Missouri Western State College

Department of English, Foreign Languages, Journalism

Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences

English 104-11-- College Writing and Rhetoric

Instructor: Dawn Terrick

Spring 2001

MWF 1:00-1:50 JGM 208

Instructor: Dawn Terrick

Office: JGM 309L

Office Phone: 816-271-4313

Office Hours: 12:00-1:00 MWF, 10:00-11:00 TTh and by appointment

Email: terrick@griffon.mwsc.edu

• The Little, Brown Reader. Eighth Edition. Eds. Marcia Stubbs and Sylvan Barnet. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

• The New Century Handbook. Brief Edition. Eds. Christine Hult and Thomas Huckin. Allyn and Bacon.

• Computer disks for revising and saving work.

• Notebook for journal entries only.

• Folder to keep all graded writing.

• "Language is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: It reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity."

-James Baldwin

• "Good writers are also good readers – of the works of other writers and of their own notes and drafts. The habits they develop as readers of others – for instance evaluating assumptions, scrutinizing arguments and perceiving irony – empower them when they write, read and revise their own notes and drafts."

-Marcia Stubbs and Sylvan Barnett

• "One thing that is always with the writer – no matter how long he has written or how good he is – is the continuing process of learning how to write"

Flannery O’Connor

Reading and Writing: Reading can help us to understand ourselves and the world around us. Reading can help us to make sense of our experiences and of our lives by providing us with connections between ourselves and the larger world. We, as human beings, must understand our complex and changing world and we can accomplish this by understanding how language reflects and affects our world. In this course, we will be reading various texts and then writing about those texts. Writing about a text leads us to read that text critically and intelligently, stimulates our thinking and will enable us to react to that text. In order to achieve these goals, we will:

•Read and respond to various texts, such as textbook readings, media such as elevision, movies and advertising, and our peers' work.

• Read and study written texts to improve and refine our own writing.

• Summarize, analyze and evaluate texts.

• Understand, find, shape, address and write arguments.

• Engage in journal writing and collaborative writing.

• Revise our written work.

• Participate in peer revision groups.

For common objectives for ENG 104, also refer to the English department website at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/eng104.asp

Attendance and Class Preparation/Participation: Students are expected to attend every scheduled class meeting. Each student will be allowed four absences. More than four absences will likely effect your final grade. However, please feel free to speak to me about any extenuating circumstances for I reserve the right to excuse some absences. If you are going to miss class due to a school-sponsored event you must notify me in advance. Also, arriving to class late is disruptive. As a result, chronic lateness will likely affect your final grade. Students are also expected to come prepared to every class meeting and participate in class discussion for this is the only way we can all share ideas, ask questions and learn. Preparation includes coming to class with all assigned work completed. If you do not have your rough draft on the day of peer revising, you will receive a zero and will be marked absent.

Late Work: All writing assignments are due at the beginning of the class period on the due date. Each student is allowed one late paper (and only one late paper) and this must be discussed with the instructor. I will not accept/grade any other late papers. This is important because you must complete, turn in and receive a grade for all papers in order to pass this class. Consequently, if you submit more than one late paper, you will fail the course. If you are not in class on the due date you are still responsible for submitting your assignment on time. Late journals and in-class writing assignments will not be accepted.

Students with Disabilities: Anyone who has a disability that prevents the fullest expression of his or her potential to succeed in this course must notify me as soon as possible so that we can discuss class requirements and accommodations.

Academic Honesty Policy: You will receive a grade of F for any paper/assignment that shows evidence of cheating and/or plagiarism. You have the burden of proving that a paper/assignment showing evidence of cheating and/or plagiarism has been in fact written by you. You should keep thorough evidence of your writing processes for all papers so that you can meet this burden of proof. Please note carefully the statement on plagiarism on the departmental website, found at http://mwsc.edu/~engdept/plagiarism.html.

Methods of Instruction:

Methods of instruction include textbook, lectures, class discussions, group work, individual student conferences, informal writing assignments(journal writing, in-class writing, etc.), formal writing assignments and a final examination. Students will be expected to participate in peer revision groups.

Journals: The writing you will do in your journal is very important to your success in this course. Not only will your journal entries be graded and be a percentage of your final grade but the journal entries will help you to work through and understand the readings and will prepare you for class discussion and the consequent essay assignments. You will move beyond a summary of the essay and analyze and evaluate the essay. I will collect and grade your journals approximately three times during the semester (see assignment schedule for due dates). In most cases one full page is the average length of one journal entry.

Peer Revision Groups: Prior to submitting your papers, you will be required to participate in peer revision groups in which you will bring in copies of your rough draft to share with and receive feedback from your group in order to revise your own written work. This is a required activity and you will receive points for participation.

Portfolios: Students must maintain a portfolio of graded papers and revisions. This must be turned in at the end of the course.

Revision: All graded, formal writing assignments, except the final paper, can be revised throughout the semester and resubmitted. It is required that your original, graded essay accompanies your revised essay. You will not have the opportunity to revise the final paper; however, you will have ample opportunity to share and revise drafts of the final paper before submission. The deadline for revisions will be set at a later date, usually a week or two before the end of the semester.

Grading: Your final grade will be based upon five formal writing assignments, various in-class writing exercises, journal entries, class preparation/participation and a final examination. Please remember that smaller assignments and class participation are very important and do effect your grade.

· Summary: 75 points

· Essay 1: 100 pts.

· Essay 2: 100 pts.

· Essay 3: 100 pts.

· Essay 4: 125 pts.

· Final exam: 100 pts.

· Journals: 75 pts.

· In-class writing assignments, class preparation and participation: 75 pts.

Miscellaneous: Please note that you must complete all writing assignments in order to pass this course. In addition, admission into ENG 108 requires a "C" or higher in ENG 104. All drafts and final papers for this course must be word-processed. It is also important to save all work on disks, keeping back-ups if necessary.

Please feel free to come see me if you have any problems or questions. I believe communication is very important between an instructor and her students and, as a result, I will make myself available to you for any reason.