College Writing

BASK 1101-001 (Service Learning Section)

MWF 9:55-11:10, Rm # K141

Professor Emari DiGiorgio

E-mail: emari.digiorgio@stockton.edu

Phone: 609-626-3463 (3463 on-campus)

Office hours: Tuesday 1:00-4:00 J105E

and by appointment

 

Course Description:

This course will prepare you for the written tasks you will be required to complete throughout your college coursework. You will learn to write clear, effective English prose through a variety of writing projects requiring description, characterization, narration, illustration, process analysis, and comparison and contrast. By reading and writing a series of essays, you will master the stages of the writing process, improve your critical thinking skills, and start to synthesize what you read with what you experience and what you think. You will also learn how to find credible sources, how to evaluate them, and how to integrate them into your papers. Attention will be given to common grammatical problems, but you are expected to exhibit general competence in sentence structure.

In addition to laying the foundation for your college writing experience, this course has a service-learning component. You will be participating in the pilot Civic Engagement Program and will be volunteering at a local non-profit organization. Through weekly reflections and a final essay, you will examine how valuable your experience was to you and the community you served.

Also, you will complete a “Writing in the World Project”. After substantial research and discussion regarding the crisis in Darfur, you will put your writing skills to practice and find a way to inform and educate others.

Texts:

Not On Our Watch, Don Cheadle & John Prendergast

Rules for Writers, Diana Hacker

Handouts

Supplies:

Three-ring binder or divided notebook

Dictionary

Flash drive

Attendance and Participation:

Because the learning experience in any one class is impossible to replicate, attendance is mandatory. There are no “excused absences” in college, and all absences affect your grade. More than three absences will result in the loss of a letter grade. That means that when you reach your fourth absence, the highest grade you could possible earn, is a ‘B.’ Also, lateness will not be tolerated. Not only does the late student miss important information, but he/she also interrupts class and the other students’ attention. Three latenesses will count as one absence. Thus, three latenesses equal one absence, six latenesses equal two absences, and so on.

If a serious problem prevents you from attending class, please contact me immediately by phone or e-mail. If you stop attending without officially withdrawing, you will receive an F for the course. This will remain on your transcript and may affect your academic standing, financial aid, and transfer options.

While in class, BE HERE. Raise your hand, participate; class is more enjoyable when everyone contributes.

General Rules:

Although these may seem obvious, I would like to ensure that we are on the same page:

· Turn off or silence your cell phone in class; it will be very embarrassing for you if a faculty member demands to answer your phone.

· Try to eat before class. If your schedule makes that difficult, bring something that is easy to eat quietly and that will not stink up the room. Also, it is a good idea to bring beverages with lids or caps. Please remember that it is your instructor’s decision whether you are allowed to eat/drink in class.

· Be on-time. You should not be late for work and going to class is your job.

· Stay in contact with your instructors. Things are not always going to go as planned. Let me know if/when you are falling behind or when you need assistance. I will be more willing to help you before you’ve missed two weeks (or more) of classes. Believe it or not, professors (most of us anyway) have hearts (despite the abnormal size of our brains).

· Do NOT ask for extra credit at the end of the term. I do offer extra credit on specific assignments and you will have the opportunity to earn it then. I do not offer anything to those students who have slacked the entire semester and are hoping to “pull their grade up” at the very end. If you are attentive to your work throughout the term, you will have no need to worry when I’m posting grades

· Your rules…?

Academic Honesty Policy:

The following is described in The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Undergraduate Bulletin, 2006-2008 and is available online:

As an academic institution of merit and integrity, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey affirms its commitment to the honesty and excellence of research and pedagogy conducted by members of the Stockton academic community. Academic dishonesty is a serious violation of academic policy and the Campus Conduct Code, and is punishable by severe sanctions including suspension and expulsion. The range of sanctions imposed is contingent on several factors, including the decision of the faculty member making the charge, whether it is the student’s first or a repeat offense, and the extent and nature of the offense itself. It is possible that a first offense will carry a penalty of suspension or expulsion, if deemed appropriate by the College.

The College makes two primary demands of its students and staff: 1) that each individual exercise the utmost care in planning and preparing the work presented for academic consideration, and 2) that members of the academic community conscientiously insure the validity and protect the integrity of academic work and the grades earned for such work.

