SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
Generic Syllabus—do not print
English 201: Composition II
3 credits, Internet
Lisa Madsen, West Hall 121
office: 688-6002
hours:
email: Lisa.Madsen@sdstate.edu
home:
“The best service a book can render you is not to
impart truth, but to make you think it out for yourself.”
--Elbert Hubbard, The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard
I. COURSE DESCRIPTION
CATALOG DESCRIPTION
The South Dakota State University Bulletin Quarterly: Undergraduate Programs, 2011-2012 provides the
following overview of English 201: “Study of and practice in writing persuasive prose, with the aim to
improve writing skills in all disciplines” (263).
ADDITIONAL COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will provide instruction so that students can succeed at the following:
 Write with sincerity about a number of complex, relevant subjects.
 Employ rhetoric for vivid and effective expression.
 Demonstrate a clear command of formal, written Standard English.
 Demonstrate improving vocabulary.
 Evaluate one's own work as well as that of others.
 Recognize and analyze informal, contemporary usages of non-Standard English.
 Identify voices of diversity (cultural, racial, gender) and explain the importance of diversity in
language and literature.
 Conduct academic research to the University information literacy standard.
 Employ all of the above to THINK and WRITE CRITICALLY.
II. COURSE PREREQUISITES
PREVIOUS COURSES/EXPERIENCE
Students must pass English 101 before enrolling in English 201.
TECHNOLOGY SKILLS
To successfully complete the work for this course, students will need basic word processing skills as well
as library/technology research skills. Students will also need to navigate basic tools of D2L; manage,
upload, and download Word files; and correctly name and link websites into D2L.
III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS
 Pearson. Mercury Reader: A Custom Publication, 1st edition, 2011 (paperback)
 Lunsford. The St. Martin’s Handbook for South Dakota State University, 7th edition, 2011 (paperback)
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STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
Your work will, in part, involve careful inspection of the origins and meanings of words, so you will need a
current dictionary. Find one with etymologies.
IMPORTANT DATES
Instruction begins
Last day to drop or add
“W” grade begins
First half of term ends
Last day to drop a course
Final exams
SDSU LINKS
See your Course Home page SDSU Resources menu for University-level links for student support, etc. See
also the D2L Links in the gold navigation bar for sites you may want to use regularly to support the course.
COURSE DELIVERY
The entire course will run online, asynchronously--i.e., you will not have to be online at any particular
time, affording you greater scheduling freedom. Assignment deadlines are 11:55 p.m. on their given
days.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
LOG-IN REQUIREMENTS
Students should "attend" class by contributing to Discussion Questions (DQs) on a minimum of 3 days
each week, Monday-Thursday. A "contribution" is met by submitting either an “Initial” post or a
“Reply” to another student's posting. Note additionally that some Dropbox assignments may be due
on Sundays, but attendance is never required on weekends if said assignments are submitted early.
See more on DQs in the Course Outline. Missed deadlines and failure to meet DQ requirements will
result in a reduction of points at the end of the semester. Students must (required) read ALL
Discussions posts in DQs, Daily, and Student Questions Forums. Students must (required) read all
of MY posts throughout all of the Peer Reviews Forums and should (recommended) read all of the
document models in that forum as well.
MAKE-UP WORK
 University-approved absences must be addressed by the student in advance of the absence so
the best alternative plan may be implemented for the student and, as relevant, his or her group
members. Students must deliver trip cards in person to my office, during office hours (or via
appointment) and 1 week in advance of the absence.
 Unexcused make-up work for Discussion is not allowed.
 Unexcused make-up work for essays and other work is penalized 10% for every weekday late.
 Note that deadlines for coursework are very strict.
INSTRUCTOR AVAILABILITY
I check my D2L email and the course discussions daily on weekdays and on most weekend days. Please
contact me via D2L email (not my SDSU Outlook email) if you have an individual question, or use the
Discussions tool Student Questions Forum for questions that other students may also have.
INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE TIME
Students can expect a response to emails within 24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends and
holidays. Work will be evaluated, graded and returned within a week or less of deadlines.
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT PLAGIARISM POLICY: CONCERNING HONESTY IN ACADEMIC WRITING
“The English Department announces herewith that it will not tolerate plagiarism—representing another’s
work as one’s own—in any form. Students must abide by the principles governing academic research and
writing, the first and foremost of which is honesty. Students who willfully violate this principle will fail the
assignment and the course. They also will report to the Dean of Student Affairs and face possible
expulsion from the university.
Willful violation of this principle includes the following:
 Submitting another student’s essay or one that is essentially the same as another student’s
essay as your own. Both students will fail the assignment and the course.
 Submitting an essay that you have procured online or from a commercial supplier of essays.
 Incorporating material from sources—data, analysis, organization—without providing
appropriate documentation.
 Fabricating sources or information.”
