English 115 Sample Syllabus
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Welcome to Approaches to University Writing! In accordance with the Basic Skills General Education requirement, the purpose of this course is to enable students to analyze and reflect on complex topics and appropriately synthesize their own and others’ ideas in clearly written and well-organized edited American English. In this course, you will learn how to compose expository prose writing with a focus on both content and form. Specific emphases shall include the exercise of logical thought and clear expression, the development of effective organizational strategies, and the appropriate gathering and utilization of evidence. In addition to the elements of prose style, this course will also feature instruction on diction, syntax, and grammar. Students receive credit for only one course chosen from AAS, CAS, CHS, ENGL, QS, and PAS 115.
Course Theme: Identity
Our theme for this semester will be the concept of identity and how our identities are shaped by the situations surrounding us, making our identities performative in nature. Throughout the course, we will explore questions such as: What is identity? How does social media shape our identities online? How are we shaped by family, friends, even the cultures of the city that are a part of our lives? How are our identities performative? How do we change to fit into the different situations in our lives? All our course readings and assignments will be informed by our theme. In addition to reading both fiction and non-fiction texts on these ideals, we will also analyze how identity is depicted in film, artwork, and media.
Course Method: The Projects
This course will be divided into what are referred to as projects. A project is a series of interconnected reading, writing, and thinking exercises that link to class work. As each project is completed, the combined drafting builds the foundation and process of an essay. This movement grows out of the specific assignments and collaborative nature of the project and leads to essays that bear marks of distinction, direction, and development with a greater emphasis on collaboration and a more sophisticated theoretical scope. There are three projects, each requiring three exercises, one draft, and one essay.
Project Web:
Project Web will explore identity and how it is expressed on the internet, particularly social media. It will involve creating your own website. Your individual pages of your website can be of your own creation, but it does have to share the theme of identity, who you are, and how you fit into your specific world. It is there that you will post your blogs, your exercises, your drafts, and your final essays for each project. This class will be multimodal, so every assignment will be turned in electronically, through your websites.
Project Space:
Project Space will explore the physical space that helps to create your identity. While space can be defined as urban, community, and personal, it may also be institutional (e.g., the university, hospital). We’re interested in how space shapes our conception of the world, self, and another. It will involve creating an ethnography to study your surroundings and how you adjust yourself to suit the varying everyday situations. You will analyze these differences in identities through blogs, exercises, a draft, and your final essay. Again, these will be submitted through your website.
Project Text:
Project Text will explore identity in the creation of your online LA magazine. We will discuss the novel, which is set in Los Angeles, and how the culture of LA permeates into the identity of its population. If we have time, we will also watch a movie/tv show that explores the idea of identity and how we can then interpret these points of views on the subject. These ideas will be explored in class discussions, blogs, exercises, a draft, and your final essay. These will be submitted electronically through your website. For your online magazine, each in your group will submit your final essay, which does not have to connect with your magazine’s theme, as well as a shorter piece, plus your input in its overall look. You will also be presenting your group magazine to the class.
Course Objectives
Student Learning Outcomes
You will gain the ability to read critically
You will gain the ability to write effectively
You will gain knowledge of the cultural diversity of literatures
Required Texts
They Say/ I Say; The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing (TSIS) 4th Ed. Graff/Birkenstein.
Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion.
NOTE: Additional reading material will be posted on our class Canvas site. All students will be responsible for downloading and printing readings as instructed.
USU Computer Lab
https://www.csun.edu/usu/computer-lab
Student Union, between Subway and Student Recreation Center (the gym)
Telephone: (818) 677-2491
All students are welcome to use any available workstation to study, print 20 free pages per day or just surf the web.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
Textbooks
Unless instructed otherwise, you are required to bring each of your textbooks to each class session, starting the 2nd week of the semester. Not having the required textbooks will result in a 5pt. deduction from your participation points for the day. You must obtain hard copy versions of the books for this course; e-books will not be used/accepted without authorization from me.
Course Requirements and Evaluation Procedures
Essay #1
Project Web
Each unit will include the following assignments: prewriting, draft, final draft. Final drafts will be revised again for portfolio.
Prewriting – 30, Draft – 10, Essay – 100=140
Essay #2
Project Space
Each unit will include the following assignments: prewriting, draft, final draft. Final drafts will be revised again for portfolio.
