Note: This section of Comp I is part of a Learning Community in which students earn credit for both English Composition I and Writing Skills III. Therefore, this information applies to both Writing Skills III and and English Composition I. Furthermore, this syllabus meets the requirements of Texas House Bill 2504, which mandates that course syllabi for Texas public higher education institutions be posted online. This syllabus is subject to change as needs of students enrolled in the course change. For an up-to-date syllabus, see the course Blackboard page once you have enrolled in the course, or email me at jhamilto@austincc.edu.

Final Grade for Writing Skills III

Quiz 1: 75 points
Quiz 2: 75 points
Paper 1: 100 points
Paper 2: 100 points
Paper 3, the departmental essay: 150 points

500-401 points = A
400-301 points = B
300-201 points = C
200-101 points = D
100-0 points = F

Students must pass Writing Skills III with a grade of C or better in order to remain in the Learning Community.

Final Grade for English Composition I

Your grade in English Composition I will be determined according to three components:

• your essay average
• your quiz average on the final 3 quizzes
• your ability to pass the departmental exam

Essay assignments must be revised until they are evaluated as Acceptable--a miniumu of 70% is required. The essay process is as follows:

Submit your paper by the deadline posted on the calendar.
Your paper will be returned with a grade and edit comments.
You can revise and edit the essay to earn up to 10 additional points. Revised/edited essays that do not earn a minimum grade of 70 must be revised/edited again, but a 70 is the highest grade that may be earned. Essay grades lower than a 70 are not acceptable.

The three remaining quizzes will be worth 100 points each. They are designed to prepare students to pass the departmental exam.

Grades

Definite B/possible A:
If your average essay grade AND quiz average is 85+ AND you pass the departmental exam on the:

• 1st attempt, you will AUTOMATICALLY earn a grade of "B" in the class. You are then permitted to persue a grade of "A" by submitting an "A" paper.
• 2nd attempt, you will earn a FINAL grade of "B" in teh course. You may not persue a grade of "A in the class.
• If you do not pass the departmental exam, you will earn a D in the class.

Definite B/possible C or D:
If your average essay grade AND quiz average is between 80-84 AND you pass the departmental exam on the:

• 1st attempt, you will AUTOMATICALLY earn a final grade of "B" in the class. You may not pursue a grade of "A" in the class.
• 2nd attempt, you will earn a FINAL grade of "C" in the course. You may not pursue a grade of "B" in the class.
• If you do not pass the departmental exam, you will earn a D in the course.

Definite C/possible D or F:
If your average essay grade AND quiz average is between 70-79 AND you pass the departmental exam:

• you will earn a FINAL grade of "C" in the class.
• If you do not pass the departmental exam, you will earn a D in the course. If you do not take the departmental exam, you will earn an F.
   

Readings will be selected from the departmental Comp 4.0 booklet. Additional readings will be distributed in class and posted on the course Blackboard site. The Bedford Handbook is recommended but not requred.

Week 1      
Review Syllabus
            
Diagnostic Essay
Discuss Purposes and Patterns
Introduce paper 1: Expressive, Literary and Narration
Bring Comp. 1 folder to the next class: purchase it in an ACC bookstore
                                      
Week 2
Discuss Purposes and Patterns
Pick up Comp folders
review for Q1: Purposes
Introduce paper 2
Review Q1
                                  
Week 3
Q1, Syllabus, 50 pts                 
Paper 1 due
Departmental essay practice, return/revise diagnostic essay

Week 4
Paper 2 due
Introduce paper 3, departmental essay

Week 5
Workdays
Introduce paper 4, research paper
    
Review, Q2

Week 6
Discuss division and MLA/ paper 4
Workday / Library Assignment- Info Game & MLA group assignment
Hand out departmental essay readings
    
Quiz 2—MLA information, 50 pts
                     
Week 7
Departmental Essay/Paper 3 in class 
              
Library assignment due (Blue Sheet)



Week 8
Revise Departmental Essay/Paper 3 in class
Workdays

Week 9
Congratulations for passing WS!
Review Q3; Discuss A, B & C plans
Departmental exam & grade plan
            
Paper 4 DUE



Week 10
Review Q4, introduce paper 5
Q3 Purpose & Patterns
             
Week 11
Discuss Q3
Review Q4
Q4 Departmental Exam Pretest

Week 12
Discuss Q4
Review Q5 & paper 5
Q5- Departmental Exam Pretest, 100 pts
Paper 4 must be Accepted by this week or you may need to consider withdrawing from the learning community.

