ENG 112: College Composition II, 3 Credits

Prerequisite: Successful completion of ENG 111

Michele A. Marits, Assistant Professor of English/Humanities, mmarits@email.vccs.edu 757.822.7050

Faculty Home Page: http://faculty.tcc.edu/MMarits/index.htm

Course Description

Further develops students’ ability to write for academic and professional contexts with increased emphasis on argumentation and research. Requires students to evaluate, integrate, and document print and digital sources to produce a range of academic and multimodal texts, culminating in a fully documented research paper. This course requires proficiency in using word processing and learning management software. Lecture 3 hours. Total 3 hours per week.
3 credits

General Course Purpose

ENG 112 further develops students’ ability to write in academic and professional contexts. Students will apply critical thinking and reading techniques, demonstrate knowledge of rhetorical strategies, and conduct independent research to produce a range of academic and multimodal texts that effectively analyze, synthesize, and argue, culminating in a fully documented research paper.

Course Prerequisites/Corequisites

ENG 111

Course Objectives

Upon completing the course, the student will be able to:

Writing Processes:  Successful writers use multiple composing processes to conceptualize, develop, and finalize projects. Composing processes are both recursive and flexible, adapted to different contexts and occasions to meet purpose and audience.

  1. Demonstrate the ability to apply a recursive writing process to create a variety of academic texts, including at least one fully documented, original research paper, producing a total of at least 4500-6000 words (approximately 15-20 pages) of polished, graded writing.
  2. Independently apply the writing process, including planning, drafting, revising, editing, reflecting, and sharing compositions. 
  3. Examine and analyze their experiences and readings as sources of material for writing and engage with complex ideas, which they incorporate in well-structured prose that considers the purpose, audience, and genre.
  4. Effectively apply organizational strategies to open and close their texts and to move the reader between and within ideas, paragraphs, and sentences.
  5. Reflect on the rhetorical situation of their compositions and revise to improve.
  6. Revise and edit to improve clarity and correctness of writing. 

Rhetorical Knowledge and Application:  Rhetorical knowledge is the ability to analyze writing, reading, and speaking occasions and make strategic choices to navigate the rhetorical situation. Rhetorical knowledge includes the ability to demonstrate command of purpose, audience, and context.

  1. Apply rhetorical principles (i.e. purpose, audience, stance, genre, context) in order to improve the quality of the texts they create.
  2. Apply their rhetorical knowledge (e.g. audience, purpose, context, genre, and design) to reading texts in a variety of genres and media (e.g. print and digital).
  3. Apply knowledge of rhetorical context to guide their choices of evidence, language, organization, and rhetorical and persuasive strategies in texts they create. 
  4. Demonstrate their understanding of the impact of genre, audience, context, and media on the stance, tone, design, and content of the texts they compose.

Critical Thinking and Argumentation:  Critical thinking refers to the ability to investigate ideas and solve problems through analyzing, interpreting and evaluating information, situations, and texts. Critical reading is the practice of making connections between and among texts to develop complexity and discern implications of ideas. 

  1. Analyze and investigate ideas from multiple perspectives and to apply sound reasoning to arguments, their own and others’. 
  2. Develop and apply strategies for critical thinking, reading, and writing processes, including inductive and deductive reasoning.
  3. Read, comprehend, summarize/paraphrase, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate college-level, cultural texts in a variety of genres.
  4. Examine subjects from multiple perspectives and recognize their own biases to formulate and express their own perspective. 
  5. Recognize, gather, and test factual and inferential evidence and avoid logical fallacies in their own writing.
  6. Identify different parts of an argument including concession, counter argument/refutation, and confirmation.

Research and Information Literacy:  Research is the process of promoting inquiry by asking questions, finding appropriate resources, evaluating their value, incorporating them successfully into a text, and developing an understanding of documentation to produce complex, effective texts grounded in evidence. Information literacy encompasses the know-how to use print and digital media to find, select, evaluate, and incorporate sources relevant to personal, scholarly, and professional pursuits. 

  1. Engage independently in extended, formal research processes.
  2. Apply research processes to select a topic, develop effective research questions, identify relevant information, and locate sources, using print and digital media/networks.
  3. Discern between scholarly and popular sources and evaluate their merit and reliability. 
  4. Select sources appropriate to rhetorical situation, including genre, purpose, audience, and context. 
  5. Synthesize and incorporate information and ideas from sources into compositions using correct summary, paraphrase, and direct quotation, documenting sources to avoid plagiarism and in order to support analytical and/or argumentative purposes.
  6. Demonstrate knowledge of intellectual property and fair use in applying correct documentation of sources using instructor-specified formats and style guides (e.g. MLA, APA).

Knowledge of Discourse Conventions:  Conventions are the formal rules and informal guidelines that define genres; they govern such concepts as mechanics, usage, spelling, and citation practices. Writing in academic and professional contexts demands adherence to various conventions of discourse communities that shape readers’ and writers’ perceptions of correctness and appropriateness. 

  1. Implement conventions of academic discourse to produce texts with effective approaches, style, and formats.  
  2. Demonstrate understanding that conventions differ across communities, disciplines, and genres.
  3. Use Edited American English in texts they compose. 
  4. Demonstrate contextually appropriate usage and linguistic structures (e.g. syntax, mechanics) in texts they compose.
  5. Select and apply conventions, including multimodal techniques/strategies, to choices for design, style, structure, paragraphing, tone, diction, and vocabulary. 
  6. Use correct documentation and design systematically in their own work using instructor-specified formats and style guides (e.g. MLA, APA).

