Course Name & Number English 102 - Sections 9 & 22
College Composition I
UMass Boston
Fall Semester 2009
Instructor & Contact Information
Steve Kaufman
Email: steven.kaufman@umb.edu
Phone: 952.457.1552
Office: Wheatley Hall 6-065 (Sixth Floor) Mailbox Location: English Department Office, Wheatley Sixth Floor
Office Hours: T & Th, 11:00-12:00
(Other times available by appointment)
Required Texts
- Andrea Lunsford. Easy Writer (third edition). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009.
- Diana George and John Trimbur. Reading Culture (seventh edition). New York: Longman, 2010.
Required Materials
- Three pocket folders
- Notebook
English Department Course Description
What Does This Mean to Us? The aim of this course is to help you become a more powerful writer than you already are. Students often come to a freshman composition course believing it will be about how to write “properly” or “correctly.” But what is proper, or even correct, changes depending upon the writing situation. What works in a letter to your mother is different from what works in a college research essay, which, in turn, is different from an advertising brochure.
Learning to write effectively involves more than learning a set of rules – which makes it more challenging but also more interesting.
Academic writing rarely calls for personal narrative. Nearly always, it invites you into a conversation with other writers. As composition scholar Joseph Harris points out, academic writing "uses ideas of others in interesting ways." An important difference between college writing and some other kinds is a shift from description, reporting, and summary to interpretation and analysis. While in many kinds of writing it is important to comprehend surface meaning--the who/what/where/when--in academic writing we must add "why?" When you think about why writers make the choices they do, why social issues are described as they are, whose voices are heard, whose left out, and why you write as you do, you are engaging in interpretation and analysis. This reflects a critical approach to the world necessary for success in college writing--and beyond. It is a form of reading, thinking, and writing you'll get lots of practice in this semester.
In addition, we'll be "reading as writers," asking not just what texts mean but how. We'll examine how writers respond to a given "rhetorical situation"--what calls them to write and what choices they make as they create texts with a particular audience in mind and a particular purpose to accomplish.
Finally, an important goal of this course is to help you develop a writing process that works for you--a process you can use in other classes, and in contexts beyond the campus.
Theme of the Course
Our theme grows out of the textbook, Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing, by Diana George and John Trimbur. The texts in this book shine a light on issues of importance in contemporary life, including literacy, education, the interpretation of history, and living in a transnational world. These issues will provide the context for our reading and writing. What do the authors mean by culture? In their introduction, George and Trimbur offer a number of definitions but tell us that, in their view, culture "offers a way to think about how individuals and groups organize and make sense of their social experience--at home, in school, at work, and at play." In their view, culture "includes all the social institutions, patterns of behavior, systems of belief, and kinds of popular entertainment that create the world we live in. Taken in this way, culture means not simply masterpieces of art, music, and literature, but lived experience--what goes on in the everyday lives of individuals and groups." It's that "lived experience" we'll be reading, thinking, talking, and writing about this semester. Major Assignments & Grading
You'll write three major essays in the course: a literacy analysis, a short multiple-source paper, and an extended research paper. The writing process for each essay will require several written exercises to be completed as part of the writing process. Grades will be weighted according to this plan:
English Department Policies - Assignments: Students will do substantial daily homework, including weekly writing of extended prose, toward the shaping of formal, revised papers. One of these papers must be an analytical essay referring to multiple sources of at least five pages, suitable for the portfolio option of the Writing Proficiency Requirement.
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Timely submission of work: Students must meet due dates and keep up with the work as planned; late
paper policies make it impossible for anyone to hand in a term’s work
all at once. Students who fall substantially behind in their work
should not expect to pass the course. More specifically:
- Scores on late assignments will be reduced by one full grade.
- An assignment submitted more than one week late will not be accepted and will receive a zero.
-
Attendance and tardiness: Attendance is required. Students with more than four absences in Tuesday-Thursday or Monday-Wednesday classes should not expect to pass
the course. Students with more than six absences in
Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes should not expect to pass the course.
