Course: English 110 A (English Composition)

Instructor: Michael J. Cripps
https://michaeljcripps.com/spring2014eng110a/
mcripps@une.edu
207-602-2908

Meeting Days

• Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 10-10:50AM (Marcil 121)
• Individual Conferences (TBA)

Office Hours (26 Marcil Hall)

• Monday & Wednesday 11-12; 2:30-3:30
• By Appointment (please ask!)

Course Description (from the catalog)

This course introduces students to writing as a conscious and developmental activity. Students learn to read, think, and write in response to a variety of texts, to integrate their ideas with those of others, and to treat writing as recursive process. Through this work with texts, students are exposed to a range of reading and writing techniques they can employ in other courses and are introduced to fundamental skills of information literacy. Students work individually and collaboratively, participate in peer review, and learn to take more responsibility for their writing development. Placement into this course is determined by entering SAT (or ACT) writing scores or by successful completion of LAC 010. 4.000 Credit hours

Specifics for ENG110 A

Our class is an introduction to both active and critical reading and academic, source-based writing. We will work to analyze and synthesize ideas in our readings and to develop our own positions on these ideas. Along the way, we’ll explore a variety of approaches to the writing process so that we can locate those practices that work for us. We will write for each class meeting. While some of that writing will be collected and graded, much of it will be preparation for class or for our formal paper assignments. Before you know it, you’ll be thinking more analytically, reading more critically, and writing better.

We write in the 21st century, so we will also be using some 21st century tools in our work. We will complete almost all homework right here on the course website, on Google Docs, or on another electronic platform.  All papers will be shared as Google Docs.

Class meetings are discussion-based, regularly involve both collaborative small group work and brief, informal presentations, and work on the computer. For each formal paper in the course, we will complete a first and final draft. We will participate actively and constructively in peer review for our drafts to help us become more capable readers of others’ work. Additionally, reading others’ work helps us see our own writing from a new perspective.

We will maintain our formal work in a writing portfolio, a folder that contains all of our formal paper drafts. At the conclusion of the term, and periodically throughout the term, we will reflect on that work in writing. Those reflections provide an opportunity for us to think about how we’re developing as readers, writers, and thinkers.

Learning Outcomes

Students who complete English 110 should

• Demonstrate the ability to approach writing as a recursive process that requires substantial revision of drafts for content, organization, and clarity (global revision), as well as editing and proofreading (local revision).
• Be able to integrate their ideas with those of others using summary, paraphrase, quotation, analysis, and synthesis of relevant sources.
• Employ techniques of active reading, critical reading, and informal reading response for inquiry, learning, and thinking.
• Be able to critique their own and others’ work by emphasizing global revision early in the writing process and local revision later in the process.
• Be able to find, evaluate, and use material located through the library’s online catalog, through subscription databases, and through internet search.
• Document their work using appropriate conventions (MLA).
• Control sentence-level error (grammar, punctuation, spelling).

Please visit the English Department’s English 110 website for an explanation of the learning outcomes.

Grading

English Composition is a writing class and so your grade will be very closely connected to your writing development over the term. Most of your grade will be based on formal writing (papers), though informal writing and discussion will also be significant factors in determining your final grade. You will find this informal writing and class participation to be closely connected to your work on the formal writing.

• 60% of your grade will be based on your performance on three formal, revised papers, with later papers weighted more heavily than early papers.
• 10% of your grade will be based on your published summary of a researched source.
• 15% of your grade will be based on your peer review work over the term.
• 15% of your grade will be based on homework, informal writing, and class participation.

Final Grade Range

A = 93-100
A- = 90-92
B+ = 87-89
B = 83-86
B- = 80-82
C+ = 77-79
C = 73-76
C- = 70-72
D = 60-69
F = <60
I = Nearly all work completed; fewer than 5 absences
WP = Withdrawal while passing after first two-thirds of the term
WF = Withdrawal while failing after first two-thirds of the term
W = Withdrawal within first two-thirds of the term

Required Texts

Buying used can often save us a good deal of money.  But please don’t buy the wrong book or you’ll have some trouble. There are dozens of Hacker books out there and only one is correct for us. Use the ISBN to help you out, especially if you try to buy a book outside of the bookstore!

• Barrios, Barclay. Emerging. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. (ISBN: 1457601974)
• Hacker, Diana, and Nancy Sommers. A Writer’s Reference. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. (ISBN: 0312601433)

Emerging is a great interdisciplinary collection of readings on important issues of our age written by some of the greatest minds and writers working today. We’ll read just a few of the selections; you’ll likely find some of the other selections compelling enough to read on your own.

