Freshman Composition
Instructor: Janelle Brunner Section: English A100 (CRN 11390), Summer 2014
Meeting Time: MW 8:00am – 12:15pm Classroom: L & L 224
Email: [email protected] Mailbox: Admin Mailroom
Office Hours: by appointment only Office: L & L 226
Website: http://occonline.occ.cccd.edu/online/jbrunner
Required Texts and Materials: One Hundred Great Essays by Robert Diyanni, 5th
edition; Adios, Strunk and White by Gary & Glynis Hoffman, 5th edition; one singlesubject notebook; one manila folder
Course Description: Students will gain extensive practice in essay writing, critical
analysis, and finding and utilizing outside research. In addition, students will
participate in textual analysis and critical thinking and apply these techniques to their
own writing.
Student Learning Outcomes: At the conclusion of the semester, students should be
able to demonstrate the following skills:
Writing Outcomes:
1. Articulate logical and sophisticated ideas in essays that are organized, coherent,
logical and well developed, while using proper grammar.
Reading Outcomes:
1. Identify major and minor supporting details, identify structural elements – such
as transitions, thesis statements, and topic sentences – and be able to discuss
and summarize the main ideas in a text.
2. Evaluate argument structures and scrutinize argument conclusions based on
facts, assumptions, inference, and overall logic.
Research Outcomes:
1. Effectively use the library, conducting research via online and textual databases,
periodicals, books, and reference materials.
2. Evaluate research in order to assess its relevance and use that research
effectively in their papers.
Participation: This course will focus extensively on group-centered learning, with much
of the discussion generated by your peers rather than the instructor. Students will
repeatedly be asked to share their work and ideas with the whole class as well as in
small groups, so if you are unwilling to share, this is not the class for you. Ten
percent of your grade will be based solely on your participation and attendance.
Course Requirements: Since this class will focus heavily on group-centered learning,
you must come to every class prepared to discuss the assigned readings and/or
stylistic techniques in order not to drag the rest of your classmates down. This means
that all assignments must be completed prior to the class meeting time; for example,
the reading assigned for that day must be read, annotated, and considered BEFORE
class.
Grading Policy: The breakdown of assignments is as follows:
Essay #1 (Narrative)
Essay #2 (Inductive Reasoning)
Essay #3 (Satire and Logical Fallacies)
Essay #4 (Research)
Pop Reading Quizzes (10 at 10 points each)
Midterm Paper and Presentation
Final Paper and Presentation
Participation and Attendance
100
100
150
150
100
100
200
100
points
points
points
points
points
points
points
points
Grades are as follows and are based on total points earned: 1000-900 = A; 899-800 = B;
799-700 = C; 699-600 = D; 599 and below = F. In order to pass English 100, you must
earn at least a “C” in this class.
Assignments: All assignments must be submitted on time. Additionally, rough drafts
and peer reviews are a required part of this class, and your rough draft grade will be
averaged into your final draft grade. If no rough draft is submitted, you will lose one
full letter grade on your final draft; additionally, if you do not receive a passing grade
on your rough draft, your final draft will automatically be lowered by one full letter
grade. You must be present in class to submit your assignments; email submissions
of drafts will not be accepted without prior authorization. Additionally, extensions
will not be granted if you do not get permission from me BEFORE the assignment is
due.
Midterm and Final Paper Presentations: In addition to submitting your midterm and
final papers, you will also be required to give a brief presentation to the class (3
minutes for midterms and 5 minutes for finals) in which you discuss the thesis and
controlling ideas of your paper. In other words, you will be summarizing your main
argument and major points for the class.
Non-stop Writing: In order to improve your writing, it is essential that you write a little
bit each day. Therefore, you will be required to write for ten minutes in a notebook
every day of the semester. You may write about anything as long as you write for ten
straight minutes. These notebooks may be periodically checked but know that it will
be obvious to me if you are not keeping up with this.
Extra Credit: I do not offer extra credit under any circumstances.
Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory and will affect your grade. If you know
that you will need to be absent, contact me ahead of time so that you do not fall
behind. You will not be penalized for up to two absences if you contact me ahead
of time. Obviously, unforeseen family or medical emergencies will not count against
you, but if you miss more than two class periods, you should consider dropping the
course, as it may be too difficult for you to make up the work. Habitually arriving late
and/or leaving early will also result in a loss of points.
