Honors Interdisciplinary Seminar ( IDS 175) TRUTH Course Information & Policies

"I AM THAT I AM"

Cary Henson		Fall 2009
Office: Radford 329		Section 005 (1st half); Section 004 (2nd half)
Office Hours: MWF 1:00-2:00; by appt.		Time: Mondays 3-6
Phone: #2264		Room: Clow 23
Internet:www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/henson/		E-Mail: henson@uwosh.edu

Required Readings / Viewings

• Plato, The Republic (sections from the 2007 Penguin edition only--Desmond Lee, translator)
• Ferdinand de Saussure, "Binary Oppositions"; "Linguistic Value" (e-reserve)
• Friedrich Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lying in an Extra-Moral Sense" (e-reserve)
• Oscar Wilde, "The Decay of Lying" (online)
• Tim O'Brien, "How to Tell a True War Story" (e-reserve)
• Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones (selected stories)
• Stranger than Fiction (Section 005 only: view prior to Oct. 26)

Assessment (1000 points total)

• Summer assignment 25 pts
• Szydlik Module 425 pts
• Henson Module 425 pts
  • Class Participation and Presentations 75 pts
  • Section Exam 75 pts
  • Quizzes 75 pts (3 * 25)
  • Study Questions 90 pts (3 * 30)
  • Response Papers--Section 005--110 pts (30+35+45)
  • Response Papers--Section 004--90 pts (45+45)
  • Final Project Preparation--Section 004--20 pts
• Final Project 125 pts

Final Grades will be assigned according to the following scale:

A	930-1000 pts
A-	900-929 pts
B+	880-899 pts
B	830-879 pts
B-	800-829 pts
C+	780-799 pts
C	730-779 pts
C-	700-729 pts
D+	680-699 pts
D	630-679 pts
D-	600-629 pts
F	0-599 pts

Participation
As a seminar, IDS 175 is a process-oriented course, and active participation by all is essential. You are not necessarily expected to understand or even to like all of the material, but you are expected to engage it with the seriousness it deserves. As a professional courtesy to me and to your colleagues, you should be on time, be prepared, and behave in a manner consistent with our course's and the university's mission and objectives. And please turn off your electronic devices before class begins.

Presentations
Each student, working with a colleague, will do one presentation providing background or additional information on a selected reading.  Each week, we will have 3 presentations (weeks 2-6 and weeks 8-12).  The presentations will be brief (10-minute overviews), requiring some, but not extensive, research and allowing each student to engage in some supplementary study of our authors and topics.

Quizzes
We will have three quizzes to ensure that students have in fact prepared the reading for the day.
Quizzes may also include review of the previous session’s material. More detailed quiz coverage and format information will be provided during the sessions preceding scheduled quizzes.

Study Question Responses
Study questions will be prepared for all of the readings and will help to guide our exploration of the issues each text raises.  We will discuss these in class, and students will type up responses to selected questions for submission after class discussion.  Responses need not be written out prior to class, as class time will be allotted to discussion and preparation of study question responses.  Expectations and format considerations will be discussed in class, and the Study Question link above provides further details as well.

Response Papers
To allow for a somewhat fuller, more formal, and cohesive examination of our readings, students will compose three response papers (two for 2nd section) of approximately 1,000 words each.  Suggested topics and approaches will be discussed, and class time will be devoted to idea generation, focus, organization, and the mechanics of presentation.

Exam
Our last section session will include an exam of approximately 90 minutes.  The exam will consist of a comprehensive review of the material, with an emphasis on synthesizing and placing into dialogue our various readings.  Students who attend, pay attention, read carefully, and engage the material will do well, which also applies to the course as a whole:  Process will be rewarded. 

Final Project
Please see the Final Project Guidelines page.

Email/Electronic Submissions
Finally, a few words regarding email communication are warranted. I encourage students to use email to supplement, complement, and clarify course readings and issues. You should not, however, use email in lieu of paying attention in class, reading the syllabus and assignment guidelines, or making a good-faith effort to answer questions on your own. I also will not respond to emails that lack effective subject headings. Moreover, if your email is sloppily, carelessly, or unclearly articulated, I am unlikely to be able to provide meaningful feedback. Construct your messages in such a way as to allow me to provide the most helpful, efficient response possible. You need to allow a minimum of 24 hours response time. Lastly, I will not accept electronic submission of any course work without expressed prior consent, and, as I do not read complete drafts of student work, I will not download, print, and review drafts of any work sent electronically. I will be more than happy, of course, to answer specific questions about specific issues, in class, during office hours, or via email/D2L.