Aiken English1101 MGSC Fall '13: August 2013

Middle Georgia State College - Department of English - Fall 2013

English 1101

Instructor: Sharon Aiken – H/SS 248 - Office phone: 478-471-2893

Office hours: M/W: WRC: 2-3 p.m.; T/TH: H/SS 248: 2-5 p.m.

Email: sharon.aiken@maconstate.edu - Use your Macon State email. I check and respond to my Macon State email, Monday-Thursday and on Sunday evenings. I expect you to do likewise, because I use email for class announcements or changes in the class schedule.

Website:

Required Prerequisites: Students required to take English and/or Reading Learning Support classes are not eligible for English 1101 until they have successfully completed such courses with a grade of A, B, or C. Students whose SAT, ACT, or COMPASS scores have exempted them from taking English and/or Reading Learning Support classes are eligible to take ENGL 1101.

MGSC and MGSC English Dept. Policy Statements:

30-Hour Rule: In accordance with Board of Regents policy, students must complete ENGL 1101 and

ENGL 1102 before earning thirty hours of course credit.

Exit Requirements: All students must complete ENGL 1101 with a grade of A, B, or C to proceed to

ENGL 1102 and to receive Area A1 credit.

Regents Exemption: Students who complete both ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102 with grades of A, B, or C have fulfilled the University System of Georgia Regents Reading and Writing Requirements.

Supplemental Instruction: ENGL 0099A Basic Writing and Grammar and ENGL 099B Essays and

Advanced Grammar are Learning Support classes that students may elect to take along with ENGL

1101 or in preparation for ENGL 1101.

MGSC Academic Misconduct Statement: As a Middle Georgia State College student and as a student in this class, you are responsible for reading, understanding, and abiding by the MGSC Student Code of Conduct. The Student Code of Conduct is included in the MGSC Student Handbook and is available online at http://www.mga.edu/student- affairs/docs/MGSC_Student_Handbook.pdf.

Policy on Disability Accommodations: “Students seeking academic accommodations for a special need must contact Middle Georgia State College Office of Disability Services in Macon at (478) 471-2985 or in Cochran at (478) 934-3023. Students may also visit the Disability Services Office in room 266 of the Student Life Center on the Macon campus or in Sanford Hall on the Cochran campus.”

Attendance Policy: This class follows the guidelines established by MGSC as follows: “Students whose number of absences is more than twice the number of class meetings per week [4] may be assigned a failing grade for the course at the discretion of the instructor. Students who have more absences than the number of class meetings per week but less than twice the number of class meetings per week may be penalized at the discretion of the instructor. Students who have absences which are less than or equal to the number of class meetings per week will not be penalized.” In addition, if you know you will be absent when a paper is due, submit your paper in advance. If you are ill and unable to come to class when a paper is due, be prepared to submit a doctor’s excuse, as well as your paper, upon return to class. (If a member of your immediate family has a health condition requiring your absence from class, remember: that is still an absence. [English 1101 and 1102 have been known to cause sprains, eczema, dandruff, sudden seizures of unknown origins, hospitalizations, broken bones, accidents, and the plague. Students and their families are most susceptible one to two days before a paper deadline.] Do your work, plan ahead and protect yourself and your loved ones.)

Withdrawal Policy: “ Students may withdraw from the course and earn a grade of “W” up to and including the midterm date, which occurs on October 16,2013. After midterm, students who withdraw will receive a grade of “WF.” The MGSC Withdrawal Form, which is available online or in the Office of the Registrar, must be signed by the instructor in advance of withdrawal.”

Purpose of the Class: ENGL 1101 is a composition course focusing on techniques required for effective writing. It emphasizes exposition, analysis, argumentation, and research skills. Instruction should focus on teaching students to think critically and write clear, precise, and effective papers that inform the reader about the writer’s personal experiences, explain an idea, argue a position, and respond to an essay question prompt. This course teaches students how to introduce a topic, articulate a thesis statement, craft topic sentences, and develop claims in coherent paragraphs.

Student Learning Objectives:

analyze, or interpret evidence or arguments, in order to formulate and support new arguments or solve problems (MGSC General Education Learning Goal III, Critical Thinking)

demonstrate a collegiate competency to read critically and communicate ideas in well- developed written forms (MGSC General Education Learning Goal A1 [Communications])

understand rhetorical contexts for their writing by establishing the writer’s role, the audience, and the purpose of the project

use recursive processes that include collecting information, focusing, ordering, drafting, revising, and editing

demonstrate the techniques and skills of research, integration of source material, and documentation

read and respond to various texts for purposes of interpretation, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and judgment

use conventions of writing mechanics, usage, and style to communicate effectively for the given audience, purpose, and format (guidelines recommended by the Board of Regents Advisory Committee on English).

