COLLIN COLLEGE
COURSE SYLLABUS
English 1302
Course Number: ENGL 1302
Course Title: Composition II
Course Description: Intensive study of and practice in the strategies and techniques for
developing research-based expository and persuasive texts. Emphasis on effective
and ethical rhetorical inquiry, including primary and secondary research methods;
critical reading of verbal, visual, and multimedia texts; systematic evaluation,
synthesis, and documentation of information sources; and critical thinking about
evidence and conclusions. Lab required.
Course Credit Hours:
3
Lecture Hours:
3
Lab Hour:
1
Prerequisite: ENGL 1301
Student Learning Outcomes:
 State-mandated Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, students
will:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative research processes.
(Teamwork)
2. Develop ideas and synthesize primary and secondary sources within focused
academic arguments, including one or more research-based essays.
(Communication Skills)
3. Analyze, interpret, and evaluate a variety of texts for the ethical and logical uses
of evidence. (Critical Thinking)
4. Write in a style that clearly communicates meaning, builds credibility, and
inspires belief or action. (Communication Skills)
5. Apply the conventions of style manuals for specific academic disciplines (e.g.,
APA, CMS, MLA, etc.).

Additional Collin Outcome: Upon successful completion of this course,
students should be able to do the following:
1. Demonstrate personal responsibility through the ethical use of intellectual
property. (Personal Responsibility)
Withdrawal Policy: See the current Collin Registration Guide for last day to withdraw.
Collin College Academic Policies: See the current Collin Student Handbook
Americans with Disabilities Act Statement: Collin College will adhere to all applicable
federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing
reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal educational opportunity. It is
the student’s responsibility to contact the ACCESS office, SCC-D140 or 972.881.5898
(V/TTD: 972.881.5950) to arrange for appropriate accommodations. See the current
Collin Student Handbook for additional information.
INSTRUCTOR
INFORMATION
Instructor’s Name: Jennifer Jones
Office Number: TBD
Office Hours: By appointment only; Mondays and Wednesdays 12:30 – 1:30
Phone Number: (a college office phone number or instructional office phone number
preferred – publishing a personal phone number is not recommended)
Email: JenJones@collin.edu
Class Information: English 1302
Meeting times: MW
Location: RW1
Time: 11:30am – 12:45pm
Section Number: ENGL 1302 50146
Minimum Technology Requirement:
Computer with Internet access and ability to send emails and login to our class website; it
must also house appropriate writing software (i.e. compatible with Blackboard and
Microsoft Office Word).
Minimum Student Tech Skills:
Students are expected to be familiar with typing papers on a keyboard, surfing the Internet,
and other basic computer literacies
Netiquette Expectations:
Students are expected to send emails with clear subjects and appropriate signatures for
identification purposes; responses to emails should be expected within 48 hours during
weekdays; emails will rarely receive responses on weekends.
Course Resources:
Textbooks:
Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology by Laurie G. Kirszner & Stephen R. Mandell
ISBN: 978-1-4576-2237-3
Other Texts:
Anything published to our class Blackboard and Wiki.
Supplies:
 Three Ring Binder
 Flash drive
 A valid, working Collin College email account that you check every day
 Daily access to a computer and the internet – some readings may be found online
Attendance Policy:
Because each class period consists of a mixture of class discussion, group work and free
writing, your thoughtful, attentive, and active participation is essential (and will form a
portion of your grade). If you sleep, engage in non-class-related activities, or interfere with
your classmates' ability to learn you will be counted absent for that day. Be on time—
class starts promptly. Leaving early will count as an absence unless it has been
excused with appropriate documentation. There is no such thing as “partial
attendance”—students are either present for the entire course or they are absent.
Each student is allowed four (4) unexcused absences, no questions asked. Save them for
when you really need them. Your final grade will suffer a 10% reduction after 5
absences. After 9 absences, the student will fail the course. You are responsible for your
attendance. Notes from family members will Not be accepted as viable documentation to
excuse an absence. If you have any questions, see me for clarification.
Method of Evaluation:
Assignments will be composed of four formal essays, an online discussion board, and
response papers.
Essays 1-4
Lab
Response Papers/Discussion Board
Participation/Quizzes
Final Exam
40%
10%
20%
20%
10%
A = 90 — 100
B = 80 — 89
C = 70 — 79
D = 60 — 69
F = 59 or below with regular class attendance throughout the semester
Essay 1: Writing a Rhetorical Analysis of a Film (10%)
Essay 2: Classical Argument (10%)
Essay 3: Persuasive Research Paper (10%)
Essay 4: Ethical Argument: Proposal for a Documentary Film (10%)
Participation/Quizzes/In-Class Assignments 20%
Participation may include class discussion activities, readiness for class, quizzes,
homework, attendance, or any other classroom activity. Attendance is mandatory and vital
to your grade. You cannot hope to pass the class without attending regularly. If a student
misses more than four classes, a deduction will be applied to the student’s participation
grade, and students can fail for the semester if they miss the equivalent of three class
weeks (attendance is an important part of your grade, so please do not underestimate the
attendance policy). Absences are considered to be unauthorized unless officially sanctioned
by the college. Students must present proof of the incident before an excuse will be issued.
If, through a misfortune, a student should arrive after roll has been recorded, it is the
student’s responsibility to talk with me immediately after class in order to discuss changing
the unauthorized absence to a tardy. If the problem is serious enough to miss a significant
amount of class, then the student should consider dropping the course or speaking with the
college or appropriate dean.
Response Essays/Discussion Boards (20%)
Response Essays will be required throughout the semester. These are short essays (500750 words) that are designed to help you engage with a reading by speaking back to the
author from your own critical thinking, personal experience, values, and other
knowledge/research. These are usually blended responses whereby you may respond to
the author’s rhetorical strategies, your own agreement or disagreement with the author’s
ideas, and your personal response to the text. Think of your response as your analysis of
how the text tries to influence its readers rhetorically and how your wrestling with the text
has expanded and deepened your thinking about its ideas. As you work with ideas from the
text, remember to use attributive tags, quotations marks for any quotes passages, and MLA
documentation to distinguish your own points about the text from the author’s ideas and
language.
Discussion Boards on Blackboard are a way to communicate with your peers and me about
the readings. You will be required to post your weekly response essay to the discussion
board and respond to at least one of your peers’ responses. Dates of Responses and DB’s
are listed on the Course Schedule.
Lab 10%
The lab component is an integral part of this writing course. Over the course of the
semester, you will need to complete a combination of typically two or three selections from
the list below. This lab work is not the same as regular daily coursework that you must
complete to stay on track in the class; it is, instead, designed as additional writing-focused
activities that will help improve your writing throughout the term.
During the semester, you will need to track and provide evidence of completing these lab
requirements outside of class (via the form provided on first day). The lab grade can be
earned by completing the following objectives (or list): attending writing center
workshops, conducting library research objectives or completing library workshops,
visiting the writing center for a tutor session, and attending a college event and writing a
one page summary about it.
The purpose of the lab component is to gain feedback about your writing and scholarship
from outside our classroom. Completing writing center and library workshops is the
easiest way to earn high marks on the lab grade. Students should at least attend one writing
center workshop and one library workshop/objective to pass the lab.
Opportunities to complete these assignments will be presented throughout the semester.
The Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Conference is a great way to earn quite a few points
on this grade (see class schedule for details). Grade breakdown for the lab follows: writing
center workshops 10% each, library workshop or objective 10% each, writing center visit
5% each, summary of an event 5% each, conference presentation 50% each, and
conference session summary 10% each.
Rewrite Policy:
Revision is a major part of the writing process. As such, all major writing assignments, with
the exception of the final writing assignment, may be rewritten once for full credit and
submitted as a hardcopy. Please speak with me after assignments are returned to discuss
rewriting for a higher grade. Please note that a rewrite does not equal a higher grade.
Late Policy:
I do not accept late papers. Major essays that are not submitted by the due date will receive
a “0” for the final grade.
Email/Phone Policy:
Email is the preferred method of contacting me outside of my office hours. With the
exception of weekends, I will respond to emails within 48 hours. The only email address I
can respond to is your Collin College email, so please make sure you are using this account
when inquiring about private student matters (i.e. grades, attendance, etc). I will only
answer my office phone during my office hours. I will not return student phone calls for
privacy and security reasons.
