GEN 110 COLLEGE ENGLISH ONE

Professor: Brian DericoSemester: Fall2009

E-mail: hone: 244-8147

Course Description:

College English One is a general composition course enabling students to practice communicating in appropriate and effective forms for a variety of audiences and purposes. Emphasis is placed on writing from different patterns of development with supplemental material covering grammar, research, and literature.

Course Rationale:

The ability to communicate well through written composition is a fundamental part of higher education. It is the purpose of this course to equip students with knowledge and skills that will enable them to meet the writing challenges that will face them throughout their college careers.

Course Objectives:

Students who satisfactorily complete this course will:

  • be able to analyze the audience, purpose, subject, and occasion that together constitute the rhetorical context for their writing.
  • engage in a recursive writing process that includes strategies of invention, drafting, and revision.
  • develop texts thatemploy the means of persuasion—visual and verbal—most suitable to their rhetorical context.
  • understand writing to be a process of discovery, and thus will integrate research as appropriate to the rhetorical situation.
  • develop strategies for becoming more critical and careful readers of both their own and others’ texts.
  • develop strategiesfor conforming to the standards of format, syntax, punctuation, and spelling appropriate to their rhetorical context.
  • develop the ability to work well with others on composing tasks.

Course Texts:

Patterns for College Writing by Kirszner and Mandell, Eleventh Edition

The Little, Brown Compact Handbook, Sixth Edition

Grading Breakdown:

Narration Essay15%

Exemplification Essay15%

Directional Process Essay15%

Explanatory Process Essay15%

Comparison/Contrast Essay15%

Definition Essay15%

Writing Log10%

Course Policies:

01.Work not submitted at the beginning of class on the assignment’s due date is late. Late work will not receive a grade.

02.Students must submit each assignment as a Microsoft Word attachment via e-mail.

03.Attendance regulations listed in the CCU catalog and in the student handbook will be enforced.

04.If a student does not understand an assignment or section of class discussion it is her responsibility to ask for clarification either during the class session or in private consultation with the professor.

05.Students must maintain scrupulous academic integrity. The CCU student handbook will be our guide on occasions of academic dishonesty.

06.The instructor reserves the right to amend the above policies for individual circumstances. It is always the student’s responsibility to apprise the instructor of extenuating circumstances.

07.Students who require academic accommodations due to any documented physical, psychological, or learning disability should request assistance from the Academic Support Director within the first two weeks of class. The Academic Support Office is located in the Lower Level of the Worship and MinistryBuilding (room 153). You may also contact the office by phone (244.8420).

Course Agenda: All dates are approximate and subject to change without notice. The student enrolled in this course is responsible for remaining aware of any modifications to the course agenda.

August24Introduction to College English One

26Rhetorical AnalysisLittle Brown (2-9, 86-91)

28Writing ProcessLittle Brown (27-45)

31Responses to Student Writing

September 02Library

04Style/FormatLittle Brown (71-84, 521-530, 17-26)

07Labor Day

09Narration EssayPatterns (83-89, 143-153)

11ICW: Narration

14Peer Review

Due: Narration Draft

16“My Field of Dreams,” FortePatterns (89-94)

18Group Conferences

21Group Conferences

23Exemplification EssayPatterns (199-206))

Due: Narration

25ICW: Exemplification

28Peer Review

Due: Exemplification Draft

30“Midnight,” KuPatterns (209-213)

October 02Group Conferences

05Group Conferences

07Directional Process EssayPatterns (263-270)

Due: Exemplification Essay

09Fall Recess

12ICW: Directional Process Essay

14Peer Review

Due: Directional Process Essay Draft

16“The Search,” McGladePatterns (270-275)

19Group Conferences

21Group Conferences

23Explanatory Process

Due: Directional Process Essay

26ICW: Explanatory Process

28Peer Review

Due: Explanatory Process Essay Draft

30“Medium Ash Brown,” HuntPatterns (275-279)

November02Group Conferences

04Group Conferences

06Comparison/ContrastPatterns (383-391)

Due: Explanatory Process Essay

09ICW: Comparison/Contrast

11Peer Review

Due: Comparison/Contrast Draft

13“A Comparison of Two Web Sites,” TecsonPatterns (397-402)

16Group Conferences

18Group Conferences

20DefinitionPatterns (505-512)

Due: Comparison/Contrast Essay

23Thanksgiving Recess

25Thanksgiving Recess

27Thanksgiving Recess

30ICW: Definition

December02Peer Review

Due: Definition Draft

04“The Untouchable,” MahtabPatterns (512-517)

07Group Conferences

09Group Conferences

11Review

Due: Definition Essay

Assignment Descriptions: The following assignment descriptions will be supplemented by class lectures and assigned reading. The student is responsible for completing each assignment in a fashion that reflects familiarity with lectures and assigned readings.

