“Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.”
--Salman Rushdie
Dept. of Language and Literature
ENC 1102:
Written Communications II
Dr. Doug Ford
Spring 2010
Office: 645
Office Hours: M: 9-10 am, noon-2pm
W: 9-10 am, 1-2 pm
F 9-10, noon-2 pm
TR 9-9:30, 11-12:30, 2-3 pm
Office Phone: 408-1501
E-mail:
Web page:
SCF Virtual Library:
Course Description:
Written Communication II: (3) (A.A.) Three hours per week. Prerequisite: ENC 1101 with a grade of “C” or better. This course meets Area I requirement for the A.A. General Education requirements, and the 6000-word Gordon Rule requirement. While instruction in composition, rhetoric, grammar and research is continued from ENC 1101, course content includes an introduction to literature with emphasis on reading critically and analytically, understanding literary terminology and techniques, and writing about literature.
Course Performance Standards:
The student, at the successful completion of ENC 1102, should be able to:
1.Write proficient analytical essays which clearly state a thesis and support it with details obtained through careful reading of primary and secondary sources.
2.Fulfill writing requirements as mandated by SBE 6A-10.30.
3.Demonstrate the ability to recognize the basic genres including essay, short story, poem, and play.
4.Demonstrate increased reading skills through attention to detail, tone, argument strategies, figurative language, organization, and sentence relationships.
5.Demonstrate the ability to recognize the relationship between literature and his/her world and between literature and other academic disciplines.
6.Demonstrate to ability to interact with (and therefore better understand) peers by participating in group projects, discussions, research, and reports.
7.Demonstrate the ability to gain a better understanding of her/himself by learning more about the ethnically and racially diverse society of which he/she is a part.
8.Demonstrate skills that are required for the CLAST.
9.Demonstrate knowledge of the vocabulary needed to study literature and to write about literature.
10.Demonstrate academic research skills, including the use of the Internet and current MLA documentation standards
11.Demonstrate the professional use of e-mail.
Text and Required Materials:
Access Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, Ed. Barbara Barnard and David F. Winn. Thomson Wadsworth.
Pen and Paper for in-class writing assignments
A computer to access ANGEL and to complete out-of-class assignments
Access to a photocopy machine for workshops
An activated SCF e-mail address to correspond with instructor
Attendance Requirement:
Because this course will involve students sharing share views on literature and discussing one another’s writings, consistent attendance is mandatory. Missing four class meetings will make it very difficult for a student to pass ENC 1102, and I will ask students to withdraw at this point. Students who do not withdraw after four absences will receive a failing grade in participation and have their final grade dropped by one letter. Please note that I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences, and please do not ask me to make allowances. Also, because much of our class time will consist of sharing and responding to student writing, coming to class without a day’s assignment will result in being marked absent for that day. Do NOT come to class without work due for that day.
Late Paper Policy:
Please note that I do not give passing grades to late assignments. If you cannot attend class on the day that an assignment is due, you should e-mail me your work either as an MS Word attachment, or embedded in the text of the e-mail on the day that the assignment is due. Note: my e-mail address is , as indicated at the top of this syllabus. I grant extensions only in the event of an illness or injury to your own body that can be verified with official documentation from a medical professional.
Withdrawal Policy:
In accordance with the State College of Florida policy, as stated in the college catalog, students may withdraw from any course, or all courses, without academic penalty, by the withdrawal deadline listed in the State College of Florida academic calendar. This semester, the withdrawal date is March 25. Students should take responsibility to initiate the withdrawal procedure but are strongly encouraged to talk with their instructors before taking any withdrawal action. In addition, students should note that faculty may also withdraw students for violating policies, procedures or conditions of the class, as outlined in individual class syllabi, and such action could affect financial aid eligibility.
Gordon Rule:
This course meets the Florida State Board of Education Rule Number 6A-10.30. In accordance with this rule, students will complete written assignments totaling 6,000 words. A grade of C or better is required for credit in Gordon Rule classes.
Regarding Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the use of ideas, facts, opinions, illustrative material, data, direct or indirect wording of another scholar and/or writer—professional or student—without giving proper credit. Expulsion, suspension, or any lesser penalty may be imposed for plagiarism. As a personal rule, I do not pass students who plagiarize, even if it is just a single sentence.
