English 100: College Rhetoric I
Fall 2006
Ms. Mary Rosalez
rosalez@alma.edu
Office: SAC 334
Phone: 463-7270

Office Hours: W 1 - 3 in SAC 334
Th  7 - 10 in the WC
or by appt.

TEXTS
Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture by Michael Petracca and Madeleine Sorapure, Fifth Edition, Prentice Hall, 2007.
Various course packet readings

Course Description: Please remember that you are not in this course because you don’t know how to write; you are in this course because you need additional help in order to write at college level—there is a big difference.  Think of this course as a real privilege, one that gives you the chance to make the most of your college learning experience, because you will be writing a lot as an Alma College student. 
This course is designed to help you learn to read carefully, think critically, and write coherently.  And you will do this mostly by writing. You will sharpen sentence and paragraphing-writing skills, refine your use of acceptable written grammar, and learn how to notice details and ideas, how to raise questions for analysis and evaluation, and how to use language to express what is important to you. We will be working with a variety of written forms for a variety of purposes and audiences.  Too, you will have an opportunity to engage in research.  In English 100 you will build a solid foundation of writing and reading skills to help you succeed in English 101 next term and in any academic course in which thoughtful and careful writing is a requirement.

Required Materials:
            A notebook, any size, just for this course for journaling (meaning don’t have notes in it from other classes).  Make sure to have looseleaf paper or a spiral notebook in which the pages are perforated.  I will not accept papers turned in with fringe on the edges.  Please do not turn in a three-ring binder.
A separate folder or binder to keep your work for the semester, including all your drafts, homework assignments, and in-class writings.  At the end of the semester you will be creating a portfolio and writing an evaluation of your writing over the semester; keeping all your work is the only way to make this possible.

Journals:  (25 pts.) During the semester you will be keeping a journal with two parts: one that deals specifically with the readings, responding, questioning, etc., and another part that deals with your own writing, analyzing, worrying, celebrating, etc.  More details in a handout.  Your journals will be checked periodically to make sure you are doing the work and turned in twice during the semester for grading. 

Presentations:  (10 pts.) There will be six of these during the semester, each graded on a 4.0 scale (but not necessarily all weighted the same).  The schedule tells you when presentations will be, and it is very important to come to class on these days.   If, for good reason, you are unable to attend on the day of presentation, you must let me know ahead of time and we can figure out a way for you to make up the work.  (Coming to class is, obviously, the better option.)  Without prior notice, however, you may NOT make up presentations.

Papers for Unit 1: (30 pts.) Unit 1 requires you to write only one major paper, done in parts that will be drafted, revised, edited, etc.  Drafts (D1, D2, etc.) will not be graded, but you will be given credit for turning them in on time, completed, etc.  These will receive a check, check plus, or check minus.  It will be your responsibility after each draft is returned to you to work on polishing it, revising it, and editing it.  Drafts together are worth 10 of the 30 pts. 
D1 – Report                                       
D2 – Brochure
D3 – Annotated Bibliography
D4 – Analysis
D5 – Evaluation
These drafts will eventually come together to serve as your research paper (RP).  Rather than shifting voices, audiences, and tone, however, as you did in your Multigenre papers, these will maintain one voice and one purpose for a final grade.  The final RP is worth 20 of the 30 pts.

Papers for Unit 2: (30 pts.) Unit 2 also requires you to write one major paper, done in parts that will be drafted, revised, edited, etc.  Drafts (D1, D2, etc.) will not be graded, but you will be given credit for turning them in on time, completed, etc.  These will receive a check, check plus, or check minus.  It will be your responsibility after each draft is returned to you to work on polishing it, revising it, and editing it.  Drafts together are worth 10 of the 30 pts. 
D6 – Genre 1 
D7 – Genre 2                           
D8 – Genre 3 
D9 – Genre 4
These drafts will come together to make a “multigenre essay” (ME), which is explained further in the handout.  The final ME is worth 20 of the 30 pts.

More details on these papers in handouts.  LATE PAPERS WILL REDUCE YOUR PAPER GRADE BY 5% EVERY DAY IT IS LATE, INCLUDING NON-CLASS DAYS.

