Dr. Hepworth

Final Exam Schdule for English 101

2009-05-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

Final examinations are 1 hour and 50 minutes in length and held in the same room as the usual course meetings.

English 101-07
1:30 - 2:30 p.m. M/W 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 11

English 101-03
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. T/Th 12:00 p.m. Thursday, May 14

If you plan to take the final exam for English 101, you need to tell me so this week in person and sign up. The exam will be comprehensive: that is, the exam will cover the entire semester. If you schedule an exam and then fail to show up for the exam, unless you have a documented emergency, you will receive a failing grade of zero. The final exam will be worth twelve points out of total of one hundred possible points for the course. A high score can improve your grade. A low score and a failing score, however, will certainly lower it.

Classification Assignment

2009-04-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

Prompt for Timed-Writing: Definition, Division, Classification

Purpose: To write an essay in which you create an original definition for an abstract term—love, history, friendship, civility, education—any abstract term you would like to choose—and to practice employing definition in conjunction with the organizing principles of division and classification.

Remember what your textbook has to say on the subject of Division and Classification as organizing principals of composition:

A paper organized according to the principle of division breaks a topic into its components—its separate parts. A paper on the solar system might devote a section to each planet; a paper on a political candidate might describe her position on several major issues in an order that seems appropriate . . . .

Classification involves breaking a large subject into categories according to some consistent and useful principle of division. Classification must follow rules that don’t apply to division. First, classifications must be exhaustive: every member of the class must fit into a category. Any principle of division you use must also be consistent. You can’t classify by more than one principle at a time—for example, if you group planets according to the number of moons they have and whether or not they have rings, you are not really classifying. [Several planets have no moons or rings.] Finally, classes must not overlap. That means you should be able to place an object in only one category.

In short, choose an abstract term that you can easily divide and classify and then write a classification essay. Be sure to formulate a strong thesis, to define your terms, and to develop your essay with plenty of evidence to support that thesis while using classification as your organizing principle.

Write your timed essay using a word processing program on a computer and formatted in MLA style. Submit your timed essay to me online through MyCompLab by cutting and pasting the document from the original and make sure to save a copy of your original for yourself. Remember, too, to copy and paste your notes and prewriting to the end of the document that you submit.

Essay #4

2009-04-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

To complete English 101, each student must write both a persuasive essay and a comparison/contrast essay. Therefore, if you have completed the comparison/contrast essay previously assigned, comparing some aspect of Thoreau and Stegner, please be sure you have submitted both an electronic copy through mycomplab and a hardcopy in a folder along with your exercises, drafts, and notes. I’ll mark only one of those, probably the electronic submission. Follow the same procedure if you chose the letter [persuasive essay] first instead of the comparison/contrast option first. Regardless of the option you chose first, you must complete both assignments. As soon as you finish one assignment, you may begin work on the other.

I may, of course, require you to revise one or both of the essays.

After reading some of your work, however, I’m surprised to see that few of you are consulting your text book before attempting your assignment. Although I went over in class two options for organizing a comparison/contrast essay, with the exception of discussing the ten most common logical fallacies, we have only touched on the topic of critical thinking, and therefore I urge you to read all that your text has to say on the subject of persuasion, logic, arguments, and critical thinking and critical reading. Although we briefly surveyed those chapters in our text early in the semester, I suggest you revisit them.

Remember, too, that we now have an assignment to write annotated bibliography. If you have not begun your persuasive assignment (letter), I suggest you reread Stegner’s letter. Most of the assignments I’ve read in this genre make few or no concessions to the opposition whereas Stegner anticipates his opponents’ arguments, grants some of them validity, and then counters their arguments with his own ideas. To present only one side of an argument not only reveals shallow thinking but will result in a failing grade. Consequently, when making your annotated bibliography, be sure to include sources you have consulted and read with ideas opposing your own. In other words, your annotated bibliography can be limited to five to ten sources, but these sources need to include opposing points of view. Make sure you make active links to your sources so I can check them online.

You will need to do reverse outlines for both essays. I notice, too, many of you have yet to submit your diagnostic 1 assignments.

Revised Assignment for Paper #3

2009-03-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

You may choose from the two topics below. Complete drafts will be due the first class day after our Spring Break.

1. Compare and contrast two essays, Thoreau’s “Walking” and Wallace Stegner’s “Wilderness Letter.” Be sure to narrow your thesis down to a size that will allow you to explore and fully develop your subject in an essay of five to six pages. Use plenty of examples to support your topic sentences and frame all direct quotations. Remember: your thesis is a specific conclusion you reach about your subject. Place it as the first or (preferably) the last sentence of your first paragraph. Keep in mind, too, that a comparison and contrast essay considers both similarities and differences.

2. Using Stegner’s “Wilderness Letter” as an example, write a persuasive letter to a specific person in a position of authority who wields enough power to make effective change. Choose a subject that you genuinely care about and that engages your emotions, but be sure to make your appeals based primarily on logic and reason. Make sure, too, to call for the kind of change that will benefit the majority of people, and be sure as well to consider, as Stegner does, opposing points of view. Use direct quotations from primary sources and plenty of examples to support all sides of your argument.

To qualify for a grade, your portfolio must contain two copies of your completed essay correctly formatted in MLA style; a copy of at least one E-Tutor report; rough drafts and notes; a list of possible thesis questions and/or questions about your reading; a printed copy of your sources (for example, essays by Thoreau and Stegner). I will naturally give some extra credit to those few of you who choose to write two essays. Although I will read them both, I'll grade only the strongest of the two, however. Those who choose to write on the second option must actually send the letter, of course.

Writing Center Hours and Info

2009-02-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

For those of you who want help with your comparison/contrast essay, I enclose the following letter I received from Gwen Sullivan.

Dear Faculty Member,

I am writing to inform you of the services available to your students in the LCSC Writing Center, Spalding Hall 115.

The Writing Center is open to all students, regardless of their major or program year.

Consultants can help with every phase of the writing process: brainstorming/generating ideas, pre-writing, drafting, revising, and reviewing a final draft.

Trained peer consultants work collaboratively with students in half-hour or hour-long increments, depending on the assignment and the amount of help the student feels is needed. Because the Writing Center advocates the collaborative aspect of writing, students are expected to bring their work to the Center and be prepared to work with the consultant rather than leaving papers for editing.

As the Peer Consultants are also students, the Writing Center hours vary by semester.
This semester the hours are:

MWTh 8:00-1:00 and 3:00-5:00
Tues 9:00-1:00 and 3:00-5:00
Fri 8:00-2:00

Students may come by Spalding Hall 115 and sign up for an appointment or call the Center at 792-2433.

In addition, the Peer Consultants are available for Road Trips—a brief visit to your class(es) to invite students to take advantage the Writing Center’s free services and to explain in more detail what a consultation entails.

If you would like to set up a road trip, you may call the Writing Center at 792-2433 or e-mail writinglab@lcmail.lcsc.edu

Thank you for sharing this information with your students.

Sincerely,

Gwen Sullivan
Asst. Director, LCSC Writing Center
Spalding Hall 115
(208) 792-2433
gesullivan@lcsc.edu

Assignment in Narrative

2009-02-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

1. First read and study Pete Dexter's "Untitled Newspaper Column" on my website. (Click mag-zine and scroll down to the bottom or use the link on these instructions.) Print out Dexter's essay.

2. On the printed copy of Dexter's essay, label each sentence S for Simple, CP for compound, CX for Complex, and CPCX for Compound-Complex. Total up the numbers for each kind of sentence. Bring your work to class and include it in your next portfolio. If you are unable to identify simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences, go to your textbook and read the appropriate sections. Study what our textbook has to say on the subject of writing good sentences and learn the difference between simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.

3. Next, using Dexter's essay as a model, write a third-person non-fiction narrative of your own about the same length as his. Make sure your narrative essay (your story) has a clear beginning, middle, and end.

4. Pay attention to all five senses and incorporate them into your story. Make sure your own story has a climax, a setting, and a limited number of characters.

5. Be sure to vary your sentences in terms of length. Use simple, declarative sentences as the basis of your essay.

The photo of Pete Dexter above was taken by Dian Dexter. Pete visited LCSC back in the mid 1980s just before he won the National Book Award.

Announcement

2009-01-29T13:00:00.000-08:00

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Performing January 29-February 8, 2009
Directed by Shirlee Hennigan

It might be cold outside but we will heat it up with this Tennessee Williams classic!

We are so proud to present a classic of the American theater. Tenessee Williams masterpiece continues to resonate in American culture. Its characters are all larger than life. We often associate Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor (from the film version) with this play, but must never overlook the defining performances of Burl Ives, Ben Gazzara, and Barbara Bel Geddes, (nominated for a Tony for her performance.) “Cat” won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955 and yet remains a contemporary play. A new production with an all black cast will open on Broadway this season. Share the story of a Southern family in crisis, an evening of great drama, at the Civic.

Price: $13
Show Times: Thurs-Sat Doors Open at 7:00 p.m. Show Starts at 7:30 p.m.
Sun Doors Open at 1:30 p.m. Show Starts at 2:00 p.m.

Posted by Natosha Chason - "Mae"
English 101-03

Remember Your First Assignment?

2009-01-22T11:16:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Lisa Jenkins for providing her teacher and her blog's readers with the URL for Stegner's text, "Everything Potent is Dangerous." Be sure to print out the essay, read and study it, and create your list of twenty personal statements of belief before you draft your essay. Remember to place your thesis in the first sentence or (preferably) the last sentence of your first paragraph.

You also need to submit a complete draft of your essay to an E-Tutor on MyCompLab. You can do this last task easily by scrolling down to the appropriate place on MyCompLab and submitting your complete draft online. Keep in mind that weekday submissions have a better chance of receiving responses than weekend responses.

On the first day of class next week, please bring your exercises, your complete drafts (along with notes and any prewriting including your lists), and your E-Tutor reports to class with you in a standard letter-size office file folder. Print your last name on the folder first, followed by your first name. Put your contact information (including your blog address) on the inside left flap of the file folder.

Be sure to correctly format your draft in MLA style.

Good luck.

Tentative Class Calendar

2009-01-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

College Writing (English 101) Weekly Calendar Spring 2009

Expect changes—unannounced quizzes, impromptu exercises, a few alterations to reading assignments—to occur throughout the semester. I’ll do my best to give you advance notice about changes to major projects.

January
Week One
12 M 13 T Course Introduction: “I’m Nobody.” Imaginative Writing Exercise.
14 W 15 Th Creating and Posting on Individual Blogs. Add MyCompLab. Exercises due.

Week Two
19 W 20 T Getting Started: Brainstorming, List-Making, Freewriting, Parallelism. In-Class Exercise in MLA Format.Go to our class blog and read the poems of William Stafford. Begin Completing MyCompLab exercises at your own pace beginning with Grammar Diagnostics. Expect to do at least 100 exercises before and 100 exercises after Midterm based on your diagnostic scores. Exercise: Write a paraphrase of an assigned (dictated) Dickinson poem.

21W 22 Th Paraphrase Due. Group Discussion of Stafford and Dickinson. In class exercises. Read Stegner’s essay, “This I Believe.” Compile a list of 20 statements on your personal beliefs, then write an essay modeled on Stegner’s “This I Believe.”

Week Three
26 M27 T Deadline for Two Copies of Complete Draft of Essay One with E-Tutor Reports. Thesis Workshop.
28 W29 Th Revision Workshop. Group analysis of selected student essays. Thesis Workshop Cont.
.

February
Week Four
2 M 3 T Deadline for Revised Draft of Essay One with E-Tutor Report. Read and discuss Pete Dexter.
4 W 5 Th Revision Workshop on exposition and sentence types. Group analysis of selected student essays.

Week Five
9 W 10 T Deadline for Two Copies of Complete Draft of Essay Two (Narration).
11 W 12 Th Revision Workshop on narration and description. Deadline: E-Tutor Reports.

