English 101: Composition
Sections: 001 (MWF 8) MYBK 104
FALL 2006
021 (MWF 9) LCTR B08
Instructor: Kelly Owen
033 (MWF 10) RS LIB 004
Office: 74 George Street, Room 201
046 (MWF 12) MYBK 116
Phone: (843) 953-4868
Email: owenk@cofc.edu (the best way to reach me)
Office Hours: MW 11:00-11:50 / F 11:00-11:20 / W 1:00-4:00 & by appointment
Texts*: The Writer’s Presence, 5th ed., Eds. McQuade & Atwan, Bedford, 2006 (ISBN: 0-312-43386-7)
QA Compact, Eds. Troyka & Hesse, Pearson, 2007 (ISBN: 0-13-188956-7)
Into the Wild, Krakauer, Anchor, 1996 (ISBN: 0-385-48680-4)
In Cold Blood, Capote, Vintage, 1994 (ISBN: 0-679-74558-0)
A Guide to Freshman English available at <http://www.cofc.edu/~english/Guide.html>
*buy textbooks at the term’s beginning as bookstores do not stock them throughout the semester
Objectives: In this course, I hope to make you a better reader and writer by:
--exposing you to the genre of prose using essays, short stories, and nonfiction
--requiring you to study and imitate the writing styles of these genres
--instructing you on the processes of writing and revising
--teaching you research and documentation techniques
--encouraging you to develop analytical, verbal, and written skills
--inspiring you to appreciate reading, writing, and literature
Student Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to
--identify rhetorical modes and patterns of writing development
--organize, edit, and write papers that require a variety of approaches
--conduct research for scholarly material and incorporate this into papers
--document sources and compile a Works Cited Page in MLA format
--demonstrate correct use of punctuation, mechanics, and grammar
--recognize fallacies, classical appeals and other elements of argument
--analyze essays effectively and use primary source material in argument
--understand the importance of written and verbal skills in college and the workplace
Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Please be punctual and prepared. Tardiness is counted as absence
when more than 50% of the class is missed. More than FOUR absences (excused or unexcused) may result in a
grade of “F” since you will be penalized TWO points on your final average for every tardy exceeding this limit.
Requirements: All assignments are due at the beginning of class. I do not accept late work. If you miss a
class when an assignment is due, you must email the assignment as a PASTE to me by its deadline and bring a
printed copy of it to the next class; however, the emailed copy and the printed copy must be identical.
If you miss class when a quiz is given, the next quiz you take will count two times.
Essays are due at the beginning of class on the date indicated in the syllabus’ schedule. DO NOT hand in papers
to the English Department’s office: your paper grade will be penalized for failure to comply with this. I am not
responsible for a paper if it is not given directly to me. Late papers will be penalized ten points per day after the
due date (weekends and holidays count). After five days, a zero will be recorded; however, in order to pass the
course, ALL essays must be turned in and must comply with the Grading Criteria sheet for credit.
**Note: NO LATE PAPERS will be accepted for the final research paper.
Plagiarism: Please consult A Guide to Freshman English and the College’s Honor Code for policies on
plagiarism. Any part of your paper copied or paraphrased from another source without correct documentation
will receive a failing grade and you may receive an “F” for the course. Papers with sources listed on a Works
Cited Page and not cited in a paper will receive failing grades and papers with no sources cited will receive
zeros. Failure to proofread for these errors and sloppy citations are not excuses. A paper grade may be changed
at any time during the course (or thereafter) if plagiarism is discovered at a later date. Failures may be given
regardless of confession or conviction of plagiarism.
Corrections: Graded papers must be corrected and returned to me no later than one week after you
receive them. Failure to turn in corrections for essays will result in deductions from your final grade (one point
for each missing set). Follow the instruction sheet on how to make corrections. REWRITTEN ESSAYS will not
be accepted.
Cell Phones: Because they cause disruptions when they ring, cell phones, pagers, and other electronic
devices that emit noise (vibrations included) are not allowed in this class. Please turn them off or to “silent”
before class begins. If yours rings or makes noise during class, you will receive a zero for failure to follow daily
instructions. If your device rings during an in-class essay or exam, twenty points (per disruption) will be
deducted from the assignment’s final grade. If you text messages during class, you will be asked to leave.
