ENGL 1101

80112: MW 12:30-1:45, C224

80121: TR 9:30-10:45, C226

80122: TR 11-12:30, C222

Prof. Jesse Bishop

Assistant Professor of English

Director of Diversity Initiatives

Office: Cartersville 327

            Office Hours: MWF 9-11, MW 2-4

Phone: 678.872.8093

e-mail: jebishop@highlands.edu; professorjessebishop@gmail.com

url: http://www.highlands.edu/jebishop

Required Texts:

Sundance Choice ISBN-13: 978-0-495-76424-3

The Harbrace College Handbook 17^th Edition ISBN: 978-0-495-79756-2

Supplemental Materials distributed in class or available through the course website.

The Hendricks Mandate: Dr. Randy Hendricks, one of my former professors and a close personal friend, offered me the following advice when I was an undergraduate, and it seems as apropos now as it ever did: “The professional relationship between an instructor and a student is not that of vendor and consumer. One does not buy learning the way one buys a car, a sound system, or a hamburger. Tuition buys professional direction and assistance to your own study as well as a fair and careful assessment of your progress. It never buys the right not to attend class, to fail to complete assigned work, or to practice a radical individualism that distracts the instructor and classmates with impunity. By agreeing to teach this class, I agree to provide direction, assistance, and assessment. By enrolling in this class, you have created obligations for yourself. If you do not meet them, you will not succeed.”

Furthermore, I, Mr. Bishop, do not give grades. Students earn them. Please know that our relationship should not be antagonistic. I am here to help you, but I am here to make you work. If we are all aware of this, things should run smoothly this term. Writing takes practice and practice takes discipline; let’s share the load.

Consider this a binding contract between us; I do.

DEPARTMENTAL SYLLABUS
ENGLISH 1101 - COMPOSITION I

COURSE OUTCOMES FOR ENGL 1101:

1.      Through writing short essays students will demonstrate their ability to conceive ideas about a topic, synthesize and arrange them logically, and express them clearly in standard written English.

2.      Through written assignments, students will demonstrate their understanding of development and argumentation.

3.      Through writing and revision, students will demonstrate their mastery of proofreading skills developed through an understanding of the principles and mechanics of standard English usage.

4.      Through research exercises students will demonstrate an awareness of basic research techniques.

5.      Through discussion and/or writing, students will demonstrate appreciation and understanding of assigned readings.

6.      Through discussion and writing, students will demonstrate their recognition of differing perspectives and points of view, as well as their ability to form hypotheses and anticipate consequences.

GHC SLOs  FOR ENGL 1101:

Communication:  1) Students will demonstrate their ability to express ideas logically and clearly in standard written English. 

Critical Thinking:  1) Students will be able to recognize differing perspectives and points of view.              2) Students will be able to construct arguments. 

Technology:  1) Students will demonstrate ability to prepare course assignments in a variety of courses using computer technology.

PREREQUISITES: Completion of English 0099 with a grade of C or better, or SAT Verbal score of 480, COMPASS score of 60, CPE score of 78, or BSE of 68. These prerequisites constitute minimum requirements for projected satisfactory performance in the course. If students wish to attempt to exempt English 1101, they must have scored a minimum of 580 on the SAT Verbal, 90 on the COMPASS test, or 82 or above on the CPE in order to take the Advanced Placement Test.

COURSE DESCRIPTION (from GHC Catalog): English 1101 is a composition course focusing on skills required for effective writing in a variety of contexts, with emphasis on exposition, analysis, and argumentation, including introductory use of a variety of research skills.

REQUIREMENTS: The course requires students to write at least six essays including at least one argumentative essay. In addition to the demonstration of competence on the writing assignments, students must perform satisfactorily in all other course work.

This course will include instruction on serious grammar errors, especially those covered in Chapters 2, 3, 6, and 7a in The Harbrace College Handbook: sentence fragments, comma splices, fused sentences, subject-verb agreement errors, verb form errors, etc. Additional problems in grammar, mechanics, and style (covered in Harbrace) will be addressed in the course.

