English 101, M. Hoskinson, 0929
office - 3105 1-3T and W, 10-11Th, and every day online
Contact me through moodle email. If that doesn't work, try
HOSKINML@piercecollege.edu or hoskinml@yahoo.com
You can leave a message at (818)710-4102.
PRIMIS - COLLEGE READING AND COMPOSITION. McGraw-Hill, 2008.
0390855049
Bullock/Weinberg - THE LITTLE SEAGULL HANDBOOK. Norton, 2011.
9780393911510(pbk)
This class is college level reading and writing (4 in class essays, 2 out of class,
term paper, final). Students also write a term paper of about 3500-4000 words; before
posting the term paper, students must provide first notes, abstract, sample works cited,
full notes, and rough draft. The notes and rough draft, as well as the 5 in-class essays are
in class. All of the rest of the course is online.
To make sure that you are credited for all of your essays and papers, take the precaution
of sending them to your own email as well as on moodle; it is also wise to put them on
flash drive. Remember that electronic communication, though highly effective, can fail.
If you send something to me and do not get a reply within a couple of days, assume that
the material is lost and send it again. Do not ever have just one copy of your work. Do
not assume that I am not going to grade your work; I will always grade your work.
BE SURE THAT YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN DISCUSSION REGULARLY (at
least 3 times each week). DOING SO IS A PART OF YOUR GRADE. You cannot
receive a grade for any essay or the term paper unless you have posted discussion.
Discussion questions are at the bottom of this page and on the class Moodle site.
Remember that you are expected to spend as much time working on an online course as
you would a standard one. According to Carnegie rules, students are expected to spend a
minimum of 2 hours at home for every hour spent in class, which means that you should
be spending at least 9 hours each week on this class.
If you want to rewrite your essay, please use bold or italics to show where you have made
corrections. You may rewrite any essay within a week of its return to you. To view
marks that I use in correcting essays, go to Editing Marks. When essays are satisfactorily
rewritten, they will be raised 1 step - for example C+ to B-. The essay grades are numbers
because that is what Moodle uses - 4-6=C, 7-9=B, 10-12=A. If any of your essays are
graded 4 or lower, please use some of the many writing helps on campus and/or talk to
me. I will give you letter grades as well, so that you do not panic when you see the
numbers, which are not percentages.
You will write in class (for which read and post discussion for selections in
Primis pp 1-22 for McGarvey, Murray, Saki, Thurber, Angelou), (Primis 3159, Arnold, Auden, Browning, Camus, Carroll, Woolf, Austen, (Primis 62-87,
Carson, Eliot, Frost, Gilman, Glaspell), (Primis 98-131, Hawking, Cole, Keller,
King, Kubler-Ross, Marquis, Moore, Nash) (500 words each). The final will
be just like an in class essay. Notice that the final is on a Thurs. You will write
about Primis 133-150, Wollstonecraft, Stanton, Sagan, Sanger, Stevens, Vidal.
Remember to post 3 discussions for each week. You may choose the selections
to discuss, and the 3 posts may be all about 1 selection or about several
selections. Remember that you must post discussion before writing the essay.
You will need to be able to access Moodle and to use email.
We will read Hillerman’s A THIEF OF TIME, with the essay discussing
characters or culture comparison (please continue to answer discussion
questions). For the second out of class essay, each student will make a report on
a book relevant to that person's term paper. Your discussion for these weeks
will be your responses to the book you are reading. The out of class essays
should be 800 words.
For an interesting site on Hillerman's work, see http://www.tonyhillermanbooks.com/.
Hillerman won the Kirsch award for lifetime achievement.
The term paper, 10 typewritten pages, with full references in MLA format (see
Rodrigues/Tuman) is due 11/25; you may choose topics in the fields of
environmental studies, literature, social problems, health. Please do not choose
a religion or anything about which you know the only answer as your subject.
For dates, see moodle.
