Mt. Hood Community College
WR 122 English Composition: Critical
Thinking Class time: 10:30 a.m.– 12:20 p.m.
Humanities Division – Spring 2016 –
4 Credits
Instructor: Joe Van
Zutphen Email: Joe.VanZutphen@mhcc.edu
Office and mailbox: Humanities Division,
AC 1582 Office Hours: 1:30-2:30 TTH
Blogspot: http://vanzutphenwr122sp16.blogspot.com/
COURSE
INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________
MT.
HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE MISSION STATEMENT
A commitment to the
community: Mt. Hood Community College affords all people a knowledge-based
education, giving them the ability to make life choices: adapt to change; build
strong communities; contribute to and derive benefit from the new economy; and
become part of a skilled workforce.
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
This four-credit
class is designed to focus on specific ways to develop critical argumentative
essays. These essays will be in response to increasingly complex
contexts, competing arguments and issues in politics, rhetoric, media, and
philosophical issues. The practice and mastery will revolve around concise
theses, adept organization, and effective reasoning, while using academically
sound grammar and sentence structure. Students will learn to find appropriate,
reliable sources in a variety of contexts in order to write research essays.
PREREQUISITE:
Completion
of WR 121 with C or better
Instructional
Methods Used:
Writing 122 is a
class best taught by a combination of instructional methods. The method
students will encounter most frequently is the class discussion, in which the
teacher is not so much a lecturer as a facilitator of student conversation. We
will use class discussion to explore the issues we will be writing about.
Additionally, students will often evaluate their writing or explore class
concepts using small group discussions or workshops. On a few occasions during
the quarter I will give formal lectures, particularly to explain grammar or
citation concepts. Finally, and most importantly, students will spend a good
deal of time writing in class, both as a tool for discovery, for assessment of
student ability, and for practicing our writing skills.
Course
Requirements:
The bulk of the work
for this class will involve reading challenging, college-level essays and
articles, as well as writing several essays, summaries, responses, and other
writing assignments. More specifically, you will write four essays over the
course of the quarter, three of which will be written as take home assignments
over a period of roughly two weeks each. The other essay will be in-class
writing exams which will occur at midterm and during finals week. Each of these
essay assignments will be different, with different length requirements,
structures, and topics, though all will require that you analyze the topic
critically and respond to it with college-level writing.
In addition to your
writing essays and tests, I will ask you to practice your writing with shorter
day-to-day assignments. Most of these assignments will be short—summaries,
reader responses, and the like—and you will submit them for a quick “check-off”
grade. For some assignments, I may ask you to provide evidence of active reading
or to fill out a brief grammar exercise, but most of the day-to-day assignments
will involve writing. Research (and common sense) suggests that if you want to
be a better writer you must write, and these day-to-day assignments offer you
an opportunity to practice your skills.
Finally, because good
writing depends so much on revision, I will ask you to help one another revise
essays by working in peer response groups. These groups will meet several times
during the class and you will be graded on the quality of your participation in
these groups.
Grading
As you can see by the
grade scale below, your work is graded more heavily at the end of the quarter
than at the beginning. This is deliberate. It really isn’t very important to me
how strong (or weak) a writer and reader you are at the beginning of the
quarter; what matters to me is how much you learn in this class and how
competently you can write at the end.
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Assignment
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Points
of Final Grade
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Take-Home Essay 1
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20
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Take-Home Essay 2
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25
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In-Class Essay 3
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15
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Take-Home Essay 4
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45
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In-Class Exam 1
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10
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In-Class Exam 2
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10
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In-class writing
and other homework
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25
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Peer response,
attendance, participation
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30
180
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I
accept no assignments via e-mail.
Points and Final
grades
162 -- 180 = A
144 -- 161 = B
126 – 143 = C
108 – 125 = D
Below 108 = F
Regarding the
question of how these assignments will be graded, the end of this
syllabus contains a chart of my grading criteria for the essays and day-to-day
assignments. I will also post documents soon that describe these grading
criteria in greater detail. Your peer response participation grade will depend
on the quality and quantity of written comments and suggestions you make on
your classmates’ papers during peer response workshops.
