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English Comp 2 Syllabus
ENGLISH COMP 112 SYLLABUS Fall 1999
Course Description:
The course will focus on expository writing using both research and documentation procedures and the ideas found in literature. Prerequisite: Eng 111. Career program students may be required to take only Eng 111 as requirement, but Eng 111 and 112 should be taken if the student plans on pursuing a baccalaureate degree.
Course Objectives:
To complete the course, the student must be able to:
1. Recognize and use conventional literary techniques to strengthen expository writing.
2. Recognize the ability of language to communicate multiple levels of meaning.
3. Illustrate in writing the relationships between themes in literature and the many facets in human experience.
4. Demonstrate in writing familiarity with conventional vocabulary used in discussing literature.
5. Generate appropriate research paper theses for college work.
6. Evaluate sources for their objectivity, relevance and timeliness.
7. Locate and use a variety of sources and document them properly.
8. Organize and use research materials in every composition.
Supplies:
- Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing 3rd edition. Kirszner and Mandell.
- A college grammar and writing handbook
- Two 3.5 high density disks
- Loose-leaf college-ruled paper and blue or black ink
- Pocket folder for portfolio
Absentee Policy:
Class attendance is a must. Since illness and emergencies may occur, it is the student's responsibility to make up any missed assignments. Except under unusual circumstances, class- work and tests may not be made up.
After the third absence for MWF classes or after the second absence for TR classes, the student's final grade will be lowered 1/3 for each subsequent absence. For example, a final grade of B- will be lowered to a C+ on the next absence, etc.
Course Requirements
For each hour spent in class, the student is expected to spend two out of class. Homework is assigned with this ratio in mind. If you spend much more than this ratio on homework, come talk with me.
Grade Composition:
40% Classwork and homework
30% Final Portfolio
30% Three tests--short story, drama, and poetry
Grading scale:
On homework assignments, a grade of plus + (good), check Ö (average), or U (unacceptable) will be given. In some cases a double-plus (excellent) or a check-plus (in between a plus and a check) will be used as well.
| A+ 100 | A 95 | A- 92 | B+ 91 | B 87 | B- 84 |
| C+ 83 | C 79 | C- 76 | D+ 75 | D 71 | D- 68 |
1. A grade of C will be given to work meeting minimum standards. In order to make above a C, work must meet higher standards.
2. Homework and papers are due at the beginning of class. Late work will lose a letter grade.
3. Except in an emergency situation, tests may not be made up.
Late Work
If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed by calling the instructor or another student in class. It would be a good idea to exchange phone numbers with one or two students in the class so you can contact each other if necessary.
Homework and papers are due at the beginning of class. If you are working on a homework assignment in class, it is late and will lose a letter grade. Late work turned in within a week of its due date will lose one letter grade; work turned in within two weeks of its due date will lose two letter grades, and work turned in within three weeks of its due date will lose three letter grades. Any late work turned in the last two weeks of the semester will automatically receive a D.
Conferences
Students are encouraged to arrange an appointment if the need arises. If regular office hours posted on my office door are not convenient, other times may be arranged.
Other Classroom Policies:
- Your final grade will be mailed to you by the college. In order to maintain confidentiality and accuracy, it will not be posted, available by telephone, or given by the instructor in person. Discussion of your grade is encouraged at any point during the semester.
- The instructor reserves the right to clarify or amend this syllabus as necessary.
Students with documented disabilities should see me about alternatives.
Important Dates
| August | 28 | Classes Begin |
| September | 4 | Labor Day Holiday |
| October | 31 | Last day to drop a course |
| October | 30 | Early registration for Spring 2001 |
| November | 10 | Early registration ends |
| November | 23-25 | Thanksgiving Break |
| November | 30 | Faculty Development Day (day classes cancelled) |
| Thurs Dec | 7 | Final Exam 2:00-4:00 |
Tentative Schedule
Week 1 Course Introductions
Complete Getting to Know You
Begin Literacy Autobiography
Week 2 Chapters 1-3
Literacy Autobiography Due
Week 3 Chapter 4 Read 65-69
"Once Upon a Time" answer questions 1-4, 6, 7 in complete sentences
"A Rose for Emily" answer questions 1, 3, 4
Chapter 5 Read 100-103
"A & P" answer questions 1-6
"Like a Winding Sheet" answer questions 1-5
Week 4 In-class essay on either plot or character
Chapter 6 Read 140-145
"The Yellow Wallpaper" answer questions 1-5
Week 5 Chapter 9 Read 291-297
"The Lottery" answer questions 1-7
"Everyday Use" answer questions 1-8
Week 6 In-class essay on either setting or symbolism
Fiction outside reading
Test on Fiction
Week 7 Research paper on outside reading
Week 8 Chapter 20
Trifles
The Sandbox
Week 9 Antigone
Week 10 The Glass Menagerie
Week 11 Research paper on The Glass Menagerie
Week 12 Test on Drama
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Week 13 Chapter 17
Poetry Casebook
Week 14 In-class essay on poetry
Week 15 Test on Poetry
Fiction Outside Reading List
Chopin's "The Story of an Hour"
Moore's "How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)"
Baxter's "Gryphon"
Chopin's "The Storm"
Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing"
Wright's "Big Black Good Man"
Faulkner's "Barn Burning"
Akutagawa's "In a Grove"
Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"
Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"
Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums"
Kaplan's "Doe Season"
Borowski's "Silence"
Boyle's "Greasy Lake"
Erdrich's "Fleur"
Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers"
Joyce's "Evelyn"
Lessing's "A Woman on the Roof"
Tan's "Two Kinds"
Thurber's "The Catbird Seat"
Tyler's "Teenage Wasteland"
Format for Papers
Double space with 1 inch margins. Use 12 point Times New Roman font. Do not have a separate title page—put a heading on the first page with your name, the class, the teacher name, and the date in the top left-hand corner. Center the title on the next line and begin the paper. Do not put extra double spaces anywhere in the paper. Pages should be numbered in the top right-hand corner. Your Works Cited Page should be a separate page at the end of the paper. Do not double space twice after end punctuation; use a singe space after commas and periods.
