The Course

While the topic of this course is the role of media in our society, it is important to note that the main purpose of Humanities 1 is to work on your critical thinking, writing, oral communication, and library research skills. If you need practice in these areas, you will find it. If you are already a strong writer, speaker, and researcher, you will have the opportunity to make yourself even better.

Aims and Objectives

1. Develop a community of learners mutually engaged in the process of inquiry.
2. Support students' development as critical thinkers and writers.
3. Contribute to students' reflection on the relevance of their lives to larger society (see the HMC mission statement.
4. Encourage the development of increased self-knowledge, humane concern for society, and an examined and evolving set of values (see the Humanities and Social Sciences Advising Handbook, page 1, for the department's mission.).

1. Develop and articulate clear and defensible theses related to course themes.
2. Integrate evidence from course readings, class discussions, and outside research to support their theses.
3. Respond critically to others' perspectives.
4. Demonstrate their ongoing engagement in the process of inquiry.

Books

• Lunsford, The St. Martin's Handbook (fifth edition, available at Huntley Bookstore)
• Schudson, The Sociology of News (available at Huntley Bookstore)
• Course Reader (available in through your professors)

Policies:

• Reading: It is your responsibility to complete all readings prior to the class meeting when they will be discussed. Be sure to bring the appropriate text to class so that we can refer to it during discussion.
• Films: We will view several films during the semester. In most cases, we will show the films during class time. Where this is not possible, we will arrange one evening showing of the film. If you cannot attend that showing, you must either borrow the college's copy or rent the film yourself and watch it before we discuss it in class.
• Blogging: You are responsible for reading, watching, or listening to the news for at least two hours each week. Spend your time with a variety of news sources, including the networks (ABC, CBS, MSNBC), cable (Fox, CNN, CSPAN, BBC), the internet (Aljazeera.net, or blogs such as Daily Kos or The Drudge Report), traditional print journalism (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune) and newspaper web sites, or radio (National Public Radio, Pacifica, democracynow.org). Beyond your news consumption, you must write a weekly web log, a 300-500 word reflection on a topic that you encountered in your "newsing." Your blog must be posted by 11:59 PM on Sunday. For weekly topic suggestions and further instructions, visit the Hum 1 Blogging Guide.
• Participation and absences: Because this class is conducted as a seminar, it is necessary that you attend and speak up regularly. Your final grade will be reduced if you amass more than three unexcused absences during the semester. If speaking in public is not your favorite activity, please talk to us early in the semester about strategies for becoming more comfortable when addressing your fellow students.
• Submitting written work: All work must be submitted on time and in the assigned format. Extensions will be granted only in case of illness or emergency. Late papers will be penalized, but they will always get some credit, no matter how tardy.
• Peer editing: Before each paper is due, you will exchange first drafts with a classmate and give each other feedback on what you have written. It is essential that you bring a completed draft of your paper to these sessions (see the assignment schedule below for dates). Further instructions concerning the peer editing process will be given during class.

Participation:

Writing:

• Outlines.
• The thesis statement.
• Writing an introduction.
• Some style tips.
• When to cite.

You will revise your writing at various times and in various ways over the semester: during in-class writing and peer-editing sessions; during office meetings with your instructors and tutor; for the two graded revision exercises; in preparation for the portfolio; and, for many of you, during visits to the Writing Center.

At the end of the semester, you will turn in a portfolio that consists of your three papers--each of them very carefully revised, and some multiple times--and a two-page introduction. Your portfolio will be assessed by one of your instructors and by an outside reader drawn from the Humanities 1 staff. If the portfolio is judged weak or unacceptable to the outside reader, the instructor will submit it to a second reader for another evaluation. Your instructors will weigh these outside evaluations heavily in assigning final grades for the portfolio and the course.

You will submit your papers to the appropriate reader as e-mail attachments no later than 2:00 pm on the days they are due. We will grade your papers on-screen and return them to you as e-mail attachments. Papers must be submitted as Word files. Name your files using the following format: “first initial and surname” + “paper” or “revision” + “appropriate number.” For example: jgroves revision 2.

The HMC Writing Center

This fall, the Writing Center will offer a series of workshops that are timed to your writing assignments:

• September 12: Thesis workshop.
• September 14: Thesis workshop.
• October 3: Building a paper from a thesis.
• October 5: Building a paper from a thesis.
• October 19: Revision workshop.
• October 31: Research paper workshop.

Grades

Semester Schedule

This page maintained by Mayeri, Groves Holding Company, Ltd.; last updated November 16, 2006.