English 1301: Composition and
Rhetoric
Departmental Master Course
Syllabus
This course is a
Revised Spring 2003
Overview:
Purpose and Process in the Teaching of Writing
The basic objective of any
first-semester writing course is to teach students to express their thoughts
in clear, effective, logical prose. Because
of the complementary relationship between clear writing and clear thinking,
the more purely rhetorical skills are taught along with and in the context
of analytical skills in order to prepare students for success in a second-semester
freshman composition course, all sophomore English courses, and any other
writing-intensive course.
At the end of the course, students should understand how to approach a writing assignment in terms of formulating a purpose and ascertaining an audience, and they should know how to develop a writing persona and a focus appropriate to that purpose and audience. These decisions establish a writer's rhetorical stance. In addition to understanding the rhetorical situation, students should also have enough training in logical skills to determine the validity of inductive generalizations, both those they make and those they read in others' writings, and to be able to analyze and argue from deductive premises. Students should furthermore be able to put to good use these skills as well as their knowledge of the various types of exposition and persuasion in order to prepare a complete, intelligent exploration of a significant topic.
Though the units of the course can lead in a fairly straightforward progression from an understanding of rhetorical stance to the more complex analytical skills involved in exploring a problem, such a sequence of assignments does not alone prepare students to be effective writers. The writing process involves several stages, and throughout the course, students need instruction on how to get from the rough draft of an essay to an acceptable final version.
The recursive stages of the writing process include finding and developing ideas, organizing the ideas into a coherent pattern (drafting), adjusting the style to fit the purpose of the essay, revising to achieve unity and emphasis, and editing the essay to eliminate mechanical errors. The first focus of the course should be placed on content, on the ability to discover significant insights, to create logical arguments, to probe beneath the surface of generally accepted ideas, and to marshal a variety of evidence in fresh and compelling ways. The second focus of the course should be organization. Students should learn to arrange their ideas in an easily perceived pattern that enhances the clarity of their thoughts.
As their essays take shape
and take on substance, the students should turn some of their attention to
style. They should develop an awareness
of the connotative and metaphorical resources of the English language and
of the subtly varied ways sentences can be structured to fit a particular
tone and purpose. They should learn
to avoid intellectual laziness in the form of cliché, jargon, and otherwise
trite expression. Such concern for
style will lead students naturally into the process of revision. They should not feel their writing is fixed
from the moment they place it on the page; rather, they should be encouraged
to add, delete, reorganize, and otherwise refine the substance of a paper
until it becomes a tightly focused, stylistically mature piece of writing. As a means of showing their consideration for
the reader and their pride in the craft of writing, students should be expected
to eliminate mechanical errors from the final draft of an essay.
All of the English courses offered by Blinn College have as their major objective the improvement of the students' thinking, reading, writing, and research-oriented skills. Writing is at the very core of all Blinn College's English courses, especially English 1301: Composition and Rhetoric, which has as its specific goals both the students' learning to write clear, thoughtful, effectively-argued, and appropriately supported and documented prose and their learning to analyze, to interpret, and to evaluate the argumentative expository and persuasive essays of published writers. An additional goal is to prepare students for a successful experience in English 1302, sophomore-level English courses, and all writing-intensive courses.
English 1301: Composition and Rhetoric, "a writing-intensive first-semester freshman composition course focuses on the writing of researched argumentative, expository, and persuasive papers. Analytical reading, critical thinking, and library-based research skills are emphasized. Essays, including a 2000-word documented library research-based paper, are required. Prerequisites: Passing TASP score or completion of English 0321 with a grade of 'C' or better. Three class hours per week. Credit: Three semester hours."
English 1301: Composition and Rhetoric offers students the opportunity to become better acquainted with both the purposes of communication and the principles of the rhetorical situation—purpose, audience, and voice (tone); they learn the modes by which arguments are expressed, and they learn both to analyze and to develop arguments according to the principles of induction and deduction, specifically to organize and to construct effective argumentative expository and persuasive papers. The students develop their thinking and writing skills through extensive writing—submitting approximately 5000 original words, including at least four long essays (the majority of which offer documented support), a documented formal research paper or papers totaling 2000+ words—and through close reading of both model essays and published articles. Students learn to revise, proofread, and edit their own and others' prose; they learn also to adapt to a variety of rhetorical situations. Students further develop their thinking and writing skills by studying readings that model effective rhetorical and argumentative strategies, organizational patterns, style, and usage. These readings enrich the students' thinking and help them learn to argue their own ideas. The students examine claims, grounds, and warrants, as well as the proofs or appeals—ethos, logos, and pathos—characterizing published essays, etc. The students learn and practice college-level research and the formalization of the research in the writing of MLA-style documented research papers.
