English 111 Ashkenas

Texts: BEDFORD HANDBOOK (8th edition)

Please use office email to contact me if at all possible. It's more reliable than phoning.

Web page address: http://www.nvcc.edu/home/dashkenas

You'll need to use this web page address during the course of the semester in order to access links from the online version of the 111 syllabus.

Office hours: TBA.

Course prerequisites:

You must have placed into 111 (WITHOUT LAB) on the Placement Test, or you must have taken and passed the required developmental or ESL preparation courses. You may not take English 111 simultaneously with more advanced English classes (112 or above), with one exception: You may take 111 concurrently with English 135, Applied Grammar.

I’m not responsible for any difficulties you have as a result of being misplaced, just as I’m not responsible for difficulties you encounter because of absence or chronic lateness.

The Writing Assistance Center, Math Lab, and Student Tutorial and Counseling Services offer tutoring and help with individual assignments.

Attendance:

This is a traditional course, not a hybrid course with online requirements. Therefore, please bear in mind that classroom meetings are your main source of information about the required work. No student who only comes to half the classes, as he would do if this were a hybrid course, should expect to pass. See more specific attendance guidelines below.

In any sixteen-week course that meets twice weekly, you shouldn’t miss more than 5 classes a semester. (You shouldn’t miss more than 2 classes in a sixteen-week course that only meets once a week.) Students with repeated absences, explained or unexplained, may be withdrawn from the course. Even if that doesn’t happen, students who miss classes are more likely to misunderstand directions, deadlines, or other course requirements. That normally lowers their grade or decreases their chance of passing the course.

Please note: The College asks us to withdraw students who have not attended class, according to our records, in the first three weeks of the semester. The college also encourages us to withdraw students who attend classes initially, but do not continue to meet the attendance requirements posted on the syllabus.

In other words, please attend all classes that you register for. And please don’t just disappear during the course of the semester without letting your teachers know what has happened to you. Never leave your name on the roll of this or any other class you subsequently decide you can’t attend for the whole semester. And don’t expect credit for a course if you don’t attend a majority of the classes.

Course Calendar: There is no calendar of assignments at the beginning of the semester. This is partly because I allow students to play a role in choosing assignments for the class. Announcements about what we're doing will be given in class. If you miss a class, you'll need to contact me via email and/or get notes from a fellow student to know what you missed.

Types of assignments:

Expect both in-class and out-of-class work, and expect about half of your grade to be based on in-class writing. At the end of the class, a longer research essay (about 5 typed double-spaced pages or 1200 words minimum) will be based on outside readings. This essay will receive three separate grades for three separate performance variables, so it usually represents half of your grade for the class.

Even though the research assignment is based on outside readings, I'll expect an original interpretation of or fresh insight into this reading, not just repeating in your own words what others have said. The final paper will require you to form an opinion on a controversial issue from reading several articles on the subject. Expect your thesis in the final paper to be your own original opinion, and expect the paper to require you to comment on and criticize the sources you’ve read, not just repeat what others say in your own words. To insure the originality of everyone's work, there will be a choice of assigned topics. Formerly the assigned topic was the War on Terror, but I'm offering new options for you to choose from. These options will be explained in the links at the end of the course syllabus. Why is it necessary to have assigned topics and assigned sources? Because of increasing student confusion about what constitutes original writing and why it's important for you to learn how to write original essays rather than half-copying words and ideas from outside (especially online) sources.

Original Writing:

Until recently, most of my students had no difficulty distinguishing between their own writing and the writing of others, or distinguishing between their own opinions and the opinions of others. However, partly due to advances in information technology, a growing number of students do get confused about the difference between repeating ideas you found, especially online, and coming up with your own original thoughts. As a result, I've had to control topics and sources for the major research assignment. But even with these changes, there's still a chance that in this or any other course you take, you could be forced to withdraw because your writing isn’t original enough to satisfy course requirements. If that happens, you won't be happy. Students who get lower grades than they were expecting because of these issues are also unhappy. So to keep us all happy, let’s say a few words now about how teachers evaluate the originality of student writing.

