Syllabus/ FALL 08
Composition II (ENG1330G)
SEABER/AS27
Email: rseaber@mineralarea.edu
Phone: (573) 518-2242
Office hours: MWF: 2:00—2:50 am; T/Th 1:00—1:50 pm and by appointment.
Website: http://www.mineralarea.edu/faculty/facultywebpages/rseaber/
Dept./Dept. Chair: English Department; Sue Wilke, Chair
Texts:
McCuen-Metherell, Jo Ray, and Anthony C. Winkler. Readings for Writers.
12th ed. Thomson: Boston, 2007.
Troyka, Lynn Quitman, and Douglas Hesse. Handbook for Writers, 6th ed.,
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002.
Other Materials: Jump drive (memory stick); Microsoft Word 2007; TURN-IT-IN; folder(s); other appropriate materials, at your discretion, as needed for organization of essays.
Course Description: “This class is designed to help the student write clearly and effectively. Emphasis is placed on mastery of writing skills necessary to the student's education and career. Subject matter includes library study, grammar, punctuation, usage, sentence structure, and various patterns of organizing and developing paragraphs and essays.” (This is the official course description as posted on MAC’s website.)
Prerequisite: Satisfactory placement score on either the ACT or the Compass. (Satisfactory completion of basic writing classes is necessary should the ACT or Compass score not meet the requirements for entering Composition I.)
Course Objectives:
1. To cultivate students' competence and credibility as writers and critical thinkers.
2. To demonstrate writing as a recursive process consisting of prewriting, writing, and rewriting (i.e. revision =
re-vision; seeing it again from another perspective and rewriting accordingly).
3. To demonstrate the essential nature of writing in both the academic and career arenas.
4. To prepare Composition I writers for the rigors of Composition II.
Methods: Practical writing exercises, peer review, student-instructor conferences, lecture, discussion of example essays, group activities, independent reading assignments, library and other research assignments, quizzes, and other assignments as deemed necessary to facilitate learning of the course objectives.
Evaluation: I do not “give” grades; you earn your grades. That is, grades posted on students' assignments and academic records reflect the grades they have earned through their accomplishments in the course--trying and accomplishing are different beasts.
Overall grades will be computed based on an analysis of scores on completed essays, research paper, annotated bibliography, quizzes, in-class assignments, and major exams. In addition, class attendance and participation may be taken into consideration for determination of students' final grades.
Extra Credit: I do NOT grant extra credit— do not ask for it.
Major assignments: Descriptive Essay (50 points); Narrative Essay; Compare/Contrast Essay; Classification/Division Essay, and one additional essay, to be determined—Other than the Descriptive Essay, each of these major essays is worth 100 points. The Research Paper is worth 200 points.
Other assignments: Tests, both announced and unannounced quizzes, in-class writing assignments and other assignments, in or out of class, as deemed necessary along with your record of attendance and class participation constitute the portions of your grade in addition to the essay scores. The percentage of these grades toward your overall grade varies depending on the amount of class time available for these exercises during the semester.
The final exam is worth approximately 50 to 75 points. The mid-term will also be worth approximately 50 to 75 points. The point values for other exams will be announced during the semester.
Grading Scale: 90 – 100 = A; 80 – 89 = B; 70 – 79 = C; 60 – 69 = D; Below 60 = F
Student Responsibilities:
* Students must come to class prepared. Bring pen, paper, jump drive, text(s),and completed assignments. In addition, students should finish their reading assignments on time and should be ready to take a quiz and/or discuss the readings due for any particular class period.
* Students must obtain a MAC email address for use in this class. I may NOT respond to email that is received from addressees other than MAC addresses.
* Students should have all electronic devices turned off during each class period. Students allowing any pagers, cell phones, etc. to disturb the class will be asked to leave.
• Students must maintain appropriate classroom behavior. (See “Policies”)
• Students are responsible for gathering notes, announcements, assignments, etc. that they have missed while absent. The instructor’s website is the best source for obtaining current assignments. Additionally, it is highly suggested that students exchange email addresses and/or phone numbers with at least one other class member in the event that the website cannot be accessed and the instructor cannot be reached before the next class period. NOTE: I will NOT reiterate a lecture/lesson for you!
• Students must submit completed essays in a folder along with all required drafts and peer review sheets for that particular essay. Required materials that should accompany each essay will be announced prior to the final draft's due date.
* Students must also submit their major essay assignments (including the research paper) to Turn-It-In by the due date for the assignment. Failure to do so will lower the student’s score by one letter grade.
• Students must submit completed assignments on the date due. All submissions must be typed—no exceptions. Unless otherwise stated, all submissions must be turned in both to the instructor in person in hard copy AND to Turn-It-In via electronic submission. Emailed or faxed submissions are not accepted unless prior approval is obtained or unless an email submission is designated as a requirement of the particular assignment. Instructor is not responsible for missing or “lost” assignments— always keep at least one copy of every assignment!
* Although they choose their own topics, students must obtain instructor approval of their essay and research topics. Should a student be told his/her topic is not acceptable, he/she must choose another topic and must still turn in his/her writing assignment on the due date. In other words, no time extensions are granted because of a topic change.
