With reference to organization and research skills in English 1302, a student should write essays that:

• defend an informed position or argument within the context of a specific discipline with explanations and answers to relevant counterarguments.
  
  
• comprehend writing as a series of additional research tasks that include finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources (and avoiding plagiarism).
  
  
• practice appropriate conventions of documenting their work with the MLA format.
  
  

 

Plagiarism

Originality

Other than sources documented and cited according to MLA standards, all work submitted for a grade must be your own original work and never before submitted for a grade in any previous or current course.

Plagiarism

Submitting previous or current work in another course or work by other writers (especially Web-based materials) as one's own original work in this course, i.e. plagiarism, constitutes a ground for failure in this course (See MLA Handbook, Chapter 2; 2006-7 Student Handbook, Section 7-2.3: "Scholastic Dishonesty," 180; The New Century Handbook, 3rd ed., 11a, 246-249; Making Literature Matter, 1616).

Whether a citation, paraphrase, or summary in your own words, please provide basic MLA documentation for any primary source (the author's work), by including page numbers (prose), line numbers (poetry) or act, scene, line numbers (drama) as internal parenthetical references in your writing exercise, essay, and especially the research paper. Also document all secondary sources such as a Web site source (linked to the source), or any other printed secondary source (periodical, magazine or book). Although I will not grade the MLA format until the final copy of the research paper, please provide adequate documentation for your support as a courtesy to your reader.



 

Writing Exercises and Essays

Do Not Pass Beyond the Calendar Weekly Due Date (Wednesdays, by 12 noon) Before Turning In An Assignment. Late Submissions Will Cost You Grade Points.

In Order to Pass This Course, You Must Submit and Receive a Grade for All Three Major Essays and the First Draft and Final Copy of the Research Paper.

Last Day to Withdraw from Classes: Friday, April 11.

No Late Work Accepted after Wednesday, April 9, 12 noon.

I Do Not Accept Multiple Submissions.

The Final Essay is Due on Monday, May 5.

Read these course instructions and policies carefully. Do not wait until the last minute to write and send your assignments. Based on the assignment date/calendar:

1. Submit only one e-mail at a time, and wait until I return it (marked); then review all markings for purposes of future revision before submitting more work. Do not revise and resubmit work - please note what I mark, go on to the next reading and assignment, and apply those revisions and corrections to the next e-mail submission. I do not accept multiple submissions, nor do I accept Word attachments - please cut and paste your work into your Cougar mail submission.
2. I will reduce the grade on any writing exercise/short essay, essay, or research paper draft or final copy by 10 points if submitted after its calendar due date (Wednesdays, by 12 noon).
3. Any submissions after Wednesday, 12 noon of the calendar week (from Wednesday afternoon through the following Wednesday morning)count towards the following week.
4. I will not accept a writing exercise/short essay, essay, or research paper first draft or final copy after Friday, noon, of asignment's calendar due date.
5. I will not accept any late work for the course after Wednesday, April 9.
6. Although writing assignments are due at any time before Wednesday, 12 noon, during the calendar week of each assignment , the final essay is due on Monday, May 5, 12 noon, of the last week of the semester.

Writing Exercises / Short Essays

In addition to the three essay assignments and the two research paper sections, twenty percent of your final grade will come from writing exercises designed both to broaden your response to this course and provide a few additional writing tools to help you prepare for your essays. Successful completion of eight writing exercises / short essays earns a grade of "100"; seven writing exercises, 90"; six writing exercises, "80"; five writing exercises, "70"; four writing exercises, "60", less than four writing exercises earns a grade of "0". Please submit at least at least 400 words minimum in response to the course calendar reading assignments from Schilb and Clifford's Making Literature Matter. .

I expect and require at least two to three well-developed paragraphs (400 words minimum) in response to the reading assignments on the calendar as outlined under each "A Writing Exercise" (in Part One) or the "Thinking about the Text" or "Making Comparisons" sections that follows each work (in Part Two) of Schilb and Clifford's Making Literature Matter.

Because your work must be generally free of mechanical errors for acceptance, please proofread your responses carefully for grammar and punctuation. Do not use "I" (yourself) as the subject unless the prompt asks you specifically to do so, and write in active voice (revise passive voice,  "use" and "be" verbs) - keep the focus on the prompt (check the Revision Guidelines for other markings.

How I Mark

I mark your responses according the Revision Guidelines (print out and proofread with them for each writing exercise, essay, or research paper draft) - they appear in the left menu and with any essay in the course and I follow them religiously as to what I mark in your writing - nothing more, nothing less. I employ a simple set of bracket marks when I grade your essays: [  ] - a hard bracket to mark the error in your text, followed by a space and {  } - a soft bracket to set off my comment.

E-Mail Etiquette

Please send all e-mail from only one (permanent) e-mail address. I will return all marked assignments and work to the address from where they were sent - no exceptions.

As a matter of formality, put your full name in the text of each e-mail submission, either at the beginning or end, and always write the course number, week number and/or author/assignment in the subject box of your e-mail submission - example (in the e-mail subject box): ENGL 1302 - Week 6 - Writing Exercise, page 95.

Again, submit only one e-mail at a time, and wait until I return it (marked); then review all markings for purposes of future revision before submitting more work. Do not revise and resubmit work - simply note what I mark, go on to the next reading and assignment, and apply those revisions and corrections to the next e-mail submission. I do not accept multiple submissions.





 

Textbooks

Schilb, John, and John Clifford,
Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers,
Bedford / St. Martins., 3rd ed.

ISBN: 0-312-43611-4




Hult, Christine A., and Thomas N. Huckin, eds.
The New Century Handbook, Pearson, Longman, 4th ed.

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-45637-3:





Joseph Gibaldi,
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed.

ISBN: 0-87352-986-3




(recommended: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary)