English 1C Syllabus

Welcome to ENGL 1502
Advanced Composition - Critical Thinking

Important Links:

Course Information

Course Title: Advanced Composition/Critical Thinking
Course Number: ENGL 1502
Units: 3
Prerequisite: ENGL 1001 with a “C” grade or better

Section: 7179
Location: ESTC 107
Days/Times: MWF 12:00-12:50 p.m.

Catalog Description

ENGL 1502 is a second semester composition course with instruction in close reading and continued application of the elements of logic in composition. Emphasis is on critical thinking in argumentation. The course includes analysis of the writing process and the principles of rhetoric. The course requires frequent writing assignments totaling a minimum of 8,000 words. This course is designed to fulfill the IGETC critical thinking/English composition requirement. With ENGL 1001 and ENGL 1501, this course meets the 8 unit reading and composition requirement at UC Berkeley. Support hour.

Instructor Information

Steven Reynolds

E-mail:

reynolds@siskiyous.edu

Telephone/Voice mail:

(530) 938-5554

Office:

McCloud Hall, room 101C

Office Hours:

M................................	9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
T.................................	9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
W...............................	1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

His Schedule:

Click HERE

Regarding office hours: The purpose of holding "office hours" is to give students the opportunity to meet with the instructor one-to-one to discuss issues related to the course or related to the college. If you are on campus, you may just drop in during those times. If my scheduled office hours do not fit your schedule, please call ahead to arrange an alternate meeting time.

Learning Outcomes

A student who completes this course should be able to read complex works and analyze, interpret, and evaluate them in class discussion, group work, exercises, and written critiques. The student should be able to

identify and restate theses.
point out and evaluate examples of inferential reasoning, and deductive and inductive logic.
distinguish between fact, judgment, and opinion.
discover and evaluate basic and often unstated assumptions.
establish the author's tone and evaluate the effectiveness of the style.
note logical fallacies, over-generalizations, and biases in arguments.

He or she should also be able to

compose essays that demonstrate competence in appropriately limiting the topic.
organizing around a clear thesis.
choosing and applying effective rhetorical and stylistic patterns of development.
supporting the argument with adequate salient detail, definition, exemplification, data, and other relevant evidence.
avoiding logical fallacies.
summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting external sources.
documenting sources according to MLA guidelines.

Required Materials

Required Text 1: Lunsford, Andrea A., and John J. Ruskiewicz. Everything's an Argument. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2010.
Required Text 2: Jacobus, Lee A. A World of Ideas. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2010.
Required Text 3: Morrison, Toni. Jazz. Penguin-Plume, 1992.
Recommended Text: a college English handbook (from English 1A), such as the Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker. 6th ed. with 2009 MLA update. Boston: Bedford, 2009.
A three-ring loose leaf binder.
Reliable access to a dependable computer.

(HELPFUL HINT: Textbooks are most easily acquired from the COS Bookstore. However, if you are unable to get to campus, you can order your books online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, or Borders Bookstore. If you order textbooks online, do so quickly to make certain you have your books before the first day of class!)

Course Requirements and Expectations

Public vs. Private Writing
Academic writing is generally public writing; that is, you are expected to share your work with at least one other person. In most classes the other person is an instructor. In this course you will also be sharing your work with your fellow students. Keep this in mind as you choose your topics.

Deadlines!
I adhere closely to the published schedule of assignments. Consequently, no assignment should catch you by surprise, and there should be no reason why any assignment should not be turned in on time.

Reading Assignments
All reading should be completed prior to the class date at which it will be discussed.
Writing Assignment Deadlines
Each assignment is to be handed in at the beginning of the class period on the date the assignment is due. Do not get behind in your writing. If you are required to submit a paper to Turnitin.com, make a point to do so 24 hours before submitting your paper for a grade so that you can fix any problem areas that Turnitin identifies in your document.

Late Work and Make-up Work
Generally, no late work will be accepted, and there will be no make-up work or extra credit work allowed for missed assignments. This policy will be negotiated only in the event of absences due to documented emergencies, and then only if the student has notified the instructor immediately (as soon as the student becomes aware that there is a problem).

Dropping the Class
It is the student's responsibility to complete the necessary paperwork for dropping a course.

If you drop the course . . .	you will receive . . .
by September 9	no grade on your transcripts
by November 18	a "W" (no effect on GPA)
after November 18	a letter grade (calculated into GPA)

Attendance Requirements
Attendance policies are outlined in your COS student handbook. The bottom line is that if you want your reading and writing skills to improve, you should simply expect to attend every class session. Also, be aware:

There are no excused absences.
If you have to be absent, you should notify the instructor in advance.
If you do not call, your absence will be written down as a "no show."
Make-up work or negotiations for late work will not be allowed for "no shows."
It is your responsibility to find out what lecture material you have missed.
After three (3) consecutive absences, you may be dropped from the course.
If you have three "no shows" before September 9, you will be dropped with no refund of tuition and fees.

Grades and Grading

How You Grade Is Calculated
Your grade for the course will be determined by your successful completion of all assignments. The assignments are weighted according to the following percentages:

Support Hour
Homework
Oral Report
Quizzes
Critical response papers
Exams
Written Argument

1%

10%

5%

9%

25%
30%
___20%
100%

Letter Grades:

Major writing assignments will receive letter grades according to a holistic rubric. The letter grades will be converted to percentage scores when entered into the spreadsheet.

A

A-
B

B-
C

C-
D
F

Excellent

Very good

Good

Pretty good

OK

Just OK

Needs work

Uh oh!