LIBRARY ORIENTATION:  SACS requires a library orientation in this course. The instructor may complete the orientation in one of three ways: by taking the students to the library and walking them through a GALILEO and GIL tutorial; by having the students complete the online version, or by having a librarian conduct an in-class workshop.

GRADES: The final grades that may be assigned in English 1101 are A, B, C, and F. Since competence in writing is basic to success in most college courses, the grade of D is not considered a valid grade in English 1101 and may not be assigned at the end of a term.

Grading outline for Fall 2010:

Students will write six (6) essays (covering narrative, description, definition, analysis, and argument), and they will take three (3) exams (grammar, midterm, and comprehensive final), accounting for ninety percent of the course grade. The final ten (10) percent of the grade will come from quizzes and class discussion points.

Essays: 60%, or 10% each

Exams: 30%, or 10% each

Quizzes and Discussion Points: 10%

Total Course Grade will be determined out of 100 possible points.

A (100-90), B (89-80), C (79-70), F (anything below 70)

MIDTERM WITHDRAWAL DATE: OCTOBER 12, 2010

Late work policy: Any work turned in after the established deadline will be docked ten points for being late on the first calendar day after the assignment is due, twenty points for the second day, and thirty points for the third day. After three calendar days, no work will be accepted.

Attendance: Per the Division of Humanities policy, you may only miss five (5) class meetings during this summer semester.  The policy states, “Any student who misses five (5) classes will not be permitted to return to the class unless he or she has written permission from the Humanities Division Chair or his designee. If a student does not get permission from the Chair, he or she will fail the course. If a student misses five (5) class meetings, that student will have 3 business days to meet with the Division Chair. If a student does not comply, he or she will fail the course. This policy is not negotiable.”

I do not make distinctions between excused and unexcused absences. Each student in this course brings an important element of knowledge to the class. When one person is absent, the class as a whole is affected. Every class is important; every class contributes to your education. I expect you to come to class not only for what you can learn, but also for what you can contribute to the class. Your opinions and comments are valuable; therefore, your absence is a loss to the class as a whole, not just yourself. If you miss a class, get notes from a classmate; don’t ask me to go over what you missed. You may not make up missed daily assignments, including but not limited to: activities, essay workshops, quizzes, or exams.

***Classroom Etiquette: ***

Respect—I will do my very best to foster a sense of community in the classroom, but it will require your participation. You will address your classmates and me in a courteous manner; you will not be disruptive; you will respect your classmates’ opinions; you will be respected in turn. Anyone who does not adhere to professional standard of classroom interaction will be asked to leave.

Tardiness—Class starts at a specific time. If you cannot make it to my class on time, consider sleeping in. I will not be late and I expect the same of you. Do not simply walk into my classroom during a lecture. If any student is more than five minutes late, he or she will marked absent for the day and receive no grades on the day’s work.

Cell phones/ Electronics—Turn them off and put them up when you come in the room. I don’t want to see them on your desk, and I don’t want to hear them. If your phone goes off in class—pick up your things and leave for the rest of that class period. Any student whose phone rings or vibrates or makes any other disturbance will be asked to leave and marked absent for the day. If a phone goes off during an exam, the student will receive a zero (0) for the assignment. Likewise, any student who uses a computer during lecture or discussion will be asked to leave, resulting in an absence for that class meeting.

Email Policy (taken directly from Dr. Laura Beth Daws)—You should treat every email as a chance to practice professional written communication skills, so please adhere to standard conventions of grammar, spelling and language when writing emails to me and other instructors at GHC. I will correct grammar, spelling and punctuation in your emails just like I would correct them in a written assignment. This is a class in human communication (Prof. Bishop’s note: the same holds true for ENGL courses), after all, and I’d hate to know you left my class thinking it was acceptable to contact potential employers, bosses, or other professionals with sloppy emails! (In other words: i am ur teacher, not ur friend. dont send me emails that look like txt msgs, even if u used ur iphone 2 send them. kthx).

ACADEMIC HONESTY: Students are encouraged to read the GHC Academic Integrity Code at http://www.highlands.edu/academics/academicaffairs/academicintegritypolicy.htm and be familiar with policies concerning plagiarism, student conduct, and academic integrity.

