ENC1101
English Composition I
Instructor: James Mulhern
Email: james.mulhern@browardschools.com. Please do not email assignments to me. You must give all assignments to me in hard-copy form.
Office hours: Mondays and Thursdays after school. You must sign up ahead of time, as well as notify me that you will be coming. I am usually at school by 6:30 a.m. You may also see me before first period for any issues concerning make-up work (excused absences), grade concerns, or additional help with assignments.
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Course Description
A university parallel course in which the student writes expository themes in various modes. Research methods and library skills are introduced, and a documented paper is required. Placement in ENC 1101 is determined by both standard and departmental assessment tests. A student must earn a grade of "C" or higher to meet the requirements of the Gordon rule.
General Education Requirements – Associate of Arts Degree (AA), meets Area(s): Area 1A
General Education Requirements – Associate in Science Degree (AS), meets Area(s): Area 1
General Education Requirements – Associate in Applied Science Degree (AAS), meets Area(s): Area 1
General Course Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Write several essays using various patterns of development that employ conventions of Standard American English.
- Write a documented research paper including internal citations and a Works Cited page.
- Write clearly and coherently.
- Read with critical comprehension.
Course Prerequisites and Resources
Students: To maximize your chances for success in this course, make sure that you meet the following course prerequisites:
- Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: There are no prerequisites to this course; however, you are expected to have a proficiency in English grammar and usage before taking ENC 1101.
- Computer Knowledge and Skills:
- File Management - You should be familiar with finding and saving files on your computer.
- The Internet - You should be familiar with connecting to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider or Network Connection.
- Web Browser Software - You should be familiar with using web browser software to navigate the Internet and locate information.
- Email - You should be familiar with sending and receiving email messages.
- Attachments - You should be familiar with sending email messages with attached files.
- Word Processing - You should be familiar with creating, editing, saving, and printing documents using Microsoft Word.
Obtain a County Library Card or University/College Library Card. You will need either a County Library Card which you may obtain at either North Campus or South Campus Library or a University/College Library Card from the Central Campus Library. These cards will allow you to use select library databases.
Required Course Materials
Required Texts:
Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell, eds. Patterns for College Writing. Twelfth Edition. Boston: Bedford, St. Martins, 2012.
Hacker, Diana and Nancy Sommers, eds. Rules for Writers. Eighth Edition. Boston: Bedford, St. Martins, 2016.
You should also have the following supplies: 3-ringer binder with loose-leaf paper, folder for handouts, pens, pencils, highlighter, thumb drive to save documents.
Methods of Instruction
In this course, students will read and discuss essays written in a variety of rhetorical patterns. Students will learn to recognize these patterns and to use them in their own writing. Lectures, class discussion, oral presentations, homework, and writing/grammar assignments will be used to achieve the learning outcomes outlined above. Students are expected to attend all classes, actively participate in class discussions, turn homework in on time, and complete the writing assignments on time.
Course Attendance and Participation Policy
Students: Regular attendance is vital to your success in this course. Writing is a process and is learned as a process. You cannot succeed if you are not here, doing the work, at all points throughout the process. Please see me if you are late, so that I can mark your attendance accordingly. Please refer to the College Class Attendance Policy at www.broward.edu.
- Participation: Active participation is expected of all students in this course.
- BC Attendance Policy: Please familiarize yourself with BC's Attendance Policy. (See Broward College website: www.broward.edu. Search “Rights and Responsibilities Policy Matters.”)
Withdrawals: If you do not attend the first class meeting, you will be withdrawn from the class and receive a WN for non-attendance. If you stop participating after the withdrawal date (October 28, 2017), you will receive a WF that will then be computed as an F in your GPA. To avoid this situation, you should remain an active learner in this class and always communicate extenuating circumstances to me. Ongoing communication with the instructor is critical to your course success. I will use completion of tests, assignments, and other class activities as indicators of your participation in order to satisfy this reporting requirement.
Grading and Exam Policy
- Submission Deadlines
Late assignments are not accepted. You receive a grade of zero. All assignments must be submitted on the day that they are due at the beginning of the period. If you are absent, you are not allowed to make up any work done in class that day, or due that day. Please do not send me your assignments via email. You must submit a hard copy of all assignments to me personally.
How your Grade will be Determined: In this course, I utilize a point system: First version of essays receive a grade based on 30-50 points; final revised essays receive a grade based on 100 points; the final research paper grade is based on 100 points; other in-class graded assignments usually count between 20 and 50 points. The final course grade is the percentage determined by total points earned over total points possible.
If you earn 90% or higher, you will have earned an A grade. Likewise, a B grade is 80-89% and a C is equivalent to 70-79%. If you accumulate 60-69%, you will have earned a D. Below 60% is a failing grade. You need to earn a C grade in this class and write 6,000 words to fulfill the Gordon rule and meet the school’s degree requirements. That is possible in this class, but you have to do the work.
Other Policies and Procedures
Code of Conduct: All students should review and adhere to the rules outlined in the Student Handbook: http://www.broward.edu/studentresources/rights-and-responsibilities/Pages/student-handbook.aspx
Special Needs - Students having special needs as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act should:
- Notify the Office of Disability Services as early in the term as possible. It is the student's responsibility to contact the Disability Support Office prior to document disability prior to receiving services.
- Notify the instructor after you have contacted the Office of Disability Services so that the instructor can consult with the Office of Disability Services to discuss what reasonable accommodations would be appropriate for your situation.
Academic Honesty
- Each student's academic work must be the result of his or her own thought, research, or self-expression.
- Cheating includes, but is not limited to: copying the work of another person or permitting your work to be copied by another person, and collaborating on the completion of assignments not specifically designated in the syllabus as being group projects.
