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........................Skyline
College
.....................English
801: Basic Writing Skills -- Fall
2000
Course
Meetings: Daily 11:10-12pm
Meets in room 2106 and in the Lab Tues--Bldg 2
Schedule #80352 - Engl 801AD, Units
3.0
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"Nothing is
more satisfying than writing a good sentence." -- Barbara
Tuchman
"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only
way you can do anything really good." -- William Faulkner
Course
Prerequisites: Recommended-Eligibility for
Reading 801 and English 801 by appropriate scores on college
placement tests and other measures as necessary.
Corequisite-Reading 801 if indicated by college reading
placement test.
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 work at the sentence level
looking at structure, grammar, and punctuation, and we will
also study 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:
America Now, by Robert Atwan
Rhythms of Writing by Pamela Dykstra
8 Ball Chicks: A Year in the Violet World of Girls
Gangs by Gini Sikes
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 8 (eight)
absences is permitted; each absence after the eighth 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.
"There is no
such thing as good writing, only good rewriting" -- Louis
Brandels
Papers:
In addition to in-class writing and quizzes, three papers
will be written for this class.
The requirements are as follows:
(1) Due Dates--Paper #1
(1-2 pages, 250-500 words), Draft due 9/14, Revised 9/22
.........................Paper
#2 (2-3 pages, 500-750 words), Draft due 10/12, Revised
10/20
.........................Paper
#3 (3-4 pages, 750-1000 words), Draft due 11/16, Revised
11/27
.........................Final
Exam: December 12th in-class
(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:
Workshops for Paper #1: Thurs Sept
14th & Fri Sept 15th
Workshops for Paper #2: Thurs Oct 12th & Fri Oct
13th
Workshops for Paper #3: Thurs Nov 16th & Fri Nov
17th
(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.
"In many ways
writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon
other people,
of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind" --
Joan Didion
Course
Grade:................................................
Record
Your Own Grades:
Paper
1................................10%...........................................Score
for Paper 1 ______ x .10 = ______
Paper
2................................20%...........................................Score
for Paper 2 ______ x .20 = ______
Paper
3................................20%...........................................Score
for Paper 3 ______ x .20 = ______
Paper 4-Final Exam
12/12..10%...........................................Score
for Paper 4 ______ x .10 = ______
Quizzes................................15%.......................................Average
Quiz Score ______ x .15 = ______
Homework...........................15%......................................%
of HM completed ______ x .15 = ______
*
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 8.
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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