Winter 2013 Syllabus
Section: 02
Instructor: Joe Van Zutphen
Room: AC 1252
Office:
Humanities
Meeting Times: M/W 8:00 – 9:50 Phone: 606-1303
E-mail: Joe.VanZutphen@mhcc.edu
Homepage: http://vanzutphenwriting121.blogspot.com/
Office Hours: by appt.
Course Description:
This five-credit class is designed to help you write confidently
and competently in many of the writing situations you will encounter in other
classes and in your professional life. To accomplish this goal, we will
practice techniques such as the writing process, active reading, and
revision-focused writing throughout the quarter. When the quarter is over, you
may not be a master at writing, reading, or critical thinking—mastering these
skills represents a lifetime’s work—but if you work hard you will be a much
better writer, reader, and thinker at the end of the class than you were at the
beginning.
English 121 is a college level course: that is, students must
either be placed into this class or a
“C” or better in Writing 115 or
placement. Writing 121 cannot be taken concurrently with Writing 115 or Writing
122.
Course Objectives:
The English department has laid out the skills that students
should be able to perform at the end of each composition class. This list,
called Outcomes, appears on the class web page (http://vanzutphenwriting121.blogspot.com/). If you look under the
column headed “English 101 Outcomes,” you will see the writing, reading, and
research tasks that successful students will be able to perform by the end of this
class.
Instructional Methods
Used:
English 101 is a class best taught by a combination of
instructional methods. The method students will encounter most frequently is
the class discussion, in which the teacher is not so much a lecturer as a
facilitator of student conversation. We will use class discussion to explore
the issues we will be writing about. Additionally, students will often evaluate
their writing or explore class concepts using small group discussions or
workshops. On a few occasions during the quarter I will give formal lectures,
particularly to explain grammar or citation concepts. Finally, and most
importantly, students will spend a good deal of time writing in class, both as
a tool for discovery, for assessment of student ability, and for practicing our
writing skills.
Course Requirements:
The bulk of the work for this class will involve reading twelve
or so challenging, college-level essays and articles, as well as writing
several essays, summaries, responses, and other writing assignments. More
specifically, you will write six essays over the course of the quarter, four of
which will be written as take home assignments over a period of roughly two
weeks each. The other two essays will be in-class writing exams which will
occur at midterm and during finals week. Each of these essay assignments will
be different, with different length requirements, structures, and topics,
though all will require that you analyze the topic critically and respond to it
with college-level writing.
In addition to your writing essays and tests, I will ask you to
practice your writing with shorter day-to-day assignments. Most of these
assignments will be short—summaries, reader responses, and the like—and you
will submit them for a quick “check-off” grade. For some assignments, I may ask
you to provide evidence of active reading or to fill out a brief grammar
exercise, but most of the day-to-day assignments will involve writing. Research
(and common sense) suggest that if you want to be a better writer you must
write, and these day-to-day assignments offer you an opportunity to practice
your skills.
Finally, because good writing depends so much on revision, I
will ask you to help one another revise essays by working in peer response
groups. These groups will meet several times during the class and you will be
graded on the quality of your participation in these groups.
Grading
As you can see by the grade scale below, your work is graded
more heavily at the end of the quarter than at the beginning. This is
deliberate. It really isn’t very important to me how strong (or weak) a writer
and reader you are at the beginning of the quarter; what matters to me is how
much you learn in this class and how competently you can write at the end.
Assignment
|
Points
|
|
Take-Home Essay 1
|
10
|
|
Take-Home Essay 2
|
10
|
|
10
|
||
Take-Home Essay 4
|
25
|
|
In-Class Exam 1
|
5
|
|
In-Class Exam 2
|
10
|
|
In-class writing and other homework
|
25
|
|
Peer response participation
|
5
|
|
Regarding the question of how these assignments will be graded, the end of this syllabus
contains a chart of my grading criteria for the essays and day-to-day
assignments. I will also post documents soon that describe these grading
criteria in greater detail. Your peer response participation grade will depend
on the quality and quantity of written comments and suggestions you make on
your classmates’ papers during peer response workshops.