- Cheating will be considered a breach of BC's Code of Conduct Policy and will result in a failing grade for the course. If it appears that a student has copied an assignment from published material (including Internet sites), the student will receive a failing grade for this course.
Changes to the Syllabus: The instructor reserves the right to make changes to this syllabus. A writing class is process-oriented, and the instructor may adapt/amend the syllabus as needed. Remember that these dates are tentative; additional homework or other in-class assignments may also be given as needed. Quizzes, homework, and in-class assignments/activities may not be made up. If you miss it, you miss it.
Course Schedule and Assignments
Students: Read and refer to this document regularly. It will tell you assignments and readings for each week of the course. Because this is a dual enrollment course for a high school campus, flexibility is required. Some readings on this syllabus may not be discussed; however, I encourage you to read all of them. Essays are great models for writing. Pay attention in class or through my website for definitive reading assignments. The dates for the essays you write are set, unless otherwise informed.
All assignments to be turned in should be typed, double-spaced on plain white paper. You should include your name and the course title in the heading, but please do not include a title page unless specifically asked to do so. Paragraphs are to be indented. For formatting requirements, see the link to a sample MLA essay on my website.
Week, Topics, Readings, and Assignments
Week One
Introductions; course overview and expectations; lecture/discussion/notes on rhetoric; annotated readings of essay with discussion—“How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” “Graduation,” and “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self”; write “Life Vision” Autobiographical Essay.
Week Two
Continue reading and discussion of essays from previous week; discussion/notes on narrative mode of discourse with handouts; in-class writing; discussion of current events; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Three
Assessment on “Graduation”; discussion of how to write a Narrative Essay with handout and notes; in-class writing activities; internet research—common errors in writing and language; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Four
Group work—common grammar errors; group presentations on writing and language mistakes; note taking; more discussion of narrative mode of discourse; in-class writing—Narrative Essay due; peer editing of Narrative Essay; assessment—language and writing skills; silently read and answer questions—“My Mother Never Worked.”
Week Five
Read aloud and discuss “My Mother Never Worked” with note taking; lecture on how to analyze an argument; First Draft of Analysis Essay (Argument)due; peer editing of Analysis Essay; silently read and answer questions—“Shooting an Elephant”; groups create questions for “Shooting an Elephant”; discussion of “Shooting an Elephant” with note taking; silent reading and questions—“The Ways We Lie”; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Six
Writing and Language assessment; in-class revision of Analysis Essay; discussion/handout/notes on analytical writing and reading skills; reading/discussion/note taking—“Lies in Politics”; lecture/discussion—how to build an argument; assessment—“Shooting an Elephant”; silently read and answer questions—“Sex, Lies, and Conversation”; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Seven
Final Analysis essay due; reflection on writing activity; class reading/discussion/note taking—“Sex, Lies, and Conversation”; discussion of political activism; brainstorm ways to be a good citizen—group and class discussions; discuss power of persuasive techniques in rhetoric; groups work on assigned essays—make links, create questions for discussion—the theme of lying and its effects on everyday life and political discourse in our democracy; group presentations; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Eight
Reciprocal reading with note taking—Foreign Affairs article, “Still Crazy After All These Years”; class discussion on political rhetoric; continue group presentations from last week; discuss ideas of Orwell; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Nine
Read silently and answer questions—“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”; discuss main ideas and organization in Seneca Falls speech, draw parallels to Declaration of Independence; read and discuss essays on citizenship and immigration; read and take notes on argumentation; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Ten
Lecture and more notes on the argumentative essay; brainstorm, plan, and writing activity—importance of “polite speech”; in-class writing argumentative essay—Importance of Polite Speech in society; in-class discussion and sharing of parts of student Polite Speech Argumentative essay; Final draft of Polite Speech Argumentative Essay due; groups assigned analysis of citizenship/immigration essays; discussion of ideas and methods for Research Paper assignment with handout; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Eleven
In-class brainstorming, planning, writing of Research Paper—Importance of Truth in a Democracy; silently read/take notes/answer questions—“Why Rational People Buy Into Conspiracy Theories”; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Twelve
Additional brainstorming ideas for Research Paper; whole-class discussion of “Why Rational People Buy Into Conspiracy Theories”; begin unit plan on Presidential Oratory (Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Obama); begin reading of presidential speeches in groups—analyze rhetoric; work in Learning Commons on Final Draft of Research Paper due this week; peer editing and writing reflection activity; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Thirteen
Continue reading, analyzing, and discussing of presidential speeches; groups assigned presidential speeches (Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Obama) to “become experts” for future whole-class discussion; groups work using handouts for analysis—take notes, synthesize ideas in all presidential speeches—find similarities and differences; utilize Aristotle’s Triangle to understand how the speaker, the audience, and the message affect speeches; understand how context and occasion affect content and rhetorical methods as well; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Fourteen
Continue Presidential Oratory unit—see activities for week of April 9; reflect on what has been learned so far about presidential rhetoric; group and whole-class discussion; additional presidential speeches for analysis; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Fifteen
Prepare for group presentations—presidential oratory through the years; seminar with presentations by different groups on assigned speeches; whole-class discussion of similarities and differences among speeches; evaluation and reflection activities on the power of rhetoric in presidential oratory; vocabulary development activities; writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events.
Week Sixteen
Discussion of most interesting readings and lessons of course; final vocabulary development activities; final writing and language pointers and/or exercises; discussion of current events. Review of major aspects of course—writing and language pointers, exercises. Synthesize and evaluate learning. Final assessment of Writing and Language skills; written evaluation of what students have learned about the power of language and rhetoric in this course.
