Sample syllabus: Freshman Comp

English 1301: Composition and Rhetoric I

English 1301.21026 CLB 125 MWF 8 am

English 1301.21005 CLB 125 MWF 9:05 am

English 1301.21011 CLB 125 MWF 11:15 am

 

Dr. Davis Adjunct Instructor of English (This means I am part-time.)

Mailbox CLA 113

Department telephone: xxx xxx xxxx

Office hrs. by appointment (Since I am part-time, I do not have an office or scheduled office hours.)

email address here

 

Department Chair: Name Office: LIB 202 Phone: xxx xxx xxxx

Chair is available to answer questions and deal with difficulties. It is usual and expected that if there is a problem, you will discuss it with me first.

 

 

Prerequisite:

Placement by testing or completion of English 0307 or 0326 and English 0305 or 0316.

To be considered “college ready”

 

for ENGL 1301, students should be able to

• Write thesis statements that advance the writer’s purpose.
• Use appropriate organizing principles to govern the structure of the essay and of individual paragraphs, such as logical, chronological, spatial, and emphatic.
• Begin an essay with a paragraph that introduces the main idea, and end the essay with a paragraph that creates a sense of closure.
• Provide adequate support for statements.
• Use appropriate devices to achieve coherence throughout the essay, such as transitions or repetition of key words.
• Acknowledge borrowed ideas if external sources are used.
• Write sentences using varied sentence structures.
• Use mature, appropriate diction.
• Edit irrelevant material from sentences, paragraphs, and essays.
• Edit to avoid major errors in sentence structure: fragment, comma splice, run-on.
• Recognize and edit for mechanical errors such as subject-verb agreement; pronoun reference; illogical shifts in person, point of view, and tense; and punctuation errors such as commas and apostrophes.
• Use a variety of tools to recognize and edit for the correct spelling of common words and commonly confused words.
• Work and communicate well with others, respecting different points of view.

Catalog course description:

A multi-paragraph composition course, including language study and the mechanics of writing, with examples from selected readings. Students may be required to achieve a departmentally approved score on a proficiency test before credit for the course may be awarded.

This is a three hour course.

As a successful student, you expect that two to three hours homework per hour in class is an average for college classes and will be prepared for that amount of homework.

Learning outcomes: At the end of the semester, the student will be able to

• Analyze a text according to purpose, audience, and other rhetorical concerns.
• Respond logically, rather than react emotionally, to texts that reflect the writers’diverse backgrounds and values.
• Demonstrate an ability to use and analyze an effective individual writing process.
• Focus a topic appropriate to the audience, purpose, voice, and length of assignment.
• Formulate clear and concise thesis statement, main point, focus, or claim.
• Develop, evaluate, and use evidence to support a claim.
• Use effective organization strategies in support of a thesis, focus, main point, or claim.
• Write an essay that demonstrates a command of unity, coherence, continuity, and development.
• Write clear, correct, and appropriate sentences and paragraphs avoiding major grammatical and semantic problems.
• Incorporate appropriate oral and/or written media such as books, articles, interviews, visuals, and government documents.
• Avoid plagiarism when incorporating quotations, paraphrases, and ideas.
• Follow standard guidelines in documenting resources.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Lone Star College is committed to the principle of equal opportunity in education and employment. Lone Star does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, veteran status, nationality or ethnicity in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, employment policies, scholarship and loan programs, and other District or College administered programs and activities.

 

Philosophy of education:

I believe that practice makes, if not perfect, at least more competent; therefore I give lots of writing assignments. The positive aspect of this is two-fold: the student is learning by doing and if the student messes up a single assignment, or even a few of the homeworks, they will not have substantially lowered their grade.

In addition, for the first few major papers, I offer the opportunity to rewrite. This is a way for the student to learn what is wrong with their particular paper and, hopefully, how to correct it so that they will not repeat their mistakes with the next paper.

Because I know that the writing is practice, and that some students have never written essays of any type before, I offer a way to improve the students’

averages through additional writing. This will vary from semester to semester, but includes, at least, an opportunity to write a letter or additional paper for extra credit.

I also believe that work should be spaced throughout the semester so that the research papers are due, and at least one graded, before the drop date. When other classes have their crunch time at the end of the semester, we are taking it easy.

