English 1A: College Composition
Room FM206, TTH 8:30-10:35 & 11:40-1:45
Course Website:
http://www.redwoods.edu/Instruct/JJohnston/English1Aprogram/English1Asamplehomepage.htm
The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question. –Stephen Jay Gould
What kind of world would we live in if no one questioned what they already knew or believed? From Aims of Argument
It is not the writer's task to answer questions but to question answers. To be impertinent,
insolent, and, if necessary, subversive. –Edward Abbey
Instructor:
Email:
Phone:
Office hours:
Office:
Contacting your instructor: The best way for you to contact me is via email. Doing so enables me to send to you any course
documents handed out in class or PowerPoint presentations we discussed. When you email me, be sure to put ENGLISH 1A in the
subject heading so I don’t mistake your email for junk mail and delete it.
What you need for this course:
 Gage, John T. The Shape of Reason: Argumentative Writing in College 4th ed. NY: Pearson, 2006. ISBN: 0-321-32077-8
 Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. NY: Ballantine, 1968. ISBN: 0-345-32649-0
 Hacker, Diana and Nancy Sommers. The Bedford Handbook 8th ed. NY: Bedford, 2010. ISBN: 978-0312-48013-4
 Daily (including weekends) access to an internet-connected computer.
 Obsessive commitment to being on time and prepared.
 Burning curiosity.
 Boundless enthusiasm.
 An unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
 Steadfast dedication to your learning.
Course Description
Welcome to what can be an exciting and deeply rewarding (and fun!) course. Before we begin discussing specific requirements, I’d
like to give you a sense of the overarching ideas behind this course and its goals. A number of years ago, I overheard two students
talking with one another on the breezeway outside my office door. “That stir-fry I made last night was da bomb,” one said. He then
went on to describe in careful detail what was in the meal. “Got any left?” asked the other. “Yeah, mega. Let’s get a bunch of beers
and polish it off after class.” When I turned to see who these two were, I was a bit surprised: they were two of the best students I had
in a very difficult, sophomore-level humanities class the previous semester. I was surprised because I had never heard them talk like
this before. In class discussions and in their essays, they both used “elevated,” precise language and spoke carefully and
contemplatively. Now, here they were talking in slang with a kind of New-Jerseyesque inflection in their voices. More striking,
though, was that in class they seemed to have zero tolerance for trivial or “empty” discussions and comments. They, along with other
students in that class, had consistently used their essays and our class discussions to push past the obvious and ordinary to “deeper,”
much more intellectually satisfying levels of complexity. In class, they seemed to hunger not for stir-fry and beer but for fresh ideas
and insight into difficult, unresolved issues.
The scene was a delightful one for me because it illustrated how adeptly these students were able to balance and enjoy different parts
of their lives. They recognized (as you probably recognize) that the questions one asks, the answers one offers, and the ways one
offers those answers differ depending on the situation/context. This doesn’t mean we are imposters or hypocrites or schizophrenics; it
simply means that we understand, respect, and control the unique conventions that govern different rhetorical situations (a rhetorical
situation is the total environment in which a purposeful conversation takes place). Having this understanding, respect, and control
certainly enriches our lives (imagine how exhausting and limiting it would be to be stuck in formal intellectual postures 24/7). And at
least equally important to enrichment, having this understanding, respect, and control empowers us (imagine how terrifying it would
be to be excluded from important conversations because we lack the “tools” for engaging meaningfully in those conversations).
The purpose of English 1A is to introduce students to the foundational intellectual tools of inquiry and reason that allow them to
participate meaningfully in the reasoned, intellectual discussions (often called “academic inquiries”) that take place in our culture’s
richest sources of knowledge: our colleges and universities. In this course, you will learn to develop or further develop your ability to
think philosophically (this is key); to use reason and inquiry to deepen your understanding of complex issues; and to communicate
your insights and judgments effectively to an audience. We will practice finding and responding to genuine “questions at issue”
(another key concept). We will work to develop and sharpen the habits of mind that characterize college students. We will develop
the reading, research, thinking, and writing skills that allow you to communicate your insights into important issues to an academic
audience. By the end of the semester, you should be more confident in your ability to know what questions to ask, how to ask them,
how to explore answers to them, and how to communicate effectively your discoveries and ideas.
Course Outcomes (the things you should be able to do by the conclusion of this course)
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Identify and evaluate the issue, claim, and major supporting arguments in a variety of non-fiction texts.
Write unified, well-developed, logical, coherent, and convincing analytical or argumentative essays.
Recognize and use a variety of rhetorical strategies appropriate for the purpose and audience of the essay.
Formulate and defend a stance in response to issues and claims presented in visual, written, or oral arguments.
Support claims effectively with relevant, thoughtful, and sufficient evidence drawn as appropriate from written texts and
from the writer’s own experience and knowledge.
Integrate and correctly cite the ideas of others through paraphrase, summary, and quotation into an essay that expresses the
writer’s own voice, position, and analysis.
Locate data or other information, appropriate for a specific need, from a variety of print and electronic sources, including
online subscription databases.
Craft effective sentences of varying structure and type to clarify the meaning, relationship, and importance of ideas.
Recognize and eliminate significant errors in grammar, usage, and punctuation through careful editing and proofreading.
