Materials:
McQuade and Atwan, Popular Writing in America, Oxford, 1993, 5th Ed.
A dictionary of your choice
A spiral notebook reserved exclusively for English work

Requirements:
Regular attendance, no more than three unexplained absences; completing reading assignments before coming to class; submitting themes on designated dates; writing 7-9 brief quizzes; writing the final examination.

Objectives:
See Composition Course Guide (online at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/genstud.asp

Evaluation:
Quizzes 20%; notebooks 25%; themes 30%; final writing 25%

Students with Disabilities:
Those students with any disability that will prevent their fullest expression should contact me as soon as possible so that we can discuss class requirements.

Attendance Policy:
Consideration will be given to students in the case of genuine illness, emergency, or when acting as representative of MWSC. It shall be the responsibility of the student to notify the class instructor prior to the absence, and if possible, meet with the instructor on the student's return to discuss the materials missed.

Academic Honesty Policy:
Cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the college, constitutes a violation. A grade of zero may be assessed in the evaluation instrument.

Assignments:

January

T 16
Orientation; Bio-data
Syllabus review; writing sample
"The Story of an hour"; "Rape and Modern Sex War"; discussion

Th 18
Hemingway: "Hills Like White Elephants"; Shaw: "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses"
Quiz samples
Popular Writing in America (hereafter PWA): Narration, "Fifteen," p. 289;
"Now You Take 'Bambi' or 'Snow White,'" p. 285
Bring notebooks.

T 23
"Forbidden Words on Campus," p. 237 "A&P," p. 612
"Dillinger Gets His," p. 128

Th 25
Theme preparation (in class)
"Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki...," p. 140
"Rambos of the Road," p. 296
Suggested topics

February

Th 1
Theme #1 due.
Description
"We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse's Story," p. 298
"The Fraying of America," p. 352

T 6
"How to Win Friends...," p. 393
"The Hidden Persuaders," p. 415

Th 8
"Blue Highways," p. 442
"Death of a Maverick Mafioso," p. 268

T 13
Comparison and Contrast (Patterns)
"The Parable of the Ring...," p. 96
"The Next Great moment...," p. 165

Th 15
Theme #2 due
"Settlement of America," "Feting the Lindbergh of the 15th Century," p. 244

T 20
"Redskins, Braves...," "Names Debate Off Target," p. 247
"The Senate and Sexism," p. 241

Th 22
"The Joy Luck Club," p. 471;
Back Lash...,p. 478
Handouts

T 27
Open

March

M 1
Theme #3 due; Classification
"The Closing of the American Mind," p. 462

T 6
"Fighting the War on Cigs," p. 199
"On Kids and Slasher Movies," p. 197

Th 8
Process Analysis
"How to Write Potent Copy," p. 88
"The World's Biggest Membrane," p. 659
"The Little Store," p. 670

S 11-18
Mid-Term Break

T 20
Cause/Effect
"Mr. Welles and Mass Delusion," p. 136; see also p. 690
"Who's on First," p. 692

Th 22
"Youth's Despair Erupts," p. 182
"Adolescents and Their Music," p. 317

T 27
"The Western: The Legend and the Cardboard Head," p. 264
"How to Tell a Story," p. 530
"Hooray for This...," p. 206
"Much More Nasty Than They Should Be," p. 207

Th 29
Theme #4 due
Argument - "Is There a Santa Claus," p. 126;
Heywood Brown, p. 127
"Rapping Garbage as 'Art,'" p. 192; See also p. 211
"Shaken Survivors Witness Pure Fury," p. 194

April

T 3
"Censorship in America," p. 225
"The Declaration of Independence," p. 496

Th 5
Election Day
"Civilization and Its Malcontents," p. 330
"Antihero," p. 337

T 10
"Born on the Fourth of July," p. 436
"Arctic Dreams," p. 457

Th 12
Theme #5 due
"Columbus and the Moon," p. 494
"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas," p. 510

T 17
"Walden," p. 514;
"A First American..." p. 210
"Old Times on the Mississippi," p. 525

Th 19
Open

T 24
Open

Th 26
Last day of classes

May

T 1
Classes end
Conferences

T 8
Final Examination 9:30-10:50