Reading and Writing Assignments
ENG 110-38 

END OF SEMESTER DEADLINES:

RESEARCH PAPER DUE: DEC 8. LATE PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. 

5 PAPER PORTFOLIO DUE: DEC 3 IF NOT HANDED IN, YOUR GRADE WILL BE BASED ON WHAT YOU ORIGINALLY HANDED IN. PORTFOLIOS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AFTER DEC 3. If the portfolio is incomplete or if you have not done at least 5 of the 6 papers assigned, you run the risk of not passing the class.

The research papers should be complete when handed in; I don't want them in bits and pieces. While I will look at drafts prior to DEC 8, the paper that you give me on DEC 8 is your final copy.

The portfolio should consist of 5 of your best papers. They should be complete with citations and a Work Cited page as needed. They should be handed in AS A GROUP on DEC 3. While I will look at individual papers prior to DEC 3, I want your final, best papers presented as a set of 5 papers. Remember that you have had all semester to work on these and they will be graded as such. 

Excuses: Since you have been working on the papers all semester, there are very few excuses that will work. A few common ones that you should forget are: my printer did not work (Print your paper in enough time to find another printer.); I lost my disk (Your papers are on forums; copy them from there if you have to.); It's in my dorm room (The shuttle passes by the Atrium every 15 minutes.); I was sick the last few days (You should not be waiting until the past moment to finish you work. If you are sick, call /e-mail ahead of time.) 

Due Date

Assignment
Sept 8 T


T=TUES
R=THURS

 Read: from "The Soul of Black Folk" by W. E. B. DuBois, pp.36-40   (1903)

In a short essay of about 2 pages, write a summary of the meaning of  the term "double-consciousness" as used by DuBois.
Sept 10 R

reading

writing

 Read: from "Up from Slavery" by Booker T. Washington, pp.20-27
Take a look at the article, "Clash of Titans" which compares/contrasts DuBois with Washington.

(After we read Garvey   and Douglas and perhaps Dunbar and McKay, we will start to integrate the material into a longer piece of writing.)  (1901)

On Thursday, Sept 10, we are going to go over the drafts of the papers that you have written as well as discuss the two essays. Finish your typing before class. If you need help posting your papers, we will work on that after the discussion.

Sept 15 T Read "Message of Marcus Garvery to Membership of Universal Negro Improvement Association from Atlanta Prison" by Marcus Garvey (1925)

In a 2-3 page essay, contrast the views on race relations between Garvey and DuBois/Washington. When you are contrasting, you are showing how their views DIFFERED. Make sure that you use specific examples to illustrate you points. Use quotes as you need them to back up your points, but don't put quotes in without using them to backup your points. You may want to consult the sources below for additional information.

Sept 17 R By this date, I want you to have posted your paper on this topic to the Forum's conference as I will be grading them over the weekend.

As an extension of Garvey, read "Nightmare" by Malcolm X (pp. 77-84). As an extension of DuBois, read "Keep Hope Alive" by Jesse Jackson (pp. 789-798) and Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech.   One of the things to look at is how writers of previous generations affect writers of later generations.

Having read all of the above works, what themes seem to be emerging? 

Sept 22 T Today we will go over how to proofread your papers. I am going to ask people in the class to read their classmates' papers on line and make comments to them in writing as to what can be improved. You may want to check under notes (yellow frame to the left) and read my comments on writing an introduction/conclusion. We will go over some of this material in class today.
Sept 24 R I will be collecting the final versions of your first two papers. Please print off copies of the papers and hand them in. If you do not, I will grade your last posted version of the papers. Make sure that you go over the papers. Make sure that you read them before handing them in.

Read: "Afrocentricity" by Molefi Kete Ashante (pp. 852-858) , "The African Contribution to Technology and Science" by Yosef Ben-Jochannan (pp. 685-690) and "The Africans in the New World: Their Contribution to Science, Invention and Technology" by John Henrik Clarke (pp. 691-697).

I may or may not comment on your papers in Forums right away. I may want to read all of papers before I start to comment, so it may be a while before I get everything up. I don't know yet how much I want to comment on Forums and how much on your papers. When I post papers from home, the connection is slower and it takes longer to get though everything I want.  

Sept 29 T Finish reading the works assigned on Sept 24.

Read: Excerpted from Mary Lefkowitz's book: Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as Historys  Mary Lefkowitz's book addresses the views of Ashante and Dr. ben-Jochannan  and argues against the Afrocentric viewpoint Ashante, Dr. ben-Jochannan and others presents. This would be a good piece to read in conjunction with Ashante and Dr. ben-Jochannan's essays. Read this essay and the ones by Ashante and Dr. ben-Jochannan. What points do they agree on? What points do they differ on? What is their major difference?

