English 1102 Composition ~ Fall 2015 Syllabus
& Schedule
Prerequisite: C or better in English 1101
Dr. Anna Dunlap Higgins
This syllabus is also
available on my faculty web page.
Academic 103L
a_higgins@gordonstate.edu Office
Hours: MTWR 8:15-9:30 and MTW 12:15-1:15
Part One: The Course
Departmental Course Description
·
English 1102 is a composition course emphasizing
interpretation and evaluation that incorporates a variety of advanced research
methods.
Departmental Objectives for the Course
·
Students
will be able to conduct independent research in a variety of disciplines and
evaluate that research to produce informed, thoughtful contributions to
scholarly and professional issues
·
Students
will be able to craft their writing to suit a variety of audiences and
rhetorical purposes in both electronic and traditional formats
·
Students
will be able to apply critical thinking concepts such as inductive reasoning,
deductive reasoning, and moral reasoning to their own texts and to the texts of
others.
·
Students
will be able to analyze and evaluate their own texts and the texts of others
for tone, style, purpose, audience, and errors of logic.
·
Students
will be able to evaluate and synthesize a variety of primary and secondary
resources with their own thinking to create structured, persuasive, and
sustained arguments.
Texts & Materials
·
Required
text: Henderson et al Literature and Ourselves: A Thematic
Introduction for Readers & Writers, 6th Ed.
·
Miscellaneous:
Pens (blue or black), loose-leaf paper, some type of binder to keep up
with materials for class, and miscellaneous materials for the research project
and the oral presentation.
·
Computer
Access: I will email you this syllabus,
announcements, and several other important items throughout the term, and I
will hold you responsible for checking your Gordon email every day.
Course Assessment & Evaluation
·
Daily
Grade 25%
·
Literary
Analysis Essay Quizzes No
Grade/practice for final
·
Term
Research Portfolio 35%
·
Oral
Presentation Skit, Group Packet, & Individual Write Up 15%
·
Final
Exam: In-Class Literary Analysis 25%
MW
1102 Final Exam:
Monday,
December 7 at 10:15 – 12:15
In-Class
Literary Analysis Essay
Daily
Work Folders returned for those who have hit optional due dates.
Part Two: Policies
Policies
·
Definition of Daily Grade The
Daily Grade is includes but is not limited to “full and mature” attendance,
homework, rough drafts, group meetings, individual presentation write ups, group
critiques, activities, and reader’s logs.
“Full and mature” is determined at my discretion; watch out in
particular for tardiness and other distracting behaviors such as texting, as
those behaviors will result in penalties.
·
Make Ups, Late Work & Procedure First, I’ll talk about Daily Grade work,
all of which is worth ten points apiece.
When you are absent, you will miss the attendance points that day, but
if you have documentation for the absence and something is due, you can get it
to me as quickly as possible as long as you and I discuss the matter on email. Homework
is not actually due until the Final Exam, so it cannot be late until then. If a
Mini-Research assignment is late, it will receive a two-point penalty per day. I will drop three Daily Grade zeros for
everyone. I firmly believe that students
benefit from attending in-seat classes, so If your Daily
Grade is below 60%, you will automatically receive a zero in this area of
assessment as that means there was some grave issue involved that has made you
“fail” that portion of the class. Second,
Literary Essay quiz make ups will be decided if and when that issue arises for
you, but do expect to show me documentation for the absence. Third, if you miss your Oral Presentation,
you will receive a zero. Forth is the
Term Research Project. I will accept
this assignment late, but I will apply a five point penalty per day to it. Fifth, missing the final exam earns students
at GSC an automatic WF.
·
Conduct & Academic Misconduct Respect others’ privacy and their right to
hear the teacher. I will expect this
kind of behavior at every class meeting; then during workshops and draft
reviews, I will expect you to respect the dignity of all my students. The Essay Quizzes and Final Exam Essay must be
written in our classroom by you. If you
accidentally take a page of an in-class essay out of the room, the essay will
not be graded. The Term Research
Portfolio Paper must be written solely by you, though you may seek appropriate tutoring
assistance from the SSC. I do not
tolerate cheating, plagiarism, or collusion.
