Course Title: English
Composition I
Credit: 3
semester hours
Course Description from Current Catalog: "A course designed to improve the
student's ability to think and communicate clearly and critically, emphasizing
the writing process. Students will
be required to read and analyze
expository prose and to synthesize and document sources" (Catalog 156).
Prerequisite:
English 100 or exemption based on (1) placement test or (2) SAT score
Students for Whom the Course is Intended: Freshmen
Class Meeting Times and Places: Section
A - 8:10 – 9:40 MW – TL Hanna 109
C -14:00 – 15:15 MW – WA004
II. INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Associate Professor
Sarah Sprague
Office:
Faculty Office Building #5
Telephone:
231-2043 (office); 226-7595 (home)
E-Mail Address:
ssprague @ ac.edu
Office Hours: MWF
– 10:00 – 12:00
T
– 11:00 – 12:00
Conferences
at other times by appointment
III. COURSE
PURPOSE, AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Purpose: This course is designed to help students improve their writing skills and to learn strategies for successful writing both in college and elsewhere. Because good writing requires critical thinking and reading skills, as well as the ability to use language effectively, the course helps students to analyze essays as well as to demonstrate the writing process.
Goals:
1.
That students learn
to write effective essays;
2.
That students learn
to write strong, clear, effective sentences and well-developed paragraphs; to
eliminate wordiness, weak expressions, and ambiguity.
Objectives:
1.
Students will use
the writing process to plan, develop, write, revise, and edit all essays
including pre-writing and collection of ideas, invention of topics, writing
several drafts, revising and editing.
2.
Students will
review grammar, composition strategies, and audience analysis as well as
explore values in their reading and writing.
3.
Students will
develop a clear, effective writing style using standard American written
English.
4.
Students will have
assigned readings and respond to them both orally and in writing.
5.
Students will
develop community within their classroom by sharing ideas from their reading in
small groups and in whole class discussion, using standard American spoken
English.
6.
Students will write
one documented essay using MLA documentation using facilities available in the
College library and computer labs, and using accurate MLA documentation
techniques.
7.
Students will have
access to a computer lab and will be required to produce computer-generated
materials.
Your final grade will be determined from the
grades on daily quizzes, essays, and the final.
Proportional Value of Each Component
Six
essays (100 points each; 600 total
points) (60%)
Quizzes
(200 total points) (20%)
Final,
an in-class essay (200 points) (20%)
V. STUDENT FEEDBACK AND GRADING POLICIES AND
PROCEDURES
Grade: All grades will be
awarded according to the following scale:
A = 90 – 100%
B
= 80 - 89%
C
= 70 - 79%
D
= 60 - 69%
F
= 59% and below
The grade equivalents for your essays are as
follows:
A+ =
100 B+ =
89 C+ =
79 D+ =
69 F =
50
A = 95 B =
85 C =
75 D =
65 F- =
40
A- = 91 B- =
81 C- =
71 D- =
61
Feedback:
All written work, with the exception of the final, will be returned to
you. I shall give you your
cumulative grade at the end of 5 ½ weeks and 11 ½ weeks.
VI. CONTENT
OUTLINE
§
Six (6) essays
(minimum of 4,000 words for the semester)
§
Selected readings (The
Macmillan Reader)
§
One parallel
reading (Saint Maybe)
§
Study of selected
grammar rules (Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers)
§
Study of the
methods of development for an essay: description, narration, exemplification,
classification, definition, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, process
analysis, argumentation/persuasion (Some modes will be represented by full
essays; others, by elements within essays.)
§
Study of
documentation (Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers)
§
Final exam (an
essay)
VII. METHODS
OF INSTRUCTION
The methods of instruction for this course will
be the lecture, class discussion, oral presentations, co-operative learning,
tests, essay writing, and workshop sessions where you critique student
writing. Individual instruction
will be given, if requested, on how to use: Microsoft-word to do word processing on the computer,
the microfiche reader and printer, and electronic indexes.