All
students have the opportunity to turn in any one assignment up to five
days late without incurring a grade penalty. There’s a
One-Time-Only-Due-Date-Extender to fill out and email to me; you can find it on
the class web page (http://vanzutphenwr122sp16.blogspot.com/ ). Once you have
used this permission, though, any other late assignments you turn in late will
not be accepted. Note that the permission slip is good for turning in only
ONE paper up to five days late. Papers are due at the start of class
and an assignment that is turned in later that day is considered a day late.
Please understand also that I will always grade assignments which have been
turned in on time before I will grade a late assignment; therefore, if you turn
in an assignment late, it will not be graded as promptly. Finally, keep in mind
that no late assignment may be turned in for any reason after the last regular
class day of the quarter.
Texts and Materials
Required text: Envision.
Alfano. ISBN 9780205758470 Publisher Longman. Ed. 4
Other
Materials:
You will need to have
access to a computer with a word processor and an Internet connection. Don’t
despair if you don’t own a computer: there are many computer labs at MHCC for
student use. While we’re on the subject, it’s a good idea to save your work in
two places, such as on a thumb drive and in an email account: please back up
your work frequently, as essays which are erased/virus-infected/eaten by
computers are your responsibility.
Finally, you’ll need
some kind of paper notebook or folder for day-to-day writing. A single spiral
bound notebook should be fine.
Class
Policies
Attendance:
Please
come to class and be on time. While I am happy to work with students who must
miss a class because of a genuine emergency, students simply will not do well
in the course if they make a habit of missing class. You only get one chance
this quarter to turn your work in late, and a good share of your final grade
corresponds to work you will be doing in class. Also, students are given credit
for peer response workshops only if they participate in the workshops during
class time. In short, you need to be here regularly if you want to do well. I
will be taking attendance to encourage your staying caught up with the
challenging class material. Students may miss up to five class days for any
reason; after that, each subsequent absence will lower the student’s overall
grade by 3%. Students who have missed more than ten class days will
automatically receive a final class grade of C- or lower.
The only exception to
these rules occurs in the first week of the quarter. During that time, in
accordance with English department policy, I will drop any student who misses a
class during the first two class meetings and does not get in touch with me.
Class
Courtesy: Having
a safe and civil atmosphere for learning depends on all of us. When we speak
with one another, especially when disagreeing, it is vital that we do so with
mutual respect. Students who are disruptive or abusive towards others may be
asked to leave the class. On a related note, it is both disruptive and rude to
leave your cell phone on in the classroom. Please turn it off when you come to
class.
Plagiarism:
Students
who copy the words or ideas of any other writer without acknowledging the
original author of those words or ideas are engaging in plagiarism. Plagiarism
is grounds for failing this course. One of the goals of this course is to
understand how to use information effectively and ethically in your writing.
Once those concepts have been introduced, any instances of plagiarism will
result in severe grade penalties for the student. In most cases, these
penalties lead to failure of the class.
For more information
about the English department’s plagiarism policy, please follow this link:
http://www.clark.edu/Library/PDF/eng_dept_statement_plagiarism.pdf
Americans with
Disabilities Act Accommodations:
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Please allow the
kind and helpful people in the Disabilities Services Office to guide you in
documenting your disability and in helping you attain the accommodations that
you need to succeed in college. Please do contact this office or stop by to
make an appointment.
FOR ADDITIONAL
IMPORTANT MHCC POLICIES AND SAFETY INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT THE FOLLOWING
WEBSITE:
http://home.mhcc.edu/office_of_instruction/pdf%20forms/syllabus_addendum_Gresham_Bruning.pdf
TUTORING
Many of you may
wish to work with a tutor periodically throughout this course. In some cases,
I may require that you do so. FREE tutoring is available through the Learning
Success Center in AC 3300 on the third floor above the Library. Call
503-491-7108 for an appointment. Keep in mind that tutors are not there to
proofread your work. When visiting with a tutor, please make sure to bring
your textbook so the tutor understands what assignment you are working on and
try to be as specific as possible as to what you want help with. Also, don’t
wait till the last minute to seek out tutoring; the tutoring/learning process
doesn’t work if you try to meet with a tutor the day your assignment is due.
The LSC also offers individual learning skills consultation and academic
success seminars. The LSC Computer Lab is available for individual academic
use and has a variety of skill-building software available.
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Tentative Schedule
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Date
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Class
Activities
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What’s
Due?