Required Texts: Patterns for College Writing; The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien; Pocket Style Manual with MLA Update

Required Material:

jump drive - All in-class work is on computer; out of class papers will need to be composed and saved in either Ms Word or .rtf format. All work needs to be saved electronically.
pocket folder for research paper
half-inch binder in which all work may be kept and submitted at the end of the semester

Course/ Essay Requirements:

There will be five (5) essays for the semester; in addition, an in-class final exam essay is mandatory. [That’s six essays total that will be written this semester.] At least one of the five essays must be written in class extemporaneously (without specific prior preparation); this in-class essay will require students to “analyze, or interpret evidence or arguments, in order to formulate and support new arguments or solve problems” (Learning Goal III, Gen Ed Outcomes). Also, at least one of the five essays will require students to incorporate library research into their writing following the MLA style.

The five (5) required essays will comprise at least 60% of the course grade for ENGL 1101. The in-class final exam essay (see below) will count for an additional 20% of the class grade.

A student will not pass ENGL 1101 without earning an average grade of C or better on his or her graded writing.

Essays 1, 2, 3, 5 = 40%

Essay 4, using documentation = 20%;

Class participation, daily writing, quizzes = 20%

Final Essay = 20%

Plagiarism Policy: If you cheat on a test, you will get a zero. If you plagiarize an assignment, that grade will result in a zero. Failing this course is the common penalty for plagiarism; it is difficult to achieve a passing grade, if one receives a zero on a plagiarized assignment worth 10% or 20%. Plagiarism occurs when a writer uses the ideas, wording, organization, etc., of another writer without proper citation, whether intentional or unintentional. This includes having someone “help” you write the paper, buying the paper online, or lifting ideas, sentences, and/or paragraphs from another text. Keep an electronic copy of all assignments and be prepared to send it to me immediately if asked. Please go to the MSC Library site for further information on avoiding plagiarism. Note:

A plagiarism prevention service is used in the evaluation of written work submitted for this course. As directed by the instructor, students are expected to submit their assignments, or have their assignments submitted, through the service in order to meet the requirements for this course. The papers may be retained by the service for the sole purpose of checking for plagiarized content in future student submissions.

Definition of Plagiarism:

The following definition of plagiarism expands upon the Student Code’s description of plagiarism and has been adopted as standard by the English Department. For further explanation and illustrations, refer to the English Department’s “A Definition of Plagiarism,” available online at http://www.mga.edu/liberal-arts/english.

1. It is plagiarism to copy another’s words directly and present them as your own without quotation marks and direct indication of whose words you are copying. All significant phrases, clauses, and passages copied from another source require quotation marks and proper acknowledgment, down to the page number(s) of printed texts.

2. It is plagiarism to paraphrase another writer’s work by altering some words but communicating the same essential point(s) made by the original author without proper acknowledgment. Though quotation marks are not needed with paraphrasing, you must still acknowledge the original source directly.

3. Plagiarism includes presenting someone else’s ideas or factual discoveries as your own. If you follow another person’s general outline or approach to a topic, presenting another’s original thinking or specific conclusions as your own, you must cite the source even if your work is in your own words entirely. When you present another’s statistics, definitions, or statements of fact in your own work, you must also cite the source.

4. Plagiarism includes allowing someone else to prepare work that you present as your own.

5. Plagiarism applies in other media besides traditional written texts, including, but not limited

to, oral presentations, graphs, charts, diagrams, artwork, video and audio compositions, and other electronic media such as web pages, PowerPoint presentations, and online discussion postings.

Midterm Deadlines and Portfolios:

Students should have at least two graded essays returned to them before the semester’s withdrawal deadline.
At the end of the semester, all essays are to be filed for one full semester. After one semester, instructors may allow students to pick up their papers.

Final Examination:

The final examination in English 1101 is a two-hour essay written in response to class reading. Students may take notes on the reading using a 3” by 5” note card. This card may not contain any full sentences, with the exception of documented quotes from the readings. In class, the students will be given a choice of at least two topics based on the reading. The student will write on one of these options: he or she will not have access to the readings or to grammar handbooks, but the student may use his or her note cards, a dictionary, and a thesaurus. The final exam essay should reflect knowledge of the readings, but mere summary of the readings will not be acceptable. Any additional instructions for the final exam will be provided by the instructor. The final exam must count for 20 % of the student’s final grade.