English 1301: Composition and Rhetoric is a core course in the forty-two-hour Core of Blinn College. As such, students will develop proficiency in the following Intellectual Competencies, Exemplary Educational Objectives, and Perspectives.
Intellectual Competencies include Reading, Writing, Listening, and Critical Thinking.
Exemplary Educational Objectives include the students' ability
to understand and demonstrate writing and speaking processes through invention, organization, drafting, revision, editing, and presentation;
to understand the importance of specifying audience and purpose and to select appropriate communication choices;
to understand and appropriately apply modes of expression--descriptive, expositive, narrative, scientific, and self-expressive--in written, visual, and oral communication;
to participate effectively in groups with emphasis on listening, critical and reflective thinking, and responding;
to understand and apply basic principles of critical thinking, problem solving, and technical proficiency in the development of exposition and argument; and
to develop the ability to research and write a documented paper and/or give an oral presentation.
Perspectives include
establishing broad and multiple perspectives on the individual in relationship to the larger society and world in which he or she lives and to understand the responsibilities of living in a culturally and ethically diversified world,
stimulating a capacity to discuss and reflect upon individual, political, economic, and social aspects of life in order to understand ways in which to be a responsible member of society,
developing personal values for ethical behavior,
developing the ability to make aesthetic judgments,
using logical reasoning in problem solving, and
integrating knowledge and understanding of the interrelationships of the scholarly disciplines.
A full listing and explanation of these Intellectual Competencies, Exemplary Educational Objectives, and Perspectives can be found on the Web at <www.blinn.edu/corecurriculum>.
Course
Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes
The students will learn
to use appropriate library (and other) research methods;
to paraphrase and summarize, fairly and accurately, the ideas of others;
to support their own theses with the works of others in a well-assimilated, accurately and appropriately documented final product;
to follow the current guidelines and conventions set forth by the Modern Language Association for the writing of research papers;
to recognize purpose, audience, and tone as they apply to various readings;
to apply the principles of purpose, audience, tone to their own writing;
to revise essays in response to others' comments so that improvement is evident to their immediate audience;
to understand the connection between thought and written language, especially the concepts that govern grammatical and syntactical usage, as well as the various criteria that determine correctness, appropriateness, and idiomatic language choice as dictated by given rhetorical situations, in the endeavor to communicate logical thought clearly and precisely;
to evaluate and formulate discourse, thereby reinforcing the inherent logical habits of the mind;
to analyze and review essays or short studies in a critical manner; and
to understand and apply the principles of persuasion to the development of arguments.
Course
Requirements
English 1301: Composition and Rhetoric focuses on the students' developing a clear, correct, analytical prose style. The students are exposed to examples of written prose that serve as models both of analysis and of argument; students will thereby develop the skills necessary to analyze others' arguments and develop personal, persuasive, and rational styles of their own. By revising their own essays, by offering peer editing to their classmates, and by revising essays using their instructor's input, students learn the full process of revision. By both reading the assignments and writing in response to the assignments, students learn through experience the purpose of writing and the reason for selecting effective modes and strategies with which to express their ideas; they also learn to recognize the strengths—and potential fallacies—in both inductive and deductive reasoning.
Through the course's emphasis on
the documented essay, especially the documented research paper, totaling 2000+
words, English 1301 students learn to use the library appropriately; they
also learn the techniques of summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting both appropriately
and effectively the primary and/or secondary sources used in the development
of arguments that are supported by and through research. In addition, students learn, through the process
of formalizing these documented essays, the correct forms for internal documentation
and works-cited entries, effective transition into and out of quoted passages
used as support for an essay's argument, and the accepted MLA-style presentation
for formal papers.
