Policy Statement

ENG 103-                                                                              SP 2004                                  Cindy Fletcher

Office:  RB                                                                            Office Hours:    TBA

E-Mail:  [email protected]                                                  Mailbox:   RB

Office Phone:  285-                                                               Website:  http://www.geocities.com/cindyfletch857

 

Materials Needed:

Textbook:  Anker, Susan. Real Essays with Readings: Writing Projects for College, Work, and Everyday Life  ISBN 0-312-39915-4

Ball Point: The Handbook of the Ball State Writing Program, 1999-2000.

Pocket Portfolio

Two (2) Floppy Disks

Dictionary

Course  Rationale

This course is built on the assumption that good expository, academic prose develops out of a sustained process of revision. Such exposition engages in thoughtful conversations with a variety of subjects, reflecting personal points of view while taking into account the views of others. Thus, understanding the process of writing and revision is key to everything we will do in this class. I promise to revise my ways of thinking about you, about what we read, and about what you write.In turn, I will ask you to engage in a process of revision that calls into question what you think about teachers, what you think about reading, and what you think about writing. As a way of stimulating this process, I will give you challenging assignments that require revision and re-vision of your spoken and written responses. Because this is a revision-centered course, you are required to take an active part in peer groups, discussions, and conferences. 

I have designed this course with two purposes in mind: to introduce you to the requirements and conventions of college-level writing and critical thinking, and to make you an informed member of society. As you learn the techniques that you will need in order to succeed in your college course work, you will also be gaining the understanding necessary to be a contributing member of society.

Course Objectives & Goals
In this course, students should:      

• begin to understand the role language plays in society, particularly within the academic community;
• develop a facility for the critical thinking necessary for college work (especially the effective use of evidence and inference
• understand and practice basic methods of research, including skill in the use of a university research library; understand and practice a variety of forms of writing
• understand and practice the organizational concepts of focus and development in writing essays
• acquire habits of accuracy and clarity in composing sentences and paragraphs
• develop editing skills regarding grammar, mechanics, and usage appropriate to various contexts
  

Students in ENG 101/102 will: 

• read about and discuss the role of language and literacy in social institutions;
• study and practice the writing process (invention, drafting, revising);
• read and discuss a variety of writing forms
• study and practive basic rhetorical forms
• study and practive writing based on basic research procedures, particularly those practiced at Bracken Library
• study and practice sentence construction, including sentence types and/or patterns, subordination, and syntactic complexity

Course Requirements

A variety of instructional methods will be used in this class in an effort to create an intellectually stimulating learning atmosphere. These methods will include lectures, readings, active learning,in-class writings,discussions, and peer response. In this course, you will write:

• Six 2-4 PAGE ESSAYS (3 of which will be evaluated in your final portfolio).
  
• Responses to classroom discussions, discussion panels, and guest speakers to be posted on Blackboard.
• Collaborative writing assignments.  Teams comprised of four students each will create and write a two sided class newsletter (details to follow) to be shared with the class.
  
• Final essay

Grading Scale

COURSE POLICIES

Workshop Days : On the days when we are scheduled to workshop essays, you must come prepared with your typed draft in hand.  No excuses will be accepted. If you show up without a completed draft, you will be asked to leave and will be marked absent, and receive no participation points for that workshop. 

Discussion Responses:  The out-of-class response assignments will be informal writing, posted on Blackboard. They need not have a title. You will be asked to perform a variety of tasks with these responses. Essentially, the response assignments are designed to help you gain a better understanding of what you are discussing, and they will provide a basis from which to generate ideas for your more formal writing. For each response, I will ask for volunteers to open the discussion for the next class meeting. Everyone is expected to volunteer during the course of the term. Because I will be looking at overall quality of response, the responses will need to be much more than a simple summary of the information provided in the assigned reading. I will be looking at how well you engage with the material and make connections to class discussion, other reading, and personal experiences and/or observations.  

