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COLLIN COLLEGE
COURSE SYLLABUS
Course Information
Course Number: ENGL 1301
Course Title: Composition I
Course Description: Intensive study of and practice in writing processes, from invention and
researching to drafting, revising, and editing, both individually and collaboratively.
Emphasis on effective rhetorical choices, including audience, purpose, arrangement, and
style. Focus on writing the academic essay as a vehicle for learning, communicating, and
critical analysis. Lab required.
Course Credit Hours:
3
Lecture Hours:
3
Lab Hour:
1
Placement Assessments: Placement in ENGL 1301; College-Level Reading
Student Learning Outcomes:
 State-mandated Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, students will:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes. (Teamwork,
Communication Skills)
2. Develop ideas with appropriate support and attribution. (Communication Skills)
3. Write in a style appropriate to audience and purpose. (Communication Skills)
4. Read, reflect, and respond critically to a variety of texts. (Critical Thinking)
5. Use Edited American English in academic essays.
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Additional Collin Outcome: Upon successful completion of this course, students should
be able to do the following:
1. Demonstrate personal responsibility through the ethical use of intellectual property.
(Personal Responsibility)
Withdrawal Policy: See the current Collin Registration Guide for last day to withdraw.
Collin College Academic Policies: See the current Collin Student Handbook
Americans with Disabilities Act Statement: Collin College will adhere to all applicable federal,
state and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable
accommodations as required to afford equal educational opportunity. It is the student’s
responsibility to contact the ACCESS office, SCC-D140 or 972.881.5898 (V/TTD:
972.881.5950) to arrange for appropriate accommodations. See the current Collin Student
Handbook for additional information.
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Instructor’s Name: Dr. Gary H. Wilson
Office Number: D-169, “D” Building, Preston Ridge Campus
Office Hours: 8:30 AM – 11:15 AM, Monday through Thursday of each week, or as scheduled by
appointment
Phone Number: 469-365-1818
Email: GWilson@collin.edu
Class Information
Section Number: 1301.P16 CRN: 23785
Thursday, Jan. 21 – May 18, 2014
Meeting Times: 2:30 PM – 3:45 PM, Tuesday and
Meeting Location: L 204 (2nd floor of the PRC Library)
Course Resources: Required Texts*:
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Daniel Anderson. Write Now, 1st ed.
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Richard Epstein. The Pocket Guide to Critical Thinking, 4th ed.
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Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers. A Pocket Style Manual, 6th ed.
*Check with the Preston Ridge Campus Bookstore for current ISBN numbers and purchase
information.
Supplies: USB memory flash drive
Class Attendance Policy: *Attendance is mandatory for this class. Attendance is essential
for doing well in this course. Attendance is taken at each class.
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Students who leave class early without discussing the valid reasons with me
are counted absent for the entire class. If you cannot meet these attendance
requirements, you should consider scheduling another class that better
accommodates your personal schedule of work and study. Your time and money are
valuable commodities in your pursuit of a higher education; so, do not waste them by
missing classes and being tardy. Since the Collin Student Handbook defines
tardiness as disruptive behavior, students who are habitually late to class will be
asked to meet with me to discuss their situation; these conferences are not optional.
In this class, tardiness is defined as being either late to class or leaving the
class early without authorized reasons. Refer to the Student Code of Conduct,
Section 7-2.4, Other Offenses, item B (Disruption) and item C (Conduct), for more
information. This policy will be strictly enforced.
When students incur three (4) or more unexcused absences from class, they are
required to meet with me in my office during office hours to discuss their situations.
When students incur four unexcused absences, I will officially advise them through an
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email. Students who continue to miss classes after they have exceeded six (6)
unexcused absences without notifying me regarding their situation are presumed to be
non-attendees for the remainder of the semester. Their names will be sent via email
to the Dean’s office for documentation.*
*Students who have perfect attendance for the semester (no missed classes for
any reason) will receive 15 “bonus” points added to their overall point total.
NOTE: Students are personally responsible for withdrawing from the class before the
official withdrawal date noted on the college calendar.
Job-related issues (travel, work schedule changes, overtime, and vacation) do
not qualify as excusable reasons for tardiness, class absences, or the excused
submission of late assignments. If you must be absent, you should email me via
Cougar Mail before the absence. In the case of either excused absences
(documented illness or family emergency) and unexcused absences, you are
personally responsible for submitting all written assignments by the deadlines noted
on the course syllabus, in the class Blackboard, or as announced in class.
*Assignments not submitted due to unexcused absences cannot be “made up.” *Only
assignments that are officially excused for illness or emergency can be made up with
my prior approval. Not having access to your required textbooks or purchasing them
in a timely manner at the beginning of the semester are not valid reasons to excuse
late assignments. If you have questions or concerns about textbooks, see me before
or after class.
