Cathy Decker’s English 550 Syllabus, Spring 2008 1

Who?
Catherine H. Decker, Ph.D.
(Please call me Cathy Sensei)
(909) 652-6950

/ July2008J

What?

English 550 (ENGL-550) Introduction to College Writing (3 units)

Class sessions: 46.5 hours

Supplemental instruction: 5 hours

Exam period: 2.5 hours

Designed to prepare the inexperienced writer for college-level academic writing by focusing on the critical thinking, reading, writing, and study skills necessary to succeed at that level. Five hours of supplemental instruction in a Success Center that supports this course is required.

Where? When?

Class Sessions

Section #50829 LA-1 2-3:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays

Section #50830 LA-1 3:30-5 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays

Office Hours: LA-7C 5-7 p.m. Mondays and Wednesday, 3-4 p.m.Thursdays

Writing Center Tutoring, Chaffey College Library Writing Center, 1-3 p.m. Thursdays

Faculty Mailbox: LA-10 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Why? (please write in your reason—make it motivational!)

______

______

Some Common Sense and Other Info

  1. Buy the textbook, read the assigned readings, and bring the book to every class session. Also bring this syllabus, all the handouts I give you, a notebook or loose leaf, and pens or pencils. A pocket dictionary or an iPod (if you are a tactile learner) might also be useful to bring to class. If you use a laptop, you might want to bring that and use it to take notes.

OUR TEXTBOOK: John Sheridan Biays and Carol Weshoven’s Along These Lines, 4th ed.

  1. Use a calendar (there is one in the student handbook) to make sure you do things on time.
  2. Keep electronic and paper copies of all your papers, quizzes, homework, assignment sheets, etc. until your final grade has been posted in January 2009. Use a folder and a flashdrive or disk to keep your material in one place.
  3. Calculate your grade, and come see me right away if you are unhappy with it. Get help from me or someone else calculating your grade if you can’t do it yourself. Be aware this is a pass/fail class, so you will either receive a CR (credit, pass) or NC (no credit, fail).

Grade Formula

7.5% 75 points Attendance and Participation
10% 100 points Supplemental Instruction
52% 520 points Writing Projects, Drafts, Peer Evaluations
20.5% 205 points Classwork, Homework, Quizzes, etc.
10% 100 points Final Exam
100% 1,000 points Course Grade

Grade Scale

F 0-59%0-599 pointsNC, can’t advance to ENGL-450
D-60-63%600-639 pointsNC, can’t advance to ENGL-450
D64-66%640-669 pointsNC, can’t advance to ENGL-450
D+67-69%670-699 pointsNC, can’t advance to ENGL-450
C- 70-73%700-739 points NC, can’t advance to ENGL-450
C74-76%740-769 pointsCR, advance to ENGL-450
C+77-79%770-799 pointsCR, advance to ENGL-450
B-80-83%800-839 pointsCR, advance to ENGL-450
B84-86%840-869 pointsCR, advance to ENGL-450
B+87-89%870-899 pointsCR, advance to ENGL-450
A-90-93%900-939 pointsCR, advance to ENGL-450
A94-96%940-969 pointsCR, advance to ENGL-450
A+97-100%970-1,000 pointsCR, advance to ENGL-450
  1. Don’t plagiarize or cheat. Plagiarism is submitting, copying, and/or reproducing the words or ideas of another person as your own or without proper documentation. Using the exact words of a source without quotation marks is plagiarism whether or not you cite the source. Plagiarism can involve a few unique words or entire papers. Cheating or plagiarizing will result in a grade of 0, and you might receive a grade of zero for the course. A Student Academic Integrity Violation Form will be filled for each instance, which may result in the college taking action against you, such as placing you on disciplinary probation or expelling you from the college.
  2. Get an email account with a user name with your real name in it or include your first and last name in the subject heading of all email to your classmates or me. If you don’t do this, I will likely delete your email without reading it since I don’t know the sender. If you don’t have email or know how to get an email account see me as soon as possible.
  1. The texts of your typed writing projects must be submitted to turnitin.com or the project will receive a grade of 0. The paper must be into turnitin before I start grading the papers—often at 5 p.m. the day the papers are due. The school pays for this service, which will identify possible plagiarism in your writing. The turnitin.com report is NOT graded; it is for you to identify plagiarism BEFORE you turn in your writing project. To create your turnitin.com account, go to turnitin.com on the web, and click on “New Users” in the upper right corner. You will need to enter the information below to create your account. Be sure to remember or write down the email and password you will use to login to turnitin.com. Your turnitin.com account is not going to give a hacker access to anything important, so you might want to use a very simple, easy password. I will demonstrate this to you in class.
  2. Turnitin.com Class ID#: 2365303
  3. Turnitin.com enrollment password: Decker
  4. You must turn in paper copies of your papers to me in addition to your submissions to turnitin.com. I will not grade anything emailed to me. If you don’t give me a paper copy in class on the due date, I will deduct 5 points for lateness. You have two class sessions to give me the late paper; after that you will get a 0 for the paper. If you have the paper in my mailbox in LA-10, time stamped by the staff, by the day before the due date, you will get 5 bonus points added to your paper grade.
  5. Get help if you need it. There are lots of people that can help you on campus. All phone numbers below are the 909 area code. Call me rather than email me to get a faster response.
  • Cathy, LA-7C 652-6950
  • Writing tutors, Writing Success Center, Library 652-6820
  • Reading tutors, Reading Success Center, BEB 652-6932
  • Reference librarians, Library, 652-6800
  • Tutors for other classes
  • Math tutor, Math Success Center, PS-12 652-6452
  • Language tutors, Language Success Center, BEB 101 652-6907
  • Other tutors, Ranch Success Center, BEB 101 652-6932
  • Tutors at other campuses of all sorts
  • Chino Success Center, Chino, MIB-145 652-8150
  • Chino Reading/Writing Center, Chino, MIB-240 652-8160
  • Fontana Success Center, CCFC-107 652-7408
  • Child care, Child Development Center 941-2687
  • Academic counselors, Counseling Center, SSA 652-6200
  • Support staff for students with disabilities, Disability Programs and Services (DPS), CCW-21A 653-6379 TDD: 466-2829
  • Support staff for international students, International Student Office, WH-181 941-2352
  • Nurses and counselors for grief, stress, divorce, etc., Health Services, CCW, 652-6331
  • Transfer and career counselors, Transfer Center, SSA-120 652-6233
  • Police, Campus Police, CCE 477-8800 or 333 from any campus phone
  1. Be nice. Get the student handbook and read the sections related to student behavior and follow the codes (pages 30, 55-66, 74-81). Turn off your cellphone in class. Talk to other students and learn their names. If you feel comfortable doing so, exchange email or phone numbers. Write the names of the classmates (at least those sitting near you!) in the box provided on the syllabus.

