Missouri Western State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism

English 108:  College Writing and Research

 

Teacher:                 Steve Frogge

Office:                    Eder Hall 222-T 271-4239 Office Hours M, W, F 9-10, 11-12 or by appointment

E-Mail:                   sfrogge@missouriwestern.edu

 

English 108 Sections

                10743      Section 03              Murphy 105          M, W, F                 8:00-8:50 Final:  Wednesday, December 13 8:30-10:20 a.m.

                10755      Section 04              Murphy 219          M, W, F                 10:00-10:50             Final:  Monday, December 11 8:30-10:20 a.m.

                10761      Section 05              Murphy 109          M, W, F                 12:00-12:50             Final:  Wednesday, December 11 11:30 a.m.-1:20 p.m.

Required Text

                Writing From Sources, 6th ed. by Brenda Spatt

Required Materials

                Folder to be used for submitting formal papers along with any prospectus, notes, outlines, drafts, peer comments, and copies of sources

                notebook, paper, pens, pencils, stapler, 3.5” floppy disks, composition book to serve as research journal

Attendance Policy

                In order to improve student learning as well as to achieve compliance with federal financial aid policies, Western has a mandatory attendance policy for all 100-level courses and 200-level courses for Fall 2007.

                You will be given an excused absence when acting as an official representative of the university, provided you give prior written verification from the faculty/staff supervisor of the event.  Every three instances in which the student arrives to class late or leaves class early will count as one absence.  However, any time the student misses more than 10 minutes of any given class, the teacher reserves the right to count it as one absence. 

                All other absences will be deemed unexcused.  The maximum number of unexcused absences allowed for this class before the midterm report, October 18 is 5.   Thus, when you have 6 unexcused absences you will be reported to the Registrar’s Office, who will automatically withdraw you from this class.  The Financial Aid Office will reduce financial aid as appropriate.

 

Course Objectives (Please see the source of these objectives and a sample paper at www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/lg/eng108.html )

1)             Complete three formal research based projects in addition to other graded and ungraded work.

2)             Practice analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating the thinking of others in order to discover, develop, and test their own points of view.

3)             Learn to focus particularly on academic audiences and scholarly purposes

4)             Use active reading and critical thinking to do the following:

        *              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.

5)             Use writing process to achieve the following:

                *              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 writing

                *              Write drafts in which students reconstruct their beliefs on the basis of the wider experience gained through research.

6)             Learn written conventions:

                *              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.

 

 

Grading

                2 Single Source Papers (including notes)        (10% each)            20%

                1 Final Research Paper                                                                        30%

                                Prospectus                                            (15%)

                                Outline, 3 pages, notes                       (15%)

                                5 pages, notes                                      (10%)     

                                8 pages, notes                                      (10%)

                                Final 10 page Outline and Draft         (50%)

                Class work/Homework/Quizzes                                                         20%

                Research Journal (Include all research notes and plans)              10%

                Peer Conferences                                                                                 5%

                Attendance                                                                                           5%

                Student Conference                                                                             5%

                Final Test: Read from Final Paper to Class                                      5%        

 

 

Late Work/Missed Class Work

                Assignments that are handed in late will be lowered by one letter grade per session late.     Group work, reading to the class, peer conferencing, and the like cannot be made up.

 

Class Participation

                I reserve the right to lower a student’s final grade by one letter for at least three instances of any of the following:

                *              Engagement in anything other than listening when fellow students read to the class

                *              Refusal when present to read from one’s own paper, journal, exercise, or other assignment

                *              Failure to attend class for two or more peer conferences

                *              Failure to participate according to instructions during peer conferences

                *              Failure to do class work or sitting and doing nothing during times provided for doing class work.

