SYLLABUS: ENGLISH 108
COLLEGE
WRITING AND RESEARCH
ONLINE COURSE
Instructor: Meredith Katchen
Office: Eder Hall 232, suite P
Phone: 271-5815
E-mail: mkatchen@missouriwestern.edu
Office Hours: WF: 9-9:30, MWF: 11-11:30,
M:1-2, T: 9-10:30
REQUIRED BOOKS
AND MATERIALS: For this
course you will need:
* They Say/I Say; The Moves That Matter in
Academic Writing, by
Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein
* Easy Writer, A Pocket Reference, 3rd
edition, by Andrea
Lunsford
You may think you
are lucky by having to buy only two slim books, but what you save in cash you
will expend many times over in effort.
INTRODUCTION: This course places heavy emphasis on
writing. Performing research is a necessary component, but writing with the
results of your research will receive most of our attention. Such writing
requires that a student has his/her own perspective. You will notice that each
major project has as a primary objective the meticulous distinction, acknowledg-ment,
and integration of source material within a paper of your creation.
INTRODUCTION
BY WAY OF ANALOGY: If this
were a baking class for which you must bake apple pie, it would not be enough to
simply dump apples in a dish. In this course, it will not be enough to dump
into a paper ideas and information collected from various sources; instead, you
must bake with the fruits of your research. You must create an original research
pie. Or, if this were a class for making jewelry, it would not be enough to
toss down a handful of gems you have collected. No, you would need to evaluate,
select, arrange, and thread them together. Think of your collection of ideas
and information as gems, and think of your own thinking as thread.
BASIC COURSE
COMPONENTS: This course has as its theme the return of
American military veterans to civilian life. The course will be essentially
divided into two units: pre and post September 11, 2001. You will be
responsible for choosing and developing relevant topics. By the end of this
semester you will have read and written extensively about your subject, and you
will have thought more deeply about research in general, about the composition
of knowledge, and about meaning.
HOW THE ONLINE
COURSE WORKS: When you go to the Missouri Western home page, you
will notice near the top a slot marked "
DISCUSSIONS:
My plan is to choose different discussion formats (blog, journal, threads) from
week to week. In a traditional classroom setting, this aspect of the course
would take place in journal books. Discussions will be in two parts. 1. Each week,
I will provide a discussion prompt. You will respond. Responses that are full,
thoughtful, and on-target will earn full points. Discussions will be
"open" for your responses for just a few days. The prompt will give
specific timeframes. Check the Calendar feature for reminders and, if all goes
well, links. Otherwise, use the Discussion tab. 2. Once the time period for
posting your responses has passed, you will need to respond to posted
responses. Again, appropriate and thoughtful responses score highest. Discussions
will be worth approximately 21% of your grade.
QUIZZES
AND EXERCISES
There will be quizzes and exercises that focus on style, grammar, and mechanics
relevant to writing with ideas and information attributable to sources. For
these, we will try to use the Assessment feature, but we may sometimes use the
journal feature of Discussions. Each quiz and exercise should be announced on
the Calendar, and you should be able to access the quiz or exercise by clicking
on the Calendar entry. Quizzes and exercises will be worth about 14% of your
grade.
ASSIGNMENTS: Although we may
use the Assignment feature for any of the above, I will try to reserve this
feature for our major projects and final exam project. There
will be two major projects. For each project, you will be required to devise
and develop topics relating to the central theme. Major projects will be worth
about 55% of your grade.
FINAL: The final will be a short presentation, suitable for the
general public, of highlights from one or both of the major projects. This will
be worth about 10% of the grade.
GRADING: Though I do like reading and responding
to what students write, I do not like grading. Nevertheless, I am required to
submit grades. I try to reward effort and process as well as product. I tend to
reserve failure for students who do not do their work or who do their work with
seeming lack of concern or respect … for the material, for the class, for
themselves. Basically,
A = excellence in process and product
B = very good process or product
C = engagement with process or product, but so-so results
D = casual engagement, poor results
We will use a 1000
point grading system: A=900+ points, B=800 to 899 points, C=700 to 799 points,
D=600 to 699 points. Each student will start the semester with zero points;
therefore, points will be earned by your successes. If the total of available
points for the semester does not reach 1000, grades will be calculated as a
percent of actual points, with 90+%=A, 80-89%=B, and so on.
PARTICIPATION: A student simply can not, I repeat: can
NOT, succeed in this class with less than very active participation.
Discussions and exercises will each be graded, and each of these will be time
sensitive. Missing work will earn zero points. Can you pass with poor participation?
It is possible, but I don’t suggest you try. Rather, let me suggest this: If
you are not in this class with the intention of earning an A or B, a C at the very
least, this class will be a bad fit for you. If you are not ready to be a
diligent student, please drop this class now. You will be doing a service to
all of us – yourself, your classmates, and me. Poor participation may result in
being dropped from the class and being reported to the Registrar’s Office.
LATE WORK: The
REVISION OF
WRITTEN WORK: This course
will not provide much opportunity for revising completed work. However, this
course will provide opportunity for writing as a process, and the final
presentation will be drawn from already completed work.
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 another’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.
If I suspect you have plagiarized, the burden of proof will be on you to recap
your writing process and to demonstrate your command of your material.
DISABILITIES AND SPECIAL NEEDS
Any student who has a special
need or disability that may affect his or her performance in this class should
contact the MWSU Special Needs Coordinator for assistance. Also, let me know
right away so that appropriate arrangements can be made to make sure your needs
are met as quickly and completely as possible.
CIVILITY AND COOPERATION
Missouri Western requires all
students to help us maintain good conditions for teaching and learning. All
students will treat their classmates and teachers with civility and respect,
both inside and outside the classroom. Students who violate this policy may,
among other penalties, be excluded from online discussions. You should review
your MWSU student handbook for further information.
CONFERENCES:
Though this is an online course, I will maintain regular office hours as posted
at the top of this syllabus. You are invited to stop by at those times or to
request some other time.
Noteworthy dates
Jan 21 Mon ML King Day – no class
Feb 18 Mon President’s Day – no class
Mar 1 Fri Project 1 – tentative due date
Mar 10-14 M-F Spring Break begins – no class
Mar 28 Fri Last day to withdraw
Apr 14 Mon Project 2 – tentative due date
Apr 28 Mon Last day of class