Standards of Conduct:
Students are expected to abide by the guidelines stated in our student handbook. Also, students must silent cell phones before the beginning of class. If your cell phone goes off during class, you will have to stand up and dance to your ring-tone.
Format for Writings:
Formal writings (i.e. anything turned in for a grade) should be submitted in a format that conforms to the MLA style. In the upper left hand corner, students should list their name, the course, the professor’s name, and the date. The student’s last name and page number should be included in the upper right hand corner of every page. Also, in accordance with the MLA style, each paper should include a Works Cited page listing all relevant material. I prefer one-inch margins, with a 12 pt. font (either Times New Roman or Courier). For more information about how to format your paper in the MLA style, please refer to the hand-out distributed on the first day of class, or refer to a document that you can download on my web page.
PLEASE NOTE THAT PAPERS NOT FORMATTED IN THE PROPER MLA STYLE WILL BE RETURNED WITHOUT A GRADE AND WITHOUT POINTS.
Formal Writing Assignments:
ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE COMPLETED FOR A STUDENT TO PASS THIS COURSE.
Our writing assignments will take us through a variety of modes and approaches, all with the intent of sharpening the kind of critical thinking skills crucial to a productive college career. They must be turned in with rough drafts and peer reviews, and I will not accept them late (see Late Paper Policy). All papers must come with a “Works Cited” page completed according to the MLA format. Our assignments will consist of the following:
Detective Essay (600 words)
Literary Issues Essay (600 words)
Staging Essay (600 words)
iSearch Essay (1,200 words)
Poetry Anthology (a team project, with 700 words for each student)
A mid-term and final exam (1,000 words each)
Detective Essay (600 words): The purpose of your first essay will be to practice the kind of close-reading skills that will help you develop into an active, engaged reader. To achieve this level of engagement, I am challenging you to look at our assigned readings almost like a detective, taking note of details and thinking hard about the motivations of certain characters. For the first paper, you will meet this challenge by taking the role of a detective who must solve a particular mystery regarding one of the stories we have read. Your mystery should focus on one of the following topics:
- What motivates a particular character? Why are these motivations significant?
- Are there events we don’t learn about or see clearly? Why are these undiscovered details significant?
- Does the writer intentionally make us see a character or situation the “wrong way? Why would the author do this? (The mystery here would be what is motivating the author.)
Guidelines and Hints:
- Write the paper as if you are solving a mystery. Your thesis paragraph should state the mystery you intend to solve and why that mystery is important to understanding the story’s significance. Your thesis should suggest a solution.
- This is not a research paper—discuss only your ideas.
- Include a title that mentions the author and title of the work you are discussing (example: The Role of the Butler in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”).
- Cite quotations in the MLA style.
- Do not re-tell the story in your paper. Instead, in your introduction, summarize the part of the text that highlights the mystery you intend to solve.
- The body of your paper should include the cluesand evidence that you found. Clues and evidence will consist of quotations and details from the story.
- The paper must consist of at least 600 words and it must include a Works Cited page listing the story you have chosen to discuss.
Literary Issues Essay (600 words): In this essay, you will explain and analyze how one of the texts we’ve read can help us understand an issue or problem important to contemporary society. Issues or problems might include (but are not limited to) war, poverty, racism, disease, and gender inequality. Your paper must include a detailed analysis the text you’ve chosen, as well as a detailed discussion of the issue it raises. For this paper, you are required to use at least one article found by visiting the databases found in SCF Virtual Library, and you will need to cite it correctly in the MLA style.
Guidelines and Hints:
- Use imagination. Granted, “The Things They Carried” may be used to shed light on the issue of war, but in many cases, a more satisfying paper may develop when the writer looks for less obvious topics. For instance, maybe “The Lottery” can help us understand the human response to global warming.
- The article you use in this paper must come from either Issues and Controversies or Opposing Viewpoints. One objective of this paper consists of showing that you know how to use the MCC databases.
- The paper must consist of at least 600 words and it must include a Works Cited page listing the story you have chosen to discuss, as well as the database article.
- Remember title and citations.
Staging Essay (600 words): For the staging essay, you will write about one of the plays (not short stories) that we have read in our text book. In your paper, you will imagine that you’re the owner of a small theater in Southwest Florida, and you want to bring the play you’ve chosen to your stage. Here’s the best part: you have unlimited funding, so you can hire anyone you want to direct the play. In the thesis of the paper, describe who you would hire to direct the play. (Note: the best way to approach this assignment might be to think about movies you like, or movies that you think fit the quality of the play you’ve chosen. You can look up the name of the person who directed your favorite movies by going to ).