I do not think that a holiday is an opportunity to assign extra work, so the break assignment is no longer than a usual assignment.

 

Texts: The Bedford Guide for College Writers 8^th Edition

We use the book often in class. Please bring the textbook each day unless otherwise noted.

 

Grading:

Grading Scale:

90 – 100 earns an A;

80 – 89 earns a B;

70 – 79 earns a C;

60 – 69 earns a D;

0 – 59 earns an F

 

 

Grading weight:

20% Average of quizzes, in-class work, research pre-writing, homework, and attendance

This consists of at least 2,000 points, including points for attendance.

As a successful student, you will not use this large number to skip an assignment, but will know that an illness in the semester or a misunderstood assignment will not destroy the final grade.

50% Major papers (blogging posts, description, compare/contrast, definition/illustration, literary analysis)

This consists of four papers and the posts.

As a successful student, you recognize that doing your best on each one is important, but know that even a low grade on one will not destroy the final grade.

As a successful student, you also know that doing the rewrites (either required or optional) will improve the grade.

If the student has a 95 average going into the final, they are excused from the final.

20% Library paper (argument persuasion, 5 paragraphs, plus works cited and outline)

This consists of a long research paper.

As a successful student you realize that this paper must be done well and will do it to the best of their ability, consulting the teacher with questions, working on the project as per the schedule, and perhaps even completing the writing early and requesting a review of the project before it is due.

Also as a successful student you know that doing the rewrite will improve the grade.

If the library paper is not passed, the student will fail the course.

10% Journal

The journal is not a diary of your daily activities. It is a place to respond to assigned questions on readings or assignments. Students are responsible for completing, in complete sentences and paragraphs, these journaling assignments.

The journal will be graded both in progress, for the work which is done as we go along, and in total, for all the work done. Therefore even if you made a zero on a journal grade, you should still do the work. If you do not, it will impact your final journal grade.

Total 100%

Finally all students should understand that the amounts of work are not onerous, but are intended to have the student write regularly all semester in an attempt to make them comfortable with writing, to improve their writing, and to make sure that they are adequately prepared for any normal college writing assignment.

As a successful student you take responsibility for your own grades, do your best, seek help when it is needed, and make a grade you can be proud of. A grade of C can be a good grade, if you have done your best. (I have a C on my undergrad transcript that I am very proud of.)

 

Grading overview:

In order to receive a passing grade for an essay written in English 1301, students must be able to write essays which conform to the following standards:

Grammar and Mechanics

A. The essay will be largely free of such technical errors as

1. The incorrect use of the apostrophe or of the possessive
2. The omission of necessary commas or the insertion of unnecessary commas
3. The consistent misspelling of common words
4. The use of the second person
5. Inadequate pronoun reference
6. The consistent use of non-standard word for or order
7. The repeated use of any construction that would lead to misreading

An essay containing more than twelve (12) errors of this type will not receive a passing grade. (See the grading rubric for other 2-point errors.)

 

B. The essay will largely be free of such major errors as

1. The fragment
2. The comma splice
3. The fused (run-on) sentence
4. Subject-verb disagreement
5. Pronoun-antecedent disagreement
6. Not starting a new paragraph when should have (a backwards C with 2 lines through it)
7. Problem with a quote being too long, needs to be a block quote (line down the page next to the quote, block quote written next to it)

 

An essay containing any six (6) errors as outlined above will automatically fail.

An essay that contains six technical errors and three major errors, or a like combination, will automatically fail.

 

Content and Organization

1. A well-organized and adequately developed essay should contain at least five paragraphs, including an introduction, at least three developmental paragraphs, and a conclusion.
2. In the first paragraph, the essay should contain a clearly stated thesis that responds to the assigned topic.
3. Each developing paragraph should contain a topic sentence that supports the thesis.
4. Each developing paragraph should effectively support and develop the controlling idea of the paragraph.

Grading Rubric: Grammar

100 points assumed

Please note that twelve 2-point errors are sufficient to fail a paper.

