Course Disclosure: ENG 110 College Writing II: Spring 2010

CRN 20244 Section 02 Tuesday, Thursday 2:20 pm - 3:45 pm in 91 Humboldt classroom
Semester Spring 2010
Number of Credits 3
Prerequisite ENG 100 or suitable score on the writing assessment

Office 85 Humboldt upstairs at the end of the hall
Hours before, between and after classes - Monday, Wednesday 10:15 - 10:45, 3:30-4, 5:30 - 6 Tuesday Thursday 3:45 - 4:30
I have several email addresses, but I would appreciate it if you sent all mail related to this course to me at eng110s10 at gmail.com

Please note: Grading of student papers will reflect standard English usage. The MLA and APA bibliographic styles are generally used at Medaille.

Catalog Description of Course

This course develops the students' abilities to write effectively in college. It assists students to make judgments regarding content within their own writing, particularly when utilizing researched sources. It also emphasizes organization, structure, revision, and mechanics. Students will produce a portfolio of their written work, including a self-assessment.

Student Objectives

Recognize and apply the elements of essay organization: introduction and thesis focus, subtopic focus, transitions, paragraph structure, and conclusion

Recognize in others' writing the rhetorical modes of comparison-contrast, process analysis, definition, exemplification, cause-effect, description, and division-classification

Write essays using a variety of these rhetorical modes

Recognize and apply the elements of grammar and punctuation

Locate and evaluate secondary sources and see the need for using primary sources

Think critically about the relevance, validity, and reliability of sources before using them in written work

Critically read and evaluate others' writing for thesis focus, overall organization, transitions, use of evidence, and rhetorical modes

Think critically about your own and others' writing and make major revisions between drafts

Use and acknowledge researched information correctly using MLA documentation style, with additional knowledge of APA

Recognize and write a paraphrase and summary

During the revision process, discover ideas and implications, and make judgments regarding appropriateness and effectiveness for audiences

Assess your own progress as a writer within the context of the class

Make judgments about syntax, diction and mechanics

Learn the vocabulary of composition theory/criticism and use it to critique your own and others' writing

Outline of Course Content

Essay organization: introduction and thesis focus, subtopic focus, transitions, paragraph structure, and conclusion

Use of rhetorical modes: Comparison-Contrast, Process Analysis, Definition, Exemplification, Cause-Effect, Narration, Description, and Division-Classification

Review of grammar and punctuation: sentence structure, subject-verb agreement, tenses, pronoun usage, parts of speech, commas, apostrophes, colons, semicolons, hyphens, dashes, brackets, and ellipses

Research: formulate appropriate questions, use advanced library resources (indices, databased searches, Internet searches)

Critical reading: evaluation of research evidence; source and reliability; relevance to topic focus; fair use

Paraphrase and summary

Avoidance of plagiarism

MLA and APA documentation styles

Manuscript format

Audience analysis

Control of syntax, diction, and mechanics

Voice and style

Workshops on student essays: peer review; peer editing; use of vocabulary specific to composition theory/criticism

Revision, with emphasis on the portfolio

Relationships of this course to other courses in the curriculum, with a particular emphasis on writing across the curriculum

Method of Evaluating Students

I try to engage each of you in an ongoing discussion of your learning. If you aren't getting enough feedback from me, ask for more. As you'll see, I'm big on formative feedback and Socratic questioning.

This is a service course in the sense that it rewards skills that will let you prosper in your other courses and in your career. The bottom line is your ability to write an essay, an evidence-based discussion in support of a thesis. If you write one of those, you'll pass this course. If you don't write one, no matter what else you do, you won't pass this course.

four essays	thesis approved - 5 points draft - 0 points revision - up to 10 more points	60
MLA-documented works cited	done with at least 10 items (feb18/mar25), 7 points done, with some irregularities, 8 points done, with no irregularities, 10 points	20
presentation materials	done, 2 points done, with more pictures than words, 4 points done, with more pictures than words and some audio/video, 5 points	5
in-class oral presentation	done, 10 points done, with some contextualizing, 12 points done, with insightful, interesting contextualizing, 15 points	15
timely completion	1 late, no change 2 or more late, subtract one point from final grade for each late assignment and one more for each late week
class attendance	0 absences, add 2 points to final grade 1 absence for any reason, add 1 point to final grade 2 or 3 absences for any reason, no change 4 or more absences for any reason, subtract 2 points from final grade for each absence
self-assessment		0
Total		100

Learn more about the essays

Evaluation criteria for essays

Course letter grades: A for around 95 points out of the total of 100 on the table above, B for around 85, C for around 75, and D for around 65. If I think you might be headed for a C or below, I will let you know loud and clear as soon as I can. If you are worried about it, feel free to ask at any time.

Course Attendance Policy

You should come to class. I'll do my part to make it worth your while. I expect you to do your part to get something out of it.

In my experience, students who miss class also have other problems. I encourage you to keep me notified, especially via email, about your absences. I reserve the right to lower your final course grade for absences in excess of four.

Textbooks

While we will not use an ink-on-paper textbook in this course, you may personally still find a use for them. For grammar and mechanics, I recommend this book:

Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual, 4th. Edition. New Jersey: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004.

Much of the material that is in ink-on-paper textbooks for introductory college composition courses is online at Purdue's OWL - Online Writing Lab. If this were indeed a textbook, the site map would be the table on contents. Note the search box near the top left of the welcome page. The whole MLA Style Guide is available there. You can also do your own Google search for any of the phrases on this course web that you don't understand to quickly find another take on the subject. Make the web work for you.

The Syllabus | The Essay | The Case | The Reports

Special Requirements

In order to prosper in business, you must be able to do many things other than write. These four also apply to meeting the course objectives listed above.

manage digital information

It's called a PC or Personal Computer partly because you can personalize it. How you manage your files on the computer is probably as personal and inscrutable to others as how you manage them in your physical office.

explore and discover

There's so much information only a click or two away. You have to be able to learn on your own and just keep clicking.

tolerate ambiguity

You'll never have only and exactly the information you need. You'll never have enough time. You'll rarely find that one path to the future is clearly correct and all the others are wrong. You will have wicked problems and compromises that are guaranteed not to please everyone.

think big

Transcend your and your organization's concrete situation into an intelligent awareness of broader, often abstract, contexts. A good test would be the ease with which you can draw valid inferences from articles in the news. Your big thinking helps me distinguish an A project from an A- or B project. In organizations, it helps the boss distinguish who gets promoted.

Any student with a disability who believes he/she needs accommodation(s) in order to complete this course should contact the Office of Disability Services as soon as possible. The staff in the Office of Disability Services will determine what accommodations are appropriate and reasonable under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Office of Disability Services is located in the Main Building, Room M031, and can be reached by phone at (716) 880-2391.

Medaille's faculty and administration expect all students to complete their academic assignments with honesty and integrity. Students who engage in any form of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on a test, forging a signature or an entire college document) will be dealt with severely, with penalties ranging from an F on a given assignment to failing a course or even academic suspension. Students should consult the Medaille College Policy Manual, Volume VI, Paragraph 6.2.2.5, for full details on the college's policy and procedures for handling formal charges of academic dishonesty.

modified: January 15, 2010
by Douglas Anderson
http://toLearn.net/eng110/course.htm

The Course

ENG 110 - College Writing II - Spring 2010

Syllabus