Week Six
16 M 17 T Deadline for Revised Draft of Essay Two (Narration). with E-Tutor Report.
18 W 19 Th Workshop on Comparison Contrast. Read Stafford and Dickinson as assigned in class.

Week Seven
23 M 24 T Deadline for Complete Draft of Essay Three (Comparison/Contrast) with E-Tutor Report.
25 M 26 Th Workshop on logical fallacies.

March
Week Eight
2 M 3 T Midterm Exam and Student-Instructor Conferences.
4 W 5 Th Midterm Exam and Student-Instructor Conferences.

Week Nine
9 M 10 T Deadline for Revised Draft of Essay Three (C/C)with E-Tutor Report.
11 W 12 Th TBA

Week Ten

16-20 Spring Break

Week Eleven

23 M 24 T Deadline for Complete Draft of Essay Four (Interview)
25 W 26 Th

Week Twelve

30 M 31 T Deadline for Revised Draft of Essay Four (Interview)

April

1 W 2 Th

Week Thirteen

6 M 7 T Deadline for Complete Draft of Essay Five with E-Tutor Report. (Profile)
8 W 9 Th

Week Fourteen
13 M 14 T Deadline for Revised Draft of Essay Five. with E-Tutor Report. (Profile)
15 W 16 Th

Week Fifteen
20 M 21 T In class essay assignment.
22 W 23 Th In class essay assignment

Week Sixteen
27 M 28 T Deadline for Final Portfolio with Revised Essay, in-class essay, E-Tutor Reports,
29 W 30 Th Peer Reviews of Student Portfolios.

May

4 M 5 T No Final Exam Week. Final Conferences.
6 W 7 Th No Final Exam Week. Final Conferences.

A Flyer on our Text Book

2009-01-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

The required textbook for this course is

Scott Foresman Handbook for Writers (MyCompLab NEW with E-Book Student Access Code Card), 8/E, by Ruszkiewicz / Friend / Hairston.

It's important you buy this book because:

There will be required reading from the book
Homework assignments will come from the book
I will test on material from the book
It will help you get a better grade in my course

I will also be using MyCompLab, an online program that will help you save time and improve your grades.

If you bought a new book at the bookstore, it came with an access code to MyCompLab.
If you wish to buy access to MyCompLab separately, you may purchase access with a credit card at www.mycomplab.com.
Visit www.mycomplab.com to get started.

Additional resources available to help you get the most from your course:

"e-tips for A grades" Website - There's no condescending advice here - just stuff to help you succeed in tackling your academic, social, and professional challenges! Visit www.etipsforagrades.com

MyCompLab Class Code Numbers

2009-01-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

The Code Numbers I Gave You for joining the class online are no longer valid.

I'll give you new ones soon. Meanwhile, simply register for the course online.

2009-01-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

English 101 Spring 09
M/W 1:30 a.m.-2:15 and TTH 12:00 p.m.-1:15
Dr. James R. Hepworth, Professor, 309 Spalding Hall
Office Hours: MW 4:15-5:15 and TTh 10:30-11:30 & 1:30-2:30 and by Appointment
Email: hepworth@lcsc.edu Telephone: 792-2385

Helpful Hints

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment to talk with me. You will need to register with the Disability Services office (RCH 111) to verify any disabilities and to determine suitable academic accommodations.
Our class is writing and computer intensive. It is not, however, a distance learning class. Nevertheless, our class requires you to do perhaps even a majority of your work at a computer with internet access. If you do not own a computer, the college SUB and library both have computer labs where you may use a computer.
Writing is among the most complex human endeavors, comparable in difficulty, some people argue, to mathematics. If you already know you are struggling college writer, get help early. Find a tutor. Your subscription to MyCompLab entitles you to complimentary access to Pearson Tutor Services, powered by SMARTHINKING Inc. While you are enrolled in your MyCompLab account, you will have the opportunity to submit up to 10* papers or essays to Pearson Tutor Services’ paper review service. Highly qualified e-structors™ will carefully review your submission (essay, document, report, cover letter, or résumé), and provide you with a personalized and detailed critique and feedback on how to improve your document, with a return usually in 24 hours.
Begin making regular visits to the campus writing lab in Spalding Hall. Take advantage of my office hours. By all means see me in person before you attempt to the drop the course. You may be doing much better than you think.
I call on students by name, and I do my best to memorize the names of students in all my classes early in the semester, usually within the first two weeks. If I call on you and you don’t know or can’t think of the answer to the question, just say, “I don’t know.” That’s the same answer I will probably give you under similar circumstances. In my experience, too many people are either unable or unwilling to say, “I don’t know.” If you knew everything, why would need a college class?
If you have a complaint about the class or my teaching, please tell me first before you complain to someone else. I'll do the same for you.
I usually check my Email once a day. Some days I receive as many as thirty or forty Emails in addition to spam. If you must Email me, please limit your Email to three well-written sentences. The college requires that you Email me only from your college Email account. I probably will not respond to Email sent to me from personal Email accounts outside the college system.
For updates on assignments, changes to the calendar and clarification on assignments, extra credit opportunities, and general class news, please check at least once a week.

Required Materials

Hairston, Maxine et al. The Scott Foresman Handbook for Writers. Eighth Edition.
New York: Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc., 2007. This recently revised book may be the most frequently consulted writing handbook in the United States. Our library keeps it under “reference.” Students frequently keep it to use throughout their college careers. Bring it to every class. And make sure you buy the most recent (8th) edition (ISBN 0136148638), which comes packaged with your personal access code to the book’s online website where you can go for help twenty-four hours a day.

Greenbooks: (Please have a supply of two or more on hand for in-class writing assignments. Bring them to every class.)
A plain (8.5” x 11”) office file folder with your last name followed by your first name on the flap. (You won’t be able to turn in a hardcopy of your essay unless you submit it in a folder along with your pre-writing, drafts, and reviews.)
From time to time I require students to furnish each other with complete (typed) hard copies of their drafts for peer editing and review. Students should budget for this expense early in the semester just as they would a required textbook ($20-$30).

Course Description and Course Outcomes
English 101 is the first of two required composition courses that complete the general English Composition Requirement. This first course focuses on the writing and publishing process—invention, drafting, collaboration, revision, and publication—and the patterns of rhetoric that college and university teachers expect students to use in an academic setting: narration, description, comparison, analysis, exemplification, definition, and argumentation. This class also emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving. In addition, we will pay close attention to the process of critical reading and review such fundamentals of writing as logic, grammar, sentence structure, paragraphing, and punctuation.

Our class combines instructor lectures and in-class workshops and discussions with online work. We will hold both large and small group discussions, read aloud, edit and evaluate each other’s work, make presentations, and write and revise weekly and daily assignments. Students will also create and publish individual and team blogs, take online quizzes, and complete various other online exercises.

Among other things, upon exiting this course successful students will be able to

understand and practice writing as a process that includes prewriting, drafting, revision, editing, and online publishing
create an important controlling idea or thesis sentence
identify and employ a variety of rhetorical modes for organizing an essay and supporting a thesis
identify sentence types and write clear, concise, error-free sentences
correctly employ punctuation and standard grammar
identify and write to a variety of audiences
create web pages, individual blogs, and team blogs
identify the ten most common logical fallacies and write a logical and persuasive argument
submit and post their writing online and perform successful online peer reviews. (For more complete list of course objectives see the Self-Evaluation Form.)
read proficiently and critically and interpret the texts of other writers

Mandatory Attendance Policy
I promise to do my best to create and maintain a friendly classroom atmosphere. I hope you want to come to class. Regardless, the success of our class depends on your regular attendance and active participation as well as your ability to listen and to learn from the insightful contributions of your colleagues. Therefore attendance is required. Because even the best students must occasionally miss class, however, I hereby grant each student one unexcused absence. For each successive absence, however, I reserve the right to lower your final grade by half a step (e.g. from B- to C+, from C+ to C, from C to C-). Missing a scheduled conference, habitual tardiness, leaving class early. . . . will adversely effect your grade. Come to class even if you are unprepared.

Grading (100 Points Possible)
First, a word to the wise: our college requires students to earn a C or better in English 101 before they can move on to English 102. If you receive a final grade of C- or lower, you might have to retake this course before moving on. (Students who are not required to take English 102 for their degrees, of course, are exempt from this rule.)

A (93-100%) A- (90-92%)
B+ (87-89%) B (83-86) B- (80-82%)
C+ (77-79% C (73-76%) C- (70-72%)

Essays (60 points):
Students must successfully submit at least five papers and a revision to receive a grade in this category: Unless I tell you otherwise, please make two copies of each draft you submit for peer review and for an instructor grade, and be sure to post your final drafts on your blogs. To view recent examples of some excellent student essays, go to the instructor’s website () and click on “mag-zine.” Please note: I expect to see improvement throughout the semester even in the work of the best student writers. Furthermore, although I will read and mark selected essays properly submitted to me, I may choose, particularly near the beginning of the semester, to grade some essays simply Pass (P) or Fail (F). If you receive a grade of R, you need to schedule an appointment, meet with me, and then rewrite your essay and turn your revision in within a week. A grade of R may mean I think you have written a superior student essay and would like to consider publishing your revision on my website. It may also mean your essay does not yet meet minimum standards for college writing.

When I return papers with my corrections on them, your job is to identify those errors by name, go to MyComplab, and complete at least one exercise for each different error you committed. Submit each of your attempts for each exercise to my online gradebook.

I will grade each of your essays in four different categories: (1) content, (2) organization, (3) expression, (4) grammar, usage, and mechanics. Essays that contain five or more different errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics will receive a failing grade in that category.

Essay Submissions Policy: We will be experimenting with online grading this semester. Once we are comfortable with the online program and grading system, I might ask you to submit your essays for me to evaluate online through Exchange and Grade Tracker. (It may very well turnout that you will submit the majority of your essays to me online, depending on the success of our early experiments.)
Meanwhile, until I say otherwise, you may submit only hard copies of your essays for a grade.

Here’s how the submission process will work:
1. The class will divide into teams of four.
2. Each team will create and publish a team blog. This blog will be available for viewing only to your other teammates.
3. Before the deadline, each member of a team will post a complete draft of his or her essay on the team’s blog for review. (This draft should be as near perfect as you can make it in the time you have to write it.) Each team member will also submit his or her essay to an E-tutor through mycomplab.
4. Each member of the team will then read, evaluate, and edit the posted essays of the other members on the team blog. Teammates will comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each team member’s essay and offer helpful suggestions for revision.
5. Each member of the team will also write one “formal peer review”—a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of another team member’s paper that quotes and paraphrases the comments and suggestions from all three of the team’s reviewers.
6. Based on peer reviews and a self-evaluation, each team member will then make any and all final revisions to his or her essay.
7. After revising an essay based on pre-publication reviews and carefully proofreading the final draft of the essay, each team member will publish two hard copies of the essay for the instructor and also post the revised essay to his or her individual blog for everyone to read.
8. On the deadline, you will then submit the final copy to me for a grade along with
your notes (including zero drafts, scratch outlines, reverse outlines, and all preliminary drafts) and your formal peer review. I want to see the entire evolution of your paper from conception to publication.)

Unless I ask you to submit your essay online, all submissions must be made by placing two hard copies of your final draft and all related materials inside an 8.5” X 11” inch plain file folder with your name on the outside flap (last name first). On the inside left cover of the folder, neatly print the telephone number where you prefer to be reached, your college email address, and a postal address.
Please note: I will not accept essay submissions (or any assignments) by Email.

