Texas State Technical College Harlingen

ENGLISH 1301 -- COMPOSITION I - Fall 2009

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

English 1301 emphasizes critical thinking skills in the composition of multi-paragraph essays about personal experience, current issues, and published material.

COURSE PREREQUISITES:

Pass Reading 200 and Wriitng 200 or placement by entrance exam.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK

None required.

Dictionary, thesaurus, MLA Handbook, grammar handbook - recommended

COURSE WEBSITE

You will be required to access Moodle at https://moodle.harlingen.tstc.edu.  Contact the instructor for your corresponding setion at the email address above before the first day of class for more information.  Much of the course material will be supplemented with videos and audio recordings.  It is important that you are able to access these to receive complete instructions and explanations for your assignments.  Anyone with dial-up internet access will not be able to view or listen to these recordings.

OTHER

• Strong sense of dedication and commitment
• Flash/thumb drive

GRADING POLICY

Grading Criteria

**Plagiarized or copied work will receive a "0" (F) and may result in expulsion from or failing grade in course.**

Grading Scale

The lowest possible passing grade for this course is a 60.

ACCOMMDATION STATEMENT

If you have a documented disability which will make it difficult for you to carry out class work as outlined and wish to request reasonable accommodations, please notify me or the Support Services Office with the first two (2) weeks of the semester.  For more infomation, visit the Support Services Office in the Auxiliary Services Building or call (956) 364-4520.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

1. To teach writing as a process of critical thinking.
2. To teach you to write expository and argumentive essays, using modes as forms of analysis, as ways of thinking analytically or critically.
3. To teach you to think and write critically about your own experiences, current issues, and published essays and articles;
4. To teach you to organize your essays using modes appropriate to their material;
5. To train you to write effective introductory paragraphs that present a thesis;
6. To improve the concreteness and specificity of your writing;
7. To refine your command of the grammar and conventions of standard written English;
8. To improve your writing style, especially for clarity and conciseness;
9. To introduce and orient you to the mechanics of documentation and guide you through the gathering of data, origanization, composition and refinement of a typed 500-750 word argumentative essay which employs in-text citations and a "works cited" page;
10. To teach you critical thinking skills such as analysis, identification of bias, etc., the recognition of effective development and organization - in general, awareness of the relationship between reading and writing.

EXPECTED RESULTS

Upon completing English 1301, you will be able to write a 500-750 word anaysis that will exhibit. 

Structure

Contains 1) a focused thesis in the introductory paragraph, 2) an organization appropriate to the material, 3) adequate development through concrete and specific explanation, illustration and/or example, and 4) paragraph unity and coherence.

Grammar

Contains only grammatical errors that do not significantly harm or diminish the meaning.  The following are considered major grammatical errors: sentence boundaries, subject/verb agreement, and verb tense and form.

Style

is tailored to the appropriate reader and has concisely written situation/purpose, contains complex sentence structure and effective word choice (including title)

Content

Demonstrates critical thinking skills and follows the specifications of the assignment.

You will conduct library research into a significant and appropriate topic.

GRADING POLICY

Daily assignment and first drafts will ask you to explore different ways to produce witing on paper.  This writing will be graded primarily on whether or not you have completed the assignment on time and given it serious attention and effort.  Three or more low grades may lower your couse grade by a letter.  From this pre-writing you will develp six essays.  I will return each paper with reactions to guide your revising it for a second submission.  At the end of the semester you will give me copies of the "final," polished revisions of your essays.  Your papers must be typed, double-spaced, and formatted according to MLA guidelines.

SUMMARY OF ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY

This system of grading rewards you for timely, serious effort on daily assignments and in workshops.  It gives extra weight to your highest level of achievementnear the end of the semester.  It does not penalize you for mistakes and experiments that go wrong, if you learn from the mistakes how to produce good finished work.  In fact, this system assumes that finished, effective communication is often the product of a very messy process in creation, in which you take risks, follow false trials, make lots of mistakes, go back and start over again.  This system encourages you to engage in the recursive and sometimes disordered process of becoming a productive and fluent writer.  Early in the semester we will arrive at an understaning of the standards by which our witing is judged, both within the community of our class and within the larger public audience of readers.  The course assumes that your final essays will also observe the conventions of grammar, spelling, and punctuation of "standard written English." If you have trouble with these conventions, you will be able to get help from me and your classmates.

