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ENGLISH
102
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First
Year Composition
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Line
# 50819/83660
Spring
1999
||Goals & Objectives||Texts||Requirements||Assignments||
||Grading||Policies||Printer's
Devil Contest||
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REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS:
Guide to Composition
1997-1998.
Ramage, John D, and
John C. Bean. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997.
A packet of readings
available from Uni-Print, 710 S. Forest Ave.
The syllabi policies
and procedures listed here are a supplement to the Guide to Composition.
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RECOMMENDED BOOKS
AND SUPPLIES:
a college-level dictionary,
a minimum of 2 new
3
1/2 inch disks,
disk storage case,
an
ASURITE account,
pen, pencil, and paper
stapler and staples
COURSE
DESCRIPTION:
As writers write,
they need a set of strategies to move from thinking about a paper to polishing
a final draft÷strategies that vary depending on the nature of the
writing task and its audience. This course will help you explore
and practice a variety of such strategies as you draft, revise, and edit
different pieces of writing. Since each writer's needs are unique,
this course will provide lots of individual attention and feedback from
me as well as from other students in class. I also encourage you
to seek reactions to your ideas and drafts from people outside of this
course. In addition to family and friends, consider soliciting advice
from tutors in the Writing Center
(3rd
floor, B-wing of LL).
This course is based
on the belief that the only way to become a good writer is to write, write,
and write, with good doses of reading and revising thrown in for good measure.
Writing sharpens thought and can help us make better sense of our personal,
political, and academic experiences. And, it can be fun. To write
better we need to understand the strategies and techniques of writing.
In this course we will focus on our writing processes, paying attention
to our composition and revision strategies. Because writing is closely
linked with reading, we will read and discuss essays throughout this course.
Try to be open to new ideas, new writing strategies, and new arguments.
By appreciating the writing of others we, in turn, discover and develop
our own writing strategies. I expect your informed and thoughtful
participation in our class discussions, and I expect you to come to each
class prepared and ready to contribute. This will be a challenging
course. In order to succeed, you will need to keep up with the various
reading and writing assignments, and to participate in class discussions.
My goal in this course
is to help you become better writers and to show you that writing can be
as challenging, rewarding, and frustrating as it is fun. In class, we will
read, consider, write, discuss, rewrite, think, share thoughts, ask questions,
celebrate, discover, experiment, and refine. For all of these things
to happen we need to create a comfortable, constructive, yet critical atmosphere.
The most important ingredient in making this class a success is community.
I hope we can establish an environment that will allow you to write in
your own voice, but will promote learning and growth. To make this
course a success we all need to make a concerted and consistent effort.
The more we put into this course, the greater the rewards will be÷in
our writing, in other courses, and in the non-academic world.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance
and Participation:
Because so much
of your learning will take place in class,
you must attend on a regular basis to receive credit for this course.
If you miss more than four class meetings, you cannot pass this course.
Note: ãAttendanceä means being present, on time, and
prepared for the entire class period. At the end of each class period,
I will award you credit for participation: a minus (-) if you were absent,
a zero (0) if you showed up but didn't contribute positively, and a plus
(+) if you were there the whole class period and contributed positively.
A student who is chronically late to class, leaves early, or is not prepared
to participate in the day's class work will not receive attendance and
participation credit.
To accommodate students
who participate in university-sanctioned activities, the
Composition Program offers sections of this course at various times
of the day and week. We have asked advisors across campus to help
students enroll in appropriate sections. If you think that this course
may conflict with a university-sanctioned activity in which you are involved÷athletics
or the debate team or whatever--please see me after class today. While
transferring to another section may be the only viable option, let's discuss
the possibilities.
Classroom
Protocol:
We will spend much
of our class time in computer-mediated discussions and workshops.
A portion of some classes may also include oral reports and lecture.
Regardless of the class format, you are expected to be prepared, to listen,
and to participate in an appropriate fashion. Off task "surfing,"
emailing, talking, writing, or reading will not be tolerated.
Withdrawals:
I want to underscore
the published deadlines for dropping courses. The deadline for
unrestricted withdrawal from any course you have enrolled in for this
semester is February 12th. The deadline for restricted withdrawal---meaning
that the teacher of the course you wish to drop must indicate that you
currently have a passing grade in that course---is April 2nd.
While I am optimistic
that you will not elect to drop English 102 or another course on your schedule,
it is important that you pay attention to these deadlines. The better
informed you are about the options available to you as a student at ASU,
the more likely you are to succeed academically. If you feel that
you would benefit from additional support in reading, writing, math, philosophy,
or another area of your academic life, please make an appointment to see
me during office hours so that I can provide you with information about
services available to you at ASU.
Conferences:
During the semester,
regular class periods will be canceled on occasion to hold mandatory writing
conferences. If you miss a conference, you will be counted absent for the
same number of classes that were canceled in order to hold conferences.
