Instructor: Tracey Besmark--Office: 224 Phone: 329-2999,ext. 340
E-mail: traceyb@ramlink.net
Texts:
1. Strategies for Successful Writing, Reinking and Hart
2. A good, college-level dictionary. If you don't have one, purchase one.
3. Voices Electric, an on-line publication of student writings at www. ashcc.uky.edu (the ACC homepage).
Materials:
The purpose of this course is to help you discover the writing strategies that work best for you. The emphasis is on helping each of you learn to write better regardless of your present level of skill or competency. You will focus on all aspects of what it takes to produce a finished piece of writing. From your own thoughts and experiences, you will create a variety of writing forms, ranging from the strictly personal and private (journal writing) to the more "public"--writing you will share with your classmates. Therefore, the course will consist of a diversity of writing and collaboration with your peers.
The main goal of the course is to help you gain more confidence in your writing abilities and to improve your writing and critical thinking skills. I also hope you will realize that writing does not have to painful--that it can be fun as well as rewarding, for through your writing you will come to know yourself a little better.
The Process Approach:
~You will be practicing "Process Writing." This process consists of many interconnected stages--all leading up to the final, polished essay. These stages include: pre-writing , shaping , drafting , and revising and editing .
~What this means is that you will have plenty of time to make each essay much stronger than if you simply wrote the paper and turned it in for a grade right off the bat. Professional writers rarely submit a piece of writing for publication which has not undergone several drafts. Writers revise to get a clearer sense of what they want to sayand how to say it.
Requirements:
| Essays | Journals | Quizzes | Class Participation | Peer Editing | In-class Work |
You will be required to hand in at least seven (7), possibly eight (8), 2-4 page (at least 500 words) final essays to be evaluated for a grade. You will have a rough draft and then a final draft which will be turned in to me via e-mail. You will not get back a marked copy of your essay. Instead, I will make comments and grade your paper via e-mail and return it to you that way.
*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).
*All essays must be turned in. Failure to turn in ONE or more essays will result in failure for the course.
You are required to keep a journal done on the computer in which you will write approximately four entries per week . In the journals I will not be marking your grammar and spelling errors, because your journal is a place for you simply to write and write some more. The point is for you to get your thoughts out on paper, to let them flow freely without worrying about grammatical stuff.
~I ask that you write for ten to fifteen minutes per entry (believe me, I can tell how long you've written by the length and quality). Most times I will give you a choice of topics on which to write your entries; occasionally, it will be up to you to generate your own topics.
~I will ask you to E-mail your journals to me EVERY TWO WEEKS throughout the semester and assign a grade.
You will be doing a lot of writing, responding to classmates' work, grammar exercises and small and large group work during class time. I will make note of your progress and participation.
From time to time you will take quizzes which cover material we have read either from the text book or off the WWW. These will always be announced ahead of time (I will never give "pop" quizzes). But you can probably expect at least one announced quiz per week either on grammar or on a reading assignment.
As stated above, you will bring rough drafts of each essay to class. You will break up into groups of two or three and edit each others' papers (there will be a check sheet to use as a guideline that you can download from this homepage). I stress that you must take this peer critiquing very seriously and give fair, honest, and well thought-out criticism. I will be monitoring your work as a critic, so do your best.
Grading:
Grading Scale:
| 90-100. . . . . . . . . A | 80-89 . . . . . . . . .B |
| 70-79. . . . . . . . . . C | 60-69. . . . . . . . . . .D |
| 59 & below. . . . . . E |
Grade Breakdown:
| Essays. . . . . . . 70% |
| Journals. . . . . . 15% |
| Classwork, quizzes, participation, technology assignments. . . . . 15% |
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. If you do miss a class, you are still responsible for the material covered that day; see a fellow classmate for notes, etc.
I adhere to the Mandatory Attendance Policy at Ashland Community College
Drop Policy:
Up until midterms, students may, at their own discretion, withdraw from a class and receive a grade of W. After midterm, students must have the signature of their instructor to withdraw from the class with a W. Students who do not attend will NOT be withdrawn by me, and will consequently fail the course.
Incompletes:
Incompletes are given in this class only if a serious emergency prevents completion of the course on time and only if 75% of the work has already been completed and the student is clearly passing the class. Students who do not meet these requirements would be wise to consider withdrawing from the class if they miss more than six sessions.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism, or passing off someone else's work as your own, will not be tolerated. See description in the Code of Student Conduct.
Across the Curriculum Competencies:
Writing: To learn how to communicate effectively in Standard Written English, students in 101D will write and revise according to standard usage guidelines no less than seven compositions. Students will also be asked to demonstrate gram - matical/mechanical competency on weekly or biweekly grammar quizzes.
Reading: To understand, analyze, summarize and interpret a variety of reading materials, students in 101 will be asked to read and respond to assigned essays in the course texts. Students will also be required to respond critically--verbally and in writing--to these essays and also to peers' own writing.
Integrated Learning: To think critically and make connections in learning across the disciplines, students in 101 will be asked to critically examine professional and student writings; they will also be asked to debate/discuss current issues that are brought up in the texts and issues that they themselves find relevant.
Creative Thinking: To elaborate upon knowledge to create thoughts, processes, and/or products that are new to the student, students in 101 will be asked to create at least seven original essays. Students will also be asked to participate in a variety of in-class activities which require them to come up with original and creative ideas which they will share with the class.Additionally, students will be required to keep journals in which creative, individual thoughts and insights are encouraged.
Ethics/Values: To demonstrate an awareness of ethical considerations in making value choices, students in 101 will examine concepts of plagiarism, read and discuss essays which deal with ethical questions, and be asked throughout the semester to examine their own values through their writing.
| Handouts | Essay Assignments | Journal Assignments | Class Schedule | Backup Plan |
Page Last Modified: 18 July 1997
All contents on these pages copyrighted by Tracey Besmark, Associate Professor of English and journalism, Ashland Community College, 1997