YOU MUST SHOW ME YOUR WORK DURING THESE SESSIONS OR
PRIOR TO THEM OR YOUR PAPER IS UNACCEPTABLE. THE PAPER
MUST BE IN MLA FORMAT.
Here is a link to my term paper FAQ's. Your discussion at this point should
refer to your paper and format problems; it may also concern concepts that are
mentioned in the FAQ's.
Here is a link to UC Berkeley' guidelines about evaluating online sources.
Remember that you must use both written and online sources for your term paper.
Furthermore, just as I will not grade an essay before you have presented discussion, I will
not grade a term paper without seeing the preliminaries. For help with your research, you
can take Library Sci. 102.
Essays will be graded for thought content, fullness of support of ideas or
arguments, grammatical accuracy, imagination. Plagiarism is a serious fault
and will be considered a basis for a fail in the class. Essays may be revised (see
Editing Marks). Please show your editing by using bold or italics. You may
sometimes need to rewrite a whole paragraph, but you should not rewrite the
whole essay. Rewrites are due with 1 week of the return of the essay.
Rewritten essays will go up 1 step when all corrections are made.
One grade will be dropped. If you are missing more than one essay by the end
of the term, the missing essay(s) will count against you. The term paper and
the final each equal 3 essays. You must participate in class discussion at least 3
times a week. Discussion participation is a part of your grade. You must
maintain a C average in writing done in class in order to pass the class.
I will take attendance for the first 2 weeks only. After that point, attending or
dropping the class is your responsibility. However, if you have not submitted
your notes, abstract, sample works and rough draft by the date on the moodle
page, I will drop you. I take attendance by your discussions; if you contribute to
discussions, you are attending the class. If you do not contribute to discussions,
your grade will be lowered, regardless of your recorded grades.
Discussion questions/comments – Primis, College Reading and Composition –
Use these in addition to the questions in Primis to help you create comments for
the week’s discussion.
McGarvey
1. Notice the irony of the fact that McGarvey and his class were caught up in the
mystique of TV while protesting against its emptiness and lies.
2. Consider the use of language in this essay – what effective language is used? How
does the use of vivid language affect the essay?
3. What caused the ego boost McGarvey talks of in paragraphs 28-30? How does
TV affect people in this way?
Murray
1. What is the most helpful advice that Murray gives? How is it like or unlike the
advice of others?
2. Consider Murray’s comment about detachment. What devices does he use to
help you the student develop detachment so that you can work through many
drafts of a paper?
3. Murray uses figurative language in paragraph 12 to describe the process of
editing. How effective is his use of language in that paragraph?
4. Murray’s advice seems to agree with the comment from mystery writer Margery
Allingham about her process of writing that she writes it first to get the idea
down, then makes everything precise, and last to make it seem as if she has just
thought of it.
5. Does knowing how much trouble most published writers take with their writing
help you to work with your own writing?
Saki
1. Consider what the sister says of Framton Nuttel.
2. Consider the name “Framton Nuttel.” How is it reflective of his personality?
3. Consider the use of language to heighten the suspense of the story and to give the
characters greater credibility.
4. Is there a delusion that “total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for
the least detail of one’s ailments and infirmities”?
Thurber
1. The fact that Thurber did have a vision problem as a result of an injury by an
arrow during a game of William Tell with his brother makes the difficulties in his
botany class more understandable. In modern times, teachers would generally be
more understanding about such a disability; in his time, they generally were not.
2. Consider Thurber’s reaction to his teacher’s comment that the class was
concerned only with mechanics of flowers.
3. How does the use of language affect the essay?
4. What do you consider the funniest situation Thurber presents? How does the use
of language make that situation funny?
Angelou
1. What differences do you notice between Angelou’s early life and the life of eighth
grade students today?
2. What effective descriptions show you the area and people Angelou is presenting?
3. What are the causes of the changes in Angelou’s feelings about graduation? How
are those feelings presented?
4. Consider the difference between her fear that she might die before her graduation
and distress of the graduation itself.