Course Syllabus Freshman Composition

ENG 101 | Spring 2018

 

Instructor: Emily Mulvihill

Email: Mulvihill_Emily@sac.edu

Class Times: M/W 7:00-9:05 am

Room: D-110

Office Hours: By appointment

 

Welcome:

I look forward to a great semester working with all of you to improve your communication skills and develop strong patterns of writing and revision that will help you not only with other classes, but in other areas of your life as well. Being prepared and engaging in the class materials are the best ways to do well. Please feel free to set up a time to meet with me for any questions you may have and/or to chat about your progress in the course. I am also available to answer questions on email. Please do not hesitate to contact me, as I want all of you to do well and I am always happy to help.

 

Course Description:

In English 101 students will continue to refine their sentence writing in terms of correctness, emphasis and variety. Students will also continue to work on essential elements of writing such as coherence, focus, and development. Ultimately students who pass this class will be able to write descriptive, illustrative, analytical, and argumentative essays and be able to compose a medium length MLA style research paper with correct documentation. During the research process, students will also learn to assess the validity and relevance of source material in both traditional and online formats. 

 

Required Texts/Materials:

Little Seagull Handbook, Norton

Three Blue Books

Supplemental Materials printed from Canvas

 

Attendance:

It is important that students attend class to receive participation points and take part in group activities. You are allowed one unexcused absence during the semester. However, you cannot gain participation points for days that you are not in class, nor will you be able to make up grammar quizzes or other graded, in-class work. If you miss four or more classes, you will be dropped from the course. In addition, two late arrivals will also count as an unexcused absence, since arriving late disrupts the rest of the class. If you have any concerns or scheduling conflicts, please speak to me or email me in advance.

 

Late Work:

All work is due by the assigned date and time. Written work turned in after the due date will be deducted one letter grade for each day that it is late.

 

Academic Dishonesty:

Cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty, such as plagiarism, will result in serious consequences. Plagiarism occurs when someone presents another’s work as their own. This not only includes copying from sources without citing, but also paraphrasing without giving credit or presenting another’s ideas as your original thought. Plagiarism will not be tolerated within this class. It will result in a zero on the assignment. We will be discussing this on the first day of class. Please see me if you have any questions on plagiarism or what might be considered plagiarism.

 

Student Conduct:

This class will require student participation and involvement. In order to create an environment that is conducive to learning for everyone, students should be respectful towards the instructor as well as fellow classmates. This involves: active listening, respecting other’s opinions, and engaging in the course material. In addition, cell phone use is not allowed in class and appropriate internet use on laptops is expected. Below is a SAC link to more information on student conduct expectations.

https://www.sac.edu/StudentServices/StudentLife/StudentConduct/Pages/default.aspx        

 

Canvas:

I will update Canvas frequently and it will be on Canvas that you submit many of your written assignments. Check Canvas often as I may update materials or provide additional materials to help you with the assignment. You should update your settings on Canvas to make sure that you will receive notification via email or phone of my Canvas announcements.  Additionally, there will be an open forum space for asking questions to your classmates that you may utilize as a peer support network.

 

Special Accommodations:

Your success in this course is important to me. Santa Ana College and I are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability that may have some impact on your ability to do well in this course, I encourage you to speak with me as soon as possible. Also, please contact Disabled Student Programs & Services so that we can all collaborate on your classroom accommodations in a timely manner. DSP&S is located in the Village VL-203, and their phone number is 714-564-6264. The DSP&S office requires documentation of your disability in order to receive reasonable accommodations. If you do not have documentation, they will work with you to acquire it. I look forward to supporting you to meet your learning goals.  It is the disabled student’s responsibility to contact the course instructor at the beginning of the semester to discuss potential plans when classroom evacuations are necessary. 

 

 

Grading:

Essays                                     40%

In Class Essays                       20%

Homework                              10%

Classwork/Quizzes                 10%

Research Paper                        20%

 

 

Homework Assignments:

Journal Entries: Each week you will write a journal response and these will be a large portion of your overall homework grade. There will be a prompt suggestion each week to structure one of these mini-essays, I will ask you to summarize or respond to an out-of-class or in-class reading. I might also ask you to answer a question using previous readings/material as a form of review. This is a good opportunity to practice your writing skills as well as work on sentence and paragraph structure. They are due 5:00pm Friday each week. I will be looking at both form and content, so make sure your writing is clear, concise and engaging to the reader. We will discuss a sample journal entry in class.

