ENGL 102 - ENGLISH
COMPOSITION
II
HEARTLAND
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
COURSE SYLLABUS
SUMMER, 1999
COURSE NUMBER/TITLE/CREDITS:
ENGL 102-English Composition II-3 Credit Hours
Section: 52
Meeting Time and Place:
HCC 115E TR 6.00-8:50 PM
Instructor: Angella Blankenship
Telephone Number:438-7988
Office Hours: by appointment
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
A continuation of ENGL 101, providing further practice in the skills developed in that course but
with an emphasis on the rhetorical strategies used in informative writing, including logical
analysis, critical thinking, the interpretation and evaluation of primary and secondary sources,
and the conventions of academic discourse. A substantial research paper is required.
TEXTBOOK: Course guide for English Composition 102
Wayne, Booth, et al. The Craft of Research. Chicago: U of Chicago P., 1995.
Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
PREREQUISITE FOR THE COURSE:
A successful completion of ENGL 101 (grade of "C" or higher)
STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE:
The course will be divided into two major parts: during approximately 6 weeks of the course you
will be working on generating ideas for the major papers, working on exercises that will lead you
to writing major papers, you will be conducting research, and you will be writing, writing, and
writing; presentations and group discussions will be also a major part of this section of the
course. During the last two weeks of the course you will be working on your final portfolio-selecting papers that best represent your writing, doing final revisions, polishing, editing,
formatting, designing, etc. No new papers will be written during this part of the course.
Student Learning Outcomes for 102:
After completing this course you should be able to
1.
recognize that members of specific discourse communities (e.g., academic disciplines)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
communicate with one another about discipline-specific topics in specific ways
recognize and understand that though disciplines share some common characteristics,
they are also different from each other
understand that the differences between disciplines denote differences in assumptions
such disciplines make about our world and how language is used to construct different
versions of reality
recognize and understand the relationship between public writing for non-specialist and
writing that is meant for insiders
analyze the conventions of texts from different communities as they relate to voice,
audience, organizational structure, what counts as evidence, how sources are used, etc.
produce writing that models the conventions in writing for specific academic discourse
communities
develop and polish writing skills and strategies that are generally valued in academic
settings (e.g., critical reading and thinking, persuasive and analytic strategies, using
sources to develop arguments, rhetorical skills, research skills)
recognize and understand that "good writing" is always contextually defined
recognize and understand various research methods, for example primary and secondary
research
CONTENT OUTLINE:
All of your major papers will be research-based, so be ready to spend a significant amount of
time in the library, conducting field research, and searching the Internet. Only Internet research
will be unacceptable. You will be using the textbook mostly for helping you with ideas, research
strategies, and for more specific guidelines and information on your own field of interest. You
will be writing exercises that will lead you to the major papers. All of your major papers will
receive a communal grading from your peers and from me. This communal grading will be done
not for the sake of the grade but mostly for the sake of helping you see what areas of
improvement you could focus on in your revisions. You will accomplish 4 substantially revised
projects during the course, one of which will be a 15-page research paper (15-page length
requirement is non-negotiable, so please do not ask if 13.5 pages can be accepted). You will also
write several minor assignments that will reflect your interaction with me, my comments, and
that will reflect in general the process that you are currently going through in fulfilling your
major projects. Peer-response is a major part of the course and learning in general: through
interaction with your peers you will be introduced to the writing conventions of different
disciplines, not just your own, and you will se how writing functions in different contexts and is
shaped by different rhetorical situations.
Grading for the Course:
The writing portfolio that is turned in at the end of the semester will be a significant factor in
determining your semester grade as it will constitute 60% of your final grade. This portfolio will
contain both the final drafts of major writing assignments selected from among all the writings
completed this semester as well as earlier drafts of these samples. If some papers do not have the
earlier drafts, it will significantly affect you portfolio grade, and you writing practices grade,
since your readers will see that some papers were not turned in on time. The grade on the
individual papers will constitute 20% (your writing practices) of the final grade, and the other
20% will cover your participation. Per-response activities and participation in class discussions
will constitute this portion of the grade. Your participation grade will be highly affected by your
attendance. If you miss more that one week of classes, your participation grade cannot be higher
than D. If you miss two weeks of classes or more without any documentation for excuse, you
may fail the course.
Portfolio
Writing practices
Participation
60%
20%
20% (you will get up to 25 points for each peer-response exercise)
REQUIRED WRITING:
ENGL 102 requires four major writing assignments 3 of which should be between 5 to 7 pages.
A research paper should be 15 pages, not including Bibliography pages. There will be also
several minor writing assignments (exercises).At the end of semester you will write one more
paper, which will be your critical introduction to your final portfolio. Thus, altogether, your
portfolio will present 5 major papers.
POLICY ON SUBMITTING PAPERS:
All papers are due at the assigned time. With each paper turned in not on time, your writing
practices portion of the grade will go down two percent.