Grading:
Your final grade will be calculated based
on the following assignments:
Essay #1
Essay #2 (Research)
Essay #3
Essay #4 (Research)
Final Exam
All other assignments
10%
15%
10%
15%
20%
30%
*This syllabus is subject to change at any time during the semester.
**Any student eligible for accommodations because of a documented disability
should speak with me during office hours regarding your needs.
Grading Scale:
A
100-92
A91-90
B+
89-88
B
87-82
B81-80
C+
79-78
C
77-72
C71-70
D+
69-68
D
67-62
D61-60
F
59-0
XF
academic
dishonesty
English 101: Class Schedule and Readings
Please read the selections by the date indicated.
W 8/23: Introduction to English 101
F 8/25: In-class reading: “Flavio’s Home” (selection will be provided—it does not appear in any of the adopted texts)
Begin reading and reviewing the “Writing” chapters of QA Compact (QAC) sections 1a-4k (pages 1-72) &
“Guidelines for writing emails,” section 38a (491-2)
Unless assigned, you are not required to complete the exercises in QA Compact but feel free to practice!
M 8/28: Essay #1 Due; In QAC, read “Critical Thinking” sections 5a-e (72-85) & “The Impact of Words” sections 20a-l
(246-56); In The Writers’ Presence (TWP), read “We Are Our Words” 321-3, “This is Our World” 633-41
W 8/30: Into the Wild (ITW): read chapters 1-5, pgs. 1-46; QAC: “Pronouns” 9a-i (148-54)
F 9/1: ITW: chapters 6-10, pgs. 47-102; QAC: “Pronouns” 9j-s (155-62)
M 9/4: ITW: chapters 11-15, pgs. 103-156; QAC: “Agreement” 10a-m (163-73)
W 9/6: ITW: chapters 16-Epilogue, pgs. 157-203; TWP: read “Colter’s Way” 473-7
F 9/8: TWP: “Land!” 13-17, “From The Diary of a Young Girl” 28-33,
“From Hiroshima Diary” 34-9, & “From Specimen Days: Civil War Diary” 60-5
M 9/11: “The Price We Pay” 43-8, “The First Hours” 51-54, “In the Ruins of the Future” 361-71,
“Last Letters Home” 55-9; QAC: “Agreement”10n-s (74-8)
W 9/13: TWP: “Shop Write” 40-2, “My Career in Bumper Stickers” 48-50; QAC, read “Sources” 31b-j (348-69)
F 9/15: “The Boston Photographs” 678-83, “The Life of Images” 570-5, “Through Other Eyes” & “The Case for Comics
Journalism” 549-59; QAC, read “Plagiarism” chapter, sections 32b-k (370-88)
M 9/18: “from The Black Notebooks” 17-20, “What’s Your Name, Girl?” 77-82, “Homeboy” 194-208
“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” 166-70, “Notes of a Native Son” 83-99,
W 9/20: “Learning to Read and Write” 129-134, “Rope Burn” 153-5, “Salvation” 162-5,
“Just Walk on By” 283-9; QAC: “Fragments” 12a-f (186-92)
F 9/22: “The Joy of Reading and Writing” 73-6, “Name Dropping” 171-5, “Aria: A Memoir of a
Bilingual Childhood”239-55; QAC: “Comma Splices & Run-On Sentences” 13a-d (192-200)
M 9/25: Activity: bring QA Compact to class! QAC: “MLA” 33b-33e (389-429); TWP: “Mother Tongue” 290-95,
“Me Talk Pretty One Day” 273-77, “How To Tame A Wild Tongue” 324-34
W 9/27: “My Father’s Life” 103-10, “Silent Dancing” 110-17, “The Rake” 209-14,
“Scenes from the Smith Family Christmas” 278-82; QAC: “Modifiers” 14a-d (200-4)
F 9/29: “A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood” 121-28,
“On Being Cripple” 183-93, “Split at the Root” 228-38; QAC: “Sentences” 15a-i (204-11)
