Missouri Western State University
Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of English, Foreign Languages,
and Journalism
College Writing and Research
Jeff McMillian,
Instructor
Mondays 6:30 p.m.
Ð 9:20 p.m.
Murphy Hall 103
Home Phone:
816-676-2887
Cell Phone:
913-370-5546
Email:
jmcmillian@mac.com
Course
Description: ENG
108 students will complete three formal research based projects in addition to
other graded and ungraded work. In these assignments students will learn
how to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the thinking of other writers in order
to discover, develop, and test their own points of view. Final drafts of
all formal writing assignments must be word-processed. All students are
expected to be prepared for class and participate in class discussions related
to reading and writing assignments. In addition, students will keep
complete portfolios of all their writings. Before any grade appeal will
be processed, the complete portfolio of writings will have to be submitted to
the Departmental Review Committee.
Students must also be prepared to hand in essays on cd upon request.
See me for arranged office hours before or after classes. Please request the meeting at least one day ahead of time if the matter is urgent. Contact me by phone whenever you need assignment advice.
Required texts
& materials:
Barnet, Sylvan
and Bedau, Hugo. Current Issues and Enduring Questions. 8th ed. Boston:
Bedford/St. MartinÕs, 2008.
Hult, Christine
and Hucklin, Thomas. The New Century Handbook. 4th ed. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
You will need
durable notebooks with plenty of room for extensive prewriting and
documentation. You should also have a recent collegiate dictionary of
approximately 200,000 entries. You will need computer disks.
Students with
Disabilities: If
you have a disability that prevents or hinders your completion of class
assignments you should notify me at once in writing so that we can identify a
suitable plan of accommodation.
Attendance:
Because this class meets
only once per week, missing one class equals missing an entire week of
instruction, so attendance is mandatory. 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,
October 15, is 1. Thus, when you have 2 unexcused absences you will be
reported to the RegistrarÕs Office, who will automatically withdraw you from
this class. The Financial Aid
Office will reduce financial aid as appropriate.
Especially after midterm,
notify me ahead of time if a situation develops that jeopardizes your
attendance, as I reserve the right to consider extreme efforts to make up
absences due to exceptional emergencies, but I am under no obligation to do
so. Even in such circumstances, late work is unacceptable.
Even in emergencies, one letter grade will be deducted for each day an assignment
is late. Again, see me in advance before you miss an assignment deadline
so that we can arrange a suitable solution. Most times, a student is better
served by repeating the course so as to gain the full benefit of instruction.
Grading:
Points will be awarded
for all projects. At the end of the semester, I will divide your points
by the number of points possible and award grades as follows;
90-99% = A
80-89% = B
70-79% = C
60-69% = D
Below 60% = F
I anticipate the
following number of possible points for the semester:
Up to 100
possible points for
in-class discussions, quizzes, and out-of-class journaling.
150 possible
points for Research
Project #1
250 possible
points for Research
Project #2
350 possible
points for Research
Project #3
300 possible
points for Course
Portfolio. (The course portfolio will contain the three graded copies of
the research projects, a revision of one of these projects, and your
prewriting/documentation notebook. The final piece of the portfolio will
be an essay written in-class during the final exam session. This will count as 50 of the 300 points
possible. Failure to be present for the final exam will result in 0
points for the course portfolio.)
Revisions:
A requirement of the
Course Portfolio is that you revise one project. Therefore, either the first or second
essay should be revised and submitted as a part of the portfolio at the end of
the semester. Completing this task
early will not only help you avoid more work near the end of the semester, but
it will also help hone your revision skills.
Visiting the
Center for Academic Support will improve your revision skills. They are located at the northeast corner of the library building
(phone 271-4524). I will award
extra credit up to 10 additional points for visiting CAS during the semester.
Academic
Honesty Policy: Early
in the semester I may encounter Òaccidental cheating.Ó But any student
cheating deliberately on tests or projects is unacceptable. Academic honesty is required in all academic
endeavors. Violations of academic
honesty include any instance of plagiarism, cheating, seeking credit for
anotherÕs 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 studentÕs 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 2008-09
Student Handbook and Calendar 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 Learning to
credit other scholars is a critical skill for writers in all disciplines.
Classroom
Behavior: As adults
at Missouri Western, all students will treat their classmates and teacher with
civility and respect. Your Student Handbook states that instructors Òmay establish
additional classroom rules and expectations for conduct in the classroom.
Behavior which disrupts the classroom environment or interferes with other
studentsÕ ability to learn may be grounds or justification for dismissal from
the classroomÓ (29-30). During the semester we will likely encounter
topics which you feel strongly about. Everyone should feel free to
challenge their own and othersÕ opinions, but this should always be done in a
respectful manner. Other commonsense rules of classroom etiquette:
no sleeping, eating, conducting private conversations, damaging property, or
wearing of headphones will be tolerated. Please turn off pagers and
cellphones while in class.
Use of
Library: I know
that many of you are non-traditional students, and your time is a valuable
commodity. I will provide you with generous classroom time in the
library, but you will find that some outside research hours are still required
to excel in this course. Classroom behavior expectations apply to library
visits, too.
Tentative
Course Plan:
Reading
assignments should be completed before the class due date
8/25 Course
introduction; writing sample
9/1 Labor Day
9/8 Hult
chapters 1 & 2; Barnet pp. 1-55
9/15 Hult
chapter 3; Barnet pp. 55-88, 103-117; handout; Library instruction; by end of
class have topic for project 1
9/22 Hult chapter 4;
Barnet pp. 136-162, 168-198; library
9/29 Hult chapter 5;
Barnet pp. 221-298; peer editing of draft
10/6 Project #1 due; Barnet pp. 325 Ð 353
10/13 Hult chapter 6; Barnet pp.
354-380
10/20 Hult chapter 7; Barnet pp.
381-412; library
10/27 Review Hult chapters 8-13;
Barnet pp. 537-553; peer editing; Midterm grades due
10/31 Last day to drop with a ÒWÓ
11/3 Project #2 due; read any chapter in Barnet Part 5;
become familiar with Hult chapters 14-23
11/10 Read any chapter Barnet Part
6; skim rest of Hult; library
11/17 Peer editing; library
11/24 Library; peer work
12/1 Project #3 due with portfolio
12/8 Final