EN100.008 Introduction to College Writing, Fall 2011
Framingham State University
CONTACT INFORMATION
Instructor: Emma Perry
Email: or
Course Meetings: T/R 2:30-4:20 in Hemenway Hall 426
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Welcome to Introduction to College Writing!
Introduction to College Writing is designed to build on skills you already have to strengthen your writing processes and to introduce you to key academic skills that will help you succeed. You have had many years of English instruction in high school; this course uses what you already know to help you understand what will be expected of your writing in college.
In this course, you will write four graded essays(ranging from 3-6 pages each) and produce a significant revision of one of these essays. Additional short papers graded A/C/F will help you develop your writing process throughout the semester.
You will also workshop your writing with your peers at least four times in this course. Your participation in the writing workshops will be key to your success in this course, and will help you succeed in college writing in the future.You will also be expected to write a number of short pieces in class that will help you develop your ability to think on your feet.
No matter what your major, I want this class to prepare you to think independently, express yourself articulately, and share your original ideas in an engaging and persuasive manner as you prepare for the demands of college-level writing and beyond.
COURSE GOALS
- CRITICAL READING AND THINKING: Students will understand that college-level reading is an active and critical process, and that critical reading requires attention both to what an author says and how an author says it.
- PROCESS: Students will understand that writing is a recursive and collaborative process and that good writing often requires multiple drafts.
- STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT IN WRITING ESSAYS: Students will understand that college-level essays require both structure and development.
- STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT IN WRITING PARAGRAPHS: Students will understand that college-level paragraphs require both structure and development and are the building blocks of essays.
- KNOWLEDGE OF CONVENTIONS: Students will understand the conventions of college-level academic writing.
MATERIALS
- A Sequence for Academic Writing, 5th edition. Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston: Pearson, 2012. (You may purchase the 4th edition online for less since all of the material assigned is also available in the 4th edition; however, if you do this, you will be wholly responsible for reading the correct material despite the fact that the pagination will be different.)
- Wordsmith:A Guide to College Writing, 3rd edition. Ed. Pamela Arlov. Boston, Pearson, 2007.
- A notebook (any kind you want) that you bring to class every day
- A binder or folder (for organizing handouts and printed readings)
You are expected to come to class with all relevant materials, including the readings for that day, printed off in hard-copy and annotated in a way that helps you discuss the text.
GRADING
This is a workshop-style course, and as such, cumulative performance, effort, and improvement are important factors in grading. You must perform a significant revision of one of your four essays at the end of the semester; the new revision grade will replace the first grade. The breakdown for grading will be as follows:
Summary Essay: 10%
Critique Essay: 10%
Synthesis Essay: 15%
Argument Essay: 15%
Participation: 20%
A/C/F Assignments, typed peer-reviews, and in-class writing: 15%
End-of-semester Revision & Process Letter: 15%
To clarify:
Summary, Critique, Synthesis, and Argument Essays: you will receive further instruction and specific assignment sheets on each of these assignments later in the semester
Participation includes attendance, bringing appropriate materials to class, being prepared and ready to discuss that day’s readings, volunteering your ideas, etc.
A/C/FAssignments are like pass/fail assignments, but instead of either Pass or Fail, you may also earn a C. These assignments are meant to be exploratory and do not have to be polished or perfect. In fact, I want you to experiment and have fun with them. In order to earn an “A” (and not a “C”) you should demonstrate that you put effort and thought into the assignment, completed it, and presented it professionally (i.e., not scribbled on a piece of notebook paper 10 minutes before class started). An “F” will be earned if you fail to complete the assignment.
In-class writing is just what is sounds like: writing you will be asked to do in-class, on the spot. This writing is not graded for anything other than effort and improvement. You will be asked to gather all of this writing at the end of the semester as part of your portfolio.
Typed Peer-Reviews will be due after in-class peer conferences on each of the four graded assignments in the class. You will turn in one copy to the peer you are reviewing, and one copy to me. You will also receive one from one of your peers! These are meant to help you both get and give feedback on your writing.