Prewriting – 30, Draft – 10, Essay – 100=140
Essay #3
Project Text
Each unit will include the following assignments: prewriting, draft, final draft. Final drafts will be revised again for portfolio.
Prewriting – 30, Draft – 10, Essay – 100=140
Group Presentations
Presentation at the end of the semester where you will talk about your group website.
Total=100
Quizzes/class work/freewrites
Routine work done in class. This work cannot be made up if missed.
Total=80
Attendance and participation
Be in class physically and mentally. Raise your hand at least once every class time and contribute to the conversation.
Total=100
Online Work
Blog posts-Weekly posts, due by Monday of every week, of informal yet thoughtful responses to our readings &/or class discussion. These need to be clear, convincing reflections in a conversational tone: go beyond summarizing.
Total=50
Final Portfolio
Two revised essay packets and a reflection.
Total=250
TOTAL NUMBER OF POINTS FOR THE SEMESTER – 1000
* In addition to earning a grade according to the scale below, you must submit a Final Portfolio to pass the course. You will NOT earn a final grade in the course without submitting a complete Final Portfolio. Students who did not turn in all three essays will not be able to submit a portfolio.
Grade Calculation:
930-1000 pts = A
800-829 pts = B-
670-699 pts = D+
900-929 pts = A-
770-799 pts = C+
630-669 pts = D
870-899 pts = B+
730-769 pts = C
600-629 pts = D-
830-869 pts = B
700-729 pts = C-
below 600 pts = F
A Represents a writing level of excellent polish and style, often taking an unusual or especially thoughtful or insightful position on the topic. The thesis is well supported and the writer addresses the complexity of the topic by acknowledging and then arguing skillfully against its opposing viewpoint. The essay is extremely well developed and organized, and the writing is not only free of grammatical problems or careless mistakes but is rich in details and exhibits considerable fluency and control.
B Represents solid, readable writing that does what the assignment requires. The thesis is thoughtful and the writer indicates his or her awareness of the complexity of the topic by acknowledging and then arguing skillfully against and opposing viewpoint. It demonstrates concrete support for the thesis, good organization, and is mostly free if grammatical problems or careless mistakes.
C Represents writing that, for the most part, satisfies all the requirements of an assignment. However, the thesis is not well conceived and the writing lacks sufficient, concrete support needed to illustrate its assertions or prove its point. C-level writing also shows lapses in editing proficiency and many careless errors.
D Represents writing that does not adequately satisfy the requirements of an assignment. The thesis is poorly conceived or missing, and the writing lacks coherence and support. D-level writing is characterized by significant lapses in editing proficiency and many careless errors.
F Represents writing that is flawed in terms of fulfilling the requirements of the assignment and supporting a thesis, as well as in overall coherence and appropriateness. The writing is characterized by considerable lapses in editing and a great many grammatical errors.
Format
All formal papers will be formatted according to MLA guidelines. Submit papers in a standard font (Times New Roman) using traditional 1 inch margins, headers, etc.
All papers must include the following items in the top left corner of the first page:
Your name
Teacher’s name
English 115
Date
Turnitin.com
All papers should be submitted to turnitin.com prior to being submitted on webpages.
Late/Email Assignments Policy: I do not accept late work. All work is due at the start of class. If for some reason you cannot make class, I expect the work to be dropped off before 1PM in the English Department (ST 7th Floor). You MUST make arrangements IN ADVANCE with me to do this. I do not accept emailed assignments. You are responsible for printing, stapling, and turning in your own work. If you have a valid medical or family emergency, please contact me immediately. I respond to all emails within 24 hours. You will need to provide verifiable documentation of this emergency along with a printed paper trail of your email correspondence with me along with your assignment. I will be sensitive to any reasonable family or medical emergencies as long as they are documented. Quizzes, in-class assignments, and blog posts cannot be made up if they are missed. If you miss any of these assignments, you will not receive credit.
Classroom Policies
Attendance
Attendance in this class is very important. Any student who misses more than 5 classes will NOT get any higher than a B in the course, which means you will get a zero for attendance. In the event of an emergency, please consult with me as soon as possible. I do not respond to emails asking what you missed in class; it is your responsibility to find out from a fellow classmate.
Tardiness/Leaving Early
Arriving to class late and leaving class early is rude and disruptive. Please take parking conditions and traffic into consideration when commuting to campus. Four events of tardiness and/or leaving early will equal one absence. Any student that is more than 15 minutes late to class will be marked “absent”. As with absences, please inform me if there is an emergency.
