ENG 111: College Composition I, 3 Credits

Prequisites-Qualifying Placement Test score, ENF 1, ENF 2 or equivalent
Corequisites-None

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: Introduces students to critical thinking and the fundamentals of academic writing through the writing process, students refine topics; develop and support ideas; investigate, evaluate and incorporate appropriate resources; edit for effective style and usage; and determine appropriate approaches for a variety of contexts, audiences and purposes. Writing assignments include narration, exposition, and argumentation (researched essay).

No Required Textbook: An Open Text & Open Educational Resources (OER) are used in this course.

Rhetoric and Composition--Wikibooks (free textbook)

University of Richmond: http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb.html

"Writer's Web is a free, public-access handbook designed & maintained by University of Richmond students & faculty."

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/01/

Purdue Universities OWL offers over 200 free resources including the following: Writing and Teaching Writing, Research, Grammar and Mechanics, and Style Guides.

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant: http://www.powa.org/index.php/convince/arguing-in-context

Paradigm is a distillation and collage of numerous writings, talks, and activities that Chuck Gilford, Ph.D English with thirty years experience, has developed over the years and tried out on students, colleagues, and mentors.

College Attendance, Disability Concerns, and Writing Policies

 

Attendance: This course is virtual (onsite); therefore, there are no on-campus meetings. Students are required to engage in all online activities and to complete all required assignments as detailed on the weekly schedule. If students are not present online for two weeks and have not contacted the instructor, they may be withdrawn from the course.

Technology Access: Students need to have access to the Internet, Canvas, and TCC Gmail.

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.

Educational Accessibility: https://www.tcc.edu/student-services/personal-support/students-disabilities

 

Plagiarism

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.

No Proprietary Textbook Required

This course uses a free OpenText and other free Open Educational Resources (OER)

Students are required to have reliable access to a computer with internet service.

Course Objectives

ENG 111 will help students understand that writing is a process that develops through experience and varies among individuals.

  • Students will engage in all phases of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, sharing and reflecting.
  • Students will incorporate reading and experience into their writing processes.

ENG 111 will develop students' ability to analyze and investigate ideas and to present them in well structured prose appropriate to the purpose and audience.

  • Students will competently read, analyze, and respond to college-level texts—their own and others'—of varying lengths.
  • Students will create unified, coherent, well-developed texts that demonstrate a self-critical awareness of rhetorical elements such as purpose, audience, and organization.
  • Students will appropriately employ grammatical and mechanical conventions in the preparation of readable manuscripts.
  • Students will learn how to use and evaluate outside sources of information, incorporate and document source material appropriately, and avoid plagiarism.
  • Students will compose a variety of graded and un-graded assignments and will produce at least 3,500 words of finished, graded text.”

Course Content

  • Critical thinking
  • Writing process
  • Selecting/Refining topics
  • Developing, organizing, and supporting ideas
  • Investigating and evaluating resources
  • Incorporating appropriate resources into text
  • Considering context, audience, and purpose

Measurable Outcomes

  • Demonstrate knowledge of the writing process for multi-paragraph essays, to include starting, composing, revising, and editing.
  • Recognize and avoid incorrect and ineffective usage and sentence construction.
  • Recognize and avoid errors in grammar, mechanics, and spelling.
  • Appropriately apply modes of expression.
  • Show an awareness of intended audience and the ability to address audience purposefully and effectively.
  • Locate, evaluate, and utilize valid scholarly sources to support writing assignments and document such sources using a formal documentation style (MLA, APA, CSE, Turabian).

Topics Covered in the Course
In accordance with the VCCS catalog description, English 111 develops academic writing ability based on experience, observation, research and reading of selected materials. This course guides students in learning the writing process, understanding audience and purpose, exploring ideas and information, composition organizing, revising and editing. This course also introduces the various strategies to produce a research paper.

Note: The readings and all of the writing assignments will be non-fiction expository prose.

• Writing assignments, yielding a minimum of 3,200 words to include:
A. 4+ multi-paragraph essays to include at least 1 argument essay
B. Inclusion and documentation of outside sources using MLA style
• Research methods for searching, applying and referencing scholarly sources
• Essay structure and development
• Composition processes
• Mechanics, grammar, usage and spelling topics for instruction and/or review


 

Assignments & Grades

POINTS (Possible)

Introduction Letter

Up to 4 points

Writing Project 1: This I Believe Essay (undocumented: 600-word minimum) and related assignments

Up to 16 points

Writing Project 2: Comparison/Contrast or Causes/Effects Essay (undocumented: 750-word minimum) and related assignments

Up to 20 points

Writing Project 3: Argument Essay (documented: 1000-word minimum) and related assignments

Up to 32 points
Journal Entries (three); 3 points each Up to 9 points

Grammar & Library Skills Quizzes

Up to 14 points

End of Semester: Reflection Essay

Up to 5 points

One Extra Credit Assignment: 3 points

Up to 3 points

 

Total Possible for the Course

103


 

Grading Scale: 90-100 points=A; 80-92=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D; 50 and below=F

 

Updated: 8/22/21