organizing and slightly revising
the Editing Tips. The page will look different from the last time you looked
at it.
- Reflective essay assignment is here and on Bbd in the Assignments
folder.
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- Date assigned: 11/16/11
- NOTE: No class Weds., 11/23. Travel day.
- Readings:
- For Monday, read Maltz & Borker and O'Barr & Atkins,
in that order.
- Written homework:
- For Monday: worksheet for O'Barr & Atkins. No
worksheet is required for Maltz & Borker, but you may do one for extra
credit to either make up for a missing worksheet or raise the average grade
of the worksheets over all.
- SOFT COPY OF YOUR TERM PAPER IS DUE TUES., 11/22 BY 5 PM VIA E-MAIL.
Review the draft instructions posted in the Course Materials folder of
our Bbd site. Reminder: failure to submit the soft copy by 5 pm Tuesday
will cost 25% of the paper grade.
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- Date assigned: 11/13/11
- We begin our last unit: Gendered language, the role of language in gender performance.
- Readings this week:
- Begin Talbot Ch. 3 ( "Sex, gender, and voice quality" ONLY) today; keep reading and finish by Wednesday.
- For Wednesday, 11/16: Meyers "Current Generic Pronoun Usage."
- Written homework:
- For Monday: None.
- For Wednesday: Worksheet for Meyers.
Schedule for the remainder of the quarter:
- Week 9, 11/13-15: Gendered language.
- Week 10, 11/20: Gendered language. No class 11/22 (Travel Day). ELECTRONIC FIRST DRAFT OF TERM PAPER DUE 11/22.
- Week 11, 11/27-29: Student presentation of papers. Last hour: Final exam review session.
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- Date assigned: Week 7 11/6/11
- Readings:
- For Monday, 11/7/11: No new readings for Monday. We will discuss August and Miller, Swift, and Maggio.
- For Wednesday, 11/9/11:
- Mills, "Political Correctness." This is a dense reading, but extremely valuable.
- Written homework:
- For Monday: No new written homework for Monday.
- For Wednesday: do an Internet search
in a major publication or blog, whether liberal or conservative. Search
for the phrases "political correctness" or "politically correct."
Take in as much of the context as you need to understand what is being labelled PC (shouldn't be too much). Analyze your piece in terms of Mills' treatment of PC. Does the writer/speaker define what is meant by PC? Can you identify which practice/ideal/value the writer/speaker is complaining about? Can you categorize the use of the phrase according to Mills' categories? Is PC being used to silence, ridicule, criticize, or trivialize? What arguments is the writer/speaker making against what s/he is complaining about? Copy out the quotation including the phrase, and type up your thoughts. I'll collect these, and they'll count towards your participation grade, but will not be marked out of 10 like worksheets.
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- Date assigned: Week 6 10/26
- WATCH for an e-mail concerning office consultations on your papers.
There is information about this on Bbd in the Course Materials folder.
- Readings:
- For Monday:
- No new readings for Monday. Work on your papers!
- For Wednesday:
- Talbot Ch. 11; Miller, Swift, and Maggio
- Written homework:
- For Monday: No new written homework for Monday. Work
on your papers!
- For Wednesday:
- Worksheet for Miller, Swift, and Maggio (CDA article)
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- Date assigned: Week 5 10/19
- MIDTERM EXAM Mon., 10/24. The exam is designed to take about one and
a half hours. We will not reconvene after you're done with the test.
Work on the marked Course
Concepts and the study guide. Bring one large blue book
(I've changed my mind about the size), or two to be safe.
- Readings:
- For Wednesday: Finish Graddol & Swann, and read August.
- Written homework:
- For Wednesday: Worksheet for August.
- Date assigned: Week 4 10/13
- Readings:
- No new reading for Monday. We will work on Ch. 10.
- For Weds.: Read Graddol & Swann from the beginning
to above
"Woman Scorned" (i.e. do not read "Woman Scorned").
- Other homework:
- No worksheet for Graddol & Swann.
- For Monday: Find, if you can, a man (or a boy) you know
well enough to interview. Ask him to respond (seriously) to
one question:
"What does masculinity mean to you?" If the question
seems meaningless to him, as him what it means to him to "be
a man." Speak to him without others present if you can.
