ENGLISH 108-38: COLLEGE WRITING AND RESEARCH
Time: 10:00 - 10:50 MWF
Place: MC 211

INSTRUCTOR: DR. ELIZABETH SAWIN
Office: SSC 215 A
Office Hours: 8-9 MWF; 11-12 MW noon
E-mail: sawin@griffon.mwsc.edu
Phone: 271-4274 Please identify yourself by name
& give the date. Say your telephone number slowly if,
but only if, you want me to return your call.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
In this course you will learn to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the thinking of others in
order to discover, develop, and test your own points of view.

GENERAL STUDIES OBJECTIVES: English 108 is designed to help you ...
Think critically and reason analytically
Write and speak clearly and effectively
Function as an enlightened citizen in our society

STATE-LEVEL GOALS:
A. Communicating
To develop students' effective use of the English language and other symbolic systems essential to their success in school and in the world. Students should be able to read and listen critically and to write and speak with thoughtfulness, clarity, coherence, and persuasiveness.

Competencies:
a. Analyze and evaluate their own and others' speaking and writing
b. Conceive of writing as a recursive process that involves many strategies, including generating material, evaluating sources when used, drafting, revising, and editing
c. Make formal written presentations employing correct diction, syntax, usage, grammar, and mechanics
d. Focus on a purpose (e.g. explaining, problem solving, argument) and vary approaches to writing based on that purpose
e. Respond to the needs of different audiences and choose words for appropriateness and effect

B. Higher-order Thinking
To develop students' ability to distinguish among opinions, facts, and inferences; to identify underlying or implicit assumptions; to make informed judgmentss; and to solve problems by applying evaluative standards.

Competencies:
a. Recognize the problematic elements of presentations of information and argument
b. Formulate questions for clarifying issues and solving problems
c. Use linguistic or other symbolic approaches to describe problems, identify alternative solutions, and make reasoned choices among those solutions.
d. Analyze and synthesize information from a variety of relevant sources and use the results to address complex situations and problems
e. Defend conclusions using relevant evidence and reasoned argument
f. Reflect on and evaluate their critical-thinking processes.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS and SUPPLIES:

A FOREST OF VOICES 2nd edition Chris Anderson & Lex Runciman (2000)
THE NEW CENTURY HANDBOOK. 2nd edition Christine A. Hult and Thomas N. Huckin (2002)
A collegiate-level dictionary.
A 3-ring binder or folder for ALL 108 course materials (everything you write!)
A ½ inch 3-ring binder for the Outdoor Semester Portfolio
Computer disks: 2-3 high-density 3.5-inch computer disks (specifically for this course).
DISK #1: Label this one: ENG 108 WORKS IN PROGRESS
Put your NAME on the disk.
Save work frequently to this disk and not to the computer you are using.
When you are finished, print out a hard copy of your work and also save your work to ...
DISK #2: ENG 108 TRAVELING BACKUP
Transfer a copy of your most recent version to your home computer / backup disk.
BUY a disk-carrying case to protect your work from dirt, heat, moisture, and unexpected bumps and drops.
DISK #3: Label this one: ENG 108 BACK UP
Put your NAME on the disk. Keep this one at home.
Save material you are working on to this disk, so that if your working disk becomes
damaged, lost, or stolen, you will not lose the work that you have done.

108 COURSE FOLDER
Standard white lined hole-punched notebook paper.
A 3-ring binder and/or pocket folders to maintain a COMPLETE RECORD of everything you do in 108.
DATE and IDENTIFY EACH ASSIGNMENT in the upper-right hand corner.
Number and/or date each draft of the research papers
Buy 3 inexpensive light-colored pocket folders for research assignments. (You will submit ALL drafts,
copies of all sources used the final paper, and a cover letter with each of the 3 research papers.)

OUTDOOR SEMESTER PORTFOLIO
(Two copies of one version or two versions)
I will provide you with one 3-ring binder; you will provide a second 3-ring binder.
You will select at least one piece of writing that you do for each course in Outdoor Semester for the portfolio you submit to me:
1. Native American Literature (one of the papers)
2. English 108 (one of the research papers)
3. Outdoor Education (perhaps the written part of the Plot Project?)
4. Anthropology (the research paper on a cultural practice?)
5. Physical Geography (the field notes from one of the sites you visit on your trek)
6. - 8.AND you will select and type/edit at least 3 of your field journal entries.
9. A cover letter in which you introduce your reader (Dr. James Scanlon, President of MWSC
and the faculty of Outdoor Semester) to the writing that you have done, the challenges that the writing represents, the reasons why you are proud of these particular pieces. This thoughtful cover letter and portfolio will take the place of any final exam in 108.
[For the second copy of the portfolio which is yours to keep, you may include more or other works. The
audience for this portfolio can be you, or your parents, or friends. It will be interesting to see if what you want to save for yourself or for them is different than what you would like the Outdoor Semester faculty to see or the President of Missouri Western. I would appreciate seeing this one, too.]

REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING POLICY:
Summaries / in-class essays / practice 100 points
*Paper #1 Synthesizing/Applying Knowledge 100 points
*Paper #2 Analyzing Arguments 100 points
*Paper #3 Current, Controversial Issue 100 points
OUTDOOR SEMESTER Portfolio 100 points

Grades will be assigned with the following percentages based on total points awarded in the
course: A 100-90% B 90-80% C 80-70% D 70-60% F 59-0% *N.B. No one will pass this course without receiving a passing grade on at least 2 of the 3 research papers. I reserve the right to round up final course grades if other students' grades cluster far below the particular performance AND if student's participation in the course
warrants the change.

ATTENDANCE POLICY: Half of life is showing up; the other half is performing.

SHOWING UP
A. Three absences in the course of a semester are reasonable. You do not need to explain
the first three absences. With the 4th absence (more than 15 minutes of any class session),
you will receive a 3% reduction in grade from your semester total. All absences beyond your
4th will also result in an additional 3% reduction. IF you believe that you truly have extenuating
circumstances and want the penalty waived, you will have to demonstrate additional writing
competence by explaining to me in a clear, coherent, detailed, organized, and edited business
LETTER what happened. In this letter, you must be persuasive.
"I was sick." Explain what symptoms you were having, and what treatment you sought.
"I had car problems." Explain what, where, when, and how they occurred. Put me there.
"Someone I know died." Establish your connection to that person. Describe the funeral.
"I was playing a baseball game." Describe the game in detail and the role you played in it.
IF you are on an athletic team or are already scheduled to represent MWSC in some official
capacity in the course of the semester, plan to use those three allowed absences to cover
these situations. With six or more absences (whether excused or unexcused), you stand a
good chance of failing this course, which would be heartbreaking for everyone, connected with
Outdoor Semester.

B. Every day that you come to class, you will sign the attendance roster with a legible signature.
No one else may sign for you. If you forget to sign, you will have a recorded absence.
If you come late or leave early, I will note that fact on the roster.

C. Every day I will ask 2 students to take brief but accurate notes about what we do in class.
This will give everyone a chance to write for an audience who needs to know what they are to do.
I will attach those reports to the attendance roster. Should you miss class, you can find out what we did
by coming to my office during my regularly scheduled office hours and reading the reports.

D. Cost: Although tuition represents only part of the total cost of delivering this college course, it is still
a substantial investment. At $121/hour, this three-hour course costs you $363. English 108 meets 3 times
per week for a total of 44 sessions. The tuition cost (alone) of each class is $8.25.

PERFORMING
While it is reasonable to assume that students who attend class will know what is expected
and will take the opportunity to ask questions about anything they don't understand, some
students think that just showing up guarantees them a passing grade. Not true. You must
pay attention to the assignment and meet its requirements. Likewise, I am in no position to
reward effort. I can't reward students for overcoming difficulties or penalize students who
don't experience them. I hope that every assignment I give you in English 108 will help you
to strengthen or to expand your skills. Overcoming difficulties related to writing are part of
the course. But while I can sympathize with other life circumstances you might have
(demanding boss, illness, lack of transportation, etc.), I cannot give you credit for writing
under those circumstances. You will have to do the best you can.

MAKE-UP POLICY:
There will be no make-up opportunities for any of the in-class activities whether your
absence is excused or not. I can't recreate a class discussion or give you the chance to
peer review other people's work once we are finished doing so. Imagine showing up at a
field house after the game is over or at work once the store is closed. You are now ready to
play or to work, but everyone else has gone home. The teams and customers have left.

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS:
All drafts and final papers are to be submitted ON the DATE they are DUE and in the
CLASSROOM where we meet. I will not accept assignments by mail, email, slipped under
the door, put in my mailbox or handed to me while walking. I will place all papers in an
envelope on which I have the assignment and the grading criteria. If your paper is not IN the
envelope when I close it, your paper is LATE. Late papers pose a problem for the entire class
because they delay my assessment of student work.

ACADEMIC HONESTY:
One of the major objectives of this course is to teach you the difference between the
legitimate and the illegitimate use of other people's work. Plagiarism is the theft of other
people's actual words or their ideas as if they were your own. There are techniques you will
learn this semester to keep you from doing this. You will learn how to summarize articles in
your own words; use direct quotation marks; correctly place internal citations; introduce
quoted material. Since you will be submitting all of your sources to me, I will be in a position
to judge whether you make appropriate or inappropriate use of them.

You are expected to do your own reading and writing in this course. Any student who
submits someone else's work as his or her own will receive no credit (0 points) for that
assignment. If a student is dishonest a second time, he or she will receive an F in the course
and be reported to the Department Chair, the Academic Dean, and the Dean of Student
Affairs for appropriate disciplinary action.

DISABLED STUDENT POLICY:
Anyone who has a disability that prevents the fullest expression of her or his potential to
succeed in this course must notify me in writing during the first or second week of classes so
that we can discuss course requirements and accommodations. Students who do not make
known the disability cannot (by law) then ask for special consideration for assignments
already completed.

REQUIRED FORMATTING for FINAL out-of-class copy:
Use regular white paper in a printer that provides a clear, dark black copy.
Use Times New Roman or a comparable font.
Type size: 10 or 12 pt.
Margins: 1 inch
Paragraph Indent: ½ inch
Center the title.
Number each page on the bottom right if there are more than 2 pages.
Double-space working drafts BUT for final copies:
Single-space within paragraphs.
Double-space between paragraphs.
Identify yourself in the upper right hand corner:
Elizabeth Sawin
English 108
Summary of "A Clash of Cultures"
August 22, 2001

Welcome to English 108 and Outdoor Semester
.... a journey that we will all remember.