To develop your thesis throughout your paper, here are some questions you can address:
- Why does this director’s style seem appropriate? (Note: you can compare the play to some aspect of his or her films.)
- How will this director affect the look and tone of the play? Can he or she do so while staying true to the playwright’s intentions?
- What moment or line in the play will be the most powerful, most effective, or most humorous? How do you think the director will stage this moment?
Guidelines and Hints:
- For the paper itself, you will need one source. This source will be a review of one of this director’s films. Use one or two quotes from this review anywhere in your paper.
- Remember to have a good title and to cite your quotations in the MLA style. Bear in mind that quoting from a play involves a different kind of formatting, which we will go over in class.
- Your works cited page will list the play you’ve chosen to discuss, as well as the review you found through research.
iSearch Essay (1,200 words): This paper will involve a more hefty research quotient than our previous assignments. However, it will not look like the “traditional” research paper you might be used to. Instead, this paper should take the form of a narrative. That is, you will describe the process by which you go about your research, the kind of questions you wanted to answer through research and the steps you took to answer those questions. Your possible topics will include the following:
•An author you find interesting and who you’d like to learn more about.
•A story, poem, or play that has an interesting context you’d like to explore in depth (in other words, does the story make any interesting references?)
•A story, poem, or play with some kind of interesting history you’d like to explore in depth
•A story, poem, or play with an interesting setting you’d like to explore in depth
•A story, poem, or play that you simply like and would like to learn more about how critics have looked at it. (In other words, do professional critics see the story the same way you do?)
Guidelines and Hints:
- Your final draft should have at least five secondary sources. At least one source must be in print form, and at least one of them must be electronic. In the days leading up to the research essay, you will be required to submit an annotated bibliography (details to come in class).
- The iSearch essay will involve an ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, which you will turn in separately for a grade.
Poetry Anthology (Team Project, 700 words per team member): This assignment will involve a collaborative effort with two or three other members of class, where you will organize an anthology of 12 (if there are three members) or 16 (if there are four members) poems. Each student will find two or three poemsfrom the text book, and one totwo poems from outside the text book (whatever the combination, the total should come to four). You have the option of including a poem you or one of your team members has written. As a group, your team will decide on the title of your anthology, as well as the emphasis, theme, tone, or focus on the anthology. Once again, each member will select 4 poems and contribute an introduction to their section, where he or she explains his or her rationale and the virtues that they find in the poems they’ve chosen. Each section introduction should be no less than 700 words. The anthology should have a 300-word preface written by ALL the team members.
Guidelines and Hints: Include a Works Cited page that specifies where the poems come from.
GRADING:
(NOTE: All the assignments below must be completed in order to pass the course)
Detective Essay ...... , . . . .100 points
Literary Issues Essay ...... 150 points
Staging Essay ...... 150 points
iSearch Paper ...... 150 points
Team Project ...... 100 points
Annotated Bibliography ...... 50 points
Mid-term Exam ...... 100 points
Final Exam ...... 100 points
Participation/Quizzes ...... 100 points
Journal ...... S or U*
*Note that a “U” grade will result in an F in participation
900-1000 points=A
800-899 points=B
700-799 points=C
600-699 points=D
Below 600 points=F
JOURNAL
Many of our writings will consist of informal journal entries written either during class or on your own time, detailing your responses to the texts that we read for class. To get a satisfactory grade, your journal must reflect a serious, diligent effort, and it must be complete—NO EXCEPTIONS, EVEN IF YOU HAVE MISSED A CLASS. Please keep your journal in a three-ring binder, or another sort of folder from which you may easily remove pages. I will ask you to turn in selected pages occasionally, never the whole notebook. In some cases, I may ask you to submit your journals via e-mail. In some cases, I will ask that part of your journal take the form of an online blog (details to come in class).
ALL WORK MUST BE COMPLETED FOR A STUDENT TO PASS THIS COURSE.
Calendar of Assignments:
(Please note that this schedule is tentative and will likely change as our specific needs become clear. It is your responsibility to keep up with this schedule. If you miss a class, be sure to contact another student to find out what you need to have for class the following class.)
1/11: Introductions
1/13: Read “Killings” (pg. 83)