While the presentation of English 1301's content varies from instructor to instructor, all students enrolled in English 1301 are expected to master the skills outlined in both the listing of course objectives and the overview of the learning activities, demonstrating them in a minimum of 5000 original words of written prose. A first-day, in-class essay is required of each student. All English 1301 students must write not only a formal research paper of at least 2000 words but also at least three additional lengthy essays, the majority of which must, in part, rely on documented research; these papers constitute the bulk of the 5000-word course requirement. The students should encounter some form of revision process, whether it is revision associated with peer editing or revision following their instructor's written or oral comments. The students' close reading and ability to analyze the assigned reading should be assessed through testing or other means. The individual student's goal of a total of 5000 original written words may be attained in a variety of ways—rewriting (limited), short essay-answer quizzes over the assigned readings, notebook entries, and essay tests—in addition to the lengthy essays and the documented research paper.
Each student should write, in addition to the 2000-word term paper and the final exam essay, three lengthy essays.
Each instructor should assign a minimum of fifteen substantial readings from the required anthology(s); the assigning of additional shorter readings as a preparation for ENGL 1302's reading load is encouraged.
Students are required to participate in a scheduled Blinn College Library Orientation in order to become acquainted with the resources available to writers involved in research.
For additional help beyond help given by the instructor during office conferences, students should be encouraged to take advantage of The Writing Room (Brenham) or The Writing Center (Bryan).
Students are assessed principally on their ability to communicate clearly in written prose; this ability is demonstrated in their essays, in their 2000+ word documented research paper (these two categories totaling minimally 5000 words), and in their mastery of the course objectives. Student grades may also be determined by assessments of the student's familiarity with and understanding of the assigned readings; class participation may be weighed, and the student should be required to demonstrate a mastery of the tools of research. The instructor may assign other tasks that develop and demonstrate writing and analytical skills. Instructors may find it useful to give unannounced quizzes over the reading assignments. A large number of students will not do the assigned reading if they have no incentive to do so.
NB: In order to earn credit for the course, each student must submit a
2000-word documented research paper that reflects a sincere effort to address
the assignment.
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1. |
Homework, rewrites, quizzes, and journals |
20% |
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Papers 1, 2, and 3 (documented 650- to 750-word essays) |
35% |
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Paper 4 (2000+ documented research paper) and annotated bibliography |
30% |
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Paper 5 (800-1000 word in-class documented final exam essay and course inventory) |
15% |
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2. |
Papers 1, 2, and 3 (documented 650- to 750-word essays) and reading quizzes |
50% |
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Paper 4 (2000+ documented research paper) |
25% |
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Paper 5 (800-1000 word in-class documented final exam essay and course inventory) |
25% |
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3. |
Papers 1, 2, and 3 (documented 650- to 750-word essays) |
35% |
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Bibliographies (working and annotated) |
10% |
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NB: Bibliographies do not substitute for essay work. |
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In-class essays and responses to readings |
15% |
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Paper 4 (2000+ documented research paper) |
25% |
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Paper 5 (800-1000 word in-class documented final exam essay and course inventory) |
15% |
NB: Student papers
should be marked by the instructor in a manner that ensures that the students
can understand an assignment's deficiencies.
The use of standard editing symbols is encouraged, and the inclusion in
the instructor's CIS of a facsimile of the most common editing symbols in the
instructor's own hand is suggested.
Plagiarism
Blinn College Board Policy FLB (Local) defines plagiarism as the "appropriating, buying, receiving as a gift, obtaining by any means another's work and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of it in one's own written work." English 1301 students should be made aware of the several different types--not levels--of plagiarism, including the failure to properly indicate directly quoted passages, phrasings, or significant wordings as such by the proper use of quotation marks, as well as other failures, including misattribution of cited material, as early as possible in the semester. Students should also be made aware that collusion is considered to be as egregious an offense as plagiarism is.
Blinn College Board Policy FLB (Local) defines collusion as the "unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work for fulfillment of course requirements."
The A paper represents original outstanding work; it shows careful thought, fresh insights, and stylistic maturity. Having practically no mechanical errors to distract the reader, it is free of jargon, clichés, and other empty language. Word choice is marked by a high degree of precision and a varied, advanced vocabulary; sentences are structured in a manner that creates interest and rhetorical power. The tone is appropriate for the designated audience. The reader moves through the A paper effortlessly because of its effective transitions, lucid organization, and thorough, purposeful development. Having finished, the reader feels that he has learned something, that he has received some unexpected and welcome illumination. In the A paper all research material is correctly documented, and formatting adheres to current standards of the Modern Language Association. Directly quoted passages are gracefully integrated into the text with appropriate attribution.
