Syllabus for ENGLISH 101: ENGLISH COMPOSITION
Section 000A- Meets Tuesday & Thursday from 8:00 - 9:15 am in Hoyt 104
Spring Semester 2015
Dr. Dan Holtz
Credit hours: 3 Prerequisites: None
Office: Fine Arts 206
Office Hours: Monday – 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 2:00 to 2:45 p.m.
Tuesday – 12:30 to 2:45 p.m.
Wednesday – 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 2:00 to 2:45 p.m.
Thursday – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Other times available by appointment.
Office Phone - 872-2267
e-mail: dholtz@peru.edu
Web page: http://www.hpcnet.org/peru/schoolartsandsciences/language/holtz
1. Course Description: This course is a study of the principles of clear and effective expression
as applied to the sentence, paragraph, and the whole composition. It includes a review of
grammar, mechanics, and correct usage, as well as training in organization and the writing of
short and long papers. This course, except for some exceptions is required for all freshmen.
(Note: Students who rank at the 85th percentile or higher on the English portion of the ACT may
be excused from English 101.)
The course supports the college’s mission of ensuring that its graduates can write effectively. It
also supports the English Department’s goals of fostering critical thinking and reading skills and
the clear expression of ideas.
2. Objectives: Upon completion of this course, you should be able to do the following:
To read more critically--that is, to recognize and evaluate the strategies (organization, logic, etc.)
and style (or lack of them) that underlie other people’s writing.
To write expository and/or narrative prose that is clear, concise, well-organized, thoughtful, and
grammatically and mechanically correct. This objective is illustrated by the listing that follows
below:

Write thesis statements that identify your purpose.

Use appropriate organizing principles to govern the overall structure of your essays and
of individual paragraphs.

Begin an essay with a paragraph that introduces the main idea and end the essay with a
paragraph that creates a sense of closure.

Provide adequate support for your contentions and opinions.

Use appropriate devices to achieve coherence throughout your essays, such as transitions
or repetition of key words.

Acknowledge borrowed ideas if external sources are used.

Write sentences using varied sentence structures.

Use mature, appropriate diction.

Edit irrelevant material from sentences, paragraphs, and essays.

Edit to avoid major errors in sentence structure: fragments, comma splices, run-ons, etc.

