Last Chance!

Hello busy bees:  I have received a depressingly small number of submissions so far.  Just to remind you, time is running very short.  If you are having trouble, I will have one more round of office hours, tomorrow afternoon from 1-5.  I will have graded work with me (if you'd like to pick it up) and will be available to help if you are struggling with finishing.  So far, I've been pretty lonely during office hours--please, please take advantage of them if you need to. 

Write, write, write. 

Office Hours

Hello All:

12-1:50 on Wednesday is our final exam time.  Even though we will not be having a final exam, I will be in the classroom during this time.  Before that, I will be in my office in Foster Hall (112) from 10-12.

I will also be in the office from 3-5 tomorrow (Tuesday) and then 11-1 Thursday.  As I told you all earlier, I'm happy to have you visit to talk over Common Assignments, to pick up work, to turn in work, to check on grades.

If these times don't work for you, but you would like to see me, please shoot me an email and let me know.

Remember that I need ALL work by no later than Saturday night or so.  Please do not turn in both the Stelloh and Common Assignment papers Saturday night.  If you were all to do that, i would not be able to get grades finished in time . . .  

Questions?  Need help?  Email me.

A Few Notes

Hey all:  For those of you who were in class today--very good work!  And thank you for not being defensive.  Your willingness to let us look at your thesis statements and critique is helpful to EVERYONE!  And when you guys are open, it just makes it go so much better.  I also just wanted to soothe you all a little by saying that all the ways in which you feel like you aren't getting this are the ways in which ALL students feel they aren't getting it at this point.  It is normal!  So don't worry too much about it.  I was actually heartened by some of the conversation today--I know that you can do this.

In the meantime, I wanted to clarify a little.

1.  We'll do peer review on Friday.  If you don't want to make new copies of your Common Assignment, that is FINE.  Just bring what you had today.

2.  If you choose not to work on it between now and Friday, work on on the Stelloh essay.  But work on SOMETHING.  None of us have the luxury of not working on SOMETHING right now!

3.  I'm working on comments now.  I'll get them out as fast as I can between tonight and tomorrow.

4.  If you get stuck, don't stay stuck.  Email me and we'll try to get you unstuck.

Soldier on!  We're almost done.

Common Assignment Reminder

Your Common Assignment drafts will be due to me by email at midnight on Monday.  No exceptions.  If I don't get a draft by midnight, I will not offer you any comments.  We have a short time to get this turned around, so I need them in order to begin commenting.  (By the way, I will start doing that first thing Tuesday morning.  I have the whole day to myself in L.A. to find a coffeeshop and work on comments.)

Even if you are not completely finished, please send me what you do have so that you can at least get some sort of feedback.  Document as you go, since I will EXPECT to see a works cited page attached to your draft.

Email me with questions or problems or if you need me to look at your thesis.  I'm going to be available off and on.

Helpful Hint about Common Assignment Organization

Ultimately, the way that you decide to organize your Common Assignment is up to you.  But it is very easy for this essay to fit into a pretty standard kind of academic essay format.  Let's compare and contrast:

In the Stelloh summary/response essay, the assignment prompt suggested that you write the neutral and objective summary of the Stelloh article in the first part of the essay, followed by a transition into your response section, signaled by a mini-thesis. 

This is a slightly unusual format, only because it requires the reader to commit to reading a summary without knowing what the purpose of the summary is.  (That is, the reader does not really know what the paper is about until he or she gets to the middle of the paper when the mini-thesis is introduced.)

In a lot of traditional thesis-driven academic writing, it is more typical for a paper to begin with an introduction that introduces the topic of the paper and ends with the writer's argument in the form of a thesis statement. 

Then, if there is something that requires background or summary, the writer will step back from that argument, and provide the objective and neutral summary or background that will help the reader become more oriented to the topic.  This seems odd to many college writers because it means slipping out of the argumentative mode into the neutral mode.  Again, look at this from the perspective of the reader.  The reader now clearly understands why he or she is reading the summary or background and can anticipate that an argument will follow. 

After the writer has provided adequate summary and background, he or she will transition into the argument itself, now much more understandable to the reader because the reader has the knowledge required to follow it. 

This second model is probably the easiest, and perhaps most effective, way to structure the Common Assignment. 

Thesis Statements

Now that you have written a thoughtful summary of Gopnik's argument, spend some time reading and thinking about the research from the annotated bibliography.  Looking at the assignment prompt for the Common Assignment, craft a careful thesis statement that will form the basis for your Common Assignment essay.  A successful thesis will:

1.  State an argument (that is, something that a reader could reasonably argue with).  

2.  Focus the argument appropriately on Gopnik's article.

3.  Somehow note that your argument will be supported by research.  (For instance, you may consider using a phrase like, "research will show that" or "the articles ________________ and _________________ lend credence to Gopnik's assertion that . . . "  Or "authors _____________ and ______________ challenge Gopnik's argument by . .  .")

4.  Be arguable in 5-6 pages.  

5.  Answer the assignment as outlined in the prompt.  

**Although I had thought it was going to be possible for me to get by without a computer while in L.A., I realized that it just wasn't going to happen.  SO--I do have a computer and reliable internet.  In between hanging out with my nieces and nephew and spending time at the Happiest Place On Earth, I'll be working.  SO--once you have a thesis, feel free to run it by me.  Send me an email with your intro, or just your thesis, and I'll send you something back with some ideas/suggestions.  

Annotated Bibliographies

I will continue to add to this page.  Check back here.  Also, if you are having a hard time seeing any of these, let me know that as well.

Gender/Sexuality (Face to Face)   Fall 2013

Institutionalization (Face to Face)  Fall 2013

Prison Spending (Face to Face)   Fall 2013

Race in Prisons (Face to Face)   Fall 2013

International (Online)   Fall 2013

Prison Gangs (Online)   Fall 2013

Prison Life (Face to Face)   Fall 2013

Prison Life (Online)   Fall 2013

Prison Rape (Online)    Fall 2013

Privitization (Online)   Fall 2013

Privitization (Online)   Fall 2013

Race (Online)   Fall 2013

Rehabilitation (Online)   Fall 2013

Rehabilitation (Online)   Fall 2013

Rehabilitation (Online)   Fall 2013

Solitary (Online)   Fall 2013

Solitary (Online)     Fall 2013

Women in Prison  Spring 2014 (your class)

Aspects of Criminal Justice  Spring 2014 (your class)

Drugs in Prison  Spring 2014 (your class)

International Perspective  Spring 2014 (your class)