Missouri Western State College, Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Missouri Western State College, Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism
English 112-01/80: Introduction to College Writing
9:00 am MWF | Spring 2001

Teacher
Office
Phone
Office Hours
E-mail
Web page Dr. Keith Rhodes
JGM 309U
271-4314
MW 10-12; Th 1:20-3:20
rhodes@missouriwestern.edu
http://www.missouriwestern.edu/~rhodes

Required Texts and Course Materials

Escholz, Paul, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. Language Awareness. 8^th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2000.
A writing handbook (to be distributed in class)
Imitations packets (as needed)
3-1/2" floppy disks and a disk storage box
Photocopies for group work as requested

Overview of the Semester
The work of the semester will be of four kinds, often all going on at once. The largest part of the work will build toward your Masterpiece, a substantial writing that applies what you learn from assignments, research and investigations. Along the way to your Masterpiece, you will also write an early speculative essay and a later annotated bibliography. You will also read selections about the use of language from our textbook, suffering quizzes as needed but more optimistically enjoying full classroom participation (including electronic participation) as your path to both a better grade and a better Masterpiece. Throughout the semester you will also be using and evaluating a writing handbook, keeping notes toward writing a semester-ending handbook review. Finally, at various times you will also write imitations of odd and interesting writings. My general goal is to raise your sensitivity to all the workings of language, including especially its relationship to knowledge and meaning, and then have you apply what you are gaining to your writing.

Due Dates for Major Researched Writing Assignments

Speculative Essay:
Annotated Bibliography:
Masterpiece:
Handbook Review: Friday, February 2
Friday, March 23
Friday, April 13
Friday, April 27

Grading Requirements and Evaluations

All graded materials will receive scores in points. I will convert points to letter grades as follows (points must meet or exceed the lower range to earn the grade):
90-100 = A
80-90 = B
70-80 = C
60-70 = D
These are the values for each course component:

Speculative Essay:
Annotated Bibliography:
Masterpiece:
Handbook Review:
Imitations:
Participation & Quizzes:
Final Exam: 10%
20%
20%
10%
10%
20%
10%

Researched Writing
The researched writing will be described more fully in the assignment. Responses and ratings will always be keyed to the criteria and expressed in several ways, usually including descriptions, some sort of graphic and holistic evaluation, rankings, and grading points. I intend to give you grounds to find the gaps and inconsistencies among all these expressions and to argue your points with me should you disagree. Such discussions are part of how I arrive at the most fair and accurate grade. The final decisions on points are, of course, always my own.

Handbook Review
I will be lending each of you a different handbook. You will use them throughout the semester and then write a formal "handbook review" of at least 2000 words. I will reward these factors in this order: completeness of information, clarity of the evaluation, and conciseness of expression.

Imitations
We will go through imitation exercises, each of which will have more particular information about its unique goals. In general, the best imitations will show close attention to the form and style of the original, an understanding of how that form and style accomplishes specific purposes, and a creative application of the style to some appropriate but usually ironic (and at best funny) alternate purpose.

Participation
I will keep daily ratings for participation, including but not nearly limited to your quiz grades. I will report your current standing along with all evaluations of finished major assignments. You may stop by during office hours to review how you are doing.

Final Exam
Your exam will be an essay written in response to a personalized writing prompt. I will ask you to respond at length to questions and concerns that I have about the ideas that you address in your Masterpiece. You may bring all your research notes and earlier drafts along with you to the final exam

Civility and Cooperation
Missouri Western requires all students to help us maintain good conditions for teaching and learning. All students will treat their classmates, teachers, and student assistants with civility and respect, both inside and outside the classroom. Students who violate this policy may, among other penalties, be counted absent and asked to leave. You should review your Missouri Western student handbook for further information.

Attendance Policy
If you miss a class session, you are responsible for all material covered and assignments given during your absence. All out-of-class assignments are due at the beginning of the class period. No late assignments will be accepted unless you have received prior permission from your teacher.

Student Disability
Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest expressions of abilities should contact Missouri Western's special needs coordinator, Lois Fox, for possible certification of special needs and expert recommendations for assistance. You should also contact the teacher personally as soon as possible so that the two of you can discuss class requirements.

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

Schedule
Whenever you are asked to bring anything, you should have with you a version that you would be willing to have marked up or handed in for review. Make a photocopy or print an extra copy if you want a clean version for yourself. Whenever you are asked to read something, the assignment is to be read by the start of class. There will be quizzes, both announced and unannounced. Unless another source is mentioned, all reading assignments are in Language Awareness, your main textbook. Thus, an entry below saying "2/2 Read pp. 3-8" would require you to read pages 3-8 in Language Awareness, before the start of class on February 2 and be ready to take a quiz on the contents. Further information indicates what we will do in class that day.