           

Grammar Practice: Even the best of writers need to brush up on their grammar now and then. This grade will be composed of all of the different grammar practice assignments we will complete both in and out of class. Do your best on these assignments and reach out with questions when necessary.

 

*There may be other Homework Assignments for this course, but the Journal Entries and Grammar practice will comprise the majority of this grading category.

 

 

Classwork/Quizzes:

Participation: Participation in this class is an important part of your overall grade and will count under the Homework/Quiz section. Engaging in course discussion and activities is required.  Participation, however, does not simply mean speaking frequently in class. It also means: being ready at the start of the class period, listening to peers/instructor, following directions, appropriate use of technology in the classroom etc. Please let me know if you have any concerns about this, as we can create strategies together to make sure you are able to participate and engage in the course materials. Note: Attendance will also compose a percentage of this grade.

 

Classwork: To do well in this course, you should expect to treat all in-class assignments as if they are graded, though I will only be collecting assignments periodically. Please remember to include your name, course, and date at the top of the page. Please also write legibly on all handwritten assignments.

 

Quizzes: I will periodically quiz you on the materials from course. These quizzes should be straightforward if you have read and studied the material appropriately. Not all quizzes will be announced and they may not be made up outside of the class in which they are given. I will drop your lowest quiz grade at the end of the course.

 

 

Essays (4):

Each of your out-of-class essays should be polished, 3-5 pages, double-spaced, and Times New Roman using MLA format. We will also be working on various stages of the essay-writing including: pre-writing, outlining, drafting, and editing. Students are expected to revise their own work before submitting their assignment on Canvas. Out of the 4 essays two may be revised. The revisions are due two weeks after the date the essays are returned. The revisions will be turned in via hard-copy in class.  The new grade will be averaged with the previous grade to compose a new grade if substantial revisions have been made between drafts.

           

Research Paper: You will be required to research, draft, edit, and finalize a paper using MLA format. The final draft should be 8-10 pages, double spaced, Times New Roman with a works cited list and proper use of academic sources. Like your other take-home essays, we will be going through many stages of this paper. You are expected to keep all of your drafts including pre-writing, note taking, bibliographies etc. as the final grade will be composed not only of the final, but the work put into the various drafts as well.

 

