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Syllabus WR 121-08 English Composition
RR 209 MW 3:15-4:50 p.m.
Mr. Crumrine (503) 935-3922 <paulc@clackamas.edu>
Office: RR 232 Hours: Monday 4:50-6:00 p.m.
Wednesday 4:50-6:00 p.m.
At school you are engaged not so much in acquiring knowledge as in making mental efforts under criticism. A certain amount of knowledge you can indeed with average faculties acquire so as to retain; nor need you regret the hours you spent on much that is forgotten, for the shadow of lost knowledge at least protects you from many illusions. But you go to a great school not so much for knowledge as for arts and habits; for the habit of attention, for the art of expression, for the art of assuming at a moment's notice a new intellectual position, for the art of entering quickly into another person's thoughts, for the habit of submitting to censure and refutation, for the art of indicating assent or dissent in graduated terms, for the habit of regarding minute points of accuracy, for the art of working out what is possible in a given time, for taste, for discrimination, for mental courage, and for mental soberness. Above all, you go to a great school for self-knowledge. (William Johnson Cory, Letters and Journals 1897)
Prerequisites
The student must have passed WR 95 or performed suitably on the writing placement test.
Required Textbooks
McQuade, Donald, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Writer’s Presence. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2006.
Course Description
This course reviews and expands on the basic academic essay. It teaches students how to analyze and develop a topic, write grammatically correct and organized essays, read professional writing, and apply these writing techniques to a range of academic essay styles. It is designed to meet part of the AAOT/ASOT writing requirement.
Students will demonstrate the successful use of the writing process: inventing, arranging, drafting, and revising toward a final manuscript. Students will be able to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of the main points, sub-points, and supporting details. At the invention stage, they will demonstrate the ability to find their own topic and make it their own.
Students will demonstrate the ability to write an essay to accomplish a clearly stated purpose by adopting appropriate voice, tone, and formality level as well as organizational pattern. Students will compose expository essays addressed to an audience other than the student writer or the instructor.
Handouts
Students will find all course handouts (including a copy of this syllabus) at the web address <http://yeoldebookcellar.freewebspace.com>.
Course Objectives:
ü Review the traditional academic essay.
ü Expand on the traditional model.
ü Provide examples and explore styles of academic essays.
ü Foster and demonstrate an environment of respectful critical inquiry.
ü Provide thorough and constructive feedback on student writing.
ü Introduce basic research and documentation skills, including academic library use.
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
· Read, comprehend, and interpret college-level texts.
· Apply basic critical thinking skills to text and other forms of media.
· Use prewriting tools such as brainstorming and free writing to generate ideas for writing.
· Exercise original thought in selecting and narrowing writing topics.
· Use basic research techniques to locate sources.
· Support thesis statements with specific details and examples, from both personal experience and sources.
· Arrange ideas logically, using various patterns, in unified and fully-developed essays.
· Integrate source materials and avoid plagiarism; use some basic MLA source citations.
· Improve essays through revision.
· Write with precise diction and a vocabulary appropriate to the topic and audience.
· Set up pages in proper MLA manuscript format.
· Write grammatically correct and complete sentences.
Major Topic Outline
Ø Content and Organization. Choosing a subject area, adopting a particular point of view, limiting the topic, and composing a thesis that defines the limits of the paper; constructing useful outlines; unifying the whole essay.
Ø Paragraph Structure. Composition and development of topic ideas. Uses of the topic sentence and positioning of topic sentence within the paragraph; means of development (details, facts, quotations, statistics, etc.); coherence (mainly, clear use of transitions, both within and between paragraphs; continuity of idea within a paragraph).
Ø Sentence Structure. Study of and practice in effective use of subordination, parallel structure, coordination; correction of grammar weaknesses such as sentence fragments and run-ons.
Ø Diction. Study of and practice in use of language, which is appropriate to a given context. Denotation and connotation; precision and accuracy; uses and abuses of figurative language, clichés, and jargon.
Ø Mechanics and Standard Usage. Although some review will be devoted to spelling, punctuation, standard usage, and MS conventions, major difficulties in these areas are grounds for student withdrawal and enrollment in appropriate courses.
Academic Honesty
Plagiarism involves using the words or ideas of another person and passing them off as the student’s own. Copying from any reference without documentation, turning in papers written by another person, or utilizing ideas from a source not credited are examples of plagiarism. Plagiarism can result in a failing grade and other disciplinary actions.
Cheating, plagiarism, and other acts of academic dishonesty are regarded as serious offenses. Instructors have the responsibility to report any such incident. Depending on the nature of the offense, serious penalties may be imposed, ranging from loss of points to expulsion from the class or college.
Assignments
Department guidelines state that this course must include a minimum of five essays and may also include a variety of tests, exercises, and creative presentations. The final essay must include outside sources used to support a thesis with citations written according to MLA format. All written assignments are due on the date assigned on the class calendar. Reading assignments must be completed before class time on the date listed.
Attendance
Students will discover that tardiness or absenteeism usually results in a significantly lower course grade. College policy stresses the necessity of student attendance at all class meetings. The instructor will take attendance through a medium of a dated sign-in sheet. Students who fail to sign the sheet will be considered absent.