Students with more than two absences in classes that meet once a week
should not expect to pass the course. All Freshman English students are required to sign a contract
regarding the Departmental attendance policy. The work that takes place in class is essential to your progress as a writer; hence, if you are repeatedly late for class, the instructor may lower your grade.
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Preparation, cell phones, headphones: Students are expected to come to class with all necessary materials for
participating actively. Cell phones should be off and headphones put
away.
- University policy regarding student conduct & plagiarism
Students
are required to adhere to the University Policy on Academic Standards
and Cheating, to the University Statement on Plagiarism and the
Documentation of Written Work, and to the Code of Student Conduct as
delineated in the Catalog of Undergraduate Programs. The Code is
available online at:
http://www.umb.edu/student_services/student_rights/code_conduct.html
Students at UMass Boston are accountable for understanding and
observing this policy. Please read it with care and ask questions if
you need clarification.
University policy regarding accommodations for students with disabilities
(Please note: If you have a disability I should be aware of, please bring me a letter from the Ross Center as soon as possible.) Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 offers guidelines and support for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center for Disability Services, CC-2-2100, 617.287.7430. The student must present these recommendations and discuss them with each professor within a reasonable period, preferably by the end of Drop/Add period.
Satisfactory Completion of
English 102
To receive a C- or better, you must fulfill the English Department course requirements (listed above), including attendance and paper completion, and your instructor's specific requirements as spelled out in the course syllabus, calendar, and assignments. Over and above these basics, you must produce writing that demonstrates the following outcomes:
You can work with three or more texts accurately and analyze the relations among them. You can build arguments and perspectives with an awareness of a reader’s expectations for sequentially developed ideas in paragraphs. You can shape a question or problem for inquiry and pursue understanding through independent research culminating in a documented essay. You demonstrate an understanding of how to participate in written academic discussions through paraphrase, quotation, in-text citation, and a works cited page, using the MLA format. You demonstrate an understanding of the composing process, including exploratory drafting, consideration of teachers’ and peers’ suggestions, revision, editing and proof reading. You can punctuate most sentence boundaries and self-correct most errors. Having fulfilled the above outcomes, you will have at least one paper that meets the Writing Proficiency Requirement for a 5 page, analytical essay that works directly and accurately with a number of readings. To complete 102 successfully, you must have one paper that can be certified by the instructor for WPR portfolio submission.
Writing
Proficiency Requirement
The final research essay you write in this class (Essay Three) may qualify for submission as part of
your Portfolio for the Writing Proficiency Requirement. Click on the link below for more information about this requirement: http://www.umb.edu/academics/undergraduate/office/wpr/index.html Save all graded papers with instructor comments.
Student Resources & Information Students can face a variety of situations (athletic injuries, job or workplace issues, anxiety or depression, family issues, and many others) for which I, your English instructor, am not the best resource. Fortunately, as described in the materials you have received from the university, UMB provides such resources for various student needs. Should such needs arise, I encourage you to contact the appropriate resource – i.e., the one specifically trained to help you in the best way possible. Here are some resources:
Public Safety
617 287 1212 (from a cell phone)
911 (from a campus phone)
Emergency Evacuation You must evacuate when a fire alarm is sounded. Take your valuables and quickly follow the exit signs. Once outside, move away from the building.
University Advising Center
www.uac.umb.edu
Campus center, 1st floor
617 287 5500
University Health Services
www.healthservices.umb.edu
Counseling Center
Quinn, 2nd Floor
617 287 5690
General Medicine
Quinn, 2nd Floor
617 287 5660
Academic Support Services www.academicsupport.umb.edu
Campus Center, 1st Floor 617 287 6550
International Student Services
www.uac.umb.edu/international
Campus Center, First Floor
617 287 5500
Ross Center for Disability Services
www.rosscenter.umb.edu
Campus Center, Upper Level
617 287 7430
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