Recognize and correct grammatical errors in areas such as subject-verb agreement;
pronoun reference; illogical shifts in person, point of view, and tense; and mechanical
errors such as those with commas and apostrophes.
3. Instructional Approach: Guided practice in writing; writing conferences with the instructor;
peer-group writing sessions with other students; large-group discussion of writing techniques
and problems, as well as discussion of assigned readings; and whole-class sharing of your
writing.
4. Expectations and Requirements:
Writings: You will have five pieces to complete for publication. They may include (but do not
necessarily have to include) five papers from the following: a process explanation, a personal
narrative, an interview-based essay (personality feature), a literary analysis, a career exploration
paper, and a persuasive paper. These papers must be done on a computer using MicroSoft Word
and completed according to instructions I provide about format. All of these should be a
minimum of three full typed pages. They will primarily be graded on content, organization,
and style but also on grammar and mechanics. On some of these assignments, there may be an
opportunity or a temptation to use or borrow from someone else’s writing. However, do not give
in to this temptation; do your own writing.
I do dock late papers five percentage points for each day they are late.
Safe Assign:
In order to promote academic integrity, the college subscribes to an electronic service to review
papers for the appropriate citations and originality. Key elements of submitted papers are stored
electronically in a limited access database and thus become a permanent part of the material to
which future submissions are compared. Continued enrollment in a course signifies your
permission for this use of your written work. Should you not wish to agree to this procedure, you
may drop the course during the add/drop period before any works are completed and submitted.
Failure to submit your paper to Safe Assign will result in a 0% for your paper.
Attendance: Two or fewer absences earn at least 95 points in this semester-grade category;
three earn at least 90 points; four earn at least 80; five earn no more than 70 points; six earn no
more than 60; and more than six earn no more than 55 points in this semester-grade category.
Cell Phones: I do not want you to use your cell phones in class. So I encourage you not to bring
them, but if you do, turn them off before class starts.
Editing Sessions: For most of the five papers above, you will work in groups with other class
members to comment on their work and to have your work critiqued. These sessions will occur
during class time. If you happen to be absent from class during one of these sessions, you lose
the points that are credited to this part of the assignment, unless you have a legitimate reason
(that is, illness, a family/personal emergency, or attendance at another college-sponsored activity)
for being absent.
Tests: You will have two tests, one over the novel we are reading (Plainsong) and a final test.
The test over the novel will largely contain objective questions (i.e., true or false, multiple choice,
matching, etc.) that will test your recall and understanding of the story in this book. The final test
will include a timed essay written during the exam period and a multiple-choice test concerning
your understanding of grammatical and mechanical skills. The final will be held during the 8:00
to 9:15 p.m. exam period on Tuesday, May 5.
Practice with Grammatical & Mechanical Skills: As the paragraph about tests notes, the final
test will include an important section on grammatical and mechanical skills. I will give you
opportunities to identify your deficiencies in these areas and to improve your proficiency with
these. However, you will need to take the primary initiative in improving in areas in which you
are deficient, by working independently on supplemental materials I will make available.
Quizzes: You will have approximately five quizzes during the semester that cover either various
aspects of sentence structure, grammar, and mechanics, such as comma usage, dangling
modifiers, and parallel structure or that test your knowledge of information gained from
Plainsong. The dates for these quizzes will be indicated on the schedule.
5. Schedule: I will give a succeeding multi-week schedule during the week before mid-term
break. I reserve the right to make changes in the schedule, but I will notify you in
writing in advance of any such changes.
Tentative Schedule: Weeks 1 through 8
Date
Assignment
Jan. 13
None
Jan. 15
Read “Process Analysis,” pp.
201-03 and “Writing Process
Analysis Essays,” pp. 206-211
from The Prose Reader.
Turn in Topic for First Paper
and Read “Getting Out of
Debt,” pp. 249-55 from The
Prose Reader
Draft of first paper due by
beginning of class.
Jan. 20
Jan. 22
Activity
Discuss Syllabus; Do in-class
writing
Take Grammar & Mechanics
Pre-Test; Listen to presentation
on writing Process Explanation
Write in-class essay and work
on writing first essay in class
Discussion and in-class
practice with sentence editing.
You will also work in small
groups to critique drafts of
each other’s papers.
Jan. 27
Revise draft of first essay using
suggestions from Dr. Holtz and
your peer group. Read Chpt.
1—“Clarity,” pp. 2 - 5—from
A Pocket Style Manual
**Sentence Editing Exercise
due.
First Paper Due
Read “Narration: Telling a
Story,” pp. 110-112 and
“Writing Narrative Essays,”
pp. 115-121 from The Prose
Reader
Do sentence editing work on
first essay draft in class.
Read pp. 3 - 38 of Haruf’s
Plainsong – Statement of
Topic for Second Essay Due.
Watch video of Plainsong
Feb. 5
Read pp. 39 - 85 of Haruf’s
Plainsong
Feb. 10
Read pp. 86 – 130 of Haruf’s
Plainsong – First Draft of
Second Essay Due
Presentation on pre-writing for
Personal Narrative Papers –
Discussion of these chapters of
Plainsong and viewing of
video of selected scenes from
the book
Quiz on these pages from
Plainsong.
No Class – Individual
conferences in Dr. Holtz’s
office (Fine Arts 206)
Feb. 12
Read pp. 131 - 171 of Haruf’s
Plainsong
No Class – Individual
conferences in Dr. Holtz’s
office (Fine Arts 206)
Feb. 17
Read pp. 172 - 216 of Haruf’s
Plainsong
Discussion of these chapters of
Plainsong and viewing of video
of selected scenes from the
book
Feb. 19
Read pp. 217 - 262 of Haruf’s
Plainsong
Discussion of these chapters of
Plainsong, viewing of video of
selected scenes from the book.
Jan. 29
Feb. 3
In-class writing on making
