| Syllabus:
Instructor: Term: Time: Room: Office: Office hours: E-mail address: Texts: |
English 102 (Effective Written Discourse)
Maner Summer A, 2002 MTWTh, 9:30-10:45 204 Fawcett 341 Allyn Th 2:00-5:00 and by appointment at other times martin.maner@wright.edu Hacker, Diane. A Writer's Reference. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford-St. Martin's, 1999. Ramage, John D., and John C. Bean. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing. Brief ed. 2nd ed.Boston: Allyn, 2000. |
Goals of General Education at Wright State University: To sharpen critical thinking, problem solving, and communications skills as a basis for life-long learning; to cultivate an awareness of the moral and ethical insight needed for participation in the human community; to increase knowledge and understanding of the past, of the world in which we live, and of how both past and present have an impact on the future.
Note: additional readings and exercises may be assigned on an
individual basis to address specific skills.
| Date | Topic | Assignment |
| Mon
6/10 |
Introduction to class
Explanation of grading system Diagnostic quiz |
|
| Tue
6/11 |
Discussion of diagnostic quiz The demands of college writing Invention strategies Writing an informative (and surprising) essay Last day to register, add A term classes, or receive 100% refund for A term classes. |
Ramage and Bean 3-39; 194-213; Hacker 3-13; 51-54 |
| Wed
6/12 |
Using and acknowledging sources Paraphrasing Using interviews and questionnaires Gathering information online: online exercise at http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/act06.htm Evaluating web sites: online exercise at http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/eval01.htm Note: you must do the online exercise using a computer on campus or WSU's remote dial-in access number (879-8720). You may be denied access to portions of the exercise if you attempt to use AOL or some other internet service provider. Work on paper topics in class Prepare a specific topic to research during next week's computer classroom sessions |
(Ramage and Bean 523-27; 536-39; 540-54; Hacker 76-78; "click through" the online exercise without writing anything to hand in |
| Thu
6/13 |
Library research and online resources, part two
Class will meet in 005 Library Annex. |
Ramage and Bean 588-607; Hacker 68-72 |
| Fri
6/14 |
Last day for 70% refund of A term fees | |
| Mon
6/17 |
Library research and online resources, part one
Class will meet in 005 Library Annex. |
Ramage and Bean 527-36; Hacker 54-68 |
| Tue
6/18 |
Electronic writing and research Evaluating sources Ungraded exercise in paraphrasing, to be done in class |
|
| Wed
6/19 |
Making an evaluation Follow-up review of research and online resources Quiz on research and online resources Last day to drop an A term class without a grade |
Ramage and Bean 360-88 |
| Thu
6/20 |
Quoting and citing sources
Introduction to MLA format Line spacing, fonts, and other mechanical details Hand in Paper #1 ["Informative and surprising essay," writing project described in Ramage and Bean 209-13, minimum 500 words, typed, must use at least one source, with "Works Cited" page, and with photocopy of source attached to paper] |
Ramage and Bean 554-68; handout |
| Mon
6/24 |
MLA format
Practice exercise, MLA format: citing sources |
Ramage and Bean 568-87 |
| Tue
6/25 |
MLA format
Practice exercise, MLA format: listing sources Last day for all but freshmen to drop A term classes with a "W" |
Hacker 324-60 |
| Wed
6/26 |
Writing a classical argument | Ramage and Bean 316-44, 353-58 |
| Thu
6/27 |
Graded exercise in citing and listing
sources, to be done in class
Hand in Paper #2 ["Evaluation essay'" writing project described in Ramage and Bean 387-88, minimum 500 words, typed, accompanied by sample printout if you choose to evaluate a web site] |
|
| Mon
7/1 |
Practice exercise in argumentation
Review of basics |
|
| Tue
7/2 |
Practice exercise in argumentation
Bring to class a photocopy of a source that you intend to use for your argumentative paper |
|
| Wed
7/3 |
Revising | Ramage and Bean 419-36 |
| Thu
7/4 |
Independence Day No classes; Wright State University closed |
|
| Fri 7/5 |
Last day for freshmen to drop A term classes with a "W" | |
| Mon
7/8 |
Nine lessons in composing and revising closed-form
prose Editing Hand in Paper #3 ["Classical argument essay," writing project described in Ramage and Bean, 353-58, minimum 500 words, typed] |
Ramage and Bean 437-82; Hacker 19-21 |
| Tue
7/9 |
Peer evaluations of portfolio materials Review for final quiz and final essay |
|
| Wed
7/10 |
Final quiz
Course evaluation |
|
| Thu
7/11 |
Final essay, to be written in class Hand in portfolio Hand in Paper #4 ["Multiple source paper," 500 words minimum, short research paper on topic of your choice, using at least four well chosen sources, typed, MLA format, with "Works Cited" page and photopies of source material] |
| Evaluation | ||
| Invention materials | 5% | |
| Papers 1-4, drafts | 20% | |
