Introduction to English Comp 101

What is English Composition I?

COURSE TEXTS AND MATERIALS

• Nadell, Langan, and McMeniman.   The Longman Reader, 6 ^th ed.
• Kirszner and Mandell.   The Pocket Handbook, 2 ^nd ed.
• English Department.   A Guide to Writing & Word Processing, 2 ^nd ed.   (2003 Custom ed.)
• King, Richard.   Library Research for Writers.  

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

Knowing how to write is a necessary skill that each student must master in order to prepare for any academic or occupational field.   This course is designed to transfer to other colleges and to prepare the student for the types of writing that will be required in many other courses.

English Composition I is designed to help students develop their ability to think, to organize, and to express their ideas clearly and objectively.   Course units are arranged by the instructor to facilitate student success and to meet the course goals.

Upon completion of ENGL 101, students should have the competencies listed below:

·          Write a well-organized essay with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.

·          Establish a firm thesis in the introduction.

·          Understand the importance of pre-writing activities, including narrowing a topic, generating ideas, determining the audience and the relationship between audience and content, and determining an appropriate tone.

·          Develop an order and logic in the presentation of the essay appropriate to different rhetorical modes, including argumentation, analysis, and an essay test mode.

·          Support the thesis statement with specific examples and details.

·          Support the thesis with valid reasons and evidence.

·          Use effective sentence structure and avoid fragments, run-ons, and comma splices.

·          Follow the standards of written English especially in regard to punctuation, agreement, and spelling.

·          Understand the value of the revision process for the development of ideas and for achieving the quality expected of the completed writing assignments.

·          Find and select appropriate outside sources, identifying information relevant to a thesis, use sources to support a thesis, and document the outside sources correctly.  

PLACEMENT AND ASSESSMENT

Students are not permitted to enroll in English Composition I without the necessary placement scores or successful completion of developmental writing courses.   Students who are placed in READ 009, Fundamentals of Reading, Level I, are not permitted to enroll in ENGL 101.

To ensure correct placement, all students in the first week of the semester must complete a diagnostic/assessment essay that follows departmental guidelines.   Placement may be changed the first week based on evaluation of the writing sample.

During the last two weeks of the semester, an in-class assessment essay is assigned.   The second essay counts 5% of the final grade and is assigned a letter grade.

For the assessment of the course, samples of the pre and post essays taken from all Composition I sections are compared using an assessment rubric.

METHODOLOGIES

With each writing assignment, students will practice the concept of writing as a process of prewriting, organizing, drafting, and revising.   Along with short lectures and discussions of sample essays, instructors will guide students through the writing process and provide feedback on student writing through a variety of methods, including checking outlines and drafts, conducting conferences, and organizing peer editing sessions.   Much class time will be spent writing under the guidance of the instructor.   Students are expected to complete all reading assignments and to come to class each day prepared to write and participate in discussion.

REVISION POLICY

Each paper will receive a letter grade.   Individual instructors will determine whether essays may be revised for grade improvement.   However, students should not expect improvement of their grade without completing a true revision, one that reflects improvement in content and style as well as corrections in grammar and spelling errors.   No revisions will be permitted for papers that are late, plagiarized, or written on unapproved topics.

CONTENT

A.         Basic Skills

A portion of the semester will be devoted to reviewing the following basic skills:   subject -verb agreement, sentence structure, pronoun-antecedent agreement, and punctuation.   Other aspects of basic grammar may be individually assigned as needed.   More importantly, basic skills will continue to be evaluated with each student essay.   Without adequate control of basic skills in grammar, students will not meet the minimum standards for their assignments.

B.         Short Writings

Besides the six required essays in Composition I, students will be doing some short writings.   Individual instructors may assign work for this unit in a variety of ways including paragraph writing, reader responses, journal writing, research reporting, and writing from sources.   Since all students will need to learn to write from sources, paraphrasing and summarizing will be part of this unit.

