SUNY Fredonia
Division of Arts and Humanities
ENGL 100: ENGLISH COMPOSITION
Writing Matters
Fall 2005
Bruce Simon
Section 12: MW 5-6:20, Thompson E-122
Office: Fenton 265; 673-3856; MWF 1-2, TTh 9-12, and by appointment
E-mail: simon@fredonia.edu
Web Page: www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/
Blackboard Site: blackboard.fredonia.edu/

About the Course Web Site

This web site is designed to help you get as much out of this course as possible--you can use it to find out how you will be graded, what reading and writing assignments are due and when, how to access the Blackboard site for your section, what books are on reserve for your use in Reed Library, and how to use the world-wide web for research. Please take the time during the first week of classes to read this page carefully and to familiarize yourself with the other pages for this course. Please get in the habit of checking back to this web site to keep track of changes to the tentative schedule listed in your syllabus and to find advice on assignments, as well as to explore the ever-expanding list of links to interesting web pages related to the course. And please contact me anytime (see above for my coordinates) if you have ideas about how to improve these pages or the course as a whole. I hope you enjoy taking this course as much as I enjoy teaching it!

I. Course Description

ENGL 100 is an experiential, student-based writing-workshop course in which students understand and practice various stages of the writing process; compose essays using narration, description, persuasion, exposition, and explanation; and use writing and discussion as a means of situating themselves in a world of ideas. Emphasis throughout is on reading critically. This section emphasizes connections between critical thinking, critical reading, active listening, research, writing, and public speaking. Under the overarching theme that writing matters, students will explore their own and others' thinking about education and writing in the first two-thirds of the course and confront what they and others believe to be crucial challenges facing humanity over the course of the twenty-first century in the last third of the course. ENGL 100 satisfies the Basic Written Communication requirement of the College Core Curriculum.

II. Rationale

The underlying goal of ENGL 100 is to improve students' ability to write English effectively by engaging them in the writing process. In it, as in most courses offered by the English Department, students from a range of majors, minors, and concentrations interact, and the goals of the professional programs are integrated with specific course goals. Achieving these goals (described in Section IV, below) will require us to foster academic skills and intellectual habits of reading closely and attentively, thinking critically and creatively, listening actively and carefully, speaking thoughtfully and concisely, and writing clearly and analytically--skills and habits of importance to everyone, including English Adolescence Education majors.

III. Textbooks. The textbooks adopted for this course are:

• Jane Aaron, The Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers, 5th spiral ed. (Longman, 2005)
• Lynn Bloom and Louise Smith, eds., The Arlington Reader: Canons and Contexts (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003)

IV. Course Objectives and Outcomes

The two overarching and interlinked goals of ENGL 100 are to help students become more critically conscious and "better" readers, listeners, speakers, and writers. Hence, upon successful completion of ENGL 100, students will (1) understand and demonstrate the writing process through invention, drafting, revision, editing, and presentation; (2) participate effectively in groups with emphasis on listening, critical and reflective thinking, and responding; (3) demonstrate the ability to address diverse audiences; (4) construct logical and coherent arguments adopted to a particular audience; and (5) demonstrate authority, point of view, and individual voice and style. Although successfully completing ENGL 100 alone will not satisfy CCC requirements in critical thinking, information management, and public speaking, developing students' understanding and practice of these crucial skills is also a major objective of this section and should prepare students well for meeting these CCC requirements. This course is also designed to expose students to interdisciplinary, transnational modes of intellectual inquiry.

V. Instructional Methods and Activities

The methods used in the classroom will include a combination of instructor-led lecture, mini-lessons, and discussion; workshopping and collaborative team work; student presentations and debates based on prior research and reading--and hence a mix of traditional, clinical, and field experiences.

