SYLLABUS

Goals/Objectives

(to combat the impression made by the catalog description; i.e., we do NOT emphasize sentence basics and rhetoric for short essays, and you should write something here that emphasizes reading and writing analytically for academic purposes)

General education goals addressed by this course:

Communicate effectively by applying skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening and through appropriate use of information technology.

Use appropriate methods of critical thinking and quantitative reasoning to examine issues and to identify solutions.

Distinguish the methods that underlie the search for knowledge in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, history, and social and behavioral sciences.

Integrate knowledge that will deepen their understanding of, and will inform their own choices about, issues of personal and public importance.

Specific course goals and objectives:
(from the Handbook)

Practice in writing processes
Completion of assigned compositions
Demonstrated competence in designated traits of writing (these traits are listed in the Handbook on pages 1-v to1-vi)

(The following is one version. Feel free to copy, edit, or rewrite.)
This course focuses on writing academic essays, that is, essays that require development and analysis of interesting ideas, as well as thoughtful argument, careful attention to style, and clean presentation. These essays will be based largely on observations and readings. The goal is to get ready to write for English 101 (or for 090, to get ready for 095) and beyond.

This semester you will have five (suggested) major writing assignments, including at least one in-class essay. These papers will determine the major portion of your grade for the course.

Students who complete the course with a grade of C or higher are eligible to take the final exam (instructors of developmental courses cannot give a D grade). The exam is given during the last two hours of class time for the semester. Students must pass the final exam to pass the course, regardless of course grade.

Methods for Learning and Teaching

(Describe generally what kinds of instruction you will use in the course. This should be a combination of lecture, discussion, group work, and workshop, possibly including on-line discussions and forums. Also describe briefly student responsibilities: e.g., bring textbook to class every day, complete on-line assignments, use Blackboard to turn in essays, and so on.)

Texts

(List the current default text; if you prefer a different text, please check with the Coordinator)
Hult, Christine and T. Huckin (2002). The New Century Handbook, 2nd edition. Longman.

Attendance Policy

(the instructor has some discretion here, which allows you to retain students who miss more than the allowable number of classes for good reasons, including but not limited to: participation on EKU sports team, participation in other University sanctioned activities, personal illness, pregnancy, family emergencies, and military service; students should be reminded that they are responsible for notifying you of any planned absences and for completing any missed work)

According to the official policy of the English Department, you may miss no more than 10% of the scheduled class meetings. This means that if you miss more than 5 MWF or 3 TR class meetings, for whatever reason, you can fail the course. See the Handbook.

Grades (essays must count for at least 65% of the grade)

(You may want to weight later essays more than earlier essays, emphasizing the fact that we expect the course to become more challenging and our expectations for the quality of student work to increase as the semester progresses. You may also want to write something here about your general expectations for the quality of student writing. You can refer students to the Proficiency Exam Scoring Guide in the Handbook on pages 1-viii to 1-ix, and/or you may have a rubric of your own or one that you develop with your students. You should collect copies of all essays, including surviving rough drafts, from all students at the end of the semester; these papers become property of the Department and can be used to defend your grades in case of a student challenge.)

Late and Missed Work

(This policy is up to the instructor. Don't back yourself into a corner with an unnecessarily strict and harsh policy; on the other hand, announce and enforce deadlines. My statements follow, but feel free to edit, discard, copy verbatim, whatever you think will work for you. Whatever you write on the syllabus is what you have to do, so think carefully about what you want here.)

Late work will be graded down at my discretion. In any case, it's better to hand in late than not at all. You must complete all major assignments to pass the course. Let me know if work is going poorly, if you just can't get started or don't understand how to do it. You can get a deadline extended in some cases.

If you miss an exam or a quiz without an excused absence, you will receive an F for that work.

Other Course Policies

Lateness (again, don't back yourself into a corner, but use a policy that makes it clear that students will show up on time or they will be counted as absent or partially absent)

Extra credit (if any, should count for no more than 5% of the course grade; extra credit opportunities include various campus lecture series, dramatic performances, poetry readings, international cinema series, art exhibits, and so on)