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1.
MLA documentation
try
Hacker's exercises below as a final review
 A
big part of academic writing and the English 101 final exam is MLA
documentation of citations. Hacker deals with this issue in A
Pocket Style Manual at section 32 (Hacker 127-150).
You
can make a last review of this important subject by visiting her web
site and trying her online
research exercises. From her research exercises page, click
on the area "MLA" and then to the right click on "MLA
documentation." (There are two sets of exercises, a total of
fifteen questions.) You will be asked to sign in by providing your name
and the instructor's email. For
instructor's email here use gutchess@englishare.net.
If
you have any remaining questions about citation after trying Hacker's
exercises, be sure to get answers before the final exam.
2. About
the TC3 English 101 Final Exam
 English
101 plays the central role in TC3's core curriculum. It assures that all
students in the college have experience as academic writers. It allows
teachers of psychology, nursing, history, physics, criminology, or any
other discipline to make writing assignments with confidence that they
will not have to teach writing in addition to their substantive
subjects. A standardized final exam in English 101 is designed to assure
this college-wide result.
Pass/Fail.
All students in English 101 must pass the standardized final in order to
pass the course. English Department faculty do not grade their own
students' exam papers; grades are determined by independent
teacher-teams to promote objectivity and uniformity to the fullest
extent possible.
Time
and place. English
101 Departmental Final Exam,
Monday,
December 13, 2004
1:00 pm to 3:50 pm, room 210B.
Subject matter.
This semester's exam will ask you to:
Write
an argumentative essay of approximately 500 words. Create a
narrowed persuasive thesis on some aspect of the following area:
To vote or not to vote. That is the question. Does voting make a
difference for the legitimacy of democratic governance and for the
strength of our pluralist democratic culture?
Your essay should incorporate at least three citations from the
attached readings. Use the MLA in-text citation and construct
a Work Cited list at the end. You may utilize your English
handbook and dictionary.
Your essay should demonstrate sound organization, solid development,
strong control of the mechanics of grammar, and correct spelling.
You should also concern yourself with such elements of style
as tone, word choice, sentence variety, correct documentation format
and other aspects of good writing that your professor has discussed
with you in the course of the semester. You have three hours
to complete this assignment.
What
to bring to the test site:
bring several writing pens, thoughtfulness and confidence. Also bring
Hacker's A Pocket Style Manual and a dictionary (other than an
electronic dictionary). Blue books
will be supplied at the test site, so writing paper is not
needed.
Sources. Students may NOT use books, articles,
periodicals, pre-written essays, written outlines, journals or notes
of any kind during the exam.
Equipment:
students may not use PDAs, laptops, calculators, electronic dictionaries, or
cell phones during the exam.
What
is evaluated. There are an
infinite number of "right" answers to every essay exam. The
writer's claim or position on a subject (in favor of X or opposed to X)
does not matter to the examiners. Three general things matter. We have
called them COW. I think I've
used that acronym enough that you'll barf if I spell it all out it
again.
Most
instructors at TC3 (in fact all I know) use a scoring system similar to
the
grading sheet that Dr. G used for the Plato exam. Attached
you can see a particular essay grading
rubric that is used by most TC3 instructors to evaluate English
101 final exams.
3.
Be Confident
Like
any other situation, the Final Exam provides you with the choice to
panic or to remain calm. The emotional state in which an exam is taken
often governs the outcome. Choose to be calm. Prepare for the exam so
that you have good reason to be calm.
Look
at what's right the exam, not what's wrong with it. Approach
this problem with a constructive mind. There's always something positive
in every situation, even an exam.
We
have time to prepare. We can and should use this time to research
the topic of torture, to discuss it in class discussion, and to plan
what we will write on the exam.
This
Module contains study materials on the exam topic (to be added as
soon as possible, once the topic is known). Students should look for additional sources and
contribute them for class discussion.
In
Lesson 26, we will take a practice final exam to
rehearse for the real thing. Dr. G will evaluate your response. From
this practice, you will understand clearly how to complete your
preparation.
4.
Sample Student Essay
FROM
SUMMER SESSION 2004
The
following is an average quality (passing) student essay on the exam
question. It was written within a few days after the first photos from
Abu Ghraid concentration camp were published. The exam question was:
is torture ever justified? What are the strengths
and weaknesses of this student's response?--Dr. G
Student
L
Academic
Writing
Prof.
Gutchess
12
May 2004
Can
We Justify Torture?
