EN 104 Advanced College Writing

COURSE OUTLINE 

Required Texts

1. McGarrell, H.M., & Brillinger, P. (2002).  Writing for Results.  Saint-Laurent, Quebec: Pearson Education ESL

2. Longman Advanced Dictionary of American English and a large bilingual dictionary (or use an online one--see yourDictionary.com at http://www.yourdictionary.com/languages.html#table)

3. A pocket Thesaurus (like Roget's Thesaurus) or Merriam-Webster’s Online Thesaurus: http://www.m-w.com/home.htm

Recommended Study Guides

• APA/MLA Guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/dqf3h, ISBN: 785-0  (select English in the left navigation bar)

• ESL (parts of speech, the sentence): http://www.barcharts.com/default.asp?page=chart_details&sku=489-4, ISBN: 489-4

• ESL: Verbs: http://www.barcharts.com/default.asp?page=chart_details&gid=2&pid=688-9, ISBN: 688-9

• English Grammar/Punctuation: http://www.barcharts.com/default.asp?page=chart_details&sku=531-9, ISBN: 531-9

• English Composition & Style: http://www.barcharts.com/default.asp?page=chart_details&gid=2&pid=527-0, ISBN: 527-0

• Argumentative Essay: http://www.barcharts.com/default.asp?page=chart_details&gid=2&pid=840-7, ISBN: 840-7

• Essays &Term Papers: http://www.barcharts.com/default.asp?page=chart_details&gid=2&pid=534-3, ISBN: 534-3

• Commonly Misspelled and Confused Words: http://www.barcharts.com/default.asp?page=chart_details&gid=2&pid=788-5, ISBN: 788-5

Materials

• 3-ring binder/notebook & filler paper (standard U.S. size: 8 ½ x 11”) for class notes and handouts

• a small hole punch to keep your materials organized

• 2-3 highlighter pens

• stapler and staples

• Christine’s Links to Useful TESL/CALL Web Sites: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/useful_sites.htm

• Christine's Online Course-Related Materials for Advanced College Writing: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/cbr/AEP/adv_coll_wr.htm

Important other sites

• The SMC Writing Center: Klein Academic Center, Sundays 3-10, M-TH 5-10, with additional daytime hours as fit into the writing coaches’ schedules.  It is a good idea to consult the writing coaches on brainstorming for a topic, help with outlining a topic, coherence of an essay/research paper, preparing a bibliography, and feedback on sentence level issue in general (but no specific error correction).

Course Objectives

• To become better readers of academic texts

• To understand the process of academic writing better

• To become more proficient at various types of academic writing

• To learn to edit your own writing

• To incorporate technology into the writing process

Expectations: What you can expect from me

• A sincere interest in your progress as a student, especially as a writer

• Enthusiasm for the course

• Constructive feedback on your work

• Work returned in a timely manner

• Respect for your ideas and your work

• An effort to work with you as a group of learners

What I expect from you

• An effort to come on time and fully prepared (readings, homework) for each class meeting

• Regular attendance (more than 3 absences will affect your grade--see attendance policies/expectations for undergraduate students (Saint Michael's College catalog, see Attendance Policy below)

• Your full participation in class activities (this will also affect your grade)

• Willingness to put in the effort that it takes to learn to be a better writer

• Work passed in on time

• Respect for your classmates

PLEASE NOTE:

Homework submission: All writing must be spell-checked, well-organized, neat and reviewed (proofread) for errors in grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, and capitalization.  Papers/projects that are late will receive an automatic reduction of 10% per day late (e.g. from A to B or B to C).  Assignments will NOT be accepted after the instructor has returned the graded assignment, and a grade of "F" will automatically be assigned for this component of the course.  Extensions will not be given except in extreme circumstances and only after consultation with your professor. 

Academic Integrity: All work that you submit must be your own (= Academic Integrity).  For written assignments, you may only and are encouraged to receive help from the Writing Center (Klein Building).  A record of your discussion with one of the Writing Center Coaches will be sent to me automatically. 

Academic Integrity (copied from the Saint Michael’s College Catalogue, 2005-2006, p. 45-6):

“… academic integrity requires that one’s work be one’s own…. Because violations of academic integrity threaten the intellectual climate central to the pursuit of knowledge, they cannot be tolerated and sanctions will be imposed for any violation of this important trust.  Violations of academic integrity include the following: plagiarism, unauthorized assistance, interference, and multiple submission.”

Using and citing sources in writing: If you use outside sources (Internet, books, articles) for your writing assignments, you must include a complete citation (reference) to these sources, using APA guidelines—see Citing Electronic Sources on my Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/citing_electronic_resources.htm).    In addition, every name or quotation included in your paper must be referenced in a Bibliography or Reference list.  If the written work is not properly cited, using APA guidelines, that particular assignment must be completely revised to avoid charges of plagiarism.

PLEASE NOTE: If a student cites improperly a second time or does not submit his own work, the assignment will receive a grade of zero; the student may receive an “F” in the course, and the incident will be reported to the Associate Dean of the College.  Such an incident may result in dismissal from the institution

  Attendance Policy (copied from the Saint Michael’s College Catalogue, 2005-2006, p. 48):

1. Members of the teaching faculty and students are expected to meet all scheduled classes unless prevented from doing so by illness or other emergencies.

2. The instructor of a course may allow absences equal to the number of class meetings per week [= 3 in EN103].  Additional absences will be considered excessive.

3. The instructor may report excessive absences to the Associate Dean of the College, who may warn the student.

4. If absences continue, the Associate Dean of the College may remove the student from class with a failing grade.

This means that you may not miss more than 3 classes during the whole semester.  Please call me or the SIS Office (654-2300) in case of illness or other absence.

Grading/Performance Evaluation

There will be a course grade for EN103 which will be entered into your GPA (grade point average).  The following criteria will be used for performance evaluation in the course (subject to change):
            
            10%     Short homework (text) assignments (activities, news summaries, paraphrases)
            60%     Written assignments--paragraphs, essays, summary, critique, annotated bibliography (first draft: 60%; second draft: 40%)
            30%     Research paper

These criteria as well as their weighting may be adjusted by the instructor as necessary.  Students will be notified of any changes in weighting.

Grading system: 

Tentative Syllabus