Grading Scale:

Grade	Grade and Description
A	90-100 / Excellent Work
B	80-89/Good Work
C	70-79/Satisfac tory Work
D	60-69/Unsatisfactory
F	< 60

Class Policies:

1. Please be on time; if you drive a distance to get here, plan accordingly. Four tardies of 15 min. or more = an absence

2. Assignments are to be handed in on time, typed. Writing on class computers is part of the class; there will be both in-class and out-of-class essays. Title all assignments and use MLA format.

3. If a hard copy of the paper is not handed in on time, in class, the date that it is due, you may email a copy of the paper, WITH PENALTIES :

a) you will automatically forfeit a letter grade off the paper

b) that essay may not be graded until the end of the semester, which is when I grade all late work

c) if it is the first or second essay, you will not have an opportunity to revise the essay for a higher grade.

4. The student has the option of revising the first and second essays with the following stipulations:

a. The student makes time to conference with me on the mistakes noted in the paper

b. The original essay and rubric must be handed in with the revised essay

c. If the only edits made to the paper are for grammar/mechanics/corrections , the grade will remain the same (the student has only copied and corrected)

d. Substantive revisions could gain the student as much as one letter grade

5. I will NOT accept a research paper late or via email.

6. If you plan to print out of class essays in class, please attend to them it in the first 10 min. of class. Do NOT plan to revise, or retype your paper when you come to class—this should be done on your own.

7. IF YOU USE ANY WORD PROCESSING PROGRAM OTHER THAN MS WORD, SAVE YOUR PAPER AS AN .rtf (Rich Text Format) file. Your paper cannot be opened, cannot be read, cannot be printed otherwise. Not even the tech guys and gurus in the library can help.

8. If you miss a daily assignment, you may NOT make it up; if you FAIL TO TURN IN a major essay, your grade will result in a ZERO. You MUST complete all essays to pass the class.

9. I expect students to demonstrate a professional demeanor in their attitude, manner and language, both written and spoken. Turn your phones on “manner mode” if you must keep them on. Do not text, update your facebook status, shop on your tablet, or surf the web when I am teaching, when we are engaged in peer review or class discussion, or when students give a presentation. If you want to enjoy those activities, I will ask you to leave the class. This class asks only two hours and a thirty minutes of your undivided attention each week. If that is too difficult, you should reconsider whether you are serious about this class.

10. There should be no open food or drink in the computer lab.

11. Please do not distract others who are working or paying attention in this class. I respect your right to fail this class, but not your right to infringe upon others who may want to pass. No one needs to be distracted.

12. While you may have graduated from a high school that upheld the motto: “Failure is not an option,” please be advised that failure is an option in college. Unless you were held to high standards previously and take your education seriously, you may find that your grades are lower than they were in high school.

13. Active Participation is expected from every student in class and is worth ten percent of your final grade. It begins but does not end with attendance and includes the following:

Criteria	25 pts.	20 pts.	15 pts.	0-10 pts. & below
Attendance	Attends class regularly – with no more than 1 absence at mid-term; usually prompt & professional	Attends class regularly; no more than 1 absence at mid-term; professional & seldom tardy	Attends class regularly; may have more than 2 absences at this point; professional	Has missed more than 2 days and often presented as unprofessional
Level of Active Engagement	Proactive in class; contributes with ideas, questions, observations; answers questions; treats classmates & professor with courtesy	Contributes to class; frequently offers comments, answers & asks questions; treats classmates & professor with courtesy	Offers some observations and answers questions now and then or when called on; treats classmates & professor with courtesy	Rarely contributes to class by offering ideas or asking questions. primarily a non-participant. Does not add to class discussion, but sits silently.
Listening Skills	Listens when others talk; builds on others’ ideas; involves others in class by asking questions or seeking others’ responses	Listens then others talk; frequently builds on ideas of others.	Listens when others talk, but does not respond to ideas	Often does not listen when others talk; often distracted by his/her own agenda—e.g., the internet, studying for another class, talking to peers, when inappropriate
Preparation	Almost always prepared for class, with assignments and required class materials	Usually prepared for class	Frequently prepared for class	Seldom prepared

The Writing Center is NOW OPEN; additional information will be forthcoming, but it is in your best interest to use the writing center to improve your writing

IMPORTANT DATES:

· August 22: Last Day to Make Class Schedule Changes

· September 2: Labor Day Holiday

· October 16: Last Day to Withdraw from a Regular Session Class with a "W"

· November 25-29: Thanksgiving Holidays

· December 9: Regular Session Classes End

· December 10-13: Final Exams for Regular Session Classes (refer to the Academic Calendar for the Exam Schedule)

