ENG 1213 Composition II Syllabus

Fall 2009 - ONLINE

Course: ENG 1213  Principles of English Composition II                                                           3-0-3

Instructor: Kelli McBride             Office Information: Scott #109-8; PH: 405-382-9274   

E-mail: mailto:k.mcbride@sscok.edu    Class website: http://kellimcbride.com

Office Hours in Scott 109-8 (unless noted): Fall 2009 Teaching and Office Hours Schedule

Catalog Description: Principles of English Composition II is a continuation of Principles of English Composition I ENG 1113.  Study focuses on writing essays in various modes of exposition.  A research paper is a criterion for completion of the course.  Prerequisite: ENG 1113 with a grade of “C” or higher.  (Fall, Spring) OSRHE Matrix: E002

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Rationale:  This class stresses the components of scholarship: thinking, research, communicating, editing.  Students will write a minimum of four essays, demonstrating college level thinking and communications skills.

This course is required for all associate degrees.

Mission Statement: Seminole State College’s mission is to:

•        Offer courses, provide programs, and confer associate degrees as authorized by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

•        Enhance the capabilities of individuals to achieve their goals for personal development by providing quality learning experiences and services that respond to diverse individual and community needs in a changing global society

•        Prepare Students to continue their education beyond the two-year level, to train students for career and other educational opportunities, and to make available resources and services designed to benefit students and the community at large

General Education Outcomes:  SSC students are expected to achieve the following outcomes.  This course addresses the outcome bolded below:

•        Outcome 1: Demonstrate college level communication skills.

•        Outcome 2: Demonstrate an understanding and application of scientific principles.

•        Outcome 3: Demonstrate knowledge related to functioning in society.

•        Outcome 4: Demonstrate an understanding of the roles of history, culture and the arts within civilization.

Degree Program Outcomes: Program Outcomes for each SSC degree are available in the document, Degree Program Outcomes, available in the Assessment Office.

Course Outcomes:  Students in this course are expected to achieve the following Course Outcomes:

Gen. Ed. Outcome        Course Outcomes

Outcome 1

•        A:  Demonstrate an understanding of writing process -- original and analytical thinking, counter-arguments, thesis support and audience awareness

•        B:  Demonstrate an understanding of essay structure – thesis development, argument proportion and emphasis, logical order, smooth flow and synthesis of ideas, coherent and developed paragraphs, introduction and conclusion, persuasive argument strategy

•        C:  Demonstrate sentence skill – clarity, consistency and coherence through proper use of subordination, coordination, effective use of repetition and parallelism

•        D:  Demonstrate appreciation of language, word choice and tone – appropriately formal language, clear and concise meaning, strong verbs, precise nouns, euphony, word form mastery, appropriate tone, third-person

•        E:  Demonstrate basic grammar mechanics – standard punctuation and spelling, correct use of Modern Language Association Style

•        F:  Demonstrate, through testing and performance, an understanding of the requirements for academic honesty – ability to use formal research documentation, direct and indirect quotation, giving original sources proper credit in all cases

Objectives:

Course Outcomes       Objectives

A through E                 Draft and write papers to demonstrate a thorough understanding of analytical thinking, use of arguments, thesis development, audience, support, paragraphing, sentence skill, word choice, tone, euphony, diction, grammar and style.

F                                  Test on key components of attribution until successful.  Demonstrate a high regard for academic, scholarly respect for sources throughout all written assignments.

Course-embedded Assessment: The General Education Outcomes, Degree Program Outcomes, Course Outcomes, and Learning Objectives have been provided to inform students of the expectations for this course.  To determine if those expectations have been met, the College assesses each these outcomes.  Courses are evaluated through the course-embedded assessment process by using one or more of the following options*:  A: Pre- and Post-Tests; B:  Pre- and Post-Writing; C:  Performance; D:  Observations; E:  Rubrics; F:  Projects and Portfolios; G:  Classroom Response System; H:  Creative Assessment; I:  Any combination of A-H.  (*Updated May 2007) 

This class uses I: a combination of A and B. The Pre- and Post-Tests will focus on MLA documentation and plagiarism. The Pre- and Post-Writing will be student essays 1 and 4.

Teaching Methodology: In English 1213, the instructor will make various reading and writing assignments from textbooks, handouts, or other sources for class discussion.  Furthermore, the instructor will lecture while students take notes.  These presentations will focus on the knowledge and competencies that students will need to develop their writing skills.  The instructor will conduct and the students will participate in all formal class discussions, which are an integral part of this course.

The semester will cover 4 units. The teacher will provide a detailed outline in advance that covers the requirements and topics for each paper. The instructor will grade and return the draft. At the end of the semester, students will submit a final portfolio that revises two of these drafts for a final grade, plus a cover letter.

Software Requirements:

Students must have the free Adobe Acrobat reader installed to view PDF versions of files.

