ENGLISH 1301 Dual Credit Syllabus

Instructor Information

Name: Amber Beard

Conference hours: 2nd period

Office: 2602

Phone number: 281-641-7768

Email address:

Course Information

Course title: Rhetoric and Composition

Course number: English 1301

Credit hours: 3 hours

Prerequisites: Placement by testing

Semester and year: Fall 2015

Texts, Reading Materials

Primary text:Everything’s an Argument

Ancillary Texts: (As Approved by LoneStar College, Campus Administration, and Advanced Academics)

Course Description/ Learning Outcomes/ Core Objectives

Course Description

Intensive study of and practice in writing processes, from invention and researching to drafting, revising, and editing, both individually and collaboratively. Emphasis on effective rhetorical choices, including audience, purpose, arrangement, and style. Focus on writing the academic essay as a vehicle for learning, communicating, and critical analysis.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes.
  2. Develop ideas with appropriate support and attribution, following standard style guidelines in documenting sources.
  3. Write in a style appropriate to audience and purpose.
  4. Read, reflect, and respond critically to a variety of texts.
  5. Use edited American English in academic essays.

Core Objectives

  1. Critical Thinking Skills:To include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information
  2. Communication Skills:To include effective written, oral, and visual communication
  3. Teamwork:To include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal
  4. Personal Responsibility: To include the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision-making

Course Policies

Attendance / Late Policy:

  • Students are expected to be in class. We do something important everyday—you ALWAYS missed something if you miss class. Your first priority should be to check the website for assignments and to ask a classmate what you missed. If you are absent the day(s) before an assignment is due, you arestill expected to submit a completed assignment on time. Should issues arise, or if you feel like your circumstances warrant an exception, you need to contact me via phone or email to discuss your situation. If I receive no contact, and you do not have your assignment on the due date, it is late. Also, if I see that you were partially present on the day an assignment is due (and might have checked out before 6th period), your assignment is still due. For essays, I expect you to leave a hard copy of the essay in my room or mailbox earlier in the day, and the essay should be on time to turnitin.com like normal.

Make-Up / Late Work Policy :

  • We will follow the late policy from Humble ISD.
  • Formative Make-ups need to be completed within ONE week. They become a ‘0’ if you fail to meet the deadline. Objective Summative make-ups need to be completed within ONE week, then become a ‘Z’ in the gradebook until completed. If the grading period ends without a make-up, the ‘Z’ becomes a ‘0’. Subjective Summative make-ups are unacceptable past the due date. Your papers MUST be turned in on time in order for the feedback to be timely and for us to stay on course. If you noticed, this is a writing course, so we always have an essay ‘in the works.’ Once late points have been given for late papers, I am not accepting the paper as a make-up because we will have moved on.

Academic Dishonesty Policy :

From the Humble ISD Handbook:

  • Cheating on an assignment or test will result in a zero being recorded for that assignment or test. In addition, cheating is considered a conduct violation and is subject to additional disciplinary measures as discussed in the Student Code of Conduct.
  • Additionally, student will receive a write-up and parents, club sponsors and coaches will be contacted. Since this class is essay-heavy, students will receive intensive guidelines for avoiding plagiarism. The way to avoid plagiarizing is to document borrowed text properly. Borrowed text should be about 20-30% of an essay. So, your essays need to be original and cited properly.

Grading Scale:

Lone Star College: A = 100-90; B = 89-80; C = 79-70; D = 69-60; F = 59-0

Humble ISD: A = 100-90; B = 89-80; C = 79-75; D = 74-70; F = 69-0

Grade Distribution: Summative grades are worth 75%; Formative grades, 25%; Final exam 20% of semester average. Your final average is calculated thusly:

((Grading Period 1*.4)+(Grading Period 2*.4)+(Final Exam*.2)) = Final grade

Drop Date with policy:

  • November 10 is the last date to drop the class with LSC and receive a ‘W’. Contact your counselor and LSC about dropping the course.

Behavior Expectations

  • This is a college course. At the university level, offending students are dismissed from the class without credit. It is my expectation that there will be NO behavior issues in class.
  • Mature students are expected to:
  • Refrain from loud/disruptive behaviors
  • To treat everyone’s property with respect
  • To advocate for him/herself
  • Respect the school’s rules and property
  • Be prepared for class (bring materials, complete assignments)

Failure to follow these standards will result in student receiving a warning, a demerit, parent & coach contact, or write-up.

Equal Opportunity Statement

  • The Lone Star College System is committed to the principle of equal opportunity in education and employment. The system does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, disability, age, veteran status, national origin, sexual orientation, or ethnicity in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, employment policies, scholarship and loan programs, and other district or college administered programs and activities.

Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Statement

  • The Lone Star College System is dedicated to providing the least restrictive learning environment for all students. LSCS promotes equity in academic access through the implementation of reasonable accommodations as required by the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title V, Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) which will enable students with disabilities to participate in and benefit from all post-secondary educational programs and activities. If you require reasonable accommodations because of a physical, mental, or learning disability, please notify the instructor of this course within the first 2 weeks of the term.

