English 101

Fall Quarter 

As a student of English Composition 101, you will

1. analyze the rhetorical situation by making strategic choices as to content, style, and form depending on the purpose, audience, and the genre in which you write.

2. use writing as a tool to improve your critical thinking skills.

3. use writing to improve your creative imagination skills.

4. learn how to gather writing knowledge from a community of writers.

5. understand and effectively practice the writing process(prewriting, writing, self editing, peer editing, and revision).

6. understand that revising involves substantial rethinking and rewriting, and to learn to make such revisions of one's own writing.

7. learn to edit one's own writing for global organization, style, and sentence level accuracy.

8. learn to read critically and respond constructively to published and peer texts.

9. learn how to position one's argument in relation to one's sources.

10. learn how to incorporate and cite external sources in one's writing.

11. learn to write clearly and effectively in impromptu situations.

12. learn to generate rhetorically effective sentences.

Writing Assignments: Each essay has a minimum of four stages and all stages must be included when the final draft is turned in. If you do the optional fifth stage of writing, be sure to turn in all previous work associated with that "re-revised" essay. A brief description of the invention, planning and drafting, middle draft peer review, final draft, and revised final draft stages will be explained.

1. In-class invention writing workshop: Each student will be expected to participate. It is at this stage that you find a topic, discover what you know about it, consider your purpose, and audience, and further develop your ideas about the selected topic.

2. In-class planning and drafting: Once the initial period of invention is completed, you should review what you have learned about the topic and start to plan your essay. The "Guides to Writing" in the book will help you to set goals and to organize your ideas and information in order to achieve those goals. Planning requires you to put your ideas into a coherent, purposeful order appropriate to your readers; drafting challenges you to find the words that will be understandable and interesting for those readers. Invention continues as you draft, for you will continue to make further discoveries about your topic as you work. But drafting requires you to shift your focus from generating new ideas and gathering further information to forging new and meaningful relations among your ideas and information.

3. In-class middle draft peer review: After you have finished drafting your essay, you will show it to someone else for comments and advice on how to improve it. Most experienced writers often seek advice from others. Each student on this day of class shall evaluate a minimum of three essays from other students in the class. To evaluate someone else’s draft, you need to read with a critical eye by using the critical comments section in the book for each assigned essay. Be both positive and skeptical-positive in that you are trying to identify what is workable and promising in the draft, skeptical in that you need to question the writer’s assumptions and decisions. Offer advice, but do not rewrite the paper. Your role is to read carefully, to point out what you think is or is not working, to make suggestions and ask questions. Leave the revising to the writer. Do not edit the paper for grammatical correctness.

4. Final Draft: Even productive invention and smooth drafting rarely result in the essay a writer has imagined. Experienced writers are not surprised or disappointed when this happens, however. They expect to revise a draft and revising will help move them closer to the essay they really want to write. Read your middle draft critically and thoughtfully. Reflect on the critical reading by others and see if you can find opportunities for improvement. You may notice misspelled words or garbled sentences; most important, however, you may discover ways to delete, move, rephrase, and add material in order to express your ideas more clearly. It is at this point that the instructor gets an opportunity to evaluate your writing in its first four stages: namely the invention, planning and drafting, middle draft peer review, and final draft stages.

5. Revised final draft (optional): I will write comments and suggestions on your final draft and you may choose to keep the grade I give you or you may revise and resubmit it for reassessment. If you choose to revise, you will have one week from the time that I hand back the graded final draft essay.

Here are the papers that you will be expected to write this quarter:

*Narration: Remembering an Event

*Explaining Concepts

*Taking a Position

*Making Evaluations

*Interpreting Stories

I will only accept papers that are double-spaced, typed and at least 3-4 pages in length. Please only put your name on the back of the last page of your essay.

Class presentations: Each student shall give a short (5 minutes depending on topic) oral presentation on the topic of my choice. You will be expected to contribute meaningful information about different writing strategies and how these strategies can be effectively used in English Composition and specifically to the writing genre that we are studying at that time. Note that the oral presentation is worth 10% of your final grade.

Tests: All students of English 101 are expected to take the impromptu essay examinations which are used for assessment purposes. There will also be an midterm and final examination. If I feel it is necessary, you may also be tested on the assigned readings.

The number letter grading scale is set as follows:

A 95-100

A- 90-94

B+ 87-89

B 84-86

B- 80-83

C+ 76-79

C 70-75

NC 69& below

Your final grade will be broken down as follows:

Class participation: 5%

Oral Presentation: 10%

Narration: Remembering an Event essay: 10%

Explaining a Concept essay: 10%

Taking a Position essay: 10%

Making an Evaluation essay: 10%

Interpreting a Story essay: 10%

Midterm In-Class essay: 10%

Final In-class essay: 10%

Impromptu essays (6) 15%

To receive a passing grade, students must hand in all five of the out of class writing assignments: Narration, Explaining a Concept, Taking a Position, Making an Evaluation, and Interpreting a Story.

I will use the Scoring Guide for the English Placement Test when I evaluate your papers for a grade. A copy of that guide is attached. Use the following scale to find the letter grade equivalent to the holistic numbers on your papers:

6=A

5=B

4=C

3=C-

2=D

1=F

Scoring Guide

Superior 6 demonstrates superior writing, but may have minor flaws. An essay in this category:

Strong 5 demonstrates clear competence in writing. It may have some errors, but they are not serious to distract or confuse the reader. An essay in this category:

Adequate 4 demonstrates adequate writing. It may have some errors that distract the reader, but they do not significantly obscure meaning. An essay in this category:

Marginal 3 demonstrates developing competence, but is flawed in some significant way(s). An essay in this category reveals one or more of the following weaknesses:

Inadequate 2 is seriously flawed. An essay in this category reveals one or more of the following weaknesses:

Incompetent 1 demonstrates fundamental deficiencies in writing skills. An essay in this category reveals one or more of the following weaknesses:

Assignments submitted after the due date will not be accepted. In other words, you will receive no points at all for that essay. I will only allow you to make up missed work if you have a written documented excuse from someone stating the urgency of the situation (e.g. Doctor’s note, CHP accident report, etc.).

