ENGLISH 1010: Expository Writing



ENGLISH 1010: Expository Writing

Fall 2004

1010-100 TR 4:20-5:45 PH 213 1010-105 6:00-7:25 PH 315

Instructor: Karine Gavand e-mail: kgavand@mtsu.edu

Office: AMG 305 Office hours: T 9-11, 2-4; R 9:30-11:30 Phone #: 904-8262

THIS IS A CONTRACT

This syllabus is a contract between you (as the student) and me (as the instructor). By staying in this class you are agreeing to follow all following guidelines and to be responsible for your own actions.

TEXTS & MATERIALS

▪ Mauk, John, and John Metz. The Composition of Everyday Life; A Guide to Writing. Brief Ed (2004)

▪ Hodges, John C. Hodges, et al. Harbrace College Handbook. 15th edition

Smith, Allison D., and Trixie G. Smith. Surviving Freshman Composition. 2nd edition

▪ A dictionary of your choice

▪ Working MTSU e-mail account (your instructor will use the address automatically created by MTSU to communicate with students. If you have not yet activated your MTSU e-mail account, go to MTSU Homepage and follow the links to do so).

COURSE OBJECTIVES--English 1010 will introduce you to the writing process and give you practice in writing, an activity in which you will have to engage regularly in college and everyday life. You will become a better, more confident reader and writer, and the skills you acquire will benefit you in college and throughout your life. More specifically, you will learn

▪ To reflect on your growth as a writer and to become a critical reader of your own writing

▪ To become a critical reader of the writing of others, including your classmates' writing

▪ To use vocabulary associated with writing for the purpose of communicating about the writing process and writing genres

▪ To demonstrate an awareness of purpose and audience in your writing

▪ To generate ideas for writing and to explore and limit subjects for writing

▪ To draw content for your writing from your imagination and experience and from written, electronic and interview sources and to summarize, paraphrase, analyze, quote from, and document these sources in your writing

▪ To adapt the structures of sentences and paragraphs to the purposes of a given piece of writing

▪ To become familiar with the revision techniques necessary to create interesting, unified, coherent essays that are adequately developed

▪ To edit your writing (a) to ensure that you have used specific, appropriate language and varied sentence types and (b) to eliminate serious grammatical and mechanical errors.

COURSE ACTIVITIES

Reading—The more you know about the composing process, the more effective your writing. For this purpose, you will read (1) chapters from The Composition Of Everyday Life and Surviving Freshman Composition that will introduce you to strategies for writing and reading, (2) sections from The Harbrace Handbook, and (3) essays written by others, including the writing of your classmates.

Writing—In addition to an in-class introductory writing, you will submit five essays (550-750 words each) and

( REVISE—Effective writing is a matter of rewriting. Your peers will respond to your writing with suggestions for revisions which will ask you to rethink and reshape content and organization, thus targeting global issues. We will also address local issues described in Surviving Freshman Composition as grammar, sentence variety, mechanics, spelling, formatting (59) when editing. You will thus complete multiple drafts for the same assignment.

Talking about your writing— You will regularly present your writing to your peers and discuss it during Peer Group Response days (see below) . However, because discussing one's writing with others tremendously helps to clarify one's ideas and isolate potential problems, I ask that you also schedule two mandatory conferences; one before Fall break (10/16), the other before Thanksgiving (11/25). Failing to schedule those two conferences will result in course failure.

GRADES

Final Course Grade—To pass the course and earn three credit hours, you must achieve a course grade of C- or better.

Also, to be eligible to earn course credit, you must (1) complete all in-class writings, (2) complete at least three drafts of all five essays, (3) meet writing assignment deadlines, and (4) meet all attendance requirements for classes, conferences, and peer groups.

Your course grade will then be determined as follows:

80% 5 Essays

10% Homework, in-class journaling, in-class quizzes

10% Participation (rough draft day, peer group work, journaling assignments, etc.)

Grading Scale:

90-100 = A; 80-89 = B; 70-79 = C; 60-69 = D; below 60 = F

Students who fulfill all course requirements but fail to achieve C- or better and who are attempting the course for the first time will receive a course grade of N (not passing), which gives them another opportunity to pass the course without lowering their GPAs.

COURSE POLICIES

Attendance—Often classes will be conducted as writing workshops where your classmates and I will confer with you about your writing and where you will respond to your classmates about their writing. Because class attendance is extremely important to you and your classmates' success in English 1010, you will be allowed only three unexcused absences. Each additional absence will incur a two-point penalty on your final grade.

Only university-sponsored functions (trips relating to sports, chorus events, livestock judging) are excused. In such cases, you are responsible for notifying me of the absence well in advance, and you are responsible for getting your work in early--before you have to be absent. Absences due to illness, death in the family, and the like must be covered by the three allowed absences.

Tardiness—Three late arrivals or early departures (0-15 minutes into class period) will equal an absence. If you arrive after I call roll, it is your responsibility to alert me to your attendance.

Late Work—Late work will be accepted only once in the semester and only within 48 hours of the due date. Also note that all essays must be turned in at the beginning of class.

Reasonable Accommodation for Students with Disabilities—If you have a disability that may require assistance or accommodation, or you have questions related to any accommodations for testing, note takers, readers, etc., please speak with me as soon as possible. Students may also contact the Office of Disabled Students Services (KUC 120 898-2783) with questions about such services.