Types of Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty may be manifested by a number of irregularities including, but not limited to, plagiarism and dishonest conduct in the preparation of course work. Examples of dishonest conduct are cheating on an examination or research paper, either by copying another student’s work or bringing inappropriate notes into a testing situation, or collaborating with another student on course work when not specifically authorized by the faculty member. It is the responsibility of each faculty member to define any additional criteria governing particular course assignments, such as “in-class,” “open book,” and “take-home” examinations, laboratory experiments and reports. Whenever collaboration between two or more students is authorized, the results and presentation of the collaborative effort are necessarily understood to be the achievement of each individual student.

Plagiarism is the most commonly seen form of academic dishonesty, particularly with the proliferation of Internet resources on college-level subjects. Plagiarism from any published or unpublished source is a violation of academic policy; it is defined as the appropriation or imitation of the language, ideas or thoughts of another person, and the representation of them as one’s original work. Any written material or oral presentation submitted to a member of the faculty by a student is understood to be the product of that student’s own research and effort. All sources must be properly acknowledged and cited in the preparation of student assignments.

For additional information regarding plagiarism, consult Stockton’s Academic Honesty Policy.

Grading:

All work must be completed in order to earn a passing grade.

Formal Essays & Letter to the Editor…………450

Writing in the World Project………………………100

In-class work/Daily Participation………………100

Service Learning Component/ Reflections…100

Online Quizzes…………………………………………….50

Online Assignments/Posts…………………………100

Peer Critique………………………………………………50

Final Portfolio (for Program Assessment)……50

Total Points……………………………………………….1000

Presentation of Essays:

All essays must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman, with no cover sheet (MLA format). Informal writing assignments and in-class work must be legibly written on lined, full-sized paper in blue or black ink. We will “translate” one of our essays from MLA format to APA format so that you become acquainted with that citation method too.

Formal Essays:

Essay topics will be explained separately. These essays range between 300-1000 words. You will turn in all pre-writing, research, and initial drafts with the final draft. Most essays will require that you complete some type of research. We will discuss how to acquire and evaluate sources, take effective and responsible notes, integrate source material, and complete in-text citations and a Works Cited.

Writing in the World Project:

Using the suggestions in Not on Our Watch as a guide, you will put your writing skills to practice on a real-world issue, finding a way to educate, advocate, or motivate others.

Revisions:

Re-vision means to re-see. You will spend a significant amount of time re-seeing your work, examining it as closely as a love letter from a crush. We will cover several revision strategies and implement them.

Writing Prompts:

As true writing is an act of revision, students will be asked to complete several writing prompts, both in class and online at home. These may be responses to the reading, self-reflective pieces, descriptions of places, or answers to abstract questions. These prompts serve as the springboard to writing beyond the obvious and will often lead to greater depth and insight as the student revisits them.

Quizzes:

Quizzes reinforce the skills you are learning in Hacker’s Rules for Writers or reflect on certain aspects of the assigned reading.

Peer Critique/Essay Dates:

One of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to someone else. We will often help each other organize our pre-writing and revise our initial drafts in-class through peer critique writing sessions. During essay dates, you will meet with one another outside of class to improve your writing process, as well as the quality of the finished project. You will be asked to read your classmates’ work closely, advising on overall organization, presentation, strength of thesis and supporting details, attention to detail, clarity, and coherence. The “Essay Date Draft” must be attached to each final draft when turned in.

Grammar:

This class requires you to be proactive about your knowledge of English grammar and usage. You will be required to complete several tutorials online and practice your skills there.

Service Learning Component/ Reflections:

As part of the pilot Civic Engagement Program, you will complete twenty (20) hours of community service at a local non-profit organization. The volunteer work may be completed within a minimum of five (5) weeks, but it must be completed within ten (10) weeks total. In addition to volunteering, you will provide weekly reflections on your experience and compose a final reflective essay.

You are also required to attend the Ordinary Lives of Engagement Speaker Series and other similar events on campus. Credit for the reading series will be designated as follows:

Attend one (1) event & complete reflection = C

Attend two (2) events & complete reflections = B

Attend three (3) events & complete reflections = A

Attend four (4) or more events & complete reflections = A+ (100)

Final Portfolio:

The final portfolio includes a sampling of your best work (content and actual composition), including but not limited to the following: introductions, conclusions, description, dialogue, narration, analysis, MLA documentation, integration of source material, and creative composition. You will receive a separate sheet outlining what you need to include.