English 101-14/ English Composition I

Course Syllabus

Spring 2010

Section Instructor: Wilson McBee

Location/Time: 216 Bryan/ 10:00 – 10:50 MWF

Office: 3210 G

Office Hours: TBD

Email:

Course Description/Overview:

English 101 satisfies the Reasoning and Discourse (GRD) requirement at UNCG, which asserts that students “gain skills in intellectual discourse, including constructing cogent arguments, locating, synthesizing and analyzing documents, and writing and speaking clearly, coherently, and effectively”

(http://www.uncg.edu/reg/Catalog/current/UnivReq/GECDescription.html).

In addition, English 101 is designed to address three of the proficiencies listed under Student Learning Goals in the UNCG General Education Program. These proficiencies are:

·Ability to write and speak clearly, coherently, and effectively as well as to adapt modes of communication to one’s audience;

·Ability to interpret academic writing and discourse in a variety of disciplines

·Ability to locate, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information (2007-2008 UNCG Undergraduate Bulletin 53)

English 101 Course Objectives:

1. To help students develop the ability to analyze texts, construct cogent arguments, and provide evidence for their ideas in writing;

2. To provide students with multiple examples of argumentative and analytical discourse as illustrated via student and professional/published texts;

3. To introduce students to rhetorical concepts of audience, writer, message and context, and how to employ these in both formal and informal writing situations;

4. To help students develop the ability to summarize, paraphrase, and use direct quotations in writing;

5. To promote to student writers the value of writing-to-learn through sequenced assignments rooted in a common theme or focus;

6. To introduce students to the act of writing as a public and community-based process through the activities of drafting, peer review, and revision.

Required Texts:

Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun. New York: Random House, 2010. ISBN: 978-0307387943

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. They Say, I Say. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-393-93174-7

Lyda, Laurie, Alan Benson, Will Dodson, and Katie Fennell, eds. Techne Rhetorike.

Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-1-59871-385-5

Evaluation:

Portfolio: 40%

Essays: 30%

Brief Comments: 10%

Reading Quizzes: 10%

Attendance/Participation: 10%

NB: **Failure to complete any single assignment for the course could result in a failing grade for the entire course.

**You must turn in all work in MLA Format (1” margins, double-spaced, 12pt. font), and be sure to cite anything you do not come up with yourself.

Work and Preparation:

The amount you improve your reading and writing abilities this semester will be entirely and directly related to the quality of work and the amount of preparation you do. Take time in completing the assignments. Read over your work before you turn in. Come to my office hours if you have questions. Approach the readings in a slow, careful manner. Nothing you learn in this class is going to just “click,” or come to you overnight. Becoming a confident writer is a long, often frustrating process.

Classroom Expectations:

Eating, sleeping, or reading other materials during class are not acceptable. All cell phones must be turned off prior to coming to class, and no text messaging or web surfing will be tolerated. Laptops do not need to be used during class and should not be brought to class. If you have a disability that requires the use of assistive technology on a laptop or other device, please notify me.

Participation, Attendance, and Absences: I expect you to have read your assignments and brought any required written work with you to class. If a reading comes from BlackBoard, I expect you to print out the reading and bring it to class. I do not accept papers via email. I expect everyone to participate in class discussion. You must perform all in-class writing assignments, even if the assignment itself is ungraded.

Because class time will be largely spent in large and small group discussions, class participation and attendance is vital. You can miss three class periods with no penalty; if you miss a fourth, your final grade will be lowered by half a letter grade; if you miss six classes then you will automatically fail the course.

Being habitually late (more than three times) will also count as an absence.

Draft, revision and portfolio policy:

This course is meant to help you see writing as a process. To that end we will be working with your writing assignments through several stages of development. For reach assignment you will:

1)  Hand in a complete first draft

2)  Have the first draft workshopped by your peers in class

3)  Revise your first draft at home, based on your peers’ comments and your own reflection

4)  Turn in a second draft which I will grade and comment upon

5)  Revise again, based on my comments and your own further reflection

6)  Create a third draft

7)  Include copies of the first, second, and third draft of each assignment in your final portfolio

In addition to the three essays, which run between 5-8 pages each, you will be compose three “brief comments” during the semester---these will be shorter, more exploratory papers no longer than three pages each. For the portfolio you will choose one of these brief comments to revise.