You are encouraged to visit the writing center located in UH 387. Many knowledgeable, interested and friendly tutors in the center are ready to help you according to your needs. One bonus point will be awarded to each visit to the writing center and a maximum of 5 points may be earned to account for the 05% participation in your final grade. You must bring signed slips from the tutors in order to get the credit.

The Response Journal

Though the response journal is not an assignment that you have to submit for a grade, it is a very important part of the course. It records your progress as you learn about English and the composing process. There are two kinds of responses to this process. You should have your response journal beside you as you do your homework and your assigned readings and you need to make regular weekly entries in it. Its purpose is to assist you in becoming an active rather than a passive learner of composition. Furthermore, the response journal will help prepare you for the impromptu essay tests.

Reserve either a separate notebook or a section of a loose leaf notebook for the response journal for this course. Draw a vertical line down the middle of each page. The right-hand side of the page is for your summaries of each assigned chapter in The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing and Free Falling and Other Student Essays. The left-hand side is for your response to what you have read (1) as you read and (2) later on after you have had time to reflect and add context. The journal is not the place for class notes, or for work from other courses; it is specifically for the reading and homework assignments for English 101. Note also that a journal is not designed as finished, presentation writing, and hence need not be edited for form.

There are two stages for each journal entry, so be sure to date all entries. The first stage occurs when your read the assigned reading: the summary appears to the right, and questions, puzzles, connections, and the like appear to the left. The second stage occurs when you review the journal. You will now engage in a renewed dialogue both with the material and with your earlier comments.

During the quarter, each student will have an opportunity to give an oral summary in one of the following areas: critical thinking, writing strategies, research strategies, or writing for assessment. This is a 5-10 minute oral assignment that requires you to think about your learning. You will be assigned a specific number of pages to read. Then you will summarize and respond to the reading by preparing an oral summary about how you might be able to use the information to improve your writing skills. If the topic relates to a past, current, or future writing assignment for English 101 or for another university class, you may discuss those connections. The oral presentation will give you an opportunity to share with your classmates your knowledge about the composing process. The oral presentation will be graded according to the following simple set of criteria. Grades will not be affected by the nature of your response; you should feel completely free to say anything you wish, as long as you say something related to your assigned readings. Please try not to speak any longer than ten minutes.

Grade of A: The oral summary shows attentive summaries of the reading assignment and shows real, thoughtful responses/discussions. The oral summary includes specific experiences with how critical thinking, writing , research or writing for assessment strategies can be used or are being used in English 101 or other university classes. The oral summary is approximately five to ten minutes long.

Grade of B: The oral summary shows skimpy readings and summaries, along with some responses/discussions. The oral summary includes some personal application of the critical thinking, writing, research or writing for assessment strategies but it isn't specific as to how they can be used or are being used in English 101 or other university classes.

Grade of C: The oral summary is mostly summary with little if any response to the readings. Has little if any personal application of how the critical thinking, writing, research or writing for assessment strategies can be used or are being used in English 101 or other university classes. The oral summary is unplanned, unrehearsed, and disorganized.

Grade of NC: Shows no evidence of the readings. The oral summary is so disorganized that it is difficult if not impossible to understand how the critical thinking, writing, research or writing for assessment strategies can be used or are being used in English 101 or other university classes.

This is the criteria that I will use to evaluate your oral presentation for this class.

Oral Skills Evaluation Form

I will analyze and evaluate the following aspects of the presentation. The scoring scale is as follows: 4=Excellent, 3=Good, 2=Fair, 1=Poor, 0=Very poor

Volume-Did the student speak loud enough?

0 1 2 3 4

Gestures-Did the student use his/her hands?

0 1 2 3 4

Eye Contact-Did student often make eye contact with audience? 0 1 2 3 4

Pronunciation-Could you understand what the student was saying? Did the student’s pronunciation interfere with you understanding his/her oral presentation? 0 1 2 3 4

Intonation-Did the student use higher pitches as well as stress on the words that carry information in the presentation? In other words, did the student vary or change his/her intonation? 0 1 2 3 4

Fluency-Was the student fairly fluent with the presentation? In other words, did the student stumble and stutter as if to be trying to find the right word to say or did it seem that the student had practiced the presentation several times before? Was the student comfortable giving the presentation? 0 1 2 3 4

Introduction-Did it have a lively introduction? Was there a thesis statement of some kind that let you know what the presentation was going to be about? 0 1 2 3 4

Body-Did the body develop the thesis statement in the introduction? Was the presentation thorough and clear? Did it develop the thesis statement enough so that the presentation had full development and detail? In other words, were there supporting details and background information in the body? Were there smooth transitions between each supporting detail or was the body choppy and awkward? 0 1 2 3 4

Conclusion-Did the conclusion relate to the introduction and the body? Did it end abruptly, or was it a well thought out and planned conclusion. Did the student tell you in short was he/she just said? 0 1 2 3 4

Chapter 6/Taking a Position

Chapter 8/Making Evaluations