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 15
Orientation; Bio-data
Syllabus review; writing sample
"The Story of an hour"

Th 17
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 22
"Forbidden Words on Campus," p. 237 "A&P," p. 612
"Dillinger Gets His," p. 128

Th 24
Theme preparation (in class)
"Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki...," p. 140
"Rambos of the Road," p. 296
Suggested topics

T 29
Theme #1 due.
Description
"We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse's Story," p. 298
"The Fraying of America," p. 352

Th 31
"How to Win Friends...," p. 393
"The Hidden Persuaders," p. 415

February

T 5
"Blue Highways," p. 442
"Death of a Maverick Mafioso," p. 268

Th 7
Comparison and Contrast (Patterns)
"The Parable of the Ring...," p. 96
"The Next Great moment...," p. 165

T 12
Theme #2 due
"Settlement of America," "Feting the Lindbergh of the 15th Century," p. 244

Th 14
"Redskins, Braves...," "Names Debate Off Target," p. 247
"The Senate and Sexism," p. 241

T 19
"The Joy Luck Club," p. 471;
Back Lash...,p. 478
Handouts

Th 21
Open

T 26
Theme #3 due; Classification
"The Closing of the American Mind," p. 462

Th 28
"Fighting the War on Cigs," p. 199
"On Kids and Slasher Movies," p. 197

March

T 5
Process Analysis
"How to Write Potent Copy," p. 88
"The World's Biggest Membrane," p. 659
"The Little Store," p. 670

Th 7
Cause/Effect
"Mr. Welles and Mass Delusion," p. 136; see also p. 690
"Who's on First," p. 692

S 10-17 Spring Break

T 19
"Youth's Despair Erupts," p. 182
"Adolescents and Their Music," p. 317

W 20

Mid-Term Grades Due

Th 21
"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 26
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

Th 28
"Censorship in America," p. 225
"The Declaration of Independence," p. 496

April

T 2
Election Day
"Civilization and Its Malcontents," p. 330
"Antihero," p. 337

Th 4
"Born on the Fourth of July," p. 436
"Arctic Dreams," p. 457

T 9
Theme #5 due
"Columbus and the Moon," p. 494
"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas," p. 510

Th 11
"Walden," p. 514;
"A First American..." p. 210
"Old Times on the Mississippi," p. 525

T 16
Anna L. Raya, "It's Hard Enough Being Me."
"The Great Campus Goof-Off Machine."

Th 18
Open

T 23
Stephen Sondheim "Into the Woods."

Th 25
Stephen Sondheim "Into the Woods."

T 30
Summing up
Classes end
Open

May

Th 2
Final Exam 2:00 a.m.-3:50p.m.