English 101: English Composition
Fall 2013 Syllabus
Section: BS Instructor:
Joe Van Zutphenn
Room: JSH 115 Office:
AA5 - 209
Meeting Times: T/Th 8:00 – 10:20 E-mail: jvanzutphen@clark.edu
Homepage: Office Hours: by appt.
Course Description:
This five-credit class is designed
to help you write confidently and competently in many of the writing situations
you will encounter in other classes and in your professional life. To
accomplish this goal, we will practice techniques such as the writing process,
active reading, and revision-focused writing throughout the quarter. When the
quarter is over, you may not be a master at writing, reading, or critical
thinking—mastering these skills represents a lifetime’s work—but if you work
hard you will be a much better writer, reader, and thinker at the end of the
class than you were at the beginning. English 101 is a college level course:
that is, students must either be placed into this class by a recommending score
on the COMPASS test or by having received a grade of C or better in English
098.
Course
Objectives:
The English department has laid out
the skills that students should be able to perform at the end of each
composition class. This list, called the Student Learning Outcomes, appears on
the class web page (http://english101clarkcollegevanzutphen.blogspot.com/).
If you look under the column headed “English 101 Outcomes,” you will see the
writing, reading, and research tasks that successful students will be able to
perform by the end of this class.
Instructional Methods Used:
English 101 is a class best taught
by a combination of instructional methods. The method students will encounter
most frequently is the class discussion, in which the teacher is not so much a
lecturer as a facilitator of student conversation. We will use class discussion
to explore the issues we will be writing about. Additionally, students will
often evaluate their writing or explore class concepts using small group
discussions or workshops. On a few occasions during the quarter I will give
formal lectures, particularly to explain grammar or citation concepts. Finally,
and most importantly, students will spend a good deal of time writing in class,
both as a tool for discovery, for assessment of student ability, and for
practicing our writing skills.
Course Requirements:
The bulk of the work for this class
will involve reading twelve or so challenging, college-level essays and
articles, as well as writing several essays, summaries, responses, and other
writing assignments. More specifically, you will write six essays over the
course of the quarter, four of which will be written as take home assignments
over a period of roughly two weeks each. The other two essays will be in-class
writing exams which will occur at midterm and during finals week. Each of these
essay assignments will be different, with different length requirements,
structures, and topics, though all will require that you analyze the topic
critically and respond to it with college-level writing.
In addition to your writing essays
and tests, I will ask you to practice your writing with shorter day-to-day
assignments. Most of these assignments will be short—summaries, reader
responses, and the like—and you will submit them for a quick “check-off” grade.
For some assignments, I may ask you to provide evidence of active reading or to
fill out a brief grammar exercise, but most of the day-to-day assignments will
involve writing. Research (and common sense) suggest that if you want to be a
better writer you must write, and these day-to-day assignments offer you an
opportunity to practice your skills.
Finally, because good writing
depends so much on revision, I will ask you to help one another revise essays
by working in peer response groups. These groups will meet several times during
the class and you will be graded on the quality of your participation in these
groups. If you miss the class for any reason,
you will receive 0 points for the workshop
Grading
As you can see by the grade scale below, your work is graded
more heavily at the end of the quarter than at the beginning. This is
deliberate. It really isn’t very important to me how strong (or weak) a writer
and reader you are at the beginning of the quarter; what matters to me is how
much you learn in this class and how competently you can write at the end.
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Assignment
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Points of Final Grade
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Take-Home Essay 1
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15
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Take-Home Essay 2
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25
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In-Class Essay 3
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20
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Take-Home Essay 4
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45
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In-Class Exam 1
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10
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In-Class Exam 2
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15
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In-class writing and other
homework
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20
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Peer response, attendance,
participation
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30
180
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Regarding the question of how
these assignments will be graded, the end of this syllabus contains a chart of
my grading criteria for the essays and day-to-day assignments. Your peer
response participation grade will depend on the quality and quantity of written
comments and suggestions you make on your classmates’ papers during peer
response workshops.