The
practice of extracting information from criminals and prisoners of war
through the use of physical and psychological torture has been with us
since the beginning of recorded history. From Chinese water torture to
thumb screws, dunkings and numerous other methods, humans have at one
time or another fallen back on inhumane actions when they feel that
they, their country or their loved ones are in some way being
threatened. The well-worn Biblical maxim "an eye for an eye"
is often used as a rationale for this form of punishment, but if we
read further in Deuteronomy, it becomes clear that the reference is to
a trial by judge and jury and is in fact where our current legal
system found its humble beginnings. In more primitive times, this type
of treatment of fellow humans may have found an excuse in ignorance.
Today, I will argue that we have too much to lose to allow ourselves
the indignity of becoming the brutes that we profess to abhor.
The
practice of torture has, with the advent of the war in Iraq. fallen
under the spotlight of the media. As events unfold daily the onion is
rapidly being peeled away. This has placed the concept of America as a
benign aggressor in great question, our policies under exponentially
greater scrutiny.
Volumes
have been written in the form of international treaties, such as the
Geneva Convention and the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
The latter document makes it clear its rules may be side-stepped only
for brief periods of time and only under the most dire of
circumstances (Wendland 15). While such broad language may be
necessary to provide leeway for the interrogators to operate, it is,
like the prisoners it is designed to protect, often abused.
When
it comes to America's unofficial policy, it seems to depend upon whose
ox is being gored. We turn a blind eye to Saddam's atrocities back in
1988 when he gassed his own people while we hold out our morally
superior policy of "eschew[ing] torture in even the most extreme
cases" ("Ends, Means and Barbarity"). Recent events
have taken an awkward turn for the world's only remaining super-power,
as the photos and films keep pouring in from Abu Ghraid.
Some
are able to justify the abuse of prisoners in times of war. It is
possible that one prisoner could hold a secret that could save many
lives. This is not a question of intelligence, only perspective.
Professor Sam Vaknin considers that ethically torture "is no
different to [sic] any other pretrial process" (11). Taken in
consideration with other trauma experienced by prisoners, this might
well be a valid response. Vaknin is alluding to the idea that, in war,
all is torture. His analogy sounds a disingenuous tone. Since the days
of chivalry it has been understood that there are rules of engagement.
These rules tend to break down in increments as first one party and
then the other makes exceptions first in one case, then in a second,
and a third. It is one thing for one man to kill or maim another man
in the heat of battle. It is quite another to restrain someone and
apply pressure at will over an unrestricted period of time.
Then
there is the question of what kind of return you get on your
investment. In the May 10 issue of the New Yorker, Seymour Hersh
questions a 36-year veteran of the CIA who tells him that, by and
large, "they tell you what they want you to hear." The
information obtained under torture is usually not reliable.
The
definition of justice is moral rightness or lawfulness. Making
allowances for human cruelty renders our own lives meaningless. We may
attempt to rationalize and excuse away our vengeful acts, but it
remains better to imprison a thousand men withholding secrets valuable
to the state than to wrongfully torture one man who knows nothing. We
are either for our laws or against them. Anything less degrades us
all.
>page
break<
Works
Cited
"Ends,
Means and Barbarity." The Economist 9 Jan 2003.
Vaknin,
Sam, PhD. Malignant Self-Love. New York: Penguin Press, 2003.
Wendland,
Lene. The Handbook of State Obligations Under the United Nations
Convention Against Torture. Geneva, Switzerland: Association for
the Prevention of Torture, 2002.
 5.
Links for Info
on Exam Topic
"Does
Your Vote Matter?" from Business Week
"Voting
Rights: An
Overview" from The CQ Researcher
"Latest
Conspiracy Theory" from The Washington Post
Keyssar's
Right to Vote reviewed in Michigan Law Review
"Why Vote?" in International Journal
of Politics and Ethics
voting
provisions in the US Constitution PBS
By the People
People
for the American Way Electionline
League of Women Voters
Common
Cause Moritz
Law 2004
election complaints
League
of Non-voters
(on
reserve at the TC3 Library: Keyssar's The Right to Vote &
Doppelt's Nonvoters)
ASSIGNMENT
FOR LESSON 26:
Dr. G's Mock Final Exam will be
due in Lesson 26 (worth up to 5 course credits).
The exam will be given at TC3 at the following times and places.
Choose any one:
Thursday, December 2, 7:40 am to
10:30 am in TC3 cafeteria.
Thursday, December 2, 2:00 pm to 4:50 pm. in room 262.
Friday, December 3, 1:00 pm to 3:50 pm in TC3 Library.
Saturday, December 4, 9:00 am to 11:50 am in TC3
cafeteria
Need a different time? Contact Dr. G for an appointment
to
take the exam.
This Mock Exam is your chance to practice taking the final exam under
simulated exam conditions. Prepare for the Mock Exam by studying about
the exam topic. Before writing the exam, have a clear plan for the essay that you will write.
Bring with you to the exam: A Pocket Style Manual and a
dictionary.
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