VI. Evaluation and Grade Assignment

A. Methods

Preparation/Participation/Team Work (10%). Regular attendance and thoughtful participation are crucial to your enjoyment of and success in this course. If there is absolutely no way for you to avoid missing a class, you must contact me ahead of time or soon after your absence, preferably by email (see section VIII for more on attendance policies in this course). Even more important than showing up on time, of course, is coming to class prepared and focused. I expect you to read what has been assigned for a given date at least once (and preferably more than that!) by the time we begin to discuss it in class. This is a workshop and discussion rather than a lecture course, after all; although I will provide some context and background for our reading, the bulk of class time will be spent in small- or large-group discussions and activities, examining our own and other students' writing. Since it's difficult to write well, give good feedback on others' writing, or make good contributions to discussions about an assigned reading if you haven't read it carefully or thought about it extensively, how well you budget your time outside of class will to a large degree determine how well you do in this class in general and how well you do on this portion of your course grade in particular. On the first day of class, students will be divided into eight teams. Each team will collaborate in and out of class and on the Blackboard site. Teams will be offered a series of increasingly difficult challenges, ranging from group-authored reports (see below) to be posted to the Blackboard site (described below in Section VIIIB) to a group presentation to an outside audience on a research topic of your choice (see final project, below).

Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on a combination of the quality of your participation in class discussions and workshops, with your team, and on the Blackboard site, and your level of preparation, improvement, and effort over the course of the semester. As there are no tests in this course, think of my evaluation of your preparation/participation/team work as a different but equally important method of assessing your overall performance in the course. Participation in peer revision workshops is mandatory; hence, each workshop missed will lower a student's grade on this portion of his or her final grade by a full grade. Similarly, successful participation in team work is crucial; hence, each deadline missed by a team to file a report on Blackboard will lower all team members' grades on this portion of their final grade by a full grade. Finally, due to the importance of attendance and participation, barring emergencies more than two unexcused absences will hurt your preparation/participation grade and each absence after the third will lower your final course grade by a full grade (e.g., with four non-emergency absences a B+ will become a C+; with six, it will become an E). Please see Section VIIIB below for definitions of excused and emergency absences and keep in mind that excused absences count toward your total of non-emergency absences for the semester.

Individual Research Tasks (15%). Students will complete four 1-page annotated bibliographies in a variety of citation formats, the best 3 of which are each worth 5% of the final grade. Further advice and information on the individual research tasks can be found on the Discussion Board of the course Blackboard site.

Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on the quality of the research, the conciseness and accuracy of the annotations, and the correctness of the citation format. Improvement over the course of the semester on this assignment will be factored into the participation/preparation/team work grade, as will improvements teams make in their reports generated from the individual team members' annotated bibliographies.

Essays (45%). Students will write and revise three short essays, each worth 15% of the final grade. Essays will be in a variety of modes and offer a variety of choices in terms of topic, purpose, and audience. Further advice and information on essays can be found at http://www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/engl100f05/ce.htm.

Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on the coherence and validity of each paper's arguments, the effectiveness of each paper's structure in conveying your ideas and convincing your audience, and the quality of each paper's prose (including grammar, syntax, and punctuation). Students will have the opportunity to peer review and peer edit each other's essays in these areas and will also receive formal and informal feedback from the instructor during the writing process. Improvements between initial and final drafts will be factored into the participation/preparation/team work grade.

Final Project (30%). The final project will consist of (1) an individually-researched and composed medium-length problem/solution essay on a topic of the student's choice that relates to the themes of the last third of the course and (2) a team-produced presentation to be delivered to a local audience that combines and builds on the team members' essays. Further information and advice on the final project can be found on the course web site at http://www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/engl100f05/fp.htm.

Your grade for this segment of the course will be based on the coherence and validity of the paper's analyses, prescriptions, and arguments, the effectiveness of the paper's structure in conveying your ideas and convincing your audience, and the quality of the paper's prose (including grammar, syntax, and punctuation) (worth 15% of the final grade); and the effectiveness of the team's work in designing and delivering a presentation based on their individual papers (worth 15% of the final grade).

B. Grading. I will grade student work during the semester on a letter basis (A=outstanding, B=good, C=average, D=bad, F=yeesh) and convert letter grades into numbers when calculating final grades. I use the following conversion system (the number in parentheses is the "typical" or "normal" conversion, but any number in the range may be assigned to a given letter grade):

A+=97-100 (98); A=93-96.99 (95); A-=90-92.99 (91); B+=87-89.99 (88); B=83-86.99 (85); B-=80-82.99 (81); C+=77-79.99 (78); C=73-76.99 (75); C-=70-72.99 (71); D+=67-69.99 (68); D=63-66.99 (65); D-=60-62.99 (61); F=0-59.99 (55)

Your final grade is determined by converting the weighted numerical average of the above assignments into a letter grade, according to the above scale.

