Syllabus

• maps and directions
• 3-D map of campus

• my HyperTextBooks

• eForum: our online conferences

and

• my English department web pages — useful information for English and composition students

• Last day to submit work for this term — .
• To receive an Incomplete or to choose the Satisfactory/Fail option, follow the policies and procedures in this syllabus and contact your instructor.

Welcome to the College of DuPage. In all likelihood, this may be among your first English classes at the college, and I hope that you will find the experience so valuable that you will choose many more English classes to satisfy both your composition and your humanities requirements as you move toward your completing your degree.

English 1101 is a course in composition and English language studies. The two goals of English 1101 are to achieve competence with the use of English and fluency with written English. To accomplish the first goal, we will study the structure of the English language, and to accomplish the second goal, we will study how several writers create their work. Ultimately we want to learn what one well known commentator called the essence of all good writing — to make meaning on paper.

1. to approach writing as a process,
2. to develop and support a thesis in an organized way,
3. to read in order to examine and respond to the ideas and strategies in the writings of others, and
4. to foster proficiency with the language itself.

The writers we will read together will teach us something about a number of different types of essays: expressive, informative, analytical, argumentative, critique, persuasive, and humorous. I want each of us to attempt several of these essays this term.

On the basis of my evaluation, each essay in this course will be graded as follows:

The table below gives more specific information about each letter grade.

This term we will discuss several concepts necessary to reading and writing academic argumentation, such as

1. formulating a thesis,
2. the common modes of discourse,
3. the three appeals,
4. external aids to invention,
5. the structures of an essay,
6. unity and coherence,
7. voice,
8. sentence variety, and
9. sentential rhythm and euphony.

The examinations will consist of both short answer and essay questions designed to test your mastery of the concepts listed above and your knowledge of the material we will read.

Our exams are based on the reading we do, on our labs, and on the HyperTextBook materials. The primary objective of the exams is to ensure that you read the text closely and that you master the concepts we will cover in this class.

Each assignment earns a specific number of points, and your grade for the course depends on the total number of points earned.

Labs are graded on a "pass/fail" system. For help with essays, labs, and exams, remember that we have eForum as a place to talk about our work, share ideas, and talk about the assignments. Think of eForum as our classroom in which we can meet any time of the day or night to exchange ideas by posting messages.

The different assignment categories are weighted differently, as you can see in the following table.

Final grades in the course are determined by the total number of points you have earned on a scale of 0 to 100.

All assignments must be submitted electronically, by email or by the Contact Form.

I reserve the right to fail any student who does not complete a substantial number of assignments required by this syllabus. Specifically this means you must complete 6 of 8 labs, 5 of 6 essays, and all exams on time to earn any credit for the course. I will hold you to this. So, if, for example, a student does all the work but only half or two-thirds of the essays (no matter how many points the student has accumulated), I reserve the right to fail that student.

I have tried to create an online course that uses a minimum of software (any web browser, email program, and word processor). I have also tried to keep the focus on writing skills rather than computer technical skills. After all, I want us to learn about writing in an environment that is rich in writing (the internet); I don't want us to spend most of our time learning software. However, in this new medium, to learn about writing does entail learning software too. So I realize that an online course does demand some degree technical sophistication of all of us.

Be assured though that I have tried to keep the technical aspects of the course reasonable.

Each assignment's file name should begin with the first seven letters of your last name, followed by the number of that essay, followed by a dot [.], followed by the letters doc, or whatever file extension your word processor may use. So, for example, if Emily Dickinson were naming her files using these conventions, her first assignment would be called dickins1.doc. Each subsequent assignment is numbered accordingly.

1. Read and keep a copy of your Course Information Page, this Syllabus, and the Course Calendar, and your essays. Those pages will help you organize your work so that you can complete this course successfully. Furthermore, those pages may prove valuable to you should you transfer course credit from this institution to another.
2. Use your college-assigned email account or the Contact Form to submit your assignments. You will find a link to the Contact Form everywhere in our online textbook, and I will teach you how to copy and paste your work to me by the Contact Form.
3. Our class has a motto: littera scripta manet. For bonus points on the first exam, I will ask you what the motto is. For bonus points on the second exam, I will ask you what it means in English.

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