Classroom Conduct
Each student is expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner. If you are disruptive or inconsiderate in any way (talking, texting, doing work for another class, etc.) you will be asked to leave. Dismissal from the class will count as one absence.
Use of Electronics
Turn off ALL electronic devices at the start of class. We are only here for a 75 minute session; you can live without them. Please reserve such items for before and after class and I will do the same. You are not allowed to use electronic devices, unless instructed otherwise, of any kind during class, such as:
Extra Credit
All students are welcome to go to the LRC for 10 extra credit points for each essay and the final portfolio for a total of 40 extra credit points. This is the only extra credit I will offer this semester!
Learning Resource Center
http://www.csun.edu/lrc/
Oviatt Library 3rd Floor, East Wing
Telephone: (818) 677-2033
Chicana/o Studies Writing Center
Located at JR 142
Telephone: (818) 677-7881
Plagiarism
According to the CSUN catalog, plagiarism is “intentionally or knowingly representing the words, ideas, or work of another as one’s own in any academic exercise.” Plagiarism is, in fact, fraud perpetrated upon your classmates, your instructor, and the University. Cheating cheapens your education and destroys trust. I will turn over all cases of such plagiarism to the English Department and University Dean. Any form of academic plagiarism will result in immediate failure of the course. No exceptions or questions asked. Furthermore, you may also be subject to suspension or expulsion from the University. Please also be aware that borrowing, using, or copying lines/ paragraphs from other papers or websites without proper citations is plagiarism and will be treated as such. If I find out that you have purchased or borrowed a paper from a website, friend, or “papermill”, I will consider this grounds for immediate failure of the course as well. By reading this syllabus and being enrolled in this class, you understand that this is not up for negotiation or discussion.
Welcome to Approaches to University Writing! In accordance with the Basic Skills General Education requirement, the purpose of this course is to enable students to analyze and reflect on complex topics and appropriately synthesize their own and others’ ideas in clearly written and well-organized edited American English. In this course, you will learn how to compose expository prose writing with a focus on both content and form. Specific emphases shall include the exercise of logical thought and clear expression, the development of effective organizational strategies, and the appropriate gathering and utilization of evidence. In addition to the elements of prose style, this course will also feature instruction on diction, syntax, and grammar. Students receive credit for only one course chosen from AAS, CAS, CHS, ENGL, QS, and PAS 115.
Course Theme: Identity
Our theme for this semester will be the concept of identity and how our identities are shaped by the situations surrounding us, making our identities performative in nature. Throughout the course, we will explore questions such as: What is identity? How does social media shape our identities online? How are we shaped by family, friends, even the cultures of the city that are a part of our lives? How are our identities performative? How do we change to fit into the different situations in our lives? All our course readings and assignments will be informed by our theme. In addition to reading both fiction and non-fiction texts on these ideals, we will also analyze how identity is depicted in film, artwork, and media.
Course Method: The Projects
This course will be divided into what are referred to as projects. A project is a series of interconnected reading, writing, and thinking exercises that link to class work. As each project is completed, the combined drafting builds the foundation and process of an essay. This movement grows out of the specific assignments and collaborative nature of the project and leads to essays that bear marks of distinction, direction, and development with a greater emphasis on collaboration and a more sophisticated theoretical scope. There are three projects, each requiring three exercises, one draft, and one essay.
Project Web:
Project Web will explore identity and how it is expressed on the internet, particularly social media. It will involve creating your own website. Your individual pages of your website can be of your own creation, but it does have to share the theme of identity, who you are, and how you fit into your specific world. It is there that you will post your blogs, your exercises, your drafts, and your final essays for each project. This class will be multimodal, so every assignment will be turned in electronically, through your websites.
Project Space:
Project Space will explore the physical space that helps to create your identity. While space can be defined as urban, community, and personal, it may also be institutional (e.g., the university, hospital). We’re interested in how space shapes our conception of the world, self, and another. It will involve creating an ethnography to study your surroundings and how you adjust yourself to suit the varying everyday situations. You will analyze these differences in identities through blogs, exercises, a draft, and your final essay. Again, these will be submitted through your website.