C.         Essays

In addition to the assessment essays and short writings, students will write at least six essays for evaluation.   Students will write a minimum of 5,000 words excluding rough drafts during the semester.   These essays will include an essay test, an analysis essay, and an argumentation essay.   In order to develop multiple modes of thinking, instructors will assign at least three additional essays based on different rhetorical modes from the following categories:   description, comparison-contrast, narration, exemplification, classification, process, cause-effect, and definition.  Instructors will require that in at least one paper students will incorporate outside sources into their writing and use MLA or APA style documentation.

For each essay assignment, instructors will give specific guidelines and work with students as they prepare to submit a final draft.   Individual instructors may use a variety of methods to help students with the drafting process.   A final draft of each assigned essay will be submitted by the student and receive a grade from the instructor.

Each assignment will have specific criteria determined by the instructor, but all essays are evaluated to determine how well the student does the following:

1.          Write a well-organized essay with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.

2.          Establish a firm thesis in the introduction.

3.          Support the thesis statement with specific examples and details.

4.                   Use effective sentence structure and avoid fragments, run-ons, and comma

splices.

5.                   Follow the standards of written English, especially in regard to punctuation,

agreement, and spelling.

D.                  Basic Research

Students will learn how to conduct basic research using library facilities including learning how to use the electronic databases such as Inspire, FirstSearch, and NewsBank, and how to use other source material from the Internet.   Learning how to evaluate the reliability of all source material is a necessary skill for conducting any form of research.   As part of this unit, students will learn how to properly document all source material, including those derived from electronic sources, according to MLA or APA standards.

COURSE POLICIES

A.         Attendance

Attendance is required.   Attendance will be taken every class meeting and students are expected to arrive on time .   A late arrival will be counted as absent.   The university attendance policy will be followed, and students with excessive absences will be withdrawn from the course.   A student may receive a grade of "WF" if he is not passing at the time he is withdrawn from the course.

B.         Preparation of Manuscripts

·          All papers written outside of the classroom must be written on a word processor.

·          12-point size Times New Roman font must be used.

·          Any variations must be approved by the instructor.

C.         Deadlines

It is the student's responsibility to hand in work on time and to be sure each essay meets the Minimum Writing Standards required for the assignment.   Each essay will receive a letter grade.   If any essay is not completed, the final grade for the course will be dropped one letter grade.

Late papers will receive a lower grade.   A paper that is late will be lowered one letter grade for each day that it is late.   NO late papers will be accepted one week after the due date.   NO paper will be accepted after the last day of class.

D.         Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of using another person’s words or ideas as if they were one’s own.

Professors may take the following actions against plagiarism, as explained in the Vincennes University Catalog , “Student Conduct”:

“The alternatives for action by the professor may include, but not be limited to, failing grade of the assignment, or the course, or the withdrawal from the course.   The student will also be referred to the Dean of Students, who will determine appropriate disciplinary action in keeping with procedures used in the handling of other types of student conduct situations.”

Any student who is found to plagiarize on a paper or who permits his or her own work to be copied will automatically receive zero points for that paper.   The student may also receive a failing grade for the course.

E.                  Disabilities Statement

Students who need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, who have emergency medical information to share with the instructor, or who need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated should contact their instructor as soon as possible.

F.                   Conduct

English Composition I faculty are obliged to conduct classes in a professional manner.   According to the Vincennes University Manual , faculty will require students to exhibit appropriate behavior for college work.   “Students not showing proper cooperation and respect should be warned and then ordered from the classroom” ( Vincennes University Manual G-9).   Faculty will enforce this policy in order to ensure a positive environment for Composition I students.

EVALUATION

A.         Grading Criteria for Essays

            An “A” Essay:

·          Explores the subject in depth.

·          Provides a clear thesis that is well supported by specific examples and concrete details.

·          Has an effective pattern of organization.

·          Has fully developed paragraphs and well constructed sentences.

·          Contains no fragments or major errors in grammar and contains few if any minor errors in grammar.

·          Meets the Minimum Writing Standards and all requirements of the assignment.