Peer Review

Peer-review serves a number of valuable purposes. Peer review:

  • motivates recursive writing;
  • gives student-writers an audience;
  • underscores the collaborative nature of writing.

ICW

In-class writing:

  • helps students practice idea-generating techniques;
  • helps students focus their ideas;
  • prepares students for classroom discussion.

Reading

Reading assignments listed in the course syllabus are an important component of this course. Information available in reading assignments may be supplemented by discussions during class meetings but will not be repeated. No specific credit will be assigned to completion of reading assignments, but a student’s ability to perform well on writing assignments will require familiarity with assigned portions of course texts.

Extra Credit

I do not offer extra credit because it is a disincentive for students to consistently pursue excellence and because there are sufficient opportunities to earn credit built into the course.

Conferences

Your writing group will participate in periodic group conferences with your professor. Each member should come prepared to describe her current writing project, as well as the current writing projects of all of the members of her group.

Narrative Essay

  • Write an essay of at least 700 words that uses an extended narrative to support a thesis.
  • Choose a dominant impression that compliments your thesis and include sufficient supporting details.
  • Make certain the order of events is clear to readers.
  • Your essay may incorporate first person.
  • Your essay should have a title that reflects the content of the paper and should conform to MLA format.
  • Be sure that your paper is organized according to a conspicuous outline.
  • To receive complete credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Word attachment via e-mail before class on the assignment’s due date.

Exemplification Essay

  • Write an essay of at least 700 words that uses exemplification to support a thesis.
  • Your essay should have a title that reflects the content of the paper and should conform to MLA format.
  • Be sure that your paper is organized according to a conspicuous outline.
  • To receive complete credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Word attachment via e-mail before class on the assignment’s due date.
Directional Process Essay
  • Write a thesis driven essay of at least 700 words that describes how to do something.
  • Your essay should have a title that reflects the content of the paper and should conform to MLA format.
  • Your must document sources using MLA format.
  • Be sure that your paper is organized according to a conspicuous outline.
  • To receive complete credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Word attachment via e-mail before class on the assignment’s due date.

Explanatory Process Essay

  • Write a thesis driven essay of at least 700 words that describes how something occurs.
  • Your essay must be written in third person and should avoid contractions.
  • Your essay should have a title that reflects the content of the paper and should conform to MLA format.
  • Your essay must include at least one source and that source must be properly documented using MLA format.
  • Be sure that your paper is thoughtfully organized.
  • To receive complete credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Word attachment via e-mail before class on the assignment’s due date.

Comparison and Contrast Essay

  • Write a thesis drivencomparison/contrast essay of at least 700 words.
  • You must organize a portion of your essay using either the block pattern or the alternating pattern to establish points of comparison or contrast between at least two items or ideas.
  • The thesis of your essay must make a clear claim beyond the presence of specific similarities or differences between two items or ideas.
  • The portion of your essay devoted to comparison or contrast must be motivated by one of the following purposes:
  • To demonstrate that one item or idea is better than another item
  • To introduce an item or idea that is unfamiliar by comparing it to an item or idea that is familiar
  • To demonstrate that two seemingly different items or ideas are similar in important ways
  • To demonstrate that two seemingly similar items or ideas are different in important ways
  • To compare the past with the present
  • Your essay should have a title that reflects the content of the paper and should conform to MLA format.
  • Be sure that your paper is thoughtfully organized.
  • To receive complete credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Word attachment via e-mail before class on the assignment’s due date.

Definition Essay

  • Writean essay of at least 700 wordsthat uses an extended definition to support a thesis.
  • The formal definition of your term must not be a dictionary definition.
  • Write in third person and avoid the use of contractions.
  • Your essay should have a title that reflects the content of the paper and should conform to MLA format.
  • Be sure that your paper is organized according to a conspicuous outline.
  • To receive complete credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Word attachment via e-mail before class on the assignment’s due date.