English Composition for English Minor
Teacher: Kevin Chen
English Department, Fu Jen University
Spring 2010
Wed. 15:40 ~ 17:30
Classroom: LA 404
Course Description:
This course continues what we learned about English writing last semester. To further improve
your writing ability, we will advance from learning how to write a paragraph to studying the
mechanics of a well-written essay. In order to help you to make sentences with correct
grammar, we will also focus on reading and grammar practice. In this semester, we will begin
with how to develop a topic from general ideas, to organize the supporting ideas, then to write
thesis statement and topic sentences, and finally to organize paragraphs into essay. We will
practice three modes of writing: Definition, Cause and Effect, and Comparison and Contrast, as well
You will be expected to participate in class
discussions. Your final grade will be based on attendance, assignments, participation in class
discussions, and exams.
as end our class with writing an autobiography.
Course Requirements:
 Each assignments and quiz stands for your presence, and the result will show in your final
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grade.
Please don’t miss the tests or presentations. No opportunities will be given to the student
who misses any of the exams.
Absences resulted from emergencies, such as medical emergencies, family emergencies, etc,
can be discussed.
No late assignment will be accepted.
Students are required to attend class regularly and to participate in class actively.
Cellular phones should be switched off during class.
Course Evaluation:
1. Attendance (60%)
a. Quiz x 5, Writing Exercise x 1, Individual Conference x 1, and Journal x 1
(24%)—Quiz will be held 5 minutes after the class begins
b. Composition: Cause & Effect, Comparison & Contrast (20%)—Each Mode 2 Drafts
c. Participation and Performance (16%)
2. Midterm Exam (20%)
3. Final Exam (20%)
1
Syllabus
Week
Focus
Assigned Reading
Assignment
Feb. 24 Class Introduction: Thinking About What to Write / Class Exercise: Imagination
Mar. 3 Definition / Thesis Statement
CW Ch. 13
Adjectives & Adverbs
Quiz 1
Lyric Poetry
Mar. 10 Explanation and Description /
CW Ch. 14 & 15
Writing Exercise 1: Definition
Dangling Modifiers & Misplaced Modifiers Orwell’s “Shooting an
Elephant”
Mar. 17 Cause & Effect / Parallelism
CW Ch. 16
Quiz 2
Joan Didion’s “Los
Angeles Notebook”
Cause & Effect 1st Draft
Mar. 24 GEPT Intermediate Writing / Peer Editing
Mar. 31 Class Exercise: Feelings / Subordination /
CW Ch. 17 & 18
Quiz 3
Illogical Comparisons & Mixed
Constructions
Apr. 7
Holiday
Apr. 14 Peer Editing / Punctuation
CW Ch. 19
Apr. 21
Cause & Effect 2nd Draft
Midterm Exam
Apr. 28 Comparison & Contrast / Mechanics:
CW Ch. 20
Capital Letters, etc.
Quiz 4
History & Fiction
Biography & History
Words & Picture
May 5
Atonement
May 12
Individual Conference
May 19
Individual Conference
May 26 Persuasion and Argumentation / Tom
CW Ch. 21
Compare & Contrast 1st Draft
Writer’s Job
Hanks: The Power of Four / Use of the
Dictionary
June 2 Process & Analysis / Diction
CW Ch. 22
Quiz 5
June 9 TOFEL iBT Writing / Martin Luther King: I CW Ch. 23
Journal
Have a Dream / Building a Vocabulary
June 16 Rhetorical Power / Different Kinds of Essay Handout
Organization
June 23
Final Exam
*The syllabus is subject to change.
Textbook and Readings:
Butler, Eugenia. All. Correct Writing. 6th Ed.
2
書林, 1997.
Compare & Contrast 2nd Draft