University of Wisconsin-Marathon County

 

English 102 Section 7                                                                      Dr. Holly Hassel

Composition II                                                                                Office: 340

Room: 090                                                                                         261-6265 (o)

11:00-11:50 MWF                                                                              212-1370 (h)

Fall 2002                                                                                            hhassel@uwc.edu

Office Hours: MWF 12-1, 2-3 TR 1-2:30

 

Objective/Aim and Scope

 

            The work of English 102 will primarily be writing that presents information and ideas effectively, with attention to the essay and techniques of documentation.  Some goals we will work toward this semester include the following:

 

  • To analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and interpret information and ideas.
  • To develop the ability to write effective expository and argumentative prose.
  • To construct hypotheses and arguments.
  • To integrate knowledge, research, and experience to support hypotheses and arguments.
  • To continue to develop critical thinking and reading skills.
  • To write and construct essays clearly, coherently, and in a well-organized manner.
  • To gather and use information from printed sources, electronic sources, observation, and interaction.

 

Some points to remember about writing courses:  developing skill in writing is an ongoing project, one developed through practice, patience, and time. Through portfolios, group-work, discussions, readings, and lots and lots of writing, we will work hard to attain greater proficiency and fluency in writing.

 

Materials

 

Lunsford, Andrea, John Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walter. Everything’s an Argument. 

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001.

Lunsford, Andrea and Robert Connors.  The New St. Martin’s Handbook.  Boston: 2001. 

One notebook for your writer’s journal

$10-12 set aside for copies throughout the semester for peer workshops

Five two-pocket folders for your paper portfolios

 

Requirements

Four Formal Essays: 15% each (60% total) Four essays of between 3-6 pages in length. Each essay will contribute toward the overall course objectives. The final essay will be written and graded collaboratively. Detailed descriptions of each project will follow.

 

Writer’s Journal: 25% Your writer’s journal will be kept in a bound notebook and will consist of almost daily entries. It is a place for you to document informally your thinking about the reading and writing of the course.  Most days I will have a specific assignment (responding to readings, describing your writing process, generating ideas for an essay).  Each entry should be one page unless otherwise specified.

 

Citizenship: 15% Citizenship is something like participation but entails a bit more; it means being a good student: arriving to class on time and prepared, participating in large and small group discussions actively, attentively, and effectively, refraining from distracting or obnoxious behavior in class, bringing copies on workshop days, and consistently engaging and investing in the work of the course and in one’s own development as a writer, reader, and thinker.  This letter grade will be assigned based on how active you have been in class (active meaning making an informed comment during discussions, being consistently prepared for the day’s activities, etc.).  A-level will indicate almost constant involvement, B-level will indicate solid, frequent involvement, and C-level will indicate minimal involvement.  I will expect an active commitment toward learning from each and every student in the course; we will be working hard this semester, but it will be worth it!

 

Conferences: You are required to meet with me once during the semester individually. Conferences will be held in my office during week ten of the semester and will be scheduled the week prior. This will be on opportunity to get individual feedback from me on the work you’ve done over the semester, to ask questions, and to get suggestion for revision on the current paper. This meeting will count as one day of class attendance. 

 

Policies and Procedures

 

Grades:

 

Grades are equal to the following percentages:

 

A+       98-100

A         93-97

A-        90-92

B+       87-89

B          83-86

B-        80-82

C+       77-79

C         73-76

C-        70-72

D+       67-69

D         63-66

D-        60-62

F          59 and below

 

I reserve the right to assign borderline grades as I deem appropriate.

 

A Note on Grades: An “A” grade is not a gift you get at the end of the semester for always coming to class and participating and completing your work on time.  For that, you earn a “C.” Beyond that, your work must be more than average—it must be good to earn a “B” and excellent to earn an “A.”  Please also remember that you are not your grades—you are a person, not a letter.  Good people can get average grades and vice versa.

 

Attendance: Since many of the activities in this class are interactive and occur during class, attendance is crucial. I do not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences. Students should plan to attend every class meeting. Students missing 20% of the course meetings, or nine class meetings over the semester, will receive a failing grade. Further, missing more than three class periods will result in a half-grade deduction from your final grade for every absence beyond two.

 

Academic Dishonesty:  Academic dishonesty is also known as plagiarism. Plagiarism is the use of another person’s language/words or ideas without proper citation. If you use more than four words in a row from another source, you should put quotation marks around them. If you borrow an idea from a published source, you need to use parenthetical documentation to give proper credit to that source. Any quote, paraphrase, or indirect quote must be cited appropriately. Please be aware that I will not hesitate to check on sources that seem incorrectly documented. The consequences of plagiarism are spelled out in the Student Rights and Regulations handbook.  For the purposes of this course, deliberate misuse of language or ideas will result in, at the least, failure of the assignment or paper, and possibly failure of the course with referral of the student to a disciplinary committee for further action by the university.