(See below for a definition of collusion.) Do not work with anyone on your Mini-Research
assignments or the Homework. You must
follow these and all other college-mandated policies about academic conduct and
academic honesty discussed in the Gordon State College catalog. Failing to do so will result in one or all of
the following: a zero on the assignment,
a file report in the appropriate disciplinary office, and an F for the course.
·
Figuring the Term Grade Much of our work will receive numerical
scores, but you will need to know grade equivalents for the Term Project and
Final Exam: A+ 97; A 94; A- 90; B+ 87; B
84; B- 80; C+ 77: C 74; C- 70; D+ 67; D 64; D- 60; F 59-0 (see the Paper
Evaluation Scale on my Website). Use the
worksheet below to figure out your grade at any point in the term, but note
that a lot of our final scores do not come until the very end—so do not
procrastinate.
Daily
Grade _____
x .25 = _______ Research Portfolio _____
x .35 = _______
Oral
Presentation _____
x .15= _______
Final Exam _____
x .25 = _______
*The total is your
term grade. = ______
Miscellaneous
Important Items:
·
Because
I take writing recommendations very seriously, I prepare them only for students
I have taught for two full semesters.
·
If
you believe you are eligible for a disability accommodation, please call the
campus A.D.A. coordinator at 678/359-5326.
No accommodation can be made without a memo from that office.
·
According
the Division of Humanities, collusion is unauthorized collaboration wherein one
receives assistance beyond the norm.
While it is appropriate to seek another’s help in developing one’s
skills, it is not appropriate to have another person apply those skills on
one’s behalf. An example of collusion
would be a student handing an essay draft to a fellow student, a parent, a former teacher (etc) who then simply corrects errors. If authorship of a work or a demonstrated
mastery of an applied skill can be attributed to others beyond the individual
student, then collusion has occurred. If
I suspect collusion, I will assign a zero to the assignment.
·
See
Title IX Addendum.
Part Three: The Schedule
How to Follow the Schedule
·
Read
this schedule carefully, staying ahead whenever possible, always knowing due
dates, and definitely reading all the stuff in parentheses. You are responsible for knowing every single
item on this schedule. J
·
Bring
Literature and Ourselves
every day that the schedule lists Lit activity, Lit discussion, or essay
quiz. Bring other materials as noted on
the schedule.
·
I
recommend editing your syllabus so that it works perfectly for you: add highlight and underline; change font
size; do whatever it takes so that you can quickly see what is due and when and
so you recall all course policies.
“Lit Discussion” Reading List
The
following are the works you need to read at home before the “Lit Discussion”
dates on the schedule, as these are works you will write the Essay Quizzes
on—so being prepared for discussion will help your papers immensely: O’Brien (799-803), Rios (903), Allende
(1000-1008), Bell (741-751), Walker (913-919), and O’Connor (1075-1087). Our “Lit Activity” readings do not need to be
read ahead of time, as they are a surprise; afterwards, record the authors’
names and page numbers because you’ll write about some of these on the Final
Exam.
Our Tentative MW Schedule
for Fall 2015
Note
that you are responsible for knowing all details of this schedule.
August
W12 Welcome, Syllabus Review, & a word
about the Term Research Portfolio and Oral Presentation
M17 Lit Activity
W19 Lit Activity; MR One Due at the beginning
of the class (Be sure to give me your Daily Work Folder, as I will be keeping
it for you all semester.)
M24 Composition Lecture & Assignment of
the Term Research Portfolio and Oral Presentation
W26 Lit Activity; MR Two Due at the beginning
of the class
M31 Meet & Greet Conferences &
Activities
September
W2 Meet & Greet continues; MR Three
Due at the beginning of the class
M7 No Class: GSC Labor Day Holiday!