| Exercises and quizzes | 10% | |
| Final quiz | 10% | |
| Participation and attendance | 10% | |
| Portfolio | 45% |
| Attendance
Your attendance grade will be based on the following scale: 0-1 absence, A for attendance; 2 absences, B for attendance; 3 absences, course grade lowered by one letter; 4 absences, course grade lowered by two letters; 5 absences, F for the course. There are no "excused absences" in this course other than the one absence allowed before the attendance grade begins to drop. Each set of three tardy arrivals will count as an additional absence. If you do not like this attendance policy, you may request modifications, but you must submit these for my approval by the end of the first week of classes. I take attendance at the beginning of the hour. If you arrive late, please see me after class to have me mark you present, unless I have already acknowledged your late arrival by stopping to mark you present. I will not make retroactive corrections of the attendance record. If you have an unsympathetic employer or some other circumstance that may cause late arrivals, please let me know immediately at the beginning of the term. |
| Participation: To participate fully in English 102, you must make useful contributions to small- and large-group discussions and activities; read all assigned texts carefully and critically; show a commitment to collaboration by giving serious, thoughtful, and respectful attention to others' writing; and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the writing process--to the planning, drafting, and revising necessary for successful writing. If you show up for class unprepared to participate, I may count you as absent for that class period even though you are physically present. If you are rude to me or to your classmates, you may find that your grade for attendance and participation has been reduced. |
| "Writing Intensive" Component Grades
Two grades are submitted for this course: a grade for the course itself, and a grade for the "writing intensive" component. The writing intensive grade is "pass" or "fail," and you must attain a C or better in the course in order to receive a "pass" for this component. |
| Assistance on Papers
I am happy to meet with you individually for assistance, but administrative work may force me to miss office hours occasionally. Making an appointment a day ahead of time is always advisable. |
| Fourth Hour
This is a four-credit-hour course which meets for only three hours per week. The fourth hour will be devoted to guided research and writing. |
| CLASS POLICIES |
| 1. Because this class stresses workshops, discussions, and a carefully planned sequence of activities, I expect you to be here every day. But because emergencies do occur, you may miss one class (one half week's worth of classes in a ten week term) without a penalty (except, of course, for a zero for any work due or performed in class on that day). Each absence after two will lower your final grade one full letter. The one allowable absence should be uses for an emergency; it is not simply a "freebie." Please do not ask me what you missed. You are responsible for making arrangements with a classmate to supply you with information about classes you missed. Papers, at-home exercises, etc. are due at the beginning of the class period on the due dates indicated above, and arriving late will cause a grade reduction for the work handed in. If you must miss class on a due date, you may avoid a late penalty by sending me a fax me or e-mail copy of your work before class. (You are responsible for knowing how to use e-mail and fax machines. If your paper is unreadable or badly formatted, it will be graded on its appearance. See policy #8, below.) Late papers will be subject to the following reductions: work turned in after the beginning of class but by 4:55 PM on the due date will be penalized 5 points (on a 100-point scale). For each day or portion of a day thereafter, the penalty will be 10 points per day. You must have an English Department secretary record the date and time when your late work was received; if you neglect to do this, the submission time will be whenever I actually receive the paper. |
| 2. Papers shorter than the assigned minimum length will receive grade reductions of 5 points for each unit of 100 words (or portion of 100 words) by which they fall short.. Please do not try to evade the length requirement by fooling around with large fonts and margins. A page using proper MLA format should have 1" margins on all sides, 1/3" line spacing, 27 lines to the page (unless over-ridden by widow and orphan control), plus a page header. Properly formatted MLA templates are available at <http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/rptemp.htm>. |
| 3. The time pressures of summer session make it impossible to give make-ups for missed quizzes or in-class exercises. It is also impossible for me to give "extra credit" assignments or to reschedule the final quiz. |
