ENGL 111 Policies

Professor: Geraldine Cannon Becker

Teaching: College Composition I--MWF Room 3217
Eng 111-04 A--12:00-12:50 & Eng 111-05 A--1:00-1:50
Office hours: By appointment or MWF just before and after class.

E-Mail : beckerg@cvcc.vccs.edu
and ritualchanges@hotmail.com
Phone : 832-7657 (Humanities and Social Sciences)
Mail : Humanities and Social Sciences, 5235 Merritt Hall,
CVCC, 3506 Wards Road, Lynchburg VA 24502

Website: You may access my website for many useful links.

http://www.geocities.com/geraldinecanon

Note that the canon after my first name in the web address is not can n on.

Prerequisite : Satisfactory Score on Placement Test

Required Texts :
         Writing Arguments: Brief Fifth Edition by John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson
         Longman Writers Companion by Chris Anson, Robert A. Schwegler, and Marcia Muth
Also needed: A spiral notebook for shorter writing assignments.
                 A college dictionary and a thesaurus .

General Goals : Course Description from the 2002-2004 Student Handbook : Develops writing ability for study, work, and other areas of life based on experience, observation, research, and reading of selected literature. Guides students in learning writing as a process: understanding audience and purpose, exploring ideas and information, composing, revising, and editing. Supports writing by integrating, composing, revising, and editing. Supports writing by integrating experiences in thinking, reading, listening, and speaking.

Academic Honesty :        Students are expected to do their own work. Taking someone else's ideas, judgments or logic, even if you put them in your own words , is as unacceptable as stealing the words. Cases of cheating or plagiarizing (using someone else's work, published or unpublished, as your own) will be grounds for an automatic F for the course and could result in other penalties as indicated in the Student Handbook 2002-2004. This does not mean that outside sources may never be used, but all such use of outside materials must be properly identified, through quotation marks, internal citations, endnotes, and/or other accepted ways of acknowledging such borrowings. It is not the use of an outside source that is wrong; it is the implicit claim that any material obtained in that manner is in fact original.

Attendance : Attendance is crucial to your success. Students are expected to attend class regularly. You will be allowed three (3) absences without penalty for whatever reason. All absences will be recorded regardless of the reason. If you miss more than three classes the following penalties will apply to your course participation grade: I will deduct one point from your final grade for each class hour missed after you have missed three full classes. If you miss three days you are fine. If you miss four days you have lost three points. If you miss five or more days you have lost all five points, and your grade would suffer in other areas as well. Please come to class and be prepared.

Tardies : Students are expected to show up for class on time. Three (3) tardies of 15 minutes or more constitute one absence. Arriving more than 35 minutes after class starts may constitute an absence for that class. Remember to make adequate allowances for weather and traffic.

Papers : All materials should be submitted in a paper folder with pockets. Absolutely no three-ring binders or plastic slip folders will be accepted. All papers must be typed on 8.5 x 11 inch white, unlined paper. Text should be double-spaced, in black ink (not all bold), and in a standard font such as Helvetica or Times. Font size should be 12 point. No fancy script/font styles will be accepted . All pages should be numbered in the upper right hand corner and stapled. The first page should include, in the upper left corner: student name, course and section, my name, and the date all on separate double-spaced lines. Two (2) individually stapled copies of the final draft of each paper should be submitted in one pocket of a paper folder. Please staple the pages of each individual paper together with one staple for each of the two papers in the upper left hand corner. Rough drafts, peer critiques, journals or additional materials (as described in more detail below) should be included in the other pocket of your folder. Each Paper should be turned in as indicated above. In addition, I will expect a list of at least three to five questions you have prepared for your peers to answer for you in workshop. I will expect you to turn in at least two peer critiques (the answers to your questions), and your response--a writer's response (of about one paragraph) to the workshop criticism. What advice did you listen to, and why? What advice did you ignore, and why? Two peers in agreement on a particular question might signal a place in your paper for your close attention. Do not ask questions that could easily be answered with only a "yes" or a "no" response. Papers are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Papers received at any other time will be considered late, and 5 points per day late will be deducted from the final score. If you turn an assignment in to my mailbox late, have a secretary date and initial the material. Additional information will be provided for each assignment on handouts.

