ENG 108 College Writing and Research
Department of English, Foreign Languages and Journalism
MWSU, Division of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Spring 2008

Resources:
Because you will continue writing (for both personal and professional reasons), it is a good idea to build a library of resources for writing. Next time someone asks you what you'd like for your birthday, you can tell them you'd like one of these books:

• Glenn, Word Pocket Guide. One of the excellent series of software guides from O'Reilly, this book will explain the basic features of Microsoft Word. It is useful for writing papers, letters, and reports. (In other words, buy it now!)
• Lanham, Revising Prose. Lanham has several books on creating clear, readable writing, but this one is a guide for all kinds of writing.
• Alred, Oliu, and Brusaw. The Business Writer's Handbook. No matter what career you are entering, you will probably need to write memos, letters, professional emails, and reports. This book is an indispensable guide. Consider buying it when you start writing letters to apply for scholarships, internships, or jobs.

About the course: English 108: College Writing and Research will help you learn to use sources in academic papers. You will learn to identify and evaluate arguments in texts, and to use the texts of other authors to support your own observations and claims. We will consider the following questions:

• How do you effectively summarize a text?
• How can you recognize and respond to an argument in a text using logic?
• How can you use sources effectively to support your arguments?
• What are primary and secondary sources?
• What is the difference between paraphrase and quotation?
• Why is the appropriate citation of the work of other authors important?

• clearly respond to the assignment
• focus on one distinct idea (a thesis, hypothesis, or question)
• have a coherent general structure
• integrate sources appropriately in a text
• cite sources appropriately in a bibliography
• have paragraphs that have a clear internal structure and a use of specific details
• have sentences whose grammar is acceptable as English
• be relatively free of blatant errors in idiom, diction, spelling, and punctuation.

Papers with four spelling errors will lose one letter grade. I will count typos as spelling errors. Papers turned in late, without an acceptable excuse, will lose one letter grade for each business day they are late.

Communication: I welcome the opportunity to talk to students about reading or writing assignments during my office hours.  You don’t need an appointment.  If you can’t drop by during my office hours, please make an appointment. 

Email is the official medium for communication at Missouri Western.  You should check your Missouri Western email account at least every other day.  This is how professors will contact you if they need to, and it is how you will receive information about campus events, scholarship and financial aid opportunities, and other important campus information. Some departments have student listservs to announce special events (like speakers or conference opportunities), scholarship deadlines, and the like. When you send an email to a professor or office on campus, you should send it from you Western email account, so that we know it is campus business.

A note on email etiquette: When you write an email to a professor, approach it as correspondence in a professional setting.  This means including an informative subject line (at the very least, the course number), complete sentences, correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling, a salutation, and a signature.  If you are including an attachment, you should tell the recipient what it is.

Absences: 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. 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.  All other absences will be deemed unexcused.  The maximum number of unexcused absences allowed for this class before the midterm report, March 19, is five. 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.

In addition to the official absence policy, I have my own attendance policy for my classes: Students missing four class periods will have their semester grade lowered one letter grade.  If you miss class, check with your classmates (especially your workshop members) to find out what short assignments you missed.  You can also find the Schedule of Assignments on line (see below).  If you must be absent for a number of class sessions and you know in advance, please talk to me about it; otherwise, talk to me when you return.  I understand that many of you have work and family responsibilities, but you should make success in your college courses your priority. Your education is your most important job, so you should arrange your schedule accordingly.

Disabilities: Please let me know during the first week of class about any physical handicap or learning disability if you need special help or accommodation in order to do your best work.

Disclaimer: I try to adapt each of my classes to the needs and interests of the students. This means that the Schedule of Assignments may change.