Grading/Return Policy:
My policy is generally to return major grades at least two weeks after the assignment has
been submitted, not including assignments accepted after the deadline or works to be
rewritten. On rare occasions, there may be an exception to this return policy, but I will alert
students immediately if such an occasion occurs. If you have not received an assignment by
the two-week deadline, it is your responsibility to contact me with your concerns. It is
sometimes the case that students have missed days when papers were returned or have
missed an email indicating a change in the return date. A quick
email or conversation with me can easily clarify the matter, so please don’t hesitate to
contact me with your concerns.
Note: students are responsible for learning how to retrieve their grades and comments
from Blackboard; I am not responsible for returning major grades by email or in person.
Classroom Conduct:
I expect all students to be respectful of me and their classmates while attending one of my
class sessions. As such, students should act civilly in my class and abide by the behavioral
rules stipulate by Collin College in their student handbook. Failure to do so might result in
being asked to leave the room. Cell phones, laptop computers, and other devices, if not
being used for the class, may count as a distraction and may be viewed as disrespectful to
your classmates and myself. Anything deemed as an unnecessary distraction can also be
grounds for dismissal. Please be considerate of others when attending one of my classes.
Hybrid Course Requirements
This course makes use of an online learning component provided by the Blackboard
platform, accessible by logging into CougarWeb with the ID and password provided by the
college. Our Blackboard section will house readings, handouts, grade-book(s), an
assignment dropbox folder to submit essays, links to important websites and documents,
and the class syllabus. You are required to visit this site before every class to access the
schedule and check for important updates and announcements. You will submit major
essays and receive grades on them through this online platform and by using the
assignment dropbox feature. Criteria for grading and regulating essays are the same as
listed above. Assignments are due at 11:59PM on the day they are listed as due on the
syllabus.
The essay you submit is your official submission, meaning NO deletions or multiple
uploads, so only submit it if it is ready for my viewing.
Students are responsible for turning in assignments in an Office Word friendly format. If
you encounter legitimate technical problems (error in the system) submitting on
Blackboard preventing you from making the deadline, you are responsible for contacting
the help desk and copying the professor on the subsequent email chain as proof of the
problem. Leniency will only be granted if a legitimate error has occurred. I do NOT consider
being unfamiliar with Blackboard a legitimate excuse. All students are responsible for
learning to operate their instructional material and find the means to access Blackboard.
Course Calendar: Subject to Change: Changes will be uploaded to BB & Wiki
Major Assignment Due Dates
Essay 1: Rhetorical Analysis of a
Film
Essay 2: Classical
Argument/Position Paper
Essay 3: Persuasive Research
Paper
Essay 4: Multimodal Essay
Final Exam:
Rough Draft (for peer review)
Mon Sept 16
Final Draft Due
Wed Sept 21
Mon Oct 7
Wed Oct 12
Wed Nov 4
Mon Nov 9
Wed Nov 30
N/A
Dec 2
TBD
Course Schedule: Subject to Change
PA: Practical Argument
BB: Blackboard
Week 1
Monday Aug
24
M: Course Introduction; Review Syllabus and Course Schedule;
Read (for next class): PA Ch 1 “The Structure of Argument” pp. 3 – 28; pp. 44 – 46
“Education Impacts Work-Life Earnings”
Wednesday
Aug 26
W: Avoiding Plagiarism; MLA Style