M 10/2: “On Stuttering” 158-161, “My Inner Shrimp” 295-7, “Beauty: When the Other
Dancer is the Self” 304-10; QAC: “Conciseness” 16a-e (211-16)
W 10/4: “The Socks” 259-72, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” 516-25, “No Name Woman” 485-95,
“Why Women Smile” 355-60
F 10/6: TWP: “Is A Holy War Inevitable?” 335-43, “The Witches of Salem Village” 406-15,
“The Hills of Zion” 504-09; QAC, read “Fallacies” 5g (85-8)
M 10/9: Essay #2 Due; “SAT” 526-32, “Against School” 688-95, “District School #7” 215-220; QAC: “Spelling” 21a-g
(256-63)
W 10/11: “The Museum of Me” 601-607, “The Trouble with Self-Esteem” 806-813; QAC: “Parallelism” 18a-k (226-33)
F 10/13: “The Perpetual Adolescent” 396-405, “Hooking Up” 610-18, “In the Combat Zone” 793-9
In-class readings: Paglia’s “Rape: A Bigger Danger” & Jacoby “Common Decency” (selections provided)
M 10/16: “What America Would Be Like Without Blacks” 390-5, “America, Look at Your Shame” 625-32, “Blind
Spot” 721-3, “The Night I Was Nobody” 861-4
W 10/18: In TWP, read “The Declaration of Independence” 711-15 & “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” 738-53;
QAC: “Writing Arguments” 6a-j (89-99)
F 10/20: Discussion of “Letter” continued
M 10/23: “And Ain’t I a Woman?” 837-40, I Have a Dream” 723-27, “The Graphic Writer at Work” feature: Ho Che
Anderson 727-37; QAC: “Periods, QM, & EP” 22a-f (264-6)
W 10/25: Essay #3: In Class
F 10/27: “The Myth of Fingerprints” 666-70 & “To Kill or Not to Kill” 841-52; QAC: “Commas” 23a-g (267-77)
M 10/30: Read “Unnatural Killers” online at <http://www.gpc.edu/~jbusbee/Grisham.htm>;
In-class reading: Stone’s “Memo to John Grisham”; QAC: “Commas” 23h-l (277-83)
W 11/1: In Cold Blood (ICB): pgs. 3-49; QAC: “Semicolons” 24a-f (284-7)
F 11/3: ICB: 50-100; QAC: “Colons” 25a-e (288-92)
M 11/6 & T 11/7:
FALL BREAK
W 11/8: ICB: 100-203; QAC: “Apostrophes” 26a-g (292-5)
F 11/10: ICB: 203-248; QAC: “QM” 27a-i (296-304)
M 11/13: ICB: 251-302; QAC: “Other PM” 28a-l (304-16)
W 11/15: ICB: 302-343; In TWP, read “A Good Man is Hard to Find” 942-54; QAC: “Caps. & Italics” 29a-h (316-24)
F 11/17: “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” 925-38; QAC: “Abbr. & Numbers” 29i-o (324-33)
M 11/20: Essay #4 Due; “Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good” 559-69, “TV Addiction” 608-9, “Our Celebrities,
Ourselves” 426-32, “Drugs” 858-60
M 11/27: “A Traditional Family” 576-8, Family Values” 671-7, “Against Love” 755-62,
“All-Consuming Patriotism” 422-5, “Can Patriotism Be Compassionate? 768-72
W 11/29: “Corn-pone Opinions” 853-7, “Why I Am Not a Christian” 773-85
F 12/1: “This Is the End of the World” 579-93, “The Clan of One-Breasted Women” 865-71
M 12/4: Exam Review; “The Ends of the World as We Know Them” 647-53, “Worried? Us?” 763-8, & “The Singer
Solution to World Poverty” 800-05
FINAL EXAMS*:
Section: 001 Wednesday, Dec. 6, 8-11 a.m.
021 Friday, Dec. 8, 8-11 a.m.
033 Wednesday, Dec. 13, 8-11 a.m.
046 Friday, Dec. 8, 12-3 p.m.
*exams are held in the same meeting place as the regular class unless otherwise indicated