English Composition II -English 102
COURSE HANDBOOK
Handbook for a Computer-Assisted Course
in
English Composition, Part II
by
Elizabeth Gardiner, Timothy Kelley, Michael Patrick McClung,
Debbie Benson, Ginger Long, Marcia Nesbitt,
Carol Thornton, and Linda Vaughn
Copyright 2002, Northwest-Shoals Community College
Copyright © 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1988
by
Northwest Alabama State Junior College
Phil Campbell and Tuscumbia, Alabama
Copyright © 1991
by
Northwest Alabama Community College
Phil Campbell and Hamilton, Alabama
Portions of this handbook were originally prepared as parts of two different courses--English
103 and English 104, Freshman Composition I and II--in 1984. Revision has been virtually constant
since that time, with contributions by colleagues Stewart Phillips, James Bulman, Ruth Palmer,
Charles Smith, Howard Hamrick, Dorothy Phillips, Charles R. Simmons, and Pauline Wheeler in
addition to the faculty preparing the present handbook. Assistance from funds provided by the U. S.
Department of Education (Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended) has enabled
Northwest Alabama State Junior College and Northwest Alabama Community College faculty to
develop, modify and improve this course.
CONTENTS
The Purpose of English 102--English Composition II
What Competences and Proficiencies Will You Achieve in English 102?
Books Required for English 102
Also Recommended for English 102
Your Responsibilities as a Student in English 102
Class Attendance
Classroom Environment
Completing Assignments
Academic Honesty
Rewriting
Evaluation and Grading in English 102
Note Concerning Course Grades
Characteristics of an "A" Essay
Characteristics of a "B" Essay
Characteristics of a "C" Essay
Comments about Essay Grading
Relationship of English 102 to Goals of Educational
Programs at Northwest-Shoals Community College
1.
2.
3.
4.
Graduates should be able to use communication skills
Graduates should be able to clarify values
Graduates should be able to use problem solving
processes in making decisions
Graduates should be able to recognize the effects
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
and uses of science and technology
Graduates should be able to be contributing members
of the community and the broader society in which they live
Graduates should be able to adapt to societal
as well as occupational/technical changes
Graduates should be able to analyze various
social systems in order to function in them or
relate to them
Graduates should be aware of the interrelationships
among the humanities, the fine arts, and life
Graduates should demonstrate competency in the skills
needed for entry level employment in their chosen field
Unit 1:
Understanding and Writing about Fiction
Unit 2:
Understanding and Writing about Poetry
Unit 3:
Understanding and Writing about Drama
Unit 4:
Introduction to a Limited Research Project
The Purpose of English 102-English Composition II
English 102 is a course to help you continue learning to write effective
expository essays. Before you enroll in English 102, you should already have
demonstrated your competence as a writer who can complete the kind of writing
most often required of college students and professional men and women:
writing to make a point or to convey information in support of an idea. Along with
most of your classmates, you have probably demonstrated this competence as a
student in English 101, English 093, or both, at Northwest-Shoals Community
College. In English 101, you also began to make applications of basic expository
writing skills to specialized writing situations. It is this kind of writing, especially
in the form of the critical essay, that you will develop to high levels of competence
as a student in English 102.
Because English 102 includes extensive reading assignments in poetry,
fiction, and drama, some students think inaccurately of it as a course in
literature. English 102, like English 101, is a course in writing. It does,
however, represent a new stage in the development of your communications skills
--a stage where the subject of each essay is provided, a stage where the writer can
depend far less than in English 101 on familiar, often personal, experiences of a
lifetime. Instead, in English 102 you will write as a lone swimmer in a new pool
of information recently acquired through reading and thinking.
There are good reasons for this change toward a type of writing
concentrating on recent objects and experiences. Whatever program of study
you are pursuing at Northwest-Shoals Community College, you may have begun
your communications courses with English 093, Reading 083, or other courses
numbered beginning with 0; then you moved on to English 101. In those courses
were a mixture of students with all types of career goals--the aspiring surgeon,
the would-be mathematics teacher, the accountants and engineers and musicians
and judges of the twenty-first century--along with students planning to become
auto body repair specialists, aircraft mechanics, cosmetologists or electronics
technicians. Between English 101 and English 102, the programs of our college
take parting directions. In one direction, the technical programs begin to
concentrate on specialized courses "in the field" for students who hope to be
working in their chosen career fields within a year or two. Other programs,
leading more in the direction of the kinds of work often called "professions,"
continue with a broader range of general education courses and with activities to
improve the ability to think, to arrive at valid conclusions and to communicate on
the basis of newly acquired, varying, and expanding information.