NOTE: Not attending the class for any reason can impair your overall grade.
Method of Evaluation:
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Your overall grade for this class is based on completing the assignments described
below and also noted in the Weekly Assignments Schedule (embedded in this
document on the last page) and posted in Blackboard. Note: All submitted essays
will require students to engage in at least one form of revision before submitting
the essay for a final grade. The three accepted forms of revision for this course are
1.) writing conferences with the instructor; 2.) tutorial sessions in the College’s Writing
Center (either in-person or online); or, online or in-person peer review sessions with a
classmate. (Online peer reviews are set up in the “Discussions” menu tool in
Blackboard. Peer review sessions with students outside this class or with
friends or family do not qualify as peer reviews.
All revision activities must occur before the writing assignment is submitted and must
be documented on the last page of the essay.
***Essays that are submitted without undergoing a documented form of revision
(as specified above) will result in the student earning no lab unit essay revision
credit (“0” points) associated with that assigned essay. *Research validates that
revision enhances students’ writing skills and can elevate final assignment grade
levels.
Graded assignments: for this course, graded assignments are categorized as
essays, in-class writing exercises, in-class quizzes, in-class presentations, and 16 lab
units. In the embedded file, “Weekly Assignments Schedule,” you can review all
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assignment due dates. ***Instructions for all assignments can be found in the
appropriate menu tool in Blackboard.
In evaluating all assignments for this course, I will grade the assignments based on a
letter grade and a points earned grade. For example on an assignment weighted at 75
points: a student earns 93% or 70/75 points, which corresponds on the standard grading
scale to the letter-grade of an “A.”
The following standard percentage grading scale applies to all written assignments
in this class:
A = 89.56% - 100%; B = 79.6% - 89.5%; C = 69.6% - 79.5%; D = 59.6% -69.5%; F =
59.4% or less; “0”= no points given when assignments are not submitted after 5
calendar days have passed.
MY GRADES in your class Blackboard courseware is the grade book tool that is used to
record and maintain a cumulative running total of your points earned on all assignments.
Assignments are given weighted point values. All of your written assignments will be
evaluated electronically, using the evaluation tools and comments features available in the
Blackboard courseware. All grades and matters related to grading should not be discussed
openly in the classroom to protect your rights to privacy. If you wish to discuss your grades,
you will need to schedule a conference with me during my office hours to do so.
Grading Turn-around Times: Typically, my grading turn-around times are 3-4 days for
essays and two days for short written assignments and quizzes. All grades are recorded
electronically in MY GRADES in Blackboard so that you can view them at any time and
review your cumulative total of points earned.
These cumulative point total ranges and letter-grade equivalencies apply in determining
your final or transcript grade:
There are 1,000 available cumulative points encompassing all assignments during the
semester.
896 points (or 89.56%) and above = “A” (Excellent)
796 points to 895 points =
“B” (Very Good)
696 points to 795 points =
“C” (Effective Competency)
596 points to 695 points =
“D” (Deficient)
594 points and below=
“F” (Failure)
Read carefully: Unexcused late assignments are automatically deducted one letter
grade per day (5 points per each 12-hour period) when they are not submitted by the
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due date and time specified in the syllabus or Blackboard. After five days, students
earn a “0”(no points) for a non-submitted assignment.
If you know that you will be required to miss a scheduled class, be sure to complete and
submit any assignments due before the class. Also, contact me via Cougar Mail before your
absence occurs to inform me of your situation.
*In this first-year college English course, you are evaluated based on the following areas:
regularly attending class, completing in-class exercises, submitting out-of-class work,
revising your essays through a variety of methods, and completing each of the following
written assignments shown below.
Assignment Category
Points Possible
Totals
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Essay 1 (3 pages)
85
85
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Essay 2 (4 pages)
110
110
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Essay 3 (4 pages)
120
120
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Essay 4 (4 pages)
125
125
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Essay 5 (Research essay of 6-8 pages)
175
175
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(4)–In-class Quizzes
15 ea.
60
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(10)–In-class Writing Exercises
10 pts ea.
100
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(16)–Lab Units
10 pts ea.
160
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Final Exam (Essay: 2 hours)
65
65
Total
1,000
Bonus Points for Writing Revision Activities: Bonus points for instructor writing
conferences and documented Writing Center tutorials are given and can positively enhance a
student’s individual point totals for a specific assignment, as well as overall individual point
totals. NOTE: There are no “extra credit” assignments in the course–only bonus points
earned for the reasons explained below.
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Students who participate in a documented in-person writing tutorial at the Writing
Center or engage in a writing conference with me before the due date of an essay
will earn a total of 5 bonus points added to their grade for the specific essay
submitted (a Writing Center tutorial and a writing conference with me cannot be
combined to earn additional points.