Revision Policy: Near the end of the semester you may choose one graded essay to revise and submit as part of your final portfolio. To receive a new grade, however, this essay must be accompanied by an original final draft that I have previously marked and graded as well as all your reviews (all those you wrote as well as all those you received).
Of course you may revise an essay as many times as you like before the deadline for your edited final draft. In fact, I encourage you to revise often. In addition to soliciting peer reviews, you may also want to take your work to the Campus Writing Lab in Spalding Hall. Once you submit an essay for a grade, however, that grade will stand in the grade book.

Please do not ask me to evaluate your paper in advance of the deadline. Grading your preliminary draft would defeat the purpose of peer reviews. Seek help from your teammates, your E-tutor, and the campus writing lab before you come to me. I will nevertheless be glad to meet with you during my office hours to discuss any problems you have with the assignments and to meet with you after I’ve returned them.
Please also note that the back flyleaf of our handbook contains a list of most the common editing and proofreading symbols I use to mark student papers. Beside each symbol the editors list the precise section number of the book that students should consult to correct their errors. I expect you to study and correct the errors in the sentences I mark on your papers each time I return them. I also expect you to eliminate the majority of your most common errors from your essays before the end of the semester. To that end, I will assign (and you will self-assign) quizzes and exercises on the textbook website to help you learn to prevent the same errors from recurring. The website will automatically track your grade. In many cases, you will be expected to repeat an exercise until you achieve proficiency.

Late Paper Policy: Because meeting deadlines is important in nearly all professions, I have budgeted plenty of time for students to complete preliminary and final drafts. Turning in a peer review or a final draft one class period late, however, may result in a reduction of two grades (A to C). Again: the deadline for papers (for peer review or grading) is the beginning of the class period on the due date. If you know in advance that you will be absent on the day the paper is due, please make arrangements to turn the paper in prior to the due date. If you know in advance that a paper is going to be late, you may write a short persuasive letter (no more than a page, please) requesting an extension. There is no guarantee, however, that the extension will be granted.

Participation (30 points):
Scholars generally agree that the learner is the person most in charge of what gets learned inside and outside the classroom. I expect you to be an active learner. I will base your grade in this category on the following criteria:

your scores and completion rate for all exercises and quizzes on MyComplab

your general attitude toward the class: your willingness to volunteer, to express your own thoughts aloud and in writing, to permit others to speak, to assist others with their writing, and the effectiveness of your overall effort and academic maturity
your willingness to go beyond what is required
your ability to follow verbal instructions, to learn from your mistakes, and to improve your writing
your ability to work independently and as a part of an assigned team
your completion of reading assignments in the text and online
your ability to meet deadlines with complete drafts for peer review (All papers, including drafts for peer review, become due at the beginning of the class period on the due date.)
your ability to write honest and helpful peer reviews

With the exception of timed essays, all papers (even drafts written for formal peer reviews) must be typed and formatted in MLA style. I will treat the failure to turn in a complete typed draft (3-5 pages) for peer review by making a step reduction in the final grade (e.g B- to C+) for that paper.
In previous semesters dozens of excellent students have formed small study groups of three or more people who meet once a week to conduct peer reviews, go over reading and writing assignments, and generally support each other. I highly recommend this method.

Required Individual Conferences: Each student is required to schedule and attend at least one conference with me to review individual course work and assignments. (Be sure to bring copies of your work with you! Students are by no means limited to one conference.) I welcome both appointments and drop-ins during my office hours. Only an appointment, however, can guarantee a particular time in my schedule.

Final Portfolio (10 points):
Near the end of the semester, students may revise one of their five essays and re-submit it for a grade along with a self-analysis and an unmarked timed essay. Students will also turn in both the peer reviews they have written and the peer reviews they have received. Please be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope with this assignment. (Students who receive A’s on at least three of the five essays may be excused from this assignment contingent upon an exit interview with the instructor.)

Incompletes: I will grant you a grade of Incomplete at the end of the semester if (1) you have completed 80% of the work and (2) if you have a documented medical or family emergency that occurs in the last few weeks of class.

Plagiarism or any form of cheating will result in an automatic F for the semester. If you believe or know a student has committed an act of academic dishonesty, document the incident and notify the Judicial Affairs Officer in Reid Hall 11, phone 2211.

Extra Credit: Students who publish individual essays in our online class anthology (“mag-zine”) will receive extra credit. Submitting an essay for a full class review also results in extra credit. In general, however, I will announce extra-credit opportunities as we progress through the semester.

Final Portfolios

2008-12-14T20:14:00.000-08:00

I look forward to returning a final portfolio to each of you in our classroom at our regularly scheduled final exam time:

English 101-02 1:30 p.m. Monday 15 December

English 101-09 3:00 p.m. Wednesday 17 December

I will check our classroom both Monday and Wednesday at our regular classtimes for stragglers.

A Dead Line: MyCompLab Exercises

2008-11-30T07:35:00.000-08:00

The deadline for completion of MyCompLab exercises is Wednesday 10 December. MyCompLab will close on 18 December at which time your access will expire. To insure you receive full credit for class participation, be sure you have completed, at a minimum, the following exercises and sent them to my online gradebook through Gradetracker. I will calculate your average scores using your best scores (rather than your most recent or your latest attempt).

SENTENCE GRAMMAR

* Comma Splices
* Fragments
* Misplaced Modifiers/Dangling Modifiers
* Pronoun Reference/Pronoun Agreement
* Run-on (fused) Sentences
* Subject-Verb Agreement

BASIC GRAMMAR

* Negatives / Double Negatives
* Pronouns
* Quotations
* Verb Tenses
* Voice (active and passive)

USAGE AND STYLE

* Bias in Language/Sexist Language
* Faulty Comparison
* Parallel Structure
* Point of View Shift
* Redundancy and Wordiness

PUNCTUATION AND MECHANICS

* Commas
* Common Spelling Errors
* End Punctuation
* Other Punctuation
* Semicolons and Colons

Those of you wishing to insure yourselves of an A in this category will also want to complete the exercises in the following additional categories:

SENTENCE EDITING

PARAGRAPH EDITING

COMMON ERRORS

English 101 Fall 08 Essay Assignment on Poetry

2008-10-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

Read (or re-read) “Writing About Literature” from Chapter 11. Be sure to also read Sally Shelton’s paper at the end of the chapter. You may also want to review Section 8a on how to read critically. Then choose one poem from the William Stafford link and study it carefully. Read the poem several times out loud and make notes on your copy. You may meet in groups to discuss the poem, especially if your group chooses the same poem to write about, but you must write your own paper.

Your essay assignment is to perform a close reading of the text by “carefully explaining its meaning and possible interpretations”—line by line, if necessary—considering how the language of the poem “makes readers entertain specific ideas and images.” If the poem includes visual images or sensory images of any kind, you may examine how they interact with each other and with other elements of the text. (Be sure to consider the title in your explication.)

Although you may consult a dictionary, please do not consult outside sources for this paper. Do quote from the poem and include a copy of it with your complete draft. Do also send your completed draft to your E-Tutor and post selected drafts of your paper to your blog.

Because we’ve fallen a bit behind, we’ll set the due dates for this paper together in class. It may be the last paper you write for our class this semester if you score well enough on the final draft.

Reminders

2008-10-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

I very much enjoyed our class today and want to commend each of you who came prepared with a poem. I look forward to our next meeting.

I think you'll find some very interesting poems on one of my other blogs. Check it out. www.litinstructor.blogspot.com.

Although almost everyone has enrolled online on MyCompLab, not everyone has even taken the grammar diagnostic 1. Please do so ASAP. Please also continue to seek E-Tutor reports.

From The Atlantic: Student Writing Contest

2008-09-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Categories: Poetry, fiction, and personal or journalistic essays

Prizes:

First: $1,000
Second $500
Third $250

And a one-year subscription to The Atlantic for the runners-up in each category

Entrants must be full-time undergraduate or graduate students currently enrolled in an accredited degree-granting U.S. institution, or 2008 graduates of a four-year undergraduate program. Submissions should be original, unpublished work (they may have appeared in student periodicals) demonstrating superior quality of expression and craftsmanship.

Submissions should not exceed three poems or 7,500 words of prose. No entrant may send more than one submission per category, and entries must be postmarked by December 1, 2008.

Manuscripts should be typewritten (one side only, please), double-spaced, and accompanied by a cover sheet with the following information: title, category, word count, and author’s name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and academic institution. Of this information, only the title should appear on the manuscript itself.

Send Entries To:
Student Writing Contest
The Atlantic
600 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20037

Please include a stamped, self-addressed postcard for acknowlegement of receipt. We cannot provide information on the status of a manuscript until the winners are announced, in the May 2009 issue. The winners will be notified in March 2009.

Monday's Class

2008-09-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Although I'm unable to join you from Portland today, please meet in your groups and peer review your most recent assignments. You may also work in the Exercise Zone of Mycomp lab. I look foward to seeing you on Wednesday.

Writing Assignment

2008-09-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

Please print out Pete Dexter’s essay.
Read it closely and review the questions posted on the instructor’s blog below.
Then, using Pete Dexter’s narrative as your model, write and revise an original story in third person omniscience of similar length using a similar style.
Format your complete and revised draft of the essay in MLA style and print out two copies for peer reviews. Bring those copies to our next class meeting.
After making final revisions based on your peer reviews, print out a final draft of your essay. Read it aloud several times, making any last minute corrections.
Record your reading and burn a CD.
Make a podcast of your reading and post your podcast to your personal blog.

Assigned Reading

2008-09-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Read Pete Dexter's untitled column in our online antholgy (mag-zine) and then answer the following questions:

Is this story true? How do you know?
Does it matter if the story is wholly imagined or entirely factual?
Does the story have a clear beginning, middle, and end?
How would you classify the ending?
How many kittens does the mother birth? How many does she have left at the end of the story? What do they look like?
What happens to each of the kittens?
What is the primary setting of the story?
Who or what is the primary character or protagonist or is there one? Who or what is the antagonist?
What is the conflict in the story?
What is the theme?
What is the tone of the story? Does it contain humor? Pathos?
What is the writer’s purpose and who is his audience?
How many words does the story contain?
What accounts for the length of Dexter’s paragraphs?
Which sentence types does Dexter employ? Of these, which is the most important? Which is the most dominant?
Does Dexter successfully create and stir our emotions in this essay? If so, how does he do it? That is, which techniques does he employ? If not, why not?

Questions About Stegner's Essay "Everything Dangerous"

2008-09-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Questions About Stegner’s Writing

Why does Stegner write, “Passionate faith I am suspicious of, because. . .” rather than “I
am suspicious of passionate faith because. . .”?

How and where does Stegner employ parallelism (TSFH 16h)?

Why does he employ dashes in this sentence? What other marks of punctuation could he have used?
I fear immoderate zeal—Christian, Moslem, Communist, or whatever—because it restricts the range of human understanding and the wise reconciliation of human differences, and creates orthodoxy with a sword in its hand.

Why does Stegner use semicolons in the following passage? How else could he have punctuated this passage?
Everything potent, from human love to atomic energy, is dangerous; it produces ill about as readily as good; it becomes good only through the control, the discipline, the wisdom with which we use it.

Why does Stegner write, “The Chinese and the Indian know as well as I do what kindness is, what generosity is, what fortitude is” instead of “The Chinese and the Indian know as well as I do what kindness is, what generosity is, and what fortitude is”?

How long is this essay? Why?

Most traditional essays have three parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Does Stegner’s essay follow this pattern? If not, why not? If so, identify each part.

How long do you imagine it took Stegner to write the essay?

For good writers, which is easier to write—a short essay or a long essay?

What is the longest sentence in the essay? Which one is the shortest?

Which sentence in the essay do you most admire? Which paragraph?

Does Stegner ever write in sentence fragments? If not, why not? If so, why? And where?

How many paragraphs does the essay contain? What is the size of the average paragraph? How many sentences? Which paragraph is the longest and why?

Why does Stegner write the essay? What is his purpose? Who is his audience?