Take good notes of what he says. Don't argue with or comment
on the substance of his responses at all. Say as little as
possible. You can make remarks designed to draw him out more,
such as "can you say a little
bit more about that?" If you can't find a man, find a
woman, and ask her the same question. Again, don't become personally
involved in the conversation; just acknowledge what she says,
make notes, and encourage her to go on. After the interview,
go over your notes with the social construction of masculinity
– or with counterdiscourses – in mind. Write up a summary of
the interview, isolate any high points (strong illustrations
of Course Concepts), and come prepared to share them with some
of your classmates. In the second hour of class, you'll report
your findings to and compare notes with your classmates to
see if you have any results in common or anything surprising.
If you find a gay man, no problem. Same question.
- On Wednesday, 10/19, we will have a REVIEW SESSION for
the midterm during the second hour of class. COME PREPARED WITH QUESTIONS.
I have marked the Course Concepts page to let you know which Concepts
will be subject to testing on the exam, which is Monday, 10/24.
- Date assigned: Week 3 10/6
- Readings:
- Due Mon., 10/10: Mehren and Talbot Ch. 9
- Due Weds., 10/12: Talbot Ch. 10
- Written homework:
- Due Mon., 10/10: Worksheet for Mehren.
- Due Weds., 10/12: CDA exercise: "Unwed Father." Click
here or
look for it in the Assignments folder on Bbd. I'll grade this as
I do for worksheets: X/10. It will go into the worksheet pot for
grading purposes (that is, it will count as a worksheet). This
will be very good practice for the midterm, which is coming up
soon.
- IMPORTANT: Term paper topic proposals are due Wednesday, 10/5. Instructions
for proposals are here. Look at the Term
Paper instructions AND the model
papers on Bbd. I have office hour Tues. 3:10-5 pm if you have last-minute
questions. Warning: late proposals won't be accepted and not handing one
in costs points on the term paper.
- Date assigned: Week 2 9/29
- Readings:
- Due Mon., 10/3: Talbot Ch.7; we will also discuss Morrish.
- Due Weds., 10/5: Pollack.
- Written homework:
- For Monday: This
short CDA practice exercise.
- Worksheeet for Pollack due Weds., 1/5. Pollack is
a theory reading, and very short. It consists of short excerpts
from a book, so the page numbers don't make sense and paragraphs
don't continue on the next page.
- For Wednesday: Read the short text "Proclivities"
on Blackboard, in the Course Readings Folder. This is a humor piece
from the New Yorker magazine. This text is an example of intertextuality.
Come to class prepared to discuss in detail how the article fits
this Course Concept: identify the discourse Frank is borrowing
from; be prepared to cite specific words and phrases which are
plucked from this other discourse; be prepared also to point out
specific words and phrases which are inserted into the text to
turn the text into a piece about party affiliation rather than
the topic of the
"lending" discourse. Intertextuality is discussed in
Morrish and defined on the Course Concepts page; we will discuss
it on Monday. This
is not to hand in, but to be used for class discussion.
- Date assigned: Week 1 9/21
- Readings:
- Due Mon., 9/6: Gastil, Eisikovits (eye-zik-o-vits).
These are experimental studies. Read "How
to Read Research Articles" before you attempt them. Begin
reading Talbot Ch. 8. A handout for help with this reading is available
on Blackboard.
- Due Weds., 9/28: Read Morrish. A handout for help with
this reading is available on Blackboard. Morrish is a CDA reading.
- Both of these readings are quite difficult. Take advantage
of the handouts. Also, spread the reading over several sessions
so you don't become overwhelmed and unable to assimilate the
information. If you can't read both by Wednesday, do your best
to find summary parts (end, beginning) and skim the rest.
- Worksheets:
- No worksheet is assigned for Morrish.
- Due Mon., 9/6: Gastil, Eisikovits
- Again, I want to apologize for this heavy reading load so
early in the quarter. Subsequent reading assignments will not
be so dense, and worksheets more spread out.
- Date assigned: Week 1 9/19
- Readings:
- Due Mon., 9/19: Talbot Ch. 1, Bing & Bergvall
- Due Weds., 9/21: Sheldon, Leap
- Worksheets:
- Due Weds., 9/21: Sheldon (a Critical Discourse Analysis
(CDA) reading. For instructions
on how to do reading worksheets, click here.)
No worksheet is assigned for Leap.
- I know this is a heavy reading load at the start, but we need to
build a base quickly. Reading will be a little lighter most of the
following weeks
- READINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE COURSE BLACKBOARD SITE UNTIL SUCH TIME AS
YOUR READING PACKETS ARE READY TO ORDER.