English 111: College Reading and Writing
Winona State University
Fall, 2006
Section 19 (001898)
M&F: 9:00-9:50, W: 8:00-9:50
Minné 362
Instructor: Rob Brault
E-mail: rbrault@winona.edu
Phone: 457-5449, home: 452-5993 (8 am - 9 pm, please)
Office: Minné 315
Office Hours: Mon, Wed, & Fri: 10:00-11:00 a.m., noon-1:00 p.m.;
and by
Tues & Thurs: 8:30-9:30 a.m.; 2:00-3:00 p.m.
appointment
This course satisfies four s.h. of the University Studies Basic Skills: College Reading and
Writing Requirement.
Course Description and Outcomes
The purpose of College Reading and Writing is to help WSU students increase their
critical reading, thinking, and writing skills. The course will help students develop a mature
writing style and an ability to integrate material from multiple sources with their own writing.
The course will further emphasize writing as essential to academic learning and intellectual
development.
This class is designed to establish a foundation for the reading and writing done in later
college courses, supporting a larger writing-across-the-curriculum educational experience;
therefore, students should take it as soon as possible, preferably in their first year and certainly
no later than their third semester.
This class must include requirements and learning activities that promote students’
abilities to…
1. read challenging texts that reflect important cultural themes and demand critical
thinking;
2. analyze the rhetoric and structure of their own and others’ arguments;
3. summarize and critique examples of mature expository and argumentative prose;
4. revise through multiple drafts and critical readings to create and complete successful
essays;
5. formulate intelligent claims and make purposeful, appropriately documented use of
authoritative sources as supporting evidence;
6. make use of basic tools of research, such as general indexes, periodicals, and on-line
databases;
7. construct coherent essays based on reading, interpreting, analyzing, critiquing, and
synthesizing texts;
8. adapt the structure, content, and tone of their writing to the knowledge and attitudes of
their audience;
9. use vivid, concrete language; concise, varied sentences; unified, cohesive paragraphs;
gender-inclusive English; and a college-level vocabulary; and
10. proofread, edit, and correct their final copy for common errors of spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, and usage.
Course Content: We will be practicing the steps in the writing process in four major
assignments. These revised papers will increase in complexity, requiring you to expand your
knowledge and to refine your techniques of presenting that knowledge to a critical (resistant)
2 /Brault / ENG 111: College Reading & Writing
reader, culminating in a research paper for an academic audience. Much of your reading will be
of drafts produced in this class (yours and other students’), as we will be using a workshop
approach.
Course Materials: textbooks, photocopies of drafts, handouts, printouts, calendar, file folders,
laptops, software (MS Word, etc.) access to internet, etc.
Texts:
Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. Bedford St. Martins, 2003.
Nerburn, Kent. Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder. rev. ed. Novato,
CA: New World Library, 2002.
Verburg, Carol. The Environmental Predicament: Four Issues for Critical Analysis. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s P., 1995.
Wilhoit, Stephen W. A Brief Guide to Writing from Readings. 3rd ed. Pearson Longman, 2004.
supplemental readings from the instructor
Course Requirements: Three major writing assignments will be graded. Brief descriptions of
these assignments are listed below. Each assignment will be discussed in detail in handouts
and in class. You must turn in rough drafts and final drafts for each of the assignments in
order to pass the course. Other writing assignments, such as reading responses or commentary
on conference papers, will also be required.
Meeting deadlines is absolutely essential to the course. Especially crucial are the
conferences and the deadlines for drafts. If you miss a deadline for submitting a draft, you’ll
receive (a) no feedback and (b) only partial credit for your efforts. If you miss a conference, it is
nearly impossible to re-create this process outside of the class. Late final drafts will be graded
down one full grade for each day late. Short of a life-threatening illness or emergency, to turn in
a paper late without penalty you must request permission before the due date.
Because of the workshop nature of the course, you can’t just get the lecture notes later on;
regular attendance is required, expected, and necessary. I expect that you will attend on time
and be well-prepared for each day’s work—material read, assignments completed, and brain
fully engaged. If you should miss a class session, consult a classmate for the material you
missed, do the work required of you, and return well-prepared for the next session. Be aware
that neither your classmates nor I can reproduce the content of a class session for you. If for
some emergency—mental, physical, familial—you must miss consecutive class sessions, let me
know about it in advance. I may be able to give you your assignments in advance or (in rare
circumstances) extend course deadlines, but I’m obligated to do neither if I’m notified only after
the fact. Chronic absenteeism virtually guarantees failure in the course—just as regular,
purposeful participation virtually guarantees higher learning.
All papers must be word processed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. On the
first page, provide your own title and a heading with your name, the course number, my name,
the date, and your word-count. Provide a header on the following pages (your last name and a
page number) and staple the pages together. Show paragraph breaks by indenting the first line;
please do not skip a line. When you turn in your final drafts, you will need a file folder to
contain all of the drafts (your own and others’) on which you worked. Submit all of your drafts
as a hard copy and as an MS-Word attachment via e-mail. Make sure the attachment bears your
name as its title.
Brault / ENG 111: College Reading & Writing / 3
Always keep copies, always back up your documents, and always make hard copies of
works in progress. Keep all papers and responses with grades or comments.
Grading: Your grade in this course will be based on two components. The product component,
about 75% of the final, will include the three grades (A-F) you receive on your finished drafts.
The process component, about 25% of the final, will include your responses to readings,
the completion of in-class writing, your participation in class, and your performance in writing
workshops.
Incompletes will be given only in genuine emergencies, and must be arranged before the
last day of class.
