English 102 -- College Composition II Online 8.05

Syllabus

Fall, 2005

Sherrill M. Jamo

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Office phone: 417-624-9645 (1) I only check this once a week. Email: SherrrJ18@AOL.com is best mode of communication for this class.

Office Hours: By arrangement

Office location: Hearnes 307

Mailbox: Hearnes 300 Virtual Chat: TBA

**Email: SherrJ18@AOL.com

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If you are an individual with a disability and require accommodations for this class, please notify the instructor or Melissa Locker, Disabilities Coordinator, at the Learning Center (625-9516).

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Course description

Continuation of the principles of college-level writing and critical thinking based upon expository models. Emphasizes writing from sources, constructing persuasive essays and two research papers. Prerequisite: English 101. (Meets Core Curriculum requirements.) 3 hrs. credit.

Course Objectives. Your final grade will be a reflection of your ability to apply the following skills to your writing.

By the end of the course you should be able to:

use a variety of planning strategies to produce a clear thinking and writing process leading to an edited product

organize and subsequently develop complex thinking into a written product which will meet established standards

write research papers that take a stand, use logical arguments, call on multiple sources, document sources, clarify arguments, etc

use Standard American English for specific college-level writing purposes aimed at varying audiences

give helpful criticism of peer writing, and accept helpful criticism of your own writing from your peers, and from the instructor

read a piece of writing and intelligently discuss the author’s main ideas, logical organization and arguments, etc.

use current technology for research purposes, and word processing features to produce a quality written product

edit and revise written work to meet an established standard; independently, in concert with peers, and in conference with the instructor

Required texts

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 5^th Ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2003. ISBN: 0-312-39767-4 (purchase text; required for both Comp 101 and Comp 102)

Spatt, Brenda. Writing From Sources. 6^th Ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2003. ISBN: 0-312-39098-X (purchase text)

Additional materials

A good college dictionary and thesaurus. Check your word processing program; you may already have this. Computer disks to keep your work portable and also to back up work from the computer. Computer that matches Blackboard requirements. See Lifelong Learning catalog. Software for word processing and editing.

Course philosophy

Writing is an active process. In order to improve your writing effectiveness, you must write often and revise your work. Effective writing is writing that clearly communicates a planned purpose to an identified audience. Feedback from your peers is very helpful to your revision process. Your ability to read your own writing on a critical level is also important for improving your writing. Writing and thinking are closely related. The more integrity of thought and action you apply to your writing process, the better your writing will become, the closer you will meet the course expectations and the better will be your grade! Since your writing tasks are designed to be organic and grow into more difficult levels, the assignments are due for specific dates and cannot all be done at the end, at once.

Methods and Procedures (you will receive much more detail on the following):

A. Discussion Board – You will write in the Discussion Board and then respond to your peer’s entries. Here you will respond on a less formal, but still thoughtful level (this does NOT mean sloppy and hurried) to assigned readings, class activities, class discussions, peer writing, your own writing process and progress, and assigned topics. Your assigned readings will serve as models for your own essays.

B Essays – You will write between four to six essays. Your grade for each essay will consider the entire process of reaching the final version, not just the final copy. Each final essay will be preceded by at least two revisions, one of which will be a peer-edited copy. Your draft essays will also receive instructor comments. You may revise as many times as you wish before the final due date for that essay. You should keep all pieces of your process together to pass in for analysis and to keep as parts of a collection of your work; a portfolio will form from this process.

C. Research process and papers – your essays will focus you toward the research process and writing of papers.

You cannot pass this course without passing this section. You will have much more detail on these assignments.

Evaluation and Grades

Your grade will reflect your level of mastery of the objectives listed in this syllabus. I reserve the right to make adjustments to the grading ratio and this syllabus as the class progresses. You will demonstrate your mastery through:

A. Discussion Board and class work 25%

B. Essays (process through final product) 25%

C. Research process and papers 50%

NOTE: Every assignment (no matter how small) MUST have a full heading on it. The heading consists of:

your name…… my name….. date……Comp 102 …..title of assignment as given by me.

When you email me, (SherrJ18@ AOL.com) you must put your name and topic reference in subject area of the email. Do not assume that I recognize you by your email address; I need a name.