2 pts off for

• The incorrect use of the apostrophe (apos)
• Inadequate pronoun reference (missing pro)
• The consistent use of non-standard word for or order (ooo)
• The repeated use of any construction that would lead to misreading
• Word missing (wm)
• Write out (wo)
• Word choice (wc)
• Spelling (sp)
• Space needed (space, little loop drawn)
• Spaces in inappropriate places (circle drawn in the space)
• Hyphen needed (hyphen and line drawn under it)
• Comma where not needed (x on comma)
• No comma where needed (comma drawn, sometimes also underlined or circled)
• Tense change (verb circled and marked tense)
• Parallelism (marked with two slanting lines which are parallel, or the word parallelism- sometimes I will underline the words or phrases that are the problem.)
• Capitalization- includes caps when shouldn’t be and lack of caps (three lines underneath)
• Awkward phrasing- not just inelegant, but hard to understand- depending on cause, may
• be in grammar or content
• Quotation marks missing on a short story or poem title (quote marks drawn)
• Book title missing underlining (underlined)
• Subject and verb do not agree in case or number, ex. “he are”(s-v agr)
• Pronoun and antecedent do not agree, ex. “My sister Sue said when he was a girl”(p-a
• agr)
• The word should be possessive. (poss)
• Underlining/italicizing missing (underlined)
• Unnecessary word or information (crossed through)
• A person should be who not that (circle around “that”with who written next to it)
• Two words should be one (lines drawn on top and bottom in arcs connecting the two)
• Should have been past tense and ends in –ed (ed at end of word)
• Words need to be switched around (arrows pointing at both words)
• Repetitious- when words, phrases, or ideas are repeated unnecessarily (rep)
• Unnecessary or inappropriate use of the second person pronoun, “you” or “your” – outside of the introductory or concluding paragraphs, or when such a thing could clearly not apply to the instructor, ex. “When you are unhappy with your wife…”(circling the word you or your)
• The period and the quotation mark should be on opposite sides (an elongated s drawn between them)
• The comma and the quotation mark should be on opposite sides (an elongated s drawn between them)
• Referent is unclear (referent)

 

Any combination of six (6) of the following errors will result in a failing grade for the paper.

10 pts off for

• Fragments (frag)
• Run-ons (run-on)
• Comma splice- a comma where a period or semi-colon should be (cs)

5 pts off for

• Not starting a new paragraph when should have (a backwards C with 2 lines through it)
• Problem with a quote being too long, needs to be a block quote (line down the page next to the quote, block quote written next to it

20 pts off for

• A single late paper- one class period late only (After that, late papers are not accepted.)
• If you single space a paper, rather than double space it.

 

Grading Rubric: Content/Following Directions

100 points assumed

2 pts off for

• Last name not on top of pages 2 and following (line drawn where it goes)
• Page numbers not on top of pages 2 and following (line drawn where it goes)
• A single part of the heading being missing on page 1
• Awkward phrasing- not just inelegant, but hard to understand- depending on cause, may
• be in grammar or content
• Any question that I ask on the side- Who? How? Why not x? which can be answered with a few words.
• Transition- two unclearly related statements, missing a bridging sentence in the middle
• (transition or trans or bridge)
• Unclear- sense of sentence is not readily understandable (unclear)
• Wrong information (No.)
• Underlining, bolding, or italicizing the title (circled)
• Cliché (cliché)

5 pts off for

• Concluding sentence being absent in a paragraph- not always necessary, but if the points range far afield, include it (concl sen)
• Topic sentence being absent- necessary for all body paragraphs (Topic sen)
• Needing another example (ex or need another example)
• Title of work cannot be the title of paper (title of work)
• Out of order (ooo) if the information belongs within the same paragraph
• Any question that I ask on the side that requires a full sentence to answer.
• Title of paper and title on outline don’t match. (Doesn’t match, with the title circled.)

10 pts off for

• Missing thesis sentence (Thesis or thesis sen)
• Missing heading on page 1 (usually a box drawn in place with -10 in it)
• Development lacking in a particular paragraph (more dev or dev needed)
• Out of order (ooo) if the information belongs in another paragraph
• Using wrong font- must be a serif font like Times New Roman (wrong font)

20 pts off for

• Missing paragraph or too little information- does not meet length requirement (too short)
• First statement not properly cited (-20 source)
• Single spacing
• Using a title page (big X through it)
• A single late paper- one class period late only

50 pts off for

• Essay of wrong type (requirement was descriptive, paper was process)

 

Grading Rubric: Late

20 pts off

It will only be accepted at the start of class the next class day. 20 points will be deducted from both parts of the paper that was due on Monday or Wednesday.