The B paper is significantly more than competent. Besides being almost free of mechanical errors, the B paper delivers substantial information and makes cogent, fresh arguments--that is, in both quality and interest-value. Its specific points are logically ordered, well developed, and supported, and unified around a clear organizing principle that is apparent early in the paper. The B paper's relatively few syntactic, usage, and mechanical errors do not seriously distract the reader, but the language, while neither trite nor bureaucratic, probably lacks the candor and the precision of the most memorable writing. Its transitions, while appropriate, emphasize the logical turnings of the writer's mind, making the reader occasionally more aware of the efforts taken to unify and control an idea than of the idea itself. In the B paper all research material is correctly documented, and formatting adheres to current standards of the Modern Language Association. Directly quoted passages are integrated into the text with appropriate attribution.
The C paper represents average college-level work. It is a competent expression of ordinary thoughts in ordinary language; its content/focus is general, commonplace, or trivial, or not adequately related to the assignment; its development is vague, incomplete, or inconsistent; its organization lacks adequate or appropriate transitions or relation of ideas. The C paper, in addition to meeting all the requirements of the assignment, exhibits a writing style that is basically correct and is marred by a relatively few syntactic, usage, and mechanical errors. By relying on generalities rather than precise, illustrative details, the writer of a C paper leaves the reader feeling not much better informed than when the reader first picked up the essay. In the C paper all research material is correctly documented, and formatting adheres to current standards of the Modern Language Association. Directly quoted passages are integrated into the text with appropriate attribution.
The D paper has only skeletal development and organization. Its serious mechanical errors, together with the awkwardness and ambiguity of its sentence structure, make the reader feel slighted, as if his time and attention were of little concern to the writer.
NB: A paper exhibiting major weaknesses in any specific area—content, development, organization, grammar and mechanics, documentation conventions, writing style—or, indeed, a failure to address the assignment is usually considered, at best, a D paper.
A paper should earn the grade zero if it contains plagiarized content in any form, including the failure to acknowledge the source of any borrowed material (summarized, paraphrased, and directly quoted) and unmarked exact wording (directly quoted from either a primary or a secondary source), whether a specific well-chosen word, a phrase (two or more words), a clause, or full sentence(s). A paper can earn a zero if it does not address the assigned topic or if directions have been either ignored or not followed.
Various methods are used to determine effectiveness in the presentation of this course, including
student scores
on a course inventory given during the first week of classes compared with scores
on the same course inventory scheduled as part of the final exam;
grade distribution data derived from both campus-specific data and institutional data used to evaluate both course content and presentation;
tracking of student mastery monitored formally by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and informally through the faculty members' consulting with one another and maintaining contact with transfer students;
Blinn College official student evaluations of faculty, as well as "unofficial" evaluations administered by instructors;
regularly scheduled revision of course syllabus; and
institution- and division-level monitoring of four-year institution requirements to ensure the transferability of Blinn College's English 1301 as a composition course.
Attached is a sample calendar and a sample reading list. Each instructor's Course Information Sheet should incorporate both a calendar that addresses each day's topic and a separate listing of readings that complements the day-to-day calendar.
Materials: Required Books as of Fall 2004
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Brenham and
Schulenburg Campuses |
Bryan Campus |
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Kennedy, X. J., Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron. The Bedford Reader. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003. |
Goshgarian, Gary, Kathleen Krueger, and Janet Barnett Minc. Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. 3rd ed.: Custom. New York: Longman, 2000. |
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Fowler, H. Ramsey, and Jane E.
Aaron. The Little, Brown Handbook. 9th ed. New York: Longman, 2004. |
Peterson, Linda H., John C. Brereton, and Joan E. Hartman. The Norton Reader. 10th ed. New York: Norton, 2000. |
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Heffernan, James A. W., John E. Lincoln, and Janet Atwill. Writing: A College Handbook. 5th ed. New York: Norton, 2001. |
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Standard college-level dictionary |
Standard college-level dictionary |
The syllabus's content as it
applies to the students may be transferred to the instructor's course
information sheet that is distributed during the first week of classes.
The sample calendars suggest a
number of readings for each unit, but the instructor should feel free to pick
and choose, to add or delete, as he or she sees fit. All the units need to be covered in order to
offer all students in all the freshman sections a comparable experience, but
the emphasis and the techniques of instruction may, and probably should,
differ.