After reading the works and some related articles on the Internet, write a 2-3 page paper in which you summarize some of the accomplishment of Africans in the area of Science and other disciplines. You may want to consult works such as Black Collegian Online for additional information. Make sure that you keep track of all the sources that you used.
Oct 1 R Gathering and evaluation of information. Documentation.

Second draft of African accomplishments due.
Oct 6 T Read: "The Challenge of a Black Scholar" by Nathan Hare (pp. 722-729).
Oct 8 R Read: "The Death of Rhythm and Blues" by Nelson George (pp. 630-635), "Music Is My Mistress" by Duke Ellington (pp. 621-623) and "Miles" by Miles Davis (pp. 647-657). These works look at the African and African American roots of American music.

Final draft of African Science paper due.

Write: In a 3-4 page essay, using the material in the text as well as any other material you can find, trace the influence of African music on mainstream American music over the past 50 years. You may want to reread the essays and take a look at the sites below.
Oct 13 T Read: "The Ice Opinion" by Ice T (pp. 677-684) and "Playboy Interview With Quicy Jones" by Quice Jones (pp. 667-676). These works continue to look at African-American  music in the context of the larger American society.
Oct 15 R First draft due. Make sure that you cite all the information that you use. If you hand in a paper without citations where needed, you will receive an F. See notes on plagiarism.

Reading: to be announced.

I am going to try to post some sample research papers for you to look at.
Oct 20 T Reading: to be announced.

See Information on African in America PBS series below. You may want to read "Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas" (pp. 12-20) and Charles Johnson's "Middle Passage" (pp. 182-194) in connection with the series. This would make an interesting paper for a research paper. There are a lot of sources available at PBS.
Oct 22 R 4th paper (music) due. Check here for electronic citation examples

Reading: to be announced.
Oct 27 T Write: How, in your own experience, do television images fail to work as a depiction of reality. Pick a group of people with which you are familiar--women, the elderly, Jews, Italians, the working class, to name a few examples--and analyze the depiction of that group of people on television. Choose one program and analyze it in detail or find commonalties across several programs.

Using the Internet, look up some shows featuring leads from the group you chose.  Make sure that you keep track of all the WEB sites you visit by URL so that you can get the documentation you need. Make sure that you have the title of the article and author to the extent possible.

For your paper, find some information on several shows. Many shows have their own WEB sites now. Some also have ones set up by fans. Look at as many as you need.

  1. What is the central plot of the show?
  2. What are the interaction of the characters?
  3. How are the characters presented.
  4. What social message, if any, is presented?
  5. What groups/subgroups are being targeted?
  6. How are the characters presented?
  7. What are some of the stereotypes?
  8. What are some of the biases in the information presented on the WEB sites?
  9. Does the WEB site build up expectations for the program?
  10. Who wrote the WEB pages?
  11. Who is the sponsoring organization? Does this affect the content?


Also see: Criteria For Checking Internet Sources. by Susannah Chewning, Dept. of English, William Paterson University.
Oct 29 R Now that you have looked at a number of WEB sites, you should start to produce your first draft. Make sure that you keep track of the URL's of everything that you use.
Nov 3 T Write: First draft due.
Nov 5 R Write: Second Draft due
Nov 10 T Discussion: WEB Resources / Writing the Research Paper
Nov  12 R Write: Final Copy due of TV/WEB paper
Nov 17 Read: "The African American Holiday of Kwanzaa" by Maulana Karenga (pp.846-852) and "Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking" by Eric Copage (pp. 859-864). Karenga is generally credited with the development of Kwanzaa.

Look up material on the Internet as well as other source on the topic of Kwanzaa. You may want to look at the customs and origin of Kwanzaa.

I will post sources as I get them. If you have any, send me the URL.
Nov 19 Take a look at how Kwanzaa will be celebrated at William Paterson.

Write: How do you feel Kwanza fits into the various end of year events that we discussed in class.
Nov 24 First Draft of Kwanzaa paper due.
Dec 1 Second Draft of Kwanzaa paper due.
Dec 3 Final Draft of Kwanzaa paper due.
General outline for the future: Towards the end of the semester, I will be asking you to copy 5 or 6 of your best works to a Word Processor and have you produce your final drafts with all the necessary citing and corrections. I am then going to ask you to print all the papers off and submit them to me in one package around the beginning of December. This should represent the best of your work and will count for 40% of your grade(see syllabus).