VII. Bibliography. See the reserves page for a complete list of reserve readings, available at the circulation desk of Reed Library, which can be helpful in preparing for your pedagogical project and final research project.

A. Contemporary References

• Marc Bousquet, Tony Scott, and Leo Parascondola, eds., Tenured Bosses and Disposable Teachers: Writing Instruction in the Managed University
• Edward Corbett, et al., The Writing Teacher's Source Book (4th ed.)
• Peter Elbow, Writing without Teachers (2nd ed.)
• Donald Lazere, Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy: The Critical Citizen's Guide to Argumentative Rhetoric
• William Strunk and E.B. White, The Elements of Style (4th ed.)
• William Zinsser, On Writing Well (6th ed.)

B. Classic References

• Christopher Edgar and Ron Padgett, Old Faithful: Eighteen Writers Present Their Favorite Writing Assignments
• Mina P. Shaughnessy, Errors and Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing
• Gary Tate, ed., Teaching Composition: Twelve Bibliographical Essays (2nd ed.)
• -- and Erika Lindemann, eds., An Introduction to Composition Studies

C. Key Journals

• College Composition and Communication
• College English
• Composition Forum
• Composition Studies
• Enculturation
• JAC

VIII. Course Schedule and Policies

A. Tentative Course Schedule. The following course schedule is subject to revision--please refer here regularly for updates to this schedule. (Key: AR=Bloom and Smith's The Arlington Reader; LB=Aaron's The Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers).

Unit I: Who Are We and What Are We Doing Here? The Stakes of Higher Education

Section I: Why College? What Difference Does a College Education Make?
M 8/22 welcome, overview; choosing teams; intros; individual research task 1: bring to Wednesday's class a one-page typed or word-processed annotated bibliography, in APA style, that summarizes answers from the best sources you could find to the following questions: (1) what difference, in economic terms, does holding an undergraduate degree make in the U.S.? (2) what percentage of the U.S. population currently holds an undergraduate degree?
W 8/24 before class: enroll in the course Blackboard site and familiarize yourself with it and the course web site; come to class with any questions you may have about them; and complete the course questionnaire available in the Documents section of the Blackboard site (download it and send the completed questionnaire to me at simon@fredonia.edu by 10 pm Friday 8/26). instructor-led mini-lesson: on annotated bibliographies and APA style. team work and research task 1: assemble individual annotated bibliographies into team report, with bibliography of best sources in APA format, to be posted to discussion board of Blackboard site by 5 pm Friday 8/26.

M 8/29 before class: read all team reports on discussion board of Blackboard site and come to class prepared to discuss them; familiarize yourself with the following web sites and come to class prepared to discuss them:

• Joe Barker, "Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial," University of California at Berkeley Library
• Jason Snart, "Internet Research Guide," University of Florida
• Joan Ormondroyd, Michael Engle, and Tony Cosgrave, "Critically Analyzing Information Sources," Cornell University Library
• Ronald Standler, "Evaluating Credibility of Information on the Internet"

• Follow-Up Question 1 (Teams 1 and 2): The people at the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, when analyzing the future earnings potential of people with an undergraduate degree and its differential from those with a high school degree, don't take into account the costs of higher education (tuition, loans, opportunity costs [of not doing something else]). Perhaps a better measure of the value of higher education is what economists call the "rate of return" on one's initial investment. So what is the expected average annual rate of return on the four years of college and all they cost?
• Follow-Up Question 2 (Teams 3 and 4): The first research task asked us to discover the percentage of the U.S. population who currently hold an undergraduate degree, but how do the U.S.'s rates compare to other countries'? Moreover, what is the percentage of the world's population who currently hold an undergraduate degree? Are other countries' percentages and the global percentage rising over time like the U.S.'s has been for the last two decades? What might be the major implications of the answers you find to these questions for those in the U.S.?
• Follow-Up Question 3 (Teams 5 and 6): There was great consensus in the literature we discovered that there's close to a million-dollar difference in lifetime earnings between those with a high school diploma and those with a baccalaureate degree. But why is that? What causes that difference in lifetime earnings? How does one's choice of college (private/public, big/little, expensive/cheap, etc.) and degree program, or one's GPA or engagement in activities outside the classroom--or any other relevant difference between college graduates--affect one's lifetime earnings?
• Follow-Up Question 4 (Teams 7 and 8): Many people choose service in the U.S. military after high school instead of college. How do their lifetime earnings compare with those who chose college right off the bat? If you can, break it down between those who used the military to help finance their college educations and those who either stay in the military or move into the civilian workforce without getting a degree from a college or university.

