English 1301 – WHITEBIRD—Fall-- 2014
CRN:
28556, 28415, 28553
Instructor:
Scott Whitebird, English, Rm. 308 Spring Branch Campus, NWC
scott.whitebird @hccs).edu
Office: AD6
5-5:30 M-R, before and after class, and by appointment
Advising:
Credit: 3(3 lecture)
Prerequisite: A satisfactory assessment score, completion of ENGL 0310 or (for nonnative speakers) ENGL 0349.
Texts:
The Norton Reader 13th Edition
Composition Study Guide (on Connect)
McGraw-Hill Handbook (on Connect)
Catalog Description: A course devoted to improving the student’s writing and critical
reading .Reading a variety of essays critically. Writing essays for a variety of purposes
from personal to academic, including the introduction to argumentation, critical analysis,
and the use of sources.
Course Purpose: English 1301 is intended to introduce students to basic forms of
writing used in most academic contexts. ENGL 1301 is designed around writing as a
process which enables students to develop organized, focused essays. Core curriculum
course.
Core Objectives: Given the rapid evolution of necessary knowledge and skills and the
need to take into account global, national, state, and local cultures, the core curriculum
must ensure that students will develop the essential knowledge and skills they need to be
successful in college, in a career, in their communities, and in life. Through the Texas
Core curriculum, students will gain a foundation of knowledge of human cultures and the
physical and natural world, develop principles of personal and social responsibility for
living in a diverse world, and advance intellectual and practical skills that are essential
for all learning.
Students enrolled in this core curriculum course will complete projects designed to
cultivate the following core objectives.
Critical Thinking Skills – to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and
analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of information.
Communication Skills – to include effective development, interpretation and
expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication
Personal Responsibility – to include the ability to connect choices, actions, and
consequences ethical decision-making
Teamwork – to include the ability to consider different points of view and to
work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal
Social Responsibility – to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic
responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and
global communities
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English Program Student Learning Outcomes
1. Write in appropriate genres using varied rhetorical strategies.
2. Write in appropriate genres to explain and evaluate rhetorical and/or literary
strategies employed in argument, persuasion, and various genres.
3. Analyze various genres of writing for form, method, meaning, and
interpretation.
4. Employ research in academic writing styles and use appropriate
documentation style.
English Composition I (1301) Student Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate knowledge of writing as process.
2. Apply basic principles of critical thinking in analyzing reading selections,
developing expository essays, and writing argumentative essays.
3. Analyze elements such as purpose, audience, tone, style, strategy in essays
and/or literature by professional writers.
4. Write essays in appropriate academic writing strategies using varied rhetorical
strategies.
5. Synthesize concept from and use references to assigned readings in their own
academic writing.
CLASS POLICIES
Attendance and Withdrawal
Attendance is required. You are responsible for ALL materials covered in class. In
addition, HCCS has an attendance policy. You may miss no more than 12.5%, or six
class hours, or the instructor may drop you for non-attendance or require makeup work.
Should you have to miss class, you are still responsible for all material covered. As soon
as you can, be sure to get the name and phone number of a fellow student to contact.
You may also leave me a message on my voicemail at 718-5678 – although we should
see each other regularly at class. Should you stop attending class, it is your
responsibility to withdraw from class, or you may receive an “F.”
Tardiness and Leaving Class Early
Anything more than occasional tardiness is not acceptable. Students arriving late must
make sure that class roll is correct by seeing the teacher after class. Leaving early should
be cleared/explained to instructor prior to leaving in the middle of class. Questions
already answered and topics covered will not be repeated during class time and remain
the student’s responsibility.
Class Preparation
Preparation is also required. Students should know calendar and syllabus. considered
prior to class, and re-read if necessary so that you can participate in class. Expect
occasional quizzes. Take notes in class; review them regularly.
Late Work
Late work costs points. Ten points off for each day (not class period) late; 20 points off
for a weekend. No papers accepted more than ONE week late. Unusual lateness caused
by illness, death in the family, and/or other emergencies must be explained in writing,
and documented if possible. Papers will be collected at the beginning of class and are
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late after that. Papers turned in on the specified date but after papers have been
collected will be penalized 5 points.
Make-up Work
If you know you must miss the midterm for a good reason, we can schedule a make-up
time. If you simply miss the midterm, you must have an excused absence and be ready to
take the midterm immediately when you return. The Final in class essay cannot be
rescheduled, so plan accordingly.
