ENG 106: Composition II

Objectives

This course is an opportunity to develop a skill shared by successful persons in all fields: the ability to communicate effectively. Specifically, you will have the chance to grow in the following areas:

Language: Success in college and the world beyond requires more than basic literacy. In this course, you will learn not only how to decipher language, but also how to analyze it for clues about purpose, audience, and agenda. Specifically, we will study various syntactic and semantic concepts, including paraphrase, logical fallacies, and propaganda. 

Ideas: Edifying and elevating in its own right, language is also a means for expressing ideas. In this presidential election year, we will explore a number of ideas related to American politics, including the two-party system, voting habits, conservatism and liberalism, as well as  numerous social and economic issues.  By the time November 7 arrives, you may be one of the best informed voters in the country!

Research: One of the most valuable skills you will learn in college is the ability to gather detailed, reliable information so that you can make informed decisions.  In this course, you will learn how to use key words and Boolean operators to locate information on computer databases and how to evaluate the credibility of the information you find. So that you can incorporate this information effectively in your own arguments, you also will practice paraphrasing, quoting, summarizing, attributing, and documenting source material. 

Communication: Knowledge confined to a single person's brain has limited use. It is through sharing this knowledge that humans make progress in medicine, science and technology, politics, and every other human endeavor. In this course, you will explore every major component of effective rhetoric, from well-formed arguments and general organization down to precise, lively words and carefully placed commas. In addition, we will examine the fundamentals of graphic communication, oral communication, and technology. 
 

Supplies

  • Dodds, Jack. The Ready Reference Handbook. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. 
  • Faigley, Lester, and Jack Selzer. Good Reasons. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.
  • Dionne, E.J. Why Americans Hate Politics.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
  • The American Heritage College Dictionary 
  • Three IBM-formatted diskettes and computer paper 

Policies

The following statement appears in the department guidelines for ENG 106: "A grade of F will be assigned if by the end of the course a student has missed more than six hours of a course, regardless of the reason for those absences (15% of the class time, e.g. 6 MWF or 4TTh classes in the regular semester)." To see the complete policies on attendance and plagiarism, as well as other information about the composition program at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, visit the World Wide Web site of the Department of English, Theatre, and Languages (www.uncp.edu/etl).

The following statements come from Disability Support Services: "Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments is requested to speak directly to Disability Support Services and the instructor, as early in the semester (preferably within the first class week) as possible.  All discussions will remain confidential."

"This publication is available in alternative formats upon request.  Please contact Mary Helen Walker, Disability Support Services, Career Services Center, 521-6270."

Be Your Best

You can expect me to be the best teacher I can be. I will work hard to make this course interesting and rewarding. I expect you to be your best, as well. Although this course is no more difficult than most college courses, it demands a lot of work, including reading and writing assignments, library research, and study. I expect you to make these commitments, to turn in neatly typed and carefully edited assignments on time, and to check the announcements at the beginning of each week. For tips on improving your study habits, see Be Your Best.
Fall 2000 · Dial Humanities 147

Professor Mark Canada
118 Dial Humanities Building
UNCP
mark.canada@uncp.edu
www.uncp.edu/home/canada
(910) 521-6431
Office Hours: 8-9 a.m. MTWRF
Online course roster

Schedule

Be Your Best Research Drafts Revision

Graphics

  • Weeks 14-15: Web design
    • Speaking

     

    Portfolio

    When you invest a large portion of your time and energy in a class for several weeks, you should expect something more than a grade in return. If you work hard in this course, you can receive a good grade, but you also can receive several other, more lasting and important benefits, including a foundation of knowledge and skills. To strengthen this foundation, you will prepare an online composition portfolio, where you will present the writing you have done in this course and demonstrate how much you have learned about research, written communication, and graphic communication. This portfolio, which you will post on the World Wide Web, comprises the components in the box at the right.

    Using my standard criteria, I will evaluate your portfolio at midterm and at the completion of the course.  Each time, I will assign you a letter grade based on the quality of both components.  Your final grade in the course, however, will depend only on your performance on the final portfolio and presentation.  Thus, even if you earn a D at midterm, you may revise your portfolio, use what you have learned to improve on future work, and earn a better grade--perhaps even an A--on your final portfolio and presentation.  The purpose of this system is to give you an opportunity to continue learning and improving over the course of the semester.

    When the semester is complete, I will consider some of the material you produce for publication on All American: Literature, History, and Culture, a World Wide Web site that I manage. Thus, by working hard in this course, you not only will improve your research and communication skills, learn a great deal about American politics, and practice using new computer technology, but may have one or more electronic publications that you can cite in resumes and portfolios.

    I hope that this portfolio's value to you will outlast this semester and that you will continue to consult it and add to it as you encounter language in the years to come. You may even want to show it to friends, parents, prospective employers, and--someday--grandchildren to demonstrate all that you have learned this semester.

    Profile

    In this profile, you will introduce yourself to me, your classmates, and the rest of the world. Please include the following components:
    • Name
    • Photograph: Scan a recent photograph of you and place it on your profile.
    • E-mail address: Create a link to an e-mail address that you regularly use.
    • Table of contents: List links to the various compents of your portfolio.
    • Essay: In a paragraph of about 100 words, describe your interests, hobbies, family, or anything else that you would like people to know about you. 
    When you have finished, submit the URL of your profile to the course listserv.

