English 004, Section 006 Fall 2007

English 004, section 006 Fall 2007

Mon./Wed. 6:00-7:15 PM, 55 Kochel

Instructor: Ms. Patti Doss

Office Hours: By Appointment

Office phone:

Email:

Required Texts: Encounters: Essays for Explanation and Inquiry, 2nd ed. Hoy and DiYanni

A Writer’s Reference, 6th ed. Ed. Diana Hacker

Course Description: This is a basic writing course to help prepare students to construct college level essays. Since the act of writing is interwoven with the act of reading, the purpose of English 004 is to provide opportunities to practice these dual skills required of undergraduate students. In each writing assignment students will be asked to practice what they read, incorporating and interpreting essays from Encounters.

Successful completion of English 004 will establish a solid foundation in writing and reading critically, and give students the confidence that should go with such abilities. This is a difficult course but a valuable one; success in English 015, later in English 202, and in all other classes here at Behrend depends, to a large extent, on the skills gained in English 004. Consider it a cornerstone.

Participation & Policies: Let me quote from the official Penn State-Erie pamphlet “Academic Responsibilities and Faculty Expectations of Students,” that you should have read as part of student orientation: students “should spend at least two hours of studying out-of-class for every hour in class. We assume that you will put your academic schedule ahead of other activities such as employment and entertainment.” With this in mind, our English 004 course will ask you to write and read on a weekly basis. The quality of our classes will depend, to a large extent, on your preparation, your careful reading of assigned essays, your voice being heard in discussions, and your willingness to revise (guided by peer feedback and my commentary). Keep in mind that true revision is an issue of organization, development of ideas, clarity of meaning, while the “surface features” of correct spelling, word choice, punctuation, etc. are issues of proofreading and editing. The emphasis in English 004 is on revision, although editing has its place—in the final stages of the writing process.

Readings: Annotate your text Encounters as you read, as you slowly read. Also, you are strongly urged to reread the assigned essays; such complex writings deserve the attention of a second reading, or a third. In addition, budget your time so you can read sections of the assigned essays; to read an essay in one sitting is often to half-read it. The quality of our written response will always correspond to the quality of our reading.

Journals: To encourage the process of writing your way toward understanding, of practicing your own reader responses and of thinking with the editor off, a journal is required in this course. It will provide a visible record of your immediate thoughts and reactions as you read a particular passage for the first time. When you rely on your memory as you begin to write, you might remember many of the details, but often you will forget the initial anger, confusion, disagreement or agreement—elements of your response that will become critical as you strive to interpret the author’s words, and subsequently, to produce a paper based upon that interpretation. Before you read an essay, as you read an essay, and after you read an essay, you should write in your journal (always write the essay title and date at the top of the page). Often you will be asked to make a journal entry during class, so make sure that you always bring your journal with you. Plan on averaging two entries each week, so that you will have the required 30 pages—full pages, 8 ½ X 11” pages—by the end of the semester (30

pages = an “A”).

Essays: The four essays assigned in this course must be three or more typed pages in length (both rough drafts and final revisions). All essays should be formatted with 1” margins, double-spaced, word-processed in 12-point font, titled, with pages numbered and stapled. Keep all evidence of work you put into your essays and submit with your “final” version of an assignment. I am not interested in reading essays that surface out of nowhere, and essays must be informed by assigned readings in Encounters, making specific references to their claims and reasoning. Be prepared for weekly writing assign-ments, either new compositions or revisions of older ones. Rough drafts will receive peer feedback through scheduled workshops (you’ll need to bring in photocopies of your essay drafts—see course calendar) and they will receive my comments, all in the spirit of helping each writer to become more aware of his or her tendencies—and what other choices are available when revising. But late rough drafts are bad news for you. In short, I do not read nor comment on late papers; you are on your own to revise these papers before the graded versions are submitted. A lack of feedback results in a weaker essay than is necessary.

