English 108-04 and 108-08—College Writing and Research

Syllabus—Spring 2003

Missouri Western State College

Department of English, Foreign Languages, Journalism

Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences

 

Instructor:  Michael Lund

Office:  SSC-222T

Phone: 816/271-4310

E-mail: lund@missouriwestern.edu

Office Hours: By appointment

Class Meeting Times and Rooms: Section 04: 8-9:20 TTH, JGM 104

                                                                                                           Section 08: 9:30-10-50 TTH, A 206

Required Texts: Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience,

Shorter Seventh Edition, Abcarian and Klotz  

The New Century Handbook, 2nd Edition, Hult and Hucklin

 

Students with Disabilities: Anyone who has a disability that prevents the fullest

expression of his or her potential to succeed in this course must notify me in writing as soon as possible so we may discuss course requirements, options and/or accommodations.

 

Academic Honesty: Most cheating is accidental. If, however, I determine that a

student is cheating deliberately or repeatedly, I will award a failing grade for the project and/or the course, in addition to forwarding the names and acts of all involved students to my department chair and to the dean of students.

 

Grading: There will be four major writing assignments. I will determine final grades based on the following:

 

Essay   # 1    Personal Response

           Essay   # 2    Analysis

         Essay   # 3    Comparison/Contrast

         Essay   # 4   Analysis or Comparison/Contrast

 

Announced quizzes—cannot be made up

Peer responses—cannot be made up

Journal Entries

 

(80% of the grade will be determined from the four paper assignments.)

 

(20% of the grade will be determined from the quizzes over assigned readings, peer responses, and journal entries.)

 

A = 90-100%

          B = 80-89%

          C = 70-79%

          D = 60-69%

          F = 0-59%

                 

 

Please Note: No one will pass this class without completing all four writing

assignments, regardless of what the student's point total would indicate.  If students are borderline between grades, other factors such as effort, class participation, attendance, and attitude will be used to determine the final grade.

 

Late Work: When papers are assigned for a given date, they are due at the

beginning of the hour. I penalize all late papers 10 percentage points per day late, and any papers I do not receive at the beginning of the hour on the day they are due will be considered one day late.  If something should happen that prevents you from turning your paper in on time, you must make arrangements with me before the paper is due, not afterwards. 

 

Attendance: Punctual, regular attendance is necessary for your success in this   class. Missing more than four class sessions may result in failure of the course.

I will frequently give quizzes over readings.  Quizzes will be given at the beginning of class and cannot be made up.  Peer response days are also point opportunities that cannot be made up.  Although emergencies and/or illnesses do arise, students who succeed will keep absences and tardies to a minimum.  If you are absent, you are still responsible for what was covered in class on the day you are absent and what is due for the next class period.   

 

Assignments and Extra Credit: Like papers, daily assignments are due at the

beginning of class on the designated date.  If a draft is assigned for peer response and you come to class without your draft, you will be asked to leave and counted absent.  To avoid problems with disks crashing, etc., always have a backup.  There is no extra credit for this class.

 

Journal entry assignments will be given over various readings.  Although the entries have due dates, I will not be collecting the journals each time.  As long as I have not collected the journals, you can make up any missed entries.  However, when I do collect them for review, they will be scored and you can no longer make up any missed entries.   

 

Course Objectives—upon completion of ENG 108, you should understand the following:

 

q      Writing can be used for different purposes.

q      Multiple audiences exist.

q      Writing is a recursive process.

q      Many productive ways exist to generate ideas and images for your work.

q      Common patterns of organization exist.

q      Formal distinctions exist among different prose genres.

q      Editing skills enable writers to polish their work in order to keep the reader's attention focused on the message conveyed or the experience created.

q      Reading is an interactive process that functions in our lives as a pleasurable activity as well as a means of acquiring knowledge.

 

A more detailed description of the course goals/objectives is available at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/eng108.asp.