Instructor: Paul Burkhardt
Section: 6 TR 8:00 – 9:15 a.m.
Harv 315
Telephone: 792-6420 (leave message)
E-mail: paulb@one-world.org
Office: CCIT 236 G (or comp lab in 236)
NOTE: Tuesdays we meet in KAIBAB comp lab.
Office Hours: T & Th, 10:00-10:45
am & 12:30-1:45 pm
NOTE: Information in this syllabus may change with advance notice.
Table of Contents:
I. Course Description
and Goals
II. Required Writing
and Grading
III. Additional Course Policies
IV. Daily Schedule
I. Course Description and Goals
The purpose of this course is to enable you to become a better writer. English 101 is designed to help you further develop many of the writing skills you have learned in English 100: analysis, synthesis, evaluation and expression. Since the best way to improve one's writing is to engage in extensive writing and reading tasks, this course will center around such activities. More particularly, English 101 is designed to introduce students to the skills of research and argumentative writing. We will read various essays & short stories in which the writers explore the ways society and the environment influence discourse, expression & identity. We will analyze both the ideas and arguments presented as well as the ways in which they are presented. Your writing will involve analysis of the author's strategies and intent as well as the responses of various audiences. To this end, it must be realized that reading and writing do not occur in a vacuum. Both political and social events that occur in your life as a reader, or an author's life, can determine how texts are interpreted and how texts are created. Written and visual representation partially constructs the way we view, experience and interpret the social and physical worlds that surround us. This section of English 101 will focus on texts that treat conflicts surrounding local issues, peoples & places here in what has come to be called the "Southwest." You will regularly read local newspapers, select & research an issue of local import, and then write about it in three major essays.
Furthermore, this section of English 101 requires the use of computers not only to word process assignments, but also to engage in group work, interaction, peer analysis & in class assignments on the OldPueblo Moo, class listservs, world wide web, etc.. At first, class will meet in the Kaibab Computer Lab every Tuesday. Eventually, class will regularly meet “virtually” via the Moo. These sections do not, however, require any prior experience or special knowledge/skills with computer technologies. Rather, you will be learning to use & critique these media through these sections of English 101.
Required Texts and Supplies
The Sunday Arizona Daily Star (available free in the library
or in news stands all around).
The Tucson Weekly (available each Thursday free in stands all
around Tucson).
Alvarado, Beth and Barbara Cully, eds. Writing as Re-Vision.
Simon & Schuster, 1998.
Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. 2nd edition.
Bedford Books, 1997.
Prineas, Sarah, Lori Church, and Adrian Wurr. A Student's
Guide to First-Year Composition, 20th Edition. 1999.
A quality collegiate dictionary.
2 3.5 inch floppy disks (one is required for backup!).
An email account and access to a computer connected to the internet
(such is available free on campus!).
II. Required Writing and Grading
Essay 1: Rhetorical Analysis Essay (February 22)------------------------------------------------------------
20%
Midterm Essay (in class, March 2)---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10%
Essay 2: The Persuasive Essay (March 30)-------------------------------------------------------------------
20%
Essay 3: Reflecting on a Line of Inquiry (April 27)------------------------------------------------------------
20%
Journal Assignments (due dates & descriptions on-line)-------------------------------------------------------
15%
Final Exam Essay (May 5)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15%
Essays will be evaluated for content (including development and maturity of thought), organization, expression, and mechanics. Standards of competence and expected levels of maturity are naturally higher in college than in high school. A grade of "C" means that your writing meets university-level standards of competence. An "E" is assigned to essays or drafts that have been submitted but are found to be unacceptable. This grade earns a certain number of points, depending upon assignment percentage, toward your course total. A zero is recorded for work not handed in at all. It earns no points. Always hand in your work, even if it is so late that it can only earn an "E." Detailed assignment descriptions & grading criteria will be provided for each essay.
Late essays will be lowered one letter grade for each day late, including weekends. Exceptions must be arranged prior to the due date. If you have computer or printer problems on the day a major paper is due, you have until 5 p.m. to hand it in at Modern Languages Room 445 with no penalty. Put it in the wire basket and sign the ledger as proof that you submitted your work on the day it was due. This policy applies to major assignments only. I do not accept late Journal Assignments.
Journal Assignments consist of written responses to readings, invention assignments, planning work, drafts, peer responses, and in-class & on-line writing. Journal assignments & due dates will be posted on the class website for each section of the course.
