Composition I
CM107
Cecelia Munzenmaier
(515) 727-6899, x6921
cmunzenmaier@kaplan.edu
Course Objectives
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Compose original materials in Standard
American English
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Use appropriate documentation
as required
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Illustrate the steps in the writing process
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Apply course knowledge of
communication to a chosen profession
Standard American English
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Would you hire this person?
I am the “experienced instructional designer” yoo
seek in todays Harald Sun. Im versatile, have
developed training program’s, and the creation of
teams two guide training decisions. I am ready too
start, if necessary, as early as next week. I, has the
solid Training Experience you specified. As well as the
strong Computer skills you Desire.
Standard American English

Would you hire this person?
I am the “experienced instructional designer” you
seek in today’s Herald Sun. I’m versatile, and have
developed training program’s, and the creation of
created teams to guide training decisions. I am ready
too start, if necessary, as early as next week. I, hasve
the solid Training Experience you specified, As well as
the strong Computer skills you Desire.
Standard American English

Would you trust this person?
A Baltimore police officer reported that “Subject did
abducted woman without no illegal right.”
Standard American English
 Correcting 20 common errors will correct
91.5% of all grammatical errors.
Based on Lunsford and Connors’ 1992 study of 3,000 papers
 Write first, then edit.
 Target a few errors at a time.
 Target the errors that matter most.
2: Use documentation
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In academic writing, your ideas
are only as good as your evidence.
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Your paper should be based on four
credible sources.
What’s credible?
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Do people who watch shows like CSI make
better jurors?
Researchers
Personal
experience
+
Conversation
Defense
attorneys
=
Prosecutors
Informed
Opinion
What’s credible?

Evidence-based information
or opinion (in Comp II)
Experts
Question
Problem
Personal
experience
Disagreement
+
Conversation
Associations
=
EBSCO
Pathfinders
Informed
Opinion
What’s credible?
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“Alpha roosters”
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Professional literature
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Respected sources
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Peer-reviewed journals
Professional associations
Harvard Business Review
National Institutes of Health
Expert opinion
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H. Selye—stress
M. Seligman—happiness, learned helplessness
C. Dweck—praise
What’s credible?
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Personal experience
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raises questions
gives you background
helps you evaluate evidence
(does it fit your experience
or not?)
can motivate you
is anecdotal
How many sources?
+
• critical mass = 4 reliable sources
including one scholarly: peer-reviewed
or written by experts
for people with background
• rule of thumb: at least one source per page
Why document?
“Although one should not necessarily judge
an article by where it appears, there is a
pecking order in clinical medicine. The New
England Journal of Medicine and the Journal
of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
roosters” (Groopman, 2007, p. 215).
are the alpha roosters.”
in-text citation
reference list entry
Groopman, J. (2007). How doctors think.
New York: Houghton Mifflin.
00
Why document?
What is plagiarism?
Find the Plagiarism Policy in the syllabus
and jot down a short definition.
Be sure to quote any wording you take directly
from the policy.
Why document?
Is this plagiarism?
• Compare it to the original
• Does it fit your definition?
Plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s ideas and
work. Whether a student copies verbatim or simply
rephrases the ideas of another without properly
acknowledging the source, it is still plagiarism.
“Plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s ideas and
work. Whether a student copies verbatim or simply
rephrases the ideas of another without properly
acknowledging the source, it is still plagiarism”
(Kaplan University plagiarism policy, 2008).
Turnitin will help
Course Requirements
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practice
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Baseline essay (ungraded)
Topic Exploration paragraph (Unit 2)
List of sources (Unit 3)
Working Thesis (Unit 4)
Working outline (Unit 5)
5-paragraph draft (Unit 7)
3-5 page informative essay (Unit 8)
Informal presentation (Unit 9)
correct
citation
required
for credit
Look Over Sample Projects
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Final product—
3-5 page informative essay — pp. 136-142
Assignments build toward essay—
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List of sources
Working outline
Draft
models available in your text
and on eCollege platform
Where to Get Help
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http:/word-crafter.net/CompI
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Assignments
Syllabus
Subject-specific resources
Grammar help
Academic Success Center (ASC)
Library
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In person
Email: agress@kaplan.edu
3: Writing is a process
True or False?
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There is one right way to write.
Good writers don’t need to revise much.
Only people who love writing write well.
Comp I will destroy my GPA.
My beliefs about writing can make me smarter.
Myth:
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There is one right way to write.
Reality:
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The writing process is anything a writer
does from the time the idea came until
the piece is completed or abandoned.
There is no particular order.
—Donald Graves,
writing researcher
Writing Process
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Get ideas
Get them down
Revise them
Polish/publish
Take time to plan
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“Those who focus on form before generating
ideas find it _______
more difficult to develop the body
of their papers” (Hillocks, 1986).
Hillocks, G. (1986). Research on written composition: New directions for teaching.
Urbana, IL: National Conference on Research in English.
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“Experienced writers spend up
to _____%
of their time
40
planning” (Davis, 2005, p. 15).
Davis, K. W. (2005). The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course
in Business Writing and Communication.
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Polish after you draft
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“Writers who try to catch every mistake
as they draft can give themselves writer’s
block” (Russell, 2005).
Russell, M. (2005). The assumptions we make: How learners and teachers
understand writing. Retrieved November 3, 2005, from National Center
for Adult Learning and Literacy Web site: http://www.ncsall.net/
?id=336
Is this good writing?
Who created that draft?
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A Kaplan student who’s retaking Comp I
A returning student whose last comp
class was 10 years ago
A Newbery-winning author
Reality
You have to get the bulk of it down, and then
you start to refine it. You have to put down
less-than-marvelous material just to keep
going, whatever you think the end is going to
be, which may be something else altogether
by the time you get there.
—Larry Gelbart,
M.A.S.H writer
Myth
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If writing makes me anxious,
I must be a bad writer.
Are you this anxious?
Anne Lamott describes writing restaurant reviews:
I'd write a first draft that was. . . . so
long and incoherent and hideous that for the rest
of the day I'd obsess about getting creamed by a car before
I could write a decent second draft.
I'd worry that people would read what I'd written
and believe that the accident had really been a
suicide, that I had panicked because my talent was
waning and my mind was shot.
—Bird by Bird
Writing takes effort
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In studies of writers, which variable do you
think made the biggest difference in quality?
Whether they knew what they wanted
to say
Whether they believed they were good writers
How much they liked to write
How much they revised
Myth
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If I think I’m a bad writer, I can’t pass
this course.
Reality
mostly Cs
Ds and Fs
Bs and As
Normal Bell Curve
Ds and Fs
Bs and As
A few Cs
Comp Curve
(inverted Bell Curve)
Absences :: Grades
Based on Comp I grades from March-October 2008.
No one who attended every class earned less than a B.
Everyone who earned an F missed at least 33% of class.
Absences :: Grades
420 pts.
The Wizard of Oz
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
The diploma
doesn’t make
you smarter.
It’s the work
you do to get
the diploma.
Reality:
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Your beliefs about writing
can make you smarter.
How do I know?

