Moorpark Introduction to College Writing: Fall 2018 Syllabus

Moorpark Introduction to College Writing

Fall 2018 Syllabus

While our nation's demographic makeup has been shifting, technological advances have been changing the way we view the world. Students have only to push a few buttons to make contact with their virtual neighbors in other countries. They can delve into thousands of libraries and data bases without leaving their chairs. Information about our global village comes fast and cheap; the challenge is reacting to it. Which events are important? Which speakers are trustworthy? How can we judge their motives, their biases, and the accuracy of their reports? What critical and rhetorical skills of our own will help us first to interpret what we read and then to respond appropriately as citizens and neighbors?

--Carol Verburg Making Contact

Course Description and Format

English M02 is designed primarily to develop your writing skills so that you can confidently meet the demands of English 1A and other lower division college courses which require extensive writing. This course offers an intensive study of reading/writing skills, focusing on the types of reading and writing that you will do in college. This course will:

Emphasize the basics of the writing process and build upon the skills you have already developed.
Improve your ability to organize information and ideas through reading, writing, and discussion.
Help you to produce writing which demonstrates appropriate grammar, sentence structure, and usage, reflecting the mature thinking of a college student.
Help you to understand the historical and cultural impact of language use in a multi-cultural society and to recognize the effects of biased language on readers and writers.
Introduce you to online learning communities: we will be using mahara: The Writing Study.

This course focuses on all aspects of the reading/writing process: pre-reading, pre-writing, drafting, revising. Much of class time will be spent discussing, writing, and working in small groups. Students are encouraged to use the resources of the library and writing center.

Official Course Description and Objectives

Course Requirements

Four in-class, timed essays (10%):
- Timed Writing (Sample)
- Timed Writing (Two responses to texts)
- Timed Writing (Reflection)
Three revised papers (30%): links will be activated when papers are assigned.
- Literacy Narrative
- Rhetorical Analysis
- Textual analysis of Ender's Shadow
Annotated Bibliography (5%): A list of evaluated web resources.
Journal (45%): Summaries and Responses for EACH text discussed in class. The work for each S&R is started in the composition notebook and completed online after class discussions.
Credit as follows:
Online journal entries (20%)
- Complete S/R within one week of class discussion -- 2 points.
- Complete S/R withing two weeks of class discussion -- 1 point.
- Complete S/R more than two weeks after class discussion -- 1/2 point.
- ALL S/R's are subject to 1-2 point range scale for quality.
Five progress reports (5%)
Composition notebook, unless otherwise assigned. (20%)
- a short summary of each chapter of Ender's Shadow.
- homework assignments
- in-class writing assignments, except for in-class essays
Final E-Portfolio (10%)
Completion points:
- Profile (2)includes representative image, links to both journals, paper collections and annotated bibliography.
- Paper collections (6) each collection linked from profile and complete, and readable by mahara users only.
- Web Journals (2) two separate journals, correctly set up and linked from profile page. Permisions may be set to mahara users or me.

Required Texts and Materials

Bullock, Goggin and Weinberg. The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook. 3E ed. Norton, 2013.
Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Shadow. New York: Tor, 1999.
College level pocket dictionary (to be used in class). Electronic dictionaries are not acceptable.

Required Materials:
A personal computer. While information can be accessed with a variety of devices, papers and online work cannot be completed on smart phones or tablets. Emails from smart phones are discouraged as they are rarely thoughtfully processed or clearly written. Regular use of the campus computer lab may be neccesary if no personal access is available.

Composition Notebook (journal): spiral notebooks are not acceptable.
Pocket Folder
Stapler: all work over one page must be stapled.
Memory device: all work must be saved (backed-up) in a safe, stable environment until final grade is recorded.

Recommended materials:

colored hi-liters
post-it notes or small colored tabs

Last revised Aug '18