• Ramage and Bean, Writing Arguments (Concise Edition) , 2nd ed., 2001.
• The New Century Handbook, 2d ed.
• Imitations packets (distributed as needed)
• 3-1/2" floppy disks and a disk storage box
• Photocopies for group work as requested

Students in this four-week course will cover as much material and do as much work as they would in an ordinary 15 week semester. The average successful student will need to do the usual two hours of homework for every hour of class, meaning that this course alone will take about 30 hours a week out of your schedule, at least on average. Most likely, you will need to work hard on this course over the 4^th of July holiday as well, since it is one of only three weekends available for more extensive research and writing projects. If you cannot make these time commitments, consider dropping the course immediately.

Overview of the Semester

• In the first week (and a bit of the second), you will study your textbook, write informal responses, and prepare for a test. You will also find and focus your major research project.
• In the second week, you will research your topics, learn how to document your sources, and write both an informal research log and a formal annotated bibliography.
• In the third week, you will continue your research and draft your major researched paper.
• In the fourth week, you will work on style exercises, learn methods for writing better sentences, write a brief paper distilling your research, refine your major researched paper, and prepare for a final exam.

Students will add the following abilities to those addressed in English 104.

Students will…

• focus particularly on academic audiences and scholarly purposes

Students will…

• classify and define objects, events, data, ideas, and terms discovered through research;
• make judgments based on criteria that can be supported and explained;
• ask questions to clarify issues and solve problems;
• identify explicit and implicit meanings in a text;
• recognize problems and find workable solutions.

Students will…

• apply pre-writing strategies to discover what they already know and what they want to learn through research;
• write summary notes in the process of doing research;
• write drafts in which they reconstruct their beliefs on the basis of the wider experience they gain through research;
• revise for an organization appropriate to their specific main purpose and audience.

Students will…

• practice documentation conventions for styles such as MLA and APA;
• learn important grammatical concepts used for analyzing sentence correctness and style;
• correctly incorporate language, information, and ideas from sources;
• use advanced editing resources like dictionaries and writing handbooks.

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.

If you miss a class, you are responsible for all material covered and assignments given during your absence. Every fifteen minutes of absence or tardiness will cost you 1% of your total course grade. Thus, if you miss four classes, you will fail. Tardy students will not be permitted to participate in any activities, including quizzes and tests, that have started before they have arrived; yet they must still remain in class without disturbing others. Tardy students who turn in assignments due that day will receive a 10% reduction in credit for that assignment.

All late assignments will receive some reduction in credit, usually 25% per day. Late assignments must be turned in by the start of the next class that you attend. Assignments may be turned in by any feasible means, including email attachment, though you bear the risk of your own mistakes (including permitting files or disks to become infected with computer viruses). Students who come to class on time and remain for the entire period may have until the close of business on that day to turn in the major assignments, so there is no reason to miss class or come late if you have printer problems on these days.

Appeals from these policies must be presented in a formal writing. They must be supported by objective evidence proving extraordinary, unpreventable excuses. They also must be turned before the the start of the next class that the erring student attends. Finally, the appeals must suggest a fair, reasonable, and workable plan for making up the credit that you have missed. I do reserve the right to amend any plan or give only partial credit. I will neither help you with an appeal nor give anyone a second chance at writing one, though you should note that your textbook and this class should help you to compose such documents well.

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 me, your teacher, personally as soon as possible so that the two of us can discuss class requirements.

You will receive a score of 0% 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. All other departmental and institutional plagiarism policies and penalties also apply.

Whenever you are asked to bring anything, you should have with you a version that you would be willing to have marked up and 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 and respond to something, the assignment is to be read by the start of class on the date where the assignment is listed, and a draft of written responses should be ready to be turned in. There will be quizzes, both announced and unannounced. Unless another source is mentioned, all reading assignments are in your main textbook. Thus, an entry below saying "Read pp. 3-8" would require you to read pages 3-8 in your textbook. Further information indicates what we will do in class that day.

Missouri Transfer and Articulation General Education Standards

English 108 is also a primary site for students to work toward the following statewide General Education goals.

Communication:

• A. analyze and evaluate their own and others' speaking and writing;
• B. conceive of writing as a recursive process that involves many strategies, including generating material, evaluating sources when used, drafting, revising, and editing;
• C. make formal written and oral presentations employing correct diction, usage, grammar, and mechanics;
• D. focus on a purpose (e.g., explaining, problem solving, argument) and vary approaches to writing and speaking based on that purpose;
• E. respond to the needs of different audiences and choose words for appropriateness and effect.

Higher-Order Thinking

• A. recognize the problematic elements of presentations of information and arguments;
• B. formulate questions for clarifying issues and solving problems;
• C. use linguistic, mathematical, or other symbolic approaches to describe problems, identify alternative solutions, and make reasoned choices among those solutions;
• D. analyze and synthesize information from a variety of relevant sources and use the results to address complex situations and problems;
• E. defend conclusions using relevant evidence and reasoned argument;
• F. reflect on and evaluate their critical thinking processes.

Managing Information

• A. access and/or generate information from a variety of sources, including the most contemporary information services;
• B. evaluate information for its currency, usefulness, truthfulness, and accuracy;
• C. organize, store, and retrieve information efficiently;
• D. reorganize information for an intended purpose, such as research projects;
• E. present information clearly and concisely, using traditional and contemporary technologies;
• F. reflect on and evaluate their critical-thinking processes.