Professor John G. Morris
Engl. 1213-22119, 22289 Spring 2016
Office: NB 2027
Office Phone: 581-2329
FAX: 581-2897
johnmor@cameron.edu
Office Hours:
10 - 11:45 M W
2 - 3
M W F
1:30- 3
T R
10 - 10:45
F
and by appointment
English Composition 2
Texts:
1. Fifty Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Samuel Cohen. 4th ed. ISBN: 978-14576-3899-2
2. Lunsford. The Everyday Writer. 5th ed. ISBN 978-1-4576-1266-4
3. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. *
I accept the use only of the editions listed for the first two textbooks.
You will also need a folder or notebook of some kind for your Editing Log and
another folder of some kind in which to keep all the writing you do this
semester.
Catalogue Course Description:
This course provides continued practice in critical thinking and composition
by analyzing both fiction and nonfiction works and by writing multiple
expository essays, at least one of which is a documented research paper.
Lecture 3 hours. Prerequisite: Successful completion of Composition 1 or
equivalent.
Course Objectives:
This course is designed to support the general education of students by
improving their ability to
-develop critical thinking abilities by interpretation of nonfiction works;
-construct an argument from a clear thesis in well-organized paragraphs
with focused objectives;
-use sources and data critically in a balanced and thoughtful way as
support for original expository writing;
-display appropriate respect for the opinions of others;
-demonstrate skill in finding, using and documenting resource material
responsibly;
-craft clear sentences that avoid basic errors in spelling, usage, and
punctuation.
General Education Course Objectives:
Outcome 1: Information Literacy: The student will access information from
reliable sources and use it effectively and responsibly.
Outcome 4: Ethics: The student will demonstrate an understanding of ethical
conduct in a defined context.
Outcome 7: Communication: The student will effectively communicate in written
and oral forms.
Course Structure:
The course includes an in-class, single-draft, ungraded writing assignment on
the first day, four multi-drafted out-of-class essays, one of which is an
argumentative research essay, an annotated list of Works Cited for the
research essay, an Editing Log, and, as a final examination, an in-class
single-draft writing assignment. For each out-of-class theme, I will assign
readings, the class will discuss and analyze these readings, students will
collect and shape information and ideas into rough drafts, they will engage in
peer evaluation and editing of these rough drafts, and they will produce final
drafts. Following the return of three of the four final drafts, each student
will revise his or hers and also prepare Editing Log entries that address
sentence-level issues. The quality of class participation, any grammar
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exercises I provide in class in response to readings from the handbook (see
daily calendar below), and quizzes are also part of the course. NB: This
class is a workshop class. I will ask you to share your writing with other
students, and I reserve the right to make copies of your work for use in
teaching the writing process. Therefore, please consider all writing for this
class to be public. Also, we will encounter some controversial issues in our
reading and in our discussions. Please remember that we are here to evaluate
how ideas are expressed and the strengths and weaknesses of arguments. NB:
Please also show your classmates the respect you would like to be shown by
switching off beepers, cell phones, and other forms of personal technology
during class that might disturb others. In addition, please know that,
however silently you do so, listening to music and sending and reading text
messages or tweets during class time are activities disrespectful to your
classmates and to me. Thank you.
Policies:
1. Attendance: Composition is not a subject you can learn simply by reading a
text, and your grade will inevitably suffer if you are not present for class
discussions. Members of the English Composition program want you to succeed
and therefore encourage you to make attendance a top priority. If you are
unable to be in class regularly, I advise to withdraw and reschedule the
course for another time. Because regular attendance is so vital, I will
subtract a letter grade from a student's final grade for his or her fifth
absence (in other words the beginning of a third week of absences), a second
letter grade for the sixth, and so on. Of course, true emergencies occur in
the lives of everyone, including the instructor.
In the case of such an
emergency, you should let me know the reason for your absence as quickly as
reasonably possible, preferably before the class you expect to miss (use the
rough calculus that one notification beforehand equals two excuses afterwards)
since to do so is courteous; if it is not possible to let me know beforehand,
I may ask you for documentation of your emergency illness or injury, family
problem, or other catastrophe, especially if it occurs when a rough or final
draft of a writing assignment is due. Keeping in touch with me is vital
especially since I am an instructor who abides by Cameron University’s
administrative withdrawal policy. In essence, I will petition to have removed
those students who never attend or who miss the final deadline for at least
two writing assignments and who do not respond in a reasonable time to my
notification via the Early Alert system.
2. Public Safety, Weather Policy, Emergency Communication System: See the
Student Information Sheet and Syllabus Attachment.
