The University of Texas at Tyler
ENGL 1302.015 Spring 2015
College Composition II
TR 12:30pm – 1:50pm
BUS Building Room 208
Instructor: Jesse Dobson
Office: BUS 226
Office Hours: MWF 9 – 10 & 11:30 – 12:30
Phone: 903-565-5668
TR 11 – 12:30 & 2 – 3
E-mail: jdobson@uttyler.edu
(e-mail is the quickest and most reliable way to contact me)
Course Description:
English 1302 is the second of two first-year composition courses at UT Tyler. We will learn how to critically read and analyze texts from different disciplines, and we will spend a significant amount of time studying academic formatting styles. Students will learn to identify and understand patterns of writing in specific disciplines and in academic writing as a whole. Two of my goals for our class are to help you think more critically and improve your analytic skills.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1) Recognize the rhetorical conventions in a discipline they wish to pursue.
2) Review, analyze, and evaluate writing in the disciplines for a designated purpose.
3) Use documentation and writing style appropriate for chosen discipline.
4) Select and incorporate material from sources professionally
5) Adopt an intensive reading and writing process for academic writing tasks (process includes brainstorming, revising, editing, and formatting).
6) Summarize, paraphrase, and synthesize texts accurately and effectively
7) Revise sentence-level issues (grammar and mechanics) in their own writing.
Assignments:
Assignments are divided into four categories: Short Essay, Major Essays, Daily Grades, and the
Final Exam. Since this is a writing class, your grade will be mostly determined by your essay grades. In total, the four essays make up 80% of your final grade . The first essay is a short summary worth 5%, and the three major essays are each worth 25%. Daily grades will be averaged together at the end of the

semester, and that grade will be worth 15% of your final grade. The final exam will be a professional letter worth 5% of the final grade.
I will drop your two lowest daily grades.
Portfolio Requirements:
Each essay should be turned in with a complete portfolio of notes, drafts, revisions, and any other materials relevant to your writing process. Your portfolios should also include a cover letter explaining your writing process. Because our class focuses on the writing process as a whole and not just the final draft, you will need to save and print drafts of your essays throughout your writing process. You will lose points if you only turn in a final draft.
Important Dates:
Summary: DUE Jan. 20
Census Date: Jan. 26 (Check Standard UT Tyler Syllabi Policies below for Census Date policies)
Article Analysis: DUE Feb. 19
Compare and Contrast: DUE March 26
Rhetorical Review of Published Research: DUE April 23
Final Exam: Sometime during exam week (April 27 – May 1)
Required Materials:
-Pens, pencils, paper
-Microsoft Word
-Composition notebook for your Daybook project
-Internet access
-Folders (to turn in portfolios with your essays)
Required Texts:
Reading and Writing About the Disciplines: A Rhetorical Approach by Hui Wu and Emily Standridge
(this textbook is available through our Blackboard page)
Recommended Texts:
Learn to love the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). This website provides information about a wide variety of writing tasks. It will be essential for our class, and probably for other classes as well. It also helps with writing tasks outside of school, such as writing resumés and cover letters.
Attendance Policy:
Absence from class is detrimental to the individual student and the class as a whole. Collaborative discussion and peer reviews are essential to the class so absences should be avoided if at all possible. The absent student is responsible for any missed information or assignments. Obviously, university-mandated absences are excused, but any other absences are unexcused. Exceptions will be determined on a case-bycase basis. When circumstances make attendance impossible, please contact me in advance to make preparations and deal with the situation. Any more than three unexcused absences will affect your grade while six (6) unexcused absences will be grounds for an automatic F in the course.

Classroom Conduct:
This should be obvious and unnecessary, but here we go. Use common sense, be nice, and respect others.
This means you must respect other people, other ideas, other beliefs, other prerogatives, etc. While you’re at it, you should also respect yourself and your own ideas, beliefs, and prerogatives. Disrespect will result in your absence from my class.
Rewrites:
You may rewrite and revise any paper that receives a grade below a C. You may also choose any one of your major papers to rewrite for a better grade, regardless of your original grade. All rewrites are due by
April 17.
Late Papers:
I will deduct ten points from your score for every day after a paper’s due date. This includes days that we do not meet for class. I will not accept any papers that are over one week late.
Standard UT Tyler Syllabi Policies
Students Rights and Responsibilities
To know and understand the policies that affect your rights and responsibilities as a student at UT Tyler, please follow this link: http://www.uttyler.edu/wellness/rightsresponsibilities.php
Grade Replacement/Forgiveness and Census Date Policies
Students repeating a course for grade forgiveness (grade replacement) must file a Grade Replacement
Contract with the Enrollment Services Center (ADM 230) on or before the Census Date of the semester in which the course will be repeated. Grade Replacement Contracts are available in the Enrollment Services
Center or at http://www.uttyler.edu/registrar. Each semester’s Census Date can be found on the Contract itself, on the Academic Calendar, or in the information pamphlets published each semester by the Office of the Registrar.
Failure to file a Grade Replacement Contract will result in both the original and repeated grade being used to calculate your overall grade point average. Undergraduates are eligible to exercise grade replacement for only three course repeats during their career at UT Tyler; graduates are eligible for two grade replacements. Full policy details are printed on each Grade Replacement Contract.
The Census Date is the deadline for many forms and enrollment actions that students need to be aware of.
These include:

