FALL 2002 Instructor: Dr S. Selina Jamil
ENG 104: Academic Writing I Office Hours: TR 11.30-12.30
Section 24 TR 8.30-10.00 Office Phone:
Section 25 TR 10.00-11.30 e-mail: jamil16@juno.com
Course Description and Objectives: This is a writing course designed to develop your facility in analytical reading and writing. It is aimed to help you express your ideas with clarity in written form and to understand the relationships between reading and writing, discussing and thinking, thinking and writing. Writing is not simply a way of communicating but also a way of exploring and learning about yourself, others, and your environment. This course is aimed to help you understand the processes of drafting and revising, that is, of presenting, developing, organizing and reshaping your ideas intelligently and logically. Our aim is to develop the following skills:
· Writing with a sense of purpose by articulating a thesis statement and using specific examples and details for support;
· Maintaining unity and coherence by showing the relationship between the main point (thesis statement) and sub-points (topic sentences);
· Writing with a sense of the significance of the content;
· Writing with energy and grace;
· Writing with a sense of the audience;
· Writing with a sense of the conventions of grammar, usage, and mechanics.
You will spend most of your time discussing and writing in the classroom. We will build a community of cooperative and collaborative readers and writers in the classroom.
The Work and Grades: You will write four major essays. Also, you will write in the class as instructed. The in-class writing (I-C W) will generally be analyses and arguments or rough drafts which you will revise into essays. Late papers receive lower grades. (I will deduct five points for each day after the due date.) On the days of peer responding you will bring a copy of your essay (second draft) to share with your group, and you will also bring the outline of your essay to share with me. Your second and final drafts must be typed, double-spaced, collated, and stapled. On the day you turn in the final draft of an essay you will be expected to read it out and listen to the others as they read out their essays. As a listener you are expected to make constructive comments after the writer finishes reading her or his essay. Also attach the in-class writing with your final draft. You may email me your questions, confusions, etc. as frequently as you wish, but never email me your assignments. Always turn your work in hard copies in class on the due date. Further, be prepared for quizzes on all class days, albeit all the quizzes will not be unannounced. I expect you to take part in class discussions regularly and intelligently. Hence come prepared with questions and comments. Plagiarism is an unpardonable offence and hence will not be tolerated.
Essays 400 points (100 for each)
In-Class Writing (I-C W) 200 points (20 for each)
Quizzes 100 points (10 for each)
Class Discussion 100 points
Attendance: Attendance and participation are essential in this class. Roll will be taken at the beginning of the hour. A lateness will be considered an absence unless you tell me after class to change it, but the 4th lateness will be considered an absence. Any exhibition of irrelevant behavior will affect your grade adversely.
Text and Materials:
1. Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. New York: Bedford Books of St Martin's Press, 1989.
2. Sayers, Kari. Views and Values: Diverse Readings on Universal Themes. Fort Worth:
Harcourt College Publishers, 2001.
3. James, Henry. Daisy Miller. http://www2.newpaltz.edu/~hathaway/daisy0.html
In addition, you will need a dictionary and a thesaurus. I expect you to read the assigned reading before coming to class. Failure to do so will have a severely adverse effect on your class participation grade. Further, I expect you to bring your assigned text or textbook(s) regularly to class. Failure to do so will also jeopardize your class participation grade. In addition, always bring a notebook for the in-class writing, notes, and quizzes. To keep track of all your writing, store all drafts in a folder. I may collect all folders during the last few days of class.
TENTATIVE CALENDAR
29 Aug. Introduction to the course. Claim and Support
3 Sep. Hacker's C ("Sketching a Plan" and "Paragraph Organization"). Common Writing Strategies: Narration and Description. Rawlings' "A Mother in Manville" (V & V)
5 Sep. Claim and Support. Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" (V & V)
10 Sep. Library tour
12 Sep. Hughes' "Salvation" and Gregory's "Shame" (photocopies)
17 Sep. Labeling and Chunking. Quiz (Hacker's G). Common Writing Strategies: Comparison and Contrast. I-C W
19 Sep. Peer responding (1st Essay). Revising
24 Sep. 1st Essay due
26 Sep. Kaufman's "Of My Friend Hector and My Achilles Heel" (photocopy). Common Writing Strategies: Definition. I-C W
1 Oct. Quiz (Hacker's S). I-C W. Common Writing Strategies: Cause and Effect
3 Oct. Gansberg's "38 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call Police" (photocopy). I-C W
8 Oct. Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" (photocopy )
10 Oct. Peer responding (2nd Essay). Revising
15 Oct. 2nd Essay due
17 Oct. Cankar's "Children and Old Folk" (V & V). I-C W
22 Oct. Common Writing Strategies: Persuasion and Argument. Hacker's M
Chekhov's "The Confession" (V & V). I-C W
24 Oct. Hinchman's "Perseus and the Gorgon's Head" (V & V)
29 Oct. Rau's "By Any Other Name" (V & V). I-C W
31 Oct. Quiz (Hacker's W). Maupassant's "The Necklace" (V & V)
7 Nov. Shiga's "Han's Crime" (V & V). I-C W
5 Nov. Hemingway's "Old Man at the Bridge" (V & V). Quiz
12 Nov. Peer responding (3rd Essay). Revising
14 Nov. 3rd Essay due. I-C W
19 Nov. James' Daisy Miller
21 Nov. James' Daisy Miller
26 Nov. Quiz. James' Daisy Miller
3 Dec. James' Daisy Miller. I-C W
5 Dec. Peer responding (4th Essay). Revising
10 Dec. 4th Essay due
Grading Criterion
A 100% - 93%
A- 92% - 90%
B+ 89% - 87%
B 86% - 83%
B- 82% - 80%
C+ 79% - 77%
C 76% - 73%
C- 72% - 70%
D+ 69% - 67%
D 66% - 63%
D- 62% - 60%