writing specific and concrete.
Introduction to All-Write
program.
Listen to presentation on
writing Personal Narrative
Second Essay Due
Feb. 24
Read pp. 263 - 301 of Haruf’s
Plainsong
Wrap-up discussion and
viewing of videos on Plainsong
and review for Plainsong test.
**Comma Quiz
Feb. 26
Plainsong Test
March 3
Read pp. 158 – 168, “Example:
Illustrating Ideas,” from chpt. 6
in Prose Reader
March 5
Read “Mother Tongue,” pp. 297 –
302 in Prose Reader
Discuss Expository
Writing and introduce
Sentence Combining
6. Required Textbooks:
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
A Pocket Style Manual, 6th edition, by Hacker and Sommers
The Prose Reader, 9th edition, by Kim and Michael Flachman
7. Grades: You can earn a maximum of 1,000 points for this course. Semester grades will be
based upon the following criteria:
The composite score of the five papers under Writings in #4 counts 500 points: 100 points for
each of your papers.
Attendance counts 100 points.
The composite score you earn on the quizzes accounts for 50 points.
The final test counts 250 points: 100 points for the essay and 150 points for the objective
grammar and mechanics exam.
The test over Plainsong counts 100 points.
I will simply compile all the points you earned to arrive at your grade. The grading scale for this
course is the following: 900 points and Above=A; 850 to 899 points=B+; 800 to 849
points=B; 750 to 799 points=C+; 700 to 749 points=C; 650 to 699 points=D+; 600 to 649
points=D; Below 600 points=F
8. Changes: I reserve the right to modify any aspect of the course syllabus or content. Any
modifications will be communicated to you in advance.
Other Pertinent Policies
College’s Incomplete Coursework Policy
To designate a student’s work in a course as incomplete at the end of a term, the instructor
records the incomplete grade (I). Students may receive this grade only when serious illness,
hardship, death in the immediate family, or military service during the semester in which they are
registered prevents them from completing course requirements. In addition, to receive an
incomplete, a student must have completed substantially all of the course’s major requirements.
Unless extenuating circumstances dictate otherwise, students must initiate requests for an
incomplete by filling out an Incomplete Grade Completion Contract, which requires the signature
of the student, instructor, and Dean. The Incomplete Grade Completion contract cites the
reason(s) for the incomplete and details the specific obligations the student must meet to change
the incomplete to a letter grade. The date by which the student agrees to complete required work
must appear in the contract. The Dean, the instructor, and the student receive signed copies of the
Incomplete Grade Completion Contract.
Even if the student does not attend Peru State College, all incomplete course work must be
finished by the end of the subsequent semester. Unless the appropriate Dean approves an
extension and if the student does not fulfill contract obligations in the allotted time, the
incomplete grade automatically becomes an F.
College’s Academic Integrity Policy
The College expects all students to conduct themselves in a manner that supports an
honest assessment of student learning outcomes and the assignment of grades that
appropriately reflect student performance. It is ultimately the student’s responsibility
to understand and comply with instructions regarding the completion of assignments,
exams, and other academic activities. At a minimum, students should assume that at
each assessment opportunity they are expected to do their own original academic
work and/or clearly acknowledge in an appropriate fashion the intellectual work of
others, when such contributions are allowed. Students helping others to circumvent
honest assessments of learning outcomes, or who fail to report instances of academic
dishonesty, are also subject to the sanctions defined in this policy.
Instances of academic dishonesty may be discovered in a variety of ways. Faculty
members who assign written work ordinarily check citations for accuracy, run data base
and online checks, and/or may simply recognize familiar passages that are not cited.
They may observe students in the act of cheating or may become aware of instances of
cheating from the statements of others. All persons who observe or otherwise know
about instances of cheating are expected to report such instances to the proper
instructor or Dean.
In order to promote academic integrity, the College subscribes to an electronic service
to review papers for the appropriate citations and originality. Key elements of
submitted papers are stored electronically in a limited access database and thus become
a permanent part of the material to which future submissions are compared.
Submission of an application and continued enrollment signifies your permission for
this use of your written work.
Should an occurrence of academic misconduct occur, the faculty member may assign a
failing grade for the assignment or a failing grade for the course. Each incident of
academic misconduct should be reported to the Dean and the Vice President for
Academic Affairs (VPAA). The VPAA may suspend for two semesters students found to
be responsible for multiple instances of academic dishonesty. The reason for the
suspension will be noted on the student’s transcript.
A faculty member need present only basic evidence of academic dishonesty. There is no
requirement for proof of intent. Students are responsible for understanding these tenets
of academic honesty and integrity. Students may appeal penalties for academic
dishonesty using the process established for grades appeals.
Title IX Compliance Notice
Peru State College is an equal opportunity institution. PSC does not discriminate against
any student, employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex,
disability, religion, or age in employment and education opportunities, including but not
limited to admission decisions. The College has designated an individual to coordinate
the College’s nondiscrimination efforts to comply with regulations implementing Title
VI, VII, IX, and Section 504. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies and
practices may be directed to Eulanda Cade, Director of Human Resources, Title VI, VII,
IX Compliance Coordinator, Peru State College, PO Box 10, Peru, NE 68421-0010,
(402) 872-2230.
Students requesting reasonable accommodation and tutoring services should contact the
Center for Achievement and Transition Services (CATS).