ENGLISH 071 - Fundamentals of Writing

Fall 2006 (8 Weeks) Syllabus

Course Information

ENG071 Section 2141, TR 1-3:30pm

Professor Alisa Cooper

Office Hours: M-F 10-11am

Phone: 623-242-2424

E-mail: professorcooper at freshmancomp dot com

Required Textbook and Resources

• Wingersky/Boener/Holguin-Balogh. Writing Paragraphs and Essays 5th Ed.

• ½” 3-Ring Binder with 5 Dividers

• Email address

Course Description

Emphasis on the fundamentals of sentence, paragraph, and multi-paragraph structure. Prerequisites: Appropriate English placement test score or a grade of "C" or better in ENG056orENG061.

Course Outcomes

After completing English 071, you should be able to:

1. Use the writing process for paragraphs and essays to include invention, planning, developing, revising, and editing.

2. Demonstrate development of a topic for a specific audience and purpose.

3. Identify sentence patterns and correct common errors in sentence construction.

4. Use topic sentences for paragraph and/or thesis statements for essays.

5. Revise paragraphs and/or essays to be unified and coherent using a variety of methods of development.

6. Develop paragraphs and/or essays with supporting details, facts, statistics, examples, and statements by authorities.

7. Write multiple paragraphs and an essay practicing the use of the essay format.

8. Revise paragraphs and/or multi-paragraph essays for audience, purpose, organization, style, mechanics, and sentence structure.

9. Summarize information.

10. Leave English 071 feeling confident that you have learned and applied new skills for critical thinking, reading, and writing.

Course Activities and Expectations and All Around Good Habits

1. Please note that assigned material must be read before class. Occasionally, assignments will include information that may not be discussed in class because of time constraints: students should nevertheless feel free to raise questions about assignments both in and out of class.

2. Some classes may involve lectures and extensive discussion about the writing process, students' work, or the written work of others. Writing is a recursive process that demands time and devotion from authors and subsequently, from readers. English 071 class sessions will facilitate this process, incorporating pre-writing, sorting, drafting, editing, and revising. Regular attendance and active participation are critical in ensuring comprehension of materials covered.

3. English 071 involves the successful completion of a variety of writing; each designed to strengthen students' abilities in a particular rhetorical mode. All written assignments are due at the start of class on the assigned date. English 071 moves at a rigorous pace, and each assignment depends on previous works' success. Late work is thus unacceptable. I will penalize late work or may refuse to accept it, thus assigning a "0" to any work submitted after the due date. This policy ensures that your skills and thinking build over the semester and that the class moves together at a steady pace to achieve its goals. I will indicate guidelines regarding submission of papers (i.e. formatting, etc.).

4. Students should regularly bring all texts to each class meeting. They should come prepared to take notes and be ready to write and must arrive on time and stay until I dismiss class.

5. Tobacco in any form is forbidden in the classroom. Moreover, students will be working together in a relatively confined space, and observing classroom etiquette is thus crucial. As students work and learn together, mutual respect as well as tolerance and understanding will naturally enhance English 071.

6. This classroom is committed to social justice. I expect to maintain a positive learning environment based upon open communication, mutual respect, and acceptance. If at any time you feel disrespected, bring it to my attention and I will address the matter.

7. Since English 071 is a class that depends upon mutual respect and since it moves at a rigorous pace, disruptions cannot and will not be tolerated. I am committed to maintaining a successful classroom environment. No cell phone use is permitted in class - ringers are to be turned off. Failure to observe cell phone policy will be counted as an absence. Students who persist in disrupting a class may be asked to leave.

8. Excellent students subscribe to a code of intellectual honesty essential to an academic community dedicated to the pursuit of truth. They do not represent work or ideas belonging to others as their own, and they do not condone or passively permit such behavior in other students. I expect students to be honest with themselves, classmates, and with me and that all work submitted is a student's own. Honesty and respect are two of the cornerstones of English 071.

Course Requirements

You must complete all the required writing assignments to earn a passing grade in this class. The points for each assignment are distributed across the invention and research work, rough draft, peer review, and final draft. Completing all stages of the process for each writing assignment is necessary to receive the maximum credit.

• Six Paragraphs (50 points each): 300 points.

• Quizzes (20 points each): 150 points.

• Assignments: (20 points each): 200 points

• Notebooks/Journals: (50 points each): 200 points

• Portfolio: 150 points.

Policy Concerns

Attendance and Participation: You may fail the class for missing more than two (2) class meetings. "Attendance" means being present, on time, and prepared for the entire class period. Participation means contributing positively to large and small group discussions and activities. Also, if you miss class on a day when I am giving "participation" points for an activity we do in class, you cannot make up those points. Attendance and participation grades are in part determined by in-class writings, reading responses, and random quizzes that I may assign to make sure that you are reading, studying, and keeping pace with the class. Points assigned to these activities may vary; I will indicate the point value of each activity as it is assigned. Also, you must come to each class prepared to share your drafts with others, and to revise what you have already written. This means you must work steadily both in class and on your own.

Time management is an important element in writing and, hence, an important concern for you in this course. Furthermore, to receive full credit on a collaborative assignment, you must have completed the entire project with others. The only excused absences are those for organized athletic/scholastic events, religious holidays, jury duty, and death of a family member. I will need to see documentation in order to excuse any absence. Conferences will be held at midterm. Attendance at the midterm conference is mandatory. Failure to attend your conference will result in two absences.

Homework: Homework assignments are listed in this syllabus but are subject to change. Changes will be announced in class. You are responsible for assignments whether or not you are here when they are assigned. Write down the names and numbers/e-mail addresses of two classmates. You should contact one of them for information about a class you miss. I will assign points to your homework - no points are given for homework not turned in on the day it is due. I do not accept late homework and there is no make up for quizzes. Some weeks will require more hours of homework than others.

