Core 110: Effective Writing

Fall 2001

Ms. Linda Sloan

Office: Hafey Marian 406

Phone: ext. 5240

e-mail: SloanljS@netscape.net

Office Hours: MWF 10:00-10:50, TH 8:30-9:20, and by appointment

Course Description

The liberally educated person must be able to discover ideas and express them clearly and effectively.  A creative art, writing allows us to shape our experience into knowledge, and is therefore essential to our development as mature and socially responsible people.  As a facet of effective communication, writing is also a practical art, one that society respects and regards as necessary for success in all careers and professions.  In this course you will learn to consider writing as a process through which you explore and refine ideas.  Through the process of drafting and revising, you will learn to present a strong thesis which is organized and developed in a clear, coherent essay.

Objectives and Goals

In this course, you will

1. use creative strategies to discover ideas for writing,

2. narrow a general subject to a specific one,

3. translate a topic into a thesis statement.  

4. develop and support that thesis statement using specific evidence and concrete details,

5. use techniques of drafting and editing in the writing process,

6. outline or plan a logically clear and rhetorically effective development of the thesis

7. recognize and use methods of development such as illustration, comparison/contrast, cause effect, process analysis, classification, definition, narration, and description

Texts and Materials

You will need two texts for this class: 

Kirszner, Laurie G and Stephen R. Mandell.  The Brief Holt Handbook.  3rd ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 2001.

Warner, J. Sterling, et al.  Visions Across the Americas.  Fort Worth:  Harcourt, 1998.

In addition, you will need two folders, one that you use as a portfolio and the other that you use for final draft submissions.   All work done throughout the semester must be saved in a portfolio.  The portfolio will consist of assigned papers, journal entries, and in and out of class writing assignments.  Please keep all of your work; you will need it for your final paper!

Methods and Procedures

Class sessions will consist of lectures, discussions, teacher-student conferences, peer review and editing workshops, in-class writing, quizzes, and critical reading.  You will be expected to share your work with your peers, either in a large or small group.

Requirements

• Diagnostic writing: These are in-class writing exercises in which you experiment with development, audience, voice, and structure.

• Journal writing: You are expected to keep a journal in which you will respond to the assigned readings.  The journal entries may be responses to an assigned question, a free response to a reading, or an extension of a reading.  These assignments will be given throughout the semester and will form the basis for class discussion. Each entry should be fifteen to twenty sentences and show thought and preparation.  The journal entries must by done on a word processor and be clearly identified by assignment; that is by page number and a brief statement of the question.  Each entry will receive a grade from five (the best) to zero (the worst) according to the quality of the response.  If you do not have an entry completed on the day it is due, you will not receive full credit for the entry.
• Research: Some of the assignments for this semester will require you to do library research.  Any assignment requiring research must follow the specifications given in class and use MLA format.  In addition, you must be careful to give credit to any source that you use in order to avoid plagiarism.  We will discuss plagiarism during the first two weeks of class.
• Required essays: Five essays and a final writing sample done in class must be completed to pass the course. Grading of the major essays will be based on the college’s “Grading Pyramid.” In addition all final drafts must be accompanied by any preceding drafts and/or prewriting assignments.  You should place all prewriting, drafts, peer and self review sheets, final draft, and evaluation sheet in a folder and turn it in at the beginning of class on the day it is due.  You will not receive full credit for the final draft if you do not turn in all supporting material with it.  All work written outside of class must be done on a word processor, double-spaced, written in a clear, readable font not to exceed 12 point, and stapled.  You should use MLA format for the heading and title (Holt 71).  If a paper is not fully prepared at the beginning of the class on the day it is due, it will be considered late and will be penalized one-third grade for each day late.
• Conferences: you are expected to meet with me to discuss your progress as a writer.  These conferences will take place during class, during my regular office hours, or by appointment.  Failure to attend a scheduled conference will be considered an absence from class. In addition, I also expect you to seek extra help at the Writing Center.
• Peer editing:  You are expected to participate in peer editing workshops in which you provide comments and critical responses to other students’ writing.  These workshops provide valuable feedback about another student’s paper.  Your active participation in peer review counts towards class participation.  You may not work on a peer editing/review assignment if you are absent from class or you do not have your own draft available for peer comment.

Grading

Your final grade for this course will be based on the following

10%  Essay One

60 % Essays Two through Five (15% for each essay)

10%  Final In-class Essay

10% Class Participation (based on participation in class discussions, peer editing workshops, preparation, quiz grades, and overall effort)

10% Journal

Individual Papers will be graded numerically with the following equivalents:

3.75 to 4.00 = A

3.50 to 3.74 = B+

3.00 to 3.49 = B

2.75 to 2.99 = C+

2.00 to 2.74 = C

1.00 to 1.99 = D

Below 1.00  = F

Attendance and Tardiness

Students in first-year courses are required to attend all classes.  If you are absent from class more than three times during the semester, I will reduce your final grade by one-third letter for each absence: a student finishing the course with an A and four absences, for example, will earn a B+.  Class will begin promptly at the scheduled time.  If you arrive after the beginning of class, you will be considered late.  Three lates during the term will count as one absence.

Please note that I am here to help you.  You may communicate with me through e-mail, office phone, college mail, or just by dropping by during office hours.  If the office hours do not fit into your schedule, we will arrange a mutually convenient time to meet. 

Schedule for Comparison/Contrast Assignment

Planning Sheet for Comparison/Contrast Assignment

Evaluation Sheet for Comparison/Contrast Assignment