IV. COURSE GOALS AND STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
SYSTEM GENERAL EDUCATION GOALS
Goal #1: “Students will write effectively and responsibly and will understand and interpret the written
expression of others.”
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. “Write using standard American English,
including correct punctuation, grammar, and
sentence structure.”
2. “Write logically.”
3. “Write persuasively, using a variety of
rhetorical strategies (e.g., expository,
argumentative, descriptive).”
4. “Incorporate formal research and
documentation into their writing, including
research obtained through modern,
technology-based research tools.”
MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
All assignments—essays and discussion
All assignments
All assignments, especially Essay 2
Essay 1 primarily, some discussion
Goal #7: “Students will recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, organize,
critically evaluate, and effectively use information from a variety of sources with intellectual integrity.”
While working on your research, you should make use of SDSU Briggs Library’s online review guide at
Information Evaluation (sdstate.edu/library > Research Assistance >Information Evaluation).
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. “Determine the extent of information needed.”
2. “Access the needed information effectively and
efficiently.”
3. “Evaluate information and its sources
critically.”
4. “Use [researched] information effectively to
accomplish a specific purpose.”
5. “Use information in an ethical and legal
manner.”
MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
Essay 1 and optionally Essay 3, all discussion
Essay 1 and optionally Essay 3
Essay 1 and optionally Essay 3
Essay 1 and optionally Essay 3
All assignments
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IDEA LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Gaining factual knowledge.
Learning to apply course material.
Developing creative capacities (writing, inventing, designing, performing in art, music, drama, etc.).
Developing skill in expressing myself orally or in writing.
Learning how to find and use resources for answering questions or solving problems.
Learning to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view.
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OBJECTIVES FOR MAJOR ESSAYS
Students will demonstrate skills in the following:
 Plan Your Essay
o Choose a subject and narrow it so that you can develop it sufficiently within the limits of
the assignment.
o Create a plausible, cogent argument—and explicit thesis—by fairly and thoroughly
exploring your subject and your audience’s assumptions about it.
 Organize Your Essay
o Sequence the points of your essay clearly, coherently, and persuasively—making
apparent to readers the logical progression of ideas both within and between
paragraphs and the relation of those ideas to your thesis.
o Begin and conclude your essay in engaging and thought-provoking ways.
 Support Your Essay
o Marshal details, examples, facts, and plausible conjectures to develop and to
substantiate your claims.
 Use Language Precisely, Correctly, and Effectively
o Seek out the appropriate word in a given context.
o Abide by grammatical rules and recognized standards of formal usage, but also
determine which occasions and contexts might warrant departing from such rules and
usage.
 Revise and Polish Your Essay
o Re-conceive and restructure the argument, and gather and deploy more effective
evidence;
o Edit and proofread.
As articulated in the English Department student guidelines for Advanced Composition, students should
enter this class with the ability to avoid such grammar/syntax errors as incorrect spelling, sentence
fragments, misplaced modifiers, faulty agreement, vague pronoun reference, mixed metaphors, faulty
parallelism, shifts in person or tense, and fused and run-on sentences. Therefore, we will not spend
extensive class time studying these prescriptive conventions. Use SMH to review as needed (noting “The
Top Twenty” most common errors guide on p. 1-12 as a starting point).
V. DESCRIPTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS
This course follows a reading, lecture (written), discussion, and application format. Methods of evaluation
will involve discussion forum contributions, group work, and drafting and revising essays. See Course
Outline for more details.
METHODS OF LEARNING
active reading and critical thinking
extensive writing and revising*
lecture (written)
discussion (written)
practice quizzes
collaboration on research
peer assessment
out-of-class analysis of formal and informal language
film and other media analysis
online information technology literacy review
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*Students should generate approximately 20 typed pages of discourse (as translated from the 5,000-word
English Department requirement), which you will account for through writing 3 major typed essays and
revised, edited discussion posts.
Course content reading and discussions will explore the fundamentals of classical rhetoric, critical
thinking, informal contemporary American languages, rhetoric of the public sphere, issues of diversity,
education, cultural influences on language (and language's influences on cultures), the electronic word,
general semantics, a variety of real-world samples of word usage, and/or other topics which arise during
the semester.
MAJOR ESSAYS
Dropbox: The course structure follows three major units with corresponding revised essays: research,
narrative, and exposition. Essay topics will draw from and relate to the above-described course content.
PEER REVIEWS
Discussion tool: To benefit from considering others’ points of view and evaluating peer writing, students
will conduct at least one peer review for each major essay. These will be structured around the Major
Elements of Writing (see D2L Content).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (DQs)
Discussion tool: To learn actively and demonstrate understanding of course content, students will
participate in online discussions to ask and answer questions of one another, explore core content areas,
analyze reading assignments, offer observations and analyses from your own experiences, write
collaboratively, and peer review essays.