• Ronald Standler, "Why Attend College?"
• "The Economic Value of Higher Education," Washington Research Council (12 July 1999)
• Tom Mortenson, "Inherited Educational Opportunity," Postsecondary Education Opportunity 157 (July 2005)

M 9/5 Labor Day: No Class
W 9/7 before class: read all the team reports on the Blackboard site; buy the books for this section of ENGL 100 and read John Trimbur, "Guidelines for Collaborating in Groups" (AR 98-101) for advice on doing well in the course; also read Richard Hoggart, "The Uses of Literacy" (AR 360-362); Jonathan Kozol, "The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society" (AR 370-377), Shirley Brice Heath, "Literate Traditions" (AR 377-387), and Suzanne Langer, "Signs and Symbols" (AR 948-954); complete and bring to class ESSAY I draft; instructor mini-lesson: peer response workshopprinciples and practices. peer response workshop: pair up with one person from another team (people from teams 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, should partner up to comment on each other's drafts) and offer suggestions for revision to your partner and suggested criteria for evaluating the different essay options to the class. large-group discussion: how much of a difference does literacy contribute to the differences higher education is supposed to make? what kinds of literacies should higher education foster in students?

Section II: What For? Debating the Purpose and Ideals of Higher Education
M 9/12 [note: class meets in Reed Library at the Circulation Desk] before class: read Lynn Bloom and Louise Smith, "Introduction: Reading and Writing in Context" (AR 1-19); complete and bring to class revision of ESSAY I and draft from last class to be turned in to instructor along with author's note reflecting on revision process. librarian-led workshop: researching higher education purposes and ideals (Dawn Eckenrode).
W 9/14 before class: read Theodore Roszak, "Descartes's Angel" (AR 387-396), Peter Drucker, "Beyond the Information Revolution" (AR 535-546), and Sven Birkets, "Into the Electronic Millennium" (AR 995-1004). large-group discussion: on technology and critical thinking, reading, writing, and learning. individual research task 3: bring to Monday's class a one-page typed or word-processed annotated bibliography, in MLA style, that summarizes the most and least appealing visions of higher education you discover in your research.

M 9/19 before class: read Gloria Naylor, "The Love of Books" (AR 69-76), Lynda Barry, "The Sanctuary of School" (AR 415-419), Mike Rose, "'I Just Wanna Be Average'" (AR 419-427), and Adrienne Rich, "Taking Women Students Seriously" (AR 397-404). in-class writing: narrative on significant high school (or earlier, or outside formal schooling) experience with education; team discussion: compare your experiences with reading and schooling with those of the authors for today. large-group discussion: on reading and schooling. instructor-led workshop: on annotated bibliographies and MLA style. team work and research task 3: assemble individual annotated bibliographies into team report on most liked and most hated visions for higher education, with bibliography in MLA format, to be posted to discussion board of Blackboard site by 10 pm Tuesday 9/20.
W 9/21 [note: class will start late due to RFK Jr.'s Convocation Keynote Address] before class: read all team reports on discussion board of Blackboard site and come to class prepared to discuss them; read Amy Tan, "Mother Tongue" (AR 53-58), Gloria Anzaldœa, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" (AR 58-69), and Eric Liu, "Notes of a Native Speaker" (AR 178-184). team discussion: comparing your team's preferences with another's (Teams 1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4, should sit together and discuss each other's reports). large-group discussion: how should institutions of higher education deal with languages other than English and with multiple Englishes?; essay 2 pre-writing task: reflect on Section II and do any further research needed to help you complete a draft of ESSAY II by 5 pm Wednesday 9/28 [click on link for assignment sheet]; prepare for debate on Rodriguez.