We will also be having reading quizzes throughout the semester. The number and frequency of the reading quizzes will be contingent on your performance. If the class consistently scores highly on the reading quizzes, I may choose to suspend them.

Student-teacher conferences:

Classes will be cancelled March 14 – 18 so that I can meet with you each individually for 15 minutes (in the reading room of Jackson Library.) Failure to attend the conference will be counted like any other class absence. We’ll talk more about the conferences before the week arrives.

E-mail policy:

If you do not regularly check your UNCG email, you need to make habit of it for this course. I will occasionally send reminders, questions, and other documents over email. I will make every effort to respond to your e-mail message within forty-eight hours. If I have not replied to your message after forty-eight hours, then please re-send the message.

The Office of Disability Services:

Students with documentation of special needs should arrange to see me about accommodations as soon as possible. If you believe you could benefit from such accommodations, you must first register with the Office of Disability Services on campus before such accommodations can be made. The office is located on the second floor of the Elliott University Center (EUC) in Suite 215, and the office is open 8am to 5pm, Monday - Friday. Telephone: 334-5440; e-mail: .

The Writing Center:

The purpose of the Writing Center is to enhance the confidence and competence of student writers by providing free, individual assistance at any stage of any writing project. Staff consultants are experienced writers and alert readers, prepared to offer feedback and suggestions on drafts of papers, help students find answers to their questions about writing, and provide one-on-one instruction as needed. Located in the Moore Humanities and Research Building, room 3211. Telephone: 336-334-3125.

The Learning Assistance Center:

The Learning Assistance Center offers free services to the entire UNCG undergraduate community and is located in McIver Hall, rooms 101-104, and 150. For help with study skills, contact Erin Farrior, Academic Skills specialist. Telephone: 334-3878; e-mail: .

Academic Integrity:

The following is taken verbatim from UNCG’s Academic Integrity Policy:

“Academic integrity is founded upon and encompasses the following five values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. Violations include, for example, cheating, plagiarism, misuse of academic resources, falsification, and facilitating academic dishonesty. If knowledge is to be gained and properly evaluated, it must be pursued under conditions free from dishonesty. Deceit and misrepresentations are incompatible with the fundamental activity of this academic institution and shall not be tolerated”

I urge you to read the whole policy, <http://academicintegrity.uncg.edu/> especially if you have any questions about citations for a writing assignment. And of course you can always bring questions to me.

Course Schedule:

Subject to change at my discretion.

Readings are to be completed by the class date listed.

TSIS= They Say, I Say

TR= Techne Retorike

Bb=BlackBoard (Readings found under “Course Documents.” You will need to print and bring to class each BlackBoard reading.)