Project Text:
Project Text will explore identity in the creation of your online LA magazine. We will discuss the novel, which is set in Los Angeles, and how the culture of LA permeates into the identity of its population. If we have time, we will also watch a movie/tv show that explores the idea of identity and how we can then interpret these points of views on the subject. These ideas will be explored in class discussions, blogs, exercises, a draft, and your final essay. These will be submitted electronically through your website. For your online magazine, each in your group will submit your final essay, which does not have to connect with your magazine’s theme, as well as a shorter piece, plus your input in its overall look. You will also be presenting your group magazine to the class.
Course Objectives
- Demonstrate competence in university writing
- Demonstrate the ability to use rhetorical strategies that include the appeal to audience, logic, and emotion
- Understand writing as a recursive process and demonstrate its use through invention, drafting, and revision (creating, shaping, and completing)
- Demonstrate the ability to use conventions of format, structure, style, and language appropriate to the purpose of a written text
- Demonstrate the ability to use library and online resources effectively and to document their sources
Student Learning Outcomes
You will gain the ability to read critically
You will gain the ability to write effectively
You will gain knowledge of the cultural diversity of literatures
Required Texts
They Say/ I Say; The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing (TSIS) 4th Ed. Graff/Birkenstein.
Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion.
NOTE: Additional reading material will be posted on our class Canvas site. All students will be responsible for downloading and printing readings as instructed.
USU Computer Lab
https://www.csun.edu/usu/computer-lab
Student Union, between Subway and Student Recreation Center (the gym)
Telephone: (818) 677-2491
All students are welcome to use any available workstation to study, print 20 free pages per day or just surf the web.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
- A working CSUN email address
- Reliable and frequent access to the internet
- A USB flash drive to save coursework
Textbooks
Unless instructed otherwise, you are required to bring each of your textbooks to each class session, starting the 2nd week of the semester. Not having the required textbooks will result in a 5pt. deduction from your participation points for the day. You must obtain hard copy versions of the books for this course; e-books will not be used/accepted without authorization from me.
Course Requirements and Evaluation Procedures
Essay #1
Project Web
Each unit will include the following assignments: prewriting, draft, final draft. Final drafts will be revised again for portfolio.
Prewriting – 30, Draft – 10, Essay – 100=140
Essay #2
Project Space
Each unit will include the following assignments: prewriting, draft, final draft. Final drafts will be revised again for portfolio.
Prewriting – 30, Draft – 10, Essay – 100=140
Essay #3
Project Text
Each unit will include the following assignments: prewriting, draft, final draft. Final drafts will be revised again for portfolio.
Prewriting – 30, Draft – 10, Essay – 100=140
Group Presentations
Presentation at the end of the semester where you will talk about your group website.
Total=100
Quizzes/class work/freewrites
Routine work done in class. This work cannot be made up if missed.
Total=80
Attendance and participation
Be in class physically and mentally. Raise your hand at least once every class time and contribute to the conversation.
Total=100
Online Work
Blog posts-Weekly posts, due by Monday of every week, of informal yet thoughtful responses to our readings &/or class discussion. These need to be clear, convincing reflections in a conversational tone: go beyond summarizing.
Total=50
Final Portfolio
Two revised essay packets and a reflection.
Total=250
TOTAL NUMBER OF POINTS FOR THE SEMESTER – 1000
* In addition to earning a grade according to the scale below, you must submit a Final Portfolio to pass the course. You will NOT earn a final grade in the course without submitting a complete Final Portfolio. Students who did not turn in all three essays will not be able to submit a portfolio.
Grade Calculation:
930-1000 pts = A
800-829 pts = B-
670-699 pts = D+
900-929 pts = A-
770-799 pts = C+
630-669 pts = D
870-899 pts = B+
730-769 pts = C
600-629 pts = D-
830-869 pts = B
700-729 pts = C-
below 600 pts = F
A Represents a writing level of excellent polish and style, often taking an unusual or especially thoughtful or insightful position on the topic. The thesis is well supported and the writer addresses the complexity of the topic by acknowledging and then arguing skillfully against its opposing viewpoint. The essay is extremely well developed and organized, and the writing is not only free of grammatical problems or careless mistakes but is rich in details and exhibits considerable fluency and control.
B Represents solid, readable writing that does what the assignment requires. The thesis is thoughtful and the writer indicates his or her awareness of the complexity of the topic by acknowledging and then arguing skillfully against and opposing viewpoint. It demonstrates concrete support for the thesis, good organization, and is mostly free if grammatical problems or careless mistakes.
