HOLYOKE
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
English
101| College Composition 1: Expository Writing & Research
FALL 2015 | TTr | 2:00 – 3:15 | Frost 235
Office Hours: By appointment | Don 366 (adjunct office)
Welcome
This course is designed to help you
develop the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills necessary for
success at the college level. Our primary focus is to refine your academic
writings skills, and in order to do so, we will work through each step of the
writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising, copy-editing, and
reflecting. By the end of the course, you should be familiar with the elements
of effective academic writing and have a better sense of your own strengths and
weaknesses as a writer. From the beginning of this course, we will take as a basic premise that
in order to become a more attentive writer, one must necessarily cultivate an
active, attentive reading practice. Reading and writing are inextricable. By
starting from a position of academic inquiry, not of simply repeating or
recasting knowledge, but of posing questions, problems, and exercising
independent thought, you will see that academic writing demands a rigorous
practice that will ask you to keep your eyes and minds open. This course is
designed to allow you, the student, to be an initiate into the ever-unfolding
process of contributing meaning in your own work, and to be engaged in a
sustained effort at “supporting, testing, and complicating theses, not just having them.” As you construct your
own essays throughout the semester, you will be challenged to inhabit the role
of a writer and to see your own texts as valuable and vital contributions to
our academic community at HCC. Critical thinking isn’t just a dusty
teacher-term; it’s all about finding your place in the world and leaving a
mark.
Course
Policies
1 – Accommodations: If you have a condition that requires any
special attention, please see me immediately. Accommodations are easily made.
2 – Participation: This is a discussion class; discussion
comprises a significant portion of your grade. If you miss class, there is no
way to make this up. Discussion requires our being present. It is not possible
to be present when you use your cellphone or computer in class. If you do, you
will be marked absent for the day. No joke. I will inform you by email.
3 – Schedule: The schedule of readings and assignments are adapted
to the needs to the class. Therefore, the syllabus is not set in stone. If you
miss a class, check with your classmates or with me for the homework.
4 – Timeliness: No late assignments will be accepted. You will be
granted one exception to this rule if you speak with first. I’ll work with you,
but it is your responsibility to contact me before assignments are due (not an
hour before class, not after class).
5 – Conduct: You are expected to be honest in your criticisms, and
yet respectful to others. We are working together to improve our skills.
6 – If you have a question, ask.
Catalog
Description
This course is the first half of the
college composition sequence and focuses on expository writing, critical
thinking, and research, with emphases on the following: critical reading and
interpretation of nonfiction texts; engaging with and analyzing texts; using
summary, paraphrase, and quotation; finding, evaluating and documenting
sources; and writing with purpose. Students will produce approximately 3000
words of formal written work, including a documented research paper of at least
1250 words.
Teaching Procedure
This class is much
more interesting when people read assignments and voice their opinions.
Therefore, we’ll spend considerable time discussing assigned reading, examining
issues raised, and stylistic and rhetorical choices made. We’ll also do a lot
of writing, editing, and researching in class. These activities will prepare
you for the semester’s graded assignments. Additional writing activities will
expose you to new techniques in an effort to enlarge your stylistic palette.
Required
Texts & Materials
·
They Say/I Say.
Gerald Graff. W.W. Norton.
·
The Best American Essays 2014.
Ed. by John Jeremiah Sullivan.
·
Handouts, from newest credible texts,
provided for you.
·
A notebook (any bound notebook) for
in-class and homework exercises, essay ideas, etc.
Course Outcomes
Writing: Students should be able to produce
college-level essays that
·
Have a main idea with supporting
paragraphs;
·
Use observations from life and from
readings as examples and support;
·
Are well organized and sufficiently
developed;
·
Are clearly written in terms of sentence
structure, transitions, etc.;
·
Are grammatically correct;
·
Are appropriately formatted and
presented.
Process: Students should treat
writing as a process and demonstrate ability to
·
Revise writing in substantive ways by
re-thinking and re-seeing drafts and by experimenting with different ways of
developing and communicating ideas;
·
Be a more perceptive reader of your own
writing and learn to provide constructive feedback to others about their
writing;
·
Manage effectively your writing processes
by reflecting on your texts and making choices about them that are appropriate
to the assignment.