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Week 1
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Introduction to the
course; discussion of syllabus; discussion of active reading and summaries;
introduction to writing process. Essay 1 assigned.
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Diagnostic
Writing
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Week 2
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Sentence grammar
review; introduction to peer response; review of paragraphing; discussion of
common reading for essay 1. Peer response of essay 1.
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Essay
1
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Week 3
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Review of comma
usage; basic citation methods introduced; The Aristotelian Rhetoric;
discussion of revision strategies. Essay 2 assigned.
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Week 4
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The Rogerian
argument; discussion of common readings for essay 2; peer response of essay
2.
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Essay
2
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Week 5
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Essay 3 assigned. Discussion of common readings for
essay 3. Practice with impromptu writing.
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In-Class
Exam 1
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Week 6
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Discussion of
common readings for essay 3; peer response for essay 3. Practice with
impromptu writing.
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Essay 3
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Week 7
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Essay
4 assigned.
Advanced citation methods introduced; evaluating logic; Toulmin analysis.
Discussion of common readings for essay 4;
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Week 8
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Peer response for
essay 4; discussion of logical fallacies; discussion of writing style.
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Week 9
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Discussion of
common readings for essay 4; peer response for essay 4; discussion of logical
fallacies; discussion of writing style.
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Essay 4
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Week 10
Week
11
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Review and final
revisions; final practice on impromptu writing
Final exam
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In-class exam 2
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What
Makes a Good Writing 122 Essay?
Most students can
read another student’s essay and tell whether it is good or not so good. Just
like teachers, when you read a classmate’s work you get a first impression
about whether the essay is strong or weak. However, answering why an
essay is strong or weak becomes more difficult. Though this is a difficult
question to answer when looking at a classmate’s essay, it is an even tougher
question to apply to your own writing.
What follows is a
brief list of qualities that make your writing strong. When looking at another
student’s writing or evaluating your own, think of the essay in these terms. If
you ever wonder why you received a certain grade on an essay in this class, the
answer has to do with the qualities listed below.
Focus: A well-focused essay
speaks about one main topic, called the thesis, and does not stray from
it. In the case of short 101 essays, this main topic can often be identified in
a single statement in the essay, called the thesis statement. Even when
there is no single explicit thesis statement, however, the essay should be
focused around a single idea. The main topic of the essay is not so
broad that you cannot explore it fully in your paper; also, it is not so narrow
that you cannot develop it (for more on development, see below). Though you may
write an essay of many paragraphs with many different arguments and pieces of
evidence, everything in the essay should ultimately support your main idea.
Development: An essay is well
developed when every claim you make is supported by evidence of some kind, as
well as by a sound and logical argument. This evidence should be appropriate to
the argument you are making, relevant to the case at hand, and reputable. In
addition, a good writer uses logic that is sound and well thought-out. A well-developed
essay does not claim anything to be true without offering evidence to show why
or how it is true.
Audience
Awareness:
Good writers tailor their essays towards the needs of the audience, or reader.
For example, a good writer chooses a tone that does not insult or talk down to
the reader; similarly, good essays are written at a level that the audience is
likely to be able to comprehend. In other words, a writer with good audience
awareness writes in a style that is readable and which sounds natural. In all
communication, what we mean to say and what we actually do say can be very
different things; however, good writers work hard to minimize this difference.
A writer with good audience awareness also does not make unfair assumptions
about the reader’s gender, race, religion, class, sexuality, or value system.
Organization: Strong essays are
well organized into paragraphs. Each paragraph focuses on a single idea—often
this one idea can be conveyed in a single topic sentence—and displays a
logical strategy for conveying its information. Each paragraph should be
unified by intelligent use of transitions and key words. Similarly, a good
writer uses transitions to link paragraphs into a sequence. This sequence of
paragraphs should be logical and should serve to support the essay’s thesis.
Correctness: Strong essays
display correct sentence grammar, punctuation, sentence unity, agreement,
syntax, and spelling. While it is normal for English 101 students to make
grammatical mistakes once in a while, by the time you finish this class you
should have pretty strong control over sentence structure and sentence form.
Research
and Citations:
When it’s called for, students should know how to find outside information to
support their arguments. They should also know how to cite this outside
information correctly, giving proper credit wherever another writer’s words
were used.
