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DESCRIPTION:
In this course, students focus on writing as a process to create correct and effective expository essays in response to culturally diverse sources. Emphasis is placed on using various methods of organization appropriate to the writer's specific writing context. Students use a variety of rhetorical strategies, research methods, and documentation procedures in their essays. Admission to this course is based on college placement test scores. See the Introduction to English 101 Sheet (pdf) for additional information.

OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of English 101, students will:

• Demonstrate understanding of writing as a process by using such strategies as prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading;
• Demonstrate critical thinking skills, analyze texts, and employ such rhetorical strategies as comparison/contrast and argument in producing essays of varying lengths (between 600 and 1500 words);
• Write essays demonstrating an understanding of audience, voice, purpose, and a variety of writing contexts;
• Carry out the stages of the research process—including locating, evaluating, analyzing, and integrating sources;
• Write essays that include quotations, summation, paraphrases, and citations in their essays and avoid plagiarism;
• Write a two-hour final in-class essay;
• Write essays that conform to standard U.S. English and reflect developed editing skills.

Bachmann, Susan and Melinda Barth. Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric, and Handbook*, 6 ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2010.
Note: Either the sixth edition or the fifth (Available used starting at $40 at Amazon.com***) is acceptable for this class. The schedule, below, provides page numbers for both, where necessary. Two essays, Anna Quindlen’s “Uncle Sam and Aunt Samantha” and Yasmine Bahrani’s “Why Does My Race Matter?” are not in the sixth edition, but are online and will be made available as handouts.

Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers, 5 ed, with MLA update and Exercise Book.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006 (Available used starting at $6.45 at Amazon.com***).

A good college-level (paperback) dictionary (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).

Recommended additional texts:**

Bloom, Harold. How to Read and Why. New York: Scribner, 2000. (Available starting at $1.00 at Amazon.com***)

Casagrande, June. Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite. New York: Penguin, 2006. (Available starting at $3.94 at Amazon.com***)

Cathcart, Thomas and Daniel Klein. "Logic." Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes. New York: Abrams Image, 2006. 27-49. (Available used starting at $6.73 at Amazon.com**)

---. Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington: Understanding Political Doublespeak through Through Philosophy and Jokes. New York: Abrams Image, 2007. 27-49 (Available used starting at $10.85 at Amazon.com***).

Crystal, David. Words, Words, Words. New York: Oxford U P, 2006 (Available used starting at $9.28 at Amazon.com***).

Garvey, Mark. Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style. New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2009. (Available starting at $14.48 at Amazon.com ***).†

Kozol, Jonathan. Letters to a Young Teacher. New York: Crown, 2007 (Available starting at $12.15 at Amazon.com***).

---..  The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. New York: Crown, 2005 (Available starting at $10.17 at Amazon.com***).

Lederer, Richard. Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language. Charleston, SC: Wyrick & Company, 1987 (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).

Lederer, Richard. More Anguished English: An Expose of Embarrassing Excruciating, and Egregious Errors in English. New York: Dell, 1994 (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).

Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books, 2004 (Available used starting at $2.70 at Amazon.com***).

*Note: Many of the essays to be read and discussed are available online; these are indicated on the schedule (below) as hyperlinks. However, students are still strongly cautioned that they will need to purchase the textbook, both for important information and instructions on the various rhetorical modes and also for several essays not available online.

** Recommended additional texts are not required purchases, and have not been ordered for the course; however, they provide—depending on the course— alternative readings, historical and cultural backgrounds, criticism, personal literary responses, or entertaining (irreverent, possibly sacrilegious) revisions. Students who find themselves becoming deeply interested in one or more of the required readings may find these interesting and/or useful. When indicated with a dagger (†), texts are only provisionally recommended, as I have not read these works yet, although they have received excellent reviews or recommendations.

CLASS POLICIES:
Attendance:
Departmental policy allows no more than four (4) hours of unexcused absences in ENG 101. Students who do not meet the English Department’s attendance policy will not pass the class.
Students must not only attend every class, but also be on time, be prepared, and take an active part in class (see Participation, below). Moreover, once you get to class you are expected to stay in the classroom until the class is over. Leaving class early or getting up in the middle of class is considered disruptive behavior and should happen only in extreme emergencies. Students may be required to sign in at the beginning of each class session to verify their attendance. Students unable to attend class should contact the instructor regarding their absence in advance or as soon as they return to school.

Plagiarism and Cheating:
Plagiarism includes copying or paraphrasing another’s words, ideas, or facts without crediting the source; submitting a paper written by someone else, either in whole or in part, as one’s own work; or submitting work previously submitted for another course or instructor. Plagiarism, cheating, or other forms of academic dishonesty on any assignment will result in failure for the course and may result in further disciplinary action, including but suspension or expulsion from the College. See the English Department’s Statement on Plagiarism and the LaGuardia Community College Policy on Academic Integrity (.pdf).