M 9/26 before class: read Richard Rodriguez, "Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" and "Contexts" essays (AR 342-368). debate: on affirmative action (teams 1-3 [pro] vs. teams 4-6 [con]).
W 9/28 before class: complete and bring to class ESSAY II draft; read the following on-line articles and come to class prepared to discuss them:

• Robert Hutchins and William Neilsen, "What Is the Job of Our Colleges?," New York Times Magazine (March 1937)
• John Dewey, "President Hutchins' Proposals to Remake Higher Education," The Social Frontier 3.22 (January 1937) and "The Higher Learning in America," The Social Frontier 3.24 (March 1937)
• Thomas Long, "Huxley v. Arnold: The Case of Science and Culture Appealed," Thomas Nelson Community College (December 1998)
• Scott Rice, "Run Higher Education Like a Business? We Are Better Than That!," San Jose State University (February 2001)
• Martha Nussbaum, "Liberal Education and Global Responsibility," Carleton College (October 2002)
• Jeff Lustig, "The Mixed Legacy of Clark Kerr: A Personal View," Academe (July/August 2004)

Section III: What's Writing Got to Do with It? Learning and Using Literacies
M 10/3 before class: read Lynn Bloom and Louise Smith, "Introduction: Reading and Writing in Context" (AR 1-30) [rereading pp. 1-19] and "Dialogue: Giving Good Advice/How to Write" (AR 110-118); complete and bring to class revision of ESSAY II and draft from last class to be turned in to instructor along with author's note reflecting on revision process. team discussion: compare your process of and take on composing and revising with the readings for today. large-group discussion: on relation between writing advice and writing process/experience.
W 10/5 before class: read Joan Didion, "On Keeping a Notebook" and "Contexts" essays (AR 31-46). in-class writing: pros and cons of Didion's ideas on writing and practice of notebooking. large-group discussion: on notebooking. extra-credit individual writing task: post writing notebook/inventory to Blackboard discussion board by M 10/10 [see Blackboard site for details].

M 10/10 before class: read N. Scott Momaday, "The Way to Rainy Mountain" and "Contexts" essays (AR 119-144); read Blackboard postings. in-class writing: pros and cons of Momaday's ideas on writing and practice of storytelling. large-group discussion: on narrative. team work: generating anecdotes from your writing notebooks/inventories. extra-credit individual writing task: post anecdote based on writing notebook/inventory to Blackboard discussion board by M 10/17 [see Blackboard site for details].
W 10/12 Fall Break: No Class

M 10/17 before class: read Alice Walker, "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens" and "Contexts" essays (AR 923-943); read Blackboard postings. in-class writing: pros and cons of Walker's ideas on writing and practice of revising for different audiences. large-group discussion: on revision. extra-credit individual writing task: post revisions for different audiences of anecdote based on writing notebook/inventory to Blackboard discussion board by M 10/24 [see Blackboard site for details].
W 10/19 before class: read Leslie Marmon Silko, "Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective" (AR 251-261); Linda Hogan, "Hearing Voices" (AR 945-948); "Dialogue: Parables, Fables, and Other Cautionary Tales/Stories That Teach" (AR 455-463). team work: key ideas in Hogan and Silko/your reactions. large-group discussion: on story-telling, writing, teaching, and culture. team work: each team takes a single parable/cautionary tale, analyzes it, shares reactions to it, and then reports on findings. essay 3 pre-writing task: reflect on readings and issues from Section III and do any further research needed to help you complete a draft of ESSAY III by 5 pm Wednesday 10/26 [click on link for assignment sheet].

