ENGLISH 101
Composition I
Fall 2012
Credits: 5
Instructor: Virginia McConnell
Texts:
Models for Writers: Short Essays for Composition by Rosa & Eschholz
(10th ed., 2010); ISBN: 0-312-53113-3
Writing Skills Handbook, 5th ed., by Bazerman and Wiener
(or any good handbook); ISBN: 0-618-22603-6
A flash drive to store your essays for revision. Even if you will
be using your own laptop in this class, it is a good idea to back up your work
on a flash drive and not rely on only your hard drive for storage. Many a
student has found this out to his/her sorrow! And if you will be using a
loaner laptop from the library, you absolutely MUST use a flash drive, as
you cannot save anything to those hard drives.
Recommended: a good thesaurus and a dictionary
OBJECTIVES: To help students improve their writing accuracy by stressing
tightness of construction, language fluency, and style, and
through an examination of published writings.
To prepare students for college-related written assignments
and exams through the production of unified, coherent essays.
METHODS:
TECHNIQUES:
Recognition, placement, and use of TOPIC SENTENCES.
Development of well-structured PARAGRAPHS.
Coherent use of INTRODUCTION, BODY, AND CONCLUSION.
Choosing topics and phrasing appropriate THESIS STATEMENTS.
Experimenting with various styles and appropriate language.
Learning the important MODES OF DEVELOPMENT.
PRACTICE in writing.
Reading and writing a variety of essays.
In-class lectures and discussions of sample readings.
Individual conferences on occasion.
GRADING:
1 test at 100 points
4 minor essays at 50 points each
3 major essays at 100 points each
Occasional in-class quizzes or writings with variable points
Campus-wide competency essay for 25% of grade
Grading scale:
95-100 = A
90-94 = A87-89 = B+
84-86 = B
80-83 = B77-79 = C+
74-76 = C
65-73 = D+
60-64 = D
Below 60 = F
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} refers to the percentage
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available
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PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO C- GRADE. YOU MUST RECEIVE A “C” OR
BETTER TO PROCEED TO ENGLISH 102.
Writing competence will affect all your other classes, as
well as your future career. Today’s business leaders decry
the lack of basic skills in their employees, and Walla Walla
Community College’s English Department firmly believes in
its mission to produce graduates who are competent writers.
It is our intention to help you succeed by helping you to improve your skills.
You are strongly encouraged to revise any
essays that call for improvement. However, the highest
grade you will receive on any essay is one full grade above
that given on your rough draft. You will readily see, then,
that the only way to achieve the coveted “A” grade will be to
score no lower than a B- on the first draft. Although this may
not be possible for many of you at the beginning of the term,
it should be a reality by the end if you are steadily improving
your skills.
You will be limited to two (2) total drafts: one first draft and
one revision after I have edited it. Your revision (2d draft)
deadline will be any time before the end of the quarter.
ATTENDANCE: Attendance is very important. Participation in discussion of
sample essays and understanding writing techniques are important if you are to succeed. After five (5) absences, you
will lose five (5) points per class missed. If you show up
later than 15 minutes at the start of class, or leave 20 minutes
before the end of it, you will be considered absent for that
day.
Five late arrivals under the 15-minute mark will equal one
(1) absence.
BATTLE BUDDIES: You will be required to select a "battle buddy" from this class to
keep you informed in the event you must miss classes. I will ask for
the name of your battle buddy at the end of the first week, for which
you will receive 5 points. See handout regarding duties of the
battle buddy.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS: Points will be deducted for late assignments at the rate
of ten percent of the point value per day. Short essays due on
lab days must be e-mailed to me NLT 10:35 a.m. Longer essays
must be e-mailed to me by midnight on the date due
(NLT 11:59:59 p.m.).
STANDARDS:
All assignments are to be typed on a word processor,
double-spaced, and with a one-inch margin all
around. This margin conforms to MLA and APA standards
(which you will learn in English 102) and allows me room to
put editing comments. Save your work to a file and e-mail
it to me (do not write it in e-mail format, but attach it as a
file) at this address: vmcconnell.eng101@gmail.com
I will edit your essay files and e-mail them back to you.
If you are using Word 2007, you MUST de-select the extra space
that, for reasons best known to themselves, Microsoft insists on
putting between each paragraph.
LAB SESSIONS: Class will be a computer lab on Fridays, during
which you will be working EITHER on an essay due at the
end of the class (for the short essays) OR on a revision of an
essay that has been handed back to you OR on an essay in
progress for a future date (for the long essays). If you do
not work on English 101 assignments during scheduled lab
time, you will be marked absent for that day.
If you have access to a laptop computer, you should
bring that to class on Friday lab days. Those without such
access will be issued a library loaner for the class period.
ON LAB DAYS, YOU MUST BE IN EITHER ROOM 148 OR
THE DESIGNATED LAB (in the event that there are more students
than laptops available). You are not free to write your essay
from another on-campus location and will be considered absent
if you do so. Your essay will not be accepted and you will have
to make it up on another lab day.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: See Student Handbook. This will not be
tolerated and I will address this issue before your first outof-lab essay.
CHILDREN IN THE CLASSROOM: Please arrange for childcare before
coming to class. We are not allowed to have them in the
classroom, per order of the WWCC President.
CELL PHONES AND PAGERS: TURN THEM OFF IN THE CLASSROOM!!
Also, cell phones may NOT be used in the classroom or the
computer lab, whether or not class is in session. This includes
text messaging as well. Anyone whose cell phone goes off
during class or lab, or who is using his/her cell phone in any
way, will be penalized five (5) points per offense. This
restriction also applies to BlackBerry or other similar devices.
Except for lab days when students may be using laptop computers,
there will be no computer usage in the classroom.
OFFICE HOURS: Mon. – Fri., 11:30-12:30 a.m.
Office phone: (509) 758-1709
School fax: (509) 758-1725
E-mail:
vmcconnell.eng101@gmail.com (for essays)
cubfan826@moscow.com (for communication)
virginia.mcconnell@wwcc.edu (for emergencies only, when
you cannot access the other two accounts)
Addendum to Syllabus Regarding Missed Laboratory Sessions
1. If you miss a Friday lab when a short essay is due at the end of that session, you
will have to wait until the next available lab session for which an essay is NOT due at the
end of the class. You will complete your missed lab assignment at that time. See your
daily schedule for lab sessions in which no essay is due at the end.
2. No more than ONE essay may be made up from missed lab sessions. If you
miss more than one lab session when short essays are due, you will waive the points for
those essays.