Your enrollment in English 102 indicates that you probably aspire to a
career as a professional, or in a career position that will require you to interact
with college-educated people, and daily to acquire, assimilate and apply
knowledge from reading, analysis, and discussion. English 102 will prepare you
not only for success in literature courses at the sophomore level and beyond, but
for success in other courses that require you to gain familiarity with a new body
of knowledge, to become conversant about it (using terminology generally
accepted for discussion of that body of knowledge), and to express your
conclusions clearly and effectively. English 102, Speech 107 or Speech 226, and
one or more courses in literature are intended together to develop your English
language knowledge and skills to levels normally achieved by sophomores in a
four-year college or university.
Like English 101, English 102 is a competence-based course. This means
that the faculty of this college have defined the levels of knowledge and skills (the
behaviors or abilities) needed for successful entry into the next courses--Speech
106, one or more courses in literature at the sophomore level, and sophomore
level courses in the various academic divisions of the college--in your program of
study. When your instructor assigns you a passing grade in English 102, this is
the instructor's certification that you have achieved the defined competences for
this course. You should carefully read the statements of competences for English
102, and make it your goal at the beginning of the course to achieve the highest
possible level for each required competence.
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Being enrolled in a competence-based course can be a great advantage for
you. Since you know in advance what you are expected to learn, you can
frequently compare your own writing behaviors and your understanding of
course materials to the expected behaviors or "competences." By comparing your
skills and understandings at any time to the levels you are expected to achieve,
you will have a guide for improvement, and a measuring stick for gauging your
progress.
English 102 students at Northwest-Shoals Community College all write
their research paper in the writing lab. The use of computer writing laboratories
in English 102 should contribute greatly to your success in this course--the first
course at NW-SCC where all students complete a research paper. Your
experience in completing the research paper and other English 102 assignments
with computer assistance will prepare you for success in the numerous writing
and research assignments awaiting you as a college and university student and
later in your profession.
What Competences and Proficiencies Will You
Achieve in English 102?
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to write
impromptu expository essays that satisfactorily analyze, interpret, and evaluate
plays, poems, and stories. To be accept-able in English 102, an essay must (1)
demonstrate that the writer has read and understood assigned plays, poems and
stories, (2) demonstrate the writer's mastery of the most common terms used in
literary criticism, and (3) demonstrate the writer's ability to frame, develop, and
express significant ideas in interesting ways. To be acceptable in English 102,
each essay should also contain all the features demonstrated in your best essays
in English 101: (1) an introductory paragraph with a precise, clear thesis or
main point; (2) two or more (usually at least three) fully developed body
paragraphs in support of that thesis; and (3) a satisfactory conclusion. In
English 102, you will show that you can use the computer with increasing
effectiveness to help you become more competent, more versatile, and more
sophisticated in thinking and writing. Finally, you will show that you can apply
your basic under-standings and skills to the development of a standard,
documented college-level research paper exploring a literary topic or other topic
that the instructor judges to be appropriate.
Each of your essays in English 102 should continue to demonstrate, and
should serve as an exercise to develop your increasing command and control of,
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the following writing skills (these will be familiar to you from the requirements
of English 101):
1.
Skills in following prewriting procedures to conceive ideas about poems,
plays, and stories for the purpose of writing about each of these types of
literature.
2.
Skills in selecting and stating ideas so that one main idea emerges as a
well-formulated thesis or controlling idea for each essay.
3.
Skills in selecting and producing adequate specific evidence_ supporting
ideas, examples (usually drawn directly from stories, plays, or poems
which are the subjects of your essays) and explanations_in support of a
thesis.
4.
Skills in selecting and arranging ideas and supporting evidence in logical,
coherent patterns. These skills will be evident in the essay as a whole, as
well as in each paragraph.
5.
Skills in writing clear standard English sentences with conventional
sentence structures, verb forms, punctuation, capitalization, possessives,
plural forms, and other mechanics.
6.
Skills in choosing exact, appropriate words to express your meanings, and
in spelling those words correctly.
7.
Skills in beginning and ending your essays with effective introductory and
concluding paragraphs.
8.
Skills in selecting an appropriate method of essay development:
 by example,
 by comparison and contrast,
 by definition,
 by division and/or classification, or
 by process analysis.