Cell phones—Make sure that cell phones and beepers are turned off before coming to class. As stated in “Guidelines and Standards for General Education Courses,” receiving calls or playing with your cell phone during class time constitutes “disruptive behavior.” If you choose to engage in those activities, you will be marked absent.

Plagiarism—Using another's work as your own is wrong. Plagiarized work will receive an F and, as MTSU policies require, such cases will be reported to the Dean of Judicial Affairs for disciplinary action.

The most flagrant instances of plagiarism are (1) submitting work that is copied from another student's writing, (2) having someone dictate what should be written (such as having a typist rewrite a paper, substituting his/her language for the student's), and (3) using printed or electronic sources without documentation.

Make sure to sign and submit the original Plagiarism Statement featured on page 11 of Surviving Freshman Composition. If you fail to submit this document on time, your work will not be graded.

Tutoring Services--The Writing Center is located in Peck Hall 325 (Phone 904-2837; mtsu.edu/~uwcenter). There, you can receive valuable one-on-one instruction to improve your writing.

Lottery Scholarship Recipients. Important Information—Students receiving the lottery scholarships must earn a 2.75 GPA after attempting 24 credit hours and a 3.0 GPA after attempting 48 hours or more. Students who drop below full-time status (12 hours) during the first 14 days of the semester will have their awards adjusted and will owe money to the University. Students who drop after the 14th day of class will have their future lottery scholarships suspended unless the drop was approved in advance by the Office of Financial Aid. For more lottery information please see .

For further information on policies and guidelines, go to

This schedule is subject to modifications; you will be notified in due time of any alterations and/or additions.

|Week |Date |Class Activity |Homework Due |

|1 |T 8/30 |Introduction to English 1010 | |

| |R 9/2 |Assignment #1, Introduction—brainstorming In-class |Read pp. xxi through xxviii in CEL. |

| | |Diagnostic Essay |Read “The Thrill of Victory…” 18-21 + 26-30 in CEL |

| |T 9/7 |Discuss reflective essay |Read 39-45 in SFC |

|2 | | |Read “How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant” 6-10 + 30-33, 36-37 in CEL |

| |R 9/9 |Peer Group 1 (addresses global issues) |Signed Plagiarism Statement (CEL 11). |

| | | |Read & take notes on “Delivery” sections 38-39, 44-48, 92-93, and 143-45 |

| | | |in CEL |

| | | |Typed second draft |

|Sept. 12: LAST DAY TO DROP without a grade. If you are a Lottery Scholarship recipient, make sure to review information included above on page 3. |

| |T 9/14 |Editing (address local issues) |Bring draft, Harbrace, SFC |

|3 |R 9/16 |Assignment # 2, Introduction—brainstorming |Essay 1 |

| | | |Read CEL 60-61 |

| |T 9/21 |Discuss relationship essay |Rough draft |

| | | |Read in CEL “Friend or Foe?” 76-78 + 90-91 |

|4 |R 9/23 |Discuss relationship essay |Read in CEL “What the Honey Meant” 70-72 |

| | | |Read ch. 3 in SFC |

|5 |T 9/28 |PG 2 |Typed second draft |

| |R 9/30 |Editing |Bring draft, Harbrace, SFC |

| |T 10/5 |Assignment # 3, Introduction—brainstorming |Essay 2 |

|6 | | |Read CEL 108-111, 138-139 |

| |R 10/7 |Discuss observation essay |Rough draft |

| | | |Read “The Front Porch” 127-28 |

| | | |Read in CEL 580-85 |

| |T 10/12 |Discuss observation essay |Read in CEL “A Building of Mailboxes” 130-32 +147-148 |

|7 | | | |

| |R 10/14 |PG 3 |Typed second draft + Bring HH and SFC |

|8 |T 10/19 |Fall Break--NO CLASS |

| |R 10/21 |Assignment #4, Introduction—brainstorming |Essay 3 |

|9 |T 10/26 |Discuss evaluation essay |Read in CEL “The Andy Griffith Show: Return to Normal” (334-36) + 348-49, |

| | | |352-55, 358 |

| |R 10/28 |Discuss evaluation essay |Read ch. 10 + 11 in SFC (145-57). |

| | | |Read in CEL “Star Wars” (324-26) |

| |T 11/2 |Discuss evaluation essay |Rough draft |

|10 | | |Read in CEL “Pulp Fiction; Valuable Critique or Useless Titillation?” |

| | | |(337-39) |

| |R 11/4 |Discuss evaluation essay |Read in CEL 592-94 Read ch. 12 in CEL (578-85, 596-97, 604-607) |

|11 |T 11/9 |PG 4 |Typed second draft |

| |R 11/11 |Editing |Bring draft, Harbrace, SFC |

|12 |T 11/16 |Assignment #5, Introduction—brainstorming |Essay 4 |

| | | |Read in CEL 272-73, 296-97 |

| |R 11/18 |Discuss Summary and Response essay |Read in CEL “Response to Juliet Schor” 274-77 |

|13 |T 11/23 |Discuss Summary and Response essay |Rough draft |

| | | |Read in CEL 302-308 |

| |R 11/25 |Thanksgiving—NO CLASS LAST TO DROP with a “W” if applicable. |

|14 |T 11/30 | |Read in CEL 602-603 |

| |R 12/2 |PG 5 | |

|15 |T 12/7 | |Essay 5 |

|Last day of class 12/8 Final exam period: 1010-100= T 12/14, 3:30-5:30 1010-105= R 12/16, 6:00-8:00 |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download