How can we best classify the essay: is it a persuasive essay (an argument)? An expository essay? A narrative essay? A descriptive essay? What?

What is Stegner’s thesis—his point? Does he state it in a single sentence? Does he ever state it more than once? If so, where? If not, why not?

What is the tone of the essay? In other words, what is the writer’s attitude toward his subject?

What do the following words mean to you? Can you use them in an original sentence?

Reticience morale evangelical heretic sect sectarian
Zeal reconciliation orthodoxy conduct potent enigma
Obligation responsibility decency denomination compassion fortitude
How does the dictionary define them?

Who is Stegner’s primary audience? Who is his secondary audience? Be specific. How do you know?

Does Stegner try to write about everything he believes? Does his essay cover the subject?

How do we know if Stegner’s writing is any good? Is “good” just a relative term? To be “good,” can an essay just be “good” according to one person or one group of people and mediocre or average or poor to another? What makes good writing? And how does a writer know if he or she has written well?

Can you hear Stegner’s voice in the essay? What do we mean by voice?

More Questions About Stegner’s Essay

After reading this essay and taking him at his word about his personal beliefs, where would you rank Stegner as a person on a scale of one to ten, with ten being absolutely good and zero being evil? Why?

Why, according to Stegner, is it impossible for him to claim he is a “sound Christian”? What keeps him from being one—or claiming to be one? What would be the effect of the essay on you if he did claim to be a “good Christian”? Why do you suppose he chose the word “sound” rather than “good” to modify “Christian”?

Is it possible to be a good person without being a good Christian? Or a good Muslim? If so, how? If not, why not? Could a Muslin or a Jew be a good Christian?

What distinguishes a good person from a not so-good-person and a not-so-good person from an evil person?

Is it possible to obey all Ten Commandments, live a life without breaking the law, and still be a bad person? Why or why not?

Is it possible to break the law, break the Ten Commandments, and still be a good person?
Why or why not?

How can love, supposedly the greatest of virtues, be “dangerous”?

What are the Christian virtues? What are the “classical virtues”?

Why is Stegner suspicious of “public confession” and “passionate faith”?

What does Stegner value most? What does he scorn and disdain?

What else does Stegner believe besides what he tells us in this essay?

Stegner wrote this essay in the early 1950s—better than half a century ago—and he published it in 1952. It was first broadcast on Edward R. Murrow’s famous radio program, “This I Believe.” (FYI: Edward R. Murrow attended WSU in Pullman and now has a building named after him.) Who was Edward R. Murrow? Why was he important?

What was happening in the United States in the early 1950s? Who was elected president in 1952?

Who was elected Vice President of the United States?

Was the United States at war with any nation?

How might this essay reflect the time in which it was written?

Access Code for Sections 101-02 and 101-09

2008-08-26T00:05:00.000-07:00

To join our class online at MyCompLab, you need the following instructor code that identifies the class you're joining.

English 101-02 (MW 1:30-2:45): cm390275

English 101-09 (MW 3:00-4:15) cm663838

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Syllabus for English 101 Fall 08

2008-08-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

English 101 Fall 08
M/W 1:30 a.m.-2:15 and 3-4:15 p.m.
Dr. James R. Hepworth, Professor, 309 Spalding Hall
Office Hours: MW 4:15-5:15 and TTh 10:30-11:30 & 1:30-2:30 and by Appointment
Email: hepworth@lcsc.edu Telephone: 792-2385

Helpful Hints

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment to talk with me. You will need to register with the Disability Services office (RCH 111) to verify any disabilities and to determine suitable academic accommodations.
Our class is writing and computer intensive. It is not, however, a distance learning class. Nevertheless, our class requires you to do perhaps even a majority of your work at a computer with internet access. If you do not own a computer, the college SUB and library both have computer labs where you may use a computer.
Writing is among the most complex human endeavors, comparable in difficulty, some people argue, to mathematics. If you already know you are struggling college writer, get help early. Find a tutor. Your subscription to MyCompLab entitles you to complimentary access to Pearson Tutor Services, powered by SMARTHINKING Inc. While you are enrolled in your MyCompLab account, you will have the opportunity to submit up to 10* papers or essays to Pearson Tutor Services’ paper review service. Highly qualified e-structors™ will carefully review your submission (essay, document, report, cover letter, or résumé), and provide you with a personalized and detailed critique and feedback on how to improve your document, with a return usually in 24 hours.
Begin making regular visits to the campus writing lab in Spalding Hall. Take advantage of my office hours. By all means see me in person before you attempt to the drop the course. You may be doing much better than you think.
I call on students by name, and I do my best to memorize the names of students in all my classes early in the semester, usually within the first two weeks. If I call on you and you don’t know or can’t think of the answer to the question, just say, “I don’t know.” That’s the same answer I will probably give you under similar circumstances. In my experience, too many people are either unable or unwilling to say, “I don’t know.” If you knew everything, why would need a college class?
If you have a complaint about the class or my teaching, please tell me first before you complain to someone else. I'll do the same for you.
I check my Email once a day. Some days I receive as many as thirty or forty Emails in addition to spam. If you must Email me, please limit your Email to three well-written sentences. The college requires that you Email me only from your college Email account. I probably will not respond to Email sent to me from personal Email accounts outside the college system.
For updates on assignments, changes to the calendar and clarification on assignments, extra credit opportunities, and general class news, please check at least once a week.

Bluebooks (Please have a supply of two or more on hand for in-class writing assignments. Bring them to every class.)
A plain (8.5” x 11”) office file folder with your last name followed by your first name on the flap. (You won’t be able to turn in a hardcopy of your essay unless you submit it in a folder along with your pre-writing, drafts, and reviews.)
From time to time I require students to furnish each other with complete (typed) hard copies of their drafts for peer editing and review. Students should budget for this expense early in the semester just as they would a required textbook ($20-$30).

Course Description and Course Outcomes
English 101 is the first of two required composition courses that complete the general English Composition Requirement. This first course focuses on the writing and publishing process—invention, drafting, collaboration, revision, and publication—and the patterns of rhetoric that college and university teachers expect students to use in an academic setting: narration, description, comparison, analysis, exemplification, definition, and argumentation. This class also emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving. In addition, we will pay close attention to the process of critical reading and review such fundamentals of writing as logic, grammar, sentence structure, paragraphing, and punctuation.
Our class combines instructor lectures and in-class workshops and discussions with online work. We will hold both large and small group discussions, read aloud, edit and evaluate each other’s work, make presentations, and write and revise weekly and daily assignments. Students will also create and publish individual and team blogs, take online quizzes, and complete various other online exercises.
Among other things, upon exiting this course successful students will be able to

understand and practice writing as a process that includes prewriting, drafting, revision, editing, and online publishing
create an important controlling idea or thesis sentence
identify and employ a variety of rhetorical modes for organizing an essay and supporting a thesis
identify sentence types and write clear, concise, error-free sentences
correctly employ punctuation and standard grammar
identify and write to a variety of audiences
create web pages, individual blogs, and team blogs
identify the ten most common logical fallacies and write a logical and persuasive argument
submit and post their writing online and perform successful online peer reviews. (For more complete list of course objectives see the Self-Evaluation Form.)
read proficiently and critically and interpret the texts of other writers

Mandatory Attendance Policy
I promise to do my best to create and maintain a friendly classroom atmosphere. I hope you want to come to class. Regardless, the success of our class depends on your regular attendance and active participation as well as your ability to listen and to learn from the insightful contributions of your colleagues. Therefore attendance is required. Because even the best students must occasionally miss class, however, I hereby grant each student one unexcused absence. For each successive absence, however, I reserve the right to lower your final grade by half a step (e.g. from B- to C+, from C+ to C, from C to C-). Missing a scheduled conference, habitual tardiness, leaving class early. . . . will adversely effect your grade. Come to class even if you are unprepared.

Grading (100 Points Possible)
First, a word to the wise: our college requires students to earn a C or better in English 101 before they can move on to English 102. If you receive a final grade of C- or lower, you might have to retake this course before moving on. (Students who are not required to take English 102 for their degrees, of course, are exempt from this rule.)

A (93-100%) A- (90-92%)
B+ (87-89%) B (83-86) B- (80-82%)
C+ (77-79% C (73-76%) C- (70-72%)

Essays (60 points):
Students must successfully submit at least five papers and a revision to receive a grade in this category: Unless I tell you otherwise, please make two copies of each draft you submit for peer review and for an instructor grade, and be sure to post your final drafts on your blogs. To view recent examples of some excellent student essays, go to the instructor’s website () and click on “mag-zine.” Please note: I expect to see improvement throughout the semester even in the work of the best student writers. Furthermore, although I will read and mark selected essays properly submitted to me, I may choose, particularly near the beginning of the semester, to grade some essays simply Pass (P) or Fail (F). If you receive a grade of R, you need to schedule an appointment, meet with me, and then rewrite your essay and turn your revision in within a week. A grade of R may mean I think you have written a superior student essay and would like to consider publishing your revision on my website. It may also mean your essay does not yet meet minimum standards for college writing.

When I return papers with my corrections on them, your job is to identify those errors by name, go to MyComplab, and complete at least one exercise for each different error you committed. Submit each of your attempts for each exercise to my online gradebook.

I will grade each of your essays in four different categories: (1) content, (2) organization, (3) expression, (4) grammar, usage, and mechanics. Essays that contain five or more different errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics will receive a failing grade in that category.

Essay Submissions Policy: We will be experimenting with online grading this semester. Once we are comfortable with the online program and grading system, I might ask you to submit your essays for me to evaluate online through Exchange and Grade Tracker. (It may very well turnout that you will submit the majority of your essays to me online, depending on the success of our early experiments.)
Meanwhile, until I say otherwise, you may submit only hard copies of your essays for a grade.
Here’s how the submission process will work:
1. The class will divide into teams of four.
2. Each team will create and publish a team blog. This blog will be available for viewing only to your other teammates.
3. Before the deadline, each member of a team will post a complete draft of his or her essay on the team’s blog for review. (This draft should be as near perfect as you can make it in the time you have to write it.) Each team member will also submit his or her essay to an E-tutor through mycomplab.
4. Each member of the team will then read, evaluate, and edit the posted essays of the other members on the team blog. Teammates will comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each team member’s essay and offer helpful suggestions for revision.
5. Each member of the team will also write one “formal peer review”—a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of another team member’s paper that quotes and paraphrases the comments and suggestions from all three of the team’s reviewers.
6. Based on peer reviews and a self-evaluation, each team member will then make any and all final revisions to his or her essay.
7. After revising an essay based on pre-publication reviews and carefully proofreading the final draft of the essay, each team member will publish two hard copies of the essay for the instructor and also post the revised essay to his or her individual blog for everyone to read.
8. On the deadline, you will then submit the final copy to me for a grade along with
your notes (including zero drafts, scratch outlines, reverse outlines, and all preliminary drafts) and your formal peer review. I want to see the entire evolution of your paper from conception to publication.)

Unless I ask you to submit your essay online, all submissions must be made by placing two hard copies of your final draft and all related materials inside an 8.5” X 11” inch plain file folder with your name on the outside flap (last name first). On the inside left cover of the folder, neatly print the telephone number where you prefer to be reached, your college email address, and a postal address.
Please note: I will not accept essay submissions (or any assignments) by Email.

