WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

School of Languages and Literature

English 1301.SA03—Composition and Rhetoric

Fall Term: August 17 – October 31, 2009

Mondays, Wednesdays, 10:10 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

San Antonio Center, Room 104

Mrs. Nelda Andrewartha, Instructor

nelda.andrewartha@wayland.wbu.edu

Website: www.sa.wbu.edu/academics/classsyllabi

I. Wayland Mission Statement: “Wayland Baptist University exists to educate students in an academically challenging, learning-focused and distinctly Christian environment for professional success, lifelong learning, and service to God and humankind” (p. 18).

II. Catalog Description: “Principles of clear, correct, effective expository writing, with illustrative readings and frequent essays and conferences”

(p. 322).

III. Textbook:

Reinking, J. A. & von der Osten, R. (2007). Strategies for Successful Writing: A Rhetoric, Research Guide, Reader, and Handbook (8^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

IV. Supplemental Text for Reference:

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th ed.) Washington, D.C.: Author.

V. Course Objectives/Outcome Competencies: Upon the completion of this course, students actively engaged in learning will be able to:

· Apply standard conventions of the English language to written

expressions.

· Summarize and apply the components of the writing process.

· Compose academic, nonfiction essays or responses in different rhetorical modes.

· Demonstrate basic college-level research skills.

· Employ active reading strategies.

The more the student puts into the course, the higher his or her outcome competencies will be; however, students must achieve a minimum mastery of 60%.

VI. Class Procedure: Typically, each class will include lecture, guided discussions, reading-writing workshop, and conferences. Students are expected to actively participate in all activities.

VII. Course Requirements and Evaluation*

Categories	Explanation	Weighting
Attendance	Attendance, absences, and tardies affect this grade. Three tardies equal one absence.	5%
Reading-Writing Workshop	Includes such activities as active participation in class discussions active involvement in group activities self and peer assessments language and reading quizzes conferences with instructor oral presentations in-class essays	10%
Reading Journal	Includes r responses to essays and quotations.	10%
Formal Essays	These essays will be taken through the writing process—including prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and assessments: Personal Narrative – 10% Illustration – 10% Comparison – 10% Cause and Effect– 15% Documented Persuasive – 20%	65%
Exams	Semester exam – 10%	10%

*See pp. 7-9 for daily assignments and activities.

VIII. Grading Scale:

WBU Grading Scale:

A = 90 - 100%

B = 80 - 89%

C = 70 - 79%

D = 60 - 69%

F = Below 60%

IX. Additional Materials:

Dictionary and/or Thesaurus

Ample writing materials and lined paper with smooth edges

Pen, pencil, highlighters

CD or flash drive to save writings in progress to carry between home and class

Small 3-hole notebook (or folder with brads) for reading journal

X. Policies and Expectations:

A. Essays will not be accepted late. In extreme extenuating circumstances beyond your control, an exception may be made. Contact the instructor before the class meets to discuss such a need.

B. Cell phones and pagers must be silent during class time.

C. Academic Honesty: Plagiarism—copying another’s words or ideas and presenting them as your own—is cheating, a serious academic offense that will result, in the very least, in an F on the work in question. More serious consequences, such as failure for the class, should be expected.

D. Laptop computers may be used in class for appropriate activities. Students will need to provide their own paper (and printer if possible).

XI. Electronic Sources:

· E-mail: Check your email regularly, at least before each class meeting. Students will be accountable for messages sent from the Instructor—whether or not they read the messages.

· Wayland email address: All students MUST have a Wayland email address to receive official correspondence from WBU, to receive announcements from Blackboard postings by Instructor, and to email fellow classmates and Instructor:

1. Point your Web browser (Internet Explorer is recommended) to http://email.wbu.ed.

2. Once you are on the site, you will need to enter your username in the field that says: Windows Live I.D. Your username is normally in the following format: firstname.lastname@wayland.wbu.edu

If you have a more common name, it is possible that you will have a numeric character included in your username. If this is the case, you will need to contact the I.T. Department to obtain your user name.

You should have received a temporary password from the I.T. Depart- ment prior to setting up your account. Enter that now in the Password” area on the screen. example: johnSMITH1234

After this information has been entered, click the “Login” button and you will be prompted to change your password. (See the Wayland Baptist University blue brochure “A Guide to Configuring Your E-mail Account” for instructions.)

· Blackboard: Because of the restrictions placed on receiving attach-ments by the military, some businesses, and some servers, most information will be posted on the Blackboard, generally under the category of “Lecture Notes” or “Announcements.” Follow the directions that allow you to save as a document. Print each document and keep it in a notebook for reference as needed in class.

Using Blackboard

On Internet: go to http://wbu.edu Note—not a www.

