English 0950 Syllabus

Anoka Ramsey Community College -- Coon Rapids Campus
English 0950: Elements of College Writing
Spring 2005 / Sections 1 and 2

Professor: Scott Stankey
Office: Humanities 131
Phone: (763) 422-3556
Fax: (763) 422-3341
Email: scott.stankey@anokaramsey.edu
Website: www.ar.cc.mn.us/stankey/Eng0950

Office Hours:

M / 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
W / 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Th / 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. & 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Other times by appointment

Class Meetings:

Section 1: 8:00-8:50 a.m. / M, W, F in T 208 / Th in T 207
Section 2: 9:00-9:50 a.m. / M, W, F in T 208 / Th in T 207

Textbooks and Materials:

Where No Gods Came, by Sheila O'Connor
The Pocket Handbook (2nd edition), by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell
A Pocketful of Essays (Volume 1, Rhetorically Arranged), edited by David Madden
Student I.D. / Library Card
A class notebook or loose-leaf paper
Two 2-pocket folders
A 3 1/2" HD computer disk
A college-level dictionary
A stapler

Course Description:

This course offers intensive work with writing, revising, and editing essays. Attention will be given to rhetorical elements of purpose, audience, thesis, evidence, and tone. Students will read and analyze their own and others’ writing. More specifically, since the main purpose of this course is to prepare you for English 1121, we will write three essays in response to single texts and one essay in response to multiple texts. We will also practice the skills of MLA in-text citation and documentation.

Course Objectives:

Write essays by practicing writing as a recursive process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading) and by developing thesis statements, topic sentences, and support.

Use writing for learning through methods like note taking, annotating, reflecting, summarizing, and responding.

Use writing for communicating through documents like letters or memos to the instructor, journal entries, or response pieces to peers.

Read and analyze published texts and students' texts, including their own (i.e. identify the thesis, analyze support, and evaluate the effectiveness of the writing for the purpose and audience).

Learn to write for more than one audience.

Improve writing by revising (reorganizing, adding and deleting content, strengthening sentences and style) and correcting errors.

Refer to sources such as handbooks, style guides, and dictionaries as guides for formatting and editing papers.

Course Requirements:

Preparation for all class meetings, primarily by completing all assigned readings and take-home daily writing assignments before each class session. All reading assignments will serve as subjects (or models) for your own essays and will be discussed in class. Finally, bring your texts and notebook with you to every class.
Attendance at all class sessions. Each class session is designed to introduce and/or practice writing concepts and processes related to the current writing project. If you do not attend, you cannot learn from and participate in the class discussions and group work. If you miss more than eight (8) class meetings, the participation portion of your final grade will be lowered one letter (e.g. B+ to C+). If you miss more than twelve (12) class meetings, I will advise you to withdraw from the course.
Participation in class discussions and activities. This is not a lecture course but a "hands-on" writing workshop where we will write and talk about writing during each class session. This class will be more meaningful and enjoyable if we all participate. Participation does include active listening and note taking, but it also means contributing to group work and class discussions. Be prepared and willing to discuss your own writing and the writing of others, and to share your ideas, opinions, and questions with the rest of us. Both the quality and quantity of your participation will be considered.
Completion of daily writing assignments, which may include reading quizzes, summaries, responses, various writing exercises, and group work; in-class writings and group work cannot be made up if you are absent or arrive late.
Four major papers (see below) and submission of a writing portfolio with each essay. You are expected to demonstrate significant invention and revision for each essay; thus, each portfolio should contain all the work you did in the process or writing each essay -- all your invention/prewriting, outlines, drafts, peer review comments, and a reflection letter. If a complete and acceptable portfolio does not accompany each essay, the essay grade will be lowered one letter.
Participation in peer review and editing groups. For all peer review and editing sessions, if you do not attend, if you bring an incomplete draft, if you do not bring the required number of copies, or if you do not participate actively, your essay grade will be lowered one letter.
Attendance at all one-to-one conferences with me. If you miss a conference, it will not be rescheduled and your essay grade will be lowered one letter.
Completion of all in-class essays. If you miss an in-class essay, you may make it up, but the essay grade will be lowered one letter.
Attendance at one (1) of the sessions with the visiting writer, Sheila O'Connor, on Wednesday, February 23, 2005, at 1:00 p.m. and/or at 2:00 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. If you do not attend at least one of the sessions, your second essay grade will be lowered one letter.