Revision Policy: Near the end of the semester you may choose one graded essay to revise and submit as part of your final portfolio. To receive a new grade, however, this essay must be accompanied by an original final draft that I have previously marked and graded as well as all your reviews (all those you wrote as well as all those you received).
Of course you may revise an essay as many times as you like before the deadline for your edited final draft. In fact, I encourage you to revise often. In addition to soliciting peer reviews, you may also want to take your work to the Campus Writing Lab in Spalding Hall. Once you submit an essay for a grade, however, that grade will stand in the grade book.
Please do not ask me to evaluate your paper in advance of the deadline. Grading your preliminary draft would defeat the purpose of peer reviews. Seek help from your teammates, your E-tutor, and the campus writing lab before you come to me. I will nevertheless be glad to meet with you during my office hours to discuss any problems you have with the assignments and to meet with you after I’ve returned them.
Please also note that the back flyleaf of our handbook contains a list of most the common editing and proofreading symbols I use to mark student papers. Beside each symbol the editors list the precise section number of the book that students should consult to correct their errors. I expect you to study and correct the errors in the sentences I mark on your papers each time I return them. I also expect you to eliminate the majority of your most common errors from your essays before the end of the semester. To that end, I will assign (and you will self-assign) quizzes and exercises on the textbook website to help you learn to prevent the same errors from recurring. The website will automatically track your grade. In many cases, you will be expected to repeat an exercise until you achieve proficiency.

Late Paper Policy: Because meeting deadlines is important in nearly all professions, I have budgeted plenty of time for students to complete preliminary and final drafts. Turning in a peer review or a final draft one class period late, however, may result in a reduction of two grades (A to C). Again: the deadline for papers (for peer review or grading) is the beginning of the class period on the due date. If you know in advance that you will be absent on the day the paper is due, please make arrangements to turn the paper in prior to the due date. If you know in advance that a paper is going to be late, you may write a short persuasive letter (no more than a page, please) requesting an extension. There is no guarantee, however, that the extension will be granted.

Participation (30 points):
Scholars generally agree that the learner is the person most in charge of what gets learned inside and outside the classroom. I expect you to be an active learner. I will base your grade in this category on the following criteria:

your general attitude toward the class: your willingness to volunteer, to express your own thoughts aloud and in writing, to permit others to speak, to assist others with their writing, and the effectiveness of your overall effort and academic maturity
your willingness to go beyond what is required
your ability to follow verbal instructions, to learn from your mistakes, and to improve your writing
your ability to work independently and as a part of an assigned team
your completion of reading assignments in the text and online
your ability to meet deadlines with complete drafts for peer review (All papers, including drafts for peer review, become due at the beginning of the class period on the due date.)
the scores and completion rate for all exercises and quizzes on MyComplab
your ability to write honest and helpful peer reviews

Welcome to English 101-02-09

2008-08-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

This family photo was taken a few days before last Christmas by one of my students, Trevor Nesbitt, and has become one of my all-time favorites. In it, you can see (l to r) my wife of twenty-six years, Tanya Ana Gonzales, a production manager for academic journals at Washington State University in Pullman where she is also writing her Ph.D. dissertation on frontier Santa Fe, (the city where she grew up); our son, Myrlin, a spoken word artist who writes and performs his own work in places like Madison, Seattle, Portland, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson, Austin, and Houston: he's also a full-time student in Mesa, Arizona, and works full-time as well; next to Myrlin you can see our daughter, Cheyenne, who is an Elementary Education major here at Lewis-Clark State College and who also works full-time (part of the time for me); she's a very fine jazz singer; and then there's me. I think I look much younger when I shave my beard, but I like my age and my beard. Next to me is Mariah, our youngest daughter, who works twenty-hours a week in the Writing Lab at Seattle University in Seattle where she also waits tables and goes to school full-time. Mariah's majors are history and philosophy. She's thinking seriously about law school.

In the background behind Mariah, you can see a paper mobile with stars and some of our favorite words: Peace, Love, Joy. If you look closely, you can see that I've begun to add other words to the mobile, including the word "Awe." I am in awe of my family's love for me and my love for them. I think that's what my student, Trevor, understood. I think he took a photo of peace, love, joy, and awe. Of course, we don't always look this happy, but in general, we're all pretty happy, or at least, I am. Today. At this moment.

Now please create your own blog. That's one of your first assignments, and it's very easy. You're already online at blogspot.com. Just click "Create Blog" or go to the homepage and follow the directions.

Tenative Calendar for English 101 Fall 08

2008-04-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Week One:
M August 25 Course Introductions. Locate and listen to Wallace Stegner’s essay, “’This I Believe’” or “Everything Potent Is Dangerous.” Begin Reading The Scott Foresman Handbook (TSFH). Read the first chapters in chronological order. Thereafter, use the handbook as a reference guide. Pay special attention to the writing process and to the sections on logic and writing with purpose for a particular audience. Compile a list of twenty personal beliefs using the principle of parallelism. Title your list and format your list in MLA style. Create a blog. Join the class online at http://www.mycomplab.com/.

W August 27 Deadline for MLA Formatted List of Beliefs. Lecture. Workshop. Discussion. Go to Mycomplab and take Diagnostic 1. Submit your grade to me on GradeTracker. Use your list and any other writing you’ve done on the subject to write a 500-750 word essay an essay in which you say what you “truly and fundamentally believe” (Essay #1). Submit your essay online to your E-tutor. (Last day to register/add/drop online is Friday 29 August.)

Week Two:
M September 1 Labor Day. Campus Closed.

W September 3
Deadline for final draft of Essay #1 along with E-Tutor Report. In-class readings of student essays. In-class Peer Reviews. Read and study Pete Dexter’s narrative essay. Locate and photo copy for personal use one copy of a narrative essay equal in length and power to Dexter’s. Write a complete draft of your own original narrative essay. Be prepared to summarize the narrative essay you “discovered” in five minutes or less at our next class meeting. Using your diagnostic exam as a basis, write a short self-analysis of your strengths and weaknesses based on your score. Then begin completing the exercises on Mycomplab to remedy your problems with grammar, usage, and mechanics. Continue to complete the exercises at your own pace for the rest of the semester. Submit all attempts to my gradebook.

Week Three:
M September 8: Deadline for preliminary draft of Essay #2. Group work: storytelling. Class discussion of Dexter’s essay. Revise and then memorize your own narrative essay. Be sure to submit your draft to your E-tutor.

W September 10: Class devoted to original student storytelling and discussion of student stories. Deadline for E-tutor report on preliminary draft of essay #2. Be prepared to submit your final draft of Essay #2 to the class for evaluation and analysis at our next class meeting.

Week Four:
M September 15: Deadline for final draft of Essay # 2. Introduction to comparison and contrast. Peer reviews. Class reading and discussion of narrative essays. Read “Walking” by Henry David Thoreau and “Wilderness Letter” by Wallace Stegner. Take notes on your reading. Then compose a list of ten legitimate questions for class discussion. Summarize the contents of both essays in an abstract. Format one of the summaries in MLA and one in APA.

W September 17: Class discussion of Stegner and Thoreau. In-class writing assignment using direct quotations. Write a complete draft of a persuasive essay comparing and contrasting some aspect of the two essays.

Week Five:
M September 22: Continue class discussion of Stegner and Thoreau.

W September 25: Deadline for complete drafts of persuasive essay along with E-Tutor report (Essay #3). If time permits, examine poems on related themes by William Stafford, Mary Oliver, and others. If you have not done so already, sign up for one-on-one conferences with the instructor.

Week Six: M September 29 and W October 1
Student-teacher conferences. No Class. Bring your written and graded work to your conference with you along with the most recent draft of your persuasive essay.

Week Seven
M October 6: Deadline for final draft of essay #3. Student readings, class discussion of student essays. Begin reviewing grammar, punctuation, and mechanics in preparation for Midterm Exams.

W October 8 Continue review.

Week Eight M October 13 W October 15: Midterm Exams.
Assignment. Find a poem that you respect but have never read and bring it to class prepared to summarize it, read it aloud, and speak to its theme, its strengths and possible weaknesses. Write a short explication of the poem.

Week Nine
M October 20: Student poetry reading and discussion. Read “The Song of Solomon.”

W October 22: Discuss “The Song of Solomon.” Write a complete draft of an essay in which you explicate a part of “The Song of Solomon” (Essay #4).

Week Ten: Midterm Grades Posted on Warrior Web.
M October 27: Deadline for complete drafts of Essay #4. Peer reviews and discussion of student drafts.

W October 29: Peer reviews and discussion of student drafts. Begin reading and discussing The Book of Job. Compose a list of legitimate discussion questions based on your reading.

Last day to withdraw from classes or college for the semester is Friday 31 October.

Week Eleven:
M November 3: Deadline for final drafts of Essay #4. Short readings from The Book of Job. Class discussion of Job. Choose one of the questions from class discussion and write a complete outline of an essay on some aspect relating to the story. Bring the outline and the text to our next class meeting.

W November 5: Outlines due. In-class writing exercises. From your outline and any other writing you’ve done on the subject, write an essay inspired by The Book of Job in which you employ exposition, narration, persuasion, comparison/contrast, and direct quotations from the text (Essay #5).

Week Twelve:
M November 10: Deadline for preliminary draft of Essay #5. Read and discuss the selected parables of Christ as assigned.

W November 12: Read and discuss secular parables, short tales, myths.

Week Thirteen:
M November 17 Deadline for final draft of Essay #5. In class writing assignment. Continue readings and discussion. Write a short tale, a parable, or a myth.

W November 19: Deadline for complete drafts of tales, parables, myths. Student reading and discussion. Write a second tale, parable, or myth based on the first parable but changing the point-of-view. Read as assigned parts of Genesis and all of David Quammen’s essay, “Nasty Habits.”

Week Fourteen:
M November 24 Introduction to documentation writing about science and nature. Lecture and discussion about Genesis and Quammen..

W November 26. Documentation exercises. Instructor readings and lecture continued. You may now revise one previously graded essay to include in your final portfolio. The final draft of this revised essay must be submitted to your E-tutor and properly formatted to receive a grade. In lieu of this revision assignment, students who qualify may choose to write a short documented essay with the instructor’s permission.

Week Fifteeen: M December 1 and W December 3: Thanksgiving Break.
No Classes.

Week Sixteen: No Final Exam Week.
M December 8 Deadline for all student portfolios.

W December 10 Review for Final Exam.

Week Seventeen M December 15 and W December 17: Final Exams.

Week Eighteen
20 December Grades posted to WarriorWeb

Narrative Interview Assignment

2008-03-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

One-on-One Interview Assignment: Part Three

After you have finished posting your Q & A interview (see instructions for part one below), you may complete part three of the assignment by following the directions on page 92 of The Norton Sampler: “Write a personal narrative about the whole experience of conducting the interview. Be sure to characterize the interviewee, to describe where and how the interview took place, and to reflect on what you learned about your subject.” Also make sure that you employ plenty of direct quotations throughout this narrative and that you frame each of these direct quotations according to the instructions in Chapter 47 of The Scott Foresman Handbook.

This second part of the assignment should be easier for you than the first, especially given your experience profiling an individual in your descriptive essay. In addition to the descriptive profile of your interviewee, your essay should contain a narrative of your experience that has a clear beginning, middle, and end. In other words, tell us the story of your interview.

Your finished essay should run no less than four typed and double-spaced pages correctly formatted in MLA style.

Mr. Sah as Dr. Hepworth

2008-03-05T14:16:00.001-08:00

Nitay Sah of Nepal appears to be leading all three sections of English 101 this semester in the number of extra credit assignments completed and posted to his blog. "The Losers" are apparently ahead in total points thanks to a freak occurrence and the return of the mysterious LB.

Second Interview Assignment

2008-02-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have completed your question and answer interview (Q & A) may get started on the second phase of the assignment, which is to create a monologue from your Q & A.

A monologue is a one-person speech, usually spoken in a stage play or film.

To complete this assignment, first, remove all the prompts and questions from your Q & A interview and arrange your subject's answers and responses in paragraphs. (Be sure to work in MLA format.) Then read through the work. Ask yourself whether or not you edited the Q & A by "saving the best for last"? If not, this is the time to re-arrange your subject's responses.

Look for self-contained narratives and anecdotes in your subject's responses. Cut any responses that do not relate directly to your theme or thesis—or reveal something important about the subject or the personality of your subject. (Remember: you designed your questions around a thesis or some specific topic, right?)

