Date: August 2007
Course Title: Communication
101
Course Numbers:
COM 101-036; 052
Semester: Fall
I. Faculty Information
A. Instructor: Carey Millsap-Spears
B. Office: F208
C. Office Hours: MW 10 am-11 am; TR 11
am-12:15 pm and by appointment
D. Mailbox Location: F130
E. Office Phone: 708/608-4018
F. Email: [email protected]
G. Homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/cmillsapspears
H. Messenger:
II. Course Identification
A. Credit Hours: 3 semester hours
B. Total contact hours: 3 lecture: 3 lab: 0
C. Course meets: MW
D. Prerequisite: Grade of “C” or better in
COM 090 or
appropriate score on placement test
E. Corequisite: None
F. Catalog Description: Designed to teach clear
and effective expository prose, with emphasis on organization, clarity and
coherence. Learn to adapt style to
various readers and use research to clarify explanations and support arguments.
A
grade of “C” or better is required in this course for students seeking an
Associate in Arts (AA) or Associate in Science (AS) degree.
III. Textbooks
A.
Required:
1.
Smith, Bob. Hamlet’s
Dresser.
2.
Faigley, Lee. The
Little Penguin Handbook.
B.
Optional:
None
C.
Supplies: College-edition
paperback dictionary; two-pocket folder; stapler; floppy computer disk or flash
drive
D.
Supplementary Materials: For the research paper, students will be required to
conduct library research and to provide the instructor with photocopies of all
source materials.
IV. Course
Goals (See Course End Competencies)
V. Course
End Competencies:
A.
To develop proficiency in using the essential steps in the writing process, the
student will learn how to:
1.
analyze the basic variables in any writing situation: audience, occasion, purpose, content, form,
and style;
2.
use a variety of pre-writing techniques to gather, generate, and organize
ideas;
3.
choose effective patterns of organization and development for a specific
purpose, occasion, and audience;
4.
write effective thesis statements, introductions, conclusions, and transitions;
5.
use specific and concrete details to develop paragraphs that are unified,
coherent, and complete;
6. revise
drafts of an essay by rereading, redefining, and rewriting;
7.
edit drafts of an essay to improve sentence style and diction and to eliminate
errors in grammar and usage;
8.
proofread the final draft of an essay to eliminate typographical, spelling,
mechanical, and punctuation errors.
B.
To develop proficiency in critically evaluating the writing of others, both
student and professional, students will learn how to:
1.
identify the thesis, its support, and its development in the work of another
writer;
2.
describe the audience, occasion, and purpose of a piece of writing;
3.
evaluate the effectiveness of the structure, content, and style of an essay and
make recommendations for improvement if needed;
4.
identify any weaknesses in grammar, usage, and mechanics that interfere with
the communication of ideas and suggest improvements.
C.
To develop proficiency in using the basic tools of scholarship, the student
will learn how to:
1.
locate information in the library by using the Public Access Catalogue (PAC), a
variety of computerized and printed indexes, and other research tools;
2.
evaluate the effectiveness of researched information as support for the thesis
of an expository or argumentative essay;
3.
take accurate notes from a source;
4.
write an accurate paraphrase of others’ words and ideas;
5.
work direct quotations and paraphrases accurately and coherently into one’s own
writing;
6.
document the use of others’ words and ideas by using textnotes and work cited
entries based on the Modern Language Association (MLA) format.
VI. Classroom
Policies/Procedures: At the end of
this syllabus, please find an attached a copy of the college’s General
Information Sheet. Please read it carefully and keep it for reference during
the semester.
A. Attendance & Participation: Students are expected to promptly attend, thoroughly
prepare for, and actively participate in class meetings. Students who
miss more than five class meetings should withdraw from the course. If a
student is absent, it is his or her responsibility to check the syllabus or to
see the instructor before attending the next class for any additional
information. Students are required to be prepared for each class day as
outlined in the daily schedule. Students are expected to be to class on time.
Punctuality is important. Arriving late disrupts the learning process for
everyone. It is also disrespectful to
the other members of the class. If a
student is habitually late, he or she should withdraw from the course. Late
students need to take a seat near the door, but if the door is shut, please do
not enter.
B. Withdrawal: Should a student decide to withdraw, the student
needs to make sure to have his or her name officially removed from the course.
A student who does not withdraw officially from a course may receive a grade of
“F,” depending on course progress or course attendance, which will become part
of the student’s permanent record. The
official withdrawal date is listed in the General Information Sheet.
C. Student Conduct: Each student is responsible for adhering to the Code
of Student Conduct as stated in the college catalog. Violators of the
Code of Student Conduct will be sent to the office of judicial affairs on
campus and/or removed from this class. Particular rules for this course include
the following:
D. Phones, Pagers,
Text-Messaging: All telephones and pagers
must be turned off and put away during class. Any student who fails to adhere
to this policy will be asked to leave the class. A copy of the college
statement concerning the use of cell phones, pagers, and other communication
devices in instructional areas is attached.
VII. Grading and
Requirements for Student Success
A. Requirements and
Evaluation: Essays will be graded per
COM/LIT departmental standards of grading; see attached guidelines.