Course Evaluation:

Essay #1 -- A Personal Response Essay = 15%
Essay #2 -- A Book Evaluation Essay = 15%
Essay #3 -- A Single-Source Response Essay = 20%
Essay #4 -- A Multiple-Source Synthesis Essay = 20%
Preparation; Participation; Daily Writing Assignments; In-Class Essays = 30%

A.R.C.C. Grading System:

A = Superior achievement
B = Above average achievement
C = Average achievement
D = Below average achievement
F = Inadequate achievement

Grading Scale for Daily Writing Assignments Total:

A = 100% - 93%
A- = 92% - 90%
B+ = 89% - 88%
B = 87% - 83%
B- = 82% - 80%
C+ = 79% - 78%
C = 77% - 73%
C- = 72% - 70%
D+ = 69% - 68%
D = 67% - 63%
D- = 62% - 60%
F = 59% and below

Informal Grading System:

Plus ( + )	Very Good	Quizzes = 10, 9, 8
Check ( √ )	Acceptable	Quizzes = 7, 6, 5
Minus ( - )	Unacceptable	Quizzes = 4, 3, 2, 1, 0

Participation Grading Criteria:

A	Person is obviously prepared for each class discussion, has carefully read all material prior to class, offers thoughtful and insightful comments and questions, and encourages class discussion (but does not dominate discussions).
B	Person is obviously prepared for each class discussion, has carefully read all material prior to class, and offers appropriate comments and questions voluntarily.
C	Person is prepared for each class discussion, has read all material prior to class, and offers an occasional comment relating to discussion or responds only when called upon. (Perfect attendance and preparation but no voluntary participation.)
D	Person is occasionally unprepared for class discussion, has not read all material prior to class, doesn't enter class discussion, and/or sometimes disrupts or discourages discussion/activities.
F	Person is rarely prepared for class discussion, offers nothing, is often disruptive or discourages discussion/activities.

Essay Evaluation:

An evaluation sheet will be handed out before each essay is collected, so you will know exactly how each essay will be graded. We will also discuss different evaluation criteria and grading rubrics in class.

Other Policies and Information

Attendance: Note that more than eight (8) absences will adversely affect your final grade. If you are more than five (5) minutes late, you will be considered absent and will not be allowed to take a quiz or participate in a peer review or editing session. Please notify me immediately if you must miss class due to a medical emergency or a family crisis; we can then keep you current with the class or determine if an incomplete is warranted. If you must miss a class where a peer review, editing session, or in-class essay is scheduled, or when a paper is due, please notify me before class if possible, otherwise, as soon after class as possible -- documentation will be required in such circumstances to avoid a reduction in your grade. Finally, anyone missing more than sixteen (16) classes, for any reason, will not receive credit for the course.

Absences for Religious Observance: Anoka Ramsey Community College permits absences from class for participation in religious observances. Students who plan to miss class must: (1) Inform me of anticipated absences at the beginning of the semester (the first two weeks); (2) Meet with me to reschedule any missed quizzes, in-class essays, labs, paper due dates, or examinations; and (3) Obtain class notes from other students. I am required to assist you in obtaining course materials and assignments distributed during class sessions you miss and to make arrangements for taking missed examinations.

Incompletes: Incompletes will only be granted to students who have a documented medical or family emergency in the last two weeks of the semester. These students must have completed all the other work for the course with an average grade of "C" or better, must not have more than eight (8) absences, and must demonstrate the ability and willingness to complete the work before the third week of the following semester or summer session.

Class Disruptions: Any disruptive behavior -- including arriving late, packing up early, leaving early, having private conversations, eating, sleeping, receiving cell phone calls, bringing friends/siblings/children to class, etc. -- which adversely affects the teaching and learning in this class will be handled first on an individual basis; if the disruptive behavior continues or if it is very serious, I will contact the Dean of Educational Services -- see the Code of Student Conduct in the Student Handbook.

Plagiarism: Knowingly presenting another person’s ideas or writing as your own without clear, accurate, and complete citation and documentation will result in an "F" for that assignment and notification of the Dean of Educational Services -- see the Code of Student Conduct in the Student Handbook.

Paper Format: All rough drafts should be word-processed and double-spaced; all final drafts should be word-processed, double-spaced, and must conform to the formatting directions given in class, including instructions for in-text and end-of-text MLA citation and documentation conventions.

Late Work: Paper due dates and the final exam are listed on the course schedule. Late rough drafts will receive reduced credit and no written comments. Late final drafts and portfolios will not receive written comments and the grade will be lowered one letter; after one week, the grade will be an "F." However, all required drafts, revisions, and the final exam must be completed to pass the course. The final exam can be rescheduled only under extraordinary circumstances and must be arranged before the exam; an exam not rescheduled prior to the exam will be penalized one letter grade. No late work will be accepted during finals week.

Record Keeping: Please make back-up copies of all your work, and keep all essays and other work returned to you. If questions about grades arise, you will need to produce the original documents. In addition, keep track of all your notes and other materials for each paper; if questions about plagiarism arise, you will need to prove you did your own writing.

Conferences: Please see me during my office hours or schedule an appointment with me if you have questions or problems at any time during the semester.

Computer Lab: We will meet in the computer lab once each week to work on the current writing project; we may also use this time for individual conferences and/or writing groups. Please do not abuse this time by working on assignments for other classes, writing e-mail to friends, playing games, or downloading non-research-related information from the internet.

Academic Support Center: The Academic Support Center (ASC), located on the second floor of the College Services (CS) building, offers free, trained writing tutors who work with student writers at any stage in the writing process to improve their writing. Please meet with a writing tutor early in the term so that you can discover how helpful the tutors can be to you.

NOTE: The course syllabus and schedule are subject to change, and changes will be announced in class. You are responsible for any changes in deadlines or assignments announced during any class you miss.