Portfolio: (5 pts.) At the end of the course you will hand in a portfolio.  You will select three of your best papers—carefully edited and polished—to include in it.  One of the three must be your research paper. For your portfolio, you will write a cover letter addressed to me, reflecting on and evaluating your growth as a writer this term.  This portfolio will be graded by me then sent to the English Department.

Assignment Format: All papers will be word processed, 12 point font, Times New Roman, double spaced, with one inch margins.  MLA format should always be used (more about this later).  For all papers, in the top left-hand corner, put your name, my last name, course number, the date, and the assignment number.

TENTATIVE COURSE CALENDAR

Please Be Aware that this calendar does not reflect every reading assignment, due date, or writing assignment, but is an outline of the major activities for the semester—there will be additional work throughout the semester.

Grading:  Although AC does not require that you achieve a specific grade for this course in order to move on to ENG 101, please be aware of this: ENG 101 is significantly  more difficulty than ENG 100.  Whatever grade you receive in this course—assuming the same amount of effort—expect a grade lower in 101, which does require that you pass with a C or better.  In other words, you will want to achieve no less than a B/C in this course. 

Moodle:  I use Moodle for as many things as I can think of.  I will go over Moodle usage in class the first week, but be aware of the following:
--Every Writing assignment must be handed in both electronically and on hard copy
--All handouts, assignments, and readings will be posted on Bb
--If you miss class and want to know what, if any, homework is due, please check Moodle; don’t email me (unless, of course, I forget to post the homework!).

Plagiarism: It is a crime, literally, to say you wrote something when you didn’t.  Plagiarism means using someone else’s words and calling them yours.  And you would be surprised how easy it is to plagiarize without realizing it.  If you get something off the Internet or from a book, or write what someone else said, you must cite the source.  It is also plagiarism if you take someone’s words and shuffle them around or change them a little and call them yours.  Paraphrasing without citing the source is still plagiarism.  We will work on this to avoid it.  And you’ll want to avoid it, because plagiarism can result in an F on a paper, failing the course, or expulsion from school.  (For details on AC’s academic integrity policy, see page 30 of the Academic Catalog). Plagiarism is a serious issue.  Don’t do it.

Late Work:  For many reasons, it is important for you to turn your work in on time.  If you won’t be able to come to class the day a Writing Assignment is due, let me know and we’ll make arrangements for you to turn it in on time in another way.  If there are extenuating circumstances, these should be communicated to me well in advance; it isn’t an extenuating circumstance, for example, if you put off the paper until the night before and then don’t get it done.  For every day a paper is late, it will lose 5% of its total.  And that means every day, not just every day we have class, Saturdays and Sundays included.  For instance, if your paper got an 83 (B) but was due on a Friday and you didn’t turn it in until the following Monday, you would lose 5% per day (15%) of that B, or 13 points, making your paper then only worth 70—a C/D.  It will make a huge difference.

Conferences:  Conferencing can take one or more forms: you coming in to talk to me, group conferencing, or you going to the Writing Center. The Writing Center is located in the library.  You may call or email me at any time to schedule an appointment.  Some form of conferencing will be required at various times during the semester, and your grade will automatically be reduced 5% if you do not go when required. Some of you will be assigned personal tutors from the Writing Center to help ensure your success in ENG 100; I will let you know early on in the semester if you have a tutor, and a schedule will be worked out for you.  In any case, it is important that you talk with others who can walk through a paper with you and really help you strengthen it.  The more readers you have, the more successful your writing will be.

Attendance: It is very difficult to succeed in this course without regular attendance.  So I’ll give you 3 freebees—you don’t need to tell me anything at all.  However, for every absence beyond three, I will lower your grade by one-half letter grade. (E.g. If your course grade is a “B” and you have four total unexcused absences, your final grade will be reduced by one-half letter grade, for the one absence after the three, to a “B/C”; five absences would make it a “C”, etc.) Please contact me promptly if you are having problems and cannot attend class. If you know you will be absent on a particular day, please see me at least one week in advance to make arrangements. 

And Remember:   You need to save everything and you need to turn in digital copies of all your major papers, so when you type up a paper, be sure to SAVE IT!!!