End-of-semester Revision & Process letter: at the end of the semester, you will be asked to write a two-part letter to feature in your portfolio. The first part is a “cover letter” outlining how you went about your revision essay and why you made the choices you did in your revision. The second part is a process letter, outlining what you have learned in the course about the writing process and how you plan to use these skills in future college course work.
SYLLABUS
T 9.6 Introductions
In-class: “writing and naming” exercise; forms of writing exercise
R 9.8The Writing Process and Grammar Introduction
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in a 1-2 page double-spaced name narrative
Readings: WSM “The Writing Process” pp. 3-18; WSM “Prewriting” pp. 23-35
In-class: pre-writing exercise on the topic of entering college; problems with grammar
Unit One: Summary
T 9.13Writing a Summary
Readings: SAW “Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation” pp. 2-7; WSM “Writing a Summary” pp. 233-239; WSM “When Words Get in the Way” pp. 556-557
In-class: summary group workshop (1 page, 1 paragraph, 1 sentence)
R 9.15Paraphrasing
Readings: SAW “Paraphrase” pp. 33-36; WSM “Paraphrasing: An Essential Skill” pp. 239-240; WSM “Paraphrasing and Summarizing: Essential Research Skills” pp. 265-266
In-class: paraphrase workshop activities (synonyms, using a dictionary); WSM “Paraphrasing Short Passages” pp. 241-242 and pp. 266-267
T 9.20Showing and Telling
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): summarize your favorite movie or TV show in a 1-2 page double-spaced piece without identifying names or titles
Readings: WSM pp. 127-130 “Showing and Telling”
In-class: can the class identify the show you’ve summarized? What makes your summary work? How did you use showing rather than telling?
R 9.22Summarizing with Quotes
Readings: SAW “Quotations” pp. 36-45; WSM “Growing Up Bilingual” pp. 536-537; WSM “Developing Body Paragraphs” pp. 73-83 (skip exercises)
In-class: exercise incorporating quotations (brackets, ellipses, hit-and-run, sandwiching quotes, quotation conventions, etc.) and pulling key quotes from a text; paragraph workshop WSM “Unity: Sticking to the Point of the Essay” pp. 80-81
T 9.27Peer Review of Summaries
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in a complete draft of your Summaries to me and your workshop partner (3-5 pages double spaced)
Readings: They Say/I Say“Entering Class Discussions”pp. 135-137 (handout); “Peer-review How-to”(handout); WSM “Transitions” pp. 84-87 (skip exercises)
In-class:WSM transition workshop p. 87; peer-review workshop
Unit Two: Critique
R 9.29Evaluating Arguments
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in your typed peer-review to me and your workshop partner
Readings: SAW pp. 51-63 “Do they succeed?”; WSM pp. 602-3 “Education Unplugged”
In-class: group critique of “Education Unplugged”
T 10.4Grammar Review I
Assignment DUE (graded): Polished Summary Essays (3-5 pages double spaced)
Readings: WSM Grammar Part 2 readings TBA
In-class: grammar workshop
R 10.6Agreeing and Disagreeing
Readings: SAW “Do you agree?” pp. 63-70; SAW “The Common App Fallacy” pp. 78-80; They Say/I Say“Yes/No/Okay, But: Three Ways to Respond” pp. 51-62 (handout)
In-class: practice “yes/no/okay, but” on “The Common App Fallacy”
T 10.11Form and Function
Readings: WSM “The Game of My Life” pp. 542-543; Brian Turner “Here, Bullet” (handout)
In-class: group discussion of form and function (music, non-fiction, poetry)
Unit Three: Synthesis
R 10.13Peer Review of Critiques and What is Synthesis?
