Syllabus
College Composition and Research: English 101
Course Description
An introduction to expository and argumentative writing, emphasizing reading, critical thinking, and analytical writing skills. Several short papers are assigned, with emphasis on the writing process. Prerequisite: Appropriate score on ACT, ASSET, Compass, SAT, or successful completion of DS 025 is required for initial placement. General education credit.
Text and Supplementary Materials
No specific textbook is required for this course.
- A hard-bound, 1 inch, three-ring binder for portfolio and tab dividers
- A notebook and folder for daily work and assignments
Student Learning Outcomes
Student Learning Objective
Upon successful completion of this course the student will be able to:
- Describe the assessment tool/s used to demonstrate each student learning outcome.
- Apply critical and analytical thinking to reading, writing, and speaking.
- Compose sound and effective sentences.
- Compose unified, coherent, and developed paragraphs.
- Utilize a recursive writing process to develop strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading.
- Produce rhetorically effective discourse for subject, audience, and purpose.
- Apply effective research and information literacy skills.
Course Outline
The following essays will be covered over the course of the semester:
- August 24-28: Pre-Writing Essay
- August 31-September 4: Narration Essay
- September 8-11: Narration Essay
- September 14-18: Editorial Essay
- September 21-25: Editorial Essay/Summary Essay
- September 28-Oct. 2: Summary Essay
- October 5-9: Summary/Response Essay
- October 12-16: Summary/Response Essay (Mid-Term Portfolio Check)
- October 19-23: Interview Essay
- October 26-30: Interview Essay
- November 2-6: Argumentative Essay
- November 9-13: Argumentative Essay
- November 16-20: Argumentative Essay
- November 23-24 (NO CLASS NOV. 25-27): Post-Write Essay
- November 30-December 4: Self-Reflective Essay
- December 8-11: Final Exam Week
- December 14-22: Final Exam Portfolio Presentations
Course Requirements
Points for each assignment based on a total of 1300 points:
- Pre-writing Essay (not figured in)
- Narration Essay: 100 points
- Editorial Essay: 100 points
- Summary Essay: 100 points
- Mid-term Portfolio Check: 100 points
- Summary/Response Essay: 100 points
- Interview Essay: 100 points
- Argument Essay: 150 points
- Post-Writing Essay: 100 points
- Self-reflective Essay: 100 points
- Second Drafts/Misc. Assignments (includes writing on demand pieces): 200 points
- Final Portfolio Check: 100 points
- Attendance: 50 point
The Post-Writing essay is a follow-up assignment for the Pre-Writing essay, which is given early in the semester.
Second drafts don’t magically turn into final drafts if you aren’t in class to turn in the final draft. A final draft that is submitted and is identical (or shows little evidence of revision) to the second draft will result in a failing grade (50%).
Emphasis in this course will be on the writing process. You will be asked to take a piece through this process: brainstorming, pre-writing/drafting, peer response, self-assessment, and revision. Peer response, instructor response, and self-assessment will help you in revising your work. You will be expected to write a polished draft of a paper EVERY week.
Other Important Housekeeping Matters
Each time you turn in a hard copy of your essay to me, you will also need to submit it to www.turnitin.com. Failure to submit a draft of an essay to Turnitin will result in failure of the assignment (0/20 for second draft and 50/100 for final draft). If you don’t submit the essay to Turnitin, I also won’t read it or give you feedback. You will receive one “freebie” for the semester. This means that if you forget ONE time to submit a draft to Turnitin, I will still give you full credit. This only applies to Turnitin, and you only get ONE “freebie.”
On the day a draft is due, you must submit the paper to Turnitin AND have a copy with you in class. Please get in the habit of remembering that you have TWO tasks to complete each time you submit a draft of a paper. If you can’t be in class the day an essay is due, you must email it to me by the time class starts in order to receive full credit on the essay (or you may send the essay with another student in the class or drop it by my office before class starts).
For papers that require documentation/citation, you must include parenthetical documentation as well as a Works Cited page. You must also provide me with the sources you used in the paper. If this is not done, I will not read the paper and you will receive a “0.”
Also, any papers requiring research must be completed in MLA format, NOT APA format. Failure to comply will result in no points on all research components of the scoring guide.
Please do NOT recycle a paper from a previous/current course. If you do, you will receive a “0” on the paper.
Dr. Jill Watkins
Email: jwatkins@chillicotheschools.org
Website: www.DrWatkinsCHS.com
Location: 2801 Hornet Road, Chillicothe, MO, United States
Phone: 660.646.0700
Twitter: @drwatkinschs