Read (for TODAY): PA Ch 11 “Avoiding Plagiarism” pp. 351 - 358
“How to fight College Cheating” Hinman p. 371
“Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age” Gabriel p. 374
HW due Monday Aug 31: Response 1
Week 2
Monday
Aug 31
M: Response 1 Due – bring hard copy to class (stapled) and upload to BB by
11:59pm
PA Ch 2 pp. 53 – 73; Thinking and Reading Critically
MLA Style; Writing Introductions
Wed
Sept 2
W: PA Ch 3 “Decoding Visual Arguments” pp. 75 – 87;
Introduce Essay 1 and Weekly Responses
Excerpt from Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Rhetorical Analysis Form
Rhetorical Strategy Chart
Week 3
Mon
Sept 7
M:
NO CLASSES; LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
Wed
Sept 9
W: Due: Declaration of Documentary Film choice for Essay 1
PA Ch 4 “Writing a Rhetorical Analysis” pp. 89 - 102
Excerpt from Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Work on Rhetorical Strategy Chart
Weekly Response/Discussion Board
Week 4
Mon
Sept 14
M: PA Ch 10 “Documenting Sources” pp. 329 – 349
MLA Workshop
Wed
Sept 16
W: Essay #1 - Bring hard copy for peer review; Peer Review in class (See Syllabus for
policy on peer review)
Week 5
Mon
Sept 21
M: Essay #1 Due – Bring stapled hard copy to class - upload to BB by 11:59 pm
Writing Reflection
PA Ch 9 “Summarizing, Paraphrasing, Quoting, and Synthesizing Sources” pp. 313 – 327
Introduce Essay 2: Classical Argument
Wed
Sept 23
W: PA “The Allegory of the Cave” Plato pp. 755 - 760
Excerpt from Why Beauty Matters (2009)
Weekly Response/Discussion Board
Week 6
Mon
Sept 28
Wed
Sept 30
M: PA Ch 7 “Planning, Drafting, and Revising and Argumentative Essay” pp. 241 – 272
In-class assignment;
Weekly Response/Discussion Board
Due: Topic and Working Thesis for Essay 2
W: PA Ch 8 “Finding and Evaluating Sources” pp. 275 – 311
“Wikipedia: Academic Source” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Academic_use
Weekly Response/Discussion Board
Week 7
Mon
Oct 5
M: “From Ways of Seeing” John Berger (BB & Wiki)
Wed
Oct 7
W: Due: First Draft of Essay 2 for Peer review – hard copy in class
No Response – Work on Essay 2
Week 8
Mon
Oct 12
M: Due: Final Draft of Essay 2 – hard copy in class – upload to BB by 11:59 pm
Writing Reflection
Wed
Oct 14
W: : PA Ch 6 “Rogerian Argument, Toulman Logic and Oral Arguments” pp. 185 – 212
Introduce Essay 3: Persuasive Research Paper
Weekly Response/Discussion Board
Week 9
Mon
Oct 19
M: PA Ch 6 cont’ pp. 231 – 238; PA Ch 5 “Understanding Logic and Recognizing Logical
Fallacies” pp. 113 – 151
PA “Myth vs. Fact: The Dream Act” Marshall Fitz pp. 748 - 752
Wed
Oct 21
W: Due: Topic and Thesis for Essay 3
PA Ch 17 “Ethical Arguments” pp. 589 – 609
Excerpt from Blackfish (2013); Rhetorical Strategy Chart
Week 10
Mon
Oct 26
M: Ch 17 cont’
Excerpt from Blackfish (2013)
Group exercise
Wed
Oct 28
W: PA Ch 12 “Definition Arguments” pp. 397 – 413; pp. 414 – 416; pp. 421 – 422; pp. 428
– 429
Weekly Response/Discussion Board
Week 11
Mon
Nov 2
M: PA Ch 13 “Causal Arguments” pp. 439 – 456
W: Due: First Draft of Essay 3 – hard copy in class for peer review
Wed
Nov 4
Week 12
Mon
Nov 9
M: Due: Final Draft of Essay 3 – hard copy in class; upload to BB by 11:59 pm
Writing Reflection
Wed
Nov 11
W: PA Ch 14 “Evaluation Arguments” pp. 483 – 494
Introduce Essay 4
Weekly Response/Discussion Board
Week 13
Mon
Nov 16
M: PA Ch 16 “Argument by Analogy” pp. 559 - 587
Due: Topic and Thesis for Essay 4
Wed
Nov 18
W: PA Ch 15 “Proposal Arguments” pp. 517 – 521; pp. 535 - 538
In-Class Assignment
Weekly Response/Discussion Board
Week 14
Mon
Nov 23
M: In-Class Assignment/Group Work
Wed
Nov 25
W: In-Class Assignment/Group Work
Week 15
Mon
Nov 30
M: Peer Review First Draft of Essay #4: Bring a hard copy to class; See Peer
Review Policy
Wed
Dec 2
Week 16
Dec 7-11
W: Due – Final draft of Essay #4: (Upload to BB by 11:59 pm)
Writing Reflection
Finals Week: Date of Final Exam TBD