Spring 2018 CPN Course Descriptions

CPN 101: Writing Studies II is the second course in SUNY Cortland’s required two-course Composition Program sequence. CPN 101 is a theme-based critical inquiry course, and students compose writing projects that require research into topics and issues of public importance. All CPN 101 courses have a theme. The following instructors have already identified their inquiry topic for their Spring 2018 courses.


CPN 101: “In Search of the Capitalist Hero: American Dreams Found . . . or Lost?”
CPN 101, Spring Semester, 2018, Dr. A.R. Anderson
Section 001 M-W-F 9:10; Section 008 M-W-F 10:20; Section 033 M-W-F 12:40

In his 1950’s article “In Search of the Capitalist Hero,” Henry Nash Smith wondered how Horatio Alger’s “good man of business” now ran in the “rat race” amid the “mazes” of American “corporate culture.” We will explore writings by Alger, Carnegie, Lewis, and Iacocca that continue Smith’s search for the ethical, moral, and political character of the American Dream.

CPN 101: “Photography as History and as Art”
CPN 101, Spring Semester, 2018, Ross Borden
Section 019 T-R 2:50; Section 024 T-R 10:05; Section 041 T-R 8:30

Our topic of inquiry is photography as documentary and as art. We will practice analysis and interpretation by studying photographs, some legendary and some contemporary, as students choose to introduce them and to make claims for them.

CPN 101: “Monsters”
CPN 101, Spring Semester, 2018, Rhian Ellis
Section 010 T-R 10:05; Section 031 T-R 8:30

We'll be reading and writing about real and imaginary monsters in history, popular culture, and other cultures as well. Why are we obsessed with them, and what can they teach us about ourselves?

CPN 101: “Critical Thinking and Perception”
CPN 101, Spring Semester, 2018, Timothy Emerson
Section 014 T-R 11:40; Section 016 T-R 10:05

Why are our perceptions so often flawed? This course examines what goes into good critical thinking, what prevents it, and how we can better hone our thinking, rhetoric, and inquiry to construct better, more successful written arguments.

CPN 101: “Research Methods”
CPN 101, Spring Semester, 2018, Lisa Neville
Section 006 T-R 8:30; Section 023 T-R 2:50

The focus of this class will be an individually-determined inquiry project culminating in a research paper and talk. The first third of the course will involve developing strategies for critical reading and college-level writing; the next portion will be given over to group work, research and short writing assignments that will serve as the base of a multi-draft essay synthesizing sources.

CPN 101: "Writing Studies II: Writing for Public Benefit"
CPN 101, Spring Semester, 2018, Jacob Richter
Section 004 T-R 2:50; Section 009 T-R 1:15

This course seeks to immerse students in real, authentic writing situations. The course will carry students through the writing and researching process, working to answer a central question: how can we write for the public good?

CPN 101: Writing Studies II
Hernandez TR

We will be reading timely and controversial selections from the last few months of the New Yorker magazine. Topics can include mass incarceration, false confession, labor exploitation, drug addiction, domestic violence, economic inequality, and war. My focus is on the intellectual pleasure of studying composition, and to that end, your many revisions will develop your arguments and ideas. You will revise each of three papers three times after extensive commentary from your professor.