English 104-40:  College Writing and Rhetoric

Fall 2001

Online

Missouri Western State College,

Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism

 

Instructor: Dr. Cynthia Jeney

Office:  S/SC 222K

Phone: 816- 271-4447

Office Hours:  Mondays 10:00 - 2:00

Tuesdays 2:00-4:00

E-mail:  jeney@missouriwestern.edu

Alternate Email:

 DrCeeJ@prodigy.net

(emergency only!)

 

WebBoard:

WebBoard is an Electronic Forum for exercises and class discussion located on the English Department (Miranda) Server:

http://miranda.cailab.mwsc.edu:8080/~jeney10440/

Chat function is enabled.

 

Required Text:

 

John D. Ramage and John C. Bean The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing.

 Recommended Text:

H. Eric Branscomb & Doug Gotthoffer

Composition on the Net: 2001*

*Bundled free of charge with NEW copies of The AB Guide to Writing

 

Reading assignments in English 104-40

This course relies heavily on The Allyn & Bacon Guide To Writing. Make sure you read assigned chapters of the textbook before attempting exercises or assignments. 

Other Course Necessities:

Reliable internet access.

 

A steady working email account (preferably your MWSC email account). DO NOT switch around and play musical email addresses -- this makes it very difficult for me to locate your electronic posts and to communicate with you.

 

Mark your calendar NOW for campus meetings (no more than two this semester).

 

Recommended:

 

A good desk dictionary such as Webster’s New World College Dictionary (Yes, your word processor probably has a spell-checker, but get a real dictionary or a CD-ROM anyway)

 

The Official Course Description:

 

ENG 104 students will complete four formal writing assignments in addition to other graded and ungraded work through which they will learn how to discover ideas, respond to texts, and summarize others’ ideas. In these assignments, students will learn how to analyze readings and share information with others by reading and responding to course texts and other materials gathered through research. Final drafts of all formal writing assignments must be word-processed. All students are expected to be prepared for class and participate in class discussions related to reading and writing assignments. In addition, students will keep complete portfolios of all their writings.

 

Before any grade appeal will be processed for a student in ENG 100, 104, or 108, the complete portfolio of writings will have to be submitted to the Departmental Review Committee. In order for an ENG 104 student to be admitted into ENG 108, he or she must earn at least a C in ENG 104.

For course goals & objectives, see EFLJ website http://www2.mwsc.edu/eflj/eng104.html

 

Class meetings:

Welcome to the Virtual Classroom!

 

Post your questions and comments about reading & writing assignments to the class forum rather than in private email to the instructor. This way, everybody gets the benefit of your good questions, and clarification goes to everyone at once.

 

Assignments will be formatted and sent as follows:

You will post regular exercises and activities to the appropriate discussion heading on our class WebBoard site at http://miranda.mwsc.edu:8080/~jeney10440

 

Practical tips for posting to the WebBoard

 

You will send each of your Four Essay assignments as text in the body of an email message to your professor. Do not send attachments.

 

Practical tips for sending essays in email

 

This is a writing- and participation-intensive course. Develop good academic habits now, or pay later.

 

Lurking is not an option. Participation is the name of the game for success in English 104. IF YOU ARE NOT PARTICIPATING, I will assume you are in the process of dropping the course. If your posts do not seem to be going through CALL me at 816-271-4447

(note: my number is similar to that of the St. Joseph police department. Listen carefully if you get an office answering machine -- mine identifies me very clearly. Best be careful when dialing)

 

All information presented here is regarded as part of your own knowledge. All answers to your questions about the class will be based on an assumption that you understand these guidelines and seek further clarification or information. 

 

Changes:

The teacher reserves the right to alter this website but only by addition (i.e., you will not log on and find that something you saw previously has been deleted). Changes will be announced in an email sent to you, a teacher's post on the WebBoard, AND on the Home Page. 

 

Due Dates:

Due Dates must be met -- there is no time or space in the class schedule for late papers. Dates for handing in all required assignments are listed in the course schedule attached. You may send assignments and essays to me before the deadline, but generally not after. There is no room in the semester calendar for late papers, due to the cumulative nature of the assignments. An assignment not received on its due date is given a Zero. Add this to the knowledge that all required work must receive a grade above zero in order to pass the course, and realize that a late paper equals a failing grade for the course.

Make a note of all due dates now, and plan accordingly.

 

Attendance:

Assignments: Requirements for the course are regular (1/week) posts to the electronic forum, four essays, and a final exam. The final exam will test your knowledge of strategies for writing successful in-class essay tests (Chapter 24).

