Treece 5
Class: M-TH 11:45 – 2:00 / Room: ______; Section______Instructor: Corbett Treece / Email:
Office: MB14 E; Hours TBD / Course website:
Corbetttreece.ning.com
Welcome to English 101: College Composition I.
This class will guide you through the process of writing college level essays and help you to become a more efficient writer of a variety of forms of composition.
In order to take this course you must have already passed the CUNY ACT Reading and Writing Test. If you are not sure of your status you should check with the English Department to verify your eligibility for this course
In this course,
— you will learn to gather ideas, organize, write, revise and proofread your own work as well as to help others revise their work;
— you will participate in classroom discussions and exercises that will help strengthen your own ideas and concepts about both the material you will be reading and about the writing process;
— you will learn how to appropriately and honestly evaluate and comment on the work of your peers;
— you will learn to find and evaluate research materials using the World Wide Web and LaGuardia’s Library;
— you will learn how to appropriately find, integrate, and document outside sources and research material into your written work.
Texts and Readings:
Essentials of Argument by Nancy V. Wood
All non textbook readings will be available online at corbetttreece.ning.com within the Group Page for our class. In the calendar, readings will indicate whether the material is to be found in your textbook (Essentials) or the blog (corbetttreece.ning.com).
Other Requirements
— You will buy the required textbook.
— You will complete all reading assignments (including handouts and online materials) and come to class eagerly prepared to discuss them.
— You will print all electronic reading assignments from the course website and bring them to class.
— You will participate in online discussion forums and complete all required online assignments PRIOR to the next class meeting.
— You will type all your assignments following the guidelines dictated on the attached sheet entitled “MLA Format Guide”
— You will be respectful of your instructor and your fellow students.
— You MUST receive a passing grade on the items numbered 1-3 below (Essays and Exams). This means you must pass at least one draft of all take-home essays and in-class exams. You will not be able to revise either the final research paper or the final exam, but you must pass both in order to pass this course.
Assignments
1. Two 3-page (minimum) essays (revisable). =20%
2. One final research paper including a rough draft,
5-page minimum plus works cited. =10%
3. Exams: One in-class midterm exam (revisable) &
One in-class final exam (not revisable) =20%
4. Online components: Freewrite journaling and reading discussions =30%
5. Peer Review (must have papers completed on time to participate) =20%
***No incompletes will be granted for this course.***
Essays and Grading: How Writers Write
Professional writers do not simply sit down to write and then hand their work to a publisher the next day, keeping their fingers crossed and hoping it turns out for the best.
No. They go through a long series of drafting, reorganizing, rewriting, seeking feedback, seeking approval, correcting, correcting, reworking, rewording, organizing, reorganizing, rewriting, rewriting, seeking more feedback and more approval and listening and rejecting and tossing and turning and fine tuning and crumpling up pages (when we used paper) and obsessing over every little punctuation mark and every word and every bit of criticism and this goes on and on and on for a very very very long time until finally…. Finally. When the writer feels the work is as good as it is ever going to be, he or she gives up, throws it away, burns it, chickens out, drowns her sorrows in a glass of beer, wraps herself in self-loathing OR, sends it off to a publisher.
Only when it is good enough -- when the writer is satisfied, when the writer is confident, when the writer has reason to hope for the best, when the writer has done her best – only then does she send it to a publisher.
And then, the stakes are higher. Because now that the writer has done her best… now, if rejection should come, now, the rejection is of the writer herself, not simply of the work, because the work IS the writer.
Very neurotic people, writers.
In this class, we are going to do our best to replicate this process.
In addition to having already (numerous times) planned, drafted, written, rewritten and proofread your own documents, on the day your formal papers are due, you will bring in three copies. Two will be shown to two of your group members who will offer comments, criticism and suggestions for improvement. One will be given to your instructor who will also offer comments, criticism and suggestions. Your work will not receive a grade at this time. You may turn this paper into your instructor as many times as you like seeking comments, criticism and suggestions.
ONLY WHEN YOU ASK YOUR INSTRUCTOR FOR A GRADE WILL SHE GIVE YOU ONE. I will be a trusty friend or colleague, simply offering feedback and suggesting ways to improve the work, until you ask me to be your publisher.
The highlights:
1) Bring in three copies of papers on the due date.
2) Exchange two copies of your papers with classmates.
3) Give your instructor one copy of your paper.
4) Revise until satisfied, with further peer assistance and instructor assistance.
5) Hand in paper. Include all previous drafts with instructor and peer comments. Write at top: “Please Grade Me.”
6) Relax knowing that you have done all you can.
*******All Formal Papers must follow MLA style: See attached*******
Online Components:
On the assignment calendar you will see assignments throughout the semester that require you to submit writing online. These will be graded solely on the amount of care and energy I feel you have put into your work. These assignments will be a combination of writing exercises that require you to sit down and write (type) for a minimum of an hour on an assigned topic or to respond in a meaningful way to a reading assignment.
