ENG 102 Composition II

Fall 2002

Katherine Holman - Library 115 - 735-4321

Email addresses: kholman@uwc.edu or kholman@new.rr.com

Office Hours: MWF 10:00-11:00; MW 1:00-2:00; and TR 11:00-12:00 (Other times are available by appointment.)

Meeting Time and Place: Section 01: MWF 8:00-8:50 L-101

Section 03: MWF 11:00-11:50 L-101

Required Texts: Wood, Nancy V. Writing Argumentative Essays, 2^nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001; Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5^th ed. New York: MLA, 1999; a college level dictionary of your choice.

Supplementary Materials Currently on Library Reserve: William Zinsser’s On Writing Well; M. Neil Brown and Stuart Keeley’s Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking; and Stephen Weidenborner and Domenick Caruso’s Writing Research Papers: A Guide to the Process (You will be notified in class as other materials are placed on library reserve.)

Recommended Internet Resources: http://waukesha.uwc.edu/academics/owl (the UW Colleges Online Writing Lab; you can mail an essay draft to this site to get a response from a student writing tutor); http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ (an excellent cite managed by Professor Charles Darling of Capital Community College in Hartford, CT); and http://www.uwc.edu/uwc/depts/english (the UW Colleges English Department website). If you know of or encounter other sites that might be useful to us this semester, please share them with the class.

Course Description: “A rhetoric course that focuses on writing which presents information and ideas effectively, with attention to the essay and techniques of documentation. Emphasis will be on academic writing that is applicable across the curriculum. Prereq: ENG 101 or exemption through sufficiently high placement test score” (UWC Catalog 61). “Students will be expected to write essays totaling at least 5500 words, a majority of which are to be completed out of class” (UWC English Dept. Course Guidelines for ENG 102).

Blackboard: Our class will have an on-line component using the instructional software called Blackboard. You can access the site at http://blackboard2.imt.uwm.edu. Here you will find occasional announcements, copies of course documents, and external links to the Internet resources listed above as well as to additional resources. Also, if you must miss class on a day a written assignment is due, you can submit the assignment electronically using Blackboard’s “Digital Drop-box” feature. (You’ll find this feature under “Tools” on the menu.) I will occasionally ask you to respond to questions I post on Blackboard’s “Discussion Board.” I will announce these on-line discussions in class, so if you are absent, you should be sure to check “Assignments” in Blackboard as well as your course syllabus.

Course Rationale: ENG 102 is the course required by the UW-Colleges to satisfy the writing proficiency for the associate degree. To meet this proficiency, you must earn a C or better in the course. The primary text I’ve chosen for the course this semester (Wood) focuses on techniques of argumentation, research, and documentation; these are skills valued not only in academia but also in the world beyond the university. As we learn to analyze and evaluate the arguments of others and write arguments of our own, we become better able to participate in civilized debate, solve problems, and make decisions. As we engage in research, we are stimulated to add our own voices to the conversations of scholars. As we study documentation styles, we learn how to acknowledge our indebtedness to the scholars whose work has influenced our own. I am looking forward to studying and learning with you this semester.

Course Goals and Degree Proficiency Objectives: You will demonstrate through class activities and assignments significant progress toward the acquisition of the following proficiencies: the ability to write clearly, precisely, and in a well-organized manner; to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and interpret information and ideas; to gather information from printed sources, electronic sources, and observation; to construct and support hypotheses and arguments; to integrate knowledge and experience to arrive at creative solutions; to read with comprehension and critical perception; to distinguish knowledge, values, beliefs, and opinions; to use and understand formal documentation of sources and to articulate accurately the strengths and weaknesses of your own work.

Course Procedures: You should expect to do lots of writing in this course. After all, it is the course that will enable you to demonstrate your writing proficiency. A typical class will include an analysis of assigned readings, often in small groups. You can also expect to do some informal writing in each class even though your major assignments will be completed outside of class. For homework, you will find that you have not only a reading assignment but also a written assignment due almost every day. Be sure to allow adequate time to prepare for each day’s class.

Course Policies: You are expected to attend all class sessions unless illness or emergency prohibits your attendance. If you must miss class, you should check with a classmate to determine what you missed and with me to secure any handouts that may have been distributed. Points will be deducted for assignments submitted past the due date, and I will not accept work submitted more than a week late except in extreme circumstances of illness or emergency. (To stay on top of things in this course, which many UW-Marinette students have found an especially challenging one, it is essential that you come to class prepared each day. If you have not done the assigned readings or do not have a completed draft on the day it is due for peer review, you may be asked to leave class.)

Grading: Each of the following course requirements is assigned a point value with a 1000-point total for the course. Your grade will be determined by the percentage of points you earn.

Four short papers (250 words each) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 points

[Issue Proposal and 3 Summary-Response Papers]

Exploratory Paper (750 words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 points

Position Paper Guided by Argument Theory (1000 words) . . 150 points

Research Paper (1500 words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 points

Research Paper Process Papers (750 words) . . . . . . . . . . . 100 points

Daily work (exercises, quizzes, reports, etc.). . . . . . . . . . 200 points

Final examination (to include a 500-word essay) . . . . . . 150 points

Grading Scale

A 93-100 B 83-86 C 73-76 D 63-66

A- 90-92 B- 80-82 C- 70-72 D- 60-62

B+ 87-89 C+ 77-79 D+ 67-69 F 59 or below

Tentative Class Schedule

*Note: Chapter assignments refer to the primary text (Wood); assignments designated as

MLA refer to the handbook (Gibaldi).

