English 101: Critical Thinking and Writing

Laurence Musgrove

Office: N416 Office Telephone: 298-3241

Office Hours: MWF 9-10 am and by appointment

Email: musgrove@sxu.edu course website: http://english.sxu.edu/musgrove/eng100.html

Course Description: Application of the principles of clear thinking and effective writing to expository and argumentative essays. Must be passed with a grade of C or better.

Learning Objectives

1. Understanding the values of reading, writing, and critical thinking in the University community. Students should recognize the role reading, writing, and thinking play in the University, as well as the significance of such intellectual virtues as humility, courage, honesty, perseverance, hopefulness, consideration, and civility.
2. Understanding rhetoric. Students should be introduced to rhetoric and understand the dramatic and situational nature of communication.
3. Reading actively, critically, and responsibly. Students should learn to analyze the writing of others, noting focus, arrangement, logical development, vocabulary, and style. Students should learn the difference between reading information and reading literary art. Students should also learn to acknowledge how their experiences and attitudes limit, enable, and determine their responses to texts.
4. Understanding writing as a process. Students should learn writing as a process of various problem-solving tasks, including planning, discovering, drafting, revising, and editing. Students should also learn that this process is situational: different purposes for writing (narration, exposition, persuasion, and research) demand distinct writing processes, especially planning and discovery.
5. Understanding the formal conventions of various essay genres, paragraphs, and sentence structures. Students should learn the basic textual conventions of academic writing, including the personal essay, expository writing, and analysis, as well as understand the need to fulfill readers’ expectations about focus, organization, development, and voice in each. Students should learn the conventional forms and functions of paragraphs. Students should also develop the ability to use various sentence patterns and to edit for correctness and variety.
6. Developing an awareness of language. Students should learn how language is a value-laden tool for discovering and communicating ideas. Students should recognize how a language-user is always a language-chooser who promotes or inhibits (consciously or not) further thinking, communication, and action.

Course Texts

• Work in Progress: A Guide to Writing and Revising, Lisa Ede, 4^th edition
• Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters, Phillip C. McGraw
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J. K. Rowling
• A Sense of Where You Are: A Profile of William Warren Bradley, John A. McPhee
• Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse
• A college dictionary

Course Supplies

• A 1 ½ or 2 inch three-ring presentation-style notebook with 12 dividers for all written work
• Notebook paper for in-class writing exercises
• Large 5X8 inch lined notecards for reading responses
• Vinyl zippered pouch for storing notecards in notebook
• Manila folders for essay submissions
• Other required supplies: a stapler, three-hole punch, and printer or typing paper

Requirements for Submitting Written Work

Essays: All drafts should be typed, double-spaced, with one inch margins. See the paper format guidelines attached. All drafts will also be submitted in a manila folder with your name printed on the folder tab. Students will have individual conferences with the instructor on each essay before final submission.

Course Requirements: All of your work for the class should be saved and organized in the course binder in the following sections and in the following order. This completed binder is due during finals week.

1. Syllabus, Schedule, and Academic Performance Agreement.
2. Diagnostic Essay: a short, handwritten introductory essay written during the second and third class period.
3. Learning Achievements and Goals: Initial list of learning achievements and goals detailing the ways student has already developed as a student of English and ways student wants to improve as reader, writer, and thinker. This list will be updated at the middle and end of the term. See sample attached.
4. In-Class Exercises: Short in-class writing assignments related to word, sentence, and paragraph development.
5. Admit Slips: Notecard reading responses submitted upon entering class. Admit slips will be stored in vinyl zippered pouch in notebook.
6. Essay 1: A three-page narrative essay. See format for essays attached.
7. Essay 2: A three-page, expository essay.
8. Midterm Self-Evaluation Essay and Learning Goals: A three-page, self-evaluative essay detailing the degree to which student has achieved his or her initial learning goals, as well as new goals for the term.
9. In-Class Essay: A two-page, handwritten essay composed in one class period.
10. Essay 3: A four-page, analytical essay.
11. Essay 4: A four-page, argumentative essay.
12. Final Self-Evaluation and Learning Goals: A three-page, self-evaluative essay detailing the degree to which student has achieved his or her midterm learning goals, as well as new goals for future courses in reading, writing, and thinking.