All students have a
kind of “get out of jail free” card for the class: you can turn in any one assignment up to three days late
without incurring a grade penalty. There’s a little form to fill out and email
to me; you can find it on the class web page
( http://vanzutphenwriting121.blogspot.com/). Once you have used
this permission, though, any other late assignments you turn in will be lowered
by a full letter grade for every calendar day (not class day) that they are
late. Note that the permission slip is good for turning in a paper up to three
days late; papers later than this will receive severe grade penalties. Papers
are due at the start of
class and an assignment that is turned in later that day is
considered a day late. Please understand also that I will always grade
assignments which have been turned in on time before I will grade a late
assignment; therefore, if you turn in an assignment late, it will not be graded
as promptly. Finally, keep in mind that no late assignment may be turned in for
any reason after the last regular class day of the quarter.
I accept no assignments via e-mail.
I accept no assignments via e-mail.
Each assignment will be graded on a scale of 0-100,
corresponding to the following grade scale:
GRADING is based
on a percentage of points possible:
90-100%
= A
80-89% = B 70-79% = C 60-69%
= D under 60% = F
Texts and Materials
·
Required Text: Norton
Field Guide to Writing with Readings, 2nd ed. (Richard Bullock), ISBN
978039393381-9
Other Materials:
You will need to have access to a computer with a word processor
and an Internet connection. Don’t despair if you don’t own a computer: there
are many computer labs at Clark College for student use. While we’re on the subject, it’s a good idea to
save your work in two places, such as on a thumb drive and in an email account:
please back up your work frequently, as essays which are
erased/virus-infected/eaten by computers are your responsibility.
Finally, you’ll need some kind of paper notebook or folder for
day-to-day writing. A single spiral bound notebook should be fine.
CLASS POLICIES:
Attendance: Please come to
class and be on time. While I am happy to work with students who must miss a
class because of a genuine emergency, students simply will not do well in the
course if they make a habit of missing class. You only get one chance this
quarter to turn your work in late, and a good share of your final grade
corresponds to work you will be doing in class. Also, students are given credit
for peer response workshops only if they participate in the workshops during
class time. In short, you need to be here regularly if you want to do well. I
will be taking attendance to encourage your staying caught up with the
challenging class material. Students may miss up to five class days for any
reason; after that, each subsequent absence will lower the student’s overall
grade by 3%. Students who have missed more than ten class days will
automatically receive a final class grade of D or lower.
The only exception to these rules occurs in the first week of
the quarter. During that time, in accordance with English department policy, I
will drop any student who misses a class during the first two class meetings
and does not get in touch with me.
Class Courtesy: Having a safe and
civil atmosphere for learning depends on all of us. When we speak with one
another, especially when disagreeing, it is vital that we do so with mutual
respect. Students who are disruptive or abusive towards others may be asked to
leave the class. On a related note, it is both disruptive and rude to leave
your cell phone on in the classroom. Please turn it off when you come to class.
Plagiarism: Students who copy
the words or ideas of any other writer without acknowledging the original
author of those words or ideas are engaging in plagiarism. Plagiarism is
grounds for failing this course. One of the goals of this course is to
understand how to use information effectively and ethically in your writing.
Once those concepts have been introduced, any instances of plagiarism will
result in severe grade penalties for the student. In most cases, these
penalties lead to failure of the class.
Tentative Schedule
Date
|
Class Activities
|
What’s Due?
|
|
Week 1
(1/07- 1/09)
|
Introduction to the course; discussion of syllabus; discussion
of active reading and summaries; introduction to writing process. Essay
1 assigned.
|
Diagnostic Writing
|
|
Week 2
(1/14- 1/16)
|
Sentence grammar review; introduction to peer response; review
of paragraphing; discussion of common reading for essay 1. Peer response of
essay 1.
|
Essay 1
|
|
Week 3
( 1/24)
|
Review of comma usage; basic citation methods introduced; The
Aristotelian Rhetoric; discussion of revision strategies. Essay 2 assigned.
|
||
Week 4
(1/28- 1/30
|
The Rogerian argument; discussion of common readings for essay
2; peer response of essay 2.
|
Essay 2
|
|
Week 5
(2/4 - 2/6)
|
Essay 3 assigned. Discussion of
common readings for essay 3. Practice with impromptu writing.
|
In-Class Exam 1
|
|
Week 6
(2/11 - 2/13)
|
Discussion of common readings for essay 3; peer response for
essay 3. Practice with impromptu writing.