M 10/24 before class: read Maxine Hong Kingston, "No Name Woman" and "Contexts" essays (AR 582-607); read Blackboard postings. team work: finsh reports from last class and discuss. large-group discussion: on story-telling, writing, education, culture, and gender.
W 10/26 before class: read Eudora Welty, "Listening" (AR 48-53); Stephen King, "Write or Die" (AR 90-93); Elie Wiesel, "Why I Write" (AR 93-98); Ursula LeGuin, "Where Do You Get Ideas From" (AR 976-983) and Anne Lamott, "Polaroids" (AR 1123-1126); complete and bring to class ESSAY III draft. peer revision workshop: pair up with a partner and take notes toward an email that you'll send to him/her (and cc: me at simon@fredonia.edu) by the end of the night F 10/28, in which you lay out the strengths and weaknesses of the essay and offer suggestions for revision (that include but go beyond editing to take on such topics as quality of thesis/support, structure/organization, and sentence-level prose/overall formatting of the draft). [Please see the Blackboard site for more specifics on this email!] group work: divide up into groups based on which option you worked on and compare what you were doing in your drafts with what the writers for today who 'overlapped' the most with your essay were doing; look throughout the readings from this semester for suggestions on, models for, and inspiration for taking your essay to the next level by the time it's due next W and discuss your reactions. individual research task 4: identify what you see as the key challenge facing humanity in the twenty-first century and produce a 1-page annotated bibliography, in MLA format, of the best sources on this topic, to be brought to class M 11/7.

Unit II: Where Are We Going, Where Have We Been? Facing the Future, Traversing the 21st Century

Section I: Technology
M 10/31 before class: read W. French Anderson, "Genetics and Human Malleability" (AR 892-896); Leigh Turner, "The Media and the Ethics of Cloning" (AR 897-901); Rebecca Mead, "Eggs for Sale" (AR 902-911); Emily Martin, "The Egg and the Sperm" (AR 787-794); "Dialogue: Op-Ed Essays/The Ideal Society versus Reality" (AR 681-692). mini-lecture: lessons from Essay II for revising Essay III. in-class writing: on most interesting or troubling aspect of biotechnology.
W 11/2 before class: read Stewart Brand, "Written on the Wind" (AR 105-109); Peter Berger, "Publicity" (AR 1005-1012); Ursula Franklin, "Silence and the Notion of the Commons" (AR 794-799); Simon Head, "Big Brother in a Black Box" (AR 1063-1068); "Dialogue: Writing Humor: Scientific and Social Processes Gone Wrong" (AR 801-808); complete and bring to class revision of ESSAY III and draft from last W's class to be turned in to instructor along with author's note reflecting on revision process. team work: chose essay to analyze for ways it lays out problem and offers solutions and report on your analysis and reactions. large-group discussion: implications for final essay.

Section II: Energy
M 11/7 before class: read Niall Ferguson, "2011" (AR 560-567). large-group discussion: on Ferguson's rhetorical strategies and identification of problems and opportunities. team work and research task 4: assemble individual annotated bibliographies into team report on most pressing challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century, with bibliography in MLA format, to be posted to discussion board of Blackboard site by 10 pm Sunday 11/13. individual research task 4a: revise your annotated bibliography by expanding the range of sources and focusing your annotations on how they define the problem they focus on and what solutions they offer to it, to be graded next class.
W 11/9 before class: read Jeremy Rifkin, from The Hydrogen Economy (xerox distributed in class); Michael Klare, from Resource Wars (xerox distributed in class). large-group discussion: on Rifkin and Klare's treatments of problems and solutions posed by histories of energy use and conflict. individual research task 4b: revise the annotated bibliography your turned in today by further expanding the range of sources and focusing your annotations on how they define the problem they focus on and what solutions they offer to it, to be turned in W 11/30. This revision should illustrate how you developed your research as you worked on the essay portion of the final project. Your grade for individual research task 4 will be the average of the grades on the 11/9 and 11/30 annotated bibliographies.

Section III: Climate
M 11/14 before class: read Rachel Carson, "The Obligation to Endure" (AR 293-299); William Rees, "Life in the Lap of Luxury as Ecosystems Collapse" (AR 299-303); Sandra Postel, "Troubled Waters" (AR 304-312); Ross Gelbspan, "The Heat Is On" (AR 313-322). in-class writing: which writer was most effective in convincing you of the seriousness of the problem they identified? large-group discussion: on evaluating rhetorical strategies. in-class writing: which writer offered the best solutions to the problem he or she identified? large-group discussion: on evaluating solution options.
W 11/16 before class: read Jared Diamond, from Guns, Germs, and Steel (xerox distributed in class).