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in a complete draft of your Critique Essay to me and your workshop partner (3-5 pages double spaced)
Readings: SAW “How to Write Syntheses” pp. 87-89; They Say/I Say “Reading for the Conversation” pp. 138-148 (handout); review “Up Against Wal-Mart” and “Progressive Wal-Mart” (handout from Unit One)
In-class: peer-review workshop; group project using Walmart summaries to craft a synthesis reading of the effects of Walmart on America
T 10.18Objective and Subjective Synthesis
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in your typed Peer-Review to me and your workshop partner
Readings: SAW “types of Syntheses: Explanatory and Argument” pp. 84-87; Amy Chua “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” (handout)
In-class: activity writing objective and subjective syntheses of the two Walmart pieces and Amy Chua’s article
R 10.20Making Connections
Assignment DUE (graded): turn in your polished Critique Essay (3-5 pages double spaced)
Readings: WSM “Compare/Contrast” and “Cause and Effect” pp. 199-217; SAW “Compare/Contrast” pp. 168-170
In-class: outline a compare and contrast essay on college and high school life and share your approaches and techniques with your workshop group
T 10.25Grammar Review II
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): write a 2 page outline examining two specific details from two texts or films you know well that have a similar theme (e.g.: the destruction of two world landmarks in The Day After Tomorrow (the Statue of Liberty) and 2012 (Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil);the use of technology for control in 1984 (via medication) and Brave New World (via surveillance), etc.)
Readings: WSM Grammar Part 2 readings TBA
In-class: grammar review; discuss synthesis strategies for success
R 10.27Two Ways to Synthesize
Readings: WSM “Two Ways of Seeing a River” pp. 529-530; David Brooks “Amy Chua is a Wimp” (handout)
In-class: Discuss compare/contrast techniques in “Two Ways;” create a group synthesis of the debate between Brooks and Chua
Unit Four: Argument
T 11.1Peer Review of Synthesis and What is an Argument?
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in a complete draft of your Synthesis Essay to me and your workshop partner (5-6 pages double spaced)
Readings: WSM “Argument” pp. 218-226; SAW “Argument Synthesis” pp. 122-130
In-class: peer-review workshop; practice argumentative essay language
R 11.3Thesis Writing
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in your typed Peer-Review to me and your workshop partner Readings: SAW “Writing a Thesis” pp. 226-232; SAW “Making a Claim” pp. 146-147
In-class: practice thesis-writing
T 11.8One-Source Arguments
Assignment DUE (graded): Polished Synthesis Essay (5-6 pages double spaced)
Readings: Collection of artwork
In-class: workshop together how to perform a “textual analysis” with an argument about a single source or text
R 11.10Research Techniques
Readings: SAW “Preliminary Research” pp. 257-270; WSM “Writing a Research Paper” pp. 260-264
In-class: “what makes for a reliable source?” activity; MLA citation workshop (works cited, in-text citations, review quote incorporations)
T 11.15 Multi-Sourced Arguments
Assignments DUE (A/C/F): write an outline for an argument about how to balance privacy and safety, using at least TWO of the Virginia Tech sources in your readings
Readings: SAW “Developing and Organizing the Support for your Arguments” pp. 164-168; SAW “Virginia Tech Articles” pp. 130-145
In-class: workshop argument outlines; discuss how to develop outlines into a full argument essay
R 11.17Grammar Review III
Readings: WSM Grammar Part 2 readings TBA
In-class: grammar workshop
T 11.22Peer Review of Argument
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in a complete draft of your Argument Essay to me and your workshop partner (5-6 pages double-spaced)
In-class: peer-review workshop
Unit 5: Revision
R 11.24 NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING
T 11.29How to Revise and not “Edit”
Assignment DUE (A/C/F): turn in your typed Peer-Review to me and your workshop partner
Readings: SAW “Stage 5: Revision” pp. 245-247
R 12.1Grammar Review IV
Assignment DUE (graded): Polished Argument Essay (5-6 pages double spaced)
Readings: WSM Grammar Part 2 readings TBA
T 12.6Revision Workshop
In-class: catch-up and revision workshop of one essay (Summary, Critique, Analysis, or Argument)
R 12.8Revision Workshop
In-class: catch-up and revision workshop of one essay (Summary, Critique, Analysis, or Argument)
T 12.13 LAST DAY OF CLASS
Assignment DUE (graded): turn in your Final Portfolio featuring all writing projects and drafts, peer reviews, in-class exercises, and one full essay revision. The highlight of your portfolio will be your Revision & Process letter (4-6 pages double spaced) explaining 1. your revision choices and 2. how you will apply what you’ve learned about the writing process to future college courses.