|
Essay 3
|
|
Week 7
(2/18 - 2/20)
|
Essay 4 assigned. Advanced citation
methods introduced; evaluating logic; Toulmin analysis. Discussion of common
readings for essay 4;
|
||
Week 8
(2/25 - 2/27)
|
Peer response for essay 4; discussion of logical fallacies;
discussion of writing style.
|
||
Week 9
(3/4 -3/6)
|
Discussion of common readings for essay 4; peer response for
essay 4; discussion of logical fallacies; discussion of writing style.
|
Essay 4
|
|
Week 10
(3/11 -3/13)
|
Review and final revisions; final practice on impromptu
writing
Final exam – in-class
|
Rewrite of essay 1,2, or 3; In-class exam 2
|
|
Week 11
(3/18 -3/20)
|
Final conference
|
||
Please note: while I have done my best to provide all necessary
information for the class here, this syllabus is subject to change. Also, many
assignments like specific readings, grammar exercises, and in-class writing
exercises do not appear on this schedule, as their scheduling depends on how
quickly or slowly the class proceeds. Please attend class and talk with me
regularly so that you will not be surprised by changes. I will provide a more
detailed day-by-day schedule for each essay; these schedules will supersede the
schedule given here. Note also that any changes to the syllabus will be
announced in the assignment sheets and made as changes to the syllabus on my
web page.
What Makes a Good
English 101 Essay?
Most students can read another
student’s essay and tell whether it is good or not so good. Just like teachers,
when you read a classmate’s work you get a first impression about whether the
essay is strong or weak. However, answering why an essay is strong or weak becomes more difficult. Though this
is a difficult question to answer when looking at a classmate’s essay, it is an
even tougher question to apply to your own writing.
What follows is a brief list of
qualities that make your writing strong. When looking at another student’s
writing or evaluating your own, think of the essay in these terms. If you ever
wonder why you received a certain grade on an essay in this class, the answer
has to do with the qualities listed below.
1. Focus: A well-focused essay speaks about one main topic, called the thesis, and does not stray from it. In the case of short 121 essays,
this main topic can often be identified in a single statement in the essay, called
the thesis statement. Even when there is no single
explicit thesis statement, however, the essay should be focused around a single
idea. The main topic of
the essay is not so broad that you cannot explore it fully in your paper; also,
it is not so narrow that you cannot develop it (for more on development, see
below). Though you may write an essay of many paragraphs with many different
arguments and pieces of evidence, everything in the essay should ultimately
support your main idea.
2. Development: An essay is well developed when every claim you make is
supported by evidence of some kind, as well as by a sound and logical argument.
This evidence should be appropriate to the argument you are making, relevant to
the case at hand, and reputable. In addition, a good writer uses logic that is
sound and well thought-out. A well-developed essay does not claim anything to
be true without offering evidence to show why or how it is true.
3. Audience Awareness: Good writers tailor their essays towards the needs of the
audience, or reader. For example, a good writer chooses a tone that does not
insult or talk down to the reader; similarly, good essays are written at a
level that the audience is likely to be able to comprehend. In other words, a writer
with good audience awareness writes in a style that is readable and which
sounds natural. In all communication, what we mean to say and what we actually
do say can be very different things; however, good writers work hard to
minimize this difference. A writer with good audience awareness also does not
make unfair assumptions about the reader’s gender, race, religion, class,
sexuality, or value system.
4. Organization: Strong essays are well organized into paragraphs. Each paragraph
focuses on a single idea—often this one idea can be conveyed in a single topic sentence—and displays a logical strategy for
conveying its information. Each paragraph should be unified by intelligent use
of transitions and key words. Similarly, a good writer uses transitions to link
paragraphs into a sequence. This sequence of paragraphs should be logical and
should serve to support the essay’s thesis.
5. Correctness: Strong essays display correct sentence grammar, punctuation,
sentence unity, agreement, syntax, and spelling. While it is normal for Writing 121 students to make grammatical mistakes once in a while, by the time you
finish this class you should have pretty strong control over sentence structure
and sentence form.
6. Research and
Citations: When it’s called for, students should
know how to find outside information to support their arguments. They should
also know how to cite this outside information correctly, giving proper credit
wherever another writer’s words or ideas are used.
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