Do not use a report cover for your paper. Staple it in the top left-hand corner along with your prewriting and rough drafts. Your most recent draft should always be on top; prewriting on the bottom.
When referring to literature, use the present tense. "Shakespeare’s sonnet is remarkable for its use of alliteration." Even though Shakespeare wrote the sonnet in the past, we use present tense because the poem exists in the present.
We will be using MLA (Modern Language Association) format for your research papers. This style is discussed in your textbook on pages 1995-2005 and sample papers written in MLA are on 2006-2019.
PLAGIARISM
According to Lester in Writing Research Papers, "Fundamentally, plagiarism is the offering of the words or ideas of another person as one's own. The worst violation is the use of another student's work. Also flagrantly dishonest are writers who knowingly use sources without documentation" (129).
If a student is guilty of plagiarism, the instructor has the authority to assign an F or a zero for the exercise or examination, or to assign an F in the course.
Lester suggests the following rules of conduct:
1. Acknowledge borrowed material by introducing the quotation or paraphrase with the name of the authority.
2. Enclose within quotation marks all quoted material.
3. Make certain that paraphrased material is rewritten into your own style and language. Simply rearrangement of sentence patterns is unacceptable.
4. Provide specific in-text documentation for each borrowed item. MLA style requires name and page for all in-text references.
5. Provide a bibliography entry in the "Works Cited" for every source cited in the paper.
6. Omit sources consulted but not used.
PORTFOLIO GROUND RULES
What is a portfolio?
A collection of your writing in a loose leaf folder. It should contain the assignment sheet, brainstorming exercises, your essay plan/outline, and first through final drafts for every assignment. All work should be dated. If you revise your essay, the revision should have a new date, not the date of the previous draft.
How will the portfolio be graded?
Your finished portfolio will be judged according to standards of good writing that we will discuss in class.
What if I have trouble with one of the writing assignments? Do I have to include all the papers I write even if I don’t like them?
You will be given a chance to choose the four pieces of writing that you want to include in your final portfolio. That way, if you really don’t feel that one of your papers is successful, it doesn’t have to be included.
Does that mean I have to do only four papers?
No. You will have to do all the assignments, but you will pick the best to get the final portfolio grade. You will receive credit for completing assignments even if they are not included in your graded portfolio.
What are the benefits to me?
There are several. You will have the opportunity to revise your work. You will not be penalized for the occasional weak paper. You won’t have to worry about the grade as much as the improvement in your paper. Teacher and peer comments on your papers are suggestions about how to improve your paper rather than negative criticisms. You will improve your skills as a writer and a critic by reading and responding to classmates’ papers. At the end of the course, you will be able to see the amount of writing you have produced and the amount of progress you have made.
How many times will I have to revise a paper?
That depends. Some papers will go through many drafts and other papers may end with a first draft. You may revise until the day the portfolios are due. Papers that are included in your final portfolio have undergone at least three drafts.
What do I need to include with my paper?
Each paper should include all your pre-writing notes, whether they are written on scraps of paper or on a napkin. NEVER throw away anything that has to do with your writing until the semester is over. You don’t know what you may need.
Why do I have to put my pre-writing on paper? I usually do all of my pre-writing in my head.
Since I am not a mind reader, I cannot see any pre-writing that is done in your head. In order to help you become a better writer, I must see all of the stages you went through to get to a draft. Only then can I make suggestions on how you can improve. I can’t suggest improvements to something I can’t see. You will not receive full credit for your paper if parts of your writing process are not included in your portfolio.