Tardiness: Because our class time is limited, it is very important that you arrive to class on time. Arriving late may interrupt class or group activities. If you are more than 10 minutes late, you will be counted as tardy for the class. Each tardy will count as half an absence. Leaving class early counts as a tardy. Work missed because of tardiness may not be made up.

Paper Format: All revised and final drafts of papers must be computer printed, double-spaced. On the cover page include your name, course title, my name, and the assignment topic in the center of the page. Staple all pages together. All papers must be handed in as directed. This might include invention work, earlier drafts, peer review comments, reflective memos, and /or other materials as specified.

Disposition of Papers: Keep all of your own papers for this course in your class notebook. Any student who appeals a course grade will need to submit copies of all graded course work.

Special Accommodations: If you require special accommodations, please let me know and contact GCC Disability Services and Resources at 623 845-3080.

Plagiarism: To plagiarize is to present as your own any work that is not exclusively your own. We will discuss how to properly use and cite sources in your writing. Plagiarism of all or a portion of any assignment will be strictly penalized. Malicious plagiarism, that is, plagiarism where no attempt at proper citation is indicated, or having someone else write for you (as in ideas, not a scribe), will result in immediate dismissal from the class and the grade of "F" for the course.

Late Papers: Essays and homework are due at the beginning of class. Essay assignments not turned in for evaluation at the beginning of class on their due dates will be marked down 10% for each day (not class period) late. After five (5) days past due the paper will result in a zero for that assignment. Please keep in mind that all assignments must be completed to pass the course.

Grading Scale: Grading papers will follow English Department standards, which are based on process, content, organization, expression, and mechanics including proper MLA style format. I use the standard 100% scale that is most familiar to students: A = 100-94 B+ = 89-87 C+ = 79-77 D+ = 69-67 E = 59-A- = 93-90 B= 86-84 C= 76-74 D= 66-64 B- = 83-80 C- = 73-70 D- = 63-60

Incompletes: An incomplete will be granted only in cases of serious and unavoidable difficulties. Review the GCC Student Handbook for the policy on incompletes.

Daily Syllabus

Week 1

Tues: Course Introduction/Review Syllabus. Sentence Skills Diagnostic Test.

• HW: Read Introduction to Writing, pp. 2-19; Read Syllabus

Thurs: Topic Sentences and Paragraphs, pp. 24-31. Discuss Reading/Homework. Activity.

• HW: Read The Paragraph, pp. 32-48. Fragments, pp.70-71;183-191; Being a Sensitive Writer, pp.92-119. Run-ons, pp. 71-72;192-197. Review Confusing Words, pp. 423-438.

• Draft Paragraph 1.

Week 2

Tues: Quiz. Draft of Paragraph 1 Due. Peer Review. Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Read The Thesis Sentence, pp. 152-170. Commas, pp. 334-343. Comma Splices, pp. 197-201.

• Finalize Draft.

Thurs: Example Paragraph Due. Discuss Reading/Homework. Activity.

• HW: Read pp. 210-231 / 363-366. Acosta, pp. 394-395. Process Analysis, pp.381-383; Beach, pp. 403-404;

• Draft Paragraph 2. Notebooks Graded.

Week 3

Tues: Quiz. Draft of Paragraph 2 Due. Peer Review. Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Verbs, pp. 454-459; Irregular Verbs, pp. 441-442; Consistent Verb

Tense, pp. 81-84.

Finalize Draft.

Thurs: Process Paragraph Due. Discuss Reading/ Homework. Activity.

• HW: Nouns, pp. 449-454; Subjects, pp. 66-69; Subject-Verb Agreement, pp.72-76.

• Draft Paragraph 3.

Week 4

Tues: Quiz. Draft of Paragraph 3 Due. Peer Review. Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Sentence Variety, pp. 242-251; Consistent Point of View, pp. 134-144.

• Finalize Draft.

Thurs: Cause/Effect Paragraph Due. Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Read Narrative, pp. 100-101; Hilding, pp.52-53. Scarbrough,

pp. 52. Rojas, pp. 287-289.

• Draft Paragraph 4. Notebooks Graded.

Week 5

Tues: Quiz. Draft of Paragraph 4 Due. Peer Review. Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Finalize Draft.

Thurs: Narrative Paragraph Due. Discuss Reading/Homework. Activity.

• HW: Apostrophes /Quotations, pp. 343-345. Read Comparison/Contrast, pp. 366-374; Noah, pp.395- 398; Capitalization, pp.409-414;

• Draft Paragraph 5.

Week 6

Tues: Quiz Draft Paragraph 5 Due. Peer Review. Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Finalize Draft.

Thurs: Compare/Contrast Paragraph Due. Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Read Using Complex Sentences, pp. 293-308; Prepositions, pp. 60-66/ 459-460. Read Argumentation, pp.384-387; David, pp. 405-406.

• Draft Paragraph 6. Notebooks Graded.

Week 7

Tues: Quiz. Draft of Paragraph 6 Due. Peer Review. Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Pronouns, pp.58-60 /76-81. Underlining /Parentheses, pp. 345-364.

• Finalize Draft.

Thurs: Argument Paragraph Due. Discuss Converting Paragraphs to Essays Discuss Reading/Homework.

• HW: Read pp.378-380 7414-416; Radas, pp.403; Adjectives /Adverbs, pp.60-61; Read Introductory and Concluding Paragraphs, pp 258-280

Week 8

Tues: Quiz. Review for Final Essay. Discuss Reading/Homework. Writing Introductions and Conclusions.

Thurs: Essay Final. Notebooks Graded.