Some characteristics of writing with originality problems:

Regardless of whether or not I can verify plagiarism, I reserve the right to reject writing because it isn’t original enough to satisfy the learning requirements for this course. The purpose of the course is not just to teach you how to read and write, but how to THINK ABOUT what you read that has been written by others. It’s possible for an essay to show no original thought whatsoever, even if nothing that would technically qualify as plagiarism was involved in the writing of the essay. Essays of this type are as unacceptable as plagiarized essays. Here are some of the hallmarks of this problem:

· The essay contains words the student can’t define and doesn’t use in everyday speech.

· The essay discusses issues, problems, events, or policies the student isn’t familiar with and can’t explain.

· The essay contains words or ideas the student can’t rephrase in simpler language when he’s asked to do so.

· The essay contains abstract ideas or problems that the student can’t illustrate using examples from his own life, the lives of friends, or stories in the news.

· The essay appears to contradict itself, so that the writer seems to hold logically inconsistent views.

· Parts of the essay don’t match the whole—for example, the body of the paper isn’t about what the thesis said it would be about, or the paper draws a different conclusion from the one given in the thesis or implied or discussed in the body of the paper.

· The style of the paper is radically different from the style of writing shown by the student when he writes in class.

· The essay makes use of opinions or factual information of a type that normally requires documentation, yet he does not document the sources.

· A writer using outside sources doesn’t carefully distinguish between the ideas that are his own and the ones he has borrowed.

When these issues surface in a student’s work, I don’t always know why. It may happen because the student has copied something from the Internet or even bought a paper online and signed his own name to the paper. Unfortunately, an increasing number of students do this because they think that anything they “found” on the Web belongs to them, the way a quarter you found on the sidewalk belongs to you. Most students know better, but some don’t.

Yet lack of originality can also be a problem for a wide range of other reasons, too. For example, sometimes it happens because a student has asked a friend or family member for “a little help,” and without realizing it, has gotten way too much help—so much help that an objective bystander would say that the paper was co-authored. Since we’re all capable of kidding ourselves about how much help we need, this can happen without a student realizing what he has done.

If I tell you that you have a problem with submitting work that’s not original enough to foster the development of your own independent writing and thinking skills, then I expect you to respond appropriately. The appropriate response is not to argue with me that the problems listed above don’t matter. It’s for the teacher, not the student, to determine whether or not and how much these issues matter.

KEEP ONE HARD COPY OF ALL PAPERS HANDED IN. While I never intentionally lose papers, it sometimes happens by accident. Since I have let you know in advance that I want you to keep a back-up copy, you're expected to do so. If you wish to regard an electronic copy as your back-up, you do so at your own risk. Disks fail. Hard drives fail. Such things are known to happen. ALSO: Please remember that papers submitted electronically or left in my mailbox do NOT receive credit if I don’t get them. Last semester, several 111 students wound up with unexpected Incompletes because they insisted that I “must have” received email attachments I never got. The Administration backs me on this controversy. If I don’t get the work, you don’t get the credit, period.

Any paper handed in becomes the property of the instructor and may be used anonymously in the present or future in a lesson or on the web page as an illustration, unless you write on the paper that you don’t want it used for discussion or reproduced. Common sense dictates that I may spend more time on your paper, though, if you allow me to use it to benefit others.

Late paper policy: Papers are due when I tell you they’re due. However, they may be handed in within one week of the due date without grade penalty. After one week, they lose a letter grade. (For example, a paper that would have received an “A” gets a “B”; a paper that would have received a “B” gets a “C”, etc.) After two weeks, they normally get a zero (“F”). Students who fall behind may be withdrawn, with or without notification, if they fail to schedule a conference to discuss the issue in person. They will also be withdrawn if the conference doesn't promptly resolve the problem.

Skills a student should have before entering English 111:

This is not a remedial or developmental course. I assume that you have college-level reading comprehension, and that you are fluent enough to write readable English on an impromptu basis in class and unassisted (except by a translation dictionary). I assume that you do not need someone else to correct your English for you at home. (In fact that would be a violation of the principles of academic honesty.) I assume that you have a large working vocabulary in English and that you can command English grammar, syntax, and basic idioms.

Skills developed in English 111: Here we work mainly on "whole essay" issues, such as unity and coherence, clarity, consistency, originality, rationality, and development of concrete detail. Assuming basic competence in use of the language, we learn how to generate more meaningful and original content.