1/17 - Introductions, to the course, each other, and the Handbooks
1/19 - Read 302-06, King; starting the speculative essay (what can language do for you?)
1/22 - Read 309-19, Bohannan; considering audiences and contexts
1/24 - Read 215-221, Hayakawa; thinking and writing about language
1/26 - Bring drafts of speculative essays for peer response
1/29 - Read 96-101, Langer; thinking and writing about thinking – and language
1/31 - Read 554-57, Jefferson; practicing imitations
2/2 - Bring speculative essays for grading; work-out with handbooks first
2/5 - Read/Browse 25-62; figuring out where you might need research help (and where to get it)
2/7 - [teacher might be out of town; to be determined]
2/9 - preparing for advanced imitations
2/12 - imitation work – more information to be distributed
2/14 - imitation work – more information to be distributed
2/16 - imitation work – more information to be distributed
2/21 - imitation work – more information to be distributed
2/23 - Bring handbooks; finish first round of imitation work
2/26 - Read about phrases and clauses in handbooks (pages ferreted out on 2/23)
2/28 - Planning day: We will negotiate plans for the rest of the term.
3/2 - Introducing the new plan
3/5 - [see new plan]
3/7 - [see new plan]
3/9 - Bring drafts of annotated bibliographies for peer response
3/19 - [see new plan]
3/21 - [see new plan]
3/23 - Bring annotated bibliography for grading
3/26 - [see new plan]
3/28 - [see new plan]
3/30 - [see new plan]
4/2 - [see new plan]
4/4 - [see new plan]
4/6 - Bring drafts of Masterpieces for peer response
4/9 - [see new plan]
4/11 - [see new plan]
4/13 - Bring Masterpieces for grading
4/16 - [see new plan]
4/18 - [see new plan]
4/20 - Bring drafts of handbook reviews for peer response
4/23 - [see new plan]
4/25 - [see new plan]
4/27 - Bring handbook reviews for grading
4/30 - Preparing for the final

Common Course Objectives

Upon completion of ENG 112:

You should understand that writing can be used for different purposes.
To reach this understanding, you will:

write summaries to distill ideas from texts or people interviewed.
write syntheses of ideas from more than one text (your own or others).
analyze the relationship between the claims, warrants, and evidence presented in texts.
evaluate the soundness of your own and other people's judgments.

You should understand that multiple audiences exist.
To reach this understanding, you will:

analyze the needs of different audiences.
analyze unethical attempts to influence people's beliefs.

You should understand that writing is a recursive process.
To reach this understanding, you will:

apply pre-writing strategies to discover what you already know and what you want to learn through research.
write summary notes in the process of doing research.
write drafts in which you reconstruct your beliefs on the basis of the wider experience you gained through research.
reread first and second copies to rethink what you have discovered.
revise for an organization appropriate to your main purpose and audience.

You should understand that many productive ways exist to generate ideas for your work.
To reach this understanding, you will:

familiarize yourself with several reference tools in the library.
work with the Inlex-System.
locate books and journals in the library.
locate source materials on electronic data bases.

You should understand that common patterns of organization exist.
To reach this understanding, you will:

define important terms.
classify objects, events, data, and ideas discovered through research.
make judgments based on criteria that can be supported and explained.

You should understand that ideas are property in our culture and must be correctly attributed to their sources.
To reach this understanding, you will:

practice research writing conventions as outlined in the MLA Handbook.

You should understand that reading is an interactive process that functions in our lives as a pleasurable activity as well as a means of acquiring knowledge.
To reach this understanding, you will:

ask questions in order to discover meaning.
discriminate between fact and opinion.
identify explicit and implicit meanings in a text.
draw correct inferences.
evaluate the intentions and messages of writers, especially attempts to minipulate language in order to deceive.
recognize problems and find workable solutions.

You should understand that editing skills enable writers to polish their work so that readers are not distracted from the message conveyed or the experience recreated.
To reach this understanding, you will:

continue to refine your ability to identify independently your own spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors so that you
can achieve as "clean" a final copy as possible.

All graded materials will receive scores in points. I will convert points to letter grades as follows (points must meet or exceed the lower range to earn the grade): 90-100 = A 80-90 = B 70-80 = C 60-70 = D	These are the values for each course component:
	Speculative Essay: Annotated Bibliography: Masterpiece: Handbook Review: Imitations: Participation & Quizzes: Final Exam:	10% 20% 20% 10% 10% 20% 10%