English 110

Required Texts:
Petracca, Michael and Madeleine Sorapure. Common Cultures. Upper Saddle River. Prentice Hall, 2004
Troyka, Lynn Quitman. Quick Access. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. Perennial Publishing, 2002.

Note: If you acquire a textbook that is a different edition, you are responsible for finding any assignments we may use in class that are not in your edition.

Prerequisite: Students must have taken the English Placement Test and scored 155 or higher, successfully completed English 100 with a grade of C- or better, or proved exemption.

Course Objectives: At the completion of English 110, the student must be able to demonstrate the following:
1. present a clear and complete thesis statement;
2. present appropriate details, examples, and definitions as support;
3. fully develop arguments and write cohesively using adequate transitions;
4. use a variety of sentence structures;
5. use exact and concise words and phrases;
6. analyze a potential audience and use an appropriate style and tone;
7. use basic library research techniques;
8. identify good, reputable sources that would be useful;
9. identify an author's thesis statement and abstract the main points of support;
10. outline, draft, write, and edit a persuasive college-level term paper;
11. document a research paper using the MLA documentation style;
12. identify and avoid plagiarism.

Course Requirements: Students must earn a C or better to fulfill the General Education requirement for this course.

You are required to attend the Library Lab that is assigned to your class. The grade you earn in the Library Lab is 10% of your English 110 grade. This lab will meet at least three times, beginning the fourth week of the quarter. Your thesis statement must be approved by your English 110 instructor before the meeting of your lab.

Attendance:
Because mastering skills in writing requires regular, sustained effort, students in English 110 classes should attend class regularly and punctually. A student who has more than two unexcused absences cannot be expected to receive a passing grade. If you must miss class for any reason, please contact me to inform me of your absence.

An excused absence is when you absolutely must miss class because of unavoidable circumstances, such as a family emergency or, more obviously, giving birth. Incidents such as doctor appointments or work schedules that conflict with school schedules or registering for classes are within your control and as such are not valid reasons for missing class.

If you know that you will miss class for unavoidable reasons, please let me know ahead of time if you can. Please note, however, that being absent does not excuse you from turning in assignments on time or for being unaware of changes to the schedule. If you have to miss class, have someone drop off your assignments or turn them in a day or two early. You should also be aware that in-class activities can not be made up. Excessive absences, then, will result in a reduction on your class participation grade and may also affect your final essay grades.

Instructor Initiated Drops:
Many students are trying to get into composition courses. As a result, this course is subject to instructor-initiated drops. If the class is full and has a waiting list, I have the right to have you administratively dropped from the class by the end of the second week of the term if you have missed three consecutive class sessions during the first week of the term and have not contacted me with alternate plans. However, you should not assume that you will be automatically dropped from the course due to non-attendance.

Waiting List Policy:
On a waiting list, you are eligible for a place in the class
if you come to every class and
if you turn in the work while you are there.

Being on a waiting list does not mean you are guaranteed a place in the class. It simply means you are welcome to wait for an opening in the class if you so desire. If no one drops out of the section you're attending, no students can add.

As a result, you should be aware of the last day to add and have a back-up class chosen if you need another class. This plan is especially important for financial aid recipients, who must carry a full load to receive their financial aid. Being on a waiting list does not count as a class toward your full load.

Requirements:
Writing assignments (draft and final versions) should be written according to an approved documentation format. See Quick Access for guidelines. Writing assignments should be typed and double-spaced. You should use a font no larger than 12 and no smaller than 10, and please avoid all-caps, all-bold, or all-italicized font. You will receive requirements for individual assignments as necessary. You should write at least three drafts for each paper, and each of these drafts should be turned with the final draft.

You must pass at least one of the in-class writing assignments with a C or better in order to pass the course. This essay must be completed and turned in by the end of class on the date written.

All sources (or copies of sources) are required when you turn in papers. This includes copies of chapters of books or the books themselves. (I will return books to the library if you submit them with your final paper of the quarter.)

Workshops/Conferences: This course relies heavily on conferences and writing workshops. You'll meet with me individually before handing in the final draft of the research paper. You will also have some of your assignments read by peers in class sometime during he quarter. Conferences and workshops are not intended for me or your classmates to tell you exactly how or what to write. Instead, think of them as opportunities to find your own way and to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your writing through the feedback provided by your classmates and instructor.

Course Content and Assignments:
Assignment Type Percentage of Grade
Research Paper 35%
(7-9 pages)
Summaries/Paraphrases/Critiques/Common Essay 15%
Bibliography and Annotated Bib. 15%
Bibliographic Essay 15%
(3-4 pages)
Library Lab 10%
In-Class Assignments, Homework, 10%
Quizzes, Participation

Rewrite Policy: If you wish to revise a paper, you must first meet with me during my office hours. Substantial improvements in form, content, and style must be made in order to improve the grade. Simply incorporating my comments is not considered a revision.

Academic Honesty:
The sanctions in the college catalogue will be applied to all cases of plagiarism. You are responsible for knowing all college policies about academic honesty. Any student who plagiarizes any part of his or her papers may receive an F in the course.

Brief Descriptions of Writing Assignments:
Final Research Paper: This is a 7-9 page research paper, using no fewer than seven (7) acceptable sources, and presented in your approved documentation style. This paper will focus on a series of steps to be conducted by you, including a thesis statement, a bibliography, an annotated bibliography, and a bibliographic essay. Note: Students must complete each step of the Research Paper project before moving on to the next step. If a student skips a step, no further work will be accepted for a grade until the skipped step is completed and submitted.

Grading: Content is the bulk of every paper grade, but problems in punctuation and mechanics can seriously reduce a paper grade. Lack of peer evaluation and/or of rough drafts may significantly lower paper grades. Late assignments will not be accepted.