In-Class Essays: Mastering the in-class essay is a particularly useful skill as it encourages you to: work efficiently, summarize material, and respond in an organized and thoughtful manner. We will do at least one practice essay before the first graded one so you get a sense of the process. We will be discussing strategies for doing well on these essays in-class and further hand-outs on expectations will be provided. In total, there will be two in-class essays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week	Date	Topics	Assignments
1 M	08/27	Introductions	Read Syllabus Log into Canvas page
1 W	08/29	Introductions cont. Review Grammar Patterns Essay 1 Introduction	Readings: From The Little Seagull Handbook: How to Use This Book xii-xiv W-10 Personal Narratives 58-61 W-1 Writing Contexts 2-6 W-3 Writing Processes 9-17 W-13 Reflections pg 70-74     Submission: Journal Week 1 (Goals)
2 M	09/03	Labor Day (No Class)
2 W	09/05	Quiz: Punctuation   “When Love Seems Too Easy to Trust” discussion   Introduction to peer revision process   Personal Narratives	Readings: Review from The Little Seagull Handbook: P-3 End Punctuation P-4 Quotation Marks P-5 Apostrophes (393-403) P-8 Capitalization P-9 Italics P-10 Abbreviations P-11 Numbers pg 409-416   “When Love Seems Too Easy to Trust” NYT   “My Embarrassing Photo Went Viral”     Submission: Journal Week 2 (Personal Narratives)
3 M	09/10	Bring Essay 1 (3 copies) for peer revisions	Essay 1 Due
3 W	09/12	Thinking about genre   In-Class Reading: “Greeting Cards for These Trying Times”  w/ activity (humorous)	Readings: From The Little Seagull Handbook: W-16 Reading Strategies (83-90) L-1 Appropriate Words L-2 Precise Words (351-355) Print: “Greeting Cards for These Trying Times”     Read “Standing By” David Sedaris   Look up: Definition for Genre. Write it down and think of some examples.   Submission: Journal Week 3 (Humor/Standing By)
4 M	09/17	Introduction to Essay 2 Word Choice	Readings: L-9 Words for Building Common Ground L-10 Englishes (376-385) (See more) W-7 Arguments   Readings: TBA   Submission:  L-9 and L-10 Words for Building Common Ground and Englishes Reflection
4 W	09/19	Reading Quiz- Cisneros In-Class reading discussion questions	Readings: Sandra Cisneros “The House on Mango Street” selections   Read and take down ideas on the reading discussion questions.   From The Little Seagull Handbook W-11 Literary Anaylses W-8 Rhetorical Analyses   Submission: Journal Week 4 (Comparison)
5 M	09/24	Bring essay (1 copy) to class Speed-dating style edits	Essay 2 Due
5 W	09/26	Quiz: Sentences, Fragments, Comma Splices, Semicolons   Discussion: Short Story	Readings: From The Little Seagull Handbook: S-2 Sentence Fragments S-3 Comma Splices, Fused Sentences (317-322) P-1 Commas P-2 Semicolons (386-393)   “Giving Blood” & “Snowing in Greenwich Village” John Updike     Grammar Packet (read, print, complete & bring to class   Submission: Journal Week 5
6 M	10/01	Begin In-Class Essay Discussion	Readings: “The Lottery” – Read and Answer discussion questions   Submission: Discussion Questions
6 W	10/03	Timed Practice In-Class Essay	Readings: Read through the entire packet of essay prompts/ questions. Write 4-5 sentences explaining what you might write for each one.   Elaborate on one prompt and do a timed essay practice as your journal entry.   Submission: Journal Week 6
7 M	10/08	Bring in 2 copies plus 10 questions you want to ask your peer reviewer.	Readings: Historical background readings for our novel   Essay 3 Due
7 W	10/10	Framework for Bless Me, Ultima Initial Thoughts/ Reactions Review Essay 3   Quiz- Characters, Setting, etc	Readings: Begin Bless Me, Ultima- Rudolfo Anaya  Chapters 1-6 (pg 1-60)   Submission: Journal Week 7
8 M	10/15	Bless Me, Ultima Discussion Reading Strategies Revisited   In-Class Essay 1	Readings: Bless Me, Ultima Chapters 7-10 (pg 60-106)
8 W	10/17	Bless Me, Ultima Discussion: Symbols, Motifs, and Themes	Readings: Bless Me, Ultima Chapters 11-13 (pg106-142)   Submission: Journal Week 8
9 M	10/22	Bless Me, Ultima Discussion cont.   Quiz- Plot + development	Readings: Bless Me, Ultima Chapters 14-17 (pg 142-202)   Submission: Discussion Questions
9 W	10/24	Closing Discussion for Bless Me, Ultima	Readings: Bless Me, Ultima Chapters 18-22 Pg 202-262   Submission: Discussion Questions
10 M	10/29	Examining Form: Bring your printed essay to class with 4 colored pens/highlighters and some scissors.	Essay 4 Due
10 W	10/31	Discussion: Death, Horror, Suspense and all things Poe	Reading: Edgar Allen Poe “The Cask of Amontillado” & “Tell-Tale Heart”   Submissions: Answer Reading Questions
11 M	11/05	Beginning Research: Initial Questions/Approach	Readings: From The Little Seagull Handbook: R-1 Doing Research pg 90-102 W-1 W-2 Writing Contexts, Academic Contexts pg 2-9     Submission: Research Paper Brainstorm
11 W	11/07	Thesis Statement Workshop   How to narrow a topic/write a proposal	Readings: From The Little Seagull Handbook: R-3 Synthesizing Ideas W-12 Proposals   Submission:
12 M	11/12	Class not in session	Research Paper Proposal
12 W	11/14	Citing Sources (part 1)	Readings: From The Little Seagull Handbook: R-2 Evaluating Sources Documentation- MLA Style pg 119 Skim APA style pg 170
13 M	11/19	Citing Sources (part 2)   Quiz: Works Cited	Readings: Research for paper project   Submission: Works Cited Page
13 W	11/21	Bring 3 copies for peer edits	Research Paper Draft
		Thanksgiving Break 11/22-11/25	Enjoy!
14 M	11/26	Editing, Drafts, Sources cont.	Readings: From The Little Seagull Handbook: R-4 Integrating Sources, Avoiding Plagiarism pg 107
14 W	11/29	Continuing Research Project Prepare for Monday’s essay test	Work on Project/Presentation
15 M	12/03		In-Class Essay 2
15 W	12/05	Bring copy of current draft for peer edits	Readings: From The Little Seagull Handbook: W-6 Giving Presentations
16 M	12/10	Presentations Day 1	Work on Project/Presentation
16 W	12/12	Presentations Day 2	Final Draft Research Paper and Presentation