With Hacker, you’re buying a reference that will belong on your bookshelf throughout college. It is an investment. We won’t read Hacker cover to cover. In fact, there is a lot of it that we won’t work with. But it’s a reference for you.

Other readings will be available through the use of online search tools and through the UNE library.

Marking Your Texts

You need to mark your texts in this class. Engaged, academic readers and writers mark their texts. If you’re afraid to write in your book because of what you learned about “school property” in high school, you need to confront that fear and get over it – NOW!

Real readers write on their texts!

Academic Integrity (including Plagiarism)

English Composition is an important introduction to college-level reading and writing. As an emerging college-level writer, you will develop your ability to read responsibly and critically, to work with texts appropriately, and to write in ways that are valued and respected within the community. We will conduct ourselves with integrity by doing our own work, by acting as responsible peers in (and out of) class, and by working with sources in ways appropriate to the academic community. It is understood that we are learning to work within the norms of our community, and so we will work on these matters.

Students enrolled in English 110 are strongly encouraged to take a few minutes to complete the nationally recognized Academic Integrity 101 Self Test (http://www.une.edu/studentlife/plagiarism/) to familiarize themselves with the issue.

UNE has a clear policy on academic integrity and a multi-step procedure for addressing cases of suspected academic dishonesty. Both the policy and the procedure are distributed as a two-page handout at the beginning of the term. They are also available on the UNE website: Academic Integrity Policy (on p. 47 of the 2011 Handbook); Procedure for Reporting Alleged Academic Dishonesty.

In our class, the policy applies to our homework and formal papers.

Assorted Rules & Regulations

I enjoy talking with my students, really. Please arrange to meet with me if you want to talk, or if you are having any trouble with the class. Reach out early!

• Attendance. Mandatory, period. Class is part of your “job” as a student. Miss more than three classes and expect a reduction in your final grade. (Three absences is a full week of class and will certainly cover an illness, emergency, etc.) Miss more than six classes and expect not to pass the course.  (Six absences is 15% of the course; no “boss” will retain an employee who shows up 85% of the time.)
• Paper Regulations. Double-spaced, with 1″ margins. We’ll use Google Docs because of its robust sharing/commenting/change-tracking abilities. (I’ll give you a “template” to help.)  A late final draft will be docked one full letter grade for each day it is late; a late first draft will be docked one half letter grade for each day. First and final drafts that do not meet assigned  word-count minimums will incur a similar penalty.
• Homework. Reading questions and other smaller assignments are due on the due date. Since this work advances our class discussions, late homework will not be accepted. You can miss two homework assignments with no penalty. (Since much of this work happens online, you can hand homework in on time even when you’re absent.)
• Texting/Social Media Policy. Place is important. When in class, be in class! I text, browse the web, and multitask as well (or as poorly) as the next person. I won’t text or do other work during our class; I expect the same from my students. (And, yes, I can see the phone on your lap under the desk.)
• A Working Schedule. This means that assignments and due dates are subject to change as the class unfolds. I will inform you of any changes as they come up and will update the course schedule online so that we can stay on the same (web)page.

Accessibility and Documented Disabilities

The University of New England will make reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Any student eligible for and needing academic adjustments because of a disability are requested to speak with the professor at the beginning of the semester. Registration with Disability Services, located in Stella Maris 128 (ext. 2815) on the Biddeford Campus and the Lower Level of Ginn Hall (ext. 4418) on the Portland Campus, is required before accommodation requests can be granted.

Student Academic Success Center

Tutoring, writing support and learning strategies consultations are available, free of charge, in the Student Academic Success Center. Students are encouraged to use these services early and often to promote academic success. More information about the SASC is available at http://bit.ly/UNESASC or by calling the Center at 207-602-2443.

Midterm Academic Progress Reports

The University of New England is committed to the academic success of its students. At the midterm of each semester, instructors will report the performance of each student as SATISFACTORY (S) or UNSATISFACTORY (U). Instructors will announce when these midterm academic progress reports will be available for viewing via Uonline. This early alert system gives all students important information about progress in their courses. Students who receive an UNSATISFACTORY midterm report should take immediate action by speaking with their instructor to discuss suggestions for improvement such as utilizing the services of academic advising, the Student Academic Success Center, Counseling Services, and Residential Education.