9/4 Introductions to each other, the texts, and the course

9/6 Read Chap. 1, “A Perspective on Argument” (3-27); complete Exercise A. on p.

22 and Ex. C. on p. 24. Be prepared for a brief reading quiz.

Class discussion of preliminary papers and the first major essay: an exploratory

paper (See due dates below for draft and final paper.)

9/9 Read Chap. 2, “Developing Your Personal Argument Style” (28-59), MLA 1.1-

1.3 (2-5), and be prepared for a brief reading quiz on Chap. 2; Issue Proposal

Due (For guidelines, see Exercise F on p. 25.)

9/11 Read MLA 2.1-2.4 (49-68).

Class discussion of the mechanics of writing

9/13 Read Chap. 3, “A Process for Reading Argument” (60-87); Summary-Response

Paper #1 Due (For guidelines, see E.1 on p. 86.)

9/16 Read Chap. 4, “A Process for Writing Argument” (88-119); Summary-Response

Paper #2 Due

9/18 Read MLA 2.5-2.7 (68-93); Summary-Response Paper #3 Due

Further discussion of the mechanics of writing

9/20 Typed Draft of the Exploratory Paper Due for Peer Review

9/23 Read Chap. 5, “The Essential Parts of an Argument: The Toulmin Model” (122-

57); be prepared for a brief reading quiz.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: REQUIRED ATTENDANCE AT THE FALL CONVOCATION ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

9/27 Bring to class a copy of your exploratory paper for an in-class analysis using the

Toulmin model. (See Exercise F on page 150.) Read MLA 1.4 (5-22).

Convocation Report Due

9/30 Exploratory Paper Due

Class discussion of preliminary papers and the second major essay: a position

paper guided by argument theory (For guidelines, see pp. 238-39.)

10/2 Begin reading Chap. 6, “Types of Claims” (158-72).

10/4 Finish reading Chap. 6 (172-90); do Exercise E on page 190.

10/7 Read pp. 191-221 of Chap. 7, “Types of Proofs”; be prepared for a reading quiz.

(Note the mnemonic devices on pages 203 and 207.)

10/9 Finish reading Chap. 7 (222-44).

10/11 Write responses to Exercise F on p. 237.

Selection of debate topic and formation of groups

10/14 Read MLA 1.5-1.11 (22-43).

10/16 Day One of the Debate (See pp. 242-44.) Informal position papers due from

Groups 1 and 2

10/18 Day Two of the Debate; informal response papers due from Group 3

10/21 Typed Draft of the Position Paper Guided by Argument Theory Due for

Peer Review

10/23 Read MLA 3.1-3.10 (104-10) and scan MLA Chapters 4 and 5.

10/25 Position Paper Guided by Argument Theory Due; read Chap. 8, “The

Research Paper: Clarifying Purpose and Understanding the Audience” (246-61).

Class discussion of the next major essay assignment, a researched position paper

Formation of peer groups for the research-paper assignment

10/28 Read Chap. 9, “The Research Paper: Invention and Research” (265-96);

Invention Worksheet Due (See pp. 289-90.)

Mid-term course evaluation

10/30 Read Chap. 11, “Rogerian Argument and Common Ground” (344-70).

11/1 Class will meet in the library today to conduct research.

11/4 Review MLA Chapter 5 for a workshop on parenthetical documentation.

Note taking workshop

11/6 Research Worksheet Due (See p. 291 and MLA, Chap. 4.)

11/8 Read Chap. 10, “The Research Paper: Organizing, Writing, and Revising” (297-

318). Sign-up for individual research paper conferences

11/11 Draft of Research Paper Due for Peer Critique

*Note: Nov. 12 is the last day to drop a course with a grade of “W.”

11/13 NO CLASS; RP CONFERENCES

11/15 NO CLASS; RP CONFERENCES

11/18 Read pp. 390-98 of Chap. 12 and complete Ex. A (Question #1 only) on p. 397.

11/20 Read pp. 399-404 of Chap. 12 and complete the first question in Ex. B on p.

399.

11/22 Final Research Paper Due; group assignments for discussion of Susan

Glaspell’s Trifles; scheduling oral presentations

11/25 Read Chap. 12, Trifles (404-15) and prepare for your group’s role in today’s

discussion; group assignments for Wednesday’s discussion of Antony’s Funeral

Speech for Caesar (See Ex. D, p. 415.)

11/27 Read Chap. 12, Antony’s Funeral Speech for Caesar from Shakespeare’s Julius

Caesar (416-20). Bring to class your freewritten response to your group’s

question.

11/29 THANKSGIVING BREAK

12/2 Oral presentations of research papers

12/4 Oral presentations of research papers

12/6 Oral presentations of research papers

12/9 Oral presentations of research papers

12/11 In-class self-assessment essay

12/13 Course evaluation and review for the final examination

TBA Final Examination (The final examination for ENG 102(01) is tentatively scheduled for Monday, December 16, from 8:00-10:00, and for ENG 101(03) for Wednesday, December 18, from 10:30-12:30. If there are changes in the final examination schedule, you will be notified by the Office of Student Services. You will also find a copy of the “final” final exam schedule posted on my office door.)