9. All the above skills will be demonstrated in at least the following number of
essays:
•
•
•
•
one essay about poetry
one essay about fiction
one essay about drama
at least one additional essay about poetry, fiction, and/or drama
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• a documented research paper about poetry, fiction, and/or drama
• a final examination essay about poetry, fiction, and/or drama
10.
Skills in improving your own essays by proofreading, referring to
appropriate handbook sections, restructuring, correcting errors, and
rewriting using the MicroSoft Word program.
11.
Skills in reading assigned poems, plays, and stories effectively and
critically.
12.
Skills in researching an assigned literary topic, making good use of tools
and materials in the library.
These skills are stated separately, and many of them can be recognized as
skills you demonstrated, perhaps at less sophisticated levels, and perhaps only by
struggling self-consciously, in English 101.
Remember, however, that
competence as a writer involves more than accumulating a "list" of necessary
skills, or of developing new levels of performance barely higher than those of a
previous course or a previous year. When all the elements of writing competence
increase together, they often can and do combine in startling, explosive, and
exciting ways.
Books Required in English 102
• Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, by Arp & Johnson, 8th
edition
• Harcourt Guide to MLA Documentation by L. S. Schwartz
Also Recommended for English 102
• Webster's Tenth New Collegiate Dictionary or an equivalent college level
dictionary
Your Responsibilities as a Student
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in English 102
In English 102 you will be responsible for attending classes and writing
labs, for paying attention and participating in class and writing labs, and for
completing all assignments on time. You are expected to do your own work and
to maintain strict honesty.
Class Attendance
You should attend all classes as scheduled. Inform your instructor if you
cannot meet any class as scheduled, and determine whether it will be possible to
schedule a make-up class. Every minute of every class and every writing
laboratory is important. Be in the classroom ready to begin when each class
starts. Excessive absence, as determined by your instructor, will cause a student
to fail the course, regardless of the grades the student has earned. Tardiness, as
well, will certainly lower your grade.
Classroom Environment
Take pride in keeping the classroom and writing lab clean and orderly
places. Food, drinks and tobacco are prohibited in classrooms and computer
labs at Northwest-Shoals Community College.
Completing Assignments
Your instructor will provide you a schedule of assignments or course
syllabus. If you lose your copy, request a replacement copy from your instructor.
If the course syllabus is also accessible through the college’s web site, your
instructor will inform you. This schedule will tell you which assignments you are
to complete and when you should complete them. Much of your laboratory time
will be spent in actual writing, in completing computer-assisted instruction, and
in revising and rewriting. You will usually also have assignments to complete
between classes and laboratories. Expect to devote about ten hours per week to
reading and to completing assigned exercises outside the classroom and
laboratory. Remember that discussions and activities in the classroom and the
laboratory will assume that you have already completed all assignments outside
class. Unless you complete assignments on time, you cannot possibly get full
benefit from this course.
In registering for this course, you made a commitment to yourself, your
classmates, and your instructor.
Unless you complete all coursework
conscientiously, you are not really "taking" the course; you are only following
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along behind classmates who are taking the course.
This point cannot be made too strongly: as a student in English 102, you
are responsible for completing 100% of the course assignments, and for
completing them on time. This includes mastering the literary terms used to
write critical essays. You should make it a point to arrive at a reasonably good
understanding of each term based on your study of the textbook, then to clarify
and extend your understanding by listening to your instructor's explanations and
by participating in classroom discussions. Many instructors use the literary
terms in your textbook’s glossary for a final exam.
Academic Honesty
Students in English 102 are expected to be completely honest. There are
both fair and unfair ways to receive assistance from others. While you should
want to learn from others, there is a difference between receiving assistance from
someone else and submitting the work of another person as your own work. You
should become familiar with what constitutes academic dishonesty and
understand the consequences of plagiarism (using the work of another without
giving proper credit) and of cheating. English 102 allows you to develop a
documented paper under the guidance of an instructor. A documented paper,
often called a "research paper" is one where you incorporate the words and ideas
of others as a major part of the support for your thesis. Documentation is the
word used to describe procedures for giving others credit for their words and
ideas. The documentation procedures you master in English 102 will be needed
many times during the remainder of your college career and in your profession.
Rewriting
You may be permitted, and may be required, to rewrite essays, especially if
your first version is a poor one. The higher grade will be counted in determining
your average grade in English 102; therefore, it is to your immediate advantage
to rewrite seriously. Ultimately, though, it is the instructor’s discretion as to
whether or not the class will be allowed revisions for a higher grade.
