ENC 1101 01 ref#1908; Summer A 2004

MTWR 8-9:15a.m.; Rm# GC289 (conference groups-GC 2nd floor coffee shop)

Instructor: Karen Carson

Email: carsonk@fiu.edu

Office Hours: TBA

Office Phone: MDC Wolfson campus Writing Center, (305)237-3466 (MW 11-7:30p.m.; TR 3-9p.m.)

  

Freshman Composition 

Course Description:

This course is designed to prepare you for the higher level of writing required at the university level. The goal is to provide you with an understanding of the writing process. You will also develop the skills required to incorporate written materials and discussion notes into a grammatically correct, well-developed essay. The first essay will be of a MINIMUM length of 4 pages. The second will have a 5 page minimum, and the final one will have a 6 page minimum.  

You will be assigned bi-weekly appointments at which you and the other members of your group will be able to spend one hour with me going over the work you complete. The purpose of these meetings is to share ideas about the assignment with your fellow students and myself as well as to deal with any particular problems or concerns you may have with your work. 

Required Texts:

Printouts available from links listed throughout the syllabus.

You must bring four copies of each draft to each conference meeting to workshop unless otherwise specified.

A diskette to save all of your work on. 

Attendance:

Your attendance in class is a fundamental necessity in this course. If you are not here you cannot learn. Given the twice-a-week meeting schedule for this course, missing one appointment is the same as missing two classes of a regular spring term course. Each student is allowed two (2) unexcused absences. An unexcused absence is an absence not justified by a doctor’s note. Be advised that work, family responsibilities, or other non-medical situations do not constitute justifiable absences. Your third absence will result in an overall final course grade of  “F.” Be aware that anyone who arrives unprepared to a group meeting will be asked to leave and that removal from the group will be considered an unexcused absence. No one will be allowed to enter a group meeting more than 15 minutes late. If you arrive later than 15 minutes, you will be asked to leave, and that day will be considered an unexcused absence.

Evaluation:

In this class you will write 3 essay papers. Each assignment will be worth 30% of your overall grade for the term. The final 10% will be based on the level of work and your completion of outside online exercises and tutorials. 

Email guidelines:

CHECK YOUR EMAIL EVERY DAY.

When emailing me at carsonk@fiu.edu, please include the following:

  1. In the subject heading (the re: line), please write ENC 1101 along with the day and time of your conference group.
  2. Include a message and your full name in the body of the email.
  3. If you would like a response the same day, you must send the email before 5:00p.m.
  4. I do not normally respond to emails between Friday at 5:00p.m. and Sunday.  If you send an email on Friday after 5:00p.m., for example, I will probably not respond until Monday morning after 10a.m.

Paper Particulars:

All papers must conform to MLA guidelines.

Go to www.fiu.edu; click on “libraries”; click on “connect from home,” and do so. When you are connected, click on “ready reference”; click on “style manuals and writing guides”; click on “MLA style.” You should be directed to this page:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html

Please click on “Printer friendly version of this page” and then print and save the information. There are also several other links and much more information available through the library website. 

You must complete the Tutorials for Independent Learning before beginning your research for Paper #3. The tutorials can be found at this website:

http://library.fiu.edu.ezproxy.fiu.edu/assistance/tutorials/index.html 

Headings of each paper must contain your email address and the specific date that you are turning in that paper. I prefer that you use the Times New Roman font with twelve-point letters.  You must have your last name and page number on every sheet. Spell check all papers. Save EVERY DRAFT of EVERY PAPER on a diskette, and, if you work on a computer at home, save every draft on your hard drive, too.  In addition, save the hard copy of every graded paper.  

BASIC MANUSCRIPT FORMAT (from Literature for Composition, 6th edition; pp. 1302-3)

Much of what follows is nothing more than common sense.

·         Use one-inch margins on all sides.

·         Within the top margin, put your last name and then (after hitting the space bar twice) the page number (in arabic numerals), so that the number is flush with the right-hand margin.

·         On the first page, below the top margin and flush with the left-hand margin, put your full name, your instructor’s name, the course number (including the section), the date (of the day that you are turning the paper in), and your email address, one item per line, double-spaced.

·         Center the title of your essay. Remember that the title is important—it gives the readers their first glimpse of your essay. Create your own title—one that reflects your topic or thesis.  For example, a  paper on Charlotte Perkin’s Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” should not be called “The Yellow Wallpaper” but might be called

Disguised Tyranny in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

or

How to Drive a Woman Mad

These titles do at least a little in the way of rousing a reader’s interest.

