La Sierra University Department of English and Communication Syllabus for ENGL 111-5: College Writing Winter Quarter, 2013

Mon, Tues, Thurs 10:00-10:50 am Instructor: Office Location: Office Hours: Contact Information: E-mail Miss Romero South Hall 120 Mon 11-11:50 am, Tues 11-11:50 & Thurs 11-11:50 am (Also by appointment) nataliemromero@gmail.com

Course Description: English 111 emphasizes the development and use of critical thinking and reading skills essential for writing college-level papers. The course focuses on individual writing processes and production of quality narrative, descriptive, and expository prose for a variety of purposes and audiences. Students work on personal, descriptive and expository writing, organization, logical flow, diction, sentence structure, and standard grammar and usage. ENGL 111 is the first-subject course in the three-subject sequence of College Writing, a general education requirement for students seeking a bachelors or associate degree. It is a prerequisite for courses numbered above 200 in the English and Communication Department. A grade of C or better in ENGL 111 is required for enrollment in ENGL 112. Course Goal: To help students become competent, confident writers and critical thinkers. Student Learning Outcomes: Students in English 111 explore and develop their own writing processes read and analyze texts critically for content, structure, and style make appropriate rhetorical choices depending on medium, audience, purpose, genre, and situation for any given writing assignment shape writing for a variety of purposes and audiences read and respond to peers writing as part of a writing community revise and edit their writing with particular attention to organization, transitions, word choice, point-of-view, English conventions, and contextsetting based on the type of assignment

study selected points of grammar, usage, and standard English conventions create a portfolio of their course writing assess their own progress as writers

Text: Bullock, Richard, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Francine Wienberg. The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook, 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2010. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Please note: Students are expected to have their textbooks by the second day of class. You are responsible for missing any reading assignments. Course Requirements: ~Attendance Attendance at all sessions is expected. An absence or tardiness will be excused for illness or personal emergency only. Do not schedule dental, doctor, work, or interview appointments that interfere with your class sessions. In addition, coming to class to turn in work and then leaving (unless you are visibly ill and you talk with the instructor) results in an unexcused absence. Regulations in the university bulletin state that absence from 20% of the scheduled class periods is sufficient cause for failure in the course. The English and Communication Department adheres to this policy. Quizzes cannot be made up. Three tardies equal an absence. Each student has 10 points for attendance/participation at the beginning of each class periodan tardy results in the loss of 5 points. An absence results in the loss of all 10 points. If you are absent for illness or personal emergencies (excused absence), you may ask the instructor to let you make up or turn in work. Any assignments due on the day of illness must still be submitted on time via email unless other arrangements are made with the instructor. In this course, excused absences count the same as absences when it comes to the 20% minimum policy. Contact information is provided at the beginning of this syllabus. You are responsible for information you missed during your absence. Check with a classmate for class notes, changes in assignments, special announcements, etc. Absence during the final exam results in automatic failure of the course. Exceptions to the final exam are only handled through the Deans office (x 2211) for reasons of family emergency, illness, or having 3 exams scheduled on the same day.

To clarify: ~Students cannot miss more than 6 class periods (20 %). Missing more than 6 will result in failure of the course. ~Three tardies equal one absence. ~If you have an excused absence, the absence itself still counts against you in regards to the amount of class time missed. HOWEVER, you may still turn in your work late if you have made arrangements with the instructor. ~If you have an unexcused absence, you cannot turn in any late work. ~Class Participation Because writing effectively is done in a community of writers, it is important that you complete assignments on time and participate in class discussions about the writing and reading we are doing. Your active participation is one component of satisfactorily completing the course. Please note: No cell phones, iPods, iPads, or other electronic devices are allowed in class. Laptops are the exception on Free-Write Thursdays. Please have these devices put away during class time, and have your phones on silent. If you are expecting an important call, please step outside to answer it. Disrupting my classroom by answering your phone is not only extremely rude, but it will result in you losing participation points. Too many interruptions can result in you losing all participation points for the day, which is the same as being marked absent. Any electronic device may be confiscated if it is brought out during tests or if it disrupts the learning environment in any way. ~Syllabus Contract/Pledge of Academic Integrity Each student will be asked to sign two forms this quarter. By signing the first form, the student asserts that he or she has read and understood the syllabus and calendar, and is aware that if caught plagiarizing, there will be corresponding consequences. By signing the second form, the student asserts that the writing for the quarter is his or her own work, created exclusively during and for English 111. Assignments: ~In-class Writing You will write in class, everything from brainstorming to reading responses. On Free-Write Thursdays, you will be asked to bring in your laptop for your assignments.

~Grammar/Usage/Style Effective writing requires good grammar, sentence structure, conventional punctuation and usage, good word choice, and style. This quarter we will work on several areas that are troublesome for writers. ~Formal Writing The primary writing assignments for the quarter will be 3 separate essays. Each essay will be started by a rough draft (worth 50 points) and will be concluded by a final draft (worth 100 points). As outlined in the course policies, to receive credit for a final draft, you must have turned in a rough draft. If I do not receive a rough draft, your final draft will not be graded. ~Portfolio Students should purchase a two pouch paper folder to be used to chronicle your work throughout the quarter. (I will not not accept three ring binders.) The portfolio in its entirety will be due at the end of the quarter, and is expected to include the following: Essays: After you complete each of your three formal essays, you will place both rough and polished drafts in this section. Revision Assessments: For each of the three papers you will include one or two paragraphs describing why and how you made decisions to revise. These mini assessments of your revision should successively follow the final draft of each paper. Pledge of Academic Integrity: Each student will be asked to sign a form stating that the writing in the portfolio is his or her own work, created within the time frame in which you are taking this course and exclusively for ENGL 111 College Writing. A sheet detailing the exact contents of the portfolio will be handed out later in the quarter. Be sure that you do not throw away your first drafts, final drafts, or peer review sheets!

