ENGLISH 131: COURSE CONTRACT

 COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

Are you searching for a class flexible enough to meet your needs, a class that requires on-site attendance only ONCE a week? Are you a single mother trying to balance class work and child care? Are you working full-time, but would like to enroll in additional classes in order to graduate before you are as old as Methuselah? Are you looking for college-level composition that will transfer to a university and provide an introduction to the World Wide Web? 

This section of English 131 offers you the benefits of both distance learning and on-site instruction. You meet on campus once a week on Wednesday, but all other work is completed in the comfort of your own home or in your (admittedly less comfortable) work environment. To participate in this class, you must have access to the Internet. It is preferable that you own a computer, but you can use the computers on campus in the Media Center to access class assignments. You can compose your documents in any word processing program (except WordPad), but Microsoft Works or WordPerfect are guaranteed to be compatible with the college’s software. You can transmit your documents via e-mail through UCompass. 

CATALOG DESCRIPTION: 

English 131 is the first college-level composition course in a two-semester sequence, emphasizing critical reading, critical thinking, and critical writing skills. Through readings students will explore various topics and various types of writing. Through essays, written in and out of class, students will demonstrate the development of a clear main idea through well organized supporting material, written in correct, effective English. To meet the above goals, a writing assignment integrating analysis and summary of an article and a persuasive paper incorporating limited outside information will be included. 

PREREQUISITES: 

A satisfactory score on the English placement test or a grade of S in English 092 or English 093 and a grade of S in English 081 if required. 

GOAL STATEMENTS: 

The goal of English 131 is to prepare students to write effectively, observing the conventions of English expected by educated readers of academic and professional communication. 

MAJOR CORE COURSE OBJECTIVES (MEASURABLE): 

Writing Objectives: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 

1. Write essays containing a clearly stated thesis or a recognizable main idea. 

2. Demonstrate adequate skill in introducing and concluding an essay.

 3. Identify appropriate and relevant evidence to be presented using a variety of rhetorical modes, including summary and argumentation.

 4. Organize the supporting details in a clear and logical order using transitions to connect sentences and paragraphs. 

5. Employ rhetorical strategies appropriate (transferable) to assignments in other disciplines or professional contexts.

 6. Synthesize and explain divergent viewpoints on an issue.

 7. Define a research interest and develop it using multiple sources. 

       a. Select relevant information from a limited number of outside sources and use that information along   with personal experiences and observations to demonstrate a point. 

        b. Introduce direct quotes and paraphrases accurately and use either an informal or a formal method  of documentation. 

8. Write an in-class essay that earns a passing grade.

9. Write clear, direct sentences, varied in length and construction, applying basic principles of subordination and parallelism. 

10. Minimize errors in grammar and mechanics. 

11. Employ precise and accurate diction as a result of vocabulary acquisition. 

12 Revise work after collaboration with other students and suggestions from the instructor. 

Reading Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 

1. Identify main idea and supporting details in college-level essays. 

2. Analyze the general structural pattern of essays.

 3. Distinguish an author's viewpoint from one's own by accurate and critical reading. 

4. Draw inferences from reading that lead to discussion and communication in writing.

 5. Analyze how a writer uses language and literary devices to develop an essay.

 6. Evaluate when an author effectively or ineffectively fulfills his/her purpose. 

7. Demonstrate strategies for vocabulary acquisition. 

Critical Thinking Objectives:

 Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 

1. Generate and develop a defensible inference based on available information.

 2. Identify, summarize, and synthesize a limited number of sources pertinent to a topic.

      a. Distinguish clearly between their views and the views expressed in outside sources. 

      b. Identify appropriate, credible, and relevant evidence.

 ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT:

 All students are required to complete the following assignments: 

1. A summary and an analysis of a selected text.

 2. A persuasive/argumentative essay

 3. An essay requiring integration and documentation of outside sources.

 ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING: 

For this class, you will complete seven major writing assignments (including the final), thirty Discussion Boards, and eight quizzes. Each paper will be evaluated on a scale from A to E with 1050 points are allotted for the class. You begin with 150 points to the good. 

Essays are worth eight hundred points and one hundred points are allotted for quizzes. If you achieve 901- 1050 points, you have earned an A in the class; 801-900 merits a B; 701-800 average earns a C. 

Although in-class essays make up a small part of your overall point total, you must PASS AT LEAST ONE IN-CLASS ESSAY (impromptu) in order to receive a grade for the class. In addition, you must eliminate major grammatical errors from your writing. You cannot pass if you create errors such as fragments, comma splices, subject-verb disagreement, etc. 

Assigned Essays: 

four out-of-class papers (three subject to revision after instructor or peer feedback) 

two in-class papers a final (plus a grammatical exam). 

If a paper is to be revised, you will often be asked to submit the essay (via UCompass) prior to the class period. If the first version of a paper merits an A, you will only be asked to make corrections. 

Discussion Boards: 

Some discussion boards will be completed in-class; others will replace in-class instruction. Although you should avoid major grammatical errors and use spell check, most discussion boards are judged for their content. Are your comments relevant, informative, and insightful? Discussion Boards fall into four categories:

 prewriting,

 rhetorical modes and summary of chapters in The Longman Writer 

sentence structure, and

 vocabulary 

Quizzes: 

You will complete eight quizzes that measure your understanding of assigned readings and the text. Seven of the eight quizzes will be open book, but you need to have read the chapters prior to taking the test. You will also complete discussion boards that summarize chapters in The Longman Writer. 

You begin the class with 150 points toward an A grade. How do you lose points? 

1. If you hand in a late assignment (after your excused one), you lose ten points. 

2. If you do not complete a discussion board by the assigned date, you lose five points. 

3. If you do a mediocre job on a discussion board assignment, you lose a point. 

4. If you have an unexcused absence, you lose ten points.

 How do you earn extra-credit points? 

1. If you do a superb job in responding to a discussion board, you gain one point.

 2. Each extra-credit discussion board completed is worth five points. There will be four or five extra-credit boards throughout the term. 

TEXTBOOK & MATERIALS:

 The Longman Writer: Rhetoric, Reader, and Handbook Used: $44.70 New $59.60

 A NEW preformatted floppy or zip disk used only in this classroom 

ATTENDANCE :

Since the success of this class rests to a great extent on spirited class discussion, you will lose TEN POINTS for each unexcused absence. 

DROP POLICY: 

You have until the tenth week of instruction to drop the class without a penalty. After that point, you must request a drop from the instructor prior to the final exam week.

 ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

 Plagiarism is a form of cheating. Any student who plagiarizes will be penalized. Penalties will range from receipt of an F on the plagiarized assignment to failure of English 131. 

Professor Christine Briggs 

Office: 210 Learning Technology Center 

Phone: (313) 845-6458 

E-mail: CBriggs@hfcc.edu