30 pts off

A paper will only be accepted one day late. If it was due on Friday and is turned in Monday, thirty points will be deducted from both parts of the paper.

Grading Rubric: Extra points

5 pts added

• An exceptional job of development of a single section of your paper, without losing anything from the other sections

2 pts added

• If your paper gives me a learning experience, either a new vocabulary word or information I had not previously known
• If you make me laugh (will be marked with a smiley face). 🙂

 

Grading Rubric: Rewrites

Points off are doubled for the rewrite if you did not correct marked errors.

Points off are NOT doubled if

• you attempted to correct the error but did not succeed.
• I did not note an error in the previous version.

 

Grading expectations:

Graded essays will be returned promptly, usually no later than two weeks after they are due.

Collection:

The essays and any handouts related to them must be kept by the student and collected in a folder. This folder will be required to be complete and must be turned in before finals in order to pass the class.

 

Class policies and expectations:

Attendance: Attendance is obviously important at any time. And it is important to me. You will receive points for each day you are in class.

If you are late or leave early or use your phone during class, you will lose attendance points. The more this happens, the more points you will lose.

If my phone rings during class, unless there is an emergency, the whole class will receive a bonus of ten points to their homework average.

 

Dropping: If you are failing on the class day before the last day to withdraw, I will drop you from class. If you do not wish to be dropped, you must handwrite a note stating that and sign it.

 

Note: A new Texas law only allows six drops per student. After that, students will receive the grade they earned in the course.

Do not waste those drops!

 

Due dates: You are responsible for keeping up with all due dates.

 

Late paper policy: Papers should be turned in at the beginning of class on the due date. A late paper will be accepted only up to one class period after it was due. Late papers due on Monday or Wednesday will have 20 points deducted off each portion of the paper (grammar and content/directions). Late papers due on Friday will have 30 points deducted off each portion of the paper.

 

Make-up policy: Make-up work is not available.

 

Extra credit: There are some extra credit opportunities each semester. Take advantage of these.

They are of differing difficulty and so are weighted differently.

 

Preparation: You will need to be prepared ahead of time with the readings and you need to facilitate class discussions. I will give unscheduled quiz grades for class discussion. I will not tell you that I am doing this.

You are expected to know and follow appropriate behavior guidelines.

 

Out-of-class papers: All papers should be double-spaced, 12 point font, Palatino or Times New Roman. They should follow MLA guidelines.

 

GPT requirement: It is a departmental policy that every student must pass the Grammar Proficiency Test (GPT) with the minimum grade of 26 in order to pass the course. If you fail the test the first time, you still have two additional chances to retake it and succeed on it later on your own in the lab.

I recommend taking and passing this test before the drop date. You do not want to have to find out I will be required to fail you after that time. Quiz grades are given for the secondary and tertiary deadlines.

 

Help available: The Lab is located in SFA 200. There are files of handouts there (on apostrophes, comma splices, etc.). There are also tutors available.

 

Plagiarized material will receive a 0. Plagiarism includes using someone else’

s ideas or their words, without appropriate documentation. Studying with someone is fine, but writing out the answers to the questions together is not fine. For a single lack of citation or false citation, 20 points will be deducted. For a second, the paper will receive a 0.

If a majority of the paper is plagiarized, the student will fail the course.

The second paper which receives a 0 for plagiarism will result in failure for the class.

I reserve the right to “recall”

papers which I have already graded.

 

Academic Integrity: Academic integrity is expected by the college and by me. Academic dishonesty is representing another’s work as one’s own, helping in such falsification, or violating test conditions. Plagiarism is stealing and passing of the ideas and words of another as one’s own or using the work of another without crediting the source. Plagiarism includes writing facts, opinions or quotations you get from someone else or from books, magazines, newspapers, journals, movies, television, tapes or the web as if they were your own and without identifying the source or identifying a false source.

