Maureen Fonts

ENC 1101: English Composition
                    Florida International University
                    Fall 2004
                    M/W 12:30-1:45 pm

Instructor: Maureen Fonts
E-mail: Mfont006@fiu.edu
Office: TBA
Office Hours: By appointment only

Course Description: The purpose of the course is to introduce you to college-level writing techniques and strategies. We will be writing four types of essays: autobiographical, explanatory, profile and argumentative essays. The classes will consist of discussion, short lectures, readings and informal responses to readings, in-class writing, peer workshops, and teacher-student conferences. We will focus on invention and the writing process, and every essay must be turned in twice- once as a rough draft and once as a final draft.  Because of the nature of this class, it will be important for you not to wait until the last minute to do your work. Writing is a complicated process and good writing is not done at the last minute. I'll be able to tell if you've written an essay the night before.

Course Objectives: In this class, you will:
*Develop your own writing process
*Develop critical thinking skills
*Write for different audiences and for different purposes
*Learn how to organize your essays and support arguments
*Learn about and practice various research strategies
*Learn how to successfully interact with your peers in writing groups
*Learn how to write under pressure

Course Texts:
Axelrod, Rise and Charles Cooper. The St. Martin's Guide to Writing. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004.

Axelrod, Rise, Lawrence Barkley and Charles R. Cooper, eds. Sticks and Stones and Other Student Essays. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004.

- You will need to set aside money for copies when we do peer reviews.
- You will need to purchase two pocket-folders for organizing and turning in your essays.
- You will need an FIU e-mail account. (I will not accept any e-mails from your personal accounts).

Attendance: You are expected to arrive to class on time and prepared. This class meets twice a week. In order to succeed in this course, attendance is crucial. You are allowed two (2) un-excused absences. For each absence after that, your final grade will be dropped half a grade (example: A becomes an A-, A- becomes a B+, etc). Six (6) absences will result in an automatic failure. Also, because a large part of this class is discussion, you will quickly fall behind in your knowledge of the class and the assignments if you fail to show up. Tardiness is in poor form and will not be tolerated. By university standards, any student who arrives to class 15 minutes or later is considered "tardy". Two (2) tardies will result in an absence. In addition, peer reviews must be completed in class, and your essay grade will be dropped one full letter grade if you do not participate in these reviews.

Please turn off your cell phones and pagers before class.

Late papers: I will not accept late papers under ANY circumstances. If you plan to be absent, schedule an appointment with me prior to the absence so you can personally hand me the paper. I will NOT accept papers through e-mail. Essays will be due on the date specified at the beginning of class. For each day your paper is late, your grade will drop one full letter. If you cannot turn in your paper on time because of a family emergency, please turn in official documentation indicating the problem. This is the only exception to the rule.

Paper Format: All papers must be double-spaced with one-inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides of the document. The font must be Times New Roman and size 12. Further, you will need to cite all outside sources in MLA style. For each essay, you will be required to write at least one draft and a final draft. Copies of all of these drafts must be turned in, along with comments from your peer review, in a double pocket folder on the date they are due. Each essay should have a title, and essays requiring research should have a Works Cited page at the end of the essay.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism consists of the deliberate use and appropriation of another's work without any indication of the source and the passing off of such work as the student's own. Any student who fails to give credit for ideas or materials taken from another is guilty of plagiarism. Students who are brought up on charges of plagiarism will fail the course and may face disciplinary actions by the university. (For more details, refer to the Student Code of Standards and the Academic Misconduct sections in the Student Handbook).

Requirements and Grading:
You will write four major essays, and there will be short assignments leading up to each of these essays. For each essay, you will be expected to turn in all drafts. The final draft must show a serious effort at improvement. You will be expected to do peer review, which counts as ten percent of your overall grade. This means that you will fill out peer review sheets for other students' papers. Your participation grade will be based on intelligent discussion in class and peer reviews. In-class timed writing is an important part of your grade, as it teaches you how to write well under pressure. Occasionally, you will be asked to write informal responses to the assigned readings, so you need to read all assigned material. You are also required to write a short diagnostic essay at the beginning of the semester and a post-diagnostic essay at the end of the semester.

Your grade is determined as follows:

Essay #1: Autobiographical Essay - 15%
Essay #2: Explanatory Essay - 15%
Essay #3: Profile Essay - 20%
Essay #4: Argumentative Essay - 20%
Attendance: 10%
Participation/Peer review: 10%
In-class writing: 10%

If there are concerns regarding any of the assignments or grades, I urge you to please speak with me. If the issue cannot be resolved, you may see a director of composition.
For additional help in writing, you may go to the University Learning Center (ULC). It offers free assistance to all FIU students in writing, reading, and mathematics. They are located in PC 247. I encourage all students to visit the ULC for tutoring when extra help is needed. Please call (305) 348-2180, or visit the ULC office, to make an appointment.

Schedule: Please note that this is a tentative schedule, meaning that the instructor has the right to change or alter this syllabus at any time. You will be notified of these changes in class, so it is crucial that you attend on a regular basis.