If absolutely necessary, put the question you asked right into your subject's response. Just have him or her repeat the question.

What I'm asking you to do, of course, is to create a character. So be sure to avoid "sanitizing" and "cleaning up" your character's language. If your character says "ain't" instead of "isn't," stick with "ain't." The whole idea here is to use the character's own language to reveal his or her identity.

Anyone who reads or hears your monologue should come away from it understanding (without having to be directly told) important things about the person you interviewed. If necessary, conduct a follow up interview.

Your completed monologue should be no less than 500 words and no more than 1200.

As you have probably guessed by now, we'll be recording your reading—or someone else's reading—of your monologue, so once you have finished editing and revising this part of the assignment, be sure to practice reading the monologue aloud.

The self-portrait of Dr. Hepworth above was taken last week at Winter Fishtrap 08, a writer's conference in the Wallowa Mountains of Oregon.

Class Winners of English 101-07 Descriptive Essay

2008-02-15T06:01:00.000-08:00

Best Title: "Savage Classroom"
Best Essay: "Unforgettable"
Best Intro: "My Unsung Hero"
Best Conclusion: A tie between "Unforgettable" and "My Unsung Hero"
Best Sentence: "Unforgettable"

The best sentence:

"It happens when someone has the kind of breath that makes cattle pass out, flowers die, and little kids cry."

Reporting by Kaylea Kazda

Grogan and Grimm Take 101-07 Prizes

2008-02-04T14:27:00.001-08:00

Two young men took the best title and best essay prizes last week away from the other contenders in an open field:

Matt Grogan won for "A Golfer's Advantage" in the category of "Best Essay" and Rick Grimm came away with "Best Title" for "Amplify Your Soul."

English 101-04 Winners Announced

2008-02-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

Megan Hug and Amanda McKinney walked away with the prizes for Best Title and Best Essay last week in a tightly contested race. Photos by Toni Jones to follow.

The Two Best Titles and Two Best Essays in Alphabetical Order:

"A Belt Buckle Filled with Memories" [Megan Hug]
"A Walk through Time" [Amanda McKinney]

Please Download the Calendar Worksheet

2008-01-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in class, each student needs to download the class calendar worksheet and print it off and bring it to every class and use it to record and update our assignments and ongoing projects. To locate the calendar, just go to my website, jimhepworth.com, and click assignments. You'll find it there if you look.

JH

Course Syllabus

2008-01-14T01:22:00.001-08:00

English 101-04-06-07 Spring 08
M/W 10:30 a.m.-11:45 and 12:00-1:15 p.m. TTh
Dr. James R. Hepworth, Professor, 309 Spalding Hall
Office Hours: 12:00-1:30 MW 10:30-12:00 TTh and by Appointment
Email: hepworth@lcsc.edu Telephone: 792-2385

Helpful Hints

If you have a physical disability or a learning disability, be sure you have registered with Disability Services (RCH 111) to verify the disability and to determine suitable academic accommodations. Then during the first week of class, make an appointment to meet with me in my office to make arrangements specific to this class. Later notification may result in the requested accommodations being unavailable.

This class is writing and computer intensive. It is not, however, a distance learning class. Nevertheless, our class requires you to do perhaps even a majority of your work at a computer with internet access. If you do not own a computer, the college SUB and library both have computer labs where you may use a computer.

Writing is among the most complex human endeavors, comparable in difficulty, some people argue, to mathematics. If you already know you are struggling college writer, get help early. Find a tutor. Your subscription to MyCompLab entitles you to complimentary access to Pearson Tutor Services, powered by SMARTHINKING Inc. While you are enrolled in your MyCompLab account, you will have the opportunity to submit up to 10* papers or essays to Pearson Tutor Services’ paper review service. Highly qualified E-structors™ will carefully review your submission (essay, document, report, cover letter, or résumé), and provide you with a personalized and detailed critique and feedback on how to improve your document, with a return usually in 24 hours.

Begin making regular visits to the campus writing lab in Spalding Hall. Take advantage of my office hours. By all means see me in person before you attempt to the drop the course. You may be doing much better than you think.

I like to call on students by name, and I memorize the names of students in all my classes early in the semester, usually within the first two weeks. If I call on you and you don’t know or can’t think of the answer to the question, just say, “I don’t know.” That’s the same answer I will probably give you under similar circumstances. In my experience, too many people are either unable or unwilling to say, “I don’t know.” If you knew everything, why would need a college class?

I check my Email once a day. Some days I receive as many as thirty or forty Emails in addition to spam. If you must Email me, please limit your Email to three well-written sentences. The college requires that you Email me only from your Warriormail account. I cannot and will not respond to Email sent to me from personal Email accounts outside the college system.

For updates on assignments, changes to the calendar and clarification on assignments, extra credit opportunities, and general class news, please check our class blog at least once a week. I might even have to cancel a class on sudden notice.

Required Materials

Cooley, Thomas, Ed. The Norton Sampler. Eighth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. These (mostly) short essays model the kinds of essays we will be
writing. Read them all. Study closely the ones you like most in each chapter. Bring
the book to every class.
Hairston, Maxine et al. The Scott Foresman Handbook for Writers. Eighth Edition.
New York: Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc., 2007. This recently revised book may be
the most frequently consulted writing handbook in the United States. Our library
keeps it under “reference.” Students frequently keep it to use throughout their college
careers. Bring it to every class. And make sure you buy the most recent (8th) edition
(ISBN 0136148638), which comes packaged with your personal access code to the book’s online website where you can go for help twenty-four hours a day.

Bluebooks (Please have a supply of two or more on hand for in-class writing assignments. Bring them to every class.)

A plain (8.5” x 11”) office file folder with your last name followed by your first name on the flap. (You won’t be able to turn in a hardcopy of your essay unless you submit it in a folder along with your pre-writing and drafts.)

From time to time I may require students to furnish each other with complete (typed) hard copies of their drafts for peer editing and review. Students should budget for this expense early in the semester just as they would a required textbook ($20-$30).

Course Websites

<www.wwnorton.com/write/sampler>
MyCompLab
<jimhepworth.com>

Course Description and Course Outcomes

English 101 is the first of two required composition courses that complete the general English Composition Requirement. This first course focuses on the writing and publishing process—invention, drafting, collaboration, revision, and publication—and the patterns of rhetoric that college and university teachers expect students to use in an academic setting: narration, description, comparison, analysis, exemplification, definition, and argumentation. This class also emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving. In addition, we will pay close attention to the process of critical reading and review such fundamentals of writing as logic, grammar, sentence structure, paragraphing, and punctuation.

Our class combines instructor lectures and in-class workshops and discussions with online work. We will hold both large and small group discussions, read aloud, edit and evaluate each other’s work, make presentations, and write and revise weekly and daily assignments. Students will also create and publish individual and team blogs, take online quizzes, and complete various other online exercises.

Upon exiting this course successful students will be able to

understand and practice writing as a process that includes prewriting, drafting, revision, editing, and online publishing
create an important controlling idea or thesis sentence
identify and employ a variety of rhetorical modes for organizing an essay and supporting a thesis
identify sentence types and write clear, concise, error-free sentences
correctly employ punctuation and standard grammar
identify and write to a variety of audiences
create web pages, individual blogs, and team blogs
identify the ten most common logical fallacies and write a logical and persuasive argument
submit and post their writing online and perform successful online peer reviews. (For more complete list of course objectives see the Self-Evaluation Form.)

The class will divide into teams of four.
Each team will create and publish a team blog. This blog will be available for viewing only to your other teammates.
Before the deadline, each member of a team will post a complete draft of his or her essay on the team’s blog for review. (This draft should be as near perfect as you can make it in the time you have to write it.) Each team member will also submit his or her essay to an E-tutor.
Each member of the team will then read, evaluate, and edit the posted essays of the other members on the team blog. Teammates will comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each team member’s essay and offer helpful suggestions.
Each member of the team will also write one “formal peer review”—a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of another team member’s paper’s that quotes and paraphrases the comments and suggestions from all three of the team’s reviewers Based on peer reviews and a self-evaluation, each team member will then make any and all final revisions to his or her essay.
After carefully proofreading the final draft of the essay, each team member will publish two hard copies of the essay for the instructor and also post the revised essay to his or her individual blog for everyone to read.
On the deadline, you will then submit the final copy to me for a grade along with
your notes (including zero drafts, scratch outlines, reverse outlines, and all preliminary drafts) and your formal peer review. I want to see the entire evolution of your paper from conception to publication.)

Unless I ask you to submit your essay online, all submissions must be made by placing two hard copies of your final draft and all related materials inside an 8.5” X 11” inch plain file folder with your name on the outside flap (last name first). On the inside left cover of the folder, neatly print the telephone number where you prefer to be reached, your college email address, and a postal address.

Please note: I will not accept essay submissions (or any assignments) by Email.

Revision Policy:

Near the end of the semester you may choose one graded essay to revise and submit as part of your final portfolio. To receive a new grade, however, this essay must be accompanied by an original final draft that I have previously marked and graded as well as all your peer reviews (all those you wrote as well as all those you received).

Of course you may revise an essay as many times as you like before the deadline for your edited final draft. In fact, I encourage you to revise often. In addition to soliciting peer reviews, you may also want to take your work to the Campus Writing Lab in Spalding Hall. Once you submit an essay for a grade, however, that grade will stand in the grade book.
Please do not ask me to evaluate your paper in advance of the deadline. Grading your preliminary draft would defeat the purpose of peer reviews. Seek help from your teammates and the campus writing lab before you come to me. I will nevertheless be glad to meet with you during my office hours to discuss any problems you have with the assignments.
Please also note that the back flyleaf of our handbook contains a list of most the common editing and proofreading symbols I use to mark student papers. Beside each symbol the editors list the precise section number of the book that students should consult to correct their errors. I expect you to study and correct the errors in the sentences I mark on your papers each time I return them. I also expect you to eliminate the majority of your most common errors from your essays before the end of the semester. To that end, I will assign (and you will self-assign) quizzes and exercises on the textbook website to help you learn to prevent the same errors from recurring. The website will automatically track your grade. In many cases, you will be expected to repeat an exercise until you achieve proficiency.

Because meeting deadlines is important in nearly all professions, I have budgeted plenty of time for students to complete preliminary and final drafts. Turning in a peer review or a final draft one class period late, however, will result in a reduction of two grades (A to C). Again: the deadline for papers (for peer review or grading) is the beginning of the class period on the due date. If you know in advance that you will be absent on the day is paper is due, please make arrangements to turn the paper in prior to the due date. If you know in advance that a paper is going to be late, you may write a one page persuasive letter requesting an extension. There is no guarantee, however, that the extension will be granted.

Participation (30 points)
Scholars generally agree that the learner is the person most in charge of what gets learned inside and outside the classroom. I expect you to be an active learner. I will base your grade in this category on the following criteria:

your general attitude toward the class: your willingness to volunteer, to express your own thoughts aloud and in writing, to permit others to speak, to assist others with their writing, and the effectiveness of your overall effort and academic maturity

your willingness to go beyond what is required

your ability to follow verbal instructions, to learn from your mistakes, and to improve your writing

your ability to work independently and as a part of an assigned team

your completion of reading assignments in the text and online

your ability to meet deadlines with complete drafts for peer review (All papers, including drafts for peer review, become due at the beginning of the class period on the due date.)

Your success in joining the class online and especially the scores and completion rate for all exercises and quizzes on MyComplab

your ability to write honest and helpful peer reviews

With the exception of timed essays, all papers (even drafts written for formal peer reviews) must be typed and corrected formatted in MLA style with page numbers and running heads. I will return improperly formatted papers unmarked and assign them a grade of Incomplete.

I will treat the failure to turn in a complete typed draft (3-5 pages) for peer review by making a step reduction in the final grade (e.g B- to C+).