Students may submit assignments in the following formats ONLY:

• MS Word 2003 or 2007 (doc or docx formats)

• Rich Text File (RTF)

• OpenOffice files (OpenOffice is a free suite of programs similar to MS Office. They are compatible with MS Office, and I highly recommend the package)

Plain text, text pasted into email panes, MS Works, or any other software is not acceptable, and the teacher will not accept them.

Correspondence: All class correspondence from students must be done either using the SSC email account provided by the college to all students or the WebCT email interface (the two are NOT the same). Students can access their SSC account by going to the SSC home page at http://www.sscok.edu and clicking on the “Student Campus Access” button in the right-hand column. The college has provided instructions for accessing and using email. The WebCT email function is within the WebCT program. I will not accept any email from students other than these accounts, unless they can verify that their accounts do not work. If this is the case, I will temporarily allow them to use a second address until they resolve the problem. 

Late Assignments, Make-up Work, and Submitting Assignments:

I will accept no assignments late. This is in many ways a self-paced course.  You have due dates that you must meet.  The time-stamp on your submissions must be before the deadline date/time. Making sure you have your work done several hours before the deadline should give you time to work around technology problems that might arise.  If you wait until the last minute to submit an assignment, then you run the risk of missing the deadline.  If the technology problem is a campus issue, then that would give you a reasonable excuse.  If you do have a problem, you can always submit a print copy (put in the hanging file on my door). Students should make an appointment with me to discuss why the assignment is late.

To turn in work, students must use the assignment interface in WebCT and attach their files for all graded assignments.  This allows me to link the assignments and the gradebook together.  For discussion board posts, students must post to the board, but they must also submit their posts as an attachment under the specific discussion board assignment. Failing to do so will result in an F for the post, even if the student has posted to the board. Students do NOT need to submit attachments of their responses to other student posts.

After you submit an assignment, I will grade it and post the grade in the WebCT grade book but also in the Engrade.com gradebook. WebCT’s grade book is often buggy and very difficult to use. Instead, I use Engrade.com.  Students will be sent information on setting up a free account at the beginning of the semester.  The WebCT grade book will only be a place for students to see grades for individual assignments.

For major assignments, like essays, I will make comments on the papers, save this, and upload this in the assignment area for the essay.  Students can open this file to see comments. This file appears below the place where they attach their own files when submitting them to the teacher.

Students must log into the course and make contact with the instructor within 48 hours after the last day to enroll for that particular course, or they will be reported as a no-show.   In the first 2 weeks of class, I will assign various short homework assignments that will count as absences if not turned in on the due date. These absences will be reported to the VPAA’s office as a new effort in improving student retention. The class WebCT site, the Engrade gradebook, and an email message I send out during the first few days of class detail all of these assignments and their due dates.

Excuses that I will NOT accept for late work:

•        I had to work late and didn’t have time to work on my paper. You enrolled in this class knowing your own schedule. If you don’t have time to do the work, then you should not enroll in the class.

•        My kids had summer ball and I didn’t have the time. Solution: You enrolled in this class knowing your own schedule. If you don’t have time to do the work, then you should not enroll in the class.

•        I left it at home and can only access email at work or on campus. Solution: Carry all your work on a floppy disk or USB drive. You can print it at school before class, if necessary.

•        I didn’t understand the assignment. Solution: Make an appointment to discuss the assignment with me in my office, or email me.  Simply not turning in or attempting to write the essay is never an acceptable choice.

Evaluation Procedures

Grading Policy: The grade for each assignment will depend on coherent and organized use of grammar, mechanics, essay structure, rhetorical appeals, argument strategies, and other aspects of good writing as covered in each unit. Students who turn in all assignments on time will usually find enough practice and enough instruction that both their grades and their abilities will prove satisfactory.  Students earn points toward a final grade as follows:

A.      Units 1-4 Essays (20%): This grade is made up of the four essays you write over the course of the semester. Each essay will be worth 100 points. Every essay unit will have an accompanying assignment handout that details each essay. The emphasis of the class is on persuasion/argumentation, and each of these essays will focus on a different aspect: analysis, synthesis, summary, and evaluation.

B.      Portfolio (65%): You will choose 2 of the 4 essays you submitted throughout the semester to revise a second time. Only essays for which you received a grade are eligible for portfolio revision. You will also write a cover letter that argues for the grade you feel you have earned this semester and discusses the progress you have made as a writer/researcher. You will receive instructions at the end of the semester for assembling the portfolio.

C.      Class participation and homework (10%): Participation is a combination of attentiveness and contributions to classroom discussion. Homework covers a variety of assignments, including those to practice MLA documentation. Each assignment will vary in points. Students interact with each other on the discussion boards, posting replies to questions the teachers poses and then responding to other student posts.  The teacher will usually grade these at the end of the unit and post one grade for discussions for that unit rather than each post assignment. All assignments must be sent as attachments via the assignment interface in WebCT.