Reading: Students should be able to read at
college level, as demonstrated by their ability to
·
Identify the main ideas and supporting
details in readings;
·
Develop your thinking by questioning your
own and others’ views;
·
Recognize models of clear organization,
expression, and style;
·
Differentiate opinion from fact;
·
Define terms from context;
·
Recognize authors’ attitudes and biases.
Research: Students should be
able to write a college-level research paper that
·
Successfully makes use of secondary
sources, which should include library databases and may include appropriate
internet sources;
·
Uses documentation appropriately and
avoids plagiarism.
Grading System
Essay 1 10
points
Essay 2 10
points
Essay 3 20
points
Final Paper 10
points
Reading Responses / Blog 15 points
Writer’s Notebook 5 points
Writing Community membership 30 points
________
100
points total
Essays
Your classmates, with my facilitation, will
review first draft(s) and/or sections of each essay, and then I will grade the
final version. For the first essay, a draft comprises a portion of your
grade. In other words, even if you ace the final essay, you can earn at
best a B if you do not hand in an earlier draft.
Responses to readings & Blog
For most reading assignments, you’ll respond
with a brief, informal writing assignment. The scope of this writing will be
given in class or will be posted in the class blog. For most of these
assignments, I will ask you to quote, briefly and correctly, from the text. I’m
looking to see that you’ve read the essay, understood its ideas, and formed
thoughts in response to those ideas. Don’t worry too much about grammar,
spelling, or “correctness.” Instead, concentrate on saying something. Look at these informal assignments as a way to
prepare for class discussion, to reflect on your writing process, and to
generate ideas for the long essays. For the blog, respond to the lead question and
to what other folks have said. Make it a conversation. Late assignments will
not be accepted.
Writer’s Notebook
The first section of your notebook is for
in-class notes and various, pre-paper writings. The second half is for your
writings. Some of the exercises will be suggested in class, but I also encourage
you to experiment with anything that interests you and to try new things. Write songs, raps, stories, journal entries, a
pitch to an imagined investor for a business you would one day like to
build…whatever. These writing are yours, so I will simply check whether you are
writing. I will not read what you’ve written.
1-2 pages / week. Please number your pages to make it easy for me to check.
Community Membership
An important part of this course is your
participation in a community that is respectful and helpful to other people in
the class. Review of your participation in this community will include
completing all in-class writings, participating in review workshops, and taking
an active role in class discussion. Excellent attendance, quality feedback, and
no missing in-class writings will receive thirty points. Each missed workshop
will reduce your total by five points, each missed in-class writing by two
points.
Attendance
You may miss up to three classes. Three times
of coming into class late equals a full day of missed class. Using a cellphone
in class = not being in class. (Please do not use your cellphone in class. If
you do, I will give you the option to stay or to leave; either way, you will be
marked absent.) You may miss up to three classes, after which a class missed
will decrease your end total by a full letter grade. After five classes missed,
there will be no way to pass the course, zero exceptions. If you realize this
is the case, I encourage you to withdraw to avoid receiving an F.
Procedure for Evaluating Student Performance
Students are expected to participate in class
discussions, to offer full and useful responses to the writings of peers, to
keep absences to a minimum, and to write at least four typed essays that are
free of grammar and spelling errors. Essays will be at least three pages long, excepting
the research paper, which will be five-six pages long. Short assignments will
be graded on a 10-point scale.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism can exist in numerous ways,
ranging from taking an entire paper (from the Internet or a friend) and
presenting it as your own, to “borrowing” a few sentences from a source without
providing proper documentation. The bottom line is this: If the idea is not
yours, and you present it as your own without giving credit, that is
plagiarism. Over the course of the semester, we will study strategies for
incorporating interesting ideas into our essay and how to cite (give credit)
properly. Still, when in doubt, ask. Plagiarism is no joke. Committing plagiarism
will result in a zero for the work at-hand, potential failure of this class,
and a referral to the Dean of Students for further disciplinary action.
Due dates for Essay Assignments
Essay 1: Personal Essay
First draft due: 09/29 Final
Draft due: 10/06
Essay 2: Critical Response Essay
Final draft due: 11/03 Note: Drafts are not part of your
grade for this essay. If you wish to revise your essay for a higher grade, you will
have two weeks from the time I return it to you.
Essay 3: Academic Research Essay
Due: 12/10 Note:
Drafts are not part of your grade for this essay. If you wish to revise your
essay for a higher grade, you will have until the exam period for this class to
make revisions.
Essay 4: Reflection
Due: During week of final exams
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