Class Procedures: Much of the reading you do for this class will be of your own texts and the
texts of other students. We will be using students’ papers to discuss various elements of the
writing process and various writing techniques.
You will be developing and taking responsibility for an informed position on various
issues, and members of your conference group will be coming to their own unique positions.
People will disagree about conclusions, but the respectful discussion of differing arguments can
enrich understanding of the issues we face.
We will be using a workshop approach to writing in this class. For this reason, any time
a rough draft is due, you will need to bring multiple copies to class. I will set up groups in
class on that day. Therefore, if you are absent or do not bring a draft to share, you may not be
able to participate in a peer conference. I hope to spend as much time as possible this quarter in
writing workshops, because this is when writers learn what the audience understands.
English 111 assumes average abilities in spelling, sentence formation, punctuation, and
mechanics; we will not emphasize these elements of writing. Make sure that you carefully
proofread essays for spelling and mechanical errors; essays filled with such errors hurt your
credibility and will affect your grade. If you would like more help in these areas, see me during
office hours or check out the Writing Center in Minné 348.
From time to time I will ask you to write brief responses to the readings. This will serve
two purposes: to encourage you to read and to help me understand where you are in relation to
what you need to know.
Since you have your time and money to be here, I expect you to take an active role in the
class; this means participation. Your absence will be felt. Your presence will be intellectual,
responsive, often verbal, and always active. If you have questions, comments, even an
argument, speak up; this course exists for your sake, not mine.
Papers: these papers will be graded:
Comparison: For this three-page assignment (word limit = 800), you will compare (and
contrast) ideas from two essays in “What Is Our Responsibility to Other Species?” This will
provide practice in summarizing, quoting, and paraphrasing, which will be crucial for later
assignments. Selection and organization of important ideas and details will be important
elements of this assignment.
Critical Analysis: In this four-page paper (word limit = 1200) you will evaluate one of
the essays in “What Should We Do About Our Garbage?” After explaining the essay’s thesis,
you will analyze how and how well the essay presents justifications for its position on a specific
aspect of our garbage situation. This will provide practice in using specific evidence for your
own rhetorical purposes.
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Research Argument: In this eight-page paper (word limit = 2000), you will select a
debatable issue and present an argument, with documented evidence, which will convince a
critical reader of the validity of your stance. This synthesis of multiple sources is a common
college-level task and will combine previously practiced skills such as describing, summarizing,
comparing, organizing, analyzing, and synthesizing material you gather through research in
and outside of the library.
Revision Paper: In lieu of a final exam, you may select any previously graded paper
(except the research argument) and revise it. If your paper earns a higher grade, it will replace
your previous grade for that paper.
“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” E.M. Forster
Brault / ENG 111: College Reading & Writing / 5
English 111-19: College Reading & Writing
Rob Brault
Fall Semester, 2006
Course Calendar
week
1
week
Aug 28
introductions, syllabus
e-mail assignment
Sept 4
Labor Day
2
week
3
week
Sept 11
Sept 18
Sept 25
week
6
week
7
week
8
week
11
week
12
week
13
week
14
week
15
Mississippi readings: see email; Hacker 113-23
Sept 13
Sept 15
RD – Comparison
Wilhoit 57-68
Oct 9
Conference – Comparison
Oct 6
Oct 30
RD – Critical Analysis
Nov 6
Verburg 241-7, rad. ecol.
preliminary works cited
Nov 13
Verburg 260-273, green
economics; arg. outline
Nov 20
Conference – Critical
Analysis
Conferences on Research
Argument
Dec 4
Conferences on Research
Argument
Wilhoit 127-155
Nov 3
FD – Critical Analysis
Nov 8
Verburg 229-241, rad. ecol.;
form research teams
Nov 10
Verburg 248-259, env.
racism, prelim. works cited
Nov 15
Veterans’ Day
Nov 17
Verburg 286-316, carrying
capacity, conservation
Nov 22
RD – Research Argument
Nov 27
Nerburn 197-266
Oct 27
Nov 1
Library 102
Student Fall Break Day
Oct 20
Oct 25
Nerburn 267-336
Verburg 131-145,
incineration
Oct 13
Wilhoit 95-126
Library 102
Oct 18
Oct 23
Verburg 83-92, plastics
Verburg 109-131,
recycling, toxic wastes
Oct 11
preliminary draft of critical
analysis
Nerburn 17th-18th
Nerburn 83-142
Sept 29
FD – Comparison
Wilhoit 191-98
Verburg 145-155, politics of
trash, Mississippi readings
Oct 16
Nerburn ix-20
Hacker 127-36
Sept 22
Oct 4
Verburg 93-108, landfill
10
week
Verburg 39-63, biodiversity
bring laptops
Nerburn 143-196
9
week
Sept 8
Sept 27
Oct 2
Verburg 17-38, endangered
species; Wilhoit 69-82
Sept 6
Sept 20
Nerburn 21-81
5
Sept 1
Verburg 1-17, land ethic;
Wilhoit 1-28
Comparison pre-writing
Wilhoit 39-56
4
week
Aug 30
001898
M & F 9:00-9:50; W 8:00-9:50
Minné 362
Verburg 314-325,
government’s role
Nov 24
Thanksgiving Day Holiday
Nov 29
Conferences on Research
Argument
Dec 6
Conferences on Research
Argument
Final Exam (Revision Option): Tuesday, Dec. 12, 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Dec 1
Conferences on Research
Argument
Dec 8
FD – Research Argument
course evaluations
6 /Brault / ENG 111: College Reading & Writing