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Drugs, Society, and Behavior |
Requirements |
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REVISIONS & PORTFOLIO Three
of your four papers this semester (the two position papers and the book
review) will go through some form of revision before they are considered
final. I will personally be the main reviewer for the first position paper
and the book review. I will assign a grade to the first draft, which
you will revise and edit once, and then a grade to the final document. The
final grade for the paper will be the average between the two. I am also
requiring you to show a preliminary draft of the first paper to the
peer-writing tutor assigned to the class (Rebecca Kaufman) before you hand it
in on Wednesday, September 28. By
the third paper I expect you will have developed a higher level of
proficiency in revising your own writing. The main reviewer for the first
draft of position paper 2 will be the peer-writing tutor. I expect you to
take her advice seriously and to incorporate her suggestions thoughtfully.
Please be aware that the peer-writing tutor will work with you primarily on
issues related to writing and not content. You are ultimately
responsible for the latter, including making decisions as to what are the
important issues, what is the relevant data, what types of sources are
acceptable, etc. The
first three papers will also be reviewed by one or two of your peers on the
day they are due in one of our “Writing process meetings.” There will not be
multiple drafts of the literature review paper. Each time you revise one of these papers you
must hand it in to me along with the previous versions of the paper as they
were marked by the peer-writing tutor, the in-class peer reviewer, and
myself. Please place all versions in a large manila envelop before you hand
them in. Style
guide for written assignments[1] 1. All
papers should be typewritten. 2. Papers
must not exceed the assigned length. Assigned length is based on typewritten
papers using the font Times New Roman 12 and one-in margins on
all sides of the page. 3. For all
assignments the following information should be placed in the upper right-hand
corner of every page: Title of
project Your name Class title
and number Date The
assignment should follow immediately (not on the next page) 4. The page
number should appear in the upper-right hand corner of every page. 5. Double-space
everything. 6. Keep a photocopy
of everything you submit. 7. Part of
your grade will be based on grammar, spelling, and other
basic writing skills. 8. Papers
must be submitted on time, except with prior permission. 9. Papers
must be resubmitted within one week of being returned to you with all errors
corrected and comments accounted for. Here
are some suggestions for editing taken from The College Writer’s
Reference (3rd ed.), By Toby Fulwiler and Alan Hayakawa
(Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle, NJ, 2002), pp. 71: 1.
Read each draft out loud. Your ear is usually a
trustworthy guide for finding awkward sentence constructions, grammatical
mistakes, and inappropriate tone. 2.
“Simplify. Simplify. Simplify,” wrote Henry
David Thoreau in Walden, abut living and writing. Edit your work
to simplify words, sentences, paragraphs, whole papers so that you make your
points as economically and forcefully as possible. 3.
Delete unnecessary words. Omit words that do not
contribute to your meaning. Many sentences can be improved by cutting needless
words and not rewriting anything. 4.
Edit with a word processor. The advantage of infinitely
changeable electronic type is that you can play with a phrases, sentence,
metaphors, titles, rhythms, and formats until they please you, making your
job more fun and less of a chore. 5.
Proofread line by line. Using a ruler to mask the coming
lines, proofread your paper after any computer programs have automatically
checked your grammar or spelling. You may still find missing words, misused
punctuation, and even unintended words when the spell checker fails to
recognize a spelling mistake (two instead of too, etc.). ORAL ARGUMENTS see
course home page for schedule Twice
during the semester you will participate in a formal debate. The
topics for the point and counterpoint arguments have been chosen because they
represent areas in which experts disagree. This is a very important point
because students sometimes feel that a particular argument is somewhat
artificial or somewhat extreme and that someone makes it just for the sake of
argument. Let me assure that this is not the case with any of the debates
this semester. I have high expectations for your performance in these
debates, and when I use the word formal I do it fully aware of the
implications. I expect you to be well prepared for your debate. This means: a. Your library research needs to be complete and current b. You need to be aware of your presentation style: keep the
audience interested; make sure they are able to understand your arguments c. You need to rehearse so that you can do your presentation
without reading too much d. You need to stick to the time limit e. You need to dress for the occasion f. You need to coordinate your presentation with your partners g. Audiovisual aids are a must--make sure that you at least
use a few well developed Power Point slides or overheads (come see me if you
need help). However, don't be afraid to try something a little different. POSITION PAPERS (5 pages
each) please consult Paper
Style Guide due
on Wednesday, September 28 AND Monday, November 14 You
will be responsible for writing two position papers based on your oral
argument. This does not mean that in your debate your will simply read your
paper. The amount, type, and way of presenting information in a paper are
almost never adequate for oral presentations. You can think of your paper as
an elaboration on your debate, or of your debate as a summary of your paper.