Collegiate Attitude:

A year ago I had serious conflicts in one of my two sections of English 111 over issues related to basic classroom etiquette. The conduct rules I asked students to abide by are not different from those posted on the walls of most of the classrooms in the Bisdorf building. But that didn't keep some students from questioning my right to impose them--or to set any rules at all about classroom behavior. You can chalk it up to my adult ADD if you like, but I can't teach in a chaotic classroom. My definition of a "chaotic classroom" is one in which the teacher is not necessarily the center of attention at moments when he/she clearly should be.

Besides, to understand the directions and grading criteria for assignments, it's necessary not just to be here, but to listen with your full attention. To that end, I expect students to observe the following rules:

Don't talk while someone else has the floor, whether that other person is the teacher or a fellow student. (If you need to ask what the teacher said, raise your hand and ask the teacher, not your neighbor.)
Don't pass notes and giggle in class, no matter how cute your neighbor is.
Don't text your friends in class and/or share texts and tweets with your neighbors and giggle at these. (You aren't supposed to have your cell phone in use in the classroom anyway.)
Don't open and use a laptop for any purpose unless I ask you to do so. (If you have a learning disability that means you must use a laptop in the classroom, bring me a note from counseling to verify this.)
Don't walk back and forth, in and out of the classroom, during class. I do permit students to enter late or leave early. What I do NOT permit is for students who leave to come back. So if you must leave to go to the bathroom or take an urgent call, take your books, because you aren't coming back into the classroom before the end of the class.

Web Pages & Links:

The links posted below have been used as the basis for discussion in past English 111 classes. Some of them may not be used in this class, but I've left them up in case we choose to access them for class discussion. If I want you to read links outside of class, I'll announce that on Blackboard and/or in class. But remember, you're always free to look at anything here just because you're curious. And anything you see here might be directly or indirectly helpful in improving your writing.

CRITERIA GOVERNING THE ASSIGNMENT OF SPECIFIC LETTER GRADES.

SAMPLE

SAMPLE DISCUSSION FOR 2010: BOOK OF QUESTIONS

111 Paper Rules

SAMPLE DISCUSSION FOR 2009: We're a Nation of Dunces

Nation of Dunces for Word 2003

TV Stinks: A Discussion and First Graded Assignment for Fall 2009

TV Stinks: A Model for a Discussion of an Episode of a Specific Show

Readings and Directions for the Self-Definition Essay

PERSONAL ESSAY TOPIC: Argue for or against the truth of a platitude.

QUESTIONS FOR PLATITUDE DISCUSSION GROUPS

SAMPLE PLATITUDE ESSAY: All men are created equal.

SAMPLE PLATITUDE ESSAY: Justice is blind.

SAMPLE PLATITUDE ESSAY: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Research Paper Links & Topics from Past 111 classes:

Rules for paraphrase and critique

New Argumentative Research Paper Topics for 2010

MLA Documentation Rules Updated for the 8th edition of the Handbook

Winning and Losing as an American Obsession: Paper Topics for Fall 2010

Threats to American Democracy: A Political Topic?

Face Book Nation: How Much Online Social Networking Is Good for Us, and What Are the Dangers? Paper Topics for Fall 2010

Higher Education in America: What Would You Change If You Could? Paper Topics for Spring 2011

SAMPLE 111 RESEARCH PAPERS

Student Paper on American Decline, Sample One

Student Paper on American Decline, Sample Two

Student Paper on Facebook, Sample One

Student Paper on Facebook, Sample Two

Sample Student Argumentative Research Paper on Sexism

Sample Student Argumentative Paper on Racism

Final Checklist for the 111 Research Paper

THE FOLLOWING LINKS PERTAIN TO ONE SPECIFIC PAST RESEARCH TOPIC, THE WAR ON TERROR. You may still use this topic if you wish, but you'll need to update the information. (Hey, did you know Osama bin Laden is dead?)

Directions for Synthesis/Research Paper on the War on Terror

Rules for Critique as Applied to the Paper Topics for the Synthesis/Research Paper on the War on Terror

Sample Narrative Paper on the War on Terror

Sample Comparison/Contrast Paper on the War on Terror

Sample Definition Paper on the War on Terror

Sample Cause/Effect Paper on the War on Terror

Sample Paraphrase/Critique on “Using Our Fear”

Errors in Reasoning as Applied to the War on Terror in 2007

Sample Outline For an Argument on the War In Iraq

Final Checklist for the 111 Research Paper

Sample Research Paper on the War on Terror

Sample Student Research Paper on Preemptive War as a Strategy in the War on Terror