In a study by Carol Dweck, 4th-graders “were
given unsolvable problems followed by
solvable ones. Once the ‘helpless students’
failed, their strategies deteriorated down to
_____ grade level; whereas, the "masteryoriented students" stayed at 4th grade level
despite failures. They rolled up their sleeves
and worked harder. The crucial element was
whether the student saw the failure as having
to do with ability or effort.”
How to Succeed
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Be here
Find a topic you like
Follow the rubrics for each assignment
Read feedback
Keep up with assignments
Revise
Back up your work
Avoid the “Comp is hard” trap
Hairston
(1981)
Connors &
Lunsford
(1988 )
Kantz &
Yates
(1994 )
Beason
(2001)
References
Beason, L. (2001). Ethos and error: How business people react to errors. Retrieved from
http:// www.ic.arizona.edu/~profcomm/course/readings/PDFs/Errors.pdf
Connors, R.,& Lunsford, A. (1988). Frequency of formal errors in current college writing, or Ma and Pa Kettle do research.
College Composition and Communication, 39, 395-409.
Hairston, M. (1981). Not all errors are created equal. College English, 43, 794-806.
Kantz, M., & Yates, R. (1994). Whose judgments? A survey of faculty responses to common and highly irritating writing errors.
Paper presented at the ifth Annual Conference of the NCTE Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar, Illinois State
University, Normal, IL. Retrieved from http://www.ateg.org/conferences/c5/kantz.htm
Connors and Lunsford (1986) found an average of
• 9.53 errors per essay
• 2.26 mistakes per 100 words
Connors, A., & Lunsford, R. (1986). Frequency of formal
errors in current college writing, or Ma and Pa Kettle do
research. College Composition and Communication, 39,
395–409, Retrieved July 19, 2006, from
http://www.english.lsu.edu/
dept/programs/ugrad/firstyear/articles/makettle.pdf
What’s a good topic?
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Something you care about
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Something that’s researchable
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Enough to be interested
Not so much you can’t be objective
Time limits
Available information
Something you’re comfortable sharing
Something that’s informative
Something that can contribute new insights
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E.g., not