English 125 6
Department of English Heather Robinson
York College/CUNY Office: AC-2A16A
ENG 125: PQ
Spring 2014 E-mail:
2A05, T, Th 2:00-3:50 Phone: (718) 262-2479
Course Outline
English 125
Composition I: Introduction to College Writing
Course Description:
ENG125 Composition I: Introduction to College Writing. 3 hr + 1 hr conference, 3 cr. This course introduces students to academic reading and writing practices and strategies through close reading, textual analysis, writing, and revision. Focusing primarily on expository, analytical, and academic texts, students develop their critical thinking skills and are introduced to the fundamentals of college-level research. Students will spend one hour per week in conferences, collaborative learning activities, or peer review. This course may be offered as an online course. Preq: By placement exam.
Learning Objectives
· Read and listen critically and analytically, including identifying an argument’s major assumptions and assertions and evaluating its supporting evidence.
· Write clearly and coherently in varied, academic formats (such as formal essays, research papers, and reports) using standard English and appropriate technology to critique and improve one’s own and others’ texts.
· Demonstrate research skills using appropriate technology, including gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing primary and secondary sources.
· Support a thesis with well-reasoned arguments, and communicate persuasively across a variety of contexts, purposes, audiences, and media.
· Formulate original ideas and relate them to the ideas of others by employing the conventions of ethical attribution and citation.
Course Title: English 125, Composition I: Introduction to College Writing
Section: 125:PQ
Meeting Times: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:00-3:50 pm.
Room: AC-2A05
Course Instructor: Dr. Heather Robinson
Email:
Office: 2A16A
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm, unless otherwise announced. You are also
free to make an appointment at any time.
Required Texts
Comley, Nancy R., David Hamilton, Carl H. Klaus, Robert Scholes, Nancy Sommers and Jason Tougaw. Fields of Reading. 10th edition. (Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2012.)
Grading:
Final grades ranging from A to F will be based upon completion of all course requirements (writing and reading assignments, class participation and attendance) and the Final Examination. The three formal papers will make up the bulk of your grade, as outlined below:
Assignment Percentage of final grade
1. Paper #1 (3-4 pages) 15%
2. Paper #2 (3-4 pages) 25%
3. Paper #3 (4-6 pages) 30%
4. Annotated Bibliography 10%
5. Department Final Exam 10%
6. Homework, Quizzes, Attendance and Participation, and In-class writing 10%
Note: Formal assignments that do not meet the assignment requirements will receive a zero (0) grade.
Attendance Policy: Your success in this class depends on regular and punctual attendance. The English Department's policy for multiple section courses such as this one is:
· Students in classes that meet twice a week may miss no more than five (5) sessions. Six (6) absences are grounds for failure.
· Missing 15 minutes of class—arriving late, departing early, or leaving during class–counts as half an absence.
Classroom Courtesy
Please arrive on time and stay in the room throughout the entire class period. Perhaps once a semester you may need to answer an emergency call of nature, but walking in and out during classtime is distracting and rude to the rest of the class. Certainly there is no reason to do this regularly. Turn off all cellphones when the class starts.
Communication
The best way to reach me is via email. I will try to respond in 24 hours; occasionally it may take a little longer. One of the first things I’d like you to do after class is to send me an email from your York College email address, to . This will get your email address in my address book, and it will help you to work out any glitches with your York College email address. Blackboard sends emails to York College email addresses, so you will miss out on a lot if you don’t check this email address.
If you’re having problems with an assignment, if something that I have asked you to do is unclear, if you’re having personal issues – anything! – let me know as soon as you can, either in person, or via email. I will try my best to help you, but I can’t know if you are having trouble if you don’t tell me. In a face-to-face class, the dynamic that I see in the classroom helps me to figure out who needs help, but we don’t have that kind of indirect communication in this online class. The only way I know what’s going on is if you tell me, or if you disappear. The first option is a much better one!
Information about Assignments
All assignments are due at the beginning of class. They should be appropriately printed and stapled. Anyone who is missing from the beginning of class, or leaves class to go and print an assignment, will be marked late. Do your printing before class starts.
No Late Assignments
I will not accept late assignments, except due to extenuating circumstances. You must tell me about any problems that you are having before the assignment is due. I do give extensions under some circumstances; I do not give extensions when they are requested after the assignment is due. If you know that you will miss a class, please email me your work, at , before the beginning of class. Work that is submitted via email after class starts will considered not to have been submitted.
Format
All formal assignments must be submitted in a typed-document. I will accept documents in a .doc, .docx .rtf, .txt, or .odt format. Many PCs come with Microsoft Works installed. I cannot read .wps files. Use Microsoft Word, Open Office, NeoOffice, or Wordpad or Notepad if you don’t want to be bothered changing the file type (all word processors can save files as .rtf and .txt). Written assignments that are submitted via documents in the .wps format will be marked late, because it will take a little while for me to email you, and for you to resubmit the file in the right format. If you need help, let me know (send me an email or call) at least one day before the assignment is due, and I will help you.
Academic Integrity Statement
A violation of academic integrity is any instance when a student attempts to pass off someone else’s words or ideas as their own, no matter where s/he obtained those words or ideas, and no matter where these ideas are presented. We practice using quotation and citation in this course so you can benefit from others’ ideas, while attributing them appropriately. There is nothing wrong with representing someone else’s ideas in your work; you just have to give them credit. Additionally, there is nothing wrong with getting help on an assignment, but the final product must be predominantly the result of your own work. All academic integrity violations in English 125 will result in an F (zero) on the assignment, and/or a failing grade in the course, and/or referral to York College’s Academic Integrity officer.