M 11/21-F 11/25 Thanksgiving Break: No Classes.

Section IV: Disease
M 11/28 before class: read Edward Wilson, "Microbes 3, Humans 2" (AR 763-765); Jared Diamond, from Guns, Germs, and Steel (xerox distributed in class).
W 11/30 before class: read Helen Epstein, "Something Happened" (AR 776-786); William McNeill, from Plagues and Peoples (xerox distributed in class); bring revision of individual research task 4 annotated bibliography and FINAL PROJECT ESSAY to class. mini-lecture/consultation: Joyce Harvard Smith, Coordinator, Volunteer and Community Services. Note: Natalie Gerber, Assistant Professor of English, will run this class, as I have to be home ith my wife and child today.

Section V: War
M 12/5 NOTE: Class begins at 5:30 pm. before class: read H. Bruce Franklin, "From Realism to Virtual Reality" (AR 514-530).
W 12/7 before class: read Garry Trudeau, "The Draft: My Story/My Story: The Holes" (AR 567-570); Anna Quindlen, "Uncle Sam and Aunt Samantha" (AR 878-880); "Dialogue: Making History/Diaries and Memoirs of War and Peace" (AR 573-581). wrap up course

M 12/12 6:15-8:15 pm: classroom reserved for teams' FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
F 12/16 FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATION must be completed by the end of exam week if not done on Monday in class; revision of FINAL PROJECT ESSAY due before the end of the semester (new grade will replace original grade).

B. Class Policies

1. Attendance. As stated in Section VI above, barring emergencies each absence after the third will lower your final course grade by one grade. Be aware that absences due to emergencies are the only absences that will not be counted toward your total for the semester. Emergencies include but are not limited to death in the family, hospitalization or serious illness, natural disasters, and snow days; scheduled and unavoidable school-sponsored events (games, meets, performances, etc.) are also counted as emergencies for the purpose of this attendance policy. Besides emergencies, the only other absences that won't affect your participation/preparation grade are excused absences. Please notify the instructor over email, in advance if possible and, if not, as soon after the absence as possible, if you wish an absence to be considered as an emergency or excused absence; the decision will be made at the instructor's discretion.

2. Team Work. As stated in Section VI above, students will be assigned to a team on the first day of class and will be graded on their participation in team work. Peer review workshops will involve pairing of different teams for each of the three essays. Participation in peer revision workshops is mandatory; hence, each workshop missed will lower a student's attendance/participation/preparation/team work grade by a full grade. Similarly, each deadline missed by a team to post a report to the Blackboard site will lower all team members' attendance/participation/preparation/team work grades by a full grade.

3. Course Blackboard Site. You must enroll in the course Blackboard site during the first week of class and use it throughout the semester. To do this, use a web browser to get to blackboard.fredonia.edu/. Login using your network password. Then search for ENGL 100-12 and click on the enroll tab. This will send an enrollment request to me and I will enroll you. You should receive a confirmation message within 24 hours of completing your part of the enrollment process. Please familiarize yourself with the college's "Computer and Network Usage Policy" (Undergraduate Catalog 2005-2007, pp. 216-221) and check with your instructor first before posting something to the Blackboard site that is not directly related to the course.

4. Late Assignments. Only students who ask for an extension at least two days before the due date of any written project will be granted an extension. For everyone else, late work is penalized by a grade off per day late. In addition, each late team report lowers all team members' preparation/participation/team work grades by a full grade.

5. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity. To plagiarize is "to steal and pass off as one's own the ideas or words of another" (Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary). SUNY Fredonia strongly condemns plagiarism and takes severe action against those who plagiarize. Disciplinary action may extend to suspension from privileges or expulsion from college. Please familiarize yourself with the college's "Academic Integrity Policy" (Undergraduate Catalog 2005-2007, pp. 212-215, see also p. 199) and check with your instructor if you have any questions about it.

ENGL 100: English Composition, Fall 2005
Created: 8/22/05 12:15 pm
Last modified: 12/5/05 12:57 pm
Webmaster: Bruce Simon, Associate Professor of English, SUNY Fredonia