Week 13
Paper 5 DUE- to be written in class
Workday Revise paper 5 as noted
Departmental Exam permission slips granted
   
Week 14
Departmental Exam- GOOD LUCK!
Review A/B grade policy/ workdays                    

Week 15
Departmental Exam- GOOD LUCK!
           
Week 16
A paper due for A grade
Departmental Exam retests ONLY

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR WRITING SKILLS III:

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student should be able to:

• engage in writing as a process;
• identify audience and purpose to determine tone, vocabulary, and content;
• write essays with a clear lead-in and a thesis statement, using an essay map when appropriate;
• develop unified body paragraphs using explanations, examples, and concrete details, and use different strategies for organizing body paragraphs;
• develop coherent essays by using transitional devices to guide the reader;
• analyze and evaluate writing for effectiveness in presenting ideas and grammar and mechanics;
• defend an argument in such a way that a reader who is ignorant of the topic or hostile will be compelled to listen; recognize the misuse of evidence and logical flaws;
• avoid plagiarism and collusion; engage in research online and in the library; become familiar with MLA documentation, research outline, paraphrasing and citing direct quotations; and
• write simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences; and
• develop proofreading strategies to be able to edit writing for the following errors: apostrophes in contractions, possessives, and misused apostrophes; articles and prepositions; awkward wording; capitalization; commas with items in a series, coordinating conjunctions, introductory clauses, phrases, and transitional devices, and unnecessary commas; thirty commonly confused words— a/an/and; accept/except; advice/advise; affect/effect; among/between; amount/number; are/our; could have/should have/would have; few/less; it’s/its; knew/know/new/no; loose/lose; many/much; passed/past; principal/principle; quiet/quit/quite; raise/rise; sense/since; set/sit; suppose/supposed to/use/used to; than/then; their/there/they’re; thorough/threw/through; though/thought; to/too/two; want/won’t; weather/whether; were/we’re/where; whose/who’s; your/you’re —parallelism; omitted words and letters; pronoun case, agreement, and reference; quotation marks; run-ons and sentence fragments; subject-verb agreement; verb tense consistency; and document design.

 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR ENGLISH COMPOSITION I:

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of English 1301, students should be able to

• identify rhetorical purposes and methods of organization appropriate to topic, thesis, and audience;
• collect, read, analyze, and use information from a wide range of sources;
• write a coherent essay observing appropriate grammatical, mechanical, and stylistic conventions;
• write competently in the informative, analytical, and persuasive modes
• evaluate, edit, and revise at all stages of the writing process.

 Discipline/Program Student Learning Outcomes

The following outcomes are developed in all English Composition I students regardless of student age or course location:

• expanded critical reading ability;
• ability to write to the specifications of a writing assignment in terms of subject, rhetorical purpose, method(s) of organization and length;
• ability to form a research question, develop a thesis, locate and select credible sources applicable to the thesis, and write an essay of the specified length that responds to the thesis;
• ability to analyze a piece of writing to detail the elements identified in the writing assignment;
• ability to evaluate a piece of writing using specified or developed criteria for evaluation;
• expanded ability to develop content for an essay and organize writing to include an introduction, appropriate thesis, coherent paragraphs with transitions, and a conclusion;
• expanded ability to use correct grammar and mechanics in every writing task.

General Education Learning Outcomes

 Upon completion of the general education component of an associate’s degree, students will demonstrate competence in:

Civic Awareness--Analyzing and critiquing competing perspectives in a democratic society.

Critical Thinking--Gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and applying information.

Cultural Awareness--Comparing, contrasting, and interpreting differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices.

Ethical Reasoning--Identifying and applying ethical principles and practices.

Interpersonal Skills--Interacting collaboratively to achieve common goals.

Life/Personal Skills--Demonstrating effective learning, creative thinking, and personal responsibility.

Quantitative and Empirical Reasoning--Applying mathematical, logical and scientific principles and methods.

Technology Skills--Using appropriate technology to retrieve, manage, analyze, and presentinformation.

Written, Oral and Visual Communication--Communicating effectively, adapting to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.