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NOTE: In this class, no extra-credit “makeup” work is provided to those students who
miss in-class assignments or other assignments scheduled on the Weekly
Assignments Schedule (unless excused for illnesses or family emergencies).
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Student Support Resources: Tutoring services are available free of charge to all currently
enrolled students! Upon request, students are assigned one of the following tutoring
services, when available:
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small group tutoring
online tutoring
When group or online tutoring is not available, students are given the private tutor list.
(Private tutoring services, however, must be paid by the student.)
Students can request tutoring services electronically or submit a tutor request form in order to
receive detailed information about the available tutoring services. The form is available on
Collin's website and in the following offices: CPC–room D117, PRC–room F109, and SCC–
room D140.
Online tutoring services can be accessed by clicking on the following web link:
http://www.collin.edu/studentresources/tutoring/online_tutoring.html
Group tutoring is available for the following courses: ENGL 0305, 1301, 1302. Also, online
tutoring is available for English 1301 and 1302 courses.
Technical Support: What if you experience technical problems with Blackboard or
connecting to the College’s computer file server? If you encounter technical problems with
Blackboard, there are three options for assistance:
• Call 972-377-1777 to contact the Collin College Blackboard Help Desk.
• Email the Student Technical Support center at sts@collin.edu
• You may also access the Online Student Support Center (eLC) at
http://online.collin.edu/
The college’s IT division routinely maintains its computer system services. Such
maintenance will temporarily close access to Blackboard or to the College’s file server (an
hour or two in the early hours of Saturday or Sunday). These times will be announced
several weeks ahead of the scheduled maintenance through Cougar Mail.
Academic Ethics: Every member of the Collin College community is expected to maintain
the highest standards of academic integrity. Collin College may initiate disciplinary
proceedings against a student accused of scholastic dishonesty. Scholastic dishonesty
includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts, or omissions related to applications for
enrollment or the award of a degree, and/or the submission of one’s own work material that is
not one’s own. Scholastic dishonesty may involve, but is not limited to, one or more of the
following acts; cheating, plagiarism, collusion, use of annotated texts or teacher’s editions,
use of information about exams posted on the Internet or electronic medium, and/or falsifying
academic records. While specific examples are listed below, these examples are intended as
summaries and are not a complete list.
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Plagiarism is the use of an author’s words or ideas as if they were one’s
own without giving credit to the source, including, but not limited to, failure to
acknowledge a direct quotation.
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Cheating is the willful giving or receiving of information in an unauthorized
manner during an examination, illicitly obtaining examination questions in
advance, copying computer or Internet files, using someone else’s work for
the assignments as if it were one’s own, or any other dishonest means of
attempting to fulfill the requirements of a course.
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Collusion is the intentionally aiding or attempting to aid another in an act of
scholastic dishonesty, including but not limited to, providing a paper or
project to another student providing an inappropriate level of assistance;
communicating answers to a classmate during an examination; removing
tests or answer keys from a test suite, and allowing a classmate to copy
answers.
In cases where an incident report has been filed for an alleged violation of scholastic
dishonesty, faculty are requested to delay posting a grade, for the academic work in
question, until the Dean of Student Development Office renders an administrative decision in
the case. Students found responsible for scholastic dishonesty offenses will receive an
authorized disciplinary penalty from the Dean of Student Development Office. If a student is
found responsible for violating academic ethics in this class, he or she will receive a
grade of “0” for the assignment or assignments involved. *You should review the section
on scholastic dishonesty in the Collin Student Handbook, which can be accessed at online
web link:
http://www.collin.edu/shared/shared_studentresources/pdf/1213_student_handbook.pdf.
Academic Etiquette: Our common goal is to create a vibrant collaborative learning
environment that will benefit everyone. Any type of disruptive behaviors (talking while the
instructor or others are talking, texting, using cell phones or other digital devices during class,
profanity, and any violations noted in the Collin Student Handbook will not be tolerated
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Turn off cell or digital devices before the class begins.
Remove ear buds.
No web surfing before or after class, unless students are accessing and using
the Blackboard courseware or databases directly related to their course work.
The classroom is not a cafeteria, so refrain from bringing and consuming food in the
workstation classroom. We cannot learn if we are not all focused on the task before
us.
For many students, college is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Many students at Collin
College make substantial sacrifices and commitments to attend classes while working full or
part-time and supporting their families. Don’t waste this opportunity. Attitude is everything.
Come prepared to learn and you will. This is not a class to socialize or engage in nonproductive conversations with others. Do your socializing before and after class. Those who
repeatedly disrupt the class through their behaviors will be asked to leave the class for the
full period. ***Repeat offenders will have their names forwarded through appropriate official
channels for appropriate intervention.
