Great Basin College
English 102 – 1003 (34139)
Composition II
Online Course
Spring 2017
Instructor: Carol Ford, MEd. Literacy Studies
Office Hours: Via cell phone, Email, or by prearrangement.
Office Location: Via email and Cell Phone and/or prearrangement (chat, facetime, etc.)
Phone: 775-340-8145
E-mail:
Texts:
Required: Lester, James D & Lester Jr., James D. Writing Research Papers A Complete Guide, 15th Ed.
Recommended: Lunsford, Andrea A. The Everyday Writer (6th Ed.)
Web Sites:
Owl.english.purdue.edu
Course Description:
This is an Internet class that requires your time. There will be written assignments and required reading. You will also be required to participate in online discussions, collaborations, journal writing, and mini assignments. This course requires the student to become familiar with the Great Basin College Web Campus Distance Learning program. Please read the attached Distance Learning “Tips for Success” at the end of the Syllabus.
Composition II focuses on research. We will use many forms of research, such as field, library, Internet, and interviews, while exploring a variety of topics. Because the course applies research to writing, it necessarily requires that we concentrate on reading and writing affectively, paraphrastically, and dialectically (more about these during the course). These skills enable us to think about, analyze, and to synthesize information from multiple sources, and to incorporate that information into our academic writing. You will learn what sources are credible and you will be required to use credible academic sources for your research essays, which include reference books, databases, Internet sites, articles from periodicals, professional magazines, and personal interviews, etc. (Wikipedia is not a credible information source!)
Course Objectives:
This course addresses the major goals of research-based writing:
· To enjoy the academic project of research for its own sake.
· To read with critical facility, especially for future academic work.
English 102 concentrates on learning to read closely and reflectively, and on integrating the material that you’ve read into an intelligent, accessible written version for another audience, (usually, but not always, me).
· To produce clear, concise, interesting prose.
English 102 recognizes that we can all write, but that all of us can always get better at it. It is both a skill and an art that requires the regular practice that perhaps only a writing course provides.
· To conceptualize and practice the key academic research skill of synthesis.
Synthesis is that technique, which combines information discovered, during research, into a new coherent piece of writing that pays particular attention to voice. (Voice is you, the writer, behind the words; voice allows the audience to hear the author of the document.)
· To evaluate the use and misuse of statistics.
English 102 offers the perspective that, although research involves statistical data, not all of that is reported in good faith or with clear motive. Researchers must be able to evaluate the use of statistics and to recognize the inflated, sensational, or oversimplified use of them. You will be using a variety of sources to further your understanding of mass data.
· To learn to use MLA or APA documentation format guidelines.
Writers are expected to follow standardized reference formats. English 102 requires the use of one of two widely used academic documentation formats, which are APA (American Psychological Association) or MLA (Modern Language Association) formatting.
Course Policies:
· Because English 102 is a writing workshop, your regular participation is important. Your participation or non-participation will be reflected in your grade.
· It is imperative that you check the WebCampus Home page for this course on a regular basis, which translates into at least three times per week – Mon, Weds., Fri. – if not more.
· Because of the nature of some of the research topics and class writing, discussions, and sharing by your classmates, respect for all is required.
· Please turn in all assignments when due, unless other arrangements with the instructor have been made.
· Your final grade is determined by the accumulation of points earned on each assignment, including your participation points.
· This syllabus is not set in stone. It is subject to reasonable change upon the discretion of the teacher as she sees fit.
· It is the student’s responsibility to become familiar with Web Campus distance learning skills and to submit all assignments when due.
Assignments: Most Assignments will be grouped into modules.
· It is imperative that all written assignments be composed in Microsoft Office Word, typed in Times New Roman font, and put into the class assignment drop box, unless otherwise instructed. I will not accept assignments that are not in Microsoft Office Word file format! Do not submit assignments in any other file format unless instructed to do so by me! PLEASE NOTE: Journal entries and discussion board assignments are to be typed directly into the discussion box.
· Assignments are to be submitted when due. I do not like to accept late assignments unless you have notified me and made previous arrangements. Late assignments may be lowered one grade level.
· You are required to participate in group discussions, collaborations, conferences, submit journal entries, complete “mini” assignments, and chats if applicable, in order to maintain your participation points.
· You will be required to read the textbook Research Writing Papers and other assigned sources. There will be weekly reading assignments. The reading assignments will parallel the writing assignments. Reading assignments will have a due date. Your reading will be reflected in your understanding of the writing assignments and through chapter quizzes.
· There will be audio and video presentations as part of the course material.
Be sure to read the detailed instructions for each assignment that will be posted well in advance. The assignments will include reading assigned chapters in the text, which correlate with the writing assignments, and quizzes.
Selecting Your Research Topic: Read Chapter 1 -“Writing from Research”; and Chapter 2 - “Finding a Topic”.
Before completing the first writing assignment, you must decide on a topic, from the “Topic List,” that you are interested in researching.
The required writing assignments are listed below and will count toward a large percentage of your total grade for the course. Most of these assignments will be in the modules you will find on WebCampus.
1. Research Proposal (10% of your grade) Chapter 3, 7, & 10
· The Research Proposal: 40 points. Read Chapter 3 – “Organizing Ideas and Setting Goals”; Chapter 7 – “Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism”; Chapter 10 - “Drafting the Paper in an Academic Style”. You will select one topic thesis about what you will be researching during the semester, which includes your purpose or rationale for the project, and a statement of your qualifications that you are bringing to this project. You are to select a topic from the list provided. You will include what you know, think, and feel about your topic. A rubric will be used for the assessment of this portion of the assignment.