Georgia Highlands College seeks to promote and ensure academic integrity on its campuses.  Adherence to the principles of academic integrity insures students are provided opportunities that foster their academic growth. Students are expected to complete all work without cheating, lying, plagiarizing, stealing, or receiving or giving unauthorized assistance.  Students with questions about any of these policies or definitions should seek clarification from an instructor, division chair, Director of Student Life, or the Vice President for Academic Affairs.  Members of the College community are expected to be familiar with the Academic Integrity Code and to cooperate upon enforcement.  Faculty will take all appropriate steps to inform students of academic integrity principles, including all permissible as well as prohibited acts.

Examples of Prohibited Acts  

No student shall knowingly perform, attempt to perform, or assist another student in performing an act of academic dishonesty, including the following:  

Plagiarism

            Submitting the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of another, except those that are common knowledge, without proper credit to that person is considered plagiarism. Unfair credit includes, but is not limited to, a direct quotation of all or part of another’s words without the proper identifying marks and/or merely stating the general source in a bibliography without noting the specific source in a body of work. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the following when performed without fair credit:  

·         Direct quoting of all or part of another person’s written or spoken words without quotation marks or similar appropriate punctuation;

·         Paraphrasing all or parts of another person's written or spoken words without proper documentation within the submitted work;  

·         Stating an idea, theory, or formula originated by another person, as one's own;  

·         Repeating information, such as statistics, which is not common knowledge and was originally compiled by another person;  

·         Purchasing or receiving any academic works from another person or another source and submitting the work as one's own for evaluation or grade.

Presenting another person’s ideas or words as your own is plagiarism, literary theft. I expect you to do your own work. I will report plagiarism in any and all instances, even if the stolen material amounts to a single sentence.

Plagiarized work will result in an automatic zero (0) for that assignment and the loss of all course participation points, which will likely result in failure for the course. Any such incident requires that paperwork be filed with the Office of Student Life and notations to the student’s permanent record will be made. Any student caught plagiarizing or cheating in any way, shape, fashion, form, or amount, will receive a zero for the course participation grade. It is my firm belief that any student who plagiarizes is not participating in college, but trying to steal his or her way to a degree. I tolerate no such nonsense.

Plagiarism is stealing; one cannot hope not to be prosecuted for just stealing a little, so any instance of literary or idea theft will result in my vehement pursuit of the most extreme sanctions possible.

If I suspect, for any reason, that a student has plagiarized any assignment, I will fail the student for that assignment on the spot and the student loses any and all participation points for the term. Any student who finds himself or herself in this situation should expect to sign the Academic Misconduct Incident Report upon meeting with me at the initial disclosure of the suspected event. In keeping with the Georgia Highlands College Academic Integrity Policy, in the event of a suspected case of plagiarism, I will complete a copy of the Academic Misconduct Incident Report and present the document to the student at a meeting to take place no later than three working days of discovery of plagiarism. The student will either agree with my sanction—as outlined above—or he or she will request a formal hearing. If a student disagrees with my sanction, I will not discuss other options. The matter will be handled through the Office of Student Life.

The Bottom Line on Plagiarism: Don’t do it. If you do, you will fail the assignment! No Exceptions!

DISABILITY STATEMENT: Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should make an appointment with the College Access Center (706-802-5003) to coordinate reasonable accommodations. Students may also contact the instructor privately to discuss needs and concerns.  This should be done as early in the semester as possible. 

EARNED F INFORMATION: This message applies only to students receiving financial aid: Federal regulations state that if a student did not attend classes and received failing grades, then the grades were not earned and financial aid needs to be reduced accordingly. Please be advised that any student receiving a 0.00 GPA will be required to prove that the 0.00 GPA was earned by attending classes or completing requirements for each class. Students who have earned at least one passing grade for the semester will not be affected by this regulation. If a student has properly withdrawn from all classes, the student’s financial aid should be adjusted from the time they signed the withdrawal form.

NOTICE:  The instructor reserves the right to alter the dates, material covered or format of any exam after notifying the students in advance.

 This course proudly supports the mission of IC @ GHC.

 The mission of the Georgia Highlands College (GHC) Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is to create a curriculum-wide culture of information competency (IC) among students, which will be demonstrated through writing or other modes of communication.