| 4. Assistance on written work (including exercises) should be limited to the instructor, library reference personnel, and Writing Center personnel. Automatic penalty for any form of plagiarism (defined as passing off the work of someone else as if it were your own): F for the course, written notification of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and the English Department Chair. Your papers for this course must be exclusively your own and exclusively for this course. You may not submit a previously submitted paper, nor a paper simultaneously submitted for another course. Exercises are to be done individually; you may not collaborate on them with classmates except during scheduled in-class peer evaluation sessions. |
| 5. I normally do not grant "I" grades, since they usually cause more problems than they solve. If you miss an assignment, your grade will be computed on the basis of the work you completed, with the missing assignment counted as a zero. |
| 6. Mid-course changes in the syllabus (assignments, readings, grading policies) are sometimes necessary, though I will always try to provide sufficient advance notice of such changes. I have a list of class members' WSU e-mail addresses and will use them to notify the class in case of last minute emergency changes. If you do not regularly check your WSU e-mail account, you will lose the benefit of the extra help I try to supply by e-mail. |
| 7. My office is 341 Allyn, telephone 775-2639. You may leave messages for me with the department secretaries at 775-3136. Another convenient way to have individual conferences is via e-mail. My e-mail address is listed at the top of the syllabus. I check my account daily. Note, too, that this syllabus is posted on the Web at <http://www.cola.wright.edu/Dept/ENG/maner/Maner.htm>. |
| 8. Sending a fax or an e-mail copy to meet a deadline is acceptable. The departmental fax number is 775-2707. However, it is your responsibility to follow up the fax transmission by calling 775-3136 to confirm that the fax copy was received. You should always "chase" a fax copy with a regular printed copy as soon as possible, since fax copies are flimsy and often only semi legible. If you e-mail a paper as a file attachment, you should specify the file's format in the accompanying message, like this: "Dr. Maner, the dog ate my car and I will be unable to make it to class today. However, I am submitting today's paper as an attachment to this message. It is a Microsoft Word document." (Microsoft Word is the WSU standard. I can also accept Wordperfect files (be sure to specify the number of the Wordperfect software you are using, such as Wordperfect 5.1), Rich Text files (*.rtf), and plain text files (*.txt). Be aware, however, that plain text files do not contain attributes such as underlining, and your grade may be lowered as a result of incorrect formatting. |
| 9. You may not have accumulated enough points of graded credit by the drop date to assess accurately the odds that you will pass the course. That is one reason I use a diagnostic quiz at the outset. The best way to estimate your likely performance in this course is to ask yourself the following questions: a) Am I ready and able to spend at least 16 hours per week (outside the classroom) on this course? b) Have I become familiar with the essential library tools such as bibliographies, indexes, online resources, and library catalogs? c) Has the diagnostic quiz over English skills indicated that my grade is likely to be limited to C or lower? |
| 10. Due to the continuing decline of courtesy in American culture, it is necessary to mention some things that should normally go without saying. a) It is rude to e-mail someone anonymously, using only a screen name. b) It is rude to leave voice mail messages without identifying yourself. ("I am a student in your morning class" is not adequate self identification.) c) Unless there is a genuine emergency, it is rude to bring a beeping watch, or cell phone, or other digital device to class without turning it off first. If there is a genuine emergency requiring you to have your cell phone turned on, you should tell the instructor in advance that the class may be disrupted. d) It is rude to bring a child to class with you, especially if you have not asked for the instructor's permission. |
| Resources |
| Online Research Tutorial (in two parts):
http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/eval01.htm (Finding and Evaluating Sources) http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/act06.htm (Gathering Information Online) |
| MLA Online Guide to Documentation:
http://www.mla.org/ |
| Using Search Engines to Find Web Resources:
http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/search_engines.htm |
| Online Resources for Research Writers:
http://www.wright.edu/~martin.maner/eng344.htm |
| E-Mail Links:
Martin Maner Charlotte Droll (Humanities Reference Librarian) Martin Jenkins (Humanities Reference Librarian) |
|
Wright State University Libraries: |
| Go to Dr. Maner's Home Page |