Syllabus for English 052

English 052, Basic Writing II
CCBC, Essex Campus Fall 2006

Instructor: Mr. Paul Henderson    Email: phenderson@ccbcmd.edu
Office Phone: 410-780-6629    Office Hours: Wednesday, Friday 8:00-9:00 a.m. or 12:00-12:30 or by appointment

Room: E306
Section: DCB               

Course Description: Eng 052 Basic Writing II provides instruction and practice in writing coherent paragraphs and essays for specific purposes. The course includes the process of drafting, revision and editing as well as instruction in the grammar, mechanics, and use of language.

Prerequisites: English placement of LVE I or completion of ENG 051

Required Text: Writing Paragraphs and Essays by Wingersky, Boerner et al. and Q A Compact by Troyka Other Material: notebook, folder, and storage device for computer written assignments.

Course Objectives:

At the end of the course students will be able to:

1. Employ a writing process that includes invention, planning, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading.
2. Write for a variety of purposes and audiences.
3. Develop and organize appropriate evidence (support for positions).
4. Use a variety of sentence structures.
5. Write effective, focused, and logically organized paragraphs.
6. Write topic sentences for individual paragraphs.
7. Write thesis or controlling sentences for essays.
8. Write introductory and concluding paragraphs.
9. Use effective transitions within and between paragraphs.
10. Write coherent essays as appropriate to topic, audience, and purpose.
11. Work collaboratively with peers in the development and revision process.
12. Identify and correct major sentence level errors in their own writing (fragments, comma splice and run on sentences, subject-verb agreement errors, and verb tense errors).
13. Identify and correct minor sentence-level errors (apostrophes, punctuation, pronoun reference and agreement, capitalization).

Major Topics:

1. Writing as a process
2. Paragraph structure and development
3. Audience and purpose
4. Sentence style and variety
5. Essay structure and variety
6. Writing introductions and conclusions
7. Transitions   
8. Grammar, mechanics, and usage
9. Revisions
10. Editing and Proofreading

Evaluation Requirements:

  1. Students will write and revise at least four papers --some of which will be written in class. At least one essay will be written without the assistance of the instructor, tutors, or peers as a way of assessing end of course competency.
  2. Students will maintain a portfolio of all drafts and revisions.
  3. Students must submit all assignments by the due dates. The final essay will be written and revised in class.

Grading Policy:

Course Requirements:
English 052 is graded on a Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) basis, and students need to receive a Satisfactory rating to progress to English 101.

In order to receive the Satisfactory grade a student must:

A. Attend the class (no more than 6 absences) and
B. Receive a passing grade on all major writing assignments and
C. Have a passing grade (70% or higher) on in class work and discussions.

Since part of the writing process is revision, students must submit at least two drafts—one a first submission and one revision.

Papers will receive either a “Pass” or “Revise” grade. All papers must be graded as “Pass” to fulfill the class requirements. This may mean that a paper will have to go through more than two drafts.

All papers by the second draft must presented according to MLA format.

The major assignments for the course are the in class essays.

Writing #1 Topic Sentences and paragraphs

This will be a writing that explains how you feel about an activity. (Generally page 86 of the text) The length of the assignment, specifics and due dates will be provided in class.

Writing #2 Being a Sensitive Writer

This will be a writing assignment that has a voice.  Your attitude toward your subject and the words you choose are reflected in the tone and voice of the writing. (Generally page 145 of the text). The length of the assignment specifics and due dates will be provided in class.

Writing #3 Organizing Ideas and Writing Clearly
   
This will be a writing that requires you to develop a thesis sentence and draft an essay (Topics for the assignment can be found on page 205-206 of the text). The length of the writing, specifics and due dates will be provided in class.

Writing #4 Writing with Depth and Variety
   
This essay will again require you to develop a thesis and compose an essay. This assignment will follow collaborative activities in unit 4 of the textbook. The length of the essay, specifics, and due dates will be provided in class.

Writing #5 Creating Interest

   
This writing assignment will take an issue from your life and allow you to create an introduction, and concluding paragraph that generate interest. (Generally this is page 308 of your textbook) The length of the essay, specifics and due dates will be provided in class.

Writing #6 Making Ideas Flow Clearly
   
This written assignment will ask you to write about a movie, book or play. You will have to develop a thesis and write an essay with supporting detail about this work of art. (Generally page 357 of the text) The length of the essay, specifics and due dates will be provided in class.

Writing #7 Final 
   
This is the last written assignment of the course. You will have one class period to write a rough draft. At the end of the class I will collect the drafts and then during the finals period you will receive your draft back and will compose your final draft. This will be a multi-paragraph essay of at least 500 words.

Characteristics of a Good Essay

For a writing to receive a Satisfactory grade it has to have these characteristics:
  1. few grammatical errors (sentence structure errors, agreement and reference errors, etc.) none of which can effect the reader’s understanding of the text and
  2. a focused and appropriate thesis supported by adequate and developed evidence, including developed thesis and topic sentences and
  3. effective paragraphs and paragraphing of the type(s) required for the assignment, including topic sentences, supporting evidence, development, organization, focus, and transitions and
  4. a sense of purpose and audience and
  5. a variety of sentence styles.
Attendance Policy:

The Division of Humanities and Arts considers attendance essential for student success. Following their guidelines the following is my attendance policy.

A student enrolled in a class that meets three times per week is permitted six absences; after the seventh absence the student fails the course.  A student enrolled in a class that meets twice a week is permitted four absences; after the fifth absence the student fails the course.

The reason for the absence is irrelevant, all work missed is due the following class period. Please be considerate.If you are absent on a day that an assignment is due it must be submitted the next day. Email is acceptable for this, although the burden is on the student to ensure that the assignment is delivered in a format acceptable to the instructor.

Attendance is a baseline for getting value from the course. Your active and even enthusiastic participation in class assignments, discussions, projects, and forums will make the course more enjoyable and productive.

In order to maximize the productivity of the class it is important to eliminate as many distractions as possible. To this end I must ask that all cell phones, pagers and PDA’s be turned off during class time.

Plagiarism Policy:
   
Plagiarism is representing someone else’s work as your own. Plagiarism includes failure to place in quotation marks or cite researched material from sources, as well as buying and or copying papers from another person. Work submitted under your name must be your own, if you are in doubt it is your obligation to cite the source of the work. Citations must follow MLA requirements. Proven plagiarism is grounds for failure of the assignment or in extreme cases, the course. All cases of plagiarism will be reported to the English Department Chairperson. Any proven case of plagiarism will result in a grade of 0 for that assignment. A copy of the essay and its source will be forwarded to the English Department Chairperson for any further action.

The Writing Center

The Writing Center located in E338 and the phone number is (410) 780-6799. The Center provides free assistance with any stage of the writing process, including generating ideas, organizing, editing etc. Take advantage of this resource.