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***If you are not willing to abide by the norms and accommodate the challenges of a
college environment, you should not be here.
Teaching Methods: In all my classes, I attempt to create a meaningful exchange of ideas
that dignifies the learning process and helps students always feel comfortable that their ideas
and contributions are important. I ask students questions in class to focus their attention on
the reading and writing assignments. I also encourage my students to ask questions about
the topics, ideas, and assignments we are studying. An inquisitive nature is a powerful first
step in learning new ideas and challenging the status quo.
I use technology to help students improve their academic writing. Blackboard provides
meaningful tools that help student-writers prewrite, compose, and revise their written
assignments. I also teach critical reading and thinking skills in this course since research
demonstrates that these two attributes are prerequisites for effective writing. Teaching and
learning is always a two-way process. I challenge my students to feel that they are
embarking on an important journey which will provide a solid foundation for their thinking and
writing in future college classes and in their chosen professions.
Writing Conferences: All writing conferences will be conducted in my office during my
scheduled office hours in D-169 (D Building) on the Preston Ridge Campus.
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Writing conferences afford students meaningful opportunities to discuss any aspects
of the course as well as their writing assignments. To facilitate a discussion of a
writing assignment or essay draft, students should bring their work saved on their USB
memory devices.
You should directly schedule the conference with me via Cougar Mail. Writing
conferences are scheduled on a first-available basis. Writing conferences will always
be conducted in my office and will last no more than 20-25 minutes to enable others to
participate in conferences.
*Current research shows that one-on-one writing conferences help students improve their
writing skills during a college semester. Such sessions create a workshop forum wherein
student writing concerns can be efficiently identified with individualized improvement
strategies.
Instructor Contact and Response Times: Routinely, I check my Cougar Mail
(GWilson@collin.edu) at least five times daily. I try to respond to all student emails within a
two-hour period. I start checking my Cougar Mail early in the morning and into the evening.
If you send an email late in the evening, expect that you will not receive a reply until I check
my email first thing the following morning. If you wish to telephone me, my office telephone
has voice mail so you can leave a brief message. I respond to all student voice mails left
before 5 PM during the same day they are communicated. *My preferred method of
contact with students is through Cougar Mail.
Course Requirements: To be successful in this class, you should first maintain a positive
attitude that you are here to learn.
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Regardless of your past academic experiences in college or high school, by keeping a
positive attitude about the course, you will learn and succeed.
Since this class is instructed entirely in a workstation classroom, you should possess
proficiencies in computer keyboarding and using MS Word, know how to upload and
download documents, and also how to navigate the Blackboard courseware.
Free tutorials are provided for computer software and for Blackboard through the
eCollin Learning Center, located in the PRC Library. You can telephone the eCollin
Learning Center on the Preston Ridge Campus at 972-377-1777, or link to their
technical support page: http://online.collin.edu/eLC_technicalissues.html .
Students’ Privacy Protection: In accordance with the provisions of the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), matters involving students’ records and grades will not be
openly disclosed nor discussed. If students wish to discuss their grades with me, they can
do so by scheduling a conference during my office hours. *Grades or grading matters will not
be sent or commented upon through emails since emails can be inadvertently forwarded to
third-parties. Students should refrain from openly discussing their grades with others inside
or outside the classroom in order to protect their privacy.
Campus Security: To report suspected criminal activities, Call 5555 – Preston Ridge Collin
police (972.578.5555 from any off-campus telephone). For all life-threatening emergencies,
call 911.
Collin College Spring 2014 Important Dates
Course Weekly Reading and Writing Assignments
*Note: All assigned readings are taken from Write Now, 1st ed., The Pocket Guide to Critical
Thinking, 4th ed., and A Pocket Style Manual, 6th ed., and selected websites that are linked
in the “Weekly Assignments Schedule” (refer to the embedded file below). *Reading and
writing assignments must be completed by the dates noted on this syllabus before the
class begins.
*Changes to the following schedule of reading, writing, and in-class assignments may
be made to enhance the students’ learning process.
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I will announce any changes to this weekly assignments schedule in class and post
them also in the “Announcements” section of your course Blackboard, as well as send
them to your Cougar Mail email address.
Classes officially canceled by the College due to inclement weather may affect this
schedule.
You should review your course Blackboard website at least twice daily for any
announcements or updates.
Weekly Schedule of Assignments
*Double click on the file icon below to open the embedded MS Excel file entitled
“Weekly Assignments Schedule.” This file lists all reading and writing assignments and
their due dates for the semester. You should review this schedule frequently.
ENGL 1301 P16
Weekly Assgmnts Spring 2014 CRN 23785.xlsx