Evaluation and Grading
in English 102
You will demonstrate your writing skills through a series of at least six
major writing assignments. These essays, including one documented essay, will
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be written on the computer using MS Word software in a supervised writing
laboratory, ordinarily with your instructor present. Each essay assignment will
require you to select a subject from a list supplied by your instructor at the
beginning of a laboratory period.
Although research for the documented essay, or research paper, will be
completed outside class, this longer and more formal essay will be written in the
computer lab, using notes brought into the lab that can be incorporated into your
essay in a supervised setting. Your instructor will explain the exact procedures
for completing this longer writing assignment.
Some instructors use an essay on a literary topic as the final exam in
English 102, while others, as noted above, use the literary terms from the
textbook glossary to compose a final exam.
You should study the grading scale carefully. A grade of 90 or higher is
considered an "A"; a grade of 80 to 89 is considered a "B"; and so on. A grade of
60 is the minimum passing grade, and a grade of 70--the lowest possible "C"--is
the minimum satisfactory grade to advance to English 271 or 272 (or any
sophomore-level literature).
Note Concerning Course Grades
NOTE: To achieve a grade of "B" or "A" in English 102, a student MUST
have grades of "B" or higher on at least four of the essays assigned in this course.
To achieve a grade of "C" in English 102, a student MUST have grades of "C" or
higher on at least three of the essays assigned in this course. To be awarded any
passing grade, a student must complete both the research paper and the final
examination.
Characteristics of an "A" Essay
An "A" essay
• has a clear, effective thesis statement supported by logical, unified, welldeveloped paragraphs
• uses specific, vivid, detailed language to create interesting examples and
express generalizations strongly
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• binds thoughts together coherently with effective transitions
• chooses excellent examples and details from the stories, plays, and/or poems
which constitute the subject of the essay and are the focus of the thesis
• shows excellent judgment and control in choosing and creating patterns of
organization appropriate to the assignment and the thesis
• demonstrates effective word choice, sophisticated and varied sentence
structures, and mature and thoughtful ideas
• is practically error free; uses Standard American English grammar and
mechanics
• is properly documented (when applicable)
• when taken as a whole, is a far above average essay that demonstrates an
understanding of the requirements of the assignment and an excellent
response to those requirements
Characteristics of a "B" Essay
A "B" essay
• has a generally clear, effective thesis statement supported by unified, welldeveloped paragraphs
• uses fairly specific, vivid, detailed language to create examples and express
generalizations
• binds thoughts together coherently with effective transitions
• chooses very good examples and details from the stories, plays and/or poems
which constitute the subject of the essay and are the focus of the thesis
• shows good judgment and control in choosing and creating patterns of
organization appropriate to the assignment and the thesis
• demonstrates generally effective word choice, with some variation in sentence
structures, and good ideas that are clearly expressed
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• has few mechanical or grammatical errors; uses Standard American English
grammar and mechanics in almost all sentences
• is properly documented (when applicable)
• when taken as a whole, is an above average essay that demonstrates an
understanding of the requirements of the assignment and conforms to those
requirements
Characteristics of a "C" Essay
A "C" essay
• has a thesis statement supported by fairly well-unified paragraphs
• includes some examples to support generalizations in each body paragraph
• maintains some coherence by the use of transitions
• includes acceptable examples and details from the stories, plays, and/or poems
which constitute the subject of the essay and are the focus of the thesis
• shows at least limited control in choosing and creating patterns of
organization appropriate to the assignment and the thesis
• demonstrates some conscious word choice, limited variation in sentence
structures, and average ideas
• may have some, but not many, mechanical or grammatical errors; uses
Standard American English grammar and mechanics for a clear majority of
sentences
• may have some weaknesses in documentation (when applicable)
• conforms at least to the main requirements of the assignment but taken as a
whole, is only average
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Comments about Essay Grading
Even though your essay may be excellent in some or even most areas
(ideas, or organization and coherence, or English grammar and mechanics, for
example), do not expect a grade of "A" or "B" if the essay has one or more areas of
great weakness. The "A" or "B" essay will demonstrate the writer's control of
virtually every aspect of the assignment.
