“Research is formalized curiosity. ”

CLASS SCHEDULEDiscussion Board

ENGL21002 - WRITING FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” – Zora Neale Hurston

Course Description

Instructor: Shamecca Harris | sharris1@ccny.cuny.edu

Office Hours: MW 3:30PM – 4:30PM or by appointment

Office: NAC 6/222

EC [59024] MW 12:30PM – 1 :45 PM| NAC 1/301Y

EC1[59026] MW 2:00PM – 3:15PM| NAC 1/301Y

This dynamic English Composition course asks students to both create and engage with texts, in a variety of forms, that examine human societies and cultures through research and observation. In this class, students will read and write voraciously about ethnographic research and learn fundamental strategies for finding and honing a topic, taking notes, conducting research, and writing a fieldwork project. Research for this course will not be confined to the library or the Internet, rather students will be asked to observe, listen, interpret, and analyze the behaviors of those around them and include these perspectives in their own writing.

Throughout the semester, students will also consciously consider what it means to write academically at the college level via regular self-reflection and revision. In doing so, students will strengthen their rhetorical knowledge and further develop an iterative writing process that they can apply to written assignments across genres and disciplines throughout college and beyond.

This course is uniquely designed for students who are interested in pursuing majors in the social sciences including anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.

Download PDF Syllabus

Required Text

FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research 4th ed. by
B. Stone Sunstein and E. Chiseri-Strater (Bedford St. Martin's/MacMillan); Other reading and writing materials

Supplemental Texts

City College Blackboard: Other reading and writing materials, PowerPoint slideshows, educational links and videos will be posted online on Bb during the semester. Please Note: You must use your CCNY email address in Bb (log in to the CCNY Portal, click Blackboard, then Update Email in the Tools menu). If you add a non-CCNY domain email address in this window, you will not receive important course announcements.

Course learning Outcomes

Acknowledge your and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility

Enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment

Negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation

Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes

Engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond

Formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing

Practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects

Strengthen your source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources

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