As this work is to prepare you for class, these assignments MUST be completed prior to class and they must be posted in the appropriate place in order to receive credit.
These assignments will not be revisable, though some may be built upon for your formal essays.
***These assignments will not be graded for grammar, spelling, organization or structure. However, as they will be able to be viewed by your classmates, I suggest that you do your best to present your work carefully.
Additional Policies and Requirements
Absences and Lateness
Absences: You may be absent no more than four class hours. This means that missing in excess of two days of class will result in your failing the course. No excuses will be accepted. Your instructor is legally bound to this rule.
If you are absent, you must contact a classmate for the day’s notes and look for assignment updates and handouts on the course blog. Your instructor is not responsible for getting you caught up or filling you in on what you missed.
Only in the case of prearranged absences will your instructor accept essays submitted electronically. A student who misses class on the day an assignment is due must turn the work in (in-person) on the next class meeting. See “Late Work” below.
Lateness: Attendance will be taken during the first ten minutes of class. Students who do not arrive on time must sign the attendance book indicating time of arrival. Two days of late attendance will be marked as an absence.
***Please, if you know in advance that you will not be able to fulfill these attendance requirements, drop the course immediately.***
Late Work: Papers must be submitted on the day they are due in order to receive full credit. Additionally, the Peer review process (20% of final grade) requires that students have brought their completed papers to class on time. Though I will accept late papers, significant points will be lost in the Peer review category as, if students do not have their paper ready on time, they will not be able to participate in this process.
Papers not handed in during class may be given to me during office hours or left in my folder in MB14 prior to 9 PM on the day they are due. Electronic submissions will be accepted ONLY when prearranged. Late papers will be accepted, but, again, you will not be able to participate in the peer review process, which will hurt your overall course grade.
Course Grades
A = 90-100%. This grade is reserved for students who truly excel on assignments, demonstrating mastery of the material and dramatically surpassing the expectations of the assignments.
B = 80-89%. This grade is for students who do above-average work, clearly achieving the goals of the assignments and completing them in a strong fashion.
C= 70-79%. This grade is for students who satisfactorily meet the requirements of the assignments in an adequate fashion (to your instructor, this means mediocre work).
D = 60-69%. This grade is for students whose work does not adequately meet expectations.
F = below 60%. This grade is for students who dramatically fail to meet course coals and do not fulfill course expectations.
Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty:
Plagiarism disgraces you, me, and this institution. Just don’t do it.
As stated in the LaGuardia Community College course catalog: “Academic dishonesty is prohibited in the City University of New York and is punishable by penalties ranging from a grade of ‘F’ on a given test, research paper or assignment, to an ‘F’ in the course or suspension or expulsion from the College. Academic Dishonesty includes: Cheating, Plagiarism, Internet Plagiarism, Obtaining Unfair Advantages, Falsification of Records and Official Documents, Misconduct in Internships” (117).
If I catch you plagiarizing on an early paper, whether intentionally or accidentally, we will be having a long chat. You will fail the assignment and you will not be allowed to revise it. I will require that you turn in all future assignments electronically and that you upload your papers to turnitin.com to have them evaluated them on originality. I will Google key words and phrases. If I catch you doing it a second time, you will fail the class, be reported to the department heads, and likely face disciplinary action.
If I highly suspect you of plagiarizing, but cannot prove you have done so, I will be turning your papers over for departmental review.
If I catch you plagiarizing on an exam or on the final paper I will automatically fail you in the course.
MLA Format for Papers
Adapted from the OWL at Purdue (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/)
General Format
MLA style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and using the English language in writing. MLA style also provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and Works Cited pages.
Writers who properly use MLA also build their credibility by demonstrating accountability to their source material. Most importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism, which is the purposeful or accidental uncredited use of source material by other writers.
Paper Format
Below are some basic guidelines for formatting a paper in MLA style. If you have a problem figuring out how to set your paper up correctly you may want to check YouTube.com which has several tutorials on this. There are also video podcasts available through iTunes. Search MLA Format and select the appropriate version of your software.
General Guidelines
• Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper,
• Double-space the text of your paper with zero additional spaces before or after lines, and use Times New Roman. The font size must be 12 pt. If you are using MS Word, make sure in the “Paragraph” settings that your spacing is set to Zero points before and after.
• Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks.
• Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides. Indent the first line of a paragraph one half-inch from the left margin. The default setting is different from this, so you will have to set the margins yourself.
• Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Omit this on your first page.)
• Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works (books, magazines, newspapers, journals, movies, etc) and, only when absolutely necessary, providing emphasis. Place in quotation marks titles of shorter works (articles, stories, poems, chapter titles).
• Do not right align or right justify your text. The line ends should be uneven as they are on this handout.
Formatting the First Page of Your Paper
• Do not make a title page for your paper.
• In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, the date, and the assignment title (ie “First Rough Draft” or “Paper Proposal.”)