Homework/Essay Submission:
All writing assignments must be received by the instructor on or before the due date, by the beginning of the class period, as indicated on the schedule, below. Late work will not be accepted.

Revisions:
All failing essays, with the exception of the Diagnostic Essay and Final Essay, must be revised and resubmitted by the due dates announced when the graded essays are returned. Essays receiving a passing grade may also be revised and resubmitted, but only after the student has met with the instructor during office hours (by appointment only) to discuss revisions.

Revisions must be substantially revised, not merely “corrected” versions of the original essay (revisions should be based upon the Revising and Editing Checklist and relevant information from class and the textbooks), and must be submitted with the original graded essay and the departmental Evaluation of Essays form attached. Evidence of substantial revision may result in a better grade for the assignment. 

If you did not submit a completed essay on time, you will receive a grade of 0 and may not submit a “revision.”

Make-up Exams/Late Work:
All assignment deadlines and scheduled exam dates are provided at the beginning of the semester; therefore, late papers will not be accepted nor will make-up exams be offered, except under extraordinary circumstances with appropriate documentation. Excuses such as “crashed computers,” “lost flash drives,” or “empty printer ink cartridges” will not be accepted. It is suggested that all work be saved both on your computer’s hard drive and on portable storage device.

ASSIGNMENTS:
Attendance and Participation (5 points):
As this class will combine both lecture and discussion, students are expected both to attend every session and to take an active part in class—joining in discussions and raising questions. Discussion is one of the best ways to clarify your understandings and to test your conclusions. Open discussion always involves personal exposure, and thus the taking of risks: your ideas may not be the same as your fellow students’ or even the instructor’s. Yet as long as your points are honest and supportable, they will be respected by all of us in the classroom. Questions, discussion, disagreement, and laughter are all encouraged in this class.

Quizzes and Exercises  (10 points total):
With the exception of the first day, class may begin with a short (five- to ten-minute) quiz on the readings for the day, at the instructor’s discretion. Quizzes cannot be made up; if you miss a quiz due to absence or lateness, that grade will be regarded as a 0. At the end of the semester, the lowest quiz grade will be dropped. Exercises reviewing essential grammar and/or writing skills may also be assigned, to be completed in class, or to be done online as homework and submitted electronically. Total number of quizzes and exercises during the semester will determine the point value of each; that is, if 21 assignments are required (lowest quiz grade will be dropped), each is worth up to one-half point.

In-Class Writing  (10 points total):
Students will also complete various shorter in-class writing assignments during the semester, including short summaries, mini-essays, and response papers. Total number of assignments during the semester will determine the point value of each; that is, if 10 assignments are required, each is worth up to one full point.

Diagnostic Essay (ungraded):
Students will complete an in-class Diagnostic Essay at the beginning of  the semester on a topic provided; this essay will be evaluated and returned, but will not receive a grade, nor will it affect your final average.

Essays (5 @ 15 points):
Students will complete  five (5) expository essays during the semester, including an in-class Midterm Essay and Final Essay, the remainder to be completed at home. For each, a topic or list of topic choices will be provided. Essays must be on one of the assigned topics or they will receive grades of “F”. Essays must be at least six hundred (600) words, free of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, and spelling, and follow the appropriate format: at-home work must be typed (in 12-point Times New Roman font), double-spaced, and stapled when submitted, while in-class work (including Diagnostic, Midterm and Final essays) must be neatly printed in blue or black ink on composition paper (or in bluebooks provided by the instructor) and double-spaced. Two of the three at-home essays will integrate at least two sources, correctly cited according to MLA format (sources must be reliable: scholarly criticism or analysis, not summaries, reviews, or “analysis” from sites such as Wikipedia, 123HelpMe, or Gradesaver.com; instead, use the library (CUNY Plus) or the available databases such as EBSCOHost or Lexis-Nexis to locate appropriate sources). All other essays, including both the Midterm Essay and Final Essay but excluding the Diagnostic, will integrate material from at least one source. Essays will be evaluated according to the departmental Evaluation of Essays form;  as per the English Department’s policy, all students must receive a passing grade on at least one draft of each essay (not including the Diagnostic) to pass English 101.

^§ On format, handwriting, and neatness, see Chase, Clinton I. “Essay Test Scoring: Interaction of Relevant Variables.” Journal of Educational Measurement 23.1 (1986): 33-41 and Marshall, Jon C. and Jerry M. Powers. “Writing Neatness, Composition Errors, and Essay Grades.” Journal of Educational Measurement 6.2 (1988): 306-324.

GRADING:
Final average will be calculated as follows:

Total Points earned (Final Average) will determine the grade received for the course, as follows: