ENGL 110, Section D2 — Fall 2018

Classroom: NAC 4/125

Class Meeting Times: MonWed 12:30PM – 1:45PM

Instructor: Thomas Collins — tcollins1@ccny.cuny.edu

Office: NAC 6/216-A

Office Hours: Wed 2PM – 3PM and by appointment

 

Course Description

The primary aim of this course is to introduce you to written composition and the rhetorical strategies that you will use throughout your academic career and your professional life. This course is designed to help each of you refine your writing, so both revision and reflection on strategies of writing will be incorporated into assignments. The four major assignments you will complete are addressed in the syllabus, below. You will also complete in-class writing assignments, write posts for a discussion board, and attend conferences to discuss drafts of your written work. In this course, you will develop research practices that make full use of City College’s library and online resources. You will have the opportunity to incorporate different media in your work.

This syllabus presents a plan for the semester, but it may be changed. Changes to the syllabus will be posted in the Announcements and Syllabus sections of the Blackboard site. If you rely on a printed copy of the syllabus, it will be up to you to make revisions to it based on posted changes.

First-Year Composition Mission Statement

First-year composition courses at CCNY teach writing as a recursive and frequently collaborative process of invention, drafting, and revising. Writing is both personal and social, and students should learn how to write for different purposes and audiences. Since writing is a process of making meaning and communicating, FYC teachers respond mainly to the content of students’ writing as well as to recurring surface errors. Students should expect frequent written and oral responses on the content of their writing from their teachers and peers. Classes rely heavily on a workshop format. Instruction emphasizes the connection between writing, reading, and critical thinking; students should give thoughtful, reasoned responses to the readings. Both reading and writing are the subjects of class discussions and workshops, and students are expected to be active participants in the classroom community. Learning from each other will be a large part of the classroom experience.

Course Learning Outcomes

  • Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.
  • Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.
  • Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.
  • Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.
  • Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.
  • Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.
  • Compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation.
  • Practice systematic application of citation conventions.

Required Text

This is a Zero Textbook Cost course. Reading assignments will be handed out in class or posted on Blackboard. Please bring paper and something to write with to each class.

Organization

You should keep a folder or binder with all of the hard copies of your written work, organized by date. When you submit final drafts and the writing portfolio, you will also need to submit copies of earlier drafts with my comments to get credit for your revisions.

Blackboard

You will turn in some of your assignments on Blackboard, and some of your reading assignments will be posted on Blackboard. You will also participate in discussion boards on the Blackboard course site. Extra credit may be available for helpful comments on your classmates’ discussion board posts—we will discuss this in class. If you have any problems accessing Blackboard, please let me know.

(Note about Blackboard: You must use your CCNY email address in Blackboard. [Log in to the CCNY Portal, click Blackboard, and Update Email in the Tools menu.] If you add a non-CCNY domain email address, you will not receive important course announcements.)

 

Assignments

Introduction to Course

Assignment – “Rhetorical Analysis” – 2%

 

A Source-Based Essay

Assignment – “Summary of Four Sources” – 2%

First Draft – 2.5%

Final Draft – 10%

Reflection #1 – 2%

 

An Inquiry-Based Research Essay

Discussion Board Post #1 – “Research Topic” – 2%

Discussion Board Post #2 – “Research Proposal” – 2%

Discussion Board Post #3 – “Report on Research in Progress” – 2%

First Draft – 2.5%

Final Draft – 15%

Reflection #2 – 2%

 

Composition in Two Genres

Discussion Board Post #4 – “Potential Genres Proposal” – 2%

Discussion Board Post #5 – “Audience Strategy” – 2%

First Draft – 2.5%

Final Draft – 12.5%

Reflection #3 – 2%

 

Theory of Writing and Writing Portfolio

First Draft of “Theory of Writing” – 2.5%

Final Draft of “Theory of Writing” – 12.5%

Portfolio Website – 15%

 

Class Participation – 5%

Conferences

Before submitting the final draft of three of the major assignments, you will meet with me for a short conference, in which we will discuss how you can revise and improve your writing. On days when conferences are scheduled, we will not be meeting as a full class in the classroom. A sign-up sheet for conferences will be filled out during class. If you cannot attend any of the available conference times, talk to me, and we will work something out. A missed conference is equal to one absence from class.

Submitting Papers

Most short assignments will be turned in via Blackboard. First and final drafts of the longer assignments will be turned in, in class. When you turn in final drafts, you should also turn in the paper-copy of your first draft with my comments. If you will be absent on a day when an assignment is due in class, you should email me that assignment before class begins. The final assignment, the Theory of Writing and Writing Portfolio, will be posted to a website you will create here, on the CUNY Academic Commons.

Email Communication

I encourage you to reach out to me if you have questions, difficulties, or are overwhelmed. Outside of the classroom, we will communicate through email. It is important that your CCNY email is functioning and that you are checking it daily.