English
101
Instructor:
Item
1055 Section LSB Room L122 Starts
Office
Hours: By appointment (best T Th
Phone: (425) 564-4185 Email:
neichner@bcc.ctc.edu
To understand college-level reading materials.
To write effective essays.
To write using correct grammar and punctuation.
·
When the
Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka
·
Prisoners
Without Trial, by Roger Daniels
·
The Bedford
Handbook,
6th edition, by Diana Hacker
·
A collegiate dictionary (must have the word “college” or
“collegiate” in the title)
·
A soft folder with three fasteners (not rings) for your Portfolio
NOTE ABOUT When the Emperor Was Divine: I have chosen this book to allow you to take
part in a campus-wide reading program called BCC-Reads! For the past three years, a committee has
selected an interesting book around which to create a year-long
curriculum. In addition, BCC-Reads! sponsors a full-tuition scholarship based on the book
(awarded in Winter Quarter). As a class,
we will have the opportunity of hearing the author, Julie Otsuka, speak at BCC on May
4. Also, other guest speakers relevant
to the topic of the book will be appearing on campus
during Spring Quarter; activities such as exhibitions and movies will be
offered, as well.
This course is designed as a
workshop class to help you improve your reading and writing skills. You will have the opportunity to write,
revise, and edit all of your essays before they are graded. You will have the opportunity to receive
feedback from your peers in writing workshops, as well as from me in
conferences.
We will read and discuss published
essays to use as models of effective writing.
·
Three 500-650 word essays (2 to 3 pages), submitted for a
grade in your Portfolio during the last week of the quarter. (Preliminary grades for Essay 1 and 2;
resubmission of one possible in the Portfolio; no preliminary grade for Essay
3, i.e. "test" essay, submitted in the Portfolio at the end of the
quarter.)
·
Successful completion of all assigned work (grammar,
writing, reading, vocabulary, attendance at guest lectures).
·
Attend class regularly and participate in workshops and
class discussions.
You will be expected to hand in your
assignments on time, that is, in class on the dates they are due.
When I give you a reading
assignment, you must finish the reading and any accompanying work before
class on the day it is due. When I
give you a writing assignment, you must complete the writing before class
on the day it is due (unless I tell you otherwise).
Keeping track of the due dates is
your responsibility.
If you miss class, remember to phone
a classmate to ask if any assignments were given or changes made while you were
gone. It is best to get the phone number
of two reliable classmates. Remember:
It is your responsibility to find out what you miss when you are absent.
If you miss more than 10 classes
(that is 20% of the course), I will ask you to repeat the course another
quarter. Please feel free to speak with
me if you are having problems with attendance.
I will start class on time. If you are late, you will be counted
absent. Please speak to me about any
kind of special problems regarding lateness.
(You hate getting up so early does not constitute a “special problem”.)
Your papers must present your own
ideas in your own words. If you copy
someone’s
exact words, you must put them in quotation
marks and reference the source. If you
summarize or quote someone else’s ideas, fact, or words, you must say where the
information came from. If you do not do
this, you will be considered unethical—a plagiarizer (an idea thief).
Saying where ideas and words come
from is called “citing your sources.” I
will teach you the basic conventions for citing your sources now, and you will
learn more about these conventions as you take higher-level courses.
I will not accept an essay you have
copied from someone else or an essay in which you present someone else’s ideas
or words as your own.
ABOUT
THE
At the end of the quarter, you will
submit three essays in your Portfolio to be given a final grade. I will give you a preliminary grade on your
first two essays during the quarter after you have discussed them with me in
conference.
You should be working all quarter on
improving your essays. You will have the
opportunity to receive feedback and help from your writing workshop group
during class. Also during class, I will
work with you in individual conferences.
You may resubmit in your Portfolio
one of the first two essays. Essay 3
will be a "test" essay; that is, you will submit it in your Portfolio
and will not have a chance to resubmit it.
You will have workshops regarding Essay 3, but not a conference with
me.
Please use the tutors at the Writing
Lab for additional assistance:
Room
A262--good idea to make an appointment; 25-minute sessions (approximately).
The FIRST DRAFT of an essay is to be
written as well as you can, but without worrying about grammar
corrections. You will read your first
draft out loud two times to your writing workshop group. Your classmates will give you feedback on the
content (NOT the grammar) of your writing.
What was interesting, touching, pleasing, important? What was NOT clear? Where would you need some more examples or
information? What was confusing? What was effective, and why? What was not effective, and why?
The REVISED DRAFT of an essay is an
improved version of its contents.
Consider the feedback your workshop group and I have given you; use your
own imagination and rethinking of your ideas to help you improve the
writing. This is also the stage of the
writing process in which you work on correct word usage and enrichment of your
written expression.
The EDITED DRAFT is written when you
are satisfied with the content of the essay and want to correct the mechanical
language problems, such as sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling. Try to find your mistakes yourself on your
final revised draft. Then, bring it to
your workshop group and ask for editing feedback. Work together to find and
correct mistakes. Ask me for help in class when necessary. The edited draft should, then, be the draft
you present for grading in your Portfolio.
It is the final draft of an essay.
Note: Bring 3 copies of a draft on WRITING WORKSHOP
days. The members of your writing group
need to be able to read along as you read your essay out loud.
If members of your group are not
working seriously enough to satisfy your needs, change groups! It is your responsibility to get as much as
possible from the feedback opportunities offered you in this class. If you need help in joining a new group, come
see me.
Essay
Format
Each draft of your essay MUST have a
label in the upper left hand corner:
First and last name
English 101
Date
Eichner
Essay #____: FIRST DRAFT
(or—Revised Draft
or—Edited Draft)
Each essay draft must be typed,
preferably on a computer (word processor), and double-spaced. The margins should be about 1 ˝ inches all
around. (Usually the default margins on
a computer are about this size.) Use
size 12 print. Please use a clear print
style, such as Arial or New Times Roman.
Also, an essay or a story always has
a title, which is centered above the
first line. There is no space between
the title and the first line. Only the
first letter of the first word and all the first letters of all important words
of a title are capitalized. A title is
NOT written in all capital letters.
There is no underline or other punctuation marking a title.
ABOUT
THE
You will give me a portfolio of your
writing to be graded at the end of the quarter.
A portfolio is a collection of your best work presented in a formal way.
Here are the requirements for your
portfolio presentation:
1. Use a soft
folder with three fasteners.
Please, do not put your writing in plastic.
Please, do not use a binder with metal rings, or a folder with a compression
strip (they fall apart too easily).
2. On the cover,
print:
Writing Portfolio
Student: First and Last Name
English 101
Date
Instructor:
3. Make the
portfolio easy for me to read through.
·
Put a divider with a labeled tab in front of each essay.
·
Make the first page a Table of Contents, giving the titles
of your essays in the order you present them.
4. Order of the
essays
·
Essay 1, Essay 2, Essay 3
·
Put the resubmitted essay (if you choose to resubmit one) on
top in that section. It will have your highlighting
and annotation of your corrections (I'll explain this later). Put the original, graded essay after the resubmitted one.