NON-GRADED PRACTICE ITEMS
The St. Martin’s Handbook Online: Students should use the textbook companion site
(http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/smhandbook7e/#t_623495____) for self-guided, individual review and
practice. You will find examples and models that maintain a current, pragmatic and application-based (in
that you will be able to put our course material into practice) perspective. You will also find practice
quizzes associated with each unit and content area. For access, simply create a student account. Always
log in and enter my SDSU Outlook email address (lisa.madsen@sdstate.edu) if you take quizzes, just so I
have access to your optional practice efforts. These do not directly affect your grades, but of course, the
more you engage and practice, the more you learn.
VI. EVALUATION PROCEDURES
MAJOR CATEGORIES
Essay 1
VALUE
23%
Essay 2
21%
Essay 3
22%
Discussion Posting
22%
Discussion Reading
Peer Reviews
TOTALS
3%
9%
100%
POINTS
10
20
200
10
200
20
200
10
210
30
90
1000
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
Topic Proposal
Outline
Final Draft
Timeline
Final Draft
Outline
Final Draft
Personal Introduction Posting
DQs (14 weeks x 15 points per week)
All or nothing points at end of semester
30 points per essay
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PERFORMANCE STANDARDS/GRADING POLICY
The final letter grade allocations are as follows:
A
90-100%
B
80-89%
C
70-79%
D
60-69%
F
0-59%
MAJOR ESSAYS RUBRIC: ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STANDARDS
The grade of “A” (“exceptional”*) designates that an essay demonstrates the following:
 an excellent command of subject matter
 a clear explanation and synthesis of ideas
 independent thought
 thorough and persuasive substantiation of claims
 clear and effective organization
 precise, correct, and effective usage
 correct grammar and punctuation
 correct use of MLA format and documentation
The grade of “B” (“above average”) designates that an essay demonstrates the following:
 a reasonable command of subject matter
 a capacity for explanation and synthesis of ideas, though it is not fully realized
 a capacity for independent thought, though it is not fully realized
 sufficient substantiation of claims
 mostly clear and effective organization
 mostly precise, correct, and effective usage
 mostly correct grammar and punctuation
 mostly correct use of MLA format and documentation
The grade of “C” (“average”) designates that an essay demonstrates the following:
 an adequate command of subject matter
 some weakness or inconsistency in its explanation and synthesis of ideas
 relative absence of independent thought
 inconsistent substantiation of claims
 significant lapses in organization
 significant lapses in usage
 significant lapses in grammar and punctuation
 significant lapses in MLA format and documentation
The grade of “D” (“lowest passing grade”) designates that an essay demonstrates the following:
 an inadequate command of subject matter
 insufficient explanation and synthesis of ideas
 unexamined, clichéd thinking
 inadequate substantiation of claims
 poor, hard-to-follow organization
 numerous errors in usage
 numerous errors in grammar and punctuation
 numerous errors in MLA format and documentation
The grade of “F” (“failure”) designates that an essay demonstrates the following:
 a majority of the qualities of a “D” essay, but to a degree unacceptable in college-level writing
 a failure to follow or complete the assignment
* Terms quoted within parentheses appear in South Dakota State University General Catalog: 2011-2012
(23).
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VII. STUDENT SUPPORT
WINTRODE STUDENT SUCCESS CENTER
SDSU's Writing Center provides assistance in review of the fundamentals of grammar, structure, etc.
Located at the Wintrode Center, the Writing Center is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday-Thursday
and from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Friday. Call 688-6559 to schedule an appointment. Depending upon
availability of tutors, walk-ins are also welcome. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this free
service to students.
HILTON M. BRIGGS LIBRARY
Briggs Library offers a full range of assistance to students, both on campus and online (at
state.edu/library). The Briggs site includes a comprehensive list of guidelines for the University standards
for information literacy. The Briggs Library staff is an excellent resource for any research questions as well
as for especially difficult research tasks or for rare documents or information, with librarians available on
campus and online. Briggs also maintains an open, rotating schedule of sessions addressing both review
and specialized topics.
DISABILITY SERVICES
“Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should
contact Nancy Hartenoff-Crooks, Coordinator of Disability Services (605-688-4504 or Fax, 605-688-4987)
to privately discuss your specific needs. The Office of Disability Services is located in room 065 in the
University Student Union.” Academic Affairs, July 2011
FREEDOM IN LEARNING
“Students are responsible for learning the content of any course of study in which they are enrolled.
Under Board of Regents and University policy, student academic performance shall be evaluated solely on
an academic basis and students should be free to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in
any courses of study. Students who believe that an academic evaluation is unrelated to academic
standards but is related instead to judgment of their personal opinion or conduct should first contact the
instructor of the course. If the student remains unsatisfied, the student may contact the department head
and/or dean of the college which offers the class to initiate a review of the evaluation.” Academic Affairs,
March 2011