Course Disclosure: Eng 100 College Writing II: Fall 2011

CRN 10807 Section 08B Monday, Wednesday 4 - 5:25 pm in Main 305
Semester Fall 2011
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 after our class -- Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:10 - 10:40, 4 - 4:30 Tuesday Thursday 2:00 - 2:20, 5:20 - 6:00
I have several email addresses, but I would appreciate it if you sent all mail related to this course to me at eng110f10 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 introduces students to the process of writing they will need for success in college. It increases students' abilities to communicate confidently with others, to think clearly, and to organize ideas. Pre-writing, writing, revising, and editing are emphasized. Students will produce a portfolio of their writings including a self-assessment.

Student Objectives

Apply the major rules of spelling, diction, grammar, syntax, and end punctuation.

Outline of Course Content

Research: fact gathering, library use, notetaking, summaries, MLA documentation, avoidance of plagiarism

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, in writing, discuss evidence in support of a claim. If you demonstrate that you can do that, you'll pass this course. If you can't demonstrate that you can, in writing, discuss evidence in support of a claim, no matter what else you do, you won't pass this course.

one essay	thesis approved - 5 points draft - 0 points revision - up to 15 more points	20
ten out-of-class paragraphs	done, 1 point revised, with a few problems, 2 points revised, with few or no problems, 3 points	30
one MLA-documented bibliography	done with at least 10 items, 7 points done, with some problems, 8 points done, with no problems, 10 points	10
ten in-class paragraphs	draft, 0 points revised, with too many problems, 1 point revised, with a few or no problems, 2 points	20
lab	participation	10
Community 101	participation	10
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, including the lab	0 or 1 absences, add 2 points to final grade 2 absences for any reason, add 1 point to final grade 3, 4 or 5 absences for any reason, no change 6 or more absences for any reason, subtract 2 points from final grade for each absence
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 grades. The quality of your writing does not determine your course grade. If you attend all the classes and do all the assignments on time, you will probably get a B in the course. If you do all that and write well structured interesting essays, then you will probably get an A or A-.

On the other hand, if you write terrific paragraphs, but you don't attend many classes and you write them all in the final two weeks, you will probably get a C or lower because you missed a terrific opportunity to improve your writing.

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.

Lab (aka Supplemental Instruction)

Like many college courses, this course has a regularly scheduled "lab". Just like you would go to a biology lab to use the microscopes or a vet tech lab to tend to the critters, in ENG 100, you go to the lab for a more focused, hands-on, individualized experience.

Due to a quirk in the scheduling, your lab instructor is also your RDG 110 instructor. For purposes of the lab, an hour every Thursday, she and I will work closely to try to provide what you need.

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.

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: September 7, 2010
by Douglas Anderson
http://toLearn.net/eng110/course.htm

The Course

Eng 100 - College Writing I - Fall 2011

Syllabus