Weekly schedule:
(For the reading assignments, SM indicates the St. Martin's Guide to Writing; SS indicates the student essays)

Week one:
 Monday: Introduction to course
 Monday: Write an in-class diagnostic essay (two topics will be distributed: choose one)
 Monday's homework: Read pgs. 25- 49 in SM, read pgs. 4- 27 in SS 
 Wednesday: Start jotting down ideas about what you would like to share with others in an autobiographical piece of writing in 3- 4 member groups, discuss favorite pieces of the SS selections, write two pages about what makes the piece effective (due at the end of class)

Week two:
 Monday: NO CLASS (Labor Day)
 Wednesday: Discuss paragraphing and transitions for effective autobiographical writing
 Wednesday: Mini-lecture and group discussion on the autobiographical essay. These will be addressed: What are its strengths and weaknesses?        What are appropriate topics to write about? Which are not? Why or why not?
 Wednesday's homework: Read pgs. 52- 70 in SM, write a rough draft (3-4 pgs) of your autobiographical essay and make copies for peer review.

Week three:
 Monday: Workshop your papers with other peers, forming groups of 3-4 members, jotting down any comments on the rough drafts with pencil
 You must fill out peer review handouts in order to receive credit for participation
 Wednesday: In-class informal response - write (2-3) pages on earlier reading assignment, what you found to be useful advice, what are the key points to remember in your reading?
 Wednesday's homework: Re-write rough draft of autobiographical essay, turning it into your final draft (must be 3-4 pgs in length)

Week four:
 Monday: Autobiographical essays due
 Schedule teacher conferences, discussion on progress of the autobiographical essay
 Be prepared: Ask teacher any problems or concerns you may have (conferences will be about 10 minutes in length)
 Wednesday's homework: Re-write first "official" draft into a completed version of the essay for a final grade (3- 4 pgs)

Week five:
 Monday: Continue teacher conferences
 Wednesday's homework: Start reading pages 201-230 in SM and pages 70-88 in SS, pre-write/jot down a topic you would like to work on for this type of assignment, explain why this topic is important to you and how it relates to your everyday life (1-2 pages)

Week six:
 Monday: Lecture - Why are explanatory essays crucial to the study of composition?
 Monday: Write an informal response to the lecture: a few paragraphs on what you think is the purpose of an explanatory essay, who is the essay directed for (audience)?
 Wednesday: Discuss importance of purpose and audience and effective strategies of each found in SS explanatory pieces
 Wednesday's homework: Read SM pages 234-254, write first draft of explanatory essay (5-6 pgs), keeping in mind purpose and audience, bring extra copies for peer review

Week seven:
 Monday: Peer reviews on explanatory essay drafts in groups of 3-4 members
 Monday's homework: Work on final draft of explanatory essay (5-6 pgs) using SM for help as well as peer review comments
 Wednesday: Explanatory essays due, start reading SM pages 137-164 for next class

Week eight:
 Monday: 25 minute timed session - informal response to SM reading
 Monday: Lecture - What is a profile essay? What is the purpose, audience, style invoked in this type of essay? Addresses the use of dialogue and   interview in essays, schedule teacher conferences;
 Monday's homework: Read SM pages 168-190, work on first draft of profile essay (7-8 pgs)
 Wednesday: Class cancelled
 Wednesday's homework: Re-write profile essays into a second draft and read SS pages 46-69

Week nine:
 Teacher conferences all week
 Homework: Write two pages solely based on the interview you plan to use for your profile essay, we will talk about incorporating it into an essay effectively

Week ten:
 Monday: Peer reviews on profile essays in groups of 3-4 members
 Monday: Discussion on how we cite interviewers in our essay  Bring any MLA sources you may have regarding citation and documentation
 Wednesday's homework: Work on final draft of profile essay (7-8 pgs)

Week eleven:
 Monday: Profile essays due, library seminar on how to use library resources effectively for research purposes
 Monday's homework: Read SM chapters 19 and 21, start jotting down definitive topics you would like to work with for an argument paper, collect as much research on your topic as possible and bring it to class
 Wednesday: Discuss research sources class brought in - what is good, what is bad? What are valid sources? Are all web sites to be trusted?
 Wednesday: 30 minute timed session - write about the topic you have researched and use the sources you brought to class to support your argument regarding the topic
 Wednesday's homework: work on first draft of the argumentative essay (7-8 pgs) for next class, remember to cite all your sources!! Bring copies for next class

Week twelve:
 Monday: Lecture - the structure of the argument essay
 Monday: Peer review of essays in 3-4 member groups
 Monday's homework: Read SM chapter 20, write a second draft of the argumentative paper
 Wednesday: Collect second draft of paper, schedule teacher conferences, discuss any problems the paper may have caused students, go over any points necessary
 Wednesday's homework: Re-write and re-edit argumentative papers

Week thirteen:
 Teacher conferences all week regarding the progress of argumentative/research strategies in essay
 Homework: Keep researching/working on papers

Week fourteen:
 Monday: Discuss the do's and don'ts of argument essays
 Wednesday: Lecture - Style and voice of argumentative writing
 Wednesday's homework: Write your final draft of essay (7-8 pages), citing all sources using MLA citation/documentation strategies, must have at least five (5) different outside sources of evidence to support your argument, please bring in a copy of your rough and final drafts in your two-pocket folders 

Week fifteen:
 Monday: Argumentative essays due
 Monday: Write a post-diagnostic essay (two topics will be distributed: choose one)
 

 Monday: Teacher evaluation forms handed out