Scholastic Dishonesty (Plagiarism, Collusion, Cheating)
The student handbook lists cheating, plagiarism, and collusion as scholastic dishonesty.
It defines plagiarism as “the appropriation of another’s work and the unacknowledged
incorporation of that work in one’s own written work offered for credit.” It defines
collusion as “ the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written
work for credit.” Possible punishments are “a grade of 0 or F on the particular
assignment, failure in the course, and/or recommendation for probation or dismissal from
the College System.” See Student Handbook. NOTE: Teachers use computers
regularly, and advanced searches make it quick and easy for us to check phrases,
sentences, keywords, paragraphs, etc. Be HONEST, and be careful – GOOGLE
RULES. And then there’s Turnitin.com….
Special Accommodations
Students needing special accommodations must give the teacher a current request from
The NWC ADA office. Any student with a documented disability (e.g. physical,
learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc) who needs to arrange reasonable
accommodations must contact the Disability Services Office at the respective college at
the beginning of each semester. Faculty are authorized to provide only the
accommodations requested by the Disabilities Support Services Office.”
Repeating Courses Three Times or More
Students who enroll for most credit or CEU classes for s third time of more will be
charged an additional $50.00 per semester credit hour and $3.00 per contact hour.
EGLS3 -- Evaluation for Greater Learning Student Survey System
At Houston Community College, professors believe that thoughtful student feedback is
necessary to improve teaching and learning. During a designated time, you will be asked
to answer a short online survey of research-based questions related to instruction. The
anonymous results of the survey will be made available to your professors and division
chairs for continual improvement of instruction. Look for the survey as part of the
Houston Community College Student System online near the end of the term.
ESSAYS
All out of class work, including reading log entries, must be typed or computer
printed in 12 pt. type, double spaced with a title page. An essay package should
contain title page, final draft, rough draft, peer analysis, and anything else required by the
instructor for that specific essay (Source verifications (copies of outside sources)
required for research paper). Please staple title page, final draft, and rough draft
together. NO PLASTIC SLIPCOVERS PLEASE.
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CONNECT
All online. Using class URL, register in the first three weeks. Registration will be
open only through Sept. 5 . Instructions in class. Click on the butterfly icon for electronic
texts Composition Study Guide and McGraw-Hill Handbook. Two completion grades,
one for midterm, one on Nov. 27, will be averaged for your Connect grade, with the post
diagnostic test available Nov. 28-Dec.5. Failure to complete your Post diagnostic will
cost 20% on your Connect grade.
Connect includes the Learn Smart Achieve plan (LSA), the NWC Composition
Study Guide (CSP), and the McGraw-Hill Handbook.
READING RESPONSE LOG
During this semester, you will keep a log of directed responses to each assigned
which will make 20% of your course grade. Each entry should be at least a hundred
words long, but need not ever exceed 200. Revise these, add a title page and table of
contents for Monday Nov. 24 and staple together securely.
This assignment puts a premium on work habits and rewards completion. If you
finish all 35 entries, address each writing prompt, and turn the logs in on time and in
correct form, you will earn either an A or a B on this 20% of your final course grade.
PORTFOLIO
40% of the student’s grade will be based on a revised Portfolio of work which must include a
one expressive essay (essay #1), one analytic essay (essay #2), your revised midterm, and an
original self assessment (500 words) on your strengths and weaknesses as a writer and your
portfolio revisions. Turn in marked copies and all succeeding revisions. Once a marked paper
is returned to you, you may revise it, and I will read it again and comment as many times as
you wish. Put marked and revised essays in a pocket folder. Due Dec.1..
Left side
Right side
500 word Self assessment
(your strengths/weaknesses
Marked Narrative or Identity (#1)
Revised Narrative or Identity
Marked Critical Analysis (#2)
Revised Critical Analysis
Marked Midterm
Revised Midterm
Graded MLA Research Paper
(Teacher puts in folder)
Grading Scale
Portfolio
40%
Midterm and Final
20%
Response Logs
20%
PLP
20%
Essays
Learning narrative or Identity essay (#1)
750+ word
Analysis of an essay ( #2)
1000+ words
*Midterm/Final
750 words
Research Paper (#4)
1500-2000
Portfolio Defense
500+ words
*An average of “C” (70%) must be earned on the two in-class essays (midterm and final)
to receive a grade of “C” of better in the course. A “D” (60-69) on these essays will
mean a course grade of “D.” An “F” average (0-59) on these essays will mean an “f” in
the course, regardless of your other grades.
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Research
Student’s choice from four social/cultural topics highlighted by readings after
midterm: Critiques of the American Educational System; the Place of Reading in Life;
What Animals and the Natural WorldTell Us About Being Human; and How Personal
Choices Impact our World. You must use 2 sources from the book plus two outside
sources (one book and a professional article). Each of these four sources should be used
at least twice and documented correctly. Paper should be 1500-2000 words long (4 ½ to
six pages) with correct MLA format, including a Works Cited Page and Internal
Citations, and source verifications (copies of sources) Put all materials (Rough Draft,
peer analysis, Final Draft w/Works Cited, and source verification)s in a brown clasp
envelope with your name on the outside.
Learning Narrative or Identity Essay – Assignment # 1
Tell a story from your life with a clear outcome or lesson. Use both narration and
description, include a clearly described central incident highlighted by sensory detail.
Or discuss in an essay the factors or influences you think were most important in
forming your identity.
Critical Analysis –Assignment #2
Read. Think. Write (to think further). Analyze the writing and the essay for
how/why it works and what it accomplishes. This is separate from whether you like or
don’t like the essay, and separate from whether you think the essay is”good” or “bad”.
Do not retell the author’s content, or argue with them about their subject. Analyze the
writing, the way the essay fit together or works, and the effects the essay achieves or is
supposed to achieve.
Conventions (shared rules) of critical analysis include: Write in the third person
unless instructed otherwise; Include the author’s full name and the title of the essay you
are analyzing in the first paragraph of your essay. Thereafter, refer to the author by last
name only.
Your essay should have a thesis on the writing/essay examined, supported by
points you develop in discussion, and should offer evidence from the essay in quotes,
paraphrases, and through specific subject/content or summary references documented in
correct MLA form.
Authors make choices writing essays. Those choices include audience, purpose,
thesis (subject= author’s attitude toward the subject), genre and rhetorical approaches, the
author’s bias (attitude or point of view) and tone(diction, word choice, or overall
description), voice, and style.
Besides these basic choices, a student can analyze organization or structure, the
flow of words, sentences, and paragraphs, or the author’s message as developed from the
thesis in supporting points and their discussion/development, and the kind, use, and
credibility of evidence used by the author.
For this assignment, choose one of these authors:Hurston, Douglass, Welty,
Ephron, or Gladwell. You may pursue an analysis we developed in class, or you may
choose your critical focus to develop. Support your analytic points with quotes from the
essay as evidence.
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English 1301 – Composition 1 –Fall-- 2014 – Whitebird
Aug. 25,27
Zen Parables 1127, Intro.
Sept. 1,3
8,10
LABOR DAY.
Buzzell 97, Kristoff 272
Rough Draft #1 due.
Hurston 12, Staples 314
Douglass 346, Welty 350
Ephron 657
15,17
22,24
29,Oct 1
Oct. 6,8
13,15
20,22
27,29
Nov. 3,5
10,12
17,19
24,26
Dec. 1,3
8,10
Hughes 1059, Doyle 502
White 79, Wolfe 126
Alexie 358. Norton Reader Intro
FINAL DRAFT ASSIGN. #1 DUE.
Eighner 31. Norton Reader Intro.
Sanders 100
Gladwell 248
Rios 40, Cofer-Ortiz 116
Momaday 119
Rough Draft #2 due.
FINAL DRAFT ASSIGN. #2 DUE.
MIDTERM
MIDTERM
Holt 358, Kozol 367
Nabokov 973, Goodman 978
(American Education System)
(Reading in our Lives)
Abbey 496, McPhee 504,
McKibben 295, Wallace 635
Mathiessen 510
(Personal Decision, World Impact)
(Animals, Natural World, Humanity)
Annotated Bibliography due.
Rough Draft Research due.
Walker 55
Morrison 135
Gates 260
Williams 423
Lee 3, Strebeigh 276
MLK 818
MLK 818
HOLIDAY WED. PM
RESPONSE LOGS DUE.
THANKSGIVING
CONNECT COMPLETE.
FINAL
FINAl
PORTFOLIOS DUE.
5:30 PORTFOLIO CONFERENCE. 7:00 PORTFOLIO CONFERENCE.
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