Due Dates:   All essays must be handed in and emailed to me by the beginning of class on the date due. Do not miss class on the date an essay/assignment is due and expect to either be able to email your assignment or put it in my box later that day—your paper will be assigned a 0. IF CLAUSES:  If you have to miss class, the essay/assignment must be turned before class time. If you know you will be gone when the paper is due, you may turn in the paper in advance. If you are gone due to a university-sponsored activity, your assignment must be turned in advance.   

Students— BE PREPARED!    Printers run out of ink and dogs eat papers. Anticipate potential problems and prepare accordingly, as penalties are strict for not turning your paper in on time.

Class Participation: Collaboration and small group work, along with class discussions, will be a primary activity in this class. Your participation in group work, workshops, and class discussion is mandatory. THIS IS NOT A LECTURE CLASS! Please come to class prepared for the planned activities. Such preparation includes having your reading done and responses posted on Blackboard, and having copies of your essays on workshop days. Participation includes, but is not limited to, consistent interaction (written AND verbal) during class time,appropriate classroom behavior, and compliance with the attendance policy. 

I have this idea (call me silly, if you will), that there is a direct correlation between success in the classroom and classroom attendance. You are expected to be in class and prepared to participate every day. However, since life sometimes gets in the way, you will be allowed 3 absences with no penalty (as a courtesy, please email me before class if you know you will be absent, as your presence or absence affects the entire class). Every absence after that will affect your grade. Department policy states that no student should miss more than 20% of classes. For this class that means missing more than 3 classes will result in failure of the course. Note: save your absences—I do not seek excuses for the first three absences, but neither do I for the fourth absence. Beginning with the fourth absence, your grade will go down.

Conferences: I will schedule two individual conferences with you during the term. These conferences are every bit as important as our class meetings, so your attendance is mandatory. Because research has shown that individual conferences often produce the greatest amount of learning, I encourage you to make even more time to meet with me during office hours. 

Ombudsperson (5-1545)

If you become extremely ill, have a death in the family, or are forced to miss classes for extenuating circumstances you can call the Student Ombudsperson’s office (5-1545).  This office will then contact all your instructors for you, informing them of the situation.

Special Needs
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please speak with me as soon as possible.

Academic Dishonesty:   The Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities (www.bsu.edu/sa/dean/stucode) clearly states that plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarism or violations of procedures prescribed to protect the integrity of an assignment include:

• Submitting an assignment purporting to be the student’s original work, which has been wholly or partly created by another person
• Presenting as one’s own work, ideas, representations or words of another person without customary and proper acknowledgement of sources
• Submitting as newly executed work, without faculty member’s prior knowledge and consent, one’s own work which has been previously presented for another class at Ball State University or elsewhere
• Knowingly permitting one’s work to be submitted by another person as if it were the submitter’s original work

My personal plagiarism policy is more strongly worded.  DON’T DO IT!!  DON’T THINK ABOUT IT!!  Plagiarism is representing someone else’s work as your own. It includes quoting or paraphrasing a secondary source without citing the source, as well as copying, buying, or stealing an essay from another person or source. If you have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism, ask me. A radical difference in style from your other writing and/or a failure on your part to supply credible notes, a disk, sources, and a rough draft should I ask to see them are widely acknowledged as evidence of plagiarism. For these and other reasons, I may ask you to supply your notes, a disk with your essay on it, and a rough draft before I agree to grade an essay. I will fail any essay if there is evidence that you plagiarized all or part of an essay. Additionally, the sanction of failing the course may also be applied. I will also fail “recycled” essays, essays that you received a grade for (or will receive a grade for) in another class.

Please note: This syllabus and course schedule is subject to change.  If you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to check for announcements made while you were absent (contact your “contact buddy”). Any and all changes to the syllabus and/or course schedule will be posted on my website.

  PAPER FORMAT:

Your Name

Class-Section

Ms. Fletcher