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ENGLISH 1550-41475/43887: Composition I Fall 2009 Jesse V. McClain III Th. 5:10-7:50 / (S) 9-11:40 DeBartolo B48/Metro Office: T. 5:10 Rm. 250 Home: 726-8343 vandevner@zoominternet.net REQUIRED MATERIALS • Lunsford,Andrea A.: Easy Writer • Carnes, Jim: Us and Them • Youngstown State University: Writing (as) Work Bedford/St. Martin’s • One Flash Drive, minimum 1GB memory required • One ½” three-ringed notebook • A Magg Library Bar Code/Public Library Card ______________________________________________________________________________ _________________________ Prerequisite Successful completion of English 1540 or its equivalent. Willingness to work collaboratively with others-which will mean planning, drafting, and writing in a team. Willingness to write and research on a computer. You must use the computers in the lab and other compatible machines to get your work done on time. You do not have to be a typist, but you will need to be willing to learn how to make a word processor and electronic search devices work for you. If your keyboarding skills are such that it takes you forever to hunt and peck to complete a paper or assignment, plan your schedule accordingly. Course Description This course is designed to achieve the goals stated in the English department’s 1550 syllabus. This composition class is designed to give you intensive practice in critically reading and writing short expository essays of approximately 400-600 words. The course emphasizes the writing process— generating and organizing ideas, accurately analyzing audience needs, and attending to the quality of the final presentation (including such basics as spelling, punctuation, and usage) through an extended drafting process. In addition, 1550 will provide you with numerous opportunities to formulate reasonable arguments and to support them with relevant evidence—evidence that you will learn to gather from the selected anthology and other sources. There will be four papers and about a dozen short, semi-formal assignments giving you experience summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and citing material from assigned readings. Impromptu essay writing, the kind that might be written for in-class examinations, will also be written. As the department syllabus states, you must write a minimum of 4000 words. To fulfill the requirements for this class, you will write essays for a variety of audiences and expository purposes and strengthen your essays by revising preliminary drafts and by editing your writing to conform to the standards of educated English. In this course you will also think critically about and write responses to assigned readings as well as planning writing tasks effectively by using prewriting strategies. The Work In general, college courses assume that you will work outside the class. For years now, the usual expectation has been that students will put in 3 hours outside of class for every hour spent in class. English 1550 meets for 3 hours a week; therefore, we assume that you will put in 9 hours of effort into your assignments outside of class. If writing isn’t your strong suit, or if your work schedule will prevent you from putting more than a couple of hours a week into your class work, or if you’re prone to blowing off class, you should set your sights on passing rather than on ‘acing’ this course. As stated previously, you will write at least 4000 words in this course. 2000 words will be of a graded nature, written both in and out of class. Your reading assignments will come from a variety of sources and not limited to the chosen text, reader and instructor-provided selections. Course Procedures and Basic Expectations Never tell me that “I know the paper’s a little short but I couldn’t find anything in the anthology or my life to write on.” If you can’t dig up enough material in anthology to write a serious paper on, you need try harder. Revision and feedback are the heart of this course and necessary for good writing. Each paper must undergo a series of drafts before it can be submitted for a grade. Papers that do not go through the drafting/revision process will not be graded. Each paper must include selected quotes from the selected essays. For each paper you must consult the chosen anthology and any essays provided in-class. A selected reader will also be used as a primary material in this class. You must quote from at least one of each of these kinds of sources. Obviously you needn’t limit the amount of quoted material to one citation per category. “How long do you want these papers to be?” Students always ask this question and the answer is always the same, “until it is done!” “Do we have to use these computers?” Yes! “Does format matter?” Yes, but the basic rule for all final drafts is to make sure your work is appealing to the