JAN. 11
Introduction to course; “Shame” (Handout); Freewriting: Begin
Essay #1, a personal
narrative
14 “The
Reading Process,” Chapter 1 (pages 1-12) The MacMillan Reader
16 “The
Writing Process,” Chapter 2 (pages 13-81); “Salvation” (pages
183-185) The MacMillan Reader
21 “Narration,”
chapter 4 (pages 145-159) The MacMillan Reader
23 “So
Tsi-Fai” (pages 188-191) The MacMillan Reader
28 Essay
#1 Due; Begin Essay #2, a
comparison-contrast/description essay; “Description,” Chapter 3
(pages 83-97); “In My Day,” (pages 108-115) The MacMillan Reader
30 “Sister
Flowers” (pages 116-124) The MacMillan Reader
FEB. 4 “Once
More to the Lake” (page 119) The MacMillan Reader
6 “Comparison-Contrast,”
chapter 8 (page 389-403) The MacMillan Reader
“A Fable for Tomorrow,” (pages
405-408)
11 “That
Lean and Hungry Look” (pages 409-413) and “The Ugly Truth About
Beauty” (pages 422-426) The MacMillan Reader
13
Essay #2
Due; Begin Essay #3, a
definition essay; “Definition,” chapter 10 (pages 489-
502); “Life As type A” (pages 509-515) The MacMillan
Reader
18 “Mommy,
What Does ‘Nigger’ Mean? (pages 516-521) The MacMillan Reader
20 “TV
Addiction” (pages 522-528); “Exemplification,” chapter 5
(pages 197-213) The MacMillan Reader
25 “The Values’
Wasteland” (pages 214-224) The MacMillan Reader
27 Essay
#3 Due; Begin Essay #4, a
process analysis paper; “Process Analysis,” chapter 7 (pages
325-342) The MacMillan Reader
6 “How
to Say Nothing in 500 Words” (pages 365-379) The MacMillan Reader
11 “The
Fine Art of Complaining” (pages 380-386) The MacMillan Reader
13 Essay
#4 Due; Begin Essay #5, a
cause-effect essay; The MacMillan Reader
“Cause-Effect,”
chapter 9 (pages 437-464) The MacMillan Reader
18 Spring break at Anderson College
20 Spring break at Anderson College
25 “Beauty: When the
Other Dancer is the Self (pages 467-476) The MacMillan Reader
27 Essay
#5 to be written in class
3 “Argumentation-Persuasion,”
chapter 11 (page 537-575) The MacMillan Reader
8 “Writing
Argument,” chapter 6 (page 138) Handbook for Writers
10 Saint Maybe, quiz #1
15 “Research
Writing As a Process” Handbook for Writers, chapter 32 (page 502);
Quiz #2 on
Saint Maybe
17 Quiz #3 on Saint
Maybe
22 Quiz
#4 on Saint Maybe;
24 Quiz #5 on Saint Maybe
29 Essay
#6 Due; Prepare for Final
Final
Exams: May 1-7, 2002
Finals: Eng.
101-A – Wednesday, May 1, 7:45 – 9:40
C – Friday, May 3, 15:00 - 17:00
IX.
TEXTBOOKS
The
MacMillan Reader, Judith Nadell, John Langan, and Eliza Comodromos (Sixth
Edition)
Simon
& Schuster Handbook for Writers, Lynn Quitman Troyka (Sixth Edition)
Saint
Maybe, Anne Tyler
X. COMPUTER
AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USAGE
Students will be required to use computer skills
for word processing and research.
All final drafts of essays must be submitted as computer printouts.
XI. COURSE
POLICIES
Attendance:
Attendance is expected at every class session. If you must be absent because of an emergency, please
contact me concerning the work that you have missed. Ten extra points will be given to everyone with perfect
attendance for the semester.
Anyone whose only absences are because of a school-sponsored field trip
is eligible for the extra credit.
Three tardies or early departures or any combination of these are
equivalent to one absence.
College Attendance Policy: A class attendance policy is in effect for the
entire college. A student who
misses more than three times the number of times a class or lab meets per week
for all purposes will receive a grade of "F" for the course
unless he withdraws or requests an incomplete. In other words, in a two-day-a-week class, a student may not
miss more than six days.
Academic Honesty and Dishonesty: Please read “Academic Honesty and
Dishonesty" in the Anderson
College Student Handbook.
Makeup Work: Essays not handed in on the due date must be
turned in within four days. After
four days, a zero will be recorded in the grade book.
XII. LEARNING
FACILITIES AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE (All students have full access to these.)
·
The Anderson
College Library*:
Monday
through Thursday - 08:00 to 23:00
Friday
- 08:00 to 17:00
Saturday
- 11:00 to 16 :00
Sunday
- 13:00 to 23:00
*The
Library will be closed on all college holidays.
·
The Watkins
Computer Lab° (located in Watkins 104)
·
The Vandiver Lab° (located on the
first floor of the Vandiver Building)
·
The Writing Lab° (located in Learning Assistance Center,
Watkins 102)