Major Topics to be Included
Writing Processes
Rhetorical Knowledge and Application
Critical Thinking and Argumentation
Research and Information Literacy
Knowledge of Discourse Conventions

This course is an online, asynchronous course; students may access the course from any location (including home) where Internet access is available. Therefore, reliable Internet/computer access is a requirement of this course. All official correspondence will be conducted using TCC Gmail email accounts. Students are required to adhere to posted due dates.

Since the prerequisite for English 112 is the successful completion of English 111, students should have acquired the following writing, revision, and documentation skills: knowledge of the writing process for multi-paragraph essays to include drafting, composing, revising, and editing; the ability to recognize and avoid incorrect and ineffective usage and sentence construction and errors in grammar, mechanics, and spelling; an awareness of intended audience and the ability to address it purposefully and effectively; and the ability to locate, evaluate, and utilize valid scholarly sources to support writing assignments, and document sources using MLA style.

Canvas Zoom: Students may schedule Zoom synchronous meetings on agreed days/times with the professor.  

Phone Conferences: Students may schedule phone conferences with the instructor on agreed days/times with the professor.

Onsite Conferences: No onsite conferences will be scheduled for the Summer 2022 Session

NO REQUIRED TEXT: FREE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ARE USED FOR THIS COURSE.

Wikibooks (free text): https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Rhetoric_and_Composition
University of Richmond: http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb.html
Purdue Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/01/
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant: http://www.powa.org/index.php/convince/arguing-in-context

College Attendance, Disability Concerns, and Writing Policies

Attendance

 

Attendance Policy All students are expected to be present and on time at all scheduled class and laboratory meetings, whether in person or online. Instructors are not required to admit or credit for participation a student who arrives late to the course meeting. A student who adds a class or registers after the first day of classes is counted absent from all class meetings missed, including those prior to registration.

 

If a student is absent more than 15 percent of scheduled instructional time, attendance may be defined as unsatisfactory. This calculation includes absences occurring during the add/drop period. See also the Withdrawal Policy in this syllabus for more information. Per the college’s attendance policy, faculty have the right to develop a more stringent policy as well. Students who do not attend or participate in class by the deadline to drop for tuition refund may be deleted from the course.

 

Educational Accessibility

 

Students who have documented, diagnosed disabilities, and who need special accommodations for tests, etc., are advised to see the Educational Accessibility Disabilities Services staff in Student Services so that the instructor may be notified of what accommodations are appropriate in each case.Visit the website: https://www.tcc.edu/student-services/personal-support/students-disabilities

 

Writing

Plagiarism is the accidental or intentional misrepresentation of the words or ideas of another as one's own and includes uncredited as well as improperly credited use of an author's words or ideas. Plagiarism may result in the student's failure.

Students are responsible for being aware of the policies, procedures, and student responsibilities contained within the current edition of the Student Handbook.

Description of Assignments/Grades

  • Letter to Class Members (1), 5 points
  • Rhetorical Analysis Essay (1): TEDTALK, up to 15 points
  • Position or Causal Multimodal Argument Individual Presentation: 15points; Peer Review: 3 points, for a total of 18 points
  • Group Discussions (3): 5 points each, for a total of 15 points
  • Library Research Assignment, 5 points
  • Golden Record Assignment & Presentation (collaborative): 15 points for the researched article (written portion); 5 points for the Presentation, for a total of 20 points;
  • Partner Assignments (3): 5 points each, for a total of 15 points
  • Reflection Essay: 4.5 points and Peer Assessment: 2.5 points, for a total of 7 points 

Extra Credit, 3 points total, 3 points for one of the assignments

Total Possible Points: 103

Grading Scale: 90-100 points=A; 80-92=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D; 59 and below=F

Note: For an "A" or a “B” final course grade, students must complete the Rhetorical Analysis Essay, the Individual Presentation, the Reflection Essay, and the Golden Record Assignment even though the cumulative grade might total 90 points.

Disclaimer: Points are different from percentage points since assignments are weighted. Canvas computes the percentage totals and the designated letter grade throughout the duration of the course and the cumulative percentage total and letter grade at the end of the course. For example, 91.67% cumulative total might still be a “B” final course grade. Also, a placeholder of “1” posted while you are revising/editing will temporarily lower your cumulative grade until you earn a grade for the paper/presentation.

Late Work Policy
It is important to submit assignments and complete activities by the due dates, especially because you are working with a group.

Late assignments are accepted with a penalty. For each day beyond the due date, Canvas will apply a late penalty of 10% to your graded score. The minimum score for any assignment is 0 points.

Note: For an "A" final course grade, students must complete/submit the Rhetorical Analysis Essay, the Individual Presentation, the Reflection Essay, and the Collaborative Presentation.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional use of another person’s ideas without proper documentation. Plagiarized assignments may result in a student’s failure. Documentation is required on papers turned in that are not original. MLA or APA Documentation Styles is acceptable. The Individual and Collaborative Writing Presentations, will be uploaded to Turnitin, a plagiarism checker.

Updated: 5/8/22