English 102--Fall 1998
Instructor: Tracey Besmark
Office: 308 Phone: 447-6371
Home e-mail: traceyb@albany.net--Work E-mail: tbesmark@svc.edu
Office Hours: MWF: 9-10; TTH, 9:00-12:00
TEXT AND MATERIALS
TEXTS:
1. Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Fourth Edition. Barnet and Bedau
2. The WriterÕs Brief Handbook, Third Edition. Rosa and Eschholz.
MATERIALS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND GOALS:
The primary purpose of this course is to help you develop strategies for a variety of academic writing and, perhaps more importantly, to help you develop critical thinking skills. You will read in a variety of controversial issues and eventually develop, research and write an argumentative research paper. You will continue to practice the writing process you learned in English 101, which emphasized audience, purpose, and process (planning, drafting, revising, and editing). English 102 adds distinct elements to this writing by process, using research more formally and writing about more complex ideas for academic audiences.
Goals:
You will be introduced to several types of academic writing: paraphrasing, summary, and bibliographies through shorter writing assignments. You will also learn, through readings and essays:
¥the importance of precise word skills
¥to develop your critical reading and thinking skills
¥how to objectively evaluate
¥to do basic field research
¥how to do library research and incorporate that research into argumentative writing
¥how to construct an argumentative paper that is logical
¥how to support your claims and to document sources formally (MLA or APA style).
REQUIREMENTS:
Essays:
You will be required to hand in three essays (of 500-750 words) to be evaluated and two longer papers (at least 1200 words, or five pages typed, double-spaced) which require research. All preliminary work associated with the papers (pre-writing sheets, rough drafts, peer editing sheets and for research: outlines, notecards) must also be completed and turned in on its due date. Students will be expected to do research in libraries and the internet on their own time out of class.
Classwork:
You will be doing a lot of writing, responding to classmates' work and small group work during classtime. I will randomly walk around during these activities making note of your progress and participation.
Quizzes:
From time to time you will take quizzes on some particular unit we are covering. I will announce the quizzes ahead of time so you will be prepared. Be ready for quizzes on bibliographic material, content of chapters we're reading, material from the Internet, as well as other material. You can generally expect one per week.
Peer Evaluations:
Some of you may already be familiar with peer critiques from English 101. If not, they consist of exchanging rough drafts with a partner; then each person will edit her or his partner's draft (I will give you a check sheet to use as a guideline). I stress that you must take this process seriously, and give fair, honest, and well-thought out criticism. I will be monitoring you work as a critic, so do your best.
Journals:
You must keep a journal in which you will respond to readings in the text and other assignments that I give you. Journals will be evaluated four times this semester.
Nicenet Responses:
You must do a total of EIGHT Nicenet responses to www.nicenet.net. This is a free Internet classroom assistant where we, as members of this class carry on an on-line dialogue about a particular topic. I will post a ÒpromptÓ or discussion topic, and you will all respond to it, right there, on-line. You will be able to see all the posts of previous students; thus you may incorporate othersÕ comments or respond to othersÕ thoughts in your own posting. Details to follow on this. Our class key is: 25208E77.
Portfolios:
You are required to keep your work all organized in a three-ring binder, or portfolio. I will check them at midterm and at the end of the semester for neatness, organization, and completeness.
Conferences:
You are required to have a one-on-one conference with the instructor at least one time this semester. The dates will fall around mid-term. Of course, I am also always available for additional, private conferences during office hours. Please schedule in advance. There will be optional conferences two weeks prior to finals.
Letters to the Instructor:
For every essay, you are required to e-mail the instructor. These will be answered privately and in them, you should address specific concerns or problems you are having with the assignment. Since there are five essays, prepare yourself to send me FIVE e-mail messages. This requires you to activate your SVC e-mail account right away.
Final Essay:
The researched argument paper is your ÒexitÓ exam from EN 102. You must receive a C or better on this paper in order to pass the course, regardless of your grades throughout the course. You will receive specific criteria that you must fulfill on this paper, and we will spend a great deal of time working on them in class.
GRADING
Grading Scale at SVC:
| A = 100 - 93 | A- = 92 - 90 | B+ = 89 - 87 |
| B = 86 - 83 | B- = 82 - 80 | C+ = 79 - 77 |
| C = 76 - 73 | C- = 72 - 70 | D = 69 - 60 F = 59 - 0 |
Grade Breakdown:
Non-Research Papers. . . . . . . . .. . . 24% (8% each, totaling three)
Research Paper #1. . . . . . . . . . . . . .15%
Final Research Paper. . . . . . . . . . . . 20%
Portfolio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5%
Journals/shorter writings. . . . . . . . .15%
Nicenet Posts and Letters . . . . . . . 6%
Quizzes(reading and grammar) . . . .5%
Conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5%
Class work, participation, other assignments. . . . . . . 5%
POLICIES:
Other Requirements:
¥All final essays, and preferrably drafts, MUST be word processed or typed.
¥Late Papers: I will accept no late papers unless you have made a specific arrangement with me well in advance (you'll need a pretty good reason). If you miss a day when an essay or journal or assignment is due, send it with a friend.
¥All essays must be turned in. Failure to turn in ONE or more essays will result in failure for the course.
¥Late Work:
Quizzes and other in-class work may not be made up. Late papers (any paper not turned in when the instructor asks for it) will be penalized by a one-letter grade reduction for each day it is late up to one week. After that time, the instructor will not accept late papers. If some extenuating circumstance prevents you from submitting work on time, you should inform the instructor before the work is due, whenever possible. In most cases, a doctor's excuse will be required for late work to be accepted without penalty.
If you must miss class on a day that a paper or some other assignment is due, you are still responsible for having the work in that day, so send it with a friend.
Attendance:
Attendance is required for each and every class session. Since much of the work we do will be in class, your missing a class will result in you missing quite a bit of important material. It will also affect your groups. If you do miss a class, you are still responsible for the material covered that day; see a fellow classmate for notes, etc.. If you miss more than 6 (six) sessions, your grade will be lowered daily. I will warn you privately if your attendance is putting your grade in jeopardy.
Incompletes:
Incompletes are awarded only in cases of medical, personal, or family emergencies, and are given only if at least 80% of the work is completed and the student is receiving a passing grade in this course.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism, or passing off someone elseÕs work as your own, is a serious academic offense that will not be tolerated. See page 74 in your Student Handbook for full discussion of plagiarism.
*It is the studentÕs responsibility to keep this syllabus for the duration of this course.