Syllabus for ENC-101-OL

COURSE DESCRIPTION

English Composition I is an introductory course in expository writing that emphasizes the importance of purpose and audience awareness in writing. While completing the work of the course, you will learn processes that will enhance the skills you need for academic and business writing.

[Return to Top]

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The primary objective of English Composition I is to improve your writing skills. This course presents many strategies that you will find useful. By the conclusion of the course, you should be able to:

• Describe and utilize common techniques used in expressive, narrative, and descriptive writing.
  
• Demonstrate the ability to use analysis of a subject to inform a reader.
  
• Effectively write an explanatory paper.
  
• Evaluate audience type and writing format.
  
• Effectively compose both analytical and evaluative papers.
  
• Write a clear thesis statement and support it with related, logical supporting arguments.
  
• Write meaningful and effective introductions and conclusions.
  
• Effectively write a problem/solution paper.
  

[Return to Top]

COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following materials to complete the work of the course. These materials are available from the textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

Textbook

Gwendolyn Gong and Sam Dragga, A Writer's Repertoire, with 1999 MLA Guidelines (New York: Longman, 1995).

ISBN-10: 0-536-17398-2

Students please note: If you order your book through MBS you will get a custom-published version (from Pearson/Longman) of the book listed above. If you buy from another bookseller, you may get a newer edition of the book, such as one with a publication date of 2006. However, this newer edition is the same as the book listed above except for any updates to the MLA style that have occurred since 1999. You may use any of these versions of the text for this course; the important thing is that it is the Gong and Dragga text A Writer's Repertoire.

Online Sources

You will be directed in this course to several online sites that provide reference information. Bookmark the following sites in your browser so that you can easily return to them:

• General Writing Reference Site. The Writing Center: University of Wisconsin-Madison
  
  
• General Writing Reference Site. The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue
  
  
• Research and Documentation Site. Research and Documentation Online (Diana Hacker)

[Return to Top]

COURSE STRUCTURE

English Composition I is a 3-credit online course. The course consists of six modules of study. Each module includes study assignments, written assignments, and an online discussion. Course requirements include six (6) online class discussions, ten (10) written assignments, a proctored midterm, and a final project.

For the course's assignments, go to the Assignment Modules area of the course Web site. (See also the course Calendar.)

[Return to Top]

ONLINE PARTICIPATION

In addition to posting a discussion thread in the Introductions Forum, you are required to participate in five additional graded online discussions. These class discussions, like the written assignments, are an opportunity to share your insights and understanding of writing.

Communication with the mentor and among fellow students is a critical component of online learning. Participation in online discussions involves two distinct activities: an initial response to a discussion question and at least two subsequent comments on classmates’ responses. Meaningful participation is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as "I agree" and "ditto" are not considered value-adding participation. Therefore, when you agree or disagree with a classmate, the reading, or your mentor, state and support your agreement or disagreement. You will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of your participation. Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, professional, and respectful.

For additional information on online discussions, see Online Discussions in the Online Student Handbook.

[Return to Top]

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

English Composition I has ten (10) written assignments. Each of the first five modules includes two written assignments. An assignment consists of an essay or paper of between 300 and 800 words. You will find these assignments within the Assignment Modules area of the course.

Please note that Written Assignment 8 has two parts. Besides writing and submitting the essay for that assignment, you are also asked to do some work related to your final project. You can get specific information about this work in the written assignment as well as in the Final Project area of the course Web site.

Responses to written assignment questions should be well developed and reasonably detailed (each assignment includes information about required length). Formulate responses in your own words (do not merely copy answers from your reading materials), citing text materials where appropriate and in an appropriate manner.

Prepare your written assignments using whatever word processing program you have on your computer. Include your name at the top of the paper, as well as the course name and code and the semester and year in which you are enrolled.

Before submitting your first assignment, check with your mentor to determine whether your word processing software is compatible with your mentor's software. If so, you can submit your work as you prepared it. If not, save your assignment as a rich-text (.rtf) file, using the Save As command of your software program. Rich text retains basic formatting and can be read by any other word processing program.

When satisfied that your assignment represents your best work, submit it to your mentor by means of the

>>View/Complete Assignment

link provided at the bottom of the respective assignment page. Use the Browse button within this link to locate and submit your assignment file.

[Return to Top]

MIDTERM EXAMINATION

You are required to take a proctored midterm examination. Consult the course Calendar for the timing of this exam.

You are required to take a proctored midterm examination. See the Calendar for the official dates for your midterm exam week.

For the midterm examination you are required to use the College’s Online Proctor Service. Please refer to the "Examinations and Proctors" section of the Online Student Handbook (see the General Information area of the course Web site) for further information about scheduling and taking online exams and for all exam policies and procedures. You are strongly advised to make your scheduling arrangements for your midterm exam within the first week of the semester.

Your online exam is administered in the Midterm Examination area of the course Web site.

In the essay question, you will be asked to apply one or more concepts from the course to the written assignments you have completed; in other words, you will be using your own writings as examples. Thus, finishing all six of the assignments in Modules 1 through 3 by the time of the midterm exam will give you a good sample of your writings to choose from. Before taking the test, be sure you have gone over your written assignments and are very familiar with each of them.

Statement about Cheating
You are on your honor not to cheat during the exam. Cheating means:

• Looking up any answer or part of an answer in an unauthorized textbook or on the Internet, or using any other source to find the answer.
• Copying and pasting or in any way copying responses or parts of responses from any other source into your online test. This includes but is not limited to copying and pasting from other documents or spreadsheets, whether written by yourself or anyone else.
• Plagiarizing answers.
• Asking anyone else to assist you by whatever means available while you take the exam.
• Copying any part of the exam to share with other students.
• Telling your mentor that you need another attempt at the exam because your connection to the Internet was interrupted when that is not true.

If there is evidence that you have cheated or plagiarized in your exam, the exam will be declared invalid, and you will fail the course.

[Return to Top]

FINAL PROJECT

As part of your course work for English Composition I you are required at the end of the semester to hand in a final project consisting of a portfolio of written work. This portfolio will contain four items. Three of these items will be assignments that you submitted before the midterm examination and revised during the second half of the course, based on feedback you received from your mentor. The fourth item is an essay that will document your awareness of the decisions you made and processes you employed as you revised the other three items in your portfolio. The final project will account for 20 percent of your final grade.

For specific information about the final project, see the Final Project area of the course Web site.

For details regarding the due date see the course Calendar.

[Return to Top]