3. Dropping and Withdrawing: See the Student Information Sheet and Syllabus
Attachment. I will be happy to sign a drop slip at any time one is required.
The deadlines for withdrawal appear at the end of this syllabus as well as in
the class schedule.
4. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: See the Student Information
Sheet and Syllabus Attachment.
5. Evaluation and Grading: The major criterion is your ability to write
clear, effective, well-developed, and, for those assignments that require it,
well-documented expository essays. This criterion will constitute, with
varying weights, 80 per cent of your grade and covers the four out-of-class
essays as well as the essay written for the final examination. NB: Please be
aware of the English Composition Program requirement that students must pass
the final examination, which nominally counts but 15 per cent of the final
grade, in order to pass the class. I will use the standard ten-percent, onehundred point grading scale in which an A is awarded for 90 to 100 points, a B
for 80 to 89, and so on. In addition, the average of the Editing Log
assignments constitutes ten percent of your final grade. The annotated list
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of Works Cited will also be graded, and it will be averaged with the grades
for peer evaluation, quizzes, any grammar exercises, and your oral class
participation to constitute the remaining ten percent of your final grade.
6. Due Dates: The final draft of all essays is due at the beginning of the
period on the assigned date. I shall accept with no penalty one late final
draft from each of you. Without compelling reason, all other late final
drafts will have a letter grade per day subtracted. I will not accept a
paper, late or otherwise, unless you have a rough draft ready for editing on
the day designated for it. You will need a very good reason for me to accept
that you have not been able to produce at least a couple of paragraphs on the
day drafts are required for peer evaluation.
7. Department of English Revision Policy: Each student who does not earn an A
on the final draft of each out-of-class essay (with the exception of Writing
Assignment #5) must revise each such essay; the student’s grade for that essay
can improve up to a letter grade (ten percentage points), but failure to
revise will result in the subtraction of a letter grade. Each student is
limited to one such revision, and the revision, along with the Editing Log
assignment for that essay, is due within a week after the paper is returned or
at a later date that I designate in class; the original final draft must be
turned in with the revision, and all changes must be highlighted in some way
on the revision.
8.
Academic Dishonesty: See the Student Information Sheet and Syllabus
Attachment. In regard to plagiarism, please make sure that you understand
what this very grace error entrails and avoid: though we will cover it as a
class later, read section 17g of EW, 191-92, early. The student handbook
indicates a range of penalties for plagiarism: “The student’s grade in the
course or on the examination or other academic work affected by dishonesty may
be reduced to any extent, including a reduction to failure” (sec. 5.08.c). If
I can prove that you have committed this form of academic misconduct
deliberately, I will fail you for the course.
9. SafeAssign: By department policy, students in this course will be
registered with SafeAssign and will be required to submit electronic copies of
papers, both rough drafts and final drafts, to the SafeAssign portion of the
Blackboard Web site. Instructions on paper submission will be forwarded to
you via your Cameron e-mail once I have registered all members of the class.
You may access your Cameron e-mail account by going to Aggie Access. N.B. In
addition to submitting your drafts to SafeAssign, I require you to submit hard
copies in class. NB: Failure to submit rough or final drafts for any out-ofclass writing assignment to SafeAssign by the final deadline I announce in
class results in a subtraction of letter grades for each such failure even if
the student submits a hard copy on time.
10. Paper Format: Make sure that your final drafts follow the prescriptions
of EW 51, 410-19, noting the commentary that appears in the margins; this
sample research paper to which the Commentary refers follows all the
conventions of the paper format I want you to follow. The Academic Computer
Lab, Burch 104, provides access to personal computers, as do the Library; the
Center for Writers, NB 2034, the Fine Arts Laboratory, Music 139; and the
Sarkeys Lab, Sciences Complex 203; and the Sarkeys Student Computer Lab,
Academic Commons 137. If you do not have access to the Internet at home, you
have access to it by virtue of being a Cameron student; see Item 9 above.
Please do not use cover sheets since MLA style does not require them; please
do not turn in the themes enclosed in folders; for binding purposes, I prefer
paper clips to staples and will provide them.
11. Changes to the Syllabus: Though I do not anticipate having to do so, I
may have to make changes in the daily calendar below, which changes I will
announce in class. Among other important information I will announce in class
are final deadlines for submission to SafeAssign (see Item 9 above) and
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deadlines for revisions and Editing Logs. You are responsible for any
deadlines or changes in assignments made in this manner, so you should get to
know several other members of class and exchange telephone numbers and e-mail
addresses so you can keep up. Of course, I will be willing to tell you of
changes in the calendar if you inquire in person, by telephone, or by e-mail.