• As Composition I students, you are expected to have a command of the English language. If you have weaknesses in this area, you should visit the Writing Lab in the MAC Library. My role as a Comp I instructor includes helping you with the invention and formulation of the content of your essays and facilitating your development of the critical thinking skills necessary for good writing. Additionally, I will provide guidance and refreshers in the principles of grammar. However, my role is not that of an editor. You need to turn in papers that have few, if any, grammatical and technical errors—and, you need to thoroughly proofread your papers so that any errors are caught during the review process—not after the final draft reaches my hands. NUMEROUS GRAMMATICAL, USUAGE, SPELLING, MECHANICAL, ETC. ERRORS MAY RESULT IN FAILURE OR A SIGNIFICANTLY LOWERED GRADE FOR ANY GIVEN ASSIGNMENT.
• Students are expected to revise their writing assignments prior to completion of the final draft. Keep in mind that although revision may, and often does, include the correction of grammatical and technical errors, it also involves much more than proofreading and editing. Revision means re-vision. In other words, revision is the process of seeing your work in a new light and changing the content accordingly so that your reader has a better understanding of the message you are attempting to convey.
MY RESPONSES TO YOUR WORK: When I respond to your writing, I will make comments both within the margins and with a final end note. In addition, be aware that I most often, if not always, use my own set of markings for editing purposes. These marks are designed to teach you to find grammatical errors (and other errors) on your own, thereby reinforcing the principles of the English language that you have learned/are learning. Here are my major marks for your future reference:
X Means I found an error in spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, etc. You will find the “X” in the margin of the line where the error occurs. Furthermore, two “Xs” mean I found two mistakes, three “Xs” indicate three mistakes, etc.
[ ] Brackets around a sentence or phrase indicate that either a major error has occurred, or that you need to reword the sentence for clarity. Sometimes you will see “frag.” over the brackets. This abbreviation indicates that the words within the brackets constitute a sentence fragment in lieu of a complete sentence.
|| Two parallel lines mean that you have violated either the rule of parallel structure or the rule of agreement.
W/C W/C means "word choice." The word you have used does not convey your meaning or does not convey your meaning as well as it could. Choose another word.
A squiggly line next to a sentence or paragraph means I no idea what you're trying to say. Revise!
POLICIES:
Late Work: Late work is not accepted without prior approval. Nevertheless, even with prior approval, the late assignment will receive a score that is reduced by 10 percent. No assignment will be accepted later than one week past the original due date. Should a final essay serve as the final, or a portion thereof, NO FINAL PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED LATE.
Rewrites: Adequate time and resources are provided for the revision process prior to the due date for each essay. Therefore, NO writing assignments may be rewritten for a higher grade. Do not ask.
Attendance Policy: Students are expected to attend class. Roll is taken at each class period. Students who must miss class for any reason are still responsible for completing current assignments and should email me or speak to me in person or by phone prior to the absence to let me know they will not be in class. I will not recap or repeat my lectures for students who miss class--do not ask. Missing class not only affects your grade indirectly (because you will lack a complete understanding of the class materials), it also affects your grade and/or status directly as follows:
* Students may be dropped from the class after the 4th consecutive absence
* Students will be allowed only 4 absences for any reason--I do not differentiate between "excused" and unexcused" absences. Upon the 5th absence, students' final grades are lowered by one full letter grade--regardless of reason.
* Students are responsible for keeping track of the number of absences they
accumulate, meaning I will not remind or warn students that they will be dropped or have their grades lowered.
NOTE: Although I reserve the right to do so, I do not routinely drop students because of excess absences. It is ultimately the student’s responsibility to drop this course should he/she feel the necessity to do so or should his/her absences warrant such action.
Quizzes: Quizzes may be announced or unannounced. Quizzes cannot be made up. Quizzes are given at the beginning of the class period and questions are not repeated for latecomers.
Plagiarism/Academic Honesty: In this class, plagiarism means the use of someone else's ideas or words, directly or paraphrased, intentionally or unintentionally, without giving credit to/acknowledging the original source. Any plagiarized work automatically receives a failing grade and may result in failure of and dismissal from this class. Any other form of academic dishonesty (i.e., "cheating") will also result in failure of the assignment and/or exam and may also result in failure of/removal from the course. You will be asked to sign a pledge of honesty on all major assignments and exams. Be forewarned—I take the issue of plagiarism quite seriously!
Appropriate Classroom Behavior: As college students, you are expected to behave as such. Should you engage in behavior that is disruptive, you will be asked to leave the classroom for the remainder of the class period, and your final grade may be penalized for such behavior. I deem the types of behavior that are considered disruptive. That is, if I say any given behavior is inappropriate, it is.
Use of Internet/Computers: Because this is a computer classroom, you may feel tempted to use the Internet, check email, or work on other assignments during class. Do so at your own risk—using the computers for anything other than work for this course, and only during the class time allotted for computer work, is considered disruptive behavior. Anyone found using the Internet or working on assignments during class, other than those assignments in accordance with my instructions for a particular class period, will be asked to leave for the remainder of that class period. Your dismissal from class under such circumstances will be recorded as an absence and your grade may be penalized. Class participation, or lack thereof, as well as class disruptions vs. attentiveness are factors of students' overall semester grades.
SPECIAL ACCOMODATIONS: Students with special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act should notify me so that appropriate accommodations can be arranged.
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FOR SCHEDULE--See the "current assignments" page of my website, the address of which is found on the heading section of this syllabus. The web-posted information is the most up-to-date account of your assignments. You may also refer to the hard copy of the schedule, if provided. The hard copy, however, is subject to change in accordance with the particular pace of any give class.
NOTE: MAC is currently transitioning to new technology. During the semester, I may use the new technology for my website in lieu of the website address listed on this syllabus. I will keep you informed of such so that you may access the new site.