Week 1 / M Jan 10 / Introductions.
Explanation of course goals.
Syllabus.
W Jan 12 / Introduction to Rhetoric. / TR: “Introduction to Rhetorical Concepts” by Will Dodson
F Jan 14 / Introduction to Rhetoric. / Brief Comment #1 due.
Week 2 / M Jan 17 / Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. No class
W Jan 19 / Introduction to Rhetoric / TSIS: “A More Perfect Union” by Barack Obama
F Jan 21 / Introduction to Rhetoric. / TR: “Keeping the Beat” by Charlie Guy-McAlpin
Week 3 / M Jan 24 / The Rhetorical Situation / Bb: “The Rhetorical Situation” by Lloyd Bitzer
Bb: “Address to a Joint Session of Congress Following 9/11 Attacks” by George W. Bush
W Jan 26 / Ad analyses / TR: “Analyzing Visual Media” by Zach Laminak
F Jan 28 / The “moves” of academic writing / TSIS: “Introduction: Entering the Conversation”
Week 4 / M Jan 31 / Peer review workshop. / Essay #1 Rhetorical analysis first draft due.
W Feb 2 / The “moves” of academic writing / TSIS: “ ‘They Say’: Starting with What Others are Saying”
TSIS: “Watching TV Makes You Smarter”
F Feb 4 / Weatherspoon Museum visit
Week 5 / M Feb 7 / Responding to Art / Essay #1 Rhetorical analysis second draft due.
W Feb 9 / The “moves” of academic writing / TSIS: “ ‘Yes / No / Okay, But’: Three Ways to Respond”
TSIS: “ ‘And Yet’: Distinguishing What You Say from They Say”
F Feb 11 / The “moves” of academic writing / TSIS: “ ‘So What? Who Cares?’ Saying Why It Matters
TSIS: “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box” by Dana Stevens
Week 6 / M Feb 14 / Arguing about Avatar / Bb: Avatar reviews from The New Yorker, Salon.com, and The Village Voice
W Feb 16 / Arguing about Avatar / Bb: “The Wizard” by Daniel Mendelsohn
F Feb 18 / Library day. / TR: “Researching Rhetoricaly” by Alan Benson and Laurie Lyda
TR: “Finding a Conversation to Find Research” by Courtney Adams Wooten
Week 7 / M Feb 21 / Arguing about Avatar / Brief Comment # 2 due
W Feb 23 / Arguing about Avatar / TSIS: “ ‘As a Result’: Connecting the Parts”
F Feb 25 / Arguing about Avatar / TSIS: “ ‘Her Point Is’: The Art of Summarizing”
TSIS: “ ‘As He Himself Puts It’: the Art of Quoting”
Week 8 / M Feb 28 / Peer review workshop / Essay #2 Critical Review first draft due
W Mar 2 / Trouble the Water / TR: “Rhetorical Analysis and Film” by Daniel Burns
F Mar 4 / Trouble the Water / Essay #2 Critical Review second draft due.
Mar 5-11 / Spring Break. No class.
Week 9 / M Mar 14 / Conferences. No class. / Read TR: “Conferencing Rhetorically” by Rae Ann Meriwether before your conference
W Mar 16 / Conferences. No class.
F Mar 18 / Conferences. No class.
Week 10 / M Mar 21 / Rhetorics of Hurricane Katrina / Zeitoun, parts I and II
W Mar 23 / Rhetorics of Hurricane Katrina / Zeitoun, parts III and IV
F Mar 25 / Rhetorics of Hurricane Katrina / Zeitoun, part V
Week 11 / M Mar 28 / Rhetorics of Hurricane Katrina / Zeitoun
W Mar 30 / Writing about People / Brief Comment # 3 due.
Bb: “Writing about People” by William Zinsser
F Apr 1 / Writing about People / Bb: “The Headmaster” by John McPhee
Week 12 / M Apr 4 / Writing about People / Bb: “Pomegranate Princess” by Amanda Fortini
W Apr 6 / Writing about People / Bb: “23 Reasons Why A Profile of Pete Carroll Does Not Appear in This Space” by J.R. Moehringer
F Apr 8 / Writing about People / Essay #3 Profile first draft due
Week 13 / M Apr 11 / Writing about People / “Real Romance” by Lauren Collins
W Apr 13 / Writing about People / Essay #3 Profile second draft due.
F Apr 15 / Writing about Writing / TSIS: “ ‘In Other Words’: The Art of Metacommentary”
Week 14 / M Apr 18 / Writing about Writing / TR: “The Portfolio Process” by Brian Ray
W Apr 20 / Peer review workshop / Introductory letter first draft due
F Apr 22 / No class.
Week 15 / M Apr 25 / Portfolio Review
T Apr 26 / Final evaluations / Portfolios due.
W Apr 27 / Reading Day
Week 16 / M May 2
12 pm / Final exam day. / Portfolios returned. (Attendance mandatory.)