Academic Freedom statement

  • Dual credit courses are college courses. On college and university campuses, the free exchange of ideas is encouraged and expected. The same will be true in a dual credit course. Censorship of ideas or opinions runs counter to the openness of the learning environment and inhibits the development of critical thinking skills. Understand that students who enroll in dual credit courses may be exposed to, and will be expected to participate in, open exchanges of ideas, discussions, debates, and even class assignments concerning subject matter that is challenging, mature and/or representative of differing worldviews, just as they would on a college campus.

Course Calendar

  • At the beginning of each new grading period, students can expect to receive a fully-detailed calendar of all work and assignments. The following lists are generic and meant to serve as an overview.

Proposed English 1301 (Fall) Course Calendar
Units / Week or Dates Specificity / Reading/Writing Suggested Assignments
Unit 1:
Expository / (3) 650-800 word expository essays:
Examples: Narration, Reader-Response, Reflective, Definition, Summary, Analysis, Evaluation, Classification, Cause/effect, Compare/contrast, Process, Exemplification, Description, Problem/solution, Informative (with sources, annotated bibliography, Synthesis
Sample Texts:
Primary: Everything’s An Argument (Chapters 13-15)
Ancillary: Outliers, The Happiness Project, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Road, The Awakening
Unit 2:
Expository / (2) 300-500 word essays:
Examples: Traditional modes from Unit 1, Letter (informative/argument), Proposal, Critical Review, Annotated Bibliography, Digital Communication
Sample Texts:
Primary: Everything’s An Argument (Chapters 13-15)
Ancillary: Outliers, Patterns for Writers, The Bedford Guide for College Writers, Happy (Documentary), I Am (Documentary)
Unit 3:
Synthesis/Information Literacy / (1) 650-800 word expository essay to serve as an introduction to research with a minimum of three secondary sources
***consider utilizing an annotated bibliography in the previous unit to scaffold for this essay
Sample Texts:
Primary: Everything’s An Argument (Chapters 16-21)
Ancillary: Outliers

Essay Scoring Guide:

Composition & Rhetoric + Mechanics + Documentation Method

AThe grade of A means that a paper excels in most or all of the following ways:

  1. Treatment of subject shows good critical intelligence, careful workmanship, and originality.
  2. Organization is so clear that the reader knows at all times what the purpose is and how the writer intends to accomplish it.
  3. Paragraphs are coherent and are developed as fully as their function demands.
  4. Sentences are clear in meaning and so constructed as to contribute precisely and effectively to the writer’s purpose.
  5. Choice of words is exact, appropriate, and sensitive.
  6. Strategies of rhetoric are employed successfully, and the paper demonstrates depth of critical thinking.
  7. Mechanics flawless, or almost flawless.
  8. If source material is required for the assignment, documentation is perfect, or has few minor errors.

In other words, A papers are excellent.

BThe grade of B means that a paper is good.

  1. Treatment of subject shows some originality and better than average ability to relate ideas.
  2. Organization is clear, though lacking the full clarity and tight coherence of A-level work.

It is appropriate to the subject and purpose.

  1. Paragraphs are reasonably unified, coherent, and well developed.
  2. Sentences are generally fluent and clear and are sufficiently varied to make for an easy style.
  3. Words are used precisely and with some attention to stylistic appropriateness.
  4. Strategies of rhetoric are employed successfully, but don’t demonstrate as much depth of critical thinking or make as much of an impact as in A-level work.
  5. Mechanics conforms to accepted usage.
  6. If source material is required for the assignment, documentation is accurate.

In other words, B papers are above average work.

CThe grade of C means that a paper is rather routine in its total effect.

  1. Treatment of subject is acceptable but lacks distinction.
  2. Organization is fairly clear; a central idea is systematically treated.
  3. Paragraph development shows little originality; paragraph structure shows some coherence but tends to be loose and uneconomical.
  4. Sentences are correct and are sufficiently linked to make for continuity. Generally, however, the style if flat, and the meaning is not always clear.
  5. Choice of words is generally appropriate but shows little attention to effect.
  6. Strategies of rhetoric are considered, but are not completely successful. Critical thinking is adequate.
  7. There are some mistakes in mechanics.
  8. If source material is required for the assignment, documentation is close to accurate.

In other words, C papers are average work.

DThe grade of D means that a paper has a number of the following weaknesses:

  1. Treatment of subject tends to be thin, vague, or trite.
  2. Organization is not clear or effective.
  3. Paragraphs tend to be incoherent and poorly developed.
  4. Sentences are generally awkward or overly simple and show little awareness of style. Their meaning is frequently not clear.
  5. Choice of words is often imprecise, inappropriate, or trite.
  6. Strategies of rhetoric are barely considered. Critical thinking is surface-level.
  7. There are a number of errors in mechanics.
  8. If source material is required for the assignment, documentation is faulty.

In other words, D papers are below, though do approach, average work.

FThe grade of F means that a paper falls below minimum requirements. It has a number of the following weaknesses:

  1. Treatment of subject is thin, vague, or trite.
  2. The paper lacks a distinct beginning, middle, and ending.
  3. Paragraphs obviously lack unity and are poorly developed.
  4. Sentences are awkward or are constructed in primer style. Many are not clear.
  5. Choice of words is frequently inexact or inept.
  6. Strategies of rhetoric are not considered or are faulty. Critical thinking is surface-level, missing, or inadequate.
  7. There are too many errors in mechanics.
  8. If source material is required for the assignment, documentation is not considered or is faulty.

In other words, F papers do not approach average work.