Class Conduct: Tolerance and respect for each other is essential. If you show blatant
disrespect or intolerance to your classmates or me, you will be asked to leave this class
permanently—no exceptions. Respect also includes silencing your cell phones and
keeping them stored away for the duration of class. If your phone rings during class,
please note that a three-page writing assignment will be required – and due the
following class meeting – for each violation of the cell phone policy. Your essay is
your ticket back to class, and you will not be allowed back in until you submit it.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is using someone else’s work or ideas as your own and will
result in an “F” on the assignment. In order to avoid this, always give credit to your
sources, whether you are directly quoting or paraphrasing using your own words. If
you have any questions about this, please see me.
Special Accommodations: If you have a disability and require special accommodations,
please see me before the end of the second week.
Course Calendar*
(GE: One Hundred Great Essays; Adios: Adios, Strunk and White)
Identity through Traditions
Monday (6/16): Introductions; Syllabus; Diagnostic; GE: “Learning to Read and Write” –
Frederick Douglass (pg. 133); Adios: “Form: Anecdoting” (pgs. 82-86); Assign Essay #1
Wednesday (6/18): GE: “Consider the Lobster” – David Foster Wallace (pg. 538); Adios:
“Time Warping: Pulsing the Tense and Splitting the Second” (pgs. 86-95); work on Essay
#1 in class
Monday (6/23): Rough draft of Essay #1 due; peer-review of Essay #1; GE: “The Wound
in the Face” – Angela Carter (pg.88); Adios: “Flow: Freighting” (pgs. 16-22); GE: “Road
Warrior” – Dave Barry (pg. 48); Adios: “Pause: Melted-together Words” (pgs. 33-37)
Wednesday (6/25): GE: “The Way to Rainy Day Mountain” – N. Scott Momaday (pg. 384);
Adios: “Pause: Hieroglyphics” (pgs. 37-43); GE: “Why I Went to the Woods” – Henry
David Thoreau (pg. 518); Adios: “Peel: Claim Cast” (pgs. 214-17); work on Essay #1 in
class
Monday (6/30): Final draft of Essay #1 due; GE: “Nature” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (pg.
177); Adios: “Peel: Inductive Analysis and Deductive Analysis” (pgs. 207-13); Assign
Essay #2
Identity through Natural Surroundings
Wednesday (7/2): GE: “On Sacramental Things” – Hilaire Belloc (pg. 54); GE: “Landscape,
History, and the Pueblo Imagination” – Leslie Marmon Silko (pg. 479); work on Essay #2
in class; Assign Midterm
Monday (7/7): Rough draft of Essay #2 due; peer-review of Essay #2; Prep for Midterm
Wednesday (7/9): GE: “A Modest Proposal” – Jonathan Swift (pg. 499); Adios: “Bursting:
Devil’s Advice” (pgs. 127-32); work on Essay #2 and/or midterm in class
Identity through Communication
Monday (7/14): Final draft of Essay #2 due; Midterm Paper Presentations; Assign
Essay #3
Wednesday (7/16): GE: “The Men We Carry in Our Minds” – Scott Russell Sanders (pg.
429); GE: “The Fallacy of Success” – G. K. Chesterton (pg. 94); Adios: “Scrub: Jousters:
Logical Fallacies” (pgs. 229-36); work on Essay #3 in class
Monday (7/21): Rough draft of Essay #3 due; peer-review for Essay #3; GE:
“Uncertainty” – K. C. Cole (pg. 106); GE: “What Secrets Tell” – Luc Sante (pg. 435); Adios:
“Scrub: Jousters: Logical Fallacies” (pgs. 229-36) continued
Wednesday (7/23): GE: “The Company Man” – Ellen Goodman (pg. 207); GE: “Being a
Man” – Paul Theroux (pg. 507); Adios: “Baste: Seasoning, Drenching, and Presenting”
(pgs. 237-43); Assign Essay #4
Identity through Self
Monday (7/28): Final draft of Essay #3 due; GE: “Are You Somebody?” – Nuala
O’Faolain (pg. 394); GE: “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self” – Alice Walker (pg.
530); work on Essay #4 in class
Wednesday (7/30): Rough draft of Essay #4 due; peer-review of Essay #4; GE: “Why We
Crave Horror Movies” – Stephen King (pg. 298); GE: “The Duke of Deception” – Geoffrey
Wolff (pg. 595); Assign Final
Monday (8/4): work on Essay #4 and Final in class
Wednesday (8/6): Final draft of Essay #4 due; Final Paper Presentations
*Please note that I reserve the right to alter the Course Calendar as needed.