On WBU Plainview Home page go to bottom of page, click Blackboard

On Log in Page enter your User Name (WBU ID #)

Enter your password (1^st three letters of 1^st and last names)

Instructions to change your password on right side of page

On Welcome Page Click on course you want (English 1301SA-04)

On left side of course page Check for any announcements posted

Click Syllabus if desired

Click on Lecture notes

Click on notes you want.

To read on computer, click OPEN

To print out, click SAVE & print

Availability of Instructor:

The Instructor will be available for conferences from 9:40-10:05 a.m. before class, 12:15-12:30 p.m. after class, and by appointment as necessary. You may also email me at any time (Use WBU email address: nelda.andrewartha@wayland.wbu.edu).

Phone numbers will be made available the first day of class.

XII. Guidelines for In-Class Essays

· Write legibly with pen, preferably blue or black ink.

· Use 8½ by 11 lined paper with smooth edges.

· Write on alternate lines so that you can insert words and changes.

· Place title of essay on the top line of the first page.

· Indent the first line of all paragraphs. and space twice after end punctuation marks.

· Write on only one side of the paper

· Write last name and page number in upper right-hand corner on all pages (ex: Andrewartha - 1).

· Staple all pages together, including prewriting and instructions.

· No title page is needed for in-class essays, quizzes, or drafts.

Class Attendance—External Campuses

Students enrolled at one of the University’s external campuses should make every effort to attend all class meetings. All absences must be explained to the instructor, who will then determine whether the omitted work may be made up. When a student reaches that number of absences considered by the instructor to be excessive, the instructor will so advise the student and file an Unsatisfactory Progress Report with the campus dean. Any student who misses 25 percent or more of the regularly scheduled class meetings will receive a grade of F in the course. Additional attendance policies for each course, as defined by the instructor in the course syllabus, are considered a part of the University’s attendance policy. A student may petition the Academic Counsel for exceptions to the above stated policies by filing a written request for an appeal to the provost/academic vice-president.

Wayland Baptist University Catalog, 2008-2009, p 83.

If an instructor fails to appear or fails to send notification of his arrival within the first ten minutes of a class period, students may leave without incurring an absence.

Comments

Please do not assume that you can miss 25% of the class meetings with no penalty at all. Very few students can be absent that much and still pass the course. Almost inevitably, students who miss class will not perform as well as they expect, and their grades will be lower. We believe attendance in class indicates that you are serious about getting a quality education, and that such attendance greatly increases your chances to succeed..

Note that there is no such thing as an excused absence from any class. If you are not in class, you are absent. The reason for your absence is not relevant. If you are obviously ill, especially if your illness may be contagious, please stay home until you have recovered. If there is a serious problem, contact the Instructor.

So there will be no doubt, 3 weeks of a course lasting 11 weeks is more than 25%. Notice that the attendance policy does not make exceptions. Attendance in a class means being in class from the time it is called to order until it is dismissed by the Instructor. Being tardy means arriving after the class has been called to order. Leaving at break time or arriving after the break means being absent for half the class. Three tardies may be counted as an absence. In a class that meets twice each week, the maximum number of allowable absences is five.

IT IS UNIVERSITY POLICY THAT NO OTHERWISE QUALIFIED DISABLED PERSON BE EXCLUDED FROM PARTICIPATION IN, BE DENIED THE BENEFITS OF, OR BE SUBJECT TO DISCRIMINATION UNDER ANY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM OR ACTIVITY IN THE UNIVERSITY. ANY STUDENT WHO NEEDS SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS TO MEET THE COURSE REQUIREMENTS SHOULD INFORM THE INSTRUCTOR IMMEDIATELY UPON ENTERING THE COURSE.

QUOTES WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION

“To communicate, put your words in order;

give them a purpose;

use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce.”

William Safire, American Author, Columnist, Journalist

“The potential for natural writing is already within all of us;

It is not too late for any of us to learn.”

Gabriele Lusser Rico, Author, Writing the Natural Way

“If you can’t put it into English;

it means you don’t understand it yourself.”

Jerrold Zacharias , Physicst and MIT Professor

“Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows no tricks.

The best you can write will be the best you are.”

Henry David Thoreau, American Writer

“The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words

being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.”
Vladimir Nabokov, Russian Novelist and Short Story Writer

“We do not write in order to be understood; we write to understand.”

C. Day Lewis, British Writer and Essayist

“To be confused often means an advanced state

of understanding in your thinking.”

Sheridan Blau, Author and Professor of Writing Instruction

“If people cannot write well; they cannot think well;

and if they cannot think well, other people will do their thinking for them.”

George Orwell, Author of 1984

“Language is the mother, not the handmaiden, of thought.”

W .H. Auden, American Poet

“It’s easier to persist with commas if you know you’re engaged in some fundamentally important human activity that has very great consequences for y our full development as a human being.”

Charles Cooper, Journalist

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE - English 1301.SA03*

Date