Daily Calendar:
EW = The Everyday Writer
FE = Fifty Essays
Week 1 7 January
R Introductions, expectations; First-day writing sample (Writing Assignment
#1) (in class)
Week 2 12-14 January
T Download and Read Syllabus; discuss policies; Review: “Introduction” FE 114; discussion; Conciseness: EW 29, 284-87; major errors to avoid; Return of
Writing Assignment #1; issues, sample themes
R Review “Critical Reading,” EW 12, 123-36; review “Analyzing Arguments,” EW
13, 136-51; exercises
Week 3 19-21 January
T Quiz Over Syllabus Policies; Review “Constructing Arguments,” EW 14, 15167; proposing solutions: ”Just Coffee: A Proposal in the Classical
Arrangement” (handout), “Cameron University Mission Statement” (handout)
R Proposing solutions; bring ideas about Cameron community issues to class to
discuss; group work and class discussion; review “Planning and Drafting,” EW
7, 64-74; review “Developing Paragraphs,” EW 8, 75-89 invention and
brainstorming
Week 4 26-28 January
T Peer evaluation training: read sample theme attached to assignment sheet
and answer the peer evaluation questions prior to coming to class; group
discussion; class discussion
R Rough draft of Writing Assignment #2 DUE for peer evaluation
Week 5 2-4 February
T Review “Making Design Decisions,” EW 9, 90-100; “Reviewing and Revising,”
EW 10, 100-111 and “Editing and Revising,” EW 11, 112-120; Review “Integrate
Quotations, Paraphrases, and Summaries Effectively” [(ASC; NE)]: EW 18b, 21315; sample draft; issues
R Writing Assignment #2 DUE; last-chance editing; Review “Coordination,
Subordination, and Emphasis,” EW 25, 269-78
Week 6 9-11 February
T Argument of evaluation; Plato, “The Allegory of The Cave,” FE 303-10;
Grandin, “Thinking in Pictures: Autism and Visual Thought” (handout)
R Evaluation cont; Malcolm X, “Learning to Read,” FE 273-82; Alexie, “The Joy
of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” FE 15-18.
Week 7 16-18 February
T Evaluation cont.; conversation among texts and brainstorming; group work;
organization, use of texts to make your points; group work
R Rough drafts DUE for peer evaluation
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Week 8 23-25 February
T Revision: sample draft; issues
R Writing Assignment #3 DUE; last-chance editing; Review “Parallelism,” EW
27, 279-81; Research: review: “Preparing For a Research Project,” EW 15, 17580; class discussion
Week 9 1-3 March
T Research cont.: review “Doing Research,” EW 16, 180-93, “Evaluating Sources
and Taking Notes,” EW 17, 193-211; class discussion; review MLA in-text
parenthetical documentation, EW 50, 409-13, MLA Works Cited style, 51, 416-47
R Research cont.: Meet in Library 103 for bibliographic instruction
Week 10 8-10 March
T Arguments: Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence,” FE 190-98; Swift,
“A Modest Proposal,” FE 408-15; group discussion
R Prospective research question DUE; Review “Word Choice and Spelling,” EW
23, 245-55
Week 11 15-17 March SPRING RECESS
Week 12 22-24 March
T Annotated list of Works Cited DUE; Review “Subject-verb Agreement,” EW 33,
323-29
R Return of Annotated Lists of Works Cited; organization, using texts to
support your points
Week 13 29-31 March
T Rough Drafts DUE for peer evaluation
R Revision: sample draft, issues
Week 14 5-7 April
T Writing Assignment #4 DUE; last-chance editing; Review “Pronoun Case,” EW
34a-e, 329-35
R Classification: Hirschberg, “The Rhetoric of Advertising” (handout)
Week 15 12-14 April
T Bring ads to class; brainstorming, organizing; group work
R Assessment Testing*
Week 16 19-21 April
T Rough drafts for Writing Assignment #5 DUE for peer evaluation*
R Writing Assignment #5 DUE; last-chance editing; Review “Pronoun-antecedent
Agreement” and “Pronoun Reference,” EW 34f-g, 335-38*
Week 17 26 April
T
Review “Consistency and Completeness,” EW 26, 275-78; Review “Mood,” EW
32h, 322-23; discussion of Writing Assignment #6, strategies for in-class
composing; evaluation
Week 18 Final Examination
22119 (9:30-10:45) Thursday, 5 May 8-10 a.m. Writing Assignment #6
22289 (11 -12:15) Tuesday, 3 May 10:15-12:15 Writing Assignment #6
Last Date to Withdraw with an Automatic “W”:
Last Date to Withdraw from a Class:
Wednesday, 6 April
Wednesday, 20 April