·         Capitalize the title thus: Begin the first word of the title with a capital letter, and capitalize each subsequent word except articles (a, an, the), conjunctions (and, but, if, when, etc.), and prepositions (in, on, with, etc.):

A Word on Behalf of Love

Notice that you do not enclose your title within the quotation marks, and you do not underline it—though if it includes the title of a poem or a story, that is enclosed within quotation marks, or if it includes the title of a novel or play, that is underlined (to indicate italics), thus:

Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Medical Practice

and

Gender Stereotypes in Hamlet

·         After writing your title, double-space, indent five spaces, and begin your first sentence.

·         Unless your instructor tells you otherwise, use a staple to hold the pages together. (Do not use a stiff binder; it will only add to the bulk of the instructor’s stack of papers.)

·         Extensive revisions should have been made in your drafts, but minor last-minute revisions may be made—neatly—on the finished copy. Proofreading may catch some typographical errors, and you may notice some small weaknesses.

COURSE SCHEDULE

 

WEEK ONE (May 10-14)

Introductions. Go to www.turnitin.com to retrieve copy of syllabus to bring to class on Tuesday. This first week will be spent reviewing course description, policies, basic stylistic guidelines, and the first writing assignment. Attendance EVERY DAY this week is mandatory.

Go to http://dianahacker.com/bedhandbook/index.html; in “Links Library,” review “Audience” and “How to Write a Thesis Statement.” THEN, complete exercises and print records for each to hand in:

Tuesday(turn in records for each on W): Writing Exercises* (WE): 1-1, 2-1, 2-2; Grammar Exercises* (GE), Punctuation: begin, but finish and print all records to turn in on Thursday.

Wednesday: WE:3-1, 3-2, 4-1, 4-2 (turn in records for each on R)

*When you are asked to enter instructor’s email, please enter kcarson@mdc.edu

 

WEEK TWO (May 17-20)

MT: (both MW and TR groups): Workshop draft #1 Paper #1. Remember to bring copies of each draft.

WR: (both MW and TR groups): Workshop draft #2 Paper #1.

During this week, you should begin completing the online research tutorials found at http://library.fiu.edu/assistance/tutorials/index.html

Complete them in the “recommended sequence” order.  You should finish working through these exercises by Thursday, June 10. Please make sure that you provide the information that sends your results to my email account so that you can get credit for your work.

 

WEEK THREE (May 24-27)

MT: (both MW and TR groups): Workshop final draft of Paper #1; begin brainstorming for Paper #2.

WR: (both MW and TR groups): Paper #1 DUE; workshop ideas and initial drafts of Paper #2.

 

WEEK FOUR (June 1-3)

MT: (MW groups): MONDAY, May 31: CLASSES CANCELLED, MEMORIAL DAY.

(TR groups): Workshop first full draft of Paper #2.      

WR: (MW groups): Workshop first full draft of Paper #2.

(TR groups): Workshop second draft of Paper #2.

 

WEEK FIVE (June 7-10)

MT: (MW groups): Workshop second draft, Paper #2.

(TR groups): Final workshop Paper #2.

WR: (MW groups): Final workshop Paper #2.

(TR groups): Paper #2 DUE; begin brainstorming Paper #3.

I should receive the results of your online research tutorials in my email by June 10. If I have not received them by this date, your grade for Paper #3 will be adversely affected.

 

WEEK SIX (June 14-17)

MT: (MW groups): Paper #2 DUE; begin brainstorming Paper #3.

(TR groups): Workshop first draft Paper #3; bring research to share and discuss.

WR: (MW groups): Workshop first draft Paper #3; bring research to share and discuss.

(TR groups): Bring draft of Paper #3 with sources incorporated; annotated bibliography draft.

 

WEEK SEVEN (June 21-24)

MT: (MW groups): Bring draft of Paper #3 with sources incorporated; annotated bibliography draft.

(TR groups): Final workshop Paper #3; course evaluations.

W: (MW groups): Final workshop Paper #3; course evaluations.

Thursday, June 24:  Last day of class.

ALL GROUPS must attend this final day.

PAPER #3 DUE with corrected annotated bibliography.

 

THIS SCHEDULE IS TENTATIVE AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR KEEPING UP WITH WEEK TO WEEK MODIFICATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.