it's in the details

Course Description: Rhetorical Approach to writing, taught through extensive collaborative drafting, revising and editing. Emphasis on critical reading and analysis. Computer assisted.

Welcome to English 101! The point of Composition and Critical Inquiry is to help you become more critical and proficient consumers and producers of texts. As you may know, Composition and Critical Inquiry is one of two Inner Core courses that incoming freshmen at ISU are required to take in their first year. The other is Communication and Critical Inquiry. Together, these two courses constitute a year-long sequence designed to help you develop critical thinking, researching, speaking, and writing skills that will serve you well throughout your university career and beyond. This class is designed to help you explore your writing processes in various writing situations. Whatever your previous conceptions of writing are, this class should help you expand, develop, and improve your skills as a writer. The main goal of English 101, however, is to help you develop as an analytical writer and thinker who understands his/her own process of creating and revising his or her own writing in several types of situations. If all goes as planned, this should be proven through the creation of your portfolio. This project will be culmination of your semester’s work, and will demonstrate your development and understanding of the writing process. We will also do many in-class activities and exercises to develop and improve writing and revising skills. Because of this, attendance to 101 is vital. Being in class and participating are crucial to your development as a writer in this class. Writing is something that you learn through doing, and through the help of others. You will be doing a lot of writing in this class, most of which will be shared with both your peers and myself. Therefore, getting responses and suggestions from other members of the class is an integral part of this course. In this regard, this class requires a high level of interaction, respect, and consideration as we work together to become better writers.

Required Materials:

The Course Guide for Composition and Critical Inquiry, 2005
The Mercury Reader, 2005 edition
The Redbird Reader, 2005 edition

A jump drive or IBM formatted disk on which to save your work
Folder or 3-ring binder for final portfolio.
A generic pocket folder to turn in bi-weekly papers.
Money on your ISU ID card to make copies of papers.

Course Work:
All of the writing and in-class activities we will do throughout the entire semester will work toward your final portfolio, which determines your grade in this course.(100% of your grade is based on your portfolio work). Your portfolio will be comprised of the following:

Drafts, responses, revision questions, analytic cover letters, and instructor comments for the six 5-7 page essays (or Unit Assignments) that you will write over the course of the semester.
Separate, portfolio revisions for four of these essays
A 5-7 page analytical introduction to your portfolio (which counts as one of the six unit assignments)
We will discuss all of these items in considerable detail as the semester progresses. Please notice that simply writing papers is not enough in this class: this course also works on developing skills in revision, responding, drafting, analysis. In addition, many revision activites require collaboration—which means that you are responsible for the learning of someone else as well.

You are also responsible for:

Daily in-class writing, outside writing like posting on the class blog, revision, and discussion activities that will work on developing different aspects of your writing. Outside research that will inform the writing and arguments you make in your unit papers. Please note that each of the essays that you choose to place in the final portfilio must include some form of research.

Editorial Groups:
Work done with your peers in "Editorial Groups" that will be assigned for each Unit. These groups are meant to facilitate the collaborative environment of the class, as well as peer response, revision, and copy-editing. (More on this below.)
Periodic conferences with to discuss your work. Few conferences will be required. Most will be optional. If you do schedule a conference with us (required or not), we expect your attendance. One on one interaction when it concerns the writing process is often very valuable for both parties involved, so please take advantage of the times we set aside to speak about your writing.

You will work in assigned groups of 3-4 during each unit assignment throughout the semester. Each group (groups will change after each round) will be responsible for helping the other members of their group draft and (most importantly) respond to each others unit assignments. There will be days set aside in the course schedule for response, copy-editing, group work, etc. and on these days your Editorial Group will decide how best to spend this time. As Senior Editors, our job will be to offer you assistance, guidance, and critique throughout the course. We will also ask your group informally for an updated status during each Unit.

Grading:
As noted above, your final grade for this course is determined by the work in your final portfolio. This, as well as the Advisory Grades for each unit assignment, will be evaluated according to the "Portfolio Grading Standards for English 101" (See the Course Guide, pages 120-124).

However, you will also receive "advisory grades" for every essay written during the first twelve weeks of the semester. These advisory grades are in no way related to the final grade you will receive on your portfolio. Instead, they are meant as indicators of where you stand in relation to the standards for the final portolio.

Course Policies
In addition to those outlined in the Course Guide: back to top

Academic Honesty
Please consult your course guide for information about academic honesty and about your responsibilities as writers within this academic community. (p. 97 in your Course Guide).

Attendance: Required. As stated in the Course Guide, “Every student will be held responsible for class attendance and successful completion of academic work” (qtd from ISU’s Undergraduate Bulletin). We stand by this. The most important aspect of English 101 is your participation, not for us, but for your fellow students who depend on you for group work and revision suggestions.

Late Papers and Failure to Turn in Work: All work is due on the dates assigned on the course schedule. We reserve the right to not grade or respond to papers not turned in on assigned due dates. It is important that you complete work on time, for after the first twelve weeks of class, all papers and assignments must be completed—and have an Advisory Grade on them—for your portfolio grade to count. Otherwise, your portfolio grade cannot be above a D.

Computers in the Classroom: As it states in the Course Guide for English 101: "Each student is also responsible for keeping a complete electronic copy of his/her portfolio for his/her personal use" (169). You retain sole responsibility for keeping electronic copies of all your work. Lost, stolen, or erased disks, home computer crashes, printer problems, etc. do not excuse you from turning in your work or having copies of all your work on disk (AND in the Instructor Folders) at the end of the semester. Remember to make frequent back-up copies of files and keep copies on multiple disks. Also (and this is important) make sure you are saving copies of essays as multiple drafts (using the "Save As") option, as well as peer responses you've both given and received, and all in-class exercises.

Free Speech/Student Respect: We acknowledge and respect the free speech codes stipulated by the University and will act accordingly. Since this course will be highly interactive, it is important to recognize this. However, in recognizing the option for the open sharing of student ideas, we also expect that civility be brought to the class, and we will not tolerate any sexist, racist, or inappropriate speech. Put simply, act respectfully to others.

Disabilities Policy: Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at Fell Hall: 438-5853 (voice), or 438-8620 (TDD)

Writing Guidelines:

As stated in the Course Guide, all papers must be typewritten and double spaced on a computer or word processor. No hand-written papers will be accepted. I also ask that all revision questions, revision suggestions to and from peers, and all reflective essays be typed.

Starting on the second page, pages should be numbered in the upper, right margin.
The upper, left-hand corner of the first page should look as such:
Your name
English 101
Devon Fitzgerald
Assignment and Draft #
Due date
Skip one line and place your title in the center of the first page. Do not underline or put the title in quotation marks. Do not bother with cover pages.

You are also required to have two electronic copies of your papers and portfolio. You are responsible for providing disks. This is for your own safety, so we suggest you make sure to save all work.

Cover Sheets: Before every scheduled peer response, and when you turn in Unit Assignments for response from the course instructors, we would like you to attach a copy of a Cover Sheet to guide the reader through your rough draft. This will work in conjunction with the revision questions. Have prepared the following as a “cover sheet” for the person(s) reading your essay:
Purpose:
Possible Audience:
Possible Forum:
If I had time, I would…
Look for this as you read…
Questions to guide your response: