English 101 Syllabus, Fall - 2005
Instructor: Laurie
Cubbison
Office Young
306
Office
phone 831-6421
Email lcubbiso@radford.edu
Office
Hours M
2-3 pm; Th 1-3pm; F 9-11 am
Required
Materials:
Hjortshoj, Keith.
The Transition to College Writing.
Lunsford, Andrea. The Everyday
Writer.
Internet access to WebCT
Some way to back up your work
electronically – zip disks, cd-rom, flash drive
Three-ring binder and
loose-leaf paper
Recommended: a three-hole
punch
Course
Objective:
Emphasizing all aspects of
the writing process, including starting a project, developing and organizing
ideas and communicating to an audience, this course will prepare you to
communicate in a variety of writing situations.
The theme of this course will
be the goals of a college education, focusing on the ways in which we enter
into college life and the kinds of communication we engage in during our
courses. We’ll be looking at the activities we are required to do as students and
using them as the basis for our writing and analysis.
All
written work, except for in-class writing, must be done on the computer. Papers that are turned in as computer files
must be saved either as a Word document or an *.rtf file.
q
Always
remember to back up your work on your disk and your hard drive.
q
If your
printer fails, take your file to one of the
Many
of the course materials will be made available to you using WebCT
software, including the course readings.
Plagiarism or dishonesty of any kind will result in automatic course
failure and a report filed with the student judicial board. Please observe the student conduct code printed
in each classroom and in your student handbook. You should bear in mind that in
this class the planning materials you generate are nearly as important to your
grade as the final product.
q
Final
papers will not be accepted
if turned in without the planning materials that led to them. Final papers are
easy to plagiarize, but planning materials are not.
Forms of plagiarism that will be penalized:
·
Using
the ideas or words of a source without indicating that these words are being
quoted or indicating the source of the words or ideas.
·
Turning
in a paper written by someone else, whether downloaded from the Internet,
written by another
Information
sources must be identified in the text and through the use of MLA
documentation.
Radford Honor Code
I do hereby resolve to uphold the honor code of
Accommodations for Disabilities
Students with Disabilities: If
you are seeking classroom accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities
Act, you are required to register with the Disability Resource Office (DRO). The DRO is located in Tyler Hall 32, phone
831-6350. To receive academic
accommodations for this class, please obtain the proper DRO forms and meet with
me at the beginning of the semester.
You are expected to attend every class
session. Because much of your time will
be spent working with other people, your absences affect not only your work but
also the ability of your classmates to carry out their work. If, however, you
are forced to miss class by circumstances beyond your control, notify me (ahead
of time if possible) so that alternate arrangements can be made between you, me
and the other members of your group.
However, I do not care to hear excuses nor do I wish to see doctor’s
notices.
q
If
you are in class, then you will know what is going on.
q
If
you plan to miss class, let me know.
You will be allowed a total of five penalty-free absences for the
semester. Students, for reasons of their own, have been known to disappear for
two or three weeks and then expect to make up the work they’ve missed. Do not
disappear.
All work must be turned in. Students who come to class without their homework will not be
permitted to take part in group activities related to that work. Students who
turn in late work will not be able to make up in-class activities related to
that work (such as peer reviews).
If you experience an on-going medical situation involving
hospitalization or medical tests in the beginning or middle of the semester, you
must notify me as soon as possible and come to my office during office hours to
arrange to make up the out-of-class assignments. If you experience a medical
situation involving hospitalization or medical tests late in the semester, you
may request an incomplete in order to carry out the final project. If, however,
you have not completed the majority of the course assignments, and it appears
to me that you will not be able to complete the final project in time as well,
then you will be advised to withdraw or else to take the F and retake the
course. Bear in mind that you will not be able to make up the in-class writing
or quizzes even if you do have a medical situation. For severe medical
situations, it may be in your best interest to take a medical withdrawal from
the university.
Late Work
All work must be turned in. Late homework for a given project will only
be accepted when the complete project is turned in. It will not be accepted
without the rest of the project. Project portfolios may be turned in within a
week after the due date only if you have requested an extension in writing.
Work due on the date of a scheduled university-sponsored trip will be due the
day before you leave for the trip.
I do not repeat myself for people who are late to class. I give many
announcements concerning the day’s activities at the beginning of class. If you
are late, you should get the information from a classmate. If you are not
present in class at the time I take roll, then you should come up to me at the
end of class to make sure you are marked present. Otherwise, your tardiness
will be counted as an absence and will count towards the absence penalty.
Return of your work
My priority when grading and returning your
work is to concentrate on returning work contributing to the current project
first. Work on completed projects receives the lowest priority. Project
portfolios (containing the final paper for a given project, the rough draft and
all planning work related to the project) will only be returned during individual conferences.
Grading:
Paper 1: Profile of student
Why college? Why you? Why
now? In this paper, explore the life experiences that brought you to
Paper 2: Evaluating Textbooks
In this paper you will be
researching examining the textbooks you’ve been required to buy by your various
professors. You will need to develop criteria for what makes a good textbook and
evaluate your textbooks according to those criteria. You will also need to
document the books you use with MLA documentation methods.
Paper 3: Observing a Cultural Event
This paper is a field
research paper in which you will observe a group of people enjoying a
particular event on campus, possibly interviewing them about why they engage in
this event. Consider the ways in which
they talk about this activity and draw conclusions about its significance in
their lives. Such events will include the Highlander Festival, plays, the Latin
American Cultural Festival, the Appalachian Folk Arts Festival, musical
performances and art shows.
Paper 4: Analyzing the relationships between
supposedly different texts
In this last paper you will
choose a text that examines some aspect of college or working life. It could be
a movie, a novel, even the television series Tommy Lee Goes to College. You will use MLA documentation to cite
any outside sources that you refer to in your paper. I will have some movies
that you may choose to borrow for this project.
At its most basic, this
section of the grade requires attendance, and students who are consistently
absent or tardy will be penalized in this section of the grade. However,
attendance is not enough to do well in this area. Many of these exercises will
involve the readings. If you haven’t read, you won’t do very well on them.
Active participation in class
discussion and in collaborative groups is required. Active participation in
collaborative groups means that you come to class with the work that is
expected of you so that you and your group members can complete the tasks
assigned that day. If you come to class without the work necessary to
participate in the group, then you will not work with your group that day.
Instead you will do the homework while the groups are working on their tasks.
Summaries/responses 10
points each, 100 points total
Over the course of the
semester you will be reading The New York Times online, the “Education”
section in particular. You will select 10 articles which you will summarize and
comment on, using the correct MLA citation to head the summary and the correct
attribution for the reporter(s) involved in the article.
There is no final exam in
this class. Instead paper 4 will be due during the final exam time.
Total points (tentatively)
possible: 1000
A – 900-1000
B – 800-899
C – 700-799
D – 600-699
F
- <600