Assignments

Participation/Discussion and Group Work

Shorter writing samples will reinforce the concepts we will cover in this course.  These assignments will be in response to a variety of writing prompts; each will build on the other to help you with your longer writing assignments.  You will be asked to respond to discussion questions posted by the instructor.  Your response to the instructor's question should be 2 well developed.  In addition, you must respond to your classmate's postings, and these should be at least 2-3 well developed sentences in length. So you should have a total of at least four postings to the discussion forum per week.  The discussions are designed to allow you to engage with the readings, and connect with the class community; I think you will find this the most enjoyable aspect of the course.

Drafts, Papers, and Research

We will write five regular essays and a final exam essay.  A first draft will be completed for each of these.  Drafts will be graded based on the level of completion and development.  Since research is a complex skill, we will be applying those skills during each unit.

Plagiarism

Don't.  If you feel tempted to plagiarize, come and talk to me and we can work someting out.  Any plagiarism and failure to credit your sources properly (including failure to paraphrase appropriately) will result in a failing essay grade.  I you are suspected of plagiarism, you will be required to bring all sources and/or works cited to defend your method of documentation.  If you cannot successfully defend your methods, you will automaically fail this course.

Plagiarism Statement

"The attempt of any student to present as his or her own work that which he or she has not produced is regarded by teh faculty and adminstration as a serious offense.  Students are considered to have cheated if they copy the work of another during an examiniation or turn in a paper or an assignment written, in whole or in part, by someone else.  Students are guilty of plagiarism, intentional or not, if they copy material from books, magazines, or other sources or if they paraphrase ideas form such sources without acknowledging them.  Students guilty of or assisting other in either cheating or plagiarism on an assignment, quiz, or examination may receive a grade of F for the course involved."

Reveisions Portfolio

Because writing is a skill which can be developed, you will be required to revise each one of your essays during the last unit of the course.  You will apply all the skills learned in class to improve your essays.  Your essays will be graded when you submit the portfolio.

Final Exam

The final examination will be a 500-700 word analytical essay.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Writing never occurs in a vacuum but within the context of audience, and the immediate audience for writing in this course is ourselves.  The course requires a commitment to the community, an you can't participate in a community of writers unless you are here.  Attendance in class is required which translates into logging into the course at least three times per week.

CLASS POLICIES

Copyright Statement

The materials used in the course (textbooks,, handouts, media files (podcast, MP3, Videos, RSS Feeds), and all instructional resources on the colleges Learning Management System (Moodle) are intended for use only by students registered and enrolled in this course, and are only to be used for instructional use, activities associated with, and for the duration of the course.  By "handouts," this means all materials generated for this course, which inclusdes but are not limited to syllabi, quizzes, exams, lab problems, in-class materials, review sheets, and any additional materials.

These materials may not be retained in another medium or disseminated further.  They are provided in compliance with the provisions of the Teach Act.  These materials may not be reporduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of t the copyright holder ro TSTC.  For further information contact your instructor.

COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR INSTRUCTOR (MyMail Email System)

The use of Your Mymail TSTC College student e-mail account will be the only way to receive official notices from the college.  When communicating with instructors and/or emplyees of the college you are required to use you TSTC Mymail student e-mail address.  If you choose to forward your e-mail to another account, please be advised that all communication from and within the college will use you Mymail student e-mail.

"TSTC Harlingen faculty, staff, and student are asked to report all threats, perceived or real, immediately to College police located in teh Auxiliary Building.  If the threat is imminent, the Ciollege Police emergency phone line at 364-4234 ir 9-911 should be called. College Police will then coordinate the proper response in accordance with State and federal laws and TSTC System/College rules and regulations."

NOTE

Any changes to this Course Information Sheet will be provided in writing to the student.