                *              Failure to attend student-teacher conferences

 

Academic Honesty Policy and Due Process

Academic honesty is required in all academic endeavors.  Violations of academic honesty include any instance of plagiarism, cheating, seeking credit for other’s work, falsifying documents or academic records, or any other fraudulent activity.  Violations of academic honesty may result in a failing grade on the assignment, failure in the course, or expulsion from the University.  When a student’s grade has been affected, violations of academic honesty will be reported to the Provost or designated representative on the Academic Honesty Violation Report forms.

 

Please see the 2006-07 Student Handbook and Calendar on page 21 for specific activities identified as violations of this policy and the student due process procedure. This handbook is also available online at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/handbook/index.pdf

 

Automatic Failure of the Course

                *              Cheating/Plagiarism

                *              Failure to attend the Final Exam

                *              Failure to hand in all three writing projects

 

Withdrawal from the Course

 

                *              Once a student’s absences exceed five, the student is withdrawn from the class.  

 

Writing Projects

                *              When submitting any of the writing projects, include all notes, drafts, peer comments, outlines, and in the case of the Final Paper also include                                                the prospectus and copies of all source materials.

                *              All writing projects should be word processed.

                *              All final drafts should be written according to MLA format unless the student has sought and received permission to use APA or another                                    standard format.

                *              Students should utilize the computer’s spelling and grammar checking capability.   Students should also check for those errors that automated                                          spell checkers do not detect.

                *              Projects

 

                                1)             Assignment 4 page 129

 

                                                10/2         2 pages of notes, drafts, and outline to be used in peer conference and turned in

                                                10/6         Final 2 page paper

 

                                2)             Assignment 5 page 148-49

 

                                                10/6         2 pages of notes, drafts, and outline to be used in peer conference and turned in

                                                10/11       Final 2 page paper

 

                                3)             Final Research Paper

 

                                                10/18       Peer Conference on Prospectus

                                                10/20       Turn in Prospectus, research notes

                                                11/10       Turn in Outline and 3 Pages, research notes

                                                11/13       Peer Conference on Outline and 3 Pages, research notes

                                                11/20       Turn in 5 Pages and research notes, Peer Conference

                                                12/1         Turn in 8 Pages and research notes, Peer Conference

                                                12/8         Final 10 Page Draft and Outline (10 Varied Sources, No Internet Sources without teacher approval)

 

 

 

 

 

Calendar of Discussions, Class work, and Homework Assignments

 

Abbreviations Used in the Calendar:                              

                E              Exercise

                A             Assignment

                ()             Page Numbers

 

Notes:    All exercises and assignments are due by the beginning of the next class unless otherwise stated.

                Any exercises not completed during class time must be completed by the beginning of the next class.

                This calendar is merely a guide.  It is subject to change at the teacher’s discretion.              

 

                                Discuss                                                                  Work On During Class                                        Assign

8/28         Introductions                                                        Survey                                                                                   Read Syllabus and Underlining; Annotating (3-6)

                                                                                                                                                                                                E1 Annotating a Passage (6-7)

8/30         E1 (6-7); Asking Questions (7-8)                       “A Question of Degree” by Blanche D. Blank (8-16)     E2 Understanding What You Read (16-24)

9/1           E2 (16-24); Drawing Inferences (24-26)             E3 Drawing Inferences (27-29)                                                          

9/4           E3 (27-29); Logical Reasoning (29-37)                                                                                                              Read Writing a Summary (38-41);

E4 Summarizing a Paragraph (41-43)

9/8           E4 (41-43); Summarizing an Article (43)            “Holdup Man Tells Detectives How To Do It” by         E5 Summarizing an Article (46-48)

                                                                                                Selwyn Raab (44-46)

                                Discuss                                                                  Work On During Class                                        Assign

9/11         E5 (46-48); Summarizing a Complex   “The Social Responsibility of Scientists” by                  Read “Interstellar Spaceflight: Can We

Essay (48-49)                                                        Bertrand Russell (49-54)                                                      Travel to Other Stars?” by Timothy Ferris (54-58)