Consequences for academic dishonesty, as the college website says, can include having additional class requirements imposed, receiving a grade of zero or “F” for an exam or assignment, receiving a grade of “F”

for the course, being withdrawn from the course or program, or being expelled from the college district.

Rewards: If you have a 95 average, you are excused from the final paper.

Success: I want you to do well in this class. I will help you as much as I can. However, your success in this class will depend on the success of your hard work. (There are no guaranteed As or Fs. Every grade must be earned by work within the class.)

 

Syllabus: The syllabus is an evolving class description that changes regularly. The syllabus may change, as the semester progresses.

Week 1:

August 25, 27, 29

Syllabus

Meet and greet

Writing 8-19 (14, 17, 18 writing)

Grammar Proficiency Test

Introduction to blogging.

Log into www.davisenglish.com and register using an alias. Choose the name you go by and your last initial.

Hwk:

25. Journaling:

Log into Davis English and do a single blog post.

If you do not know how to register or log on, go to www.davisenglish.com and follow the Jing(s) on the first page.

(1) Make a list: 10 things I am good at

And another list: 10 groups I am a part of

Write one paragraph discussing the most interesting thing or group, in terms of “uniqueness.”

Choose a unique title, too. We don’t want to have 60 “Ten Things” blog posts.

(2) Read the “About Dr. Davis” page, found at the top of Davis English.

Don’t forget to bring a sharpened pencil and a quarter to class next time for the GPT.

 

27. Fill in the “about me”

questionnaire.

Read the syllabus and fill in the “Student Contract.”

 

29. Read 55-70. You may take notes and use any notes you take on the quiz.

If you do not have a library card from our library, you need to obtain one.

Extra credit: Read http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-teaching.html

Write down three that you have experience with. Write a one paragraph description of your experience with each.

This extra credit will add to your homework average.

It needs to be posted at www.davisenglish.com.

 

Week 2:

September 3, 5

Quiz

Interviewing 87-129

Come up with possible interview questions.

Reading 21-32 Thinking 32-49

Dr. Mom’

s site- introduction to college

Hwk:

3. Journaling:

(2) Read http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/success.html

Respond to it in terms of how well you match what he recommends, whether you think it is possible to implement his recommendations, and how you could implement some or all of his suggestions. Be specific about your history and your future.

 

5. Grammar exercises from the Bedford Guide:

Fragments 33- 1 561, 124

Tense change 33-9 146, 306

Run-ons, comma splices 33-2 562, 563

Extra credit:

Schedule an interview with a teacher or someone who works in your major area. Call to get an appointment. The interview must be completed within two weeks. Keep the appointment, ask the questions, listen, take notes, tape, or videotape the interview, and write up the interview. You may turn in a video or podcast (five minutes maximum) as part of the assignment, but there must be a written component. This was due September 29 due to Hurricane Ike.

It will add a possible 25 points to your journal grade.

 

Week 3:

September 8, 10, 12

Quiz over chapter 1.

Narration

In-class discussion of narration

Prewriting on narrative

HURRICANE IKE

 

Hwk:

8. Go to Davis English and post a six-word autobiography and a one-paragraph explanation.

 

10. Go read and post a substantive comment on four different classmates’ autobiographies.

12. Write your narrative paper.

 

Week 4:

September 15, 17, 19

Narrative paper due.  Peer editing of narrative paper.

Revision of narrative paper due.

15. Revise narrative paper.

HURRICANE IKE

 

Week 5:

September 22, 24, 26

Extra credit interview paper was due next week due to Hurricane Ike.

Research paper introduction- catch attention, give background

Form

Type

Research paper 587-629

Library database introduction

Evaluating sources 650-662

Evaluating sources checklist

http://lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

Hwk:

22. Look online at different controversial topics. Choose one that interests you.

Print out a list of the articles that are available on those topics.

 

24. Journaling (3) Write a two page paper saying why you are interested in the topic, what information you expected to find in the articles, which ones had articles with titles you weren’

t expecting and what makes those angles different, and what your position is on the topic. It needs to discuss your interest in the topic and describe your stance on the topic, but the other information can differ based on what article titles you printed out.

