English 100 Composition                                                                                  Dr. Andrew Smyth

Section 19                                                                                                                      Office: EN D272

MW 2-3:15                                                                                                                    Phone: 203-392-6895

Buley 419                                                                                                                       Email: smytha2@southernct.edu

 

                                                                                                                                                Office Hours:

                                                                                                                              M 12-1:30; T 3-5; W11-12:30; and by appt.

Course Description

 

Composition will prepare you for college-level writing across the disciplines. By the end of the course, we will meet the following objectives:

 

• Understand and use writing as a way of thinking, not an end in itself
• Explore your literacy, educational, and/or cultural experiences in relation to those of other people in your many overlapping communities
• Develop a critical vocabulary with which to analyze your experiences and histories
• Enter and become familiar with the academic community through the development of advanced reading, writing, and critical thinking skills
• Understand, practice, and integrate the process of writing, including pre-writing, extensive drafting and revising, editing, and publishing your work
• Achieve comfort and skill in a variety of writing situations: personal essays, narratives, exposition, persuasion, interpretation, and research writing
• Master the fundamental principles of research writing, including how to use a university library and how to use research responsibly
• Develop the ability to conduct rigorous intellectual inquiry

 

Materials (Needed in class, every day, for participation)

 

• Atwan, Robert, ed. The Best American Essays. 4^th College Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
• Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers. 4^th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
• Access to a reliable computer with internet access and a printer; you should reserve one diskette or writeable CD-Rom for use for this class only
• Large 3-ring binder
• Handouts to be distributed by the instructor

 

Requirements

 

Four Essays

Various Exercises & Writings                                   Portfolio 75%

Collaborative Paper

 

Journals and other writings                                          15%

Quizzes & Class Participation                                   10%

 

Grading

 

This course uses a portfolio system of assessment. Whenever you turn in an assignment, you will be given a preliminary grade on it, but that grade is not your final grade. By the end of the semester, you are expected to have significantly revised all of these works. Failure to do so will mean failure for the course. Thus, even if you receive an ≥A-≤ for an early essay, that grade will mean nothing in the final grade unless you have substantially changed and revised (not just fixing any minor errors) the essay in a meaningful way. Your final portfolio grade, with all of your revised assignments, is worth 75% of your final grade. A midterm review of your portfolio counts for 10% of that portion. On our final exam date, you will all make formal presentations of your portfolios to the class. This is a required part of the course, and I will not accept any portfolio unless you are present during the final exam and participate fully in the presentations. Each of you will read selections from your portfolio and comment on your discovery and writing process. Your presentation will count for a portion of the overall portfolio grade.

 

                  Portfolio Breakdown

 

                  Four Revised Essays                      40%

                  Collaborative Essay                        10%

                  Reflective Statement                      10%

                  Midterm Assessment                     10%

                  Final Presentation                            05%

 

Research and Plagiarism Policy

 

There will not be a formal, full-length research paper in this class, but you will be using many types of researchãinterviews, field observations, articles, databases, etc.ãin a number of your essays and other writings. It is imperative that you observe and follow all guidelines for documentation of sources in your work here and in other classes.

 

While much work in and out of class will involve collaboration with your peers, you are expected to maintain an exacting standard of academic honesty in all of your work. Apart from group projects, any work that you turn in must be completely your own. In all submitted works, you must responsibly give credit to all of your sources of information in the accepted style of the field. We will be reviewing the MLA and APA styles in class, but for your other classes, always ask your professor which style (there are many others) is appropriate for that field. I take plagiarism very seriously, even when it is ≥unintentional,≤ and will fail you for the entire course if you plagiarize anyone elseπs work at any time during the semester.

 

Just to make sure that the concept of plagiarism is clear, since the consequences are so severe for it, I offer this definition and explanation: Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of anyone elseπs words, composition structures, organization, and/or even ideas without proper documentation. That means that you can fail for the semester simply for getting an idea for your paper from Encarta, for example, and writing it out in your own words, without using parenthetical documentation and a full listing on your Works Cited page. Plagiarism also includes, under the above definition, getting ideas, bits of text, or whole papers from friends, roommates, former students, chat rooms, list-servs, websites, etc., and submitting that work as your own.

 

Journals and Other Homework

 

A portion of your portfolio should be marked for Journals and Homework. Once a week, you should insert a substantial (min. 300 words) journal entry in the portfolio. The journal entry must be typed and formatted according to my sample sheet. Most of the time, the topic (or combination of topics) is entirely up to you, but you should be responding generally to readings, class discussions, observations, and especially writings that you are working on. At various points in the semester, I will ask you to bring your portfolios to class with all of your journals inside. I will check them and then we will do various activities with them that will require sharing your journals with numerous people. Thus, be forewarned, these are not private journals.

