Syllabus
- College Writing and Rhetoric
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Course Goals: English 102 is an introductory composition course, designed to improve your skills in persuasive, expository writing, the sort you will be doing in other courses in college and in many jobs. Sometimes this kind of writing is called transactional writing; it is used to transact something— persuade and inform a reasonably well-educated audience, conduct business, evaluate, review, or explain a complex process, procedure, or event.
By the end of the course, you should be very good at doing the following:
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Comprehend college-level and professional prose and to analyze how authors present their ideas in view of their probable purposes, audiences, and occasions.
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Present your ideas as related to, but clearly distinguished from, the ideas of others (includes the ability to paraphrase, summarize, and correctly cite and document borrowed material).
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Develop a central idea or argument logically, supporting and illustrating it clearly.
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Write critical analyses and syntheses of college-level and professional prose.
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Gather and evaluate information and use it for a rhetorical purpose in writing a research paper.
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Use a variety of strategies during the prewriting process.
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Revise effectively.
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Proofread accurately in order to produce writing that maintains the conventions of publishing English.
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Give and receive constructive feedback from peers.
Of course, I expect that you are able to carry out some of these tasks already.
Requirements: There will be six major writing assignments. Here are brief descriptions of the major assignments (more detailed descriptions will follow):
WA 1: Length: at least well on to the third page (500 - 600 words), worth 5% of the final grade. A brief writing assignment taking one week or less, just to get a quick writing sample form the students. Use one of the brief writing projects from Chapters 1-4 or a placement essay topic.
WA 2: Length: at least well on to the third page (800 - 1000 words), worth 10-15 % of final grade. Chose selections from Chapters 17-20 that are appropriate to the task required by the assignment.
Summary/ Response Essay: approx. 3 pages. Chapter 6, Chapter 22 (esp. pp. 551 ff.).
WA 3: 3-5 pages, worth 10% of final grade. Length: on to the fourth page (900 - 1,100 words). Chose selections from Chapters 17-20 that are appropriate to the task faced by the assignment.
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An Analysis. Chapters 10, 11, 12, or 13. |
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An Evaluation Paper. Chapter 15. OR |
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A Problem/Solution Paper. Chapter 16. |
WA 4: Length: 4-5 pages (1,000 - 1,250 words). All assignments should incorporate outside sources and use Chapter 22.
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Exploratory Essay. Chapter 8. |
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An Evaluation Paper. Chapter 15. OR |
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A Problem/Solution Paper. Chapter 16. |
WA 5: Research Essay. 7-10 pages, worth 25% of final grade. Chapters 21, 22, and 23.
WA 6: 3-4 pages, worth 15% of final grade.
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Personal Experience Paper, worth 10% of final grade. Chapters 5 or 7. OR |
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An Evaluation Paper. Chapter 15. OR |
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A Problem/Solution Paper. Chapter 16. |
You must also keep a journal in which you record your initial ideas for papers (including the ones that don’t work out) and responses to some of the readings. Your journal will be for you alone; for this reason, I will not be collecting and grading these journals, but I be giving you regular assignments to do in your journal. If you write regularly in your journal, your final papers will be better.
I will determine your final grade as follows:
| WA 1: | 5% | |
| WA 2: | 15% | |
| WA 3: | 15% | |
| WA 4: | 15% | |
| WA 5: | 25% | |
| WA 6L | 10% | |
| Attendance and Participation: | 15% |
Attendance is required; normally you should have no more than three unexcused absences throughout the term. More than six absences can seriously jeopardize your chances of passing the course, regardless of your grades in other areas (unless you have a very good reason for your absences, which you have discussed with me). More than four unexcused absences will result in grade being lowered by a whole letter point (from a B to C, for example). I will count an absence as excused for the following reasons: (a) required field trips for other classes; (b) participation, not merely attendance, in university athletics; and, up to a certain point, (c) illnesses for which you have a doctor’s excuse (if you are seriously ill for an extended period, it may not be possible to continue with the class). In the first two cases, you will need to provide a letter or note from the department (the Athletic Department or another academic department) that requires your absence from this class. If you know you must miss a class, try to inform me about it in advance. Remember that you are responsible for making up all the work you have missed. It is especially important not to miss conferences in which your writing and that of the other students is discussed. You are required to do your writing on a computer for this class.
Revision Policy: The grade you receive on the final version of a paper will be based on both your first and final versions of the paper. You may revise the final versions of three of the six assignments of a paper if you hand in the revision within one week of receiving the graded version back. After a paper has been graded the first time, you may revise only once more. The new grade will be based on the first and most recent version of the paper; it replaces the earlier grade you received.
Plagiarism: See the attached statement on plagiarism. An important part of this course involves how to avoid plagiarism, so that you can avoid the consequences that are spelled out in the plagiarism policy.
Textbooks and other Materials: The required texts are as follows:
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A good college dictionary. |
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A box of paperclips. |
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Ramage, John D. and John C. Bean. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. 2nd and brief edition. Please note that this is the second edition of this book. |
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YOUR READER AND ANY OTHER BOOKS YOU MAY BE REQUIRING, |
These materials will be available at the University Book Store.
Important Dates: We will try to follow the schedule shown below. Any changes will be announced in class. You are responsible for knowing what those changes are.
[You would need to add the dates that are appropriate for the course you are designing. I’ve suggested some dates for WA 1-6.]POLICY ON PLAGIARISM – English 102
All of us teaching writing assume that you will do honest work and that you will work with your instructor on improving writing that is your own. But, since plagiarism is a serious matter, we feel that it is important to explain what plagiarism is and what the consequences are.
What Plagiarism is (Two Basic Forms):
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Using someone else's work as your own, without citing the source. This includes direct copying, rephrasing, and summarizing, as well as taking someone else's idea and putting it in different words.
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Not indicating directly quoted passages or ideas even while citing the work as a general source.
What the Consequences of Plagiarism are:
If a paper involves plagiarism of the second kind (less serious), the instructor may ask you to rewrite the paper, using correct forms of documentation.
If a paper involves plagiarism, the instructor is empowered by university regulations to assign you a failing grade in the course. In addition, a file may be established with the Dean of Students to record the incident, in case of repeated offenses. You can read the academic regulations regarding plagiarism in the two places on the Web. The following address will take you to academic Regulation O-2: http://www.uidaho.edu/catalog2001/part3.html#academic (see also page 49 of 2001 Catalog). The following address will take you to Article II of the Student Code of Conduct: http://www.its.uidaho.edu/fsh/2300.html#ARTICLE%20II.
Instructors may demonstrate that a paper involves plagiarism in two ways: 1) by identifying the source, and 2) by showing the discrepancy of style between previous papers and the paper in question.
A final word on plagiarism: we understand the occasional temptation to plagiarize—but we are surprisingly good at recognizing plagiarism. Our basic message is DON'T DO IT. When you need to take something from another person's work—an idea, a powerful statement, a set of facts, or an explanation—cite your source.MWF Schedule