All
students have the opportunity to turn in any one assignment up to five
days late without incurring a grade penalty. There’s
a little form to fill out and email to me; you can find it on the class web
page (http://english101clarkcollegevanzutphen.blogspot.com/
). Once you have used this permission, though, any other late assignments you
turn in will be lowered by a full letter grade for every calendar day (not
class day) that they are late. Note that the permission slip is good for
turning in a paper up to five days late; papers later than this will receive
severe grade penalties. Papers are due at the start of class and an
assignment that is turned in later that day is considered a day late. Please
understand also that I will always grade assignments which have been turned in
on time before I will grade a late assignment; therefore, if you turn in an
assignment late, it will not be graded as promptly. Finally, keep in mind that
no late assignment may be turned in for any reason after the last regular class
day of the quarter.
I accept no assignments via e-mail.
Each assignment will be graded on a
scale of 0-100, corresponding to the following grade scale:
93-100 A
90-92 A-
88-89 B+
83-87 B
80-82 B-
78-79 C+
73-77 C
70-72 C-
68-69 D+
63-67 D
60-62 D-
<60 F
Students who receive a grade of C or
can move on to English 102 or English 109 next quarter. Those who receive a
grade of C- or lower will need to retake English 101.
Texts and Materials
Required Text:Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. 6th ed.
Boston, MA. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008.
Other Materials:
You will need to have access to a
computer with a word processor and an Internet connection. Don’t despair if you
don’t own a computer: there are many computer labs at Clark College for student
use. While we’re on the subject, it’s a good idea to save your work in two
places, such as on a thumb drive and in an email account: please back up your
work frequently, as essays which are erased/virus-infected/eaten by computers
are your responsibility.
Finally, you’ll need some kind of
paper notebook or folder for day-to-day writing. A single spiral bound notebook
should be fine.
Class
Policies
Attendance: Please come to class and be on time. While I am happy to
work with students who must miss a class because of a genuine emergency,
students simply will not do well in the course if they make a habit of missing class.
You only get one chance this quarter to turn your work in late, and a good
share of your final grade corresponds to work you will be doing in class. Also,
students are given credit for peer
response workshops only if they participate in the workshops during class time.
In short, you need to be here regularly if you want to do well. I will be
taking attendance to encourage your staying caught up with the challenging
class material. Students may miss up to five class days for any reason; after
that, each subsequent absence will lower the student’s overall grade by 3%.
Students who have missed more than ten class days will automatically receive a
final class grade of C- or lower.
The only exception to these rules
occurs in the first week of the quarter. During that time, in accordance with
English department policy, I will drop any student who misses a class during
the first two class meetings and does not get in touch with me.
Class Courtesy: Having a safe and civil atmosphere for learning depends on
all of us. When we speak with one another, especially when disagreeing, it is
vital that we do so with mutual respect. Students who are disruptive or abusive
towards others may be asked to leave the class. On a related note, it is both
disruptive and rude to leave your cell phone on in the classroom. Please turn
it off when you come to class.
Plagiarism: Students who copy the words or ideas of any other writer
without acknowledging the original author of those words or ideas are engaging
in plagiarism. Plagiarism is grounds for failing this course. One of the goals
of this course is to understand how to use information effectively and
ethically in your writing. Once those concepts have been introduced, any
instances of plagiarism will result in severe grade penalties for the student.
In most cases, these penalties lead to failure of the class.
For more information about the
English department’s plagiarism policy, please follow this link:
http://www.clark.edu/Library/PDF/eng_dept_statement_plagiarism.pdf
Americans
with Disabilities Act Accommodations: If
you have, or think you have, a disability which interferes with your
performance in this course, you are invited to speak with the Disability
Support Services office in Gaiser Hall or at 992-2580 for assistance.
Weather Closures and Instructor
Illness: Students now have the ability to
check on line each day to be sure that their classes are meeting. To access
this information go to the Clark College website and click on Quick Links,
then on Classes Today. It will show any classes that have been cancelled
for that day only.
Tentative Schedule
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Date
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Class Activities
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What’s Due?
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Week 1
(9/24)
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Introduction to the course;
discussion of syllabus; discussion of active reading and summaries;
introduction to writing process. Essay 1 assigned.
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Diagnostic Writing
|
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Week 2
(10/01)
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Sentence grammar review;
introduction to peer response; review of paragraphing; discussion of common
reading for essay 1. Peer response of essay 1.
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Essay 1
|
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Week 3
(10/08)
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Review of comma usage; basic
citation methods introduced; The Aristotelian Rhetoric; discussion of
revision strategies. Essay 2 assigned.
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Week 4
(10/15)
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The Rogerian argument; discussion
of common readings for essay 2; peer response of essay 2.