Shortly we will start to work on a research paper. To some degree, we have been doing research all semester, so this should not be a major new task. The general topic will come from the readings and papers we are doing in class. What I am going to ask you to do is to take one of your papers and expand it into a 8-10 page research paper. Choose the paper that you find has more information that you would like to include. As an alternative, you may want to write on an area that you didn't cover in your papers. If so, let me know what you want to write about. This will count for 40% of your grade (see syllabus).
DEC 8 Term Paper Due

 

Additional Reading/Research Resources

African American Literary History (Richard Varron)
W.E.B DuBois
  1. The Souls of Black Folk - complete text The part in our text is from chapter 1.
  2. W.E.B. DuBois Homepage
  3. Both Sides of the Veil: Race, Science, and Mysticism in W. E. B. Du Bois by Cynthia D. Schrager  from The American Quarterly. An example of a scholarly, documented paper in a reviewed journal.
Booker T. Washington
  1. Up from Slavery - complete text The part in our text is from chapter 2
  2. Background Information
Marcus Garvey
  1. Links to Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois Pages a good starting point for additional information
  2. "Marcus Garvey, Father Divine and the Gender Politics of Race Difference and Race Neutrality" by Beryl Satter from The American Quarterly An example of a scholarly, documented   paper in a reviewed journal.
  3. Sample of Garvey's Writing, 1924-1927 The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers Project, A Research Project of the James S. Coleman African Studies Center (UCLA)
General Articles
  1. Black Collegian Online This cite has a number of articles that may be of help as you are writing your papers.
Articles on the origin of modern man: Comparison of Theories
  1. Paper on "The Current Debate Between the Multi-Regional and Single Origin Theory of Human Evolution", by Holly Sherard, University of Texas.f Texas. This paper gives an overview of two theories of the spread of modern man. It is also a good example of citation and it has a number of hypertext citations.
  2. Origins of Modern Humans: Multiregional  and Replacement Theories. by Michael Roberts, Dept. of Biology, Linfield College. This has links to more detailed information.
  3. Anthropology A105 (0379): Human Origins and Prehistory by  Prof. Jeanne Sept, University of Indiana (FALL 1997) This site has her  entire Human Evolution course online. She also has her textbook online. This is one of the best online course sites I have seen. Credits
    1. Replacement Model Graphic    Replacement Model Map
    2. Multi-Regional Model Graphic

A short summary: The Multiregional Theory argues that  early man moved out of Africa about 1,000,000 years ago and evolved separately in various regions (Europe and Asia). The Replacement Theory / Single Origin argues that the early man that had moved out of Africa into Europe and Asia died out and was replaced with a more recent wave of modern man about 100,000 years ago. Evidence from both theories argues for an Africa origin of man; they only differ as to the extent of evolution which occurred outside of Africa.  

As you can see from these papers, there is still a debate about which theory is correct. The two papers above do a fairly good job of presenting the evidence from a number of disciplines to show the merits and weakness of each theory. These papers are technical, but they illustrate what level of analysis is need to make a scientific argument. They are also free of politics. (However, people who use these theories often have a political agenda.)
Africentric Scholarship A Brief History of Africentric Scholarship by Legend Clegg, MAAT News, Vol I, January 1997. This is a brief summary with references. This site also contains links to other similar articles.
African Science African Science Before The Birth Of The "New" World - by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima from the Black Collegian. This is an example a another essay on African Science.
History of African American Music in the US
  1. African-American Music History This is an interesting site to start to gather some information
  2. William Paterson University's Music Program
Examples of Term Papers: Term Papers on Line Sample Term Papers This cite has term papers from Professor Raymond Tanter's International Security Affairs class.

Plagiarism Site Something to checkout before you buy a paper.

Sites with Guideline pages:

  1. Guidelines For Term Papers by Donald E. Simanek.
  2. Geography Site by Professor Culbert, Dartmouth College
  3. Anthropology Site University of Oregon
  4. Political Science Site William Paterson's Political Science Dept.
  5. Philosophy Site William Paterson's Philosophy Dept.
  6. History Site, by Professor Sheila Culbert, Dartmouth College
African in America: PBS Series Africans in America-PBS series This series in on Oct 20, 21 and 22 on
channel 13 at 8:00-11:00. It may also be on other PBS stations and be rebroadcast over the weekend. Check WEB page for details including transcripts from the series and other resource material.
Kwanzza Sitesnew_tiny.gif (189 bytes)
  1. Kwanzza Site (Melanet)
  2. A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE OF KWANZAA
  3. Kwanzaa: An African American Celebration
  4. Language Lessons

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