Submitting Grade Replacement Contracts, Transient Forms, requests to withhold directory information, approvals for taking courses as Audit, Pass/Fail or Credit/No Credit.

Receiving 100% refunds for partial withdrawals. (There is no refund for these after the Census
Date)
 Schedule adjustments (section changes, adding a new class, dropping without a “W” grade)

Being reinstated or re-enrolled in classes after being dropped for non-payment

Completing the process for tuition exemptions or waivers through Financial Aid
State-Mandated Course Drop Policy
Texas law prohibits a student who began college for the first time in Fall 2007 or thereafter from dropping more than six courses during their entire undergraduate career. This includes courses dropped at another
2-year or 4-year Texas public college or university. For purposes of this rule, a dropped course is any course that is dropped after the census date (See Academic Calendar for the specific date).

Exceptions to the 6-drop rule may be found in the catalog. Petitions for exemptions must be submitted to the Enrollment Services Center and must be accompanied by documentation of the extenuating circumstance. Please contact the Enrollment Services Center if you have any questions.
Disability Services
In accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the
ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) the University offers accommodations to students with learning, physical and/or psychiatric disabilities. If you have a disability, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, PTSD or ADHD, or you have a history of modifications or accommodations in a previous educational environment you are encouraged to contact the Student Accessibility and Resources office and schedule an interview with the Accessibility Case
Manager/ADA Coordinator, Cynthia Lowery Staples. If you are unsure if the above criteria applies to you, but have questions or concerns please contact the SAR office. For more information or to set up an appointment please visit the SAR office located in the University Center, Room 3150 or call
903.566.7079. You may also send an email to cstaples@uttyler.edu
Student Absence due to Religious Observance
Students who anticipate being absent from class due to a religious observance are requested to inform the instructor of such absences by the second class meeting of the semester.
Student Absence for University-Sponsored Events and Activities
If you intend to be absent for a university-sponsored event or activity, you (or the event sponsor) must notify the instructor at least two weeks prior to the date of the planned absence. At that time the instructor will set a date and time when make-up assignments will be completed.
Social Security and FERPA Statement:
It is the policy of The University of Texas at Tyler to protect the confidential nature of social security numbers. The University has changed its computer programming so that all students have an identification number. The electronic transmission of grades (e.g., via e-mail) risks violation of the
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act; grades will not be transmitted electronically.
Emergency Exits and Evacuation:
Everyone is required to exit the building when a fire alarm goes off. Follow your instructor’s directions regarding the appropriate exit. If you require assistance during an evacuation, inform your instructor in the first week of class. Do not re-enter the building unless given permission by University Police, Fire department, or Fire Prevention Services.
Academic Honesty
The University of Texas at Tyler supports the concept of intellectual property: ideas belong to the people who come up with them. Students are expected to do their own work and/or give proper credit when using the words or ideas of others. Students are responsible for reading and adherence to the policies regarding academic integrity, cheating, and plagiarism found in the various publications of the university. Students are encouraged to explore other people’s ideas and develop the ability to present those borrowed ideas with integrity and responsible documentation. Students who do so are developing scholarly attributes and will find that a reliance on honest academic learning and research procedures is the surest way to success in both college and life. Plagiarism and collusion involve offering the ideas and/or words of others as your own without proper acknowledgement and, as such, violate academic integrity.

Academic Dishonesty
The University of Texas at Tyler has a “zero tolerance policy” on plagiarism. Any student who commits an act of scholastic dishonesty is subject to discipline. Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, and/or any act designed to give an unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts. For purposes of this class, scholastic dishonesty occurs if you:

Quote or paraphrase a source without properly citing it.

Misquote or misrepresent an outside source.

Pass off any portion of an outside source as your own.

Turn in for credit any paper that has been purchased through the internet, copied from the internet, or cut and paste a source from the internet.

Turn in a paper written by someone else or copy any part of an assignment written by others.
The penalties for academic dishonesty vary, ranging from an F on an assignment, an F in the course, or expulsion from the university, depending on the severity of the incident. The Office of Student Affairs keeps records of any suspected case of scholastic dishonesty, and instructors are required to alert them if we believe a student has plagiarized or cheated in any way.