Course Requirements
Struggling: It is a requirement of this course that you struggle. Your books and I are not simply going to present a body of
information for you to consume and then regurgitate on exams or in reports. We will explore complex historical, moral, cultural,
philosophical, and political questions, and if you don’t struggle with these, it means you’re either a god (in which case we’ll make an
exception) or a human being thinking about these things only superficially. In other words, if you don’t struggle, it probably means
you are not thinking. And if you’re not thinking….well, how can you write something that offers fresh insight if you’re relying only
on what you and others already know?
Essays: Of course, you’ll have to do more than struggle in this course; you’ll also need to make some sense of what you’re struggling
with. If you honestly grapple with your questions, you will gain insight into the reading, the issues we discuss and, ultimately, the
world you live in and your place in it. These insights are valuable, and the essays you’ll write this semester are opportunities to
explore and present your questions and discoveries.
www.turnitin.com: In addition to the stapled, hard copies of each of your essays that you submit, you will also submit electronically
each of your essays to www.turnitin.com. Instructions for using turnitin.com—including course ID and password—are available on
our course webpage (see “Turnitin.com Instructions” link). At the end of the semester, the recorded grades for any essays that have
not been submitted to turnitin.com will be deleted from the gradebook and you will receive a “zero” for the essay.
Note: I will not accept essays that are not stapled.
Computer: You must have regular access to an internet-connected computer. All assignments are word processed and much of what
we do requires use of our course MyCR page (quizzes, for example, can be taken only online). Talk with me ASAP if you anticipate
computer access problems.
Reading: The pattern that’s emerged over the years is clear: those who carefully and actively read their course texts score higher on
their essays and exams than those who read them only superficially (those who “skim” the reading or who read for the “gist” tend to
score far below their potential and usually don’t understand why). Write in your books (doing so doesn’t affect the buyback price at
all) and on your handouts. Make notes of what you read and bring questions about what we’ve read to class. The more actively you
read, the more you’ll learn and the better you’ll perform. If you find yourself falling behind in your reading, don’t suffer in silence.
Come talk to me, and hopefully, we can figure out a way to keep you from becoming swallowed up.
Grammar and Reading Quizzes: We will frequently have quizzes on the day’s reading or on grammatical concepts we’ve discussed
in class. Quizzes will almost always be delivered and completed via the MyCR course web site. You must complete the quiz by the
deadline to receive credit. You will not be able to access a quiz after its deadline has passed.
Activities: I will assign various activities to be done in class. You must be in class at the beginning of the activity (i.e. at the
beginning of class) and stay for the entire activity to receive credit. That means you shouldn’t approach me after class to make sure I
got you on the roll if you were late that day. If you’re not in your seat when I take roll, you don’t get credit for the day’s activity, and
you cannot make up a missed activity.
Attendance: In order to establish an atmosphere of community and camaraderie, everyone must be here regularly, on time, and
prepared. Each of you brings a unique perspective to this course, and you should be here regularly not just to do the work but to share
your insights as well. You can inspire us. However, if you miss three classes in a row without contacting me or if you miss more
than four meetings in the semester, I may stop accepting your work and/or drop you from the class. Don’t depend on me to do
this, though. If you have missed three in a row or a total of four, it is your responsibility to protect your transcript and initiate an
official withdrawal. Any student who is not withdrawn is still enrolled, and final grades reflect a student’s current level of activity and
achievement. I cannot sign withdrawal slips after November 5, 2010 without documented extenuating circumstances (things like
being in a coma and so forth), and I am required to issue grades for all enrolled students at the end of the semester. Do not have your
academic transcript blemished by an F for a class you stopped attending.
Academic Honesty: “Academic honesty” is a term that refers to your relationship to your college learning. If you are forthright in
your work—that is, if you do not share answers with other students, accept or steal test answers from other students, and do not use
the words or ideas of others as if they are your own in your essays, then you are academically honest. This is a label you should
cherish and protect. It is, essentially, the value of “your word” in college. If, though, you cheat (for whatever reason) or offer
someone else’s words or ideas as if they are your own (whether you do this intentionally or unintentionally) you may have committed
academic dishonesty. College of the Redwoods takes academic dishonesty very seriously. We’ll discuss in class how to avoid
plagiarism and how to preserve your status as an honest academic.
Grading: The grading for this course breaks down as follows:
Reading Quizzes
Grammar Quizzes
Activities
Essays
Research Activities
10 points
10 points
10 points
60 points
10 points
Points Earned
100-94
93-90
89-87
86-83
82-80
79-77
76-70
69-60
Course Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
D
Extra Credit: As per CR English Department policy, there is NO extra credit available in this course. But hey, just look at all the
opportunity for credit you have available in the required assignments.
Checking Your Grade
It is your responsibility to check your grade regularly and keep informed about your course performance (You can access a complete,
current breakdown of your grade in MyCR). You should save ALL returned graded work in case I neglect to enter the grade or enter
it incorrectly.
Special Needs: If you have special needs due to a verifiable physical, psychological, or learning disability, you are legally entitled to
appropriate accommodations. The college offers a variety of services to support students with special needs, and you should talk with
me as soon as possible if you would like my help with arranging accommodations to ensure your success in this course. I’m eager to
help in whatever ways I can.
English 1A Schedule is available on the course webpage