Grading and Assignments:

Assignment	Percent of Grade	Tentative Due Date
Essay # 1 – Exemplification	10	09/03/13
Essay #2 – In-class essay: Comparison/Contrast of two reading selections	10	09/19/13
Essay #3 – Argumentation	10	10/03/13
Essay #4 – Researched Argumentation	20	10/24/13
Quiz 1 – this quiz will cover all aspects of composition, MLA format, and argumentation to this point	10	10/29/13
Essay #5 – In-class essay: Extended Definition	10	11/07/13
Quiz 2 – over the novel, The Things They Carried	5	11/18/13
Class Participation – please keep in mind that class participation begins but does not end with attendance	5	12/10/13
FINAL ESSAY – Literary Analysis over	20	TBA – after corrections are made in the exam schedule

The best way to develop your writing is to read, read, read. There are no shortcuts, no easy outs, and no simple solutions. Read everything, good and bad, exciting and mediocre, suspenseful and boring. You will gradually begin to develop a sense of identifying good writing that is coherent and clear, complete, as well as concise. Bad writing will show you what to avoid; good writing will show you what to emulate. This class does not meet every day, but if you truly want to succeed and develop, not only in this class, but in college and in life, it is in your best interest to read every day and, if at all possible, to write every day. Seek help when you need it. Find your voice and remain true to it; take pride in your work. Do your best, whether your best is a “C” or an “A.”

“Writing is easy; all you have to do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.” Gene Fowler

Tentative Schedule by the Week—reading selections should be completed by the date announced in class and noted on syllabus; unless noted, all reading selections refer to Patterns for College Writing

08/19: Assign complete syllabus to be read; focus in class on most relevant items; discussion of professional attitude, levels of language, critical and active reading and its connection to writing—pgs. 13-27 in text. Second day of class—discussion of pgs. 29-75 and Chapter 8: Exemplification, 211-216

08/26: Reading selections: David J. Birnbaum, 228, “The Catbird Seat,” Questions : Purpose and Audience [P.A.], all; Style and Structure [S&S]: all; Vocabulary exercises [V.E.]: 2 & 3. Brent Staples, 240, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” Questions: Comprehension [C], 1 & 2; P.A., all; S&S, 2 & 3; V.E., 2; assign topics for the first essay

09/02: LABOR DAY HOLIDAY

09/03: Day one: Essay #1 DUE; introduction to Chapter 11: Comparison/Contrast, 371-379; Bruce Catton, “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts,” 393; Amy Chua, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” 410; Questions on Chua: C: all; P & :, 1, 2,3; S & S: 1, 2, 3, 5; V.E: 2; online essays will also be assigned

09/09: Complete discussion of Chua; discussion of Nicholas Carr and Steven Johnson on the internet

09/16: Discussion/lecture: how to compare and contrast two different reading selections; day two: in-class essay #2

09/23: Chapter 14: Argumentation, 525-542 & Thomas Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence,” 553-556; questions: C: all; P & A: all; S & S: 3, 4; V.E.: 2 &3; day two, focus on logical fallacies, 537-540

09/30: Reading selections: “Should American Citizenship Be a Birthright?” and the two accompanying essays, 593-603; questions, 597: C: all; P & A: 1& 2; S & S: all; V.E.: 2; questions, 600: C: all; P & A, 1, 2, 5; S & S: 2 & 3; V.E.: 2; assign essay; essay # 3 due on day two.

10/07: Lecture/discussion: documentation. How to accurately and correctly begin research and incorporate material into an essay in MLA format. Works Cited Page. Internal citations. Discussion and choice of Organ Donation Policy or Government Tax on Sugary Drinks

10/14: In-class work on research essay

10/21: Day one: in-class work on research essay; day two: research essay #4 due.

10/28: Day one: quiz #1; day two, Chapter 13: Definition, 489-500 and reading selections, “Tortilla,” 507 and “Wife-Beater,” 516. Questions, TBA.

11/04: Begin essay #5, the extended definition essay, in class; day two, essay #5 due

11/11: Lecture/discussion on The Things They Carried, with Tim O’Brien youtube video; day two, discussion of the first two stories, “The Things They Carried” and “Love”

11/18: day one: quiz #2 over the novel; day two: character assignments, as part of class participation

11/25: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS

12/02: Student led discussion of plot and characters in the novel

12/09: Teacher led discussion of additional major themes in the novel

12/ TBA : FINAL EXAM

Aiken English1101 MGSC Fall '13

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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

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Thursday, August 15, 2013

Syllabus

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