A “B” Essay:

·          Examines the subject in some depth but not in as much complexity as the “A” essay.

·          Supports a clear thesis with examples and details but may need additional support.

·          Has a clear, effective organization.

·          Employs generally well constructed paragraphs and sentences.

·          Contains no major errors in grammar but may contain a few minor errors.

·          Meets the Minimum Writing Standards and all requirements of the assignment.

A “C” Essay:

·          Examines the subject acceptably but lacks depth.

·          Has a thesis but does not support the thesis with sufficient examples and details, depending heavily on unsupported generalizations.

·          Shows a skeletal overall organization.

·          Contains inadequately developed paragraphs and occasionally awkward sentences and may lack necessary transitions.

·          May contain one major error in grammar and several minor errors.

·          Meets the Minimum Writing Standards and all requirements of the assignment.

            A “D” Essay:

·          Does not examine the subject in any depth.

·          Lacks a clear thesis.

·          Demonstrates major problems in organization.

·          Contains poorly developed paragraphs and awkward sentence structure that create problems for the reader.

·          Contains major and minor errors in grammar.

·          Does not meet the Minimum Writing Standards or the requirements of the assignment.

An “F” Essay:

·          Fails to examine the subject in any depth.

·          Lacks thesis, supporting details, or examples.

·          Lacks any coherent organization.

·          Contains undeveloped paragraphs and faulty sentence structure that make the essay incoherent.

·          Contains major errors in grammar and repeated minor errors.

·          Does not meet the Minimum Writing Standards or the requirements of the assignment.

B.         Minimum Writing Standards

All papers must meet the Minimum Writing Standards.   Failure to meet these standards will result in grade reductions, as described below.

Standards Addressing Major Errors

A failure to meet any one of the following standards will result in failure of the paper.

1.       The essay must be the original work of the student whose name appears on the paper.   Additionally, all uses of outside sources must be documented or the paper will not be   recognized as the work of the student.

2.       The essay must complete the assignment as defined by the instructor.

3.     The essay must have a clearly stated thesis and a definite organization.

Standards Addressing Additional Errors

A failure to meet any one of the following standards will result in a below average grade, i.e., below “C.”   Failure to meet more than one could result in failure of the paper.

1.       The thesis must be supported by examples and illustrations.

2.       The essay must not have more than one incomplete sentence.

3.       The essay must not have more than three comma splices and/or fused sentences.

4.       The essay must not have more than three misspelled words.

5.       The essay must not contain more than three errors in agreement.

6.       The essay must not included repeated errors in grammar.

7.       The essay must not include errors in documentation.

8.       The essay must be legible and neat.   Word processed papers must be properly formatted.

C.                  Grades

Letter grades will be assigned for each writing unit.

            Grade                                      Points

   A+                 =                         100

               A                   =                           95

               A-                  =                           92

               B+                  =                           88

               B                    =                           85

               B-                  =                           82

               C+                  =                           78

               C                    =                           75

               C-                  =                           72

               D+                 =                           68

               D                   =                           65

               D-                  =                           62

               F                    =                           50     (if paper is completed)

               F                    =                             0    (if paper is not completed)

FINAL GRADES

The final grades will be determined by the average of the grade received on the following units:

            Quizzes and Basic Skills review                           10%

            Short writings                                                     10%

            Essay Test                                                         10%

            Analysis Essay                                                   15%

            Argumentation Essay                                          15%

            Expository Essay                                                10%

            Expository Essay                                                10%

            Expository Essay                                                10%

            Library/Documentation Activities*                        5%

            (*This percent could be included as part of a research writing project.)

            Assessment Essay                                               5%

V.U. Grading Scale for Final Course Grades

            A                      =                       93 - 100

            A-                    =                      90 - 92

            B+                    =                      87 - 89

            B                       =                       83 - 86

            B-                     =                       80 - 82

            C+                     =                       77 - 79

            C                       =                       70 - 76

            D                      =                       60 - 69

            F                      =                       59 and below