Oltmanns- 1 ENG 105 (DMACC): College Writing (English): Syllabus
Course Description:
 (Prerequisite: Successful completion of all required 9th, 10th, and 11th grade English Courses). This class is
designed as an elective for students who plan to attend college. The goal of this class is to provide the college
bound senior with a refreshment of the knowledge of language skills already studied. Course content will include
a review of mechanics and usage. Spelling and vocabulary will be developed. Students will learn the writing
process: inventive, outlining, and drafting. Students will compile writing portfolios. Students will compose
essays of various genres, which include but are not limited to the following: autobiographical, expository, and
argumentative (speculative and position). This class may be taken for DMACC dual credit (English 105).
 DMACC Competencies: http://go.dmacc.edu/competencies/pages/welcome.aspx
Required Textbook:
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing. 10th ed.
New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013.
Goals:
1. Demonstrate effective writing as a recursive process.
2. Demonstrate critical reading strategies.
3. Demonstrate the application of the conventions of standard written English.
4. Demonstrate the effective use of research techniques.
5. Demonstrate the proper use of Modern Language Association (MLA) format, including page layout, in-text
citations, and a Works Cited page.
Objectives:
 You will improve your reading comprehension (critical thinking) skills.
 You will advance your note taking skills.
 You will expand your organizational skills (fully comprehend unity and coherence).
 You will increase your research skills and fully comprehend the MLA and APA formats.
 You will improve your composition skills.
 You will gain an understanding of writing genres.
 You will gain logical reasoning skills.
 You will comprehend key literary (writing) terms and ideas.
Expectations:
 Come to class prepared (have your books and assignments ready).
 Turn in all assignments on time (late work is not accepted; thus, it automatically becomes a zero).
 If you come to class without your textbook / novel/ handout, you will receive a tardy for that class period.
 Come to class with other materials to read or on which to work.
 You will remain focused and on task.
 You will raise your hand and ask permission to speak or leave your seat (you may leave your seat without
permission for emergencies – illness etc.).
 You will quietly take notes during lectures, and you will raise your hand when you have questions.
 During class discussions, you will be respectful (raise your hand and wait your turn to speak. Please, try not to
talk over others. You may need to tolerate various viewpoints).
 You will remain in your seat until the bell rings.
 You will use your common sense.
 In general, follow the student handbook rules. If you don’t, you will be disciplined accordingly.
Oltmanns- 2 West Central Valley High School
Language Arts Department:
Grading Scale
100-94% A
93-90%
A-
89-87%
B+
86-83%
B
82-80%
B-
79-77%
C+
76-73%
C
72-70%
C-
69-67%
D+
66-63%
D
62-60%
D-
0-59%
F
Oltmanns- 3 -
Weights:

Daily assignments are weighed at 40%

Tests, exams, quizzes, and essays are weighed at 60%

Formula:
o
Daily assignment (.40) + tests (.60) = overall grade
o
Example: daily = 100 and tests = 90
o
100 (.40) + 90(.60) = 94%
o
Note: Participation counts – you may lose or gain points for class participation,
attitude, etc.
In this course, we will be employing Turnitin.com software as a tool for learning how to
cite resources. Turnitin.com is useful in helping to determine whether or not a
writer is relying too heavily upon sources and whether a writer has given appropriate
credit to an author or source. Students will be assigned a user name and will be
expected to submit their papers on the assigned due date to Turnitin.com, which in turn
produces an “originality” report. This report will compare the student’s paper to content
on the Web, to Turnitin.com’s database of previously submitted papers, and to some
databases of common full-text journals. Students agree that by taking this course that
all required papers will be reviewed by Turnitin.com and acknowledge that the papers
will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for
the purpose of detecting plagiarism. All identifiers (student name, ID #, etc.) will be
removed from the paper before it is uploaded into Turnitin.com. Use of Turnitin.com
services is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use posted on the Turnitin.com
website.
Due Dates will be posted on the Turnitin page, and you may receive email updates