When you submit an essay for a grade, your cumulative Journal Assignment score will also be tallied and reported to you. Each Journal Assignment is worth at least 4 points. Formal peer reviews are a special part of the Journal Assignment requirements and count for 8 points. If you turn in Journal Assignments later than the very beginning of class, I reserve the right not to accept them.
Journal Assignments will be collected regularly -- sometimes via the MOO, listserv or other electronic media. You will be taught how to use these communication media which are available to all students free on campus. You must turn in Journal Assignments as instructed in order to receive credit for them! You must hold on to all of your journal assignments & other writings and turn them in with the final draft of each essay.
Participation in all class activities – both online & IRL – is required. If you have difficulty with spontaneous participation, I recommend that you take notes on the readings and bring several written comments to offer verbally or virtually in class.
The Final Exam Essay is a two-hour in-class essay based on a common reading or readings. It is an open-note, open-book test for which we will spend some class time preparing. Criteria for evaluation will be announced ahead of time.
Note: You should keep hard copies & disk backups of all your
work this semester -- especially graded essays -- in case you want to file
a grade appeal or in case I misplace or mis-record one of your assignments.
III. Additional Course Policies
Attendance is required. You may miss TWO classes without penalty. With your THIRD absence you will be dropped from the course with a failing grade. Failure to attend a required conference or virtual class session counts as an absence. The only excused absence is one for which you have a written Dean's excuse.
If you miss class, or any portion of a class, regardless of the reason, you are responsible for getting notes and changes in assignments from another student, not from me. If you consistently arrive late or leave early to the degree that you miss a significant portion of the class, I will discuss your situation with the Director of Composition and request permission to consider you absent.
Class Conduct is governed by the UA’s Student Code of Conduct. Read carefully the summary of the Code of Conduct in your Student's Guide p. 121.
Plagiarism is governed by the Code of Academic Integrity. All UA students are responsible for knowing and upholding this code which is available through the Office of the Dean of Students. Read carefully the synopsis of the code published in your Student's Guide pp. 118-120. Plagiarism is the act of using another person's work or ideas without proper acknowledgment. It is a serious offense punishable by loss of credit for the work or the course, or even by expulsion from the University. Please ask for clarification if you do not understand what constitutes plagiarism. It is common knowledge that essays written by others are available both locally (the "files") and on the internet. You should know that there are also automated anti-plagiarism databases on the internet for checking suspicious writing….
Format Requirements Assignments submitted IRL must be typed, double spaced with one to one-and-a-half inch margins. In addition, observe the following:
Computers are available for your use at several locations around campus. See your Student’s Guide, Appendix B (p. 581) & the CCIT publication distributed in class.
Bring the text with the assigned reading to class every day.
Bring your 3.5” disks to computer sessions.
Daily Schedule: Spring 2000
WAR = Writing as Revision SG = Student's Guide
Introduction:
January 13
In Class:
January 18
Class meets in KAIBAB Computer Lab
For Class:
January 20
For Class:
January 25
Class meets in KAIBAB Computer Lab
For Class:
January 27
For Class:
February 1
Class meets in KAIBAB Computer Lab
For Class:
February 3
For Class:
February 8
Class meets in KAIBAB Computer Lab
For Class:
February 10
For Class:
February 15
CLASS CANCELLED for Group Conferences
For Class:
February 17
CLASS CANCELLED for Group Conferences
For Class:
February 22
Class meets in KAIBAB Computer Lab
For Class:
February 24
For Class:
February 29
Class meets in KAIBAB Computer Lab
For Class:
March 2
For Class:
March 9
For Class:
March 11-19.
SPRING BREAK!!!! No Classes!
March 21
Class meets virtually on the OldPueblo MOO
For Class:
March 23
For Class:
March 28
Class meets virtually on the OldPueblo MOO
For Class:
March 30
For Class:
April 4
Class meets virtually on the OldPueblo MOO
For Class:
April 6
For Class:
April 13
For Class:
Class cancelled for movie screening.
April 18
CLASSES & OFFICE HOURS CANCELLED FOR CONFERENCES
For Class:
April 20
CLASSES CANCELLED FOR CONFERENCES
For Class:
Essay Four: In Class Final Exam
April 27
For Class:
May 2
Class meets in the Kaibab Computer Lab
For Class:
May 4
DEAD DAY: No Classes!!!!
May 5
Final Exam 8 am-10 am. Location to be announced.