Write Course Outline
Communication Processes I
English 137
  Spring 2007
Write


Instructor:  Dr. