ENGLISH 102: Composition II, Section 20613 (Summer 1996)

Chip Rogers, Instructor
Phone: 524-4685
Office: 190A Hoskins
Email Address: chip@fleetman.com
Office Hours: Tuesday 10:30-11:30, Wednesday 2:00-3:30, or by appointment

Required Materials
Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. By Robert DiYanni. 3rd Edition.
Harbrace College Handbook. 12th Edition.
Frankenstein. By Mary Shelley. Dover edition.
Harbrace Theme Folder

Course Objectives
The primary aims of this class are 1) to improve your writing, 2) to strengthen your skills incorporating secondary materials (quotes) into your writing, and 3) to familiarize you with basic library research processes.

Policies
Attendance: Be here every day. Period. Each class period is important, and any absences will affect your grade. Three unexcused absences will result in an automatic grade of no-credit for the course.

Definition of excused absence: If you cannot avoid missing class on a certain date, notify me beforehand by telephone, email, or in person. If you become ill, or there is a death in your family, or if there is any other legitimate reason you cannot attend class, let me know to excuse your absence before you miss class. Doctor's notes and so forth will not be accepted after the fact.

Late Work: No such thing. Deadlines are real.

Course Requirements
4 formal papers 2-4 pages in length, including drafts and corrections
5 informal reading response essays (Journals) of at least 200 words
4 formal in-class essays
Daily writings, exercises and quizzes
Peer response writings for formal papers
Research Project
Two conferences outside of class
Library Tutorial

Course Description
Library tutorial: a three-part interactive tutorial covering the basics of how to locate sources in Hodges Library. Completion of each part of the 102 tutorial is acknowledged by printed certification-you must turn in all three certificates by the due date to receive credit for this class.

Conferences: In conferences, I examine drafts of your formal papers individually. Essentially, my aim in each conference is to point out major problems in your papers and offer critical response to your work before it is submitted for grading.

Grammar quizzes test your mastery of basic grammatical concepts following discussion and/or readings from the Harbrace Handbook.

In-class exercises: These will vary: possibilities include paragraph-writing exercises, outlines, bibliographic work, and pop quizzes on the readings.

Peer responses involve close reading of your classmates' papers and offering criticism and advice on how to improve them.

Corrections: For each graded formal paper, you 1) record all Harbrace errors in your folder, and 2) hand in corrected drafts with all changes underlined or highlighted.

Journals: informal essays of at least 200 words responding to the readings (five total, one per week minimum) before we discuss the readings in class-that is, you hand in journals at the beginning of the period in which we discuss the reading.

In-class essays are like essay exams on specific readings-but here your work is evaluated for structural quality as well as content.

Formal papers: the guts of the course-your formal papers are carefully organized and polished arguments based on the readings. I will give you assignment sheets explaining in detail my expectations for each paper.

Research project: details to follow soon: basically, the project involves researching and reporting on a non-literary topic you research through a number of different library research vehicles.

Paper Rewrites
You may rewrite and resubmit formal papers for re-grading as many times as you wish. Rewrite grades replace original grades. Rewriting involves far more substantial revision than correcting Harbrace errors: rewrites should address problems in structure, effect, content, and style. The starting point for revision is the comments I make at the end of your papers; revisions should also address the notes, comments, and questions in the margins of your graded papers.

Grades
Your final grade beaks down like this:

You can track your grades over the semester by keeping your "Scorecard" (attached) up to date. Feel free to ask me about your grades at any time.

The Bottom Line
I hope every member of this class gets an A , and I will do everything I can to make this happen. The standards for "A " work are high; but I guarantee you have the most accessible instructor at UT-ask for help outside of class, and you'll get it.

I expect every member of this class to pass. I will not tolerate slackness, and I will make no exceptions to course policies on absences or late assignments. If you think you may have problems attending every class period and completing assignments when they are due, I suggest you drop this class now.