95%

90%

85%

80%

75%

70%

65%

55%

According to this scale, it is impossible to receive 100% on any of the major writing assignments; however, these scores average easily and fairly using the grading scale below.

Grading Scale
Grades will be determined according to the following scale:

A
B
C
D
F

90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
59 or below

Excellent work this semester!
Good work overall!
OK work overall
Needs work
Serious problems

Although a D is sometimes considered a passing grade, it will not satisfy graduation requirements for Area A in General Education, and it will not transfer to a four-year university. Therefore, if you receive a “D” for the course, you will need to repeat English 1C.

What Gets Graded: Here is a list of the various assignments that you will complete for this class.

Support Hour: You must complete at least 17 hours of work in the Computer Lab or Writing Lab of the ASC (one hour per week) conducting research, working on drafts of your papers, or working with tutors. (percentage grade)
Reading Journal/Research Journal: You should take notes on your reading as you go along through the semester, summarizing what you read and writing down your reactions. (not graded)
Various homework assignments: You will submit a variety of homework assignments designed to reinforce learning and to keep the class moving forward. (point values vary)
Oral Report: You will give a 5- to 10-minute mini-lecture—a biographical sketch of one of our authors. This presentation must be accompanied by a written outline. (credit/no credit for the presentation; letter grade for the written outline)
Quizzes: These will be quick, true/false-multiple choice quizzes to help you remember what you have read. (percentage grade)
Critical Response papers: You will write several reactions to the readings. These contain pithy rhetorical analyses as well as personal responses. (letter grades)
Exams: You will take two midterms and one final exam. These tests comprise a combination of short answer and essay questions. (percentage grade)
Written Argument (term paper): You will write one 8- to 12-page formal argument. This argument will include research and proper documentation of sources. (letter grade)

Academic Integrity Policy

A Note About Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is the act of stealing someone else’s words or ideas, whether intentionally or unintentionally. It is a capital offense to copy portions of other texts or even to paraphrase someone else’s ideas without giving credit to the original author, to mislead your readers into thinking those words or ideas are your own. It is therefore expected that you will give reference to the original authors who may have inspired you and that you will document all your sources. The penalty for plagiarism will be decapitation: those who do not use their heads neither need nor deserve to keep them.

Seriously, plagiarism is grounds for failure. At the discretion of the instructor, you may fail the assignment or you may fail the course.

Examples

Intentional plagiarism exists when a student lists sources that he or she has not used; when a student copies from a source but fails to cite it, thereby misrepresenting the original source's ideas as his or her own; when a student copies material from another student's work without giving that other student credit; when a student buys or borrows a whole paper or portions of a paper from another student or from the World Wide Web; when a student copies another artist's music or work of art and tries to submit it as his or her own.

Unintentional plagiarism, which is also punishable, may exist when a student attempts to paraphrase or summarize a source but copies too much from the source instead of re-writing the ideas in his or her own words; when a student inadvertently fails to include a parenthetical reference to a source, although the source is listed among the citations at the end of the paper; when a student fails to put quotation marks around quoted material; when a student relies too heavily on external sources, thus expressing few or none of his or her own ideas.

These examples are not all inclusive of every possible form of plagiarism and should not be considered as such.

Academic Accommodations

Writing Lab: Staff are available to assist you with any step in the writing process as you develop your essays for this and for any class. For more information, visit the Writing Lab in person in the Academic Success Center, or check out the Writing Lab homepage at http://www.siskiyous.edu/writinglab/.

Students with Special Needs: Students have the right to request reasonable modifications to college requirements, services, facilities or programs if their documented disability imposes an educational limitation or impedes access to requirements, services, facilities or programs. A student with a disability who requests a modification, accommodation, or adjustment is responsible for requesting necessary accommodations by identifying himself/herself to the instructor and, if desired, to Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS) in Eddy Hall 1.

Students with a print disability—a visual limitation or reading difficulty that limits access to traditional print materials—may request printed materials in an alternative media format. Examples of alternative media formats include electronic format (e.g., text on CD), Braille, tactile graphics, audiotape, and/or large print. Students can make alternative media requests through DSPS in Eddy Hall 1, 938-5297.

Students who consult or request assistance from DSPS regarding specific modifications, accommodations, adjustments, alternative text or use of auxiliary aids will be required to meet timelines and procedural requirements established by the DSPS office.

Tutoring: Tutoring services are provided by the college at no cost to students. If you would like to request a tutor to meet with you regularly to help you learn material from this or any class, contact Denise Mannion in the Academic Success Center, 938-5514.

Classroom Etiquette and Other Matters

Student Sensitivity: Students, staff and faculty at College of the Siskiyous may have allergies, environmental illnesses, multiple chemical sensitivity, or related disabilities. Please keep this in mind when selecting and applying personal care products. In addition, if you smoke, please do so only in designated smoking areas while you are on campus.

Classroom Etiquette:
Please . . .

Turn off all electronic devices: cell phones, I-pods, blackberries, etc.
Exception—you may use a laptop for note taking.
Do not wear headsets, hats, or sunglasses in class.
Speak loudly so that people can hear you.
Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Respect everyone's opinions; there will be a lot of them.
Support your claims and opinions with evidence.

Mass Notification System:
In the event of an all-campus emergency (such as a snow day), the College will activate its mass notification system. We encourage you to sign up for this free text message service. Sign up on the COS Homepage. Click the AlertU icon on the right-hand side of the page.