My Classmates

______
______
  1. Read assignments carefully, noting due dates, penalties, and bonuses, as well as how many points or what percent of the final grade it is worth. Please note it will take me about two weeks to grade your writing assignments. If your paper is late, it will take longer.
  2. Use the blackboard website for our class at < > when it becomes available. Click on course access and then login as directed. You may be asked to post some of your homework on this site, your drafts, or take a quiz on this site. You will also be able to check your grade and get copies of assignments on this site.
  3. It is your responsibility to add or drop the course by the appropriate date. Be aware if you miss two weeks of class you may be dropped. To avoid this, contact me any time you miss two classes in a row to explain the problem. However, I may not drop you even if you miss several weeks of class, which could result in you getting a grade of F or FW. Check you course status on Chaffey View on the Chaffey website ( Students that miss a quarter of the class sessions will get a zero for participation.
  4. The final examination may not be taken at any other time unless you obtain written permission from the Dean of Language Arts (LA-12).
  5. Quizzes or tests may not be taken late. See me as soon as possible after you miss a quiz or test, and if you have a good reason, I will allow you to take an oral make-up quiz in my office or provide you with a make-up test. If you don’t contact me within two days of the quiz or test, I will probably not allow you to make it up. Keep documentation to prove illness, jury duty, car accident, etc.
  6. Be aware mature or disturbing readings, videos, discussions, or writing assignments (involving sex, violence, or profanity) may be part of this course.
  7. Come to class on time and sign in each day. Some of the attendance/participation grade is based on the sign-in sheets.

Tentative Schedule

Week 1

Class #1: Syllabus and Introduction

Class #2: Important Demonstrations

Week 2

Holiday: 9/1

Class #3: 9/3 Have read “Students in Shock” pp. 620-3 and answer questions 1-8, p. 623

Week 3

Class #4: 9/8 Have read “Writing Good Topic Sentences” pp. 13-4 and done exercises 7-12

Class #5: 9/10 Have read 19-31 and done exercises 13, 14, 17

Week 4

Class #6: 9/15 Draft of Paragraph 1 must be posted on blackboard by 1:30 p.m., Have read “What is an Essay?” p. 240-2

Online: 9/16 Peer evaluations of Paragraph 1 must be posted on blackboard by 11:59 p.m.

