Houston Community College
Southeast Campus English
ENGL 1301
Fall 2016
Distance Education
DE Services:
The Distance Education Student Handbook contains policies and procedures unique to the DE
student. It is the student's responsibility to be familiar with the handbook's contents and part of
the mandatory orientation. The handbook contains valuable information, answers, and resources,
such as DE contacts, policies and procedures (how to drop, attendance requirements, etc.),
student services (ADA, financial aid, degree planning, etc.), course information, testing
procedures, technical support, and academic calendars. Refer to the DE Student Handbook by
visiting this link: http://www.hccs.edu/media/houston-community-college/distanceeducation/student-services/HCC-Online-Student-Handbook.pdf
HCC Policy Statement: Please see the embedded link for policies on sexual misconduct http://www.edurisksolutions.org.
Instructor:
Lana L. Reese
Phone No.: (281) 303-9141
Email: lana.reese@hccs.edu
Course Description:
ENGL Composition – This course is an 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, Core Curriculum Course. This course is three (3) credit
hours.
Prerequisite(s):
Students must have an appropriate score on TSI/ACT/SAT/STAAR, INRW 0420 as well as a
grade of C or better in ELA College Prep course from participating ISD’s.
Required Texts:
McCuen-Metherell, Jo Ray, and Anthony C. Winkler. Readings for Writers. 15th Edition.
Boston: Wadworth, Cengage Learning,
Maimon, Peritz, Yancey. The New McGraw-Hill Handbook. 3rd Edition ISBN:
97800773973206
Goal: In English 1301, we seek to provide writing instruction and practice that will help
students master writing the short essay while developing critical reading skills. We believe that
in mastering this particular kind of writing students will also gain skills that will permit them to
be successful at writing tasks in other college courses, their careers, and in their personal lives.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this course, students should be able to
 understand writing as a connected and interactive process which includes planning,
shaping, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading;
 apply writing process to out-of-class writing;
 apply suggestions from evaluated compositions to other writing projects;
 understand and apply basic principles of critical thinking in analyzing reading selections,
in developing expository essays, and writing argumentative essays;
 apply concepts from and use references to assigned readings in developing essays;
 analyze (for such elements as purpose, audience, tone, style, writing strategy), in writing,
essays by professional writers;
 complete short writing assignments, journal entries, reading quizzes, and other activities
to strengthen basic thinking and writing skills;
 understand and appropriately apply various methods of development in writing;
 avoid faulty reasoning in all writing assignments;
 fulfill the writing requirements of the course, writing at least 5000 words during the
semester.
Course Standards:
 A diagnostic essay will indicate the student’s level of competency.
 Paragraphs and essays will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
o written assignments of single paragraphs or short essays that contain more than
four (4) major errors will receive a grade of D or lower;
o written assignments of major essays and research papers that contain more than
six (6) major errors will receive a grade of D or lower;
o three (3) minor errors constitute a major error.
 Major errors are defined as nonstandard usage, fragments, comma splices, punctuation,
agreement, verb forms and tenses, quotation format, unfocused thesis, weak topic
sentence, awkward syntax, incoherence, development, and pronoun case.
 Minor errors are defined as non-standard spelling, capitalization, punctuation,
identification of titles, or contractions.
 Students will be expected to improve their vocabulary by learning to spell, define, and
use words from their reading.
.
Class Participation: Chat sessions will be scheduled periodically. Students will be notified of a
chat session well in advance, and will be expected to make every effort to attend.
Writing Assignments: All writing assignments will be submitted through turnitin.com.
No papers will be accepted through email. Please note that only writing assignments
(paragraphs, essays) are to be submitted through turnitin.com. All assignments from Readings
for Writers and the McGraw Hill Handbook must be submitted through your online course.
Essay Submissions and Formatting: All essays will be submitted to turnitin.com by the due
date. However, before an essay is submitted, it should be reviewed through AskOnline. When
you submit your essays, you should include your AskOnline receipt as one of your submission
pages. Every essay should be double spaced and each paragraph should be indented. No cover
pages are required. Also, please follow the following format for the heading of your paper
(please note that headings should be on the left margin):
Your First and Last Name
Ms. L. Reese, Instructor
English 1301 –
Day Month Year (ex. 27 September 2016)
Grading Scale:
A 90-100
B 89-80
C 79-70
D 69-60
F 59 and below
Grade Percentages: Your grade will be computed based on the following percentages:
 Essays and Paragraph – 30%
 Assignments from Handbook – 20%
 Test – 15%
 Discussions – 15%
 Final Objective Examination - 10%
 Final Essay – 10%
Week 1 and 2
Course Orientation
Sentences
Sentence Types MHH –
Sentence Errors MHH –
RW Readings
**Reading Critically, pages 3-11; Writer’s Voice, pages 95-99; Remarks on the life of
Sacco…, pages 121-123; Salvation, pages 124-126
Exercises
MHH Exercises –
Test
Sentence Types and Sentence Errors, Readings
Weeks 3 and 4
Developing Paragraphs
RW –
MHH –
RW Readings
**Tone: The Writer’s Voice in the Reader’s Mind, page 111; From the Lessons of the
Past, page 219; Pain, page 220; Man Against Darkness, page 222
Exercises
RW Exercise –
MHH –
Test
Paragraphs and Readings
Writing
Paragraph
Weeks 5 and 6
Thesis Controlled Essay
RW – Thesis; Organization
MHH – Prewriting; Thesis
Parallelism and Modifiers (misplaced and dangling)
MHH – (Parallelism)
MHH – (Modifiers)
RW Readings
**The Thesis, pages 143-147; The Grieving Never Ends, page 147; A Good Man is Hard
to Find, page 154; Spring, page 167; Write to be Understood, page 181
Exercises
RW Exercises –
MHH –
Test
Parallelism and Modifiers, Essays, and Readings
Writing
Expository Essay
Weeks 7 and 8
Patterns of Development
RW –
Illustration/Exemplification Essays
RW –
Verbs and Subject Verb Agreement
MHH – (Subject verb agreement)
MHH – (Verbs)
RW Readings
** The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria, page 375; Mirror,
Mirror, On the Wall…, page 386; Drugs, page 339
Exercises
RW Exercises –
MHH – Exercises –
Test
Verb, Subject Verb Agreement, Illustrative Essays, and Readings
Writing
Illustrative/Exemplification Essay
Weeks 9 and 10
Comparison/Contrast Essays
RW –
Pronouns Types, Pronoun Antecedent Agreement, Pronoun cases, and Pronoun References
MHH –
RW Readings
**Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts, page 474; Diogenes and Alexander, page 469;
Breast Cancer No. 2, page 463
Exercises
RW Exercises –
MHH –
Test
Pronoun Types, Pronoun Antecedent Agreement, Pronoun Cases, Pronoun References,
Comparison/Contrast Essay, and Readings
Writing
Comparison /Contrast Essay
Weeks 11
Causal Analysis
RW –
RW Readings
**A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun, page 560; Coming into
Language, page 565; The Storm, page 585; The New Feminism, page 594, The Farce of
Feminism, page 598
Exercises
RW Exercise –
Test
Readings, Causal Analysis Essay
Writing
Causal Analysis Essay
Argumentation
RW –
RW Readings
**The Pregnancy Trap, page 634; Homeless, page 642; The Homeless Lack a Political
Voice, But Not American Ideals, page 646
Exercises
RW Exercise –
Writing
Argumentation Essay
Make-up
Approved Make-up work
Week 12
Final Examination