STUDENT
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Academic Discourse and Conventions
A. Engage in and value a respectful and free exchange of ideas.
B. Practice active reading of challenging college-level texts, including: annotation, cultivation/development of vocabulary, objective summary, identification, and analysis of the thesis and main ideas of source material
C. Participate in class discussion and activities; speak, read, respond, and listen reflectively, recognizing self as part of a larger community and the stakeholders in an issue
D. Appreciate and reflect on challenging points of view through reading and writing; fairly and objectively measure a writer’s viewpoint against personal experience and assumptions and the experience of others
E. Identify, explain, and evaluate basic structural components of written arguments such as claims, support, evidence, rebuttal, refutation, and final appeal
F. Evaluate elements of argument such as logic, credibility, evidence, psychological appeals, and fallacies, and distinguish differences among observations, inferences, fact, and opinion
G. Use appropriate technologies in the service of writing and learning. For example: use word processing tools to prepare and edit formal writing assignments (spell check/grammar check, find and replace); understand the limitations of such tools; locate course materials and resources online; and use online communication tools such as e-mail
H. Word process and format final drafts with appropriate headings, titles, spacing, margins, demonstrating an understanding of MLA citation style
I. Demonstrate the ability to use Edited Standard Written English to address an academic audience
J. Use a writer's handbook and/or other resources with increasing sophistication for style, grammar, citation, and documentation
2. Organization, Thesis and Development
A. Use argument as a means of inquiry as well as persuasion
B. Try more than one organizational strategy in essay drafts considering multiple implications of various claims
C. Write well-focused and logically organized essays, using introductions, transitions, discussion, and conclusions in which the relationship of ideas to one another is clear
D. Support conclusions with evidence by using appropriate outside sources, presenting good reasons, showing logical relationships, clarifying inferences, choosing appropriate language, and using the most convincing evidence for the target audience
E. Use the elements of formal argumentation
F. Select appropriate methods for developing ideas in paragraphs and essays, such as analysis, facts, explanations,
examples, descriptions, quotations, and/or narratives
G. Thoroughly develop and support an argumentative thesis with a balanced and insightful presentation of evidence
3. Audience, Purpose, and Voice
Apply rhetorical competence:
a. Evaluate the effectiveness of audience analysis in written arguments
b. Assess audience’s knowledge, assumptions, beliefs, values, attitudes, and needs and respond with appropriate
c. voice, tone, and level of formality
d. Assess and question personal knowledge, beliefs and assumptions
e. Make conscious choices about how to project oneself as a writer
f. Articulate varying points of view, particularly opposing ones, in a fair and objective way
g. Anticipate and prepare for reactions to written work by audiences outside the classroom
4. Writing Process
A. Explore the ideas of others in both informal and formal writing
B. Recognize that strong organization, thesis, and development result from a recursive writing process
C. Define and focus original and specific topics that reflect curiosity and interest
D. Develop substantial essays through a flexible writing process, making controlled rhetorical choices at all stages, from exploration, research and invention, through drafting, peer review, revision, editing, and proofreading
E. Work effectively and collaboratively with other writers to evaluate and revise essays, sharing work in process and providing constructive feedback to others according to established guidelines
F. Reflect on own problem solving process and use self-assessment to improve writing
G. Work through multiple drafts of several longer pieces of writing with time to separate the acts of writing and revising and improve essays through revision
H. Revise essay drafts to emphasize a claim, considering what support is appropriate to the purpose of essay
I. Develop discipline and organizational skills necessary to pursue an in-depth writing and research project
K. Use available writing assistance
5. Research and Documentation
A. Use library resources, online databases, and the internet to locate information and evidence, recognizing that there are different resources available for different purposes/subjects
B. Use some advanced research techniques to locate sources (subject indexes, Boolean search terms, etc.)
C. Record and organize information resources to track the research process
D. Demonstrate an ability to summarize, paraphrase, and quote sources in a manner that distinguishes the writer's voice from that of his/her sources and that gives evidence of understanding the implications of choosing one method of representing a source's ideas over another
E. Demonstrate the ability to evaluate source material for authority, currency, reliability, bias, sound reasoning, and validity of evidence. These abilities may include but are not limited to: distinguishing between observation, fact, inference; understanding invalid evidence, bias, fallacies, and unfair emotional appeals; distinguishing between objective and subjective approaches
F. Assemble a bibliography using a discipline-appropriate documentation style
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