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......................Skyline
College
..........English
800: Developmental Writing -- Spring
2000
Course Meetings: T
Th 9:35am-10:50am
Tues in Rm 8201 & in Lab Thurs-bldg 2
Schedule #30338 - Engl 800AD, Units
3.0
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..........................................."The
desire to write grows with writing" -- Erasmus
.................
"Convince
yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on
paper
........................
not eternal
bronze; let that first sentence be as stupid as it
wishes"
....................................................................................................................................
-- Jacques
Barzun
Course
Prerequisites: Completion of English
801 or English 874/864 with a letter grade of "C" or better
OR appropriate skill level indicated by English/Reading
placement tests.
Course
Classification: Credit course
applicable to the Associate Degree
Course
Objectives: The objective of this
course is to guide students toward becoming more critical
readers, writers, and thinkers through recognizing the
effective writing strategies of other writers, through
becoming aware of their own processes of writing, and
through learning to discern logical relationships between
words, ideas, and arguments. In this class we will look
closely at the writing process and the movement from writing
unified paragraphs to creating essays focused on a central
argument and supported with specific and appropriate
detail.
Required
Materials:
"The only good
thing you can say about banning certain books is it gets
kids to read them" - Dennis Miller, The
Rants. Here are the books you'll be reading this
semester:
Interactions, 4th edition, by Moseley &
Harris
Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
The Writer's Options, 6th edition by Morenberg &
Sommers
A Computer Usage card-can be purchased at the Bookstore for
$5
Course
Policies:
(1) Attendance-- Your active participation is
necessary for you and your classmates to realize the
objectives of this course. Therefore your attendance is
crucial. A maximum of 4 (four) absences is permitted; each
absence after the fourth will significantly lower your
grade.
(2) Late Assignments-No late work will be accepted. All due
dates are given well in advance; therefore I feel that it is
unfair to the students who complete their work on time to
accept the work from those who do not. However, because
"life happens," each student will be allowed two "late
tickets" during the semester; twice students may choose to
turn an assignment in the following class period after the
due date. Late assignments beyond this will not be
accepted.
(3) Plagiarism-- Paraphrasing or directly copying any text
and using it as your own without proper attribution, whether
you've done it intentionally or not, is plagiarism and is
unacceptable and can result in failure.
(4) Class participation--- Remember that participation
counts--both for your grade and in your life. It is
essential that you become consciously involved in class by
participating in discussions and contributing thoughtful
comments, questions, and answers.
"By writing an
outline you really are writing in a way, because you're
creating
the structure of what you're going to do. Once I really know
what I'm
going to write, I don't find the actual writing takes all
that long." --Tom Wolfe
Papers:
In addition to in-class writing,
quizzes, and reading responses, five major papers will be
written for this class. The requirements are as follows:
(1) Due Dates--Paper #1 (2-3 pages, 500-750
words)..........Draft
due 2/10, Revised 2/17
..........................
Paper #2 (3-5 pages, 750-1250
words)........Draft
due 3/16, Revised 3/23
..........................
Paper #3 In class Midterm essay exam on
Thursday 4/13
..........................
Paper #4 (4-6 pages, 1000-1500
words).....Draft
due 5/18, Revised 5/25
..........................
Paper #5 In class 2 ½ hour written final
exam on 5/25, Tues, 8:10-10:40am
(2) Revision-- E.B. White said,
"The best writing is
rewriting." Because revising or
"re-seeing" a piece of writing is such an important aspect
of the writing process, each of the papers has two due
dates. Each student will receive feedback and suggestions on
each of his/her papers through class workshop/discussion
groups; then each student will be asked to revise each paper
based on peer feedback. Please note: if the first due date
for a paper is missed, the paper cannot be turned in at
all.
(3) Workshopping-- This class will serve as a sort of a
writing community in which each student can draw, as well as
contribute, valuable ideas, insight, and advise on writing
and presenting arguments. Each paper will be read,
discussed, and commented upon by student workshop groups of
three. Workshop days are very important, and therefore a
missed workshop day will count as two (2) absences and a
late paper will not be accepted. Students without a
completed paper (meeting page and format requirements) will
not be allowed to participate in the workshop. Below are the
workshop dates--students must bring a copy of their paper
for themselves as well as for the other members of their
group:
Workshop for Paper #1: February
10th, Thurs
Workshop for Paper #2: March 16th, Thurs
Workshop for Paper #4: May 18th, Thurs
(4) Format-Papers must meet the required
minimum length or run the risk of not being accepted. All
papers must be typed, double-spaced, have 1" margins, and
have a font of 12.
"One of the
problems we have as writers is we don't take ourselves
seriously while writing; being serious is setting aside a
time and saying if it
comes, good; if it doesn't come, good, I'll just sit here."
-- Maya Angelou
Course
Grade:................................................
Record
Your Own Grades:
Paper 1
..............................10%...........................................Score
for Paper 1 ______ x .10 = ______
Paper 2
..............................10%
..........................................Score for
Paper 2 ______ x .10 = ______
Paper 3-In
Class.................10%
..........................................Score for
Paper 3 ______ x .10 = ______
Paper 4 .............................
20%
..........................................Score for
Paper 4 ______ x .20 = ______
Paper 5-Final Exam 5/25. ..
15%
..........................................Score for
Paper 5 ______ x .15 = ______
Quizzes
..............................15%
.......................................Average Quiz
Score ______ x .15 = ______
Homework .......................
10%
.......................................% of HM
completed ______ x .10 = ______
* Participation ..................
10% .........
..........................................Participation
______ x .10 = ______
.................................................................................................*TOTAL:
(convert total to %) ________
* Participation includes being prepared each day,
meeting
with me at least once during the course of the semester,
...............* Deduct
1% for each absence over allowed 4.
adding to daily discussion, and giving your
classmates
......................Scoring as follows: 100-90=A,
89-80=B
thoughtful responses to their writing in
workshops.
...............................79-70=C, 69-60=D,
59-0=F
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