PCM English 1301:  Composition I Syllabus

 Instructor:  Mary (Timmi) Kuykendall, MA                        Phone:  512.797.3990

 Home campus:  Round Rock (RRC)                            Email:  mkuykend@austincc.edu

 ACC-Round Rock, Room 1204, ph. 512-797-3990, and by appt.

 ENGL-1301­­­­-052-Syn 27916:  11 Weeks 05/23/11—08/08/11

• Linda H. Peterson and John C. Brereton, eds.  The Norton Reader, Twelfth Edition

Note:  This text is absolutely necessary.  Borrow one if you must.  Barnes and Noble (online) has good prices.  Go to www.barnesandnoble.comand click on textbooks.  The ISBN of the text is 978-0-393-92948-5 (pbk).

Highly Recommended:

• Lennis Polnac.  Purpose, Pattern, and Process. 6^th, 7^th, or 8^th editions.  This text provides       the best explanation of the Aims and Modes approach to writing.  It is worth the money.
• Andrea A. Lunsford.  Easy Writer. Third or Fourth edition.  If you already have a handbook, use it.  If you cannot afford to buy a handbook, use the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) :http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/search.php
• a dictionary and a thesaurus OR use Dictionary.Com  www.dictionary.com

 Other requirements:

• Access to the Internet, Microsoft Word 2003, 2007, or 2010 (Please no Microsoft Works), and the knowledge and technical ability to send and receive documents via Blackboard.  Check out free download of Microsoft Word at http://www.openoffice.org/
• I require that you use your ACC email address.  Go to this URL link to set up your gmail account:  http://www.austincc.edu/google/.  If you have trouble logging in on Blackboard, follow the instructions on the sign in page.

Students will read and analyze essays from The Norton Reader to determine their aims and modes.  Writing assignments will be designed to "test" students' understanding and workable knowledge of how writers use aims (purposes) to guide the presentation of ideas in essays.  The modes (patterns of organization) allow writers to present their ideas in an orderly manner. 

Papers 1 and 2 specify the aims and modes that the student may use to convey the subject matter they have chosen.

Paper 3 reverses the process; the student is asked to select an essay from several selections provided.  The assignment requires the student to identify the primary aim and mode of the essay selected.  They are to provide evidence from the essay to support their assertions.  Paper 3 is similar to the Exit Exam required to pass the course.  The purpose of the assignment is to allow a kind of "practice" for taking the Exit Exam.

Paper 4 focuses on research and documentation.  The student will select a topic from several provided by the instructor.  They will research the subject, gather source material, and present a research that follows the Modern Language Association (MLA) style of documentation.  The primary purpose of this assignment is to give students "hands on" experience in gathering sources, in using parenthetical documentation within the paper, and creating a Works Cited listing of their sources.

The required Exit Exam allows students to demonstrate their grasp of the content of the course. 

Course Methodology:  Online lectures, activities, group discussion via discussion threads and virtual chats.  The discussion board will be vital for your success.  Your participation will be the deciding factor if your grade is on the cusp.

 Goals:  The goals of Composition I are to promote:

• critical thinking, reading, and writing skills
• clear, coherent, confident, and effective communication
• collaborative writing and learning

 Course Outcomes:  Upon completion of Composition I, you should be able to

• identify rhetorical purposes (Aims) and methods of organization (Mode) appropriate to topic, thesis, and audience.
• write a coherent essay observing appropriate grammatical, mechanical, and stylistic conventions
• evaluate, edit, and revise at all stages in the writing process.
• collect, read, analyze, and organize information from a wide range of sources and use the MLA style of documentation to create a Works Cited of the paper’s sources with each source referenced at least once in the paper using the MLA parenthetical documentation.