    Introduction

    In this essay, which should be between 300 and 500 words long, you should summarize the progress you have made in the areas of language, ideas, research, and communication. Be as specific as possible.  For example, instead of saying simply that you "have become a better reader," you might explain how you have learned to analyze a writer's purpose or to identify logical fallacies.  Present and analyze as many specific examples as you can.

    Glossary Entry

    Early in the semester, I will assign each of you a political term, such as "Democrat," "conservative," or "electoral college."  Your job will be to write a 200- to 300-word essay that defines this term for an audience with little knowledge about American politics.  Your essay should contain the following components:
    • Headword: Type the term in boldface.
    • Pronunciation: Using standard letters, show how English speakers generally pronounce this word.  Use capital letters to indicate the stressed syllable or syllables.
    • Meaning: Identify or define the item in your own words.  Try to answer the following questions: Who? What? When? and Where? 
    • Significance: Explain how recognizing this item can help a person understand American politics.
    • Bibliography: Using MLA citation format, list at least two credible sources where readers can find more information.
    When you have finished, post your essay on your portfolio, create an anchor for it, and submit the URL of this essay to the course listserv so that your classmates and I can learn from it.

    Issue Analysis

    Early in the semester, I will create groups of four or five students and assign each group one of the following subjects: education, the environment, the economy, social issues, leadership, foreign affairs, health, the economy.  Working together with the other members of your group, you will collect credible books, article, and Web sites related to your group's topic.  Then, working independently, you each will write a 1,000-word article that makes and supports a claim about a specific topic within this broad subject area.  For example, a student in the environment group might analyze the effects of acid rain on wildlife in the northeastern United States.  In this article, you must describe both Al Gore's and George W. Bush's positions on this topic. When you have finished, post your article on your portfolio, create an anchor for it, and submit the URL of this article to the course listserv so that your classmates and I can learn from it.

    Candidate Endorsement

    In this article, which should be about 1,000 words long, you will argue that Americans should elect George W. Bush, Al Gore, or another candidate as the next president of the United States.  The support for your claim should come from the issue analyses that you and your classmates have written, as well as other sources. When you have finished, post your article on your portfolio, create an anchor for it, and submit the URL of this article to the listserv so that your classmates and I can learn from it.

    Election Analysis

    Choose a specific section of the American population--college students ages 18-22, for example, or African-Americans or Catholics--and research their feelings about the recent election and politics in general. In an article of about 2,000 words, make a clear, compelling argument that describes these feelings and explains why these people feel the way they do.  You must support your claim with both evidence collected from secondary sources such as Why Americans Hate Politics and your own original research on primary sources, such as letters to the editor and people you interview. When you have finished, post your article on your portfolio, create an anchor for it, and submit the URL of this article to the listserv so that your classmates and I can learn from it.

    Oral Presentation

    Instead of taking midterm and final exams, each of you will give two 30-minute presentations--one before midterm and one at end of the course--during which you will show me your portfolio, talk about what you have learned, and answer questions designed to measure your success in meeting the objectives of the course. You must bring all of the material you used or created in preparing your assignment, including rough drafts, notes, and photocopies of your sources with quoted or paraphrased passages highlighted. 

    I decide in advance whom I am going to meet in conference.  If you are not in class that day or fail to bring the required materials, you may fail part or all of the portfolio presentation.  If you know you are going to miss class for a legitimate reason, let me know in advance.

    Components

    1. Profile
    2. Introduction
    3. Glossary entry
    4. Issue analysis
    5. Candidate endorsement
    6. Election analysis
    7. Presentation

    Help

    Evaluation Criteria

    • Content: The project should thoroughly and insightfully address its subject with accurate, credible, timely, and relevant information. If the project is supposed to be argumentative, it should state a clear, substantive, contestable, and precise claim early and support this claim with appropriate evidence.
    • Clarity: The project should present information in a clear, logical fashion. In particular, each paragraph generally should begin with a precise topic sentence, followed by clear, well-organized sentences that support the topic sentence. The writer should use transitional words and phrases effectively to guide the reader through the information.
    • Readability: The project should engage the reader with lively, concise writing and should generally lack typographical errors, as well as lapses in tone, register, punctuation, mechanics, spelling, word choice, and grammar. The project should effectively incorporate source material with proper use of attribution, paraphrases, and quotations. Longer projects should begin with an engaging introduction and include a satisfying conclusion.
    • Format: Parenthetical citations and the bibliography or list of works cited should conform to MLA style. The project also should have an attractive, professional appearance and should conform to any particular format requirements set by the instructor.
    Note: Each project must be your own work. That is, except for properly cited quotations, every sentence and phrase must be in your own words. All interpretations, except for those properly cited, also must be your own. If you turn in someone else's work, use a source's exact words without placing these words in quotation marks, or use an interpretation you found in a source without giving credit to the source, you are guilty of plagiarism and may fail this course. You must be prepared to prove that you have done all your own work by showing me your sources and discussing the details of your project with me in conference.

    Grades

    • A: Mastery
    • B: Near mastery 
    • C: Basic competence
    • D: Less than basic competence
    • F: Serious problems, such as plagiarism or glaring lack of competence

    Updated December 2, 2000 | University of North Carolina at Pembroke
    © Mark Canada, 2000 | mark.canada@uncp.edu