Course Objectives for English 101

Trinity Valley Community College

Syllabus for English 1= 301: Composition and Rhetoric &= nbsp;

Instructor: Dr. Joe Mills, Professor of English

Phone Number: Athens, 903 675-6318

Website: http://www.tvcc.edu/faculty/jmills

e-mail address: jmills@tvcc.edu

Office: = Athens: Room 229, Gibbs Academic Building, Athens, Texas campus

Course Descri= ption

This is a 3-hour lower level, undergradua= te course that is the first half of freshman English composition. Goals of the course are to help you acquire and/or improve your skills in producing effective writing which observes the conventions of Edited American English—i.e., writing whi= ch is acceptable in the academic and professional worlds. You will be guided through the composition process, encouraged to find and improve your own writing style,= and engaged in the analysis and evaluation of your own and others’ writings.

Course prerequisites: None

Required Text= s

Patterns = for College Writing, 10^th edition. Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell. Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Recommended T= exts

It might be helpful if you keep handy a thesaurus= and dictionary.

Course Object= ives

At the end of this course, class particip= ants will be able to:

Identify and describe the modes of writing,

Use reasoning skills,

Deal critically with ideas,

Select and restrict a topic for an essay,

Develop a thesis statement or make the purpose of= the essay clear,

Write a multi-paragraph, properly documented essa= y, utilizing summary writing without plagiarizing,

Develop and use a pattern or organization,

Develop ideas thoroughly by making extensive use = of supportive examples, facts, and details,

Use appropriate tone and language suited to the audience, and

Use the generally accepted standards of Edited Am= erican English for mechanics, grammar, punctuation and spelling.

In addition, you should be able to

Revise several drafts of an essay to produce a fi= nal product, using a simple word processing program,

Work cooperatively with other writers toward comm= on goals, and use effectively the various research materials in a Learning Resource Center (LRC) or academic library.

Required Work= and Grades

Your grade in this course will be based o= n the progress you make with each subsequent assignment. The average of all writt= en assignments and test scores could be used to calculate your final grade.

Course requirements:

Essays with all drafts past the discovery stage a= nd typed using word processing wit= h .doc or .docx extensions,

Other written work, working with reference materi= al, and practice exercises,

Library and Internet research,

Readings from the textbook, and

Assignments submitted at deadline.

Late Papers

Occasionally, life throws complications o= ur way, but deadlines are important. To avoid turning in late papers, don̵= 7;t wait until the deadline to write on your assignment. If you work steadily on your assignments, you will write better and you will avoid being late.

MLA Style Man= ual

The MLA handbook on style will be our sou= rce for proper documentation for this course.&= nbsp; You may rely on the initial chapter, Writing about Literature, for the basic information about writing your research papers. The use of documentat= ion in your textbook should be sufficient for you to adequately document your pape= rs. MLA style should be used to format your work. I will only use the textbook listed above as a reference for MLA documentation.

Evaluation of Students

Each student will be evaluated on the bas= is of a series of essays as well as other assignments and any necessary quizzes a= nd exams.

Student Responsibilities: TO

Do all assignments and meet deadlines,

Type all drafts of written work on a word process= or, doubled spaced, and properly endorsed,

Do your own work.

Instructor Responsibilities: TO

Explain all assignments clearly and completely,

Read and respond to essays in a timely manner,

Be attentive to students’ needs and concern= s,

Evaluate fairly and honestly students’ achievements and progress,

Listen and facilitate and encourage, rather than = manage and control a student’s progress, and

Be professional in all dealings with students.