9/13         Quiz on “Interstellar Space Flight: Can            Summarize “Interstellar Space Flight: Can We                Read “Molding Our Lives in the Images of the                       Travel to Other Stars?” by Timothy Ferris      Travel to Other Stars?” by Timothy Ferris (54-58)         Movies” by Neal Gabler (59-63) and “The Downside                          (54-58)                                                                                                                                                                    of the Upside of the Downside” by Louis Menand                                                                                                                                                                                                       (63-64)

9/15         Quiz on “Molding Our Lives in the   Summarize “Molding Our Lives in the Images of

                Images of the Movies” by Neal Gabler            the Movies” by Neal Gabler (59-63) and “The               

                (59-63) and “The Downside of the                    Downside of the Upside of the Downside” by

                Upside of the Downside” by Louis                  Louis Menand (63-64)

                Menand (63-64)

9/18         Presenting Sources to Others (65-89)               E6 Quoting Correctly (76-77); E7 Using Ellipses             E8 Integrating Quotations into a

                                                                                                and Brackets in Quotations (84-85)                                   Paragraph (90-91)                                

9/20         E6 (76-77); E7 (84-85); E8 (90-91);      E9 Identifying Plagiarism (92-93)

                Avoiding Plagiarism (91-92)

9/22         E9 (92-93); Paraphrasing (93-106)                      E10 Identifying a Good Paraphrase (102-3)                      A3 Paraphrasing a Difficult Passage (106-7)

9/25         E10 (102-3); A3 (106-7); Incorporating             E11 Distinguishing Between Quotation, Paraphrase,    Read “So That Nobody Has to Go to School        

                Paraphrase Into Your Essay (107-111)              Summary, and Commentary (111-15)                 If They Don’t Want To” by Roger Sipher (122-29)

 

                                Discuss                                                                  Work On During Class                                        Assign

9/27         E11 (111-15); “So That Nobody Has to            Arguing Against Your Source (121-129)                          Due on 10/6: A4 Writing an Argument Based on a        

Go to School If They Don’t Want To”                                                                                                             Single Source (129); Prepare 2 pages consisting of

(122-29)                                                                                                                                                                  notes, outlines, or text for discussion on 10/2              

9/29         “What Our Education System Needs Is                          

                More F’s” by Carl Singleton (130-31);                

                “Why Animals Deserve Legal Rights”           

                by Steven M. Wise (131-33); “Let                    

                Teenagers Try Adulthood” by Leon

                Botstein (133-35); “For the Same

                Reasons that Students Can Be Expelled,

                Degrees Ought To Be Revocable” by

                Gary Pavela (135-39)

10/2         Developing an Essay Based on a Source        Peer Conferencing A4 Writing an Essay                         Due on 10/11: A5 Writing an Essay Based

                (140-48)                                                                  Based on a Single Source (129)                                         on a Single Source (148-9); Prepare 2 pages

                                                                                                                                                                                                consisting of notes, outlines, or text for discussion

                                                                                                                                                                                                on 10/6

10/4         “Feasts of Violence” by Sisela Bok (149-53); “Why Are We Entranced By                                                            

Trashy Thrillers” by Bruce Fleming (153-57); “The Sales Call . . . And Other Horrors”

by Stephen L. Carter (157-59); “Politics and the Reasonable Man” by Susan Estrich (160-67)

                                Discuss                                                                  Work On During Class                                        Assign

10/6         The Multiple Source Essay (168-71) Peer Conferencing A5 Writing an Essay Based             E12 Selecting and Presenting Information

                                                                                                on a Single Source (148-49)                                                (172-73)

10/9         E12 (172-73); Generalizing From                         E13 Analyzing Shades of Meaning in Multiple              Due on 10/20:  A12 Preparing a Topic

                Examples (174-76); Analyzing                            Sources (179)                                                                        Proposal for a Research Paper (270); Be

                Multiple Sources (176-79)                                                                                                                                   prepared to discuss your proposals on 10/18             

10/11       Synthesizing Multiple Sources (181-85)           E14 Identifying Common Ideas (185-87)                          