In previous semesters dozens of excellent students have formed small study groups of three or more people who meet once a week to conduct peer reviews, go over reading and writing assignments, and generally support each other. I highly recommend this method.

Required Individual Conferences

Each student is required to schedule and attend at least one conference with me to review individual course work and assignments. (Be sure to bring copies of your work with you! Students are by no means limited to one conference.) I welcome both appointments and drop-ins during my office hours. Only an appointment, however, can guarantee a particular time in my schedule.

Final Portfolio (10 points)

Near the end of the semester, students may revise one of their five essays and re-submit it for a grade along with a self-analysis and an unmarked timed essay. Students will also turn in both the peer reviews they have written and the peer reviews they have received. Please be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope with this assignment. (Students who receive A’s on at least three of the five essays may be excused from this assignment contingent upon an exit interview with the instructor.)

Incompletes: I will grant you a grade of Incomplete at the end of the semester if (1) you have completed 80% of the work and (2) if you have a documented medical or family emergency that occurs in the last few weeks of class.

Plagiarism or any form of cheating will result in an automatic F for the semester.

Extra Credit: Students who publish individual essays in our online class anthology (“mag-zine”) will receive extra credit. Submitting an essay for a full class review also usually results in extra credit. In general, however, I will announce extra-credit opportunities as we progress through the semester.

Last Reminders

2007-12-10T16:50:00.000-08:00

Final Portfolios are due no later than Monday 17 December in class. No exceptions. Incomplete folders will be returned unread and ungraded. Please remember to include an SASE.

All students in English 101-02 and English 101-09 are invited and encouraged to attend an end-of-the-semester celebration:

When: Wednesday 12 December from 5:00 p.m. to. . . whenever.

Where: The Garden Room: Macullen's Restaurant 1516 Main Street in Lewiston.

What: free food, music, and non-alcoholic beverages.

Who: feel to bring a friend or two. (No fraternities, please. Sororities welcome.)

Required Timed Writing Assignments

2007-12-05T11:19:00.000-08:00

Instructions: Do one exercise in class under my supervision. Do the second exercise in a time and place of your own choosing. Be sure to write down the time of your starting and stopping.

Exercise One

Someone has given you an anonymous gift, a personal and lifelong endowment of food, shelter, clothing, and basic needs that includes health care, along with a permanent endowment that allows you to award annual grants of up to 1 million dollars to individuals outside your family and friends and five million dollars annually to organizations. The conditions of the gift are that you devote the rest of your life to administering this endowment until you reach the age of sixty-five.

Do you accept the gift?

If not, why? Write a letter turning down the gift.

If so, on what basis do you administer the individual awards?

On what basis do you administer the awards to organizations?

To whom do you make your first annual gifts and why?

Exercise Two

Assume this is the last hour of your life and you have no choice but to write your last will and testament. Write it in the form of a letter to an executor of your own choosing. Assign away all your material goods.

Final Portfolio Assignment Requirements

2007-11-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Your final portfolio must contain the following elements:

One copy of your revised essay.
One copy of the original essay with my marks and comments.
E Tutor report on the revised essay.
A Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope with sufficient postage for the return of your file and all its contents.
One copy of a persuasive essay (revised from your timed essays) in which you grade yourself for the course. Please be sure to calculate your grade based on the criteria listed in our class syllabus.

I encourage you to submit in your final report a list of all assignments you have completed along with the grades you received. I'll use this list to check against the grades I recorded. I hope I haven't made any mistakes, but I like to double check.

Practice Timed Essay Assignment

2007-11-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

Write a timed essay (in forty-five minutes) that answers this question: "What have I learned in English 101?" Among other things, you might consider answering these related questions:

Am I a better and more confident college writer now than I was at the beginning of the semester?
As a college writer, what are my most salient strengths and weaknesses?
What would I still like to learn?
What essay assignment did I prefer and why?
Which of the essays I've written is my best? Why?

English 101 is Canceled for Monday 3 December 2007.

2007-11-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

Required Assignments

2007-11-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

On Monday 12 November please meet in your groups wherever you like.

Exchange drafts of your persuasive essays and carefully peer review them.
Make any necessary changes and submit the revised draft to an e-tutor.
Bring your revised drafts to class on Wednesday.

As a group complete the logical fallacy exercise on my website and bring your answers to class on Wednesday.

Required Homework

2007-10-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

Instructions:

Using both the electronic and the corrected hard copies of your “artifact” essay, place each sentence that contains an error on its own line. Format this sentence in italics.

Using your handbook, name the error you committed. Place the name of the error above the faulty sentence.

Study the appropriate section of your handbook until you understand the nature of the error and how to correct it.

Then revise the faulty sentence by correcting the error and place the revised sentence below the incorrect sentence in plain type.

Repeat this exercise using your personal statement.

Format your paper in MLA style.

Here's an example:

1. Original: Regardless of the fact that I have revised the speech three times, I still don't like my conclusion.

Problem: wordy 17 c (Condense sprawling phrases)

Revision: Although I have revised the speech three times, I still dislike my conclusion.

Please Read and Write

2007-09-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Please read The Norton Sampler: Introduction and Chapter One.

Revise the opening paragraph of your "artifact" essay at least three times, each time employing a different introductory technique. Bring your revisions to class.

Draft an essay by responding fully to either prompt #2 on page 36 or 53 of TNS. Bring your draft to class on Monday.

Wednesday Deadline

2007-09-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Please be ready to turn in your folder with the following assignments in the following order:

the final draft of your personal statement formatted in MLA style
the final draft of your resume
the final draft of your personal artifact essay formatted in MLA style
a printed copy of your comprehensive diagnostic exam from MyCompLab

Please paper clip your notes and preliminary drafts to each of your assignments with the final draft on top.

Your folder is due at the beginning of class.

Course Introduction and Diagnostic Testing

2007-08-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Week One: M 27 August .W 29 August

Take all the online diagnostic #1 exams in the “Grammar” category and begin experimenting with and submitting grades for online quizzes through Grade Tracker. Use these diagnostics to narrow the areas where you should practice. If you answer a question incorrectly, you will see links you can use to find more practice for that particular topic. Take diagnostic quizzes labeled “#2” only after you have practiced and worked to eliminate your problems in a particular area. (In some cases, correcting the problems and completing the exercises may be a long process. In others, progress will come quickly.) Submit all scores through Grade Tracker. I expect you to work at your own pace each week to eliminate the majority of your errors in all categories of “Grammar” by the end of the semester.

Read “What Does Writing Involve?” and “How Do You Find and Explore a Topic” (1-25) in The Scott Foresman Handbook (TSFH).

Design and create your own printed resume (TSFH 354), then design and create your own electronic resume and post it on your blog. If possible, include a photo of yourself on your blog.

Write a general, comprehensive personal statement (TSFH 95), make a hard copy, and post it on both your individual and team blogs. Format the hard copy in MLA style.

Complete the exercises below in the seperate post.

Describe: Inscribing a Personal Artifact

2007-08-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Instructions: Complete this activity in a word processing program and save it to your desktop.

Exercise 1

1 Don't let the title of this exercise fool you. Inscribing a personal artifact is not like ordering an engraved name plate to put on your suitcase, nor is it like your parents writing your address on the inside of your underwear. This is an exercise in personal archaeology, an opportunity to describe a personal object and explain what it says about you.

The easiest way to do this exercise is to begin with two paragraphs. The first vividly describes your personal object, and the second explains what observers of the object might think about you. The challenge is then to connect the two paragraphs. Would people's opinions of you come from the object itself (e.g., Is it rare, valuable, or collectable?), its condition (e.g., Is it old and worn?), its significance within the culture (e.g., Would it label you as a certain kind of person?), or would it only have meaning for them if they knew more about your individual life?

During the revision process, you may decide to keep two paragraphs, unify them into a single paragraph, or add a third depending on how well you can connect what the object is with what it tells others about you.

Want some help? Go online to our textbook website and view a few tips or read more about Writing to Describe.

Exercise 2
Revise your last draft by making sure to use the following marks of punctuation: colons, semicolons, commas, parentheses, and dashes.

Exercise 3
Set up your account and login to mycomlab. Find and click on "Writing," the "Writing Process Exercises:Text Based Activities" and then on the title of the first exercise. Submit exercises one and two to the instructor through Grade Tracker.

Student Course Evaluations

2007-05-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

If you have not already done so, please fill out a Student Course Evaluation for English 101.

Final Portfolio Deadlines

2007-04-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

The deadlines for final portfolios to be handed in to me for grading are as follows:

For English 101-04 M-W the deadline is the beginning of class on Wednesday 2 May 2007.

For English 101-06 T-Th the deadline is the beginning of class on Thursday 3 May 2007.

Final Portfolio Requirements

2007-04-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Federal regulations prohibit faculty members from leaving graded material outside their offices for students to pick up—and anyone else to see. To insure your privacy and the safe and timely return of your work, you must include a self-addressed stamped envelope inside your portfolio. Please makes sure that this envelope is big enough to contain all the materials in your folder and stamped with sufficient postage for its return. Fold this envelope in half and place it inside an 8.5” x 11” plain file folder with your name on the tab (last name first). This folder must house the following portfolio materials:

One 500 word self-reflective essay in which you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your writing and your semester-long progress as a college writer. (See the questions below.)
One formal revision of one instructor-graded essay formatted in MLA style (no research required). Please highlight changes you made on this copy using a marker. Limit your final draft of the revision to 3-5 pages and be sure to include running heads. (I will add style points for excellence in document design including the use of photographs).
One copy of the original instructor-marked paper.
One copy of your self-evaluation of the original paper on the peer review form.
One copy of your self-evaluation of the revised paper on the peer review form.

Questions to Stimulate Your Thinking on Your Reflective Essay

How, if at all, has your writing changed over the semester? What (if any) new skills, new abilities, and new knowledge will you take away from this course?

What are your major strengths and weakness as a college writer?

Has your ability to evaluate your own work changed?

What role has peer, instructor, or other reader responses played in your assessments of your own work?

Did you make use of the college writing lab? If so, please evaluate that experience in terms of its usefulness? What have you learned from it?
If not, where did you get help with your writing aside from the classroom?
Which, if any of your peers in our classroom, provided the most help?

How well did you do at meeting deadlines for preliminary drafts? For final drafts?

What improvements would you make to the enclosed paper if you had more time?

What are the most important things you still have to work on as a writer?

What is the most important thing you have learned in this course?

How do you expect to use what you’ve learned from this course in future?

Suggestions:

Do some brainstorming and write a preliminary draft of your reflective essay. Then state your answer to the first question above in a summary sentence and position it as your thesis.
Be specific. Avoid generalities and half-truths.
Try one of the twelve introductory techniques we studied this semester, one that you've never used.
Revise all awkward, wordy, or unclear sentences. This is short essay. Make every word and every paragraph count.
Organize the entire essay primarily using one of the modes we've practiced this semester: description, narration, comparison and contrast, definition. . .
Begin strong, but finish strong. Use a clincher in your conclusion.
Meet the dead line. In this case, failure to meet the deadline will result in the loss of all points for this assignment.

Good luck. I'll be rooting for you.

American Gothic Images

2007-04-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some images related to the assignment: l-r Grant Wood in the studio where he painted American Gothic; the actual house in Eldon, Iowa, that served as the model for the house Wood used; a recent parody of American Gothic with the first Lady Laura Bush filling Pesident Bush's cup; a less recent parody of the same painting with Sadam filling in for . . .
Feel free to incorporate images into your essay, but stay on point, restrict the sizes of the images you use, give them captions, and cite your sources.