The following are considered MAJOR OR SERIOUS ERRORS, and
even one or two instances of such errors will lower an essay grade considerably:
• Sentence Fragments
• Fused or Run-On Sentences
• Comma Splices
• Badly Garbled Syntax or Sentence Sense
• Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement
• Wrong Tense or Tense Shift
• Pronoun Agreement or Reference Error
• Faulty Parallelism
Relatively minor errors, such as misspellings, errors in capitalization, an
omitted or an unnecessary comma, or a misplaced quotation mark, will lower
your grade; an essay with many errors will not receive a high grade, no matter
how strong it may be otherwise.
Relationship of English 102 to Goals of Educational Programs
at Northwest-Shoals Community College
Northwest-Shoals Community College offers educational experiences
intended "to make it possible for every student to achieve competences that will
allow the student to function effectively and to be a contributing member of our
society." Nine different Goals for Educational Programs have been identified
and used over the years at the College. Successful students in English 102 can
expect this course to contribute to attainment of all nine of these goals.
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1. Graduates should be able to use communication skills--English 102 is
designed to improve the ability of students to acquire and send information in
written and symbolic modes with a variety of purposes (to inform, to explain, to
persuade, and to analyze). This course provides an essential introduction to
literary forms (poetry, fiction, and drama), and to symbolic expression of the
types found in literature. It also provides a setting for students to concentrate on
developing their skills in critical writing (writing to analyze, interpret, and
evaluate).
2. Graduates should be able to clarify values--English 102 provides students
with opportunities to read, analyze, and discuss literary works that often express
values of the writers and often present characters attempting to identify their
personal values and making decisions on the basis of personally held values. Both
the vicarious experiences provided through literature, and the opportunities for
analysis provided through the study of literature, give students opportunities to
develop their understanding of (1) their own values, (2) the values of others, (3)
the ways that personal values develop, and (4) the implications of decisions made
on the basis of values.
3. Graduates should be able to use problem solving processes in making
decisions--English 102 is the one course at Northwest-Shoals Community
College that provides specific training in library research. Upon completing this
course, each student should have the ability to identify a problem or meaningful
project; collect information in relation to that project; compile, study, and
analyze the collected information; and present the results in the standard,
defined format of a documented paper. The student should also have begun to
apply these processes in personal and social settings, and should be able with
guidance to transfer research skills to scientific settings.
4. Graduates should be able to recognize the effects and uses of science and
technology--English 102 provides students the opportunity to complete writing
assignments and limited research in a computer-assisted environment. Although
English 102 does not include scientific and technical topics as a major focus of
the course, the experience of using the computer and the Internet in these new
ways should increase the awareness of students of uses of science and technology.
5. Graduates should be able to be contributing members of the community and
the broader society in which they live--English 102 provides numerous
opportunities for students to (1) develop a vocabulary of literary criticism that is
part of the parlance of college-educated citizens in our society, (2) to become
increasingly conversant about social and literary themes that are part of the
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shared experience of educated citizens in our culture, (3) to develop increased
understanding of issues, concerns, and considerations affecting our society and
its citizens, and (4) to become much more capable of entering into effective
critical dialogues that require an informed understanding of issues, values, and
ways people interact.
6. Graduates should be able to adapt to societal as well as
occupational/technical changes--English 102 provides students with
opportunities for learning, for exercising personal discipline, and for
incorporating new information and skills, including technical skills, into their
lives and into preparation for their careers. This course is the first arena where
most students interact with so broad an array of concerns as literary art, themes
and values, library materials, and the computer; and thus the course provides
practice in integrating many different elements in ways that are "like" the scenes
and events experienced in real life and careers. Adapting to the requirements of
English 102 should prepare the student in important ways for adapting to
changes and complications of life and career.
7. Graduates should be able to analyze various social systems in order to
function in them or relate to them--English 102 includes many literary works
with elements from the social systems and cultures of our own day and of earlier
periods in Western civilization. In analyzing and evaluating these works,
students should increase their awareness of the philosophies, structures, and
processes of past and present cultures, and develop the ability to assess the
relevance of these elements to themselves and to society.
8. Graduates should be aware of the interrelationships among the humanities,
the fine arts, and life--English 102 concentrates strongly on making students
more aware of the literary products which constitute some of the most important
artistic/humanistic aspects of our culture.
9. Graduates should demonstrate competency in the skills needed for entry
level employment in their chosen field--English 102 is a course usually taken by
students with aspirations to a professional career. The learning activities of this
course are designed to greatly develop the understanding of students of the kinds
of principles, knowledge, and behaviors associated with professional awareness
and professional advancement.
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