Mathematical breakdown: Letter grades have corresponding numerical values. The
instructor uses an Excel spreadsheet to calculate scores. The scale is as
follows: A+ = 100, A = 95, A- = 90, B+ = 89, B = 85, B- = 80, C+ = 79, C = 75,
C- = 70, D+ = 69, D = 65, D- = 60, F = 50 (if assignment is turned in—if not a
grade of zero will be applied.)
Letter grades will be
awarded on a ten-point scale: A=90+,
B=80%+, C=70%+, D=60%+
Assignment
|
Weight
|
|
In-class Writing |
10% |
|
Exam |
10% |
|
Quizzes |
5% |
|
Group Activities |
15% |
|
Essays |
40% |
|
Research Paper |
20% |
|
Total |
100% |
B. Late Work: All assignments are due at the start of each
class. One of the four essays can be turned in late, but the student loses one
letter grade. Late research papers will not be accepted. No work is accepted via
e-mail or fax.
C. Make-Up Policy: In-class activities can’t be made up. If a student
misses an in-class activity, a grade of zero will apply. The final must be
taken on time. If a student is extremely ill or has some other family emergency,
it is his or her responsibility to contact an academic advisor for help with
withdrawing from the course and/or a
D. Revisions: The instructor may allow one revision before the
research paper. If students are struggling, please seek help from the
instructor before turning a paper in.
E. In-Class Writing: Writing assignments happen
in each meeting. We learn to write through practice, and in-class writing
allows for impromptu practice.
F. Exams/Quizzes: Students are required to take a final exam. The exam
must be taken on time, or a grade of zero will be entered into the student’s
record; Expect a few pop quizzes over assigned readings.
G. Group Activities: Each class day, expect to participate in a group
activity of some kind. Those who do not cooperate and/or participate will be
asked to leave the class and attendance for that class day will be removed from
the official record. Please Note: The instructor reserves the right to
assess participation and/or cooperation regarding the group activities.
H. Essays: Because this is a composition course, the majority of
a student’s grade will come from various writing activities. We will write five
essays this semester (including the research paper). All essays must be typed,
written in 12pt font, and have standard 1-inch margins, per MLA standards. No
handwritten papers accepted. Papers must be stapled. Peer Review is worth one
letter grade. Please Note: The instructor is not responsible for keeping
student papers together. Each student must make sure his or her paper is bound
adequately so that no pages go missing. If something is not attached and is
lost, the student will lose credit for the missing items. Also note: A
one-on-one conference with the instructor is a requirement for the research
paper. If students do not come to appointment, the grade for the research paper
with be recorded as an “F.” All essays must be turned in to pass COM 101.
I. Plagiarism: Any violation of the following principles in a
student’s written assignments turned in for a grade is plagiarism and will
result in immediate failure for the assignment and/or the course. Plagiarism
includes activities such as turning in a “recycled” paper, purchasing essays
via the Internet, cutting and pasting material from the Web, and copying a
published writer’s work without proper citations. Plagiarism is also defined in
the college handbook. It is essential that students do and only take credit for
their own work and respectfully and professionally treat others’ work. Therefore,
there will be no tolerance of cheating or plagiarism in this course. The
matter will be turned over to the college disciplinary board:
1. A student may not
submit work for a grade that is composed wholly or partially by another person.
2. A student may not
submit work that has been copied, wholly or partially, from a book, article,
essay, newspaper, another student’s paper or notebook, or any other written or
printed or media source. Another writer’s exact sentences or words may be
included only if presented as quotations and the source cited accurately.
3. Written work that paraphrases any written or printed media material
without acknowledgment may not be submitted for credit. Ideas from books and
essays may be incorporated in a student’s work as starting points, governing
issues, illustrations, and the like, but in each case the source must be cited.
4. Remember that all on-line materials gathered for a paper are also
governed by rules about plagiarism.
Please note: Any paper found
to have been purchased or pasted from free or for-profit essay sites will earn
a student a failing grade in this course with no questions asked. The college
authorities will also be notified of the behavior.
Items
on the syllabus may be added, deleted, or modified throughout the semester at
the instructor’s discretion. Students are responsible for any changes
made in their absence. Students must keep copies of all graded and un-graded
work.
Daily Schedule
M 8/20 Introduction to the course; in-class writing
W 8/22 Chapter 1 in Little Penguin: The Rhetorical Situation
W 8/29 Chapter 4 in Little Penguin: Planning; start essay #1
M 9/3 No Class
W 9/5 Chapter 5 in Little Penguin: Drafting; Essay #1 peer review
W 9/12 Begin Hamlet’s Dresser; have first 100 pages read;
in-class writing
Week 5
W 9/19 Begin essay #2; Hamlet’s
Dresser, have next 100 pages
read
Week 6
W 9/26 Essay #2 due
Week 7
W 10/3 In-class activity
Week 8: Midterm
W 10/10 Essay # 3 (written in-class)
Week 9
W 10/17 Begin Essay #4—Compare and
contrast two potential topics for Research Paper
Week 10
W 10/24 Essay #4 due
Week 11
W 10/31 Chapter 13 in Little Penguin: Using Sources Ethically and
Effectively
W 11/7 Conferences: Topic and Outline Due
W 11/14 Conferences: Topic and Outline Due
W 11/21 No Class
W 11/28 Research paper due
W 12/5 Final Review
Finals Week