 

Attendance and Class Participation

 

Especially because we meet only twice a week, every minute of class time is extremely valuable. We write as a communityãwe do not follow some romantic conception of the great writer creating great works alone. From the very first day, you are going to have to get to know all of your peers, and throughout the semester, you will have to work together in the production of your writings. That means trust and responsibility are essential elements of the class, and that responsibility begins with being in class, on time, every day, well prepared. You are allowed three absences during the semester for any reason whatsoever; after that point, however, I deduct half a letter grade from your final grade for each additional absence, no matter what the reason. If you miss more than nine classes, you will automatically fail for the semester. I donπt do ≥excused≤ and ≥unexcused,≤ so please do not mention them to me.

 

At certain points in the semester, I will schedule ≥paired conferences≤ with you. That means that I will meet with you, two at a time, in my office for about twenty minutes, and the three of us will discuss papers and other matters. When you sign up for such a conference, you are responsible for being at my office on time with the required writing materials. If you donπt show up, the conference will not work for your partner, which is completely unfair. Thus, a missed conference will equal an absence, and it will result in a reduction in your paper grade.

 

Tardiness is rude and disruptive to class. If you are late to class, I will welcome you as always, but I will not count you present for the day.

 

Being present in the room, however, is not enough to earn the 10% of your final grade for this category. You must be prepared, having done the homework for the day, and you must be willing to work with different partners on a regular basis on various activities and assignments. From time to time, I will give reading quizzes on homework materials right at the beginning of class. If you are absent or tardy, you cannot make these up.

 

 

Tentative Schedule (subject to almost certain adjustment)

 

August

 

30            Introduction; Diagnostic Writing: Narrate a story about a classmate. Homework: Read ≥The Telephone≤ (Atwan 34-42) and write a 300-word journal in which you discuss the role of men and women in the essay and the impact of the telephone on the village of Magdaluna.

 

September

 

01            Essay #1 (Narrative) assigned. Raimes, ≥The Writing Process.≤ Discuss ≥The Telephone≤ (possible quiz). Homework: Begin drafting essay and read ≥Hair≤ (Atwan 43-50). Conference Sign-Ups (for Sept. 7, 8, and 9).

 

06            Labor DayãNo Class

08            Readings Quiz & Discussion. Homework: Read ≥In the Kitchen≤ (Atwan 67-75) and write a journal on how you perceive peopleπs hair. Continue working on your essay.

 

13            Full rough draft of Essay #1 due. Workshop in class. Homework: Read ≥Silent Dancing≤ (Atwan 51-60) and polish your essay.

15            Essay #1 Due. Language and Interviewing. Homework: Read ≥Mother Tongue≤ (Atwan 147-154) and answer two out of three questions on pp. 153-54.

 

20            Essay #2 (Profile) assigned. Discuss ≥Mother Tongue.≤ Homework: Read ≥Turning Point≤ (Atwan 156-66) and write a response journal.

22            In-class journal about your writing (bring your journal collection to class). Style exercises. Discuss ≥Turning Point.≤ Homework: Read ≥Stunt Pilot≤ (Atwan 167-179).

 

27            Full rough draft of Essay #2 due in class; workshop. Discuss ≥Stunt Pilot.≤ Homework: Read ≥Ali in Havana≤ (Atwan 261-283) and write a response journal.

29            Quiz on reading. Editing skills (Raimes). Homework: Polish your essay.

 

October

 

04            Essay #2 due. Homework: Read ≥Mail≤ (Atwan 192-202).

06            Collaborative Writing. Homework: Read ≥Now Wonder They Call Me a Bitch≤ (Atwan 225-230) and write a response journal.

 

11            Discuss ≥No Wonder.≤ Collaborative Writing and Editing. Homework: Read ≥On Seeing England for the First Time≤ (Atwan 344-355) and write a journal about voice and anger.

13            Discuss ≥On Seeing England.≤ Style exercises (Raimes). Homework: Work on your portfolios.

 

18            Portfolio Workshop.

20            Midterm Portfolio Evaluation. Class evaluation. Homework: Read ≥They All Just Went Away≤ (Atwan 242).

 

 

25            Discuss ≥They All Just Went Away.≤ Essay #3 Assigned (Analysis).

27            Analysis exercises. Conference Sign-Ups. Homework: Read ≥Merced≤ (Atwan 121-137) and write a journal about it.

 

November

 

01            Discuss ≥Merced.≤ Homework: Read ≥Who We Are≤ (319-32) and work on your essay.

03            Rough Draft of Essay #3 Due in Class. Homework: Polish your essay.

08            Essay #3 Due. Style analysis.

10            Homework: Read ≥Shouting åFire!π≤ (306-312) and write a journal analyzing the argument.

 

15            Persuasion and Argumentation. Homework: Find an argument on a topic that affects you and write a journal discussing why it is important in your life.

17            Essay #4 Assigned (Persuasion).

 

22            Bring journals to class.

24           Thanksgiving BreakãNo Class

 

29            Problem-Solving.

 

December

 

01            Essay #4 Due. Collaborative Paper (Proposal).

 

06            Collaborative Paper

08            Portfolio Workshop. Class evaluation.

 

13            Finals Week begins; Portfolio Presentations