York College gives four definitions of types of academic integrity violation (these definitions can be found in the York College policy on academic integrity, which I have linked to below):
· Cheating: Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise.
· Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writings as your own.
· Obtaining Unfair Advantage: Obtaining Unfair Advantage is any activity that intentionally or unintentionally gives a student an unfair advantage in his/her academic work over another student.
· Falsification of Records and Official Documents
York College’s policies and procedures concerning academic integrity can be found here:
http://www.york.cuny.edu/president/legal-compliance/legal-affairs/cuny-legal-policies-procedures/Academic-Integrity-Policy.pdf/
For more information about plagiarism, see the description in the The York College Bulletin. http://york.cuny.edu/produce-and-print/contents/bulletin and Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab resource, “Avoiding Plagiarism,” http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html
York College Resources
Computers with word processing software and internet access are available in the library and in computer labs.
York College Library: http://york.cuny.edu/library
York College Computer Labs: http://york.cuny.edu/it/acet/computer-labs
York College Writing Center: http://york.cuny.edu/student/writing-center
Located in the Academic Core 1C18, The Writing Center assists students with writing skills. The Center offers scheduled tutoring, drop-in tutoring and workshops. For more information, stop by, call (718) 262-2494, or check the Writing Center Website.
English as Second Language (ESL) Tutoring Center
Tutoring is available for ESL students in Academic Core 3C08. Call (718) 262-2831 for schedule.
Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities may contact the STAR Program to learn about and gain access to resources available to them at the college. See their website at http://www.york.cuny.edu/student-development/star for more details.
Class Schedule (Subject to Change)
Week / Tues 1/28 / Reading Assignment 1: George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/everythingsanargument4e/content/cat_020/Orwell_Shooting.pdf
Thurs 1/30 / Orwell reading questions due
Reading Assignment 2: James Baldwin, If Black English Isn’t A Language, Tell Me What Is
Week 2 / Tues 2/4 / Baldwin reading questions due
Formal Paper Assignment #1 distributed: How does institutional power shape an individual’s reality?
Formulating a paragraph that uses evidence to respond to the assignment prompt.
-choosing quotations that make claims or give examples
Thurs 2/6 / Tomorrow is the last day to withdraw without a W
Reading assignment 3, Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue.”
Writing connections between quotations
Week 3 / Tues 2/11 / Sontag reading questions due.
Incorporating quotations
Thurs 2/13 / Rough draft of paper #1 due
Peer review of first rough draft
Week 4 / Tues 2/18 / Developing a thesis; reverse outlining
Thurs 2/20 / No class: Classes will follow a Monday schedule
Week 5 / Tues 2/25 / Introductory paragraphs
Thurs 2/27 / Final Paper #1 due
Judith Lorber, Social Construction of Gender
Week 6 / Tues 3/4 / Lorber reading questions due
Revisiting paragraph structure: claims and evidence
Reading assignment 5: Stephen Jay Gould, Women’s Brains
Thurs 3/6 / Gould questions due
Choosing quotations for evidence
Formal Paper Assignment #2 distributed: What tools do others use to define us? How can those definitions be damaging? How can we resist that damage and/or those definitions? How can we create a culture that doesn’t do so much damage?
Week 7 / Tues 3/11 / Reading Assignment 6: Marjane Satrapi, The Veil
Using graphic novels as evidence
Developing a research question on the topic “Looking at Other Bodies.” Defining focus for this topic in class.
Thurs 3/13 / Satrapi reading questions due
First library/computer lab visit: keyword searches, and evaluating sources for reliability and relevance.
Week 8 / Tues 3/18 / Making connections between texts; writing topic sentences
Evaluating evidence and using it to support claims.
Thurs 3/20 / Rough draft of paper #2 due
Peer review #2
Week 9 / Tues 3/25 / Working on the research question; connecting the research question to sources
Thurs 3/27 / Final draft of paper #2 due
Reading Assignment #7: Gloria Anzaldua, How to Tame a Wild Tongue.
Annotated bibliography assigned
Week 10 / Tues 4/1 / MLA citations. What are citations for?
Anzaldúa questions due
Thurs 4/3 / Second library/computer lab visit: keyword searches, limiting results, and evaluating sources.
Research question due.
Week 11 / Tues 4/8 / Writing an annotated bibliography entry
Reading assignment #8: José Antonio Vargas, My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant
Thurs 4/10 / Vargas Questions due
Working with your sources: how do they help you to answer your research question?
SPRING BREAK / Tues 4/15 / No class
Thurs 4/17 / No class
SPRING BREAK / Tues 4/22 / No class
Week 12 / Thurs 4/24 / Peer review of two annotated bibliography entries
Week 13 / Tues 4/29 / Reading Assignment #9: Tina Fey, “Lessons from Late Night.”
Thurs 5/1 / Final Draft of Annotated Bibliography Due
Paper #3 Assigned: Using the Anzaldúa and Vargas essays and ONE other essay that you have read this semester, please consider the following question:
How do we define legitimacy? What markers of status do we use to create a legitimate identity for ourselves, and what do others use? Where should the definition of legitimacy come from? Ourselves or others?
Week 14 / Tues 5/6 / Fey questions due
Thurs 5/8 / Rough Draft of Paper #3 due
Peer review #3
Week 15 / Tues 5/13
Thurs 5/15 / Final draft of paper #3 due
Practice Exam
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