2. Finding and Evaluating Sources: (25% of your grade) Chapter 4 - 8
· Web Evaluation Paper: 50 points Chapter 4 & 8
It is necessary to learn how to evaluate your sources for credible information. You will
find 8 Websites that relate to your topic and evaluate them based on the criteria for
credible Web site sources. A rubric will be used for assessing your evaluation.
· Focused Research Interview: 25 points. Read Chapter 5 & 6. You will interview a librarian regarding the availability of adequate, credible, and academic sources to use to research your topic and write about your interview.
· Annotated Bibliography: 25 points. Chapter 5, 11, 14, 15. You will list 10 sources, in correct documentation format, about your topic and summarize or paraphrase the information you found in each. A rubric will be used for assessment along with my communication with the library that you will be using.
3. Writing About Your Research: (47.5% of your grade) Chap 7, 9,10,11,12, 13
· Introduction: 30 points Chapter 12
· Body: 100 points Chap 7,9,10, 11,12,13 Writing Research Papers, Inform and Explore - Part I: Finding information about your topic through interviews and new sources. Part II: Delving deeper into your topic from a different perspective.
· Conclusion: 30 points Chap 7,9,10, 11,12, 13
· Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA): 30 points depending on your documentation choice. Chap 13,14,15, Writing Research Papers.
Quizzes: 30 points total (7% of final grade.) Three quizzes will be given on assigned reading at 10 points each.
Participation: Participation and “mini” assignments: 40 points (10% of final grade)
You can “keep” up to 40 points when you complete your journals, participate in discussion, collaboration, conferences, and chat groups, and turn in mini assignments. Participation points can mean the difference between grades.
Figuring Participation Points and Final Grade:
Everyone begins the class with 40 participation points, which is 10% of your grade. There will be discussion groups requiring your participation. You can maintain your participation credit for participating in discussions, collaborations, conferences and completing journal entries (13 minimum, 15 maximum,) and attending to audio and video presentations.
Final Grading: Your final grade is based on your accumulated points. There are a total of 400 points that you can earn; however, depending on the writing skills students demonstrate, it is possible extra assignments may be given, which would increase the points possible.
The breakdown is as follows:
400 - 360 = A
359 - 320 = B
319 - 280 = C
279 - 240 = D
239 - = F
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Policy of Academic Integrity:
Of special concern in a research semester is your attention to GBC’s policy of academic integrity: students are expected to be honest. If ideas are borrowed, the source must be given credit. Internet sources are subject to documentation as well as careful evaluation. We will address the matter of unintentional plagiarism in class, but it occurs when a student paraphrase of the source is too close to the original. Plagiarism is a violation of the standards of intellectual honesty. Students who violate such standards are subject to punishment, ranging from failing a class to dismissal from the institution.
If you have concerns or academic problems, or you feel you need special assistance, please discuss all matters with me first, and as soon as possible.
See GBC General Catalogue for the procedure to follow should you need to protect your rights in any class.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Great Basin College is committed to providing equal educational opportunities to qualified students with disabilities in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. A qualified student must furnish current verification of disability. The Director of Services for Students with Disabilities (Julie G. Byrnes) will assist qualified students with disabilities in securing the appropriate and reasonable accommodations, auxiliary aids and services. For more information or further assistance, please call (775) 753-2271.
Methods of Instruction: Various methods of instruction will be used, which will include individual reading and writing, small and whole group discussion through WebCampus discussion, collaboration, mini lectures, the use of audio-visual Internet materials and various sources, and teacher led discussions. Most assignments will be grouped in “Modules.”
Learner Outcomes: General Education and English 102
1. Communication Skills
Written Communication
Students who complete general education courses will demonstrate the ability to use written communication skills in the following ways.
· Choose essay/paper format appropriate to audience and purpose.
· Choose diction and style appropriate to audience and purpose.
· Integrate evidence, examples, and details to support the central idea or thesis of the text.
· Develop coherent and effective paragraphs.
· Use standard edited English and the documentation style appropriate to the discipline.
Accessing Information
Students who complete General Education courses will demonstrate the ability to access information.
· Collect information from electronic, print and live sources
· Evaluate the validity of the information
· Organize information into usable format
· Document sources of information
Reading Skills
Students who complete General Education courses will
· Adjust reading speed according to genre, difficulty of text, and reading purpose.
· Recognize functions of various selections of text, i.e. offering evidence to support a point
· Identify the purpose of the author as presented in a text
· Summarize and /or paraphrase main points
· Define vocabulary
· Identify and explain cultural codes in texts
· Create new text which integrates and synthesizes pre-existing knowledge and knowledge gained from reading in the writing of new texts (papers, essays, and the like)
Measurement of learner outcomes:
Learner outcomes will be assessed using rubrics developed by the instructor with guidelines provided by GBC’s English department.
All English 102 students will produce a research paper, which fulfills the above standards. Research papers are assessed using a standard rubric developed by the English department; the rubric is attached to the syllabus (rubric numbers 1 – 11).
2. Critical Thinking
Quantitative Ability
Identify problems that require mathematical solutions
Apply appropriate mathematical operations to problems and achieve correct solutions
Measurement of learner outcomes
Read assigned sources about statistics and analyze the statistical content of an article chosen from a current publication, applying such concepts as the base for calculating percentages, calculation of mean, median and mode averages, and size of sample.
Reasoning and Independent Thought
Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of multiple sources in synthesis exercises and to identify connections between the theses they are developing and those of their sources.
Measurement of learner outcomes
In synthesis assignments, students must create clear theses and utilize opposing arguments to strengthen their own positions. The writing rubric is used to assess these assignments.
Scientific Understanding
Apply the scientific method to problem solving and understanding, and to utilize the results to make predictions and analyze the implications and consequences.