 

Policy on Late Work: I’m pretty good about accepting late work. I ask that out of consideration you contact me 24 hours prior to the due date of the work to let me know the mitigating circumstances preventing the work from being in on time and to make arrangements and agreements for when the work will be turned in. Late work may be downgraded.

 

Participation: All students are expected and required to participate actively in class. Students who fail to come to class prepared and/or misuse provided workshop time will be asked to leave and charged with an absence.

 

Policy Policy:

 

Ideally, this syllabus would cover every contingency of every possibility that might arise in the course of the semester. Of course, reality dictates that will not be the case. Thus, I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus as the need arises.

 

Philosophy:  This class operates under a workshop format, which values peer response and reader feedback as key principles of generating good writing. You should be prepared to participate fully in the revising and refining stages of the writing process as a collaborative contributor to the work of your classmates.

 

Writing Center: The writing center is a valuable, FREE service available to help writers with their individual writing needs. Once the fall schedule is set, students can “walk-in” during open hours where you will work one-on-one with an experienced writer. For questions, talk to the director, Linda Yost at 261-6270, email her at lyost@uwc.edu, or stop by her office, room 322.

 

Students with Disabilities: Students with physical disabilities that will in any way affect their work in this course should let me know so that I can work with you.  Also, please contact an advisor in Student Services to make arrangements for any necessary special services.

 

Schedule

 

Week One

Wednesday September 4: syllabus

                                                Introductions

                                                Dear Holly letter/writing autobiography

Friday September 6             Introduction to research

Read: From the St Martin’s Handbook (SMH) “Becoming a Researcher” 435-443

                                                I-Search paper

                                                Invention Activity

 

Week Two

Monday September 9                     Read: SMH “Conducting Research” 444-475

Wednesday September 11             Sample small group workshop: sample I-Search

Friday September 13                       Doing research

                                                            Library visit

 

Week Three

Monday September 16                   Read: SMH, “Using Sources” 476-498

Wednesday September 18:            Small Group Workshop

Friday September 20                       Defending a Belief Paper

                                                            Invention Activity

                                                            I-Search Paper Due

 

Week Four

Monday September 23       Read: SMH “Writing a Research Essay” 499-515

Read from Everything’s an Argument (EAA): “Everything is an Argument” pp. 1-48

Wednesday September 25 Read:  EAA “Lines of Argument” 47-88

                                                Thesis Statements

Friday September 27           MLA Documentation

                                                Read: EAA “Intellectual Property” 326-333, “Assessing and Using Sources,” 334-341, “Documenting Sources,” 342-346.

                                               

Week Five

Monday September 30       Read: EAA “Structuring Arguments” 89-108 and “Arguments of Definition” 109-134

                                                Writer’s journal collected

Wednesday October 2        Read: EAA “Evaluations,” 135-160 and “Causal Arguments” 161-189

Friday October 4                  Revision Ideas

 

Week Six

Monday October 7              Small group workshop

Wednesday October 9        Local Revision and Editing

Friday October 11                Round Table Exchange

                                               

 

Week Seven

Monday October 14            Devil’s Advocate paper

                                                Invention Activity 

Defending a Belief Paper Due

Wednesday October 16      Read: EAA “What Counts as Evidence” 297-311

Friday October 18                Research Day

 

Week Eight

Monday October 21            Read: EAA “Fallacies of Argument” 312-325

                                                EAA: “Time off, Time Out” 478-507

Wednesday October 23      Small Group Workshop

Friday October 25                Mini-Lessons: Semicolons, colons, commas

                                                MLA Review

 

Week Nine

Monday October 28            Read: EAAHavin’ a Good Time or Just Chasing the Benjamins” 509-534

Wednesday October 30      Small Group Workshop

Friday November 1             Glossing and Interpretive Paraphrasing

                                   

Week Ten:

Monday November 4:        Read: EAA “Beliefs and Stances” 629-670

                                                Writer’s journals collected

Wednesday:                          No Class: Meet in my office (340) for Conferences

Friday:                                   No Class: Meet in my office (340) for Conferences

 

Week Eleven           

Monday November 11       Collaborative Paper: Analyzing a subculture

                                                What is a subculture?

                                                Devil’s Advocate Paper Due

Wednesday November 13 Read: TBA

Friday November 15           Grammar and Mechanics Q and A

 

Week Twelve

Monday November 18       Read:  TBA

Wednesday November 20 Group Work/Research

Friday November 22           Group Work/Research (Progress Report Due)

                                               

Week Thirteen

Monday November 25       Read: TBA

                                                Sample Subculture Papers

Wednesday November 27 Sample Collaborative Paper workshop

Friday:                                   No class, Thanksgiving Break

 

Week Fourteen

Monday December 2          Read: TBA

Wednesday December 4    Group Work: (Progress Report Due)

Friday December 6              Collaborative Paper Due

                                                Writer’s journals collected

 

Week Fifteen

Monday December 9:         Collaborative paper presentations

Wednesday December 11:             Collaborative paper presentations

Friday December 13:           Collaborative paper presentations

Course Evaluations and Celebrations