Development of analytical, comparative skills in reading and writing. Academic (interpretive, analytical, and argumentative) writing based largely on reading of literary/imaginative texts linked by a common theme or issue. Outside research leading to analysis, comparison, and synthesis in documented research paper.

Students use a variety of media components and participate in class discussions with the instructor and other students. You will learn the techniques and practice of expository and argumentative writing based on personal experience, observation, research, critical reading, and critical thinking. Collaborative Learning, assisted by technology, is the primary methodology used in this course. You will teach the course, make presentations in front of the class, edit your peer’s papers, and participate in out-of-class group meetings to prepare for class. You will also be required to obtain an email account.

Prerequisites

Placement based on English Placement Test scores or other equivalent assessment information or successful completion of assigned courses in basic reading and writing skills. EWRT 1A or ESL 5.

Requirements

Be prepared to spend a minimum of 15 hours each week studying course materials, working and collaborating on assignments and projects, and participating in class activities.

Study all assigned texts
Purchase your text books and materials
I will drop any student who disrupts this class.
Write and turn in the equivalent of five essays including one research paper.
Late papers will be marked down a ½ grade for each class period that it’s late.
Complete all assigned readings in the books, handouts and instructional syllabus.
Attend all classes. If you miss more than two classes, your grade will go down a ½ grade, and it will continue to go down a ½ grade with each subsequent absence.
If anyone has a disability, please see me. I will make the necessary accommodations.

Objectives

Student will develop analytical, comparative skills in the reading of literary (and other) texts concerning the individual and community.

After completing the readings and writing assignments, and participating in the class listserv, you should be able to:

Practice writing as a process.
Formulate and defend a thesis.
Develop an awareness of audience.
Generate ideas and topics for essays.
Compare themes and ideas in several texts.
Analyze texts from a wide variety of perspectives.
Compose organized, focused, well-developed essays.
Employ diverse forms of personal and formal writing.
Use diction and tone appropriate to different purposes and audiences.
Evaluate points of view, development of arguments, and ideas in the texts.
Translate personal interests and experiences into formal analytical writing.
Distinguish the diverse rhetorical forms and purposes of the discipline of composition.
Examine relationships between personal life experiences and the material in the course texts.

Required Text

-Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia. LITERATURE: AN INTRODUCTION to FICTION, POETRY, and DRAMA 4th ed. New York Longman, 2005. (L)

-Swensson, John K. SWENSSON’S ARGUMENTATIVE APOCALYPSE (Any edition after Summer, 1998) De Anza Bookstore. 1999. (SAA)

-Morrison, Toni. SULA. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2002.

-Websters’ NEW WORLD DICTIONARY

Recommended Text -Strunk, William and White, E.B. THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE.Longman, 2000.

Peer Editing/Collaborative Learning Groups

Each student will be assigned to a three to five-person peer editing/collaborative learning group. Peer editing symbols are listed in section 9.2.4 in the Argumentative Apocalypse.

Evaluation and Grading Policy

Grades are not important to me, but they are of far more importance than you currently believe. But individually, and in groups, you must make choices. You will write 5-6 essays in this course, and many of your presentations and panel discussions will be graded.

Commutatively and individually the standards are 90% for an A, 80% for a B, 75% for a C, and 70% for a D. The key differentiator will be the quality of writing, the reliability of your arguments, on assigned essays.

ANOTHER KEY DIFFERENTIATOR is to have your Peer Editing Copies typed, double-spaced, and complete on the day they are due. PEC days are critical; they are NOT the days to be absent. Not only are the normally worth 20% of the essay grade, but YOUR EDITING is also graded.

While group grades are used only infrequently, a well-rehearsed group presentation with high quality handouts, will usually result in higher grades for individual group members.

Since writing is a continuous process, REWRITING is strongly encouraged. When submitting a rewrite, you MUST turn in the original paper with the rewrite; otherwise I will not grade the rewrite.

Testing and Grading

Final grades are based on the following points:

Theme 1, “Family Background,” 50 points

Theme 2, Short Story Analysis, 80 points

Theme 3-4, Research paper: 120 points

Theme 5, Final Exam: 100 points

Paragraphs and Quizzes, 10-40 points each (as announced)

Policy on Academic Integrity

Students who submit the work of others as their own or cheat on exams or other assignments receive a failing grade in the course and are reported to college authorities.

Final Grade Scale:

A = 90-100%

B = 80-89%

C = 75-79%

D = 70-74%

F = below 69%

Updated Sunday, March 27, 2005 at 7:14:27 PM by Alice Marciel - marcielalice@fhda.edu
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