American Gothic Assignment, Too

2007-04-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

Assignment

Write a persuasive essay of three to four pages (750-950 words) in which you evaluate Grant Wood’s famous painting American Gothic by assigning it a letter grade. Be sure to state the justification for your assigned grade in your thesis statement and position your thesis as either the first or the last sentence of your introduction. Remember that your thesis can change during the course of writing. It’s a good idea to come up with a tentative thesis in the drafting stage, but keep in mind that your thesis is a conclusion and that writing is mostly a process of discovery. As you know, most college essays begin with that thesis-conclusion (or claim) and then set about laying out warrants and evidence. This is especially true for persuasive essays, and your purpose is to persuade us to accept your grade and evaluation of the painting.

This assignment requires you

to do a very restricted amount of basic research
to employ direct quotations using all three methods of framing we have discussed in class
to cite a variety of sources using MLA style
to make source cards for each of your sources
to make note cards for each of your direct quotes

As for sources, you must use and make source cards for

the Art Institute of Chicago website and any of its pages related to Grant Wood or the
painting itself
personal interviews with classmates and peers
class lectures
your textbook
an online dictionary
a hardcover or paperback dictionary

Please restrict your research to your textbook, a bound dictionary, and the links on this page.

Study Questions

I designed the questions below to get you starting planning and shaping your essay, but you can (and probably should) come up with others on your own. Although I will not change the assignment above, I reserve the right to add links and questions in the hope of helping you with your essay.

What is the significance of the title? What, if anything, is especially “American” about the painting and the objects in it?

What does the term “Gothic” mean? What is its denotation? What are its connotations? How do they apply to the painting?

What central impression in the painting do the details seem to convey?

Which objects in the painting, if any, take on especially heavy symbolic values? What do these objects symbolize?

What was the actual historical relationship between the two people in the painting?

What relationship do you think Wood intended to convey? Man and wife? Father and daughter? Something other? Devote at least one detail-laden paragraph to this relationship and the people in the painting in which you compare and contrast them.

Why is this painting world-famous? Early on in your essay, use at least one paragraph of your essay to summarize the history of the painting based on your research.

Who was Grant Wood? Limit your writing on this topic. You’re writing a persuasive essay, not a biography. Tell your readers only what they need to know in order to better understand your argument.

What is your grading criteria? What makes a superb painting? An excellent painting? A good painting? A poor painting. A bad painting? At the very least, devote one part of your essay early on to laying out your definition of the terms you’re using to assign the painting a letter grade.

Is there any humor in this painting? Do you find it humorous? Is there anything tragic about it?

Why do you suppose this painting has become one of the most parodied paintings of all time? What makes it so easy to parody? (For that matter, what is a parody?)

What did you feel when you first viewed this image? Did your feelings change over time?

How has your opinion of the painting changed since you first viewed it? What have you learned about the painting exclusive of your research just by studying and observing it in close detail?

Persuasive Paragraph Assignment

2007-04-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

This assignment requires you to write a persuasive paragraph based on Grant Wood’s famous painting, American Gothic. The assignment requires you to use all the basic steps in the writing process (planning, drafting, revision, editing) in order to answer an exam-like question based on evidence and logic: “What central impression do the details in Grant Wood’s famous painting, American Gothic, seem to convey?” You need to answer this question in a single sentence placed at the beginning of your finished paragraph. You then need to support your claim with plenty of evidence.

If you are unable to create a core sentence for your paragraph on your own, try using one of the templates below:

Although __________________________, the details in Grant Wood's famous painting convey the dominant impression of ___________________________.

The details in Grant Wood's famous painting, especially _______________ and __________ and _______________ and __________ convey the dominant impression of _________and ______________________ and even _________________________.

You can follow the link in the paragraph above to view an excellent copy of this painting on The Chicago Art Institute's website. You can also download the entire assignment in a powerpoint version from the instructor resources on our textbook's website. Choose the option titled "The Writing Process" and then scroll down to thirteen, "American Gothic: Writing as Process Exercise."

Bring two copies of your revised and polished paragraph in a folder to our second class meeting this week. Format your paper in MLA style. The folder should also contain your original prewriting lists, each of your drafts, and your proofreading and editing samples. Label each sample : "planning and shaping," "draft," "revision #1," "revision #2. . . ." and so on.

I'll be grading these paragraphs for content and style. I expect them to be well written.

Comparison and Contrast Essay Assignment

2007-03-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

Option #1

Read and reread Deborah Dalfonso’s “Grammy Rewards” essay in The Norton Sampler (206-207). Then, using the same point-by-point techniques that she uses, compare and contrast two people or two places you know well. Use specific details and examples. And let the details speak for themselves—avoid explicitly judging your two subjects.

Option #2

Read and reread Debi Davis’s “Body Imperfect” in The Norton Sampler (209-210). Then, using the block-by-block method, write an essay comparing the way adults see the world to the way children see the world. Use plenty of specific details and examples. Include at least two well told anecdotes.

Regardless of which option you choose, limit yourself to three or four pages of writing. As I’ve said repeatedly before, however, it’s almost always best to write too much—and then cut. I’m hoping, therefore, to see five and six page drafts in your folders underneath the three or four pages of final draft of highly polished prose.

I’ll also be asking you to turn in a reverse outline and writing from all stages of the writing process and to keep track of your writing times. You can download and print off a calendar from my website.

Checklist for One-on-One Interview

2007-03-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

(Modified from The Scott Foresman Handbook page 633.)

Write or telephone your subject for an appointment, and make it clear why you want the interview.

Confirm your meeting the day before, and be on time for your appointment.

Be prepared for the meeting. If possible, learn all you can about your subject’s professional background, education, work history, and publications.

Have list of questions and possible follow-ups ready in your notebook.

Establish the basic facts: the Who? What? Where, When, How, and Why? Then, when appropriate, pose questions that require more than one-word answers.

Focus your queries on your research question: don’t wander from the subject.

Take careful notes, especially because you intend to quote your source. Feel free to direct your subject to help you insure the accuracy of your quotations. For instance, you may want to ask your subject to repeat an answer or parts of an answer while you write. You might need to ask the subject to spell certain words or phrases. . . .

Double-check your direct quotations and be sure your source is willing to be cited “on the record.”

Get your subject’s approval before turning on an audio or video recorder.

Promise to send your subject a copy of your completed project.

Send a thank-you note to anyone, especially an authority,who has been especially helpful.

Prentice Hall Website Exercises Assignment

2007-02-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

In addition to writing and revising drafts of essays, I expect you to use each week from now until the end of the semester to improve your technical skills, particularly those regarding grammar and punctuation. At the very least, I expect you to be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses in these areas.

Therefore, please look over the corrections I have marked on your essays and identify your most common errors. (Remember to consult the key to identifying the editing and proofreading symbols at very back of The Scott Foresman Handbook.)

Once you have done that, go online to the Prentice Hall Website and complete the appropriate self-correcting exercises. After you complete an exercise to your satisfaction, email a copy to yourself and then print out your test results to include in your next portfolio.

One-on-One Interview Assignment: Part Two

2007-02-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

After you have finished posting your Q & A interview (see instructions for part one below), you may complete part two of the assignment by following the directions on page 92 of The Norton Sampler: “Write a personal narrative about the whole experience of conducting the interview. Be sure to characterize the interviewee, to describe where and how the interview took place, and to reflect on what you learned about your subject.” Also make sure that you employ plenty of direct quotations throughout this narrative and that you frame each of these direct quotations according to the instructions in Chapter 47 of The Scott Foresman Handbook.

This second part of the assignment should be easier for you than the first, especially given your experience profiling an individual in your descriptive essay. In addition to the descriptive profile of your interviewee, your essay should contain a narrative of your experience that has a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Your finished essay should run between three and four typed and double-spaced pages formatted in MLA style.

One-on-One Interview Assignment: Part One

2007-02-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

Before actually undertaking the assignment, be sure to read and follow all guidelines for “Conducting a One-on-One Interview” on page 633 in The Scott Foresman Handbook.

This assignment has two interdependent parts: (1) a question-and-answer interview and (2) a narrative essay modeled on Kelly Simon’s essay “Frank Sinatra’s Gum” (The Norton Sampler 88-91). This post will address only the first half of the assignment.

A question-and-answer interview is just what it says it is—a question followed by an answer, then another question followed by another answer and so on. Plato uses this format in all his famous dialogs, and websites commonly feature Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that employ the same format. Popular magazines also feature Q & A interviews.

Your first job then is to find a suitable subject for an interview and then set up the interview. If you’re interested in law enforcement, for example, you might want to arrange an interview with a city, county, or state police officer. Or perhaps you would prefer to interview a parole officer or an attorney. On the other hand, maybe you’re interested in knowing what makes a good marriage, in which case you might interview someone you already know . . . .

Regardless, you need to carefully prepare for your interview by writing out ahead of time a list of good questions to ask your subject. These questions should focus on the topic of your interview. Perhaps it goes without saying that you need to have a copy of your written questions with you (along with a set of follow-up questions) when you conduct your interview. It’s often best to begin by establishing facts: Who? What? Where? When? How? Why? Be sure to pose questions that require more than one-word answers and to focus your questions around a thesis question: “What does it take to be a good cop?”

If possible, record your interview. If not, take copious and careful notes. The idea is to record the subject’s response to your questions accurately, word-for-word. (Sorry, but no. You may not conduct your interview through email. Doing so would defeat the purpose of the assignment, a part of which is to refine your listening skills and to sharpen your ability to edit spoken texts into good writing.) Be sure to record the time and date of interview and to closely observe your surroundings. These details will help later when you write the second part of your assignment.

You may also want to take a digital photograph of your subject before or after you conduct the interview.

Finally, edit and proofread your interview and then post the finished piece on your blog in MLA format. Your finished essay should run between three and four double-spaced typewritten pages.

You can download an interview subject release form from my website. Although it's a formality, it's a good idea to have your interviewee sign and date this form.

Submissions Checklist “The Best Ever Assignment (Not!)” for English 101

2007-01-30T11:15:00.000-08:00

One 8.5 x 11 inch file folder with last name first, first name last
Two copies of final edited draft formatted in MLA Style
Preliminary draft
Self-Review*
Two Peer Reviews*
Scratch Outlines

*forms required may be downloaded from my website

The Best Ever Assignment (Not!)

2007-01-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

Some people are so unique—so miserable, so kind, so generous, so nasty, so rude, so intelligent, so compassionate, so unforgettable—that they deserve to become immortal. In your prewriting for this assignment, create several categories and a list of candidates for each category (The Best Teacher Ever or The Cruelest Person I Have Ever Known). Then choose one category and one candidate and begin listing all the reasons this person defines the category.

Next identify which of these reasons take priority over the others and arrange those reasons in order from least to most convincing (persuasion). Then find at least one other way to organize (narration, description, definition, comparison-contrast. . .) and create a second writing plan.

Which method of organization do you prefer?

To find out, choose one method and write a complete timed draft (tentative thesis, body, conclusion) of your essay in a blue book. Be sure to limit your time (no more than 90 minutes) and write the time you begin and end on the outside of your blue book.

In this draft be sure to give your readers a profile of the person that dramatizes (shows) a piece of that person’s life. Give your readers a clear sense of the person’s physical appearance (coloration, build, dress), speech (favorite gestures and body language, favorite expressions), and actions. What is the dominant impression this person creates in the minds of others? Show your readers how you interact(ed) with the person and what you have learned from her or him.

After you have completed your first draft in your bluebook, take a break for an hour (or maybe a whole day).

Then use your draft to make a more formal outline of your essay in which you make sure your paragraphs limit themselves to one topic and contain plenty of supporting material (examples, illustrations, etc) for each of your topic sentences. (Think of these as mini thesis sentences.)

Now write a second, more fully-developed draft of at least five double-spaced typewritten pages.

Take another break.

After your break, read your essay aloud at least once—or better yet, have someone else read it aloud to you. Fix any problem sentences. Then bring it to class formatted in MLA style and ready to submit for peer reviews and a grade.