 Grade Equivalencies for Admit Slips

5	At least one side of card, exceptionally focused and organized response to the prompt, offering detailed examples from personal experience and text, and no errors
4	At least one side of card, not as focused, organized, and detailed as a 5, and one or two errors
2	At least one side of card, focus and organization is lacking, some details are offered, more than two errors in spelling and sentence structure
1	Not a full response
0	No response

Grade Equivalencies for Essays

A an excellent essay	a clear aim, a strong introduction, and a thoughtful conclusion strong supporting details logically developed and very well organized a tone appropriate to the aim of the essay stylistic maturity and confident facility with language as demonstrated by sentence variety and appropriate word choice virtually free of surface and usage errors
B a good essay	a clear aim and a strong introduction and conclusion good supporting details logically developed and well organized a tone appropriate to the aim of the essay lacks the stylistic maturity and facility with language of an A essay largely free of surface and usage errors
C an acceptable essay	a clear aim, an introduction, and a conclusion adequate supporting details competence in logical development and organization, although it may exhibit occasional organizational and developmental weakness a tone appropriate to the aim of the essay basic competence in sentence variety and word choice a pattern of surface and usage errors
D a poor essay	lack of a clear aim, focus, or conclusion lack of sufficient support supporting details may be trivial, inappropriate, logically flawed flaws in organization/development inappropriate tone stylistic flaws characterized by lack of sentence variety and by evidence of limited vocabulary frequent usage or surface errors
F an unacceptable essay	focus may be too general or too specific lack of support lack of organization inappropriate tone serious stylistic flaws serious usage or surface errors
No evaluation	Essays receiving no grade will fail to address the topic or assignment, fail to fulfill other requirements of the assignment, show evidence of plagiarism, or fail to be accompanied by previous drafts.

Final Grade Calculations

INGREDIENT	POINTS POSSIBLE	POINTS RECEIVED	FACTOR	% OF FINAL	TOTAL POINTS
Initial Learning Achievements and Goals	100		5	3.03
20 Admit Slips	100		10	6.061
Essay 1	100		10	6.061
Essay 2	100		10	6.061
Midterm Self-Evaluation Essay	100		10	6.061
Midterm Learning Achievements and Goals	100		5	3.03
In-Class Essay	100		20	12.121
Essay 3	100		20	12.121
Essay 4	100		30	18.182
Final Self-Evaluation Essay	100		40	24.242
Final Learning Achievements and Goals	100		5	3.03
TOTAL				100
FINAL GRADE divide by 165

Grade Equivalencies for Essays and Final Grade

Grade	Essay Equivalency	Final Grade Range
A	100	93-100
B	88	84-92
C	79	75-83
D	70	65-75
F	50	< 65

Other Effects on Final Grade: Six absences will result in failure. If you must miss a class, contact a classmate to get the homework assignment for you or to turn in your work. Late work will not be accepted. All assignments must be submitted to receive a passing grade. No incompletes will be given.

Student Athletes and Absences: Student athletes should provide instructor with schedule of classes that will be missed due to University-sanctioned events.

Academic Honesty: All work composed for this class must be written exclusively for this class and be your original work. You may of course receive assistance on your writing, but submitting someone else’s work as your own or failing to acknowledge sources appropriately will be grounds for plagiarism. Violations of academic honesty will result in failure. See your Student Handbook for more on Academic Honesty.

Academic Support Services for Students

Personal Counseling: The Career and Placement Development Center offers individual counseling for a variety of issues that impact on students’ motivation to remain and succeed in college. If you are having problems keeping up with your school work because of personal issues, the Career and Placement Development Center may be able to help you.

Self-Disclosure of Disability: Services for students will disabilities are coordinated through Learning Assistance Services in L111. Students seeking academic accommodations should contact that office to self-disclose their disability, provide appropriate and current documentation, and request accommodations. The Learning Assistance Services will forward confirmation of disability to faculty with recommended accommodations.

Writing Tutors in Learning Assistance Center. L111 and L114. The Learning Assistance Center offers tutoring in writing at no cost. Tutors will not write or edit your papers, but they will help you develop the skills you need to plan, draft, and revise your work.

Computer Labs: Verify availability of all University computer labs on campus and in the dormitories. Schedules should be posted at each lab.