Disability Services
Students with specific questions about disabilities should talk with a college counselor. Students with documented disabilities who require class or instructor accommodations should have their counselor notify the instructor during the first week of the term.
Classroom Behavior
Instructors have the responsibility to set and maintain standards of classroom behavior appropriate to the discipline and method of teaching. Students may not engage in any activity that the instructor deems disruptive or counterproductive to the goals of the class. Instructors have the right to remove offending students from class. Repetition of the offense may result in expulsion from the course.
Always show courtesy to your teacher and your fellow students.
§ Do not talk while the teacher or other students are talking (this includes whispering).
§ Do not insult the teacher or your fellow students.
§ Do not do homework or study for other courses in the classroom.
§ Beepers, pagers, and cellular phones should be turned off in the classroom.
Class Participation
Students must avoid being overly talkative or highly argumentative. Students should never hold side conversations; talking with another student once class has started is counterproductive and anti-academic, not to mention insufferable, obnoxious, and rude. Students are free to discuss their grades privately with the instructor, but students must never discuss their grades in the presence of another student.
Potentially Controversial or Offensive Course Content
This course is designed to challenge the student’s assumptions. Those with strong religious, political, or social beliefs may be exposed to contrary ideas or find the subject matter provocative or controversial. Since no alternative assignments exist, students offended by existential or experiential questions, reasoning, or secular thought should withdraw from this course.
The instructor will acknowledge each e-mail message he receives; if a student fails to receive an acknowledgement, the student should assume that the instructor didn’t receive the message.
Ø Notification of grades via email violates FERPA.
Papers
Papers written out of class must be typed double-spaced on 81/2 x 11 inch, white paper. Each paper must have an introductory paragraph containing a thesis sentence, which will be italicized or underlined.
Essays
Papers written in class must be handwritten neatly on lined 81/2 x 11 inch, white notebook paper with the perforations removed.
Grading
The instructor will base the course grade upon an accumulation of points. Late papers will result in a loss of points: papers more than one week overdue will receive a failing grade. Since this course involves a substantial writing requirement, neglecting to turn in a paper will result in a failing course grade. Extra credit assignments do not exist.
Papers 60 points
In-class essays 20 points
Participation 20 points
A = 90—100
B = 80—89
C = 70—79
D = 60—69
Criteria for Grading
A indicates excellent or outstanding performance. The concepts are fully grasped, the subject matter has been mastered, and the student has demonstrated the ability to apply both concepts and subject matter with originality.
B indicates that the student has met all the objectives in the course and has shown an above average grasp not only of the subject matter but of the concepts as well.
C indicates that the student has met the requirements and objectives of the course satisfactorily and has grasped its subject matter and concepts at an acceptable level of competency.
D indicates that the student has met the minimum number of the objectives to satisfy requirements for the course but his/her grasp of the subject matter and concepts was below average.
F indicates that the student has not met a sufficient number of the objectives to pass at a minimal level and should repeat the course or be counseled into some other program or course.
College Closure Due to Inclement Weather or Emergency
In the event of hazardous weather or other emergencies, college administrators will collaborate to determine college closures. The Public Affairs Department will notify Flash News Network, thereby notifying all local media outlets.
When the college announces that it is closed due to adverse weather conditions, then all campus locations are closed. In the event that there is a non-weather related emergency closure, (e.g. loss of electricity) only the affected college campus site will close.
The public may log onto the Clackamas Community College website at <www.clackamas.edu> to catch up-to-date school closure information or <www.pdxinfo.net> for a list of all school and college closures. A recorded phone message will announce closure information on the college’s main number 503-657-6958, ext. 5950.
ü Daytime closures are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
ü Late openings are 10 a.m. The college’s internal procedures call for this decision to be made by 5 a.m.
ü Evening closures are classes beginning at 4 p.m. or later.
ü If the college will close for the evening, classes beginning at 4 p.m. or later will be canceled and the campus is considered closed at 5 p.m. The college’s internal procedures call for this decision to be made by 3 p.m.
Calendar
January
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
1
2
3
4
5
Introduction
to the course
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Writer’s Presence 121-128; 885-894
13
14
In-class essay
15
16
17
18
19
MLK Holiday
College Closed
20
21
Writer’s Presence 406-415; 901-911
First draft due
22
23
24
25
26
Writer’s Presence 273-277
27
28
Writer’s Presence 379-388
Out-of-class paper due
29
30
31
February
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
1
2
Writer’s Presence 355-360
3
4
“The Ides of March”
First draft due
5
6
7
8
9
Writer’s Presence 579-593
10
11
Writer’s Presence 654-657
Out-of-class paper due
12
13
14
15
16
“The Horse Dealer’s Daughter
17
18
In-class essay
19
20
21
22
23
Writer’s Presence 942-954
24
25
26
27
28
March
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
1
2
Writer’s Presence 485-495
3
4
Writer’s Presence 504-509
First draft due
5
6
7
8
9
Writer’s Presence 642-647
10
11
Writer’s Presence 872-881
Out-of-class paper due
12
13
14
15
Final Exam Week—No regular classes
16
17
18
Final Class
2:00-4:00 p.m.
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31