~Writing Conference(s) During the course, you will meet with the instructor to conference on your writing. All three conferences are mandatory. Missing a conference is the same as not turning in a rough draft, and you will lose all available points for that day/assignment. ~Peer Review Workshops All students will be participating in peer response groups. You will need to have your drafts complete and ready for response as well as provide thoughtful, thorough response to your peers on their writing. Guidelines will be provided in class. ~Quizzes and Exams We will have weekly quizzes covering the reading assignments. These are online, and will be completed at the beginning of class. There will be a mid-term and final examination for this course, based on quizzes, what weve done or discussed in class, etc. ~Presentation Students will deliver one formal presentation on how they have progressed as writers and what they have learned over the course of this quarter. You can prepare for this presentation by asking questions. Examples: what has helped me the most as a writer this quarter? What are the patterns that I have developed? How can I keep improving as a writer? You may also choose to present on one of the essays you have written for 111. Course Policies: Assignments are due at the beginning of each class when they are called for. Assignments that come in after they have been called for will receive an automatic 20% reduction in grade. No papers will be accepted after 5:00 p.m. on the date they are due, and in-class assignments, quizzes, and tests that are missed due to an unexcused absence or tardy cannot be made up. Assignments that are not posted on turnitin.com at the specified time will receive a 10% reduction in grade. If an assignment is never posted, it will not be accepted, regardless of the paper copy turned in during class time. When working in groups, you will treat your classmates respectfully, remembering both your classroom environment and that fact that you are adults. Each member of a group is responsible for his or her own work and grade, and is expected to participate the same as other group members. Loudness and rudeness are not acceptable behaviors for my classroom, or anyone elses. Interruptions of any kind will lower your participation grade.

 Plagiarism is the borrowing of other peoples ideas, words, or writing and representing them as your own. Plagiarism is unacceptable and treated very seriously in this class. A plagiarized paper usually carries the penalty of automatic failure for the course. In addition, the College of Arts and Sciences requires the instructor to report the plagiarism occurrence in writing to the dean, and the instance goes into your academic file.

Students with Disabilities: La Sierra University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Any student with a documented disability (physical, learning, or psychological) needing academic accommodations should contact the Learning Support and Testing Center (LSTC) as early in the quarter as possible. All discussions will remain confidential. Please contact the LSTC (785-2452) for additional information. You will receive a letter that documents your disability and explains how your needs can be accommodated. Give this letter to your instructors within the first two weeks of the term.

Turnitin.com As noted in the course policies, we use www.turnitin.com in this class. Its primary purpose is not to get you in troubleit is a learning tool that can help you see where you may be struggling with unintentional plagiarism, faulty paraphrasing, or missing citations. In addition, it will show the instructor if you have copied or stolen another students paper, or if you are presenting anothers opinions without proper credit. If you havent already created an account with turnitin for another class, please do so as soon as possible. Once you have an account, you can enroll in a class, and there you will submit both rough and final drafts. Here is the information needed to enroll in ENGL 111-5. Class ID: 5875702 Password: creativity Class Blog We utilize a class blog, where your prompts for free-writes will be found every Thursday. It is also used for the quiz schedule, extra announcements, paper examples, etc. Please bookmark this address on your computer: http://collegewriting111-5.blogspot.com/.

Grading: Because this course is conducted predominantly in a workshop format, all assignments receive credit but some will not necessarily have a grade placed on them. The three, longer formal writing assignments will have temporary grades marked, which can be raised if the papers are significantly and effectively revised. If papers with grades are not further revised, then the temporary grade turns into a permanent grade. The course grade is based on the degree to which a student satisfies the following requirements: attendance at and active participation in all class sessions compiling and submitting a portfolio that is organized, complete, and professional in appearance completing all writing assignments on time and at an acceptable level attending writing conferences participating in peer response workshops and scheduled presentations quizzes, mid-term, and final exams Final grades are composed of the following: Participation*: Formal writing: Quizzes, midterm, and final: Portfolio: 10% 60% 10% 5%

Drafts/peer response workshops/writing conference: 15%

* This includes attendance, grammar/usage exercises, freewrites in class, discussion, etc.

Grading standards: A AB+ B BC+ 93-100% 90-92 87-89 83-86 80-82 77-79 C CD+ D F 73-76 70-72 66-69 60-65 59% and below

ENGL 111-5 Syllabus Contract Miss Romero Winter 2013 This contract signifies that I, the student, have read and understood the syllabus provided by the instructor. By initialing and signing this contract, I am agreeing to the following points: _______ I understand that I will be expected to work on personal, descriptive and expository writing, organization, logical flow, diction, sentence structure, and standard grammar and usage. _______ _______ _______ _______ I cannot proceed to ENGL 112 without a grade of C or better in ENGL 111. I have reviewed the course requirements (attendance, participation, portfolio, writing conferences, peer response workshops, presentation). I will adhere to the course policies and all academic standards. The instructor explained the Academic Integrity Committee Working Procedures to the class, and I understand that for all four violations there are corresponding consequences. _______ I am aware that the instructor has provided her contact information and office hours, and is available in case of questions or concerns.

Name (Print) ______________________ LSU ID # ____________________ Signature_________________________ Date________________________