Also, a “final” draft (and your journal, due on the last class period) will lose one full grade level for each day it is late. Be punctual and the whole course will go more smoothly. Also, students are expected to adhere to Standard Written English. A Writer’s Reference offers specific grammatical and usage topics common to the needs of college writing students, although the Learning Resource Center (Library 203) provides, in addition, individual tutoring. The effectiveness of a piece of writing is weakened if the intended readers must stop and start to correct, mentally, errors in punctuation, usage, syntax, and word choice. Finally, take note of the following course policy: all drafts of the four assigned essays and the course journal must be turned in for a student to be considered for a “D” or higher as a semester grade, and class members may be required to submit their essays through Turnitin. com which is very effective at identifying student plagiarism.

Attendance: Class attendance is essential, but should emergencies keep you from class, contact me as soon as possible, by phone or email. Allowances can be made if you communicate with me in advance, much as you might contact an employer if you are unable to get to work. But more than 3 unexcused absences will begin to lower your semester grade by .4 for each class missed: 4.0=A, 3.6=B+/A-, 3.2=B/B+, 2.8=B-, and so on. You need to keep a record of how many classes you miss because I do not consider it my job to hound you. And be punctual; to arrive late or leave early is to risk being “absent” that day. Sleeping during class or attending class without your textbook and writing materials will also constitute an absence.

Semester Grades: Four Essays: 80%; Journal: 10%; Attendance/Participation: 10%

Academic Integrity: While you may discuss your assignments with family and friends and me, you must do your own writing. Have confidence in what you say in your papers. To submit work that is not your own is to dodge the responsibilities of developing critical thinking skills, skills that are fundamental to a college education. In short, student plagiarism can result in a failing grade in any course at Penn State.

Course Schedule: Please note that what follows is a “bare bones” schedule—purposely set up that way to allow us plenty of time to cover the things we need to cover. Also, should we discover while following this schedule that we need to interrupt it to work on a particular problem, we’ll have time to do so.

AUG 27

·  Introduction to course

·  Writing sample

AUG 29

·  Hacker, pp. 3-28

SEPT 3

·  LABOR DAY—NO CLASS

SEPT 5

·  Workshop: paragraphs—examples & illustrations; narration; description

SEPT 10

·  Paragraph revisions DUE in journals

·  Hacker, pp. 28-29

SEPT 12

·  LRC Tour

·  Workshop: paragraphs—process; comparison & contrast; analogy

SEPT 17

·  Paragraph revisions DUE in journals

·  Hacker, pp. 30-37

SEPT 19

·  Workshop: paragraphs—cause & effect; classification & division; definition

SEPT 24

·  Hacker, pp. 57-66

SEPT 26

·  Workshop: summary

OCT 1

·  Summary DUE

·  Hacker, pp. 93-118

OCT 3

·  Hacker, pp. 67-83

·  JOURNALS DUE

OCT 8

·  Hacker, pp. 67-83

OCT 10

·  Discuss Berger’s “Ways of Seeing: Men Looking at Women,” pp. 113-115

OCT 15

·  Workshop: Essay #1

OCT 17

·  Hacker, pp. 259-293

OCT 22

·  Hacker, pp. 297-314

·  Final draft DUE: Essay #1

OCT 24

·  Discuss “The Discovery of What It Means to Be An American,” pp. 103-108

OCT 29

·  Workshop: Essay #2

OCT 31

·  In-class activity (TBA)

NOV 5

·  Peer Group discussions: “The Dance of Frogs,” pp. 251-258

·  Final draft DUE: Essay #2

NOV 7

·  Discuss “The Dance of Frogs” and Peer Group decisions

NOV 12

·  Workshop: Essay #3

NOV 14

·  Hacker, pp. 163-215

NOV 19-21

·  THANKSGIVING VACATION

NOV 26

·  Discuss “Achievement of Desire,” pp. 474-491

·  Final draft DUE: Essay #3

NOV 28

·  Discuss “I Just Wanna Be Average” (handout)

DEC 3

·  Workshop #1: Essay #4

DEC 5

·  Workshop #2: Essay #4

DEC 10

·  Workshop #3: Essay #4 and Journals

DEC 12

·  LAST DAY: Paper #4 and Journals DUE