Summer English 101

General Nature of the Course

This course functions very much like a correspondence course; the chief difference is the electronic environment and your relatively immediate access to your instructor (me). Also instead of students submitting work on paper, assignments are submitted, commented upon and returned via e-mail; lecture material, course deadlines, assignment information are available via the internet.

Lectures: There are a series of online Lectures on topics related to your reading and writing. Be sure to read the lecture material for each week listed because this should help you to understand what some of my expectations and special concerns are about your reading and writing.

Class Schedule: You will need to regularly keep track of assignment (reading and writing) due dates by referring to the Class Schedule. It is up to you to keep up with assignment deadlines. I highly recommend that you bookmark the Schedule page.

Essays: Much of your grade is based on your written assignments. There are detailed instructions on how to produce and submit essays on the class Writing Assignments page. Read over this material very carefully; there are requirements on length, file format, MLA format, etc. that you need to know. Specific paper topic instructions can be reached through the links on the Class Schedule page or the Writing Assignments page.

Class Discussions: The rest of your grade will be based on class discussions of certain questions relating to the readings. Discussions will be conducted with the entire class on an ETUDES message board (more information is available on the Discussions page). Be sure that you read this page thoroughly so that you can earn maximum discussion points.

Student Learning Objectives

Student who complete this course successfully should, minimally, be able to

apply critical reading/thinking/writing skills analyzing and writing, both in and out-of-class essays, about various freshman composition level readings including essays and the novel
demonstrate the ability to follow academic conventions by formatting expository essays, including page-layout, parenthetical citations and Works Cited entries, in the current standard MLA format
write freshman-level essays that follow the various stages of essay writing, including pre-writing, thesis development, illustration and support of the thesis using concrete, specific evidence/examples, editing, proofreading and which are free of most errors in syntax, grammar, punctuation, diction, and spelling
demonstrate understanding of effective college-level argumentation by producing logically-supported arguments and by recognizing and avoiding common logical fallacies
produce a research paper which utilizes the various elements of research production, such as designing a research plan, compiling research notes, producing an outline, developing a draft, producing a finished paper that utilizes at least five sources and has a complete MLA-format Works Cited page

Student Responsibilities

Your responsibilities for this course are really the same as those of any student taking any course with the following addition: you have to keep reminding yourself what is required (assignment dates, rules, etc.) because you don't have an instructor in the front of a room reminding you every class.

Here is the Webster's definition of plagiarize:

to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source

intransitive senses : to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

Realize that if you are caught plagiarizing, you will fail the assignment with no chance to revise it. There are no exceptions. If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, contact me.

You will do all of the assignments. This means you need to look at the Course Schedule often to make sure when work (reading, writing, lectures, discussions) are due. Keep up with all lectures, readings, discussions, writing assignments.
You will have all of the textbooks for this course. All assigned readings (listed on the Class Schedule) are required, and, in fact, you must document and quote details from the readings in your Discussions.
You will seek all legitimate help with your course work. That means that when you have questions you will e-mail me immediately or come see me during my office hours on campus. You should also considergoing to the campus Writing Lab or Literacy Center if you need additional help.
You will not cheat. It's fine to get legitimate help; it's not all right to plagiarize. I am well aware that papers can be bought. I am also very savvy about finding those papers (both in print sources and on the internet). The English Department at LAHC has several resources (one is Plagiserve; there are several others) which allow us to track stolen or bought papers.
You will not threaten or belittle (or flame) other students in class discussions. DO feel free to present opposing arguments on ANY subject, but do not personally attack others in the class.
You will be bound by all other codes of student conduct listed in the college catalogue.

If you do not agree to all of the above requirements, do not take this course.

Textbooks

Getting Textbooks

Most of the texts can be found in libraries and live bookstores; you can also get them online at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble or any other online book vendor. For textbooks, there are several sites; here are a few:

You can also comparison shop, by trying FetchBook.Info, a free service, which allows you to compare prices of any book among 70 bookstores (in the US and Canada), and find a price which is 30% - 80% off the market list price.

Another good service is Textbook Coupons, which provides information on discounts from online booksellers. This might save you even more.

Required Texts:

NOTE: the first book is a custom reader that is only found in the school bookstore; it is a series of readings that I've had excerpted from other texts, which are reprinted by permission. I do not make any money from the book (really!); I had UCLA put the custom book together because it saves students about $70. The only downside is you can't get the book from a regular online source; you must get it through the LAHC bookstore, and it, as are all of the books on the list, is absolutely required. The other books can be gotten at the school bookstore or at any of a number of live or online bookstores.

ENGLISH 101, Prof. Corbally (these are readings excerpted from other texts, reprinted by permission)
Rules for Writers, 7th edition (spiral bound), Diana Hacker
The Handmaid's Tale (any edition), Margaret Atwood

The following book is also recommended (though not required):

A Rulebook for Arguments, fourth edition, Anthony Weston

Grading

Each assignment will receive a point score; letter grades are based on percentages (90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; etc.); for example, if a discussion is worth 20 points possible, and if you score a 16, then you have scored 80% which equals a B for that assignment.

At the end of the semester, your overall score will be converted into a percentage of the points possible for the entire course to determine your letter grade for the course.

Grades will be available for view on ETUDES.

For more information about what constitutes an "A" paper (or not), click here. Note: if you would like to see what an "A" paper for this class looks like, there are links to sample papers from both the grades page and the writing assignments page.

And for specific information on extra credit, revisions, essay requirements, visit the class Writing Assignments page; for more details on how to score high on class discussions, visit the class Discussion page.