eye and easy to read. In general though, use one-inch margins all around, a serif font, and 12 pt. Plain type. “What’s the attendance policy?” It is requested that you show up whenever class is scheduled. Given the nature of this class, blowing off a day of class is inconsiderate to others in your class. For this reason, I reserve the right to reduce your grade 5% for every unexcused absence. “What about late papers?” No late papers will be accepted.” Grading and Standards of Evaluation *For each major writing assignment, you will be provided with an assignment sheet detailing the specific requirements and objectives. Final grades are ‘weighed’ this way:  Paper One 20 pts. 1000 words or more *20%  Paper Two 20 pts. 1000 words or more *20%  2 Searches/Assignments TBA 10 pts. *10 %  Paper Three 20 pts. 500 words or more *10%  Final Paper/Portfolio 30 pts. 2500 words or more *40% TOTAL 100 pts. *Grades for major individual assignments will be assigned according to the following scale: A 95-100 A- 91-94 B+ 89-90 B 83-88 B- 82 C+ 72-76 C 72-76 C- 71 D (No Credit) 66-70 F (No Credit) 65 A-an ‘excellent’ paper  fulfills minor as well as major purposes of the assignment  clearly articulates a thesis based on good audience analysis  demonstrates an appropriate pattern of organization  features a flawless bibliography in MLA format  has smooth transitions  uses language appropriately  is well-written, interesting, and easy to read  grammatically correct, punctuated appropriately and fewer than 3 typos B- a ‘good’ paper  fulfills the major purposes of the assignment  clearly articulates a thesis  demonstrates an appropriate pattern of organization  has a clear, concise, and appropriate writing style  is adequately developed  has a slightly flawed bibliography  may have some awkward spots and fewer than 4 ‘mechanical’ errors C- a ‘satisfactory’ paper  articulates a thesis  demonstrates an acceptable pattern of organization  follows the conventions of standard written English  may be inadequately developed in places  may have minor errors in style, tone, or organization  a good (B) paper with a major flaw in logic, organization or tone  a good (B) paper with numerous editing errors D- an ‘unsatisfactory’ paper  shows some evidence of having attempted to articulate a thesis  has many errors in organization, development, style, citation or tone  a satisfactory (C) paper with a major flaw in logic, tone or style F- an ‘unacceptable’ paper  fails to address the assignment  does not articulate a thesis  contains an unacceptable number of errors in style, tone or development  an unsatisfactory (D) paper with major flaws in tone, organization or style Plagiarism Passing off the work of others as your own original work is a serious matter. While some have found it tempting to download papers from the web or ‘recycle’ the work of their friends, the consequences can be devastating if you are caught. The minimum penalty for plagiarism is automatic failure of this course and having a disciplinary action report placed in your student file; the maximum includes dismissal from the university. Tentative Calendar Week One Course Introduction, Diagnostic Essay Part One: Section 1 Personal Views of Work Handbook:Writing Process Week Two Part One Section 1 Continued The Library Assignment One Due Handbook: Writing Process Week Three Part One Section 1 Continued Evaluating Sources From The Library Handbook: Writing Process Assignment Two-Rough Draft Due..Revision and Editing Week Four Part One Section 1 Continued Individual Conference Presentations Assignment Two Due Handbook: Sentence Grammar Week Five Part One Section 2 Wage Labor Handbook: Computers In Writing Assignment Three-Rough Draft Due..Revisions and Editing Week Six Part Two Section 2 Continued Handbook: Sentence Style Assignment Three Due Week Seven Part Two Section 2 Continued Handbook: Punctuation Mechanics Assignment Four-Rough Draft Due..Revisions and Editing Week Eight Peer Response Handbook: Language Individual Conferences Assignment Four Due Week Nine Section 2 Continued Handbook: Multilingual Writers Assignment Five-Rough Draft Due..Revisions and Editing Week Ten Part Two Section 3 Theories about Work, Labor, and Class Handbook: Research Assignment Five Due Week Eleven Conferences Week Twelve Section 3 Contin ued Assignment Six-Rough Draft Due..Revisions and Editing Handbook: Research Week Thirteen Section 4 Issues, Problems, and Dilemmas Conferences Handbook: Documentation Assignment Six Due Week Fourteen Section 4 Continued Handbook: Documentation Week Fifteen Assignment Seven--Final Paper Week Sixteen Conferences Return Grades Class Web Site (s): http://teacherweb.com/OH/YoungstownStateUniversity/JesseVMcClain MUST CHECK SEVERAL TIMES PER WEEK and turnitin.com MUST CHECK NUMEROUS TIMES PER WEEK

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