 

15% Unit One WebBoard activities and short assignments from Chapters 1,2,3, and 4.

15% Paper #1 (required)

15% Paper #2 (required)

15% Paper #3 (required)

15% Paper #4 (required)

15% Electronic Forum (required)

10% Final Exam (required)

100% Total

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

100% Total

 

A note about the writing in this course: although we will all encourage each other to be open and to explore ideas, experiences, thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, essay assignments and the electronic forum posts shall be considered  public texts. Therefore I have a strict policy against writing about any un-prosecuted crime or suspected illegal activity which you have witnessed, or in which you have been involved. When in doubt, I will always err on the side of safety.

 

Electronic Forum: Each student will be required to post regularly (once weekly) to the class electronic forum. Posts to the forum will sometimes be responses to exercises in our textbook, sometimes summaries of reading material, and at other times analytical questions, commentaries, and working drafts of formal essays. The e-forum posts will be based initially upon specific assigned prompts, possibly becoming more open-ended over time, drawing from the reading and writing assignments in the class. Since internet technologies are often subject to “down-time” you should save a printed copy of every post you make, as well as backing up your writing on floppy disks.

 

All members of the class will have posting and reading access to the forum on the web, but may also choose the additional option of receiving posts via email (posts will always remain on the web site). Although the forum works technically like an email listserv and web-board, it is not to be used for “Yeah, man. I agree” type messages.

 

You must have a stable email account established in order to satisfy this writing requirement for the course. I strongly urge you to use your MWSC email account for this forum. Do not shift around with Yahoo and Hotmail account subscriptions, as this will confuse the moderator, and possibly cause her to delete your membership. As moderator, I will do my best to insure that you do not receive advertising or other unwanted messages in your account. Expect the usual glitches and snafu’s when first getting subscribed to the electronic discussion group. I tend to use different technologies as time goes by, and as internet services evolve. I will try to make it as painless and easy as possible for you, but there is a certain amount of meticulous attention required at the outset, in order to get the forum up and running efficiently for us all.

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://www2.mwsc.edu/eflj/plagiarism.html.

 

Click here to go to Tentative Course Schedule

(subject to change, according to the needs of the class)

 

 

 

English 104-40
College Writing and Rhetoric

8/20	Read Schedule, policies, manual, tips.
8/22	Chapter 1
8/27	Chapter 1--Terms (get definitions into your notes, don't wait  until finals week to find them all)
8/29	Chapter 1--Writing Assignment WebBoard post due.
9/3	Chapter 2--Terms, definitions.
9/5	Chapter 2--Writing Assignment WebBoard post due.
9/10	Chapter 3--Terms, definitions.
9/12	Chapter 3--Writing Assignment WebBoard post due.
9/17	Chapter 4--Terms, definitions.
9/19	Chapter 4--Writing Assignment WebBoard post due.
9/24	Chapter 5 - reading & terms.
9/26	Chapter 5 --Writing Assignment WebBoard post due.
10/1	Chapter 18 -- read lessons 1 & 2.
10/3	Chapter 5 -- work on essay draft (questions in chat or web board discussion thread)
10/8	Essay #1 Observation & Analysis Due.  Begin reading Chapter 6. First complete the survey on p. 101 (respond in your notes or in your book). THEN read "On Teenagers & Tattoos," pp. 101-104.
10/10	Chapter 6 --Writing Assignment WebBoard post due.
10/15	Chapter 18: lessons 3 & 4. Know terms & their definitions.
10/17	Chapter 6 drafting your Strong Response. Post any questions, problems with the assignment to WebBoard discussion thread.
10/22	Essay #2 Strong Response Due. Film: The Day The Earth Stood Still
10/24	Film: The Day The Earth Stood Still Chapter 13--Terms & concepts
10/29	Chapter 13 -- Writing Assignment work on WebBoard post.
10/31	Chapter 13 -- Writing Assignment WebBoard post due. Post any questions or further discussion on WebBoard discussion thread.
11/5	Essay #3 Cause-to-Effect Due.
11/7	Chapter 11 Terms & concepts -- post questions and research question ideas on the WebBoard.
11/12	Chapter 11-- Writing Assignment  WebBoard post due.
11/14	Research Roundtable: WebBoard and Chat discussions of individual research topics.
11/19	Essay #4 Numerical Analysis Due.
11/21	Chapter 24
11/26	Terms Review, Study Review.
11/28	THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
12/3	"Take-Home" Final posted. EMAIL YOUR EXAM TO JENEY@missouriwestern.edu NOT the WebBoard!
12/9	Final Exam Due.