10/16       Organizing Multiple Sources (189-99);                                                                                                             E15 Analyzing a Paragraph Based

                Evaluating Sources (199-200); Writing                                                                                                             on Synthesis of Sources (202)               

                a Synthesis Essay (200-202)

10/18       Topic Narrowing (231-38)                                   E16 Proposing a Topic (238-39)                                         E17 Narrowing a Topic (239-40)

                                                                                                Peer Conferencing on Topic Proposals                                           

10/20       Meet at the Library                             

10/23       Locating Sources (240-58);                 E18 Compiling a Working Bibliography                           E19 Finding and Selecting Sources

                Saving and Recording Information for             (265-68)                                                                                  (268-69)

                Your Bibliography (259-65)               

10/25       E18 (265-68); E19 (268-69)                                                                                                                    Due on 11/10:  Outline and 3 typed pages of your

                Evaluating Sources (271-91)                                                                                                                               research paper

10/27       Student-Teacher Conferences

10/30                                                                                       E20 Evaluating Internet Sources (292-96)                        E21 Choosing Internet Sources (296-99)

                                Discuss                                                                  Work On During Class                                        Assign

11/1         E20 (292-96); E21 (296-99)                   E22 Evaluating Sources (299-308)

11/3         Student-Teacher Conferences                          

11/6         E22 (299-308); Evaluating Eleven                                                                                                                      E23 Comparing Sources (319-27)

                Sources about Ernest Hemingway

                (308-19)

11/8         E23 (319-27);                                                         E24 Taking Notes on Two Topics (333)                           E25 Taking Notes on Three Topics (333-35)

                Writing the Research Essay (328-33)

11/10       Developing a List of Topics (335-36);              E26 Writing an Outline with Cross Referencing             Due on 11/ 20:  5 typed pages of your 

                Planning a Strategy (337-8); Arranging            (344-49)                                                                                  research paper

the Order of Topics (339-40);

Completing Your Outline (341-43)                                                                                                    

11/13       E26 (344-49); Writing Integrated                       Integrating Your Sources: An Example (357-62)             Read Selecting Quotations (362-63);

                Paragraphs (349-51); Accommodating             Peer Conferencing:  Outlines; 3 pages of draft               E27 Incorporating Sources into a

                Argument in Your Paragraphs (351-54);                                                                                                           Paragraph (363-64)              

                Presenting Arguments Fairly (354-57)

11/15       E27 (363-64); Acknowledging Sources             E28 Understanding When to Document Information    E30 Identifying Plagiarism (373-74)

(366-71)                                                                                                   (371); E29 Acknowledging Sources (371-3)

 

 

                                Discuss                                                                  Work On During Class                                        Assign

11/17       E 28(371); E29 (371-73); E30 (373-74);               E31 Using Parenthetical Notes (387)                

                Using Documentation (374-84); Signaling                                                                                                      

                the Transitions Between Sources (385-87)

11/20       E31 (387); Note taking (388-91);                         E32 Preparing the Bibliography (396)                               Due on 12/1 8 typed pages of your research

                Bibliography (391-96)                                          Peer Conferencing on 5 pages of draft                             paper

11/27       Work in the Library (Attendance Mandatory)                                                                                                                                               

11/29       Work in the Library (Attendance Mandatory)                               

12/1                                                                                         Peer Conferencing on 8 pages of draft                             Due on 12/8 Final Paper     

12/4         Student-Teacher Conferences                                                                                                                                                                          

12/6         Student-Teacher Conferences

12/8         Last Day of Class; Discuss Finals; Turn in Final Papers

12/11                                                                                       8:30-10:20               Section 4 (MWF 10:00 Class) Final Test (Read from Papers)

                                                                                                11:30-1:20               Section 5 (MWF 12:00 Class) Final Test (Read from Papers)

12/13                                                                                       8:30-10:20               Section 3 (MWF 8:00 Class) Final Test (Read from Papers)