Grading :                 Grade Scale : A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69, F=0-59
Paper 1                10%
Paper 2                10%
Paper 3                15%
Paper 4                15%
Paper 5                20%
Essay Exams       10%
Participation       20% (attendance, shops, doing assignments, preparedness, etc.)
Total                     100%

Here is the basic breakdown for grading:
Content --45 (A=45, B=35, C=25, D=15, F=05);
Grammar/Mechanics --25 (-5 for every 3 major errors up to 25 points and/or -5 for every 5 minor errors up to 25 points--no more than 25 points will be taken off for any combination of errors);
Structure/Organization --15 (Thesis/Essay map order--Transitions--Introduction, Body, Conclusion--Are these appropriate for the subject/topic?); and
Form --15 (following directions, typed, etc.--Is everything turned in appropriately?)
Of course, some of this is subjective. I am open to conferences about any disagreement you may have with any grade. However, I would like for you to have demonstrated some thought about the matter first. A conference could be set up for a discussion. I may see your point-of-view, but I also want to know you have tried to see mine. If there are any questions, I will be glad to try to answer them.

These Writing (Essay) Interpretive Guidelines have been used for content analysis:

Upper-range papers. (90-100)

These papers clearly engage the issue identified in the prompt and demonstrate superior skill in organizing, developing, and conveying in standard written English the writer's ideas about the topic.
(95-100)          Exceptional.
        These papers take a position on the issue defined in the prompt and support that position with extensive elaboration. Organization is unified and coherent. While there may be a few errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure, outstanding command of the language is apparent.
(90-94)         Superior.
        These papers take a position on the issue defined in the prompt and support that position with moderate elaboration. Organization is unified and coherent. While there may be a few errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure, command of the language is apparent.

Mid-range papers. (70-89)

Papers in the middle range demonstrate engagement with the issue identified in the prompt but do not demonstrate the evidence of writing skill that would mark them as outstanding.
80-89                 Competent.
                These papers take a position on the issue defined in the prompt and support that position with some elaboration or explanation. Organization is generally clear. A competency with language is apparent, even though there may be some errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure.

70-79                 Adequate.
These papers take a position on the issue defined in the prompt and support that position, but with only a little elaboration or explanation. Organization is clear enough to follow without difficulty. A control of the language is apparent, even though there may be numerous errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure.

Lower-range papers. (69 and below)

Papers in the lower range fail in some way to demonstrate proficiency in language use, clarity of organization, or engagement of the issue identified in the prompt.
60-69 Weak.
While these papers take a position on the issue defined in the prompt, they may show significant problems in one or more of several areas, making the writer's ideas often difficult to follow: support may be extremely minimal; organization may lack clear movement or connectedness; or there may be a pattern of errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure that significantly interferes with understanding the writer's ideas.
0-59 Inadequate.
These papers show a failed attempt to engage the issue defined in the prompt, lack support, or the problems with organization or language are severe enough to make the writer's ideas extremely difficult to follow.

Additional information:

Papers are due at the beginning of the class on the due date. Papers received at any other time will be regarded as late. Five (5) points will be deducted per day late. Late papers will not be accepted for a grade after one week past the due date. The paper would have lost 35 points out of 100 by then. As 100's are rare, it seems likely that a 65 would be rare in this instance.
N0 WORK MAY BE MADE UP WITHOUT THE INSTRUCTOR'S CONSENT . Examinations can only be made up, if schedulable, for the most pressing reasons. All assignments (exams and papers) must be submitted within one (1) week of the due date to receive some credit. Assignments will not be accepted beyond one (1) week past the due date for any reason. Unsubmitted assignments earn a zero (0) score .

Get another students name and phone number, in case you miss class and need to know what happened:_______________________________________________________

Give someone your name, number and e-mail if you have one.

Remove this page and return it to me by Friday 1/17

I, _____________________________________________
(print name)
have read the course policies and procedures given the first day of class
by the professor, and I agree to abide by the guidelines presented therein.

Signed:___________________________________

Date:___________________