D.     Exams (5%): You will have several exams in this class. The pre- and post-tests will cover MLA and plagiarism information. The MLA pre-test counts as a 25 point grade, but the post-test is a 100 point exam that counts as your final exam. The Plagiarism Quiz counts as a 10-point grade. To prepare for the post-test, I may give smaller exams or quizzes throughout the semester. You will have notice of any exam, but quizzes may be take-home or pop-quizzes.  You must pass the plagiarism quiz with 100% to pass the class.

E.      Proper use of MLA style: Essays and other formal assignments will be evaluated in part on presentation and compliance with MLA style. The guidelines for your essays come from the “Essay Formatting Guide,” “Essay Checklist” and each essay handout. If you have problems formatting your essay in terms of margins, spacing, and headers, please go to the web site and download the MLA Template I’ve created (http://kellimcbride.com/eng1213.htm#template). It is a Microsoft Word document. If you are using another word processing program, I cannot guarantee that the file will work. You will receive up to a 10-point deduction for errors in essay formatting (outside of MLA documentation problems in parenthetical notation and the works cited page). Students can watch the MLA Power Point presentation available on the class web site (not WebCT). For those with slow Internet connections, a PDF and DOC version of the slides are also available.

F.       Each assignment handout will designate a page length requirement for the final essay.  For each quarter page that the essay is short, I may deduct 5 points from the final grade.

G.     Emailed work: As a backup to submitting your files in WebCT, students may also send me work attached to their email.  This is also what students should do if they are having difficulties with WebCT. Do this without asking me beforehand to avoid turning in work late.

Grading Scale:

•     A: ongoing, consistent, exemplary work. It is not a reward for work that is merely adequate or error free. An A paper in the course consistently meets virtually all of the criteria state above in an exemplary way, with only minor flaws or lapses.

•     B: ongoing, consistent, high-quality work that, however good it is, falls short of being "exemplary." Work that receives a B meets most of all of the criteria, but it may not do so consistently, or may contain frequent minor lapses, or a few major problems.

•     C: work that consistently fulfills assignments but in a way that "gets by." This work is neither exemplary nor necessarily interesting. It may be boring. It will meet some but not all of the criteria, but will probably not do so consistently.

•     D: performance that consistently suggests a minimal engagement with and mastery of the course's concepts and skills. Assignments or part of assignments may be missing, or may meet only a few of the stated criteria.

•     F: work that is done so poorly that the only possible conclusion is that a student has not learned or applied the concepts and skills of the course.

•     N/A: work not done at all, that does not have the required documentation (works cited page, parenthetical notation, quote minimum), fails to appropriately document outside sources (plagiarism), or does not have a rough draft (either turned in previously or accompanying final draft)

Required Texts:

Isaacs, Jessica, eds et al. The Power of Language/ The Language of Power. 2^nd ed. Boston: Pearson Custom, 2006.

Troyka, Lynn Quitman, and Douglas Hesse. QA Compact. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2007.

You can also access the online handbook from Bedford:  Diana Hacker’s Research and Documentation. However, I will only provide information and page numbers to the official handbook of our class, the Troyka and Hesse.

ADA Statement:  Under SSC policy and federal and state laws regarding Americans with Disabilities Act, students with documented disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations to ensure the student has an equal opportunity to perform in class.  Students who are in need of assistance in dealing with any special needs that affect their ability to deal with the physical and/or learning environment required in this course, or in the classroom setting, need to advise the instructor immediately after the first class.  It is the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor on the first day of class.

Tobacco and Food Policy:  Not applicable.

Academic Honesty:  The instructor and the instructor’s academic superiors have final authority over the grades given to students or the lowering of grades because of cheating or plagiarism.

Plagiarism:  As defined by Seminole State College, plagiarism is the use, without acknowledgement, of a person’s ideas and/or materials, either in whole or in part, to fulfill course assignments.  The purchase of any written material which is intended for presentations as one’s own work in partial fulfillment of a course assignment will also be considered an act of plagiarism.  Consequences of plagiarism will comply with those listed in the Seminole State College Handbook.

By formal definition, plagiarism is the use of someone else’s ideas or language, presenting such material as one’s own. If an interested, scholarly reader cannot distinguish which material is original and which material a writer took from another source, the result is plagiarism, regardless of whether the writer intended to deceive.

Civility:  College is a community of scholars.  College tradition demands a respect for others and their ideas.  For many students, college represents a vital step toward the opportunity for financial and intellectual independence.  Simply stated, rules for this class include the requirement that no one stand in the way of someone else trying to learn.  This requirement includes some specific rules:

•        Behave appropriately. Avoid language that might offend others.  Speak your ideas forcefully and with passion, but also with respect for others.

•        Take responsibility.  Don’t whine about any failures, and accept correction gracefully; it is intended to help. Remember that the responsibility for learning rests primarily on the student.  Learn for the sake of knowledge, not just to earn a grade.

•        Remember that the teacher’s office hours are for the use of the student.  Seek help, and ask questions whenever you are unsure about the course material.