C Represents writing that, for the most part, satisfies all the requirements of an assignment. However, the thesis is not well conceived and the writing lacks sufficient, concrete support needed to illustrate its assertions or prove its point. C-level writing also shows lapses in editing proficiency and many careless errors.
D Represents writing that does not adequately satisfy the requirements of an assignment. The thesis is poorly conceived or missing, and the writing lacks coherence and support. D-level writing is characterized by significant lapses in editing proficiency and many careless errors.
F Represents writing that is flawed in terms of fulfilling the requirements of the assignment and supporting a thesis, as well as in overall coherence and appropriateness. The writing is characterized by considerable lapses in editing and a great many grammatical errors.
Format
All formal papers will be formatted according to MLA guidelines. Submit papers in a standard font (Times New Roman) using traditional 1 inch margins, headers, etc.
All papers must include the following items in the top left corner of the first page:
Your name
Teacher’s name
English 115
Date
Turnitin.com
All papers should be submitted to turnitin.com prior to being submitted on webpages.
Late/Email Assignments Policy: I do not accept late work. All work is due at the start of class. If for some reason you cannot make class, I expect the work to be dropped off before 1PM in the English Department (ST 7th Floor). You MUST make arrangements IN ADVANCE with me to do this. I do not accept emailed assignments. You are responsible for printing, stapling, and turning in your own work. If you have a valid medical or family emergency, please contact me immediately. I respond to all emails within 24 hours. You will need to provide verifiable documentation of this emergency along with a printed paper trail of your email correspondence with me along with your assignment. I will be sensitive to any reasonable family or medical emergencies as long as they are documented. Quizzes, in-class assignments, and blog posts cannot be made up if they are missed. If you miss any of these assignments, you will not receive credit.
Classroom Policies
Attendance
Attendance in this class is very important. Any student who misses more than 5 classes will NOT get any higher than a B in the course, which means you will get a zero for attendance. In the event of an emergency, please consult with me as soon as possible. I do not respond to emails asking what you missed in class; it is your responsibility to find out from a fellow classmate.
Tardiness/Leaving Early
Arriving to class late and leaving class early is rude and disruptive. Please take parking conditions and traffic into consideration when commuting to campus. Four events of tardiness and/or leaving early will equal one absence. Any student that is more than 15 minutes late to class will be marked “absent”. As with absences, please inform me if there is an emergency.
Classroom Conduct
Each student is expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner. If you are disruptive or inconsiderate in any way (talking, texting, doing work for another class, etc.) you will be asked to leave. Dismissal from the class will count as one absence.
Use of Electronics
Turn off ALL electronic devices at the start of class. We are only here for a 75 minute session; you can live without them. Please reserve such items for before and after class and I will do the same. You are not allowed to use electronic devices, unless instructed otherwise, of any kind during class, such as:
- Cell phones. Cell phones are not to be used for any reason, including in place of taking notes, to look up a word in the dictionary, to look up something on the internet, to email, to text, etc. No cell phone use, period.
- Electronic tablets or laptops. You may not use these devices to take notes. All students must take notes by hand, on paper.
- I-pods, or any MP3 players.
Extra Credit
All students are welcome to go to the LRC for 10 extra credit points for each essay and the final portfolio for a total of 40 extra credit points. This is the only extra credit I will offer this semester!
Learning Resource Center
http://www.csun.edu/lrc/
Oviatt Library 3rd Floor, East Wing
Telephone: (818) 677-2033
Chicana/o Studies Writing Center
Located at JR 142
Telephone: (818) 677-7881
Plagiarism
According to the CSUN catalog, plagiarism is “intentionally or knowingly representing the words, ideas, or work of another as one’s own in any academic exercise.” Plagiarism is, in fact, fraud perpetrated upon your classmates, your instructor, and the University. Cheating cheapens your education and destroys trust. I will turn over all cases of such plagiarism to the English Department and University Dean. Any form of academic plagiarism will result in immediate failure of the course. No exceptions or questions asked. Furthermore, you may also be subject to suspension or expulsion from the University. Please also be aware that borrowing, using, or copying lines/ paragraphs from other papers or websites without proper citations is plagiarism and will be treated as such. If I find out that you have purchased or borrowed a paper from a website, friend, or “papermill”, I will consider this grounds for immediate failure of the course as well. By reading this syllabus and being enrolled in this class, you understand that this is not up for negotiation or discussion.