 

 

26. Find six good sources for side you agree with and four good sources for side you disagree with. You need to print out a total of ten articles from both sides of your topic. Print these sources out. Bring them to class all of next week.

 

 

Week 6:

September 29, October 1, 3

The extra credit interview paper is due on Friday.

Discussion of how to take notes

Integrating sources 663-76

Paraphrasing and quoting: OWL Purdue

Citing 686ff “Article Titles”

Book Titles

Works Cited in class

Hwk:

29. Notes on two sources on one side.

 

1. Notes on two sources for other side.

 

3. Create the Works Cited for a paper using those four sources.

 

Week 7:

October 6, 8, 10

Writing 677ff

Compare/contrast 104-20

Peer review.

 

Hwk:

6. Homework as assigned.

8. Write a compare/contrast paper on the arguments of the two sides.

Use at least one direct quote.

Bring three copies to class.

10. Revise the compare/contrast paper.

Submit the paper to turnitin.com

Bring the sources for this paper and a paper copy of the work.

 

Week 8:

October 13, 15, 17

Compare/contrast paper due.

Outlining

Reading to Write “E-Technology” 529ff

In class discussions

Compare/contrast paper returned.

This is the midpoint of the semester.

 

Hwk:

13. Outline for side you agree with

 

15. Works Cited for side you agree with

 

17. Begin writing your research paper.

This paper will contain between fifty and seventy (50-70) sentences. (Fifty is the absolute minimum.)

Present the three best arguments. Include an introduction and conclusion.

Cite at least five sources. Use at least one direct quote. Use no more than twenty percent direct quotes.

The paper is due October 29. You will need three copies.

 

Week 9:

October 20, 22, 24

Description

Art postcards

Exeter riddles

 

Hwk:

20. 22. 24. Work on research paper. Think about the descriptive paper.

Extra credit: Pick a good argument on the side you agree with. State the argument in on or two sentences. Then refute the argument; that is, tell why the argument is problematic. In other words, why might the argument not convince someone? (1.5-2 pages) This is due Nov. 7.

This will add up to twenty points to your research paper grade, before it is averaged.

 

 

Week 10:

October 27, 29

NO CLASS OCTOBER 31.

On the 27^th, in-class descriptive paper.

On the 29^th, both the research paper and the sources must be turned in at the start of class. You need a total of three copies of the research paper.

Peer review of research paper.

Hwk:

27. Finish your research paper.

29, 31.

Reading to Write “Men and Women”

474ff

Answer questions as assigned.

Revise your research paper.

Turn the paper in to turnitin.com before class and check it for % quotes and plagiarism.

 

Week 11:

November 3, 5, 7

Nov. 5 Revised version of your research paper is due with sources.

A hard copy must be given to the teacher and it must be turned in through turnitin.com as well.

Peer review over research paper.

Teacher evaluation in class- This is a quiz grade. Get a print out.

Assessment:

Read “Worst-Case Scenarios”

http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/newsat/powertactics/strategies/chapter4section6.rhtml

Read http://www.livescience.com/health/tbd_testing_memory.html

Test taking strategies.

How to take a multiple choice test.

How to take a short answer test.

How to take an essay exam.

There will be a practice exam.

Drop date looming. Drop anyone failing as of the 5^th, unless receive a signed note.

 

Hwk:

3. Finish your research paper.

5. No homework.

7. Journaling:

(4) Think of an educational goal you have. Write it down. Write down the steps you have already taken to reach that goal. Write down the steps you must take if you want to reach that goal.

 

Week 12:

November 10, 12, 14

Reading to Write “Popular Culture”

In class discussion

 

10. Homework as assigned.

 

12. Blog post

 

14. Read and write a substantive comment on four classmates’

posts. That means several (3+) sentences.

 

Week 13:

November 17, 19, 21

Research papers returned and discussed.

Definition/illustration discussion.

Lexical, practical, precising definitions.

Definitions

Definitions Examples from Real Life

Look up web definitions for three abstract words. Choose one to write paper on. Create your own definition or choose one to use.

Look up quotes on your choice of abstract nouns. Pick the best and write a works cited for it.

Write example paragraphs. (Three.)

Hwk: