SYLLABUS, ENG 108

Syllabus, ENG 108-40 Spring 2001

Instructor

Instructor: Bob Bergland

email address: eng10840@griffon.mwsc.edu

Office: SSC 221a—inside Griffon News Office Phone: 271-4446

Home phone: 279-1699 (between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Office Hours: 2-4 MW

Required Materials

Alred, Gerald J. et al. The Business Writer’s Companion, 2^nd ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999.

Computer/Internet access at school/home/work, enough to check minimum 3 times/week

Suggested:

a collegiate dictionary, a collegiate thesaurus

Course Goals

The course is designed to help you:

• To develop your research writing skills by having you draft and revise research papers and other assignments.

• To help prepare you for technology in the workplace by having you prepare all your research projects on a word processor and by conducting research on the WWW.

• To learn to analyze, synthesize and evaluate the thinking of others in order to discover, develop, and test your own points of views by engaging in writing and prewriting activities.

• To help you decide what field of study is best for you

• To help you understand the discourse community and discourse conventions of that field.

• To help prepare you for writing you will do in your future coursework and employment.

This course is set up differently than most English 108 courses at Missouri Western. While other courses prepare you for academic research and writing in general--a noble aim, especially considering how often students change their majors--this course will try to help you write for a specific field you are interested in pursuing. The goal is to prepare you better for that specific field and, along the way, help you understand the field you are entering much better. For students who are undecided on a major, this course can be very useful in helping them decide what field they may wish to go into. In addition, another major focus of this class is on professional writing, on learning how to write memos, letters and reports, which will help prepare you for internships and jobs in the future.

Groundrules

• Attendance Ha! There is no attendance policy. This is an internet class, and outside of our first meeting and one conference, you don’t have to see me.

• Plagiarism: Plagiarism or other academic dishonesty usually results in an F for the course.

• Assignments. Your work must be turned in in electronic form according to the directions on each assignment sheet.

Late Work. Unless an extension is granted--usually only because of a severe illness or death in the family--late work will be downgraded two letter grades. Work turned in more than 7 days late will be given a 0. Unless announced otherwise, assignments for the week are due at 5:30 p.m. Thursdays.

• Disabilities. Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest expression of abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible so that we can discuss class requirements.

All assignments should be typed with double-spacing, 1-inch top/bottom margins, and 1-inch side margin, in 12 point Times. Please indicate the title of the assignment, your name, and the word count assignment in the upper left hand corner of the first page of all assignments. Also, number pages.

I am always willing to help you improve any documents, whether they are first drafts of documents to be turned in later, already graded documents or documents you produce for other classes or a company or organization. Please see me during my office hours or talk with me to set up a meeting time.

Planned Workload

Smaller Assignments—200 points

Biography memo—25 points

Three other small assignments—25 points each

Complaint letter—50 points

2 critiques—25 points each

Weekly emails—150 points

Approximately 250 word emails sent to class listserv each week, 10 points each for 15 weeks