Class #7: 9/17 Writing Center Learning Styles Workshop or Diagnostic DLA “Stamp” due, Paragraph 1 due, Have read Chapter 11, “Writing an Essay” from 240 up to the start of “Writing the Introduction” on 254 and finished exercises 1-5 that we worked on in Monday’s class

Week 5

Class #8: 9/22 Have read more of Chapter 11, from 254 up to “Transitions Within Paragraphs” on 261and completed exercises 6-10; do exercise 8 (the introduction) on a piece of loose leaf or type it to be collected

Class #9: 9/24 Have read more of Chapter 11, from 261 up to “Lines of Detail . . .” on 271 and completed exercises 11-14

Week 6

Class #10: 9/29 Introduction to Essay Structure DLA “Stamp” due, Draft of Essay 1 must be posted on blackboard; watch start of 300

Online: 9/30 Peer evaluations of Essay 1 must be posted on blackboard by 11:59 p.m.

Class #11: 10/1Essay 1 due; watch rest of 300

Week 7

Class #12: 10/6 Have read Chapter 14 “The Simple Sentence” from 353 up to “Word Order” on 359 and completed exercises 1-5

Class #13: 10/8 Have read more of Chapter 14 pp. 359-65 and completed exercises 8-10

Week 8

Class #14: 10/13 Run-ons DLA “Stamp” due (take a paper or draft of yours when you go to

do this), have finished the rest of the Chapter 14 exercises 11-13 we started in class last Wednesday (pp. 365-9), have Chapter 15, “Beyond the Simple Sentence: Coordination” from 370 up to 377 and completed exercises 1-3

Class #15: 10/15 Have read Chapter 6 “Comparison and Contrast” from 129 up to “Adding Details . . .” on 139 and completed exercises 1-5

Week 9

Class #16: 10/20 Have read pages Chapter 6 from 139 up to “Polishing” on 149 and completed exercises 7-11

Class #17: 10/22 Draft of Comparison/Contrast Paper due on blackboard by 1:30 p.m., watch episode 1 of Naruto

Week 10

Class #18: 10/27 Avoiding Plagiarism DLA “Stamp” due, peer evaluations due on blackboard by 1:30 p.m., watch part 1 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Class #19: 10/29Comparison/Contrast Paper due,watch part 2 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Week 11

Class #20: 11/3Meet at Library for Research Workshop Have read “The Research Process” pp. 662-73

Class #21: 11/5 Term Paper Workshop, have read pp. 674-81, Plagiarismtest.org MLA test “certificate” due

Week 12

Class #22: 11/10 MLA Works Cited DLA “Stamp” due, Have read Chapter 13 “Writing from Reading” from 327 up to “Writing a Summary . . .” on 336

Class #23: 11/12 Review and read from 336 up to “Writing for an Essay Test” on 344, bring copies/print outs of four sources (or laptop) and copy of works cited page to turn in to class

Week 13

Class #24: 11/17Summary of article originally published in a magazine or journal with an author on your term paper topic due with print out or photocopy of the article, have summary submitted to turnitin.com as well; research workshop

Class #25: 11/19 Have read and taken blackboard quiz on “What Is Cause and Effect?” pp. 196-8 and “Writing the Cause or Effect Essay in Steps” pp. 315-9

Week 14

Class #26: 11/24 Any Writing Center Workshop “Stamp” Due, Have read “What is Argument” pp. 219-26 and done exercises 1-4,Outline with complete thesis must be posted on blackboard by 1:30 p.m.

Class #27: 11/26 Have read pp. 227-34 and completed exercises 5-10 and 12, do exercises 9 and 12 on loose leaf to be collected

Week 15

Class #28: 12/1; review and read Chapter 15 pp. 370-82 and have completed exercises 1-7, Draft of term paper due online by 1:30 p.m.

Class #29: 12/3 Have read pp. 382-92 and completed exercises 8-9 and the Chapter Test of Chapter 15 as well as exercises 1-4 of Chapter 16

Online: 12/5: peer evaluations of draft due by 11:59 p.m.

Week 16

Class #30: 12/8 Review pp. 390-2 and finish exercises 5-7 and the Chapter Test; Read pp. 397-9 and complete exercises 1-4

Online: 12/9 Term paper must be posted on Turnitin.com

Class #31: 12/10 Final Exam Prep, Term paper due

Week 17: Finals

Classes do not meet during finals week, and faculty have different office hours. Please note the finals occur at odd times. You must be careful to plan around and for this final exam.

The 2-3:30 class final is Monday 12/15, 1:30-4

The 3:30-5 class final is Wednesday 12/17, 5:30-8

Finals Week Office Hours: Monday 12/15, 12-1:30, and Tuesday 12/16, 1:15-2:45