COURSE SYLLABUS

English 305 Syllabus

The majority of this course consists of what you have already begun to do: reading and writing critically online. In addition, you will have the opportunity to craft three short essays. I am enclosing the department policies below. I will also include our overall schedule for the quarter.

Graded Assignments:

ESSAY #1: Restaurant Review:RESTAURANT REVIEW: (20%)
Go to any restaurant in town. As you eat, take notes on the ambiance, the food, and the service. You may choose any restaurant (from Taco Bell to Café Med), but you should use this writing assignment to explore your descriptive capabilities. Use sound, touch, taste, smell, and the look of the food and surroundings. The review should be approximately two pages in length, BUT YOU MAY CHOOSE TO WRITE MORE THAN THAT. You may use the first-person in this review. Remember, I am looking for descriptive depth, so dig deeply into the describing.
This assignment must be emailed to me as an attachment by Friday, Jan 27

ESSAY #2: Tech Essay: Consider the reading from weeks two, three, and four. In your opinion, have recent technologies been good or bad for people? Use specific examples and references to the readings or to other readings you find on this subject. This essay is 2-3 pages, double-spaced. Final draft must be emailed to me as an attachment by Friday, March 10.

ESSAY #3: Tipping Point: For this assignment, you will email me the final draft copy of your essay. You will also email a rough draft to your revisers. I will send information about who you will be emailing.
The essay should be attached as a Microsoft Word document and should be 3-4 pages in length, double spaced.
There are two essay topics to choose from.
Write a 3-4 page double spaced essay on one of the following topics:
1. How might one or more of the ideas in the book The Tipping Point apply to your chosen profession?
2. Locate a trend [social, political, cultural, other] that seems to exhibit a "tipping point" phenomenon. Provide a brief explanation of why you think this phenomenon meets Gladwell's criteria for a tipping point phenomenon.

Rough Draft is due March 9

Final Draft is due March 16

ESSAY #4: In-Class Essay,  March 3rd from 9-11 in Classroom Building 101

GRADING SCALE:

Weekly Blog Entries: 10%
Writing About the Reading: 10%
Restaurant Review: 20% (essay 1)
Online Thinking Essay: 10% (essay 2)
Tipping Point Rough Draft: 5%
Tipping Point Essay Final Draft: 25% (essay 3)
In Class Essay: 10% (essay 4)
Peer Revision: 10%

English 305:  Modes of Writing

Prerequisite:  A grade of B or higher in English 110 or its equivalent, Internet skills, word-processing skills, and upper-division standing (90 quarter units)

To Satisfy the GWAR Requirement

Students must earn a grade of C or higher in this course to satisfy the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR).  In addition, this course can fulfill the GWAR only if a student has completed 90 or more quarter units of college work before taking it.

Successful Completion of English 305

To be eligible for a C in English 305, students must earn a C or higher on at least one in-class writing assignment and a C average on all other course assignments.  Since this is an online class, in-class writing assignments may be given at the first meeting, the last meeting, or both meetings.

Course Description

An online course in effective expository writing.  Emphasis on writing as a process.  This course counts toward the Teacher Preparation Programs in Liberal Studies and Child Development but does not count toward the major or minor.  Fulfills the GWAR. 

Course Learning Outcomes

Students in GWAR courses should advance their mastery of the following learning outcomes:

Goal 1:  Reading Skills

Objective 1:     Analyze a rhetorical situation (purpose, audience, tone) and how a writer’s rhetorical choices (e.g. bias, rhetorical modes, syntax, diction) inform a text.

Objective 2:     Analyze a text’s structure and conventional parts (introduction, thesis, main ideas, body paragraphs, conclusion), and how the parts work together.

Objective 3:                 Analyze a text’s logic and reasoning.

Objective 4:                 Effectively critique the effectiveness of a writer’s rhetorical choices, organization, and logic.

Goal 2:  Writing Skills

            Objective 1:     Effectively adapt the writing process to various rhetorical situations, anticipating the needs of purpose and audience.

            Objective 2:                 Analyze more complex and/or abstract writing prompts, and stay on task.

            Objective 3:     Create effective thesis statements, and use a variety of appropriate and compelling rhetorical strategies to support the thesis.

            Objective 4:                 Effectively structure essays, evaluating how the parts work together to create meaning.

            Objective 5:                 Avoid logical fallacies, and use precise logical reasoning to develop essays.

            Objective 6:                 Use correct and college-level, discourse-appropriate syntax, diction, grammar, and mechanics.

Goal 3:  Research Skills

            Objective 1:     Effectively use summary, paraphrase, and direct quotes to smoothly synthesize sources into own writing.

            Objective 2:                 Master a documentation style, and avoid plagiarism.          

            Objective 3:                 Use research methods to find reputable sources.

Individual, Drop-in Tutoring Requirement

Instructors may also require you to complete individual, drop-in tutoring for certain aspects of your writing, in which case you will receive a Tutor Referral Form with your graded essay.  If you receive a referral form with a paper, you are required within one week to take the form and the paper to the Writing Resource Center for individual assistance.  Instructors may withhold your essay grade until after you have completed this requirement.

Turnitin.com Requirement

Turnitin.com is a tool to help you avoid plagiarism.  Approximately two hours after submitting a paper to this online program, you can access a color-coded report with details about the use of sources in your paper.  Because this site does not detect problems with paraphrasing that is not cited properly, you should use this site only as a guide.  To use turnitin.com, you will need to register on the site and set up a password.  Once this is done, you then will need to create a “user profile” specifically for this class and any others that may use the site.  You will need the following information to set up your user profile:

Class ID—###

Class Enrollment Password—XXXX

After creating a profile, students can log onto and use the site.

Note:  Submitting a paper to turnitin.com is not the same as submitting a paper to your instructor; you also must hand in a copy of your paper to your instructor.

Revision Policy 

Required revisions are indicated on the course schedule. When you revise your writing, the original essay must be attached to the rewrite.  In order for a grade to improve, you need to do more than simply correct the marks on the original essay.  In other words, rewritten papers should show extensive revision as well as editing.  The final grade will be an average of the original and the rewritten essay.

Academic Honesty Policy

This course is subject to the academic and disciplinary sanctions established by CSUB for plagiarism as outlined on the university website: www.csub.edu, Acad. Info & Policies Fall 2011, p. 39.