For instance, if we cancel class for two days one week to hold conferences
and you miss your conference that "counts" as two absences.
Course Work:
You must come to
each class prepared to write, to share your drafts with others, and to
revise what you have already written. This means you must work steadily
both in class and on your own. Time management is an important element
in writing and, thus, an important concern for you in this course.
Essay Format:
All final drafts
of essays must be typed or computer printed and double spaced. Place
your name, my name, course title, date, and title of the essay at the top
of the first page. Be sure to number each page and to staple all
the pages together. All other assignments may be handwritten. If
youâre not sure if a particular assignment needs to be typed, be
sure to ask me. Itâs better to know for certain than to assume
and find yourself having to type something later.
Academic/critical
essays:
We will be writing
critical, academic essays this semester---essays
that present some sort of an argument and that try to persuade readers
to "see it the writer's way." To help you better understand what
Iâm asking you to do in these essays, keep the following in mind:
The critical/ academic essay
grapples with ideas
and complexities, rather than presenting untheorized information, experiences,
details;
weaves together multiple
texts, playing them off of one another and working with them rather than
pasting them into a paper;
is claim-driven---makes
a point/claims; has a purposeful trajectory. though not necessarily presenting
a single assertion or argumentative stand;
may or may not contain
personal experience÷the choice is the writerâs.
Portfolio:
Keep all your writing
for this course, including in-class and out-of-class working notes, drafts,
revisions, final drafts, reader response answers, and journal entries.
At the end of the semester, you will review your portfolio to analyze and
evaluate
your progress. You must submit your work in a self-addressed, stamped
envelope so that your materials can be mailed to you after the semesterâs
end. Storing these documents is not an option. Mailing your
work to you assures you that you will receive your work quickly and safely.
Disposition of
Papers:
Students should
keep their own papers. Among other things, any student who appeals
a course grade will need to submit copies of all graded course papers with
the appeal.
Plagiarism:
To plagiarize is
to present as your own any work that is not exclusively your own. Plagiarism
of all or a portion of any assignment will be strictly penalized.
See the Guide to Composition for more information on plagiarism.
Revising:
Revision will be
a major part of the work that you do in the course. After I have
evaluated "final" versions of papers, you may revise some of them further.
We will need to discuss options for revising papers. You need to
do any such revising within two weeks of my returning your paper.
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Grading:
4
Essays
40%
Portfolio
& Portfolio Analysis
25%
In-class
Work
15%
Attendance
& Participation
10%
Note: Essays
not turned in for evaluation on their due dates will be marked "late" and
downgraded one letter grade for each week day late. Essays
that are more than one week late will not receive a passing grade.
Late in-class and take-home assignments will not be accepted for credit.
Grading Scale:
Grades on individual assignments are computed according to the following
scale.
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A = 4.0
A- = 3.7
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B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
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B- = 2.7
C+ = 2.3
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C = 2.0
C- = 1.7
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D+ = 1.3
D = 1.0
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D - =.7
E = .3
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No Paper = 0
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(Note: There
is a marked difference between failing a paper and not turning one in.)
Since there are no
plus or minus final grades at ASU, the following scale will be used to
determine the final grade. A student will receive a final grade no lower
than the grade determined by the following formula:
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A = 3.5 -4.0 .
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B = 2.5-3.49
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C = 1.5-2.49
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D = .5-1.49
E = .49 and below
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Time Commitment:
You should plan
to spend two to three hours outside of class for every hour in class. Composition
classes require more time from students than many other classes do.
Note : In
order to pass this course, you must complete all the work in the course.
The Public Nature
of the Class Writing and Discussion:
Part of becoming
a good writer is learning to appreciate the ideas and criticisms of others,
and in this course our purpose is to come together as a community of writers.
Remember that you will often be expected to share your writing with others.
Avoid writing about things that you may not be prepared to subject to public
scrutiny or that you feel so strongly about that you are unwilling to listen
to perspectives other than your own. This does not mean that you
are not entitled to an opinion but that you adopt positions responsibly,
contemplating the possible effects on others. In particular, please do
not write about any criminal activity you have personal knowledge of÷as
a witness, as a victim, or as a perpetrator. This may seem like an odd
thing to caution you about, but if you were to write about such activity,
I may be legally required to report it to the authorities.
Printer's
Devil Writing Contest:
Students are encouraged
to submit their best writing to ãThe Printer's Devilä writing
contest. The contest is open to all students currently enrolled in First
Year Composition classes (WAC 101, English 101, 102, 102H, 105, 107, 108).
Categories for submission correspond with the various genres assigned in
your composition courses. Applications are available on the internet at
http://www.public.asu.edu/~gglau/printers_devil.htm
Disability Resources
for Students:
ASU complies with
all federal and state laws and regulations discrimination, including the
American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). If you are a student
who requires special accommodation for equal access to education at ASU,
please contact Disability Resources for Students at 965-1234. Please feel
free to discuss the special accommodations with the teacher.