Professor John G. Morris
Spring 2016
English 1213: CRN 22119, CRN 22289
Office: NB 2027
Office Phone: 580-581-2329
FAX: 580-581-2897
Email: johnmor@cameron.edu
Office Hours:
Monday
10-11:45 am, 2-3:00 pm
Tuesday
1:30-3:00 pm
Wednesday
10-11:45 am, 2-3:00 pm
Thursday
1:30-3:00 pm
Friday
10-10:45 am, 2-3:00 pm
And by appointment.
English Composition 2
Texts:
1. Fifty Essays: A Portable Anthology. Edited by Samuel Cohen. 4th edition ISBN:
1-4576-3899-2
9782. Lunsford. The Everyday Writer. 5th edition ISBN 978-1-4576-1266-4
3. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th edition *
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 non-fiction
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
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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
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
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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, one-hundred 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 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-of-class 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;
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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 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:
E.W. = The Everyday Writer
F.E. = Fifty Essays
Week 1: 7 January
Thursday: Introductions, expectations; First-day writing sample (Writing
Assignment #1) (in class)
Week 2: 12-14 January
Tuesday: Download and Read Syllabus; discuss policies; Review: “Introduction”
F.E. 1-14; discussion; Conciseness: E.W. 29, 284-87; major errors to avoid;
Return of Writing Assignment #1; issues, sample themes
Thursday: Review “Critical Reading,” E.W. 12, 123-36; review “Analyzing
Arguments,” E.W. 13, 136-51; exercises
Week 3: 19-21 January
Tuesday: Quiz Over Syllabus Policies; Review “Constructing Arguments,” E.W.
14, 151-67; proposing solutions: “Just Coffee: A Proposal in the Classical
Arrangement” (handout), “Cameron University Mission Statement” (handout)
Thursday: Proposing solutions; bring ideas about Cameron community issues to
class to discuss; group work and class discussion; review “Planning and
Drafting,” E.W. 7, 64-74; review “Developing Paragraphs,” E.W. 8, 75-89
invention and brainstorming
Week 4: 26-28 January
Tuesday: 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
Thursday: Rough draft of Writing Assignment #2 DUE for peer evaluation
Week 5: 2-4 February
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Tuesday: Review “Making Design Decisions,” E.W. 9, 90-100; “Reviewing and
Revising,” E.W. 10, 100-111 and “Editing and Revising,” E.W. 11, 112-120;
Review “Integrate Quotations, Paraphrases, and Summaries Effectively” [(ASC;
NE)]: E.W. 18b, 213-15; sample draft; issues
Thursday: Writing Assignment #2 DUE; last-chance editing; Review
“Coordination, Subordination, and Emphasis,” E.W. 25, 269-78
Week 6: 9-11 February
Tuesday: Argument of evaluation; Plato, “The Allegory of The Cave,” F.E. 30310; Grandin, “Thinking in Pictures: Autism and Visual Thought” (handout)
Thursday: Evaluation cont.; Malcolm X, “Learning to Read,” F.E. 273-82;
Alexie, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” F.E. 15-18.
Week 7: 16-18 February
Tuesday: Evaluation cont.; conversation among texts and brainstorming; group
work;
organization, use of texts to make your points; group work
Thursday: Rough drafts DUE for peer evaluation
Week 8: 23-25 February
Tuesday: Revision: sample draft; issues
Thursday: Writing Assignment #3 DUE; last-chance editing; Review
“Parallelism,” E.W. 27, 279-81; Research: review: “Preparing For a Research
Project,” E.W. 15, 175-80; class discussion
Week 9: 1-3 March
Tuesday: Research cont.: review “Doing Research,” E.W. 16, 180-93, “Evaluating
Sources and Taking Notes,” E.W. 17, 193-211; class discussion; review MLA intext parenthetical documentation, E.W. 50, 409-13, MLA Works Cited style, 51,
416-47
Thursday: Research cont.: Meet in Library 103 for bibliographic instruction
Week 10: 8-10 March
Tuesday: Arguments: Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence,” F.E. 190-98;
Swift, “A Modest Proposal,” F.E. 408-15; group discussion
Thursday: Prospective research question DUE; Review “Word Choice and
Spelling,” E.W. 23, 245-55
Week 11: 15-17 March SPRING RECESS
Week 12: 22-24 March
Tuesday: Annotated list of Works Cited DUE; Review “Subject-verb Agreement,”
E.W. 33, 323-29
Thursday: Return of Annotated Lists of Works Cited; organization, using texts
to support your points
Week 13: 29-31 March
Tuesday: Rough Drafts DUE for peer evaluation
Thursday: Revision: sample draft, issues
Week 14: 5-7 April
Tuesday: Writing Assignment #4 DUE; last-chance editing; Review “Pronoun
Case,” E.W. 34a-e, 329-35
Thursday: Classification: Hirschberg, “The Rhetoric of Advertising” (handout)
Week 15: 12-14 April
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Tuesday: Bring ads to class; brainstorming, organizing; group work
Thursday: Assessment Testing*
Week 16: 19-21 April
Tuesday: Rough drafts for Writing Assignment #5 DUE for peer evaluation*
Thursday: Writing Assignment #5 DUE; last-chance editing; Review “Pronounantecedent Agreement” and “Pronoun Reference,” E.W. 34f-g, 335-38*
Week 17: 26 April
Tuesday: Review “Consistency and Completeness,” E.W. 26, 275-78; Review
“Mood,” E.W. 32h, 322-23; discussion of Writing Assignment #6, strategies for
in-class composing; evaluation
Week 18: Final Examination
CRN 22119 (9:30-10:45 am) Thursday, 5 May 8-10 a.m. Writing Assignment #6
CRN 22289 (11 -12:15 pm) 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