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Essay 2
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Week 5
(10/22)
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Essay 3
assigned. Discussion of common readings
for essay 3. Practice with impromptu writing.
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In-Class Exam 1
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Week 6
(10/29)
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Discussion of common readings for
essay 3; peer response for essay 3. Practice with impromptu writing.
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Essay 3
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Week 7
(11/05)
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Essay 4 assigned. Advanced citation methods introduced;
evaluating logic; Toulmin
analysis. Discussion of common readings for essay 4;
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Week 8
(11/12)
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Peer response for essay 4;
discussion of logical fallacies; discussion of writing style.
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Week 9
(11/19)
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Discussion of common readings for
essay 4; peer response for essay 4; discussion of logical fallacies;
discussion of writing style.
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Essay 4
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Week 10
(11/27)
Week 11
(12/03)
Week 12
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Review and final revisions; final
practice on impromptu writing
Final exam – in-class
Final conference
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In-class exam 2
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Please note: while I have done my
best to provide all necessary information for the class here, this syllabus is
subject to change. Also, many assignments like specific readings, grammar
exercises, and in-class writing exercises do not appear on this schedule, as
their scheduling depends on how quickly or slowly the class proceeds. Please
attend class and talk with me regularly so that you will not be surprised by
changes. I will provide a more detailed day-by-day schedule for each essay;
these schedules will supersede the schedule given here. Note also that any
changes to the syllabus will be announced in the assignment sheets and made as
changes to the syllabus on my web page.
What
Makes a Good English 101 Essay?
Most students can read another
student’s essay and tell whether it is good or not so good. Just like teachers,
when you read a classmate’s work you get a first impression about whether the
essay is strong or weak. However, answering why an essay is strong or
weak becomes more difficult. Though this is a difficult question to answer when
looking at a classmate’s essay, it is an even tougher question to apply to your
own writing.
What follows is a brief list of
qualities that make your writing strong. When looking at another student’s
writing or evaluating your own, think of the essay in these terms. If you ever
wonder why you received a certain grade on an essay in this class, the answer
has to do with the qualities listed below.
Focus: A well-focused essay speaks about one main topic, called
the thesis, and does not stray from it. In the case of short 101 essays,
this main topic can often be identified in a single statement in the essay,
called the thesis statement. Even when there is no single explicit thesis
statement, however, the essay should be focused around a single idea. The
main topic of the essay is not so broad that you cannot explore it fully in
your paper; also, it is not so narrow that you cannot develop it (for more on
development, see below). Though you may write an essay of many paragraphs with
many different arguments and pieces of evidence, everything in the essay should
ultimately support your main idea.
Development: An essay is well developed when every claim you make is
supported by evidence of some kind, as well as by a sound and logical argument.
This evidence should be appropriate to the argument you are making, relevant to
the case at hand, and reputable. In addition, a good writer uses logic that is
sound and well thought-out. A well-developed essay does not claim anything to
be true without offering evidence to show why or how it is true.
Audience Awareness: Good writers tailor their essays towards the needs of the
audience, or reader. For example, a good writer chooses a tone that does not
insult or talk down to the reader; similarly, good essays are written at a
level that the audience is likely to be able to comprehend. In other words, a
writer with good audience awareness writes in a style that is readable and
which sounds natural. In all communication, what we mean to say and what we
actually do say can be very different things; however, good writers work hard
to minimize this difference. A writer with good audience awareness also does
not make unfair assumptions about the reader’s gender, race, religion, class,
sexuality, or value system.
Organization: Strong essays are well organized into paragraphs. Each
paragraph focuses on a single idea—often this one idea can be conveyed in a
single topic sentence—and displays a logical strategy for conveying its
information. Each paragraph should be unified by intelligent use of transitions
and key words. Similarly, a good writer uses transitions to link paragraphs
into a sequence. This sequence of paragraphs should be logical and should serve
to support the essay’s thesis.
Correctness: Strong essays display correct sentence grammar,
punctuation, sentence unity, agreement, syntax, and spelling. While it is
normal for English 101 students to make grammatical mistakes once in a while,
by the time you finish this class you should have pretty strong control over
sentence structure and sentence form.
Research and Citations: When it’s called for, students should know how to find
outside information to support their arguments. They should also know how to
cite this outside information correctly, giving proper credit wherever another
writer’s words or ideas are used.