You could also choose to concentrate in your paper on one specific area of
the argument and explore it in greater depth. The first position paper is due
WEDNESDAY, SPETMBER 28. The second position paper is due
on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14. Please be aware that there is no relationship between the
date when the debate papers are due and when the oral arguments take place.
In fact, the paper will likely be due several weeks before the oral debate. You
must bring three copies of your position papers to class on the
date they are due. Your peer reviewer will start reading and critiquing it
during the class period. If you do not bring this complete and final draft to
class on that day, you will receive a 10% penalty to be applied
to the final version of the paper (after revisions). BOOK REVIEW (5 pages)
please consult Paper
Style Guide due
on Monday, October 24 We
will read three popular-press books this semester: Listening to Prozac,
Ritalin nation, and The meaning of addiction.
These books were written by mental health and behavioral research
professionals who are very knowledgeable and who clearly feel very strongly
about the topics they write on. To reach their conclusions they interpreted
the available research evidence in particular ways. For how they did this,
all three authors were and continue to be criticized by some and praised by
others. In
this assignment I will ask you to write a critical review of one of these
books (your choice). Your audience in this case is non-academic; people who
would read The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. In
fact, I want you to write this book review as if it were to actually be
published in one of these two newspapers. The NYT publishes a weekly book
review supplement if you want to get a sense of what those are like. Book reviews are due on MONDAY, OCTOBER 24.
This paper must be written about a different book from the one(s) used in
your debates. As with debate papers, you must bring three copies of this
book review paper to class that day. LITERATURE REVIEW (5 pages) see also Paper Style Guide due
on Friday, December 9 (by 4:00PM) You
will write a brief literature review on a topic related to drug use in our
society that was not covered in the assigned readings. There is a vast array
of such topics given the relatively narrow focus of what we covered. Your
first crucial task will be to select the topic for the review. There are
countless sources for ideas: a newspaper or magazine article you read
recently, a report on the news, a scholarly report, a movie, a conversation
with a friend, etc. Once you have a short list of possible topics I want you
spend just a few minutes conducting some library research on each of these
topics. Don’t spend a lot of time, just long enough to get a sense of whether
you have selected any non-viable topics. Print out a few abstracts and make
an appointment with me to discuss your choices. Do not continue with your work
until I have approved the topic. This must be done no later
than October 24, 2003. What
is a literature review? In a literature review your task is to
summarize the state of affairs of research and knowledge in a particular area
of scholarly work: What has been done in the past? What is currently being
done? What questions remain unanswered? What are weaknesses and strengths of
the research in this area? Most importantly, your task is to come up with an
effective organizing schema for all this information. I want you to use at
least 5 references for this paper, and I want at least three of
these sources to come from peer-reviewed psychological journals. PEER REVIEWS (1-2 pages
each) see
course home page for Peer review
schedule Three
times during the semester you will read and critically review the written
work of one of your peers. You will make comments on the margins of your
peer’s paper and you will also summarize your main points in a one-to-two
page peer review sheet (always due the day after a “Writing process
meeting, by 3:30pm). The
following suggestions were taken from Taken from: The College Writer’s
Reference (3rd ed.), By Toby Fulwiler and Alan Hayakawa
(Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle, NJ, 2002), pp. 70-71: ·
Follow the golden rule. Comment on other’ papers as you hope
they will comment on yours: be both critically helpful and kind. ·
Comment on the language you find in the written text, not on
the values an personality of the author. ·
Be specific and tell the author exactly where a word,
sentence, or paragraph causes difficulty. ·
When you find many errors in a classmate’s paper, mention the
larger ones first so that you don’t overwhelm the writer with too much to do
all at once. We will spend time reviewing the performance of the debaters.
We will do this primarily by watching the videotape of the presentations.
Seeing yourself as others see you is the best way to gain some insight as to
what areas of your presentation style can be improved. Many of you will find
this experience somewhat uncomfortable or downright embarrassing. I have in
the past video taped my lectures and positively hated it. However, I know you
will find this exercise as worthwhile as I have. As a member of the audience
you will be responsible for giving constructive feedback to your fellow
student debaters. |
