Department of English, Foreign Languages and Journalism

MWSU, Division of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Spring 2009

ENG 112-01 10:00 MWF Murphy 106

ENG 112-02 11:00 MWF Murphy 106

ENG 112-80 10:00 MWF Murphy 106

Professor: Dr. Kaye Adkins

Office: 222J Eder

Office Hours: 1:00-1:50 W; 1:00-3:00 MF and by appointment

Email (my preferred method of communication): kadkins@missouriwestern.edu

Objectives and competencies: The course objectives are similar to those for English 108 outlined on the EFLJ Department web page, <http://www2.mwsc.edu/eflj/eng108.html#Objectives >. Please become familiar with these objectives. They include:

✏     Learning to write and research for different audiences and purposes

✏     Learning to use active reading and critical thinking in academic research

✏     Learning to use writing processes

✏     Learning to use research tools

✏     Learning written conventions of academic research papers

The Institutional Competencies for English 112 are found at <http://www2.mwsc.edu/eflj/eng112.html#Institutional>.

Required Text and Materials:

✏    Cooper & Patton, Writing Logically, Thinking Critically, 5^th edition

✏    Miller, ed., Sound Unbound

✏    Hacker, Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age 4^th ed. (Do NOT sell this book back. Not only should it become part of your permanent library, but you will need it for other English classes and all of your writing assignments in college.)

✏    Word 2007 Quick Reference Card

✏    Research notebook (9½”x6" 3-ring binder with four dividers)

✏    A good college dictionary

✏    Flash drive

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:

•     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.

A couple of good resources on line–You can find just about any used book (even rare ones) at www.alibris.com. While you are a student, you can get low-priced software and computer supplies at www.academicsuperstore.com.  

About the course: English 112: Honors Composition and Rhetoric will help you begin to develop an eloquent writing voice as you learn to use sources effectively and appropriately. In any English 112, 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. In this course, we will also be exploring questions about intellectual property, influence, and plagiarism. In our mix-up, mash-up multi-media age of the World Wide Web, these questions have become complicated–and important (not to mention intriguing).

We will consider the following questions:

✏     What do we mean by critical thinking?

✏     How do you critically read a text?

✏     How can you use logic to recognize and respond to an argument?

✏     How can you use sources effectively to support your arguments?

✏     Why is the appropriate citation of the work of other authors important?

✏     When is the appropriate citation of the work of other authors important?

✏     What is plagiarism?

✏     How do new media affect issues of plagiarism and intellectual property?

Assignments: In addition to reading assignments and brief writing exercises, there will be four longer individual writing assignments required. These longer assignments should be word processed or typed. You cannot pass the class without turning in all of these assignments. For each assignment, students will collect a portfolio that includes at least one marked draft of their paper and editing sheets from members of their workshop groups. As students work on their research papers, they will keep a research notebook. We will discuss the requirements for the notebook later in the semester. This should be turned in with the final research project.

The longer assignments include:

Workshops: We will workshop each of the out-of-class major writing assignments at least once. You should bring three copies of a complete draft of your paper to class. (The more complete the draft, the more worthwhile the feedback you will get. If your reviewers tell you something you already know about your paper, that won’t help you improve it.) During class, you will read each others’ papers and comment on them, using the guide sheet that I give you. Then you will return the marked drafts and review sheets to the writers. These will be turned in with your final papers. If you do not have a draft with you on a workshop day, you will be asked to leave class, and you will be counted absent.

Grading: As the semester progresses, I will consider more elements of papers as I grade them. By the end of the semester, a passing paper will:

✏     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

✏     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.

Grades will be weighted as follows:

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- and 200-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 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.

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.

Academic honesty: 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 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>.

Papers that have been plagiarized will receive no credit, and the student who submits such a paper will have to meet with me before any other work will be accepted.

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 (found at <http://staff.missouriwestern.edu/users/kadkins/honors>) may change.