W9 Comp Lecture (quoting); Lit Activity;
MR Four Due at beginning of class
M14 Lit Discussion: O’Brien and Rios
W16 Anchor that Quote Activity; Drawing for
Decade Selection; MR Five due at beginning of class; HW 1-5 optional due date
M21 Essay Quiz One
W23 Lit Discussion: Allende and Bell; MR Six due at beginning of
class
M28 No Class: Midterm Standing Conferences in my office by
appointment (GSC’s official midterm date is October 5)
W30 No Class:
Conferences continue; MR Seven due by 5:00 p.m.
October
M5 Lit Discussion: Walker and O’Connor
W7 Lit Activity
M12 No Class: GSC Fall Break
W14 Assignment of Decade Group for Oral
Presentation; Group Meeting One; “Secret Names” due
M19 Essay Quiz Two; Typed, double spaced
rough draft of the Research Paper component of the Portfolio due (make sure to
put your real name on this draft, as only I will see it; there are no points
available, as this is an opportunity I am offering)
W21 Composition Lecture: Discussion of the Portfolio and Oral
Presentation; HW 6-10 optional due date
M26 Portfolio Workshop (Directions: bring a typed, double spaced draft of both
your Time Line and the Annotated Bibliography—using your Secret Name. If they are with you at the beginning of
class and they are “mostly” complete, you will receive ten points for
each. Come to class even if you do not
have these documents prepared because there will be a group meeting and because
you can at least get attendance points.); Group Meeting Two
W28 Portfolio Workshop (Directions: bring a typed, double spaced draft of both
your Cultural and Political Overviews—using your Secret Name. If these
documents are with you at the beginning of class and they are fully complete,
you will receive ten points for each.
Note that before you leave the room, you must turn in your Reader’s Log
so that you can get the day’s attendance points. Come to class even if you do
not have the rough drafts that are due because reading the class’ drafts will
help guide you and because there are other points available.)
November
M2 Portfolio Workshop (Directions: bring a typed, double spaced draft of
Research Paper with your Secret Name on it.
If this document is with you at the beginning of class and is fully or
“almost fully” complete, you will receive ten points for it. Note that before you leave the room, you must
turn in your Reader’s Log so that you can get the day’s attendance points. Come
to class even if you do not have the rough draft because reading the class’ drafts
will help guide you and because there are other points available.)
W4 Portfolio Workshop (Directions: nothing is due; I will still be finishing up
working with drafts); Group Meeting Three
M9 Portfolio Workshop (Directions: nothing is due; I will still be finishing up
working with drafts); Group Meeting Four (Directions: Sign up your location selection for Group
Meeting Five; I will assign group sequence numbers)
W11 Portfolios due to my office at the beginning
of class; No Class; Group Meeting Five:
The Run Through (Directions: Give
everyone about ten minutes to turn in the Portfolio and to get to the
meeting. Then you should do a complete
run through, watching especially for timing and body placement—no backs to the
audience. By this point, you should have
discussed with me any “noise” that your group will make, and you should have
also assigned a classmate outside your group to be your Door Handler and your
Time Keeper. Make sure that the group
minutes are completed and ready for turn in and that all individuals will have
their materials ready as well.)
M16 Oral Presentation Skits performed; Group
Packet due for groups presenting today; Group Pictures
W18 Oral Presentation Skits continue; Group
Packet due for groups presenting today; Group Pictures
M23 “Anchored” Activity; watch email for
notification about picking up graded Research Portfolios and group packets
W25 No Class: GSC Thanksgiving Holiday 25-27
M30 Final Exam preparation; HW 11 -15 optional
due date
December
W2 TBA
MW
1102 Final Exam:
Monday,
December 7 at 10:15 – 12:15
Literary
Analysis Essay
Daily
Work Folders returned to those who have hit optional due dates; if you have not
turned in your HW assignments yet, be sure to turn them in before you leave the
exam.