POLICIES ON ATTENDANCE:
Because this course emphasizes classroom discussion and workshop activities, ENGL 102 has a
strict attendance policy. You are expected to attend all classes and to participate meaningfully in
the activity or each class. You will be allowed only two class hours excused/unexcused absences
without penalty.
Excused absences are granted in cases of extreme and documented circumstances, and students
must make up any work missed because of these absences within one week. It is the student's
responsibility to contact the instructor on or before the absence to arrange to make up the missed
work if the excuse is approved. PLEASE NOTE THAT MORE THAN TWO ABSENCES
will affect your class participation grade. If you miss more than one week of classes, your
participation portion of the grade cannot be higher than D. If you miss two weeks of classes or
more without any documentation for excuse, you may fail the course.
If you suddenly stop showing up for classes,(meaning I haven’t heard from you in let’s say
two weeks) without any documented excuse, please do not bother to turn in your portfolio-it will not be accepted.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:
Academic dishonesty includes any act which violates the rights of other students with respect to
academic work, or that involves misrepresentation of a student's own work. The most common
forms of academic dishonesty are cheating on exams and plagiarism.
Plagiarism includes both presenting within one's own work the ideas, representations, or words
of another person without customary and proper acknowledgment of that person's authorship, as
well as submitting an assignment purporting to be the student's original work, which has been
wholly or partly created by another person. Chapter 17 of the Blair Handbook describes the
correct ways to document one's reliance on another author and explains how to avoid even
unconscious plagiarism. Students who are unsure when documentation is necessary should
consult this chapter. Copies of the Blair Handbook are available at the Heartland library.
Plagiarism in a paper, like cheating on a quiz or exam, will at the least be considered cause for
irremediable failure of that assignment. In most cases it will also result in failure of the course
and may also lead to other penalties such as suspension or expulsion from the College. Real or
pretended ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism does not excuse the student from the
penalties of such conduct.
REQUIRED MANUSCRIPT AND DOCUMENTATION STYLE:
All papers must be typed using word processing software.
If the program you are using at home is not compatible with the programs available on our
computers in class, then you might have a significant problem with participation in class.
Students may use either the MLA or the APA style of documentation. Both of these styles are
covered thoroughly in your textbook. Further, ASC has handouts to help master these style
manuals.
I strongly recommend that you use programs that are available at HCC. At the end of semester
you will have to submit an electronic version of your portfolio; and if the program you are using
is not transferable, I will not be able to help you. But most importantly, if you work at home
using a program that we do not have in our computer labs, you will not be able to write in class,
which will heavily affect both your writing practices and participation portions of the grade.
LIBRARY POLICIES:
Students may use Milner Library at Illinois State University.
The Library Services area in the Academic Support Center (ASC) provides Heartland students
with an assortment of on-campus resources which are permanently on reserve: reference
materials and periodicals on CD-ROM, HCC textbooks, audio-visual materials and equipment,
and assigned supplemental readings. Heartland students also have access to Milner Library's online catalog from computer terminals located in the ASC. For more information, call the ASC at
827-0500, ext. 429.
LEARNING ASSISTANCE POLICIES:
The Academic Support Center (ASC) offers learning assistance in various forms at no cost to
Heartland students. Trained, qualified tutors are available on a scheduled or a drop-in basis at
convenient times throughout the week. Help is also provided through the ASC's instructional
materials, study skills seminars, open computing, and Library Services. For more information,
please call the Academic Support Center at 827-0500, ext. 429.
Tentative Calendar and a Brief Description of Major Assignments:
Week 1: Paper 1. Rhetorical Strategy: Analysis of your discourse conventions. Selecting a topic
and exploring how this topic is being represented in different forums. Analyzing conventions of
these forums.
Week 2: Paper 2. Rhetorical Strategy: Choosing and Appropriate Discourse Community.
Analysis of your audience. You have to keep in mind that you are writing for real readers; you
will need to know what your readers already know about your subject, what they want to know,
and what you would like to tell them. Interviews or surveys will be required.
Weeks 3 and 4: Paper 3. Rhetorical Strategy: Developing your own voice in the current
discussion. Reflective Exploring. Evaluating the current discussion in your field. This paper
should lead you to your major research project—you will identify a gap in the current research in
your field, question/evaluate the knowledge that already exists on your topic, and, most
importantly, argue for your own position.
Weeks 5 and 6: Paper 4—Research paper. You will have to choose an appropriate forum for your
project, an appropriate form that is suitable for this forum, and an appropriate audience. Your
Course Guide should help you significantly with choosing and evaluating your sources, with
developing your own voice and shaping your paper. Purely informative papers will not be
accepted—you have to participate in the current debate, question it, try to find new ideas,
develop them and support. You will use sources for supporting or illustrating your own ideas, for
juxtaposition of different ideas, for exploration, for discovering new grounds for you and your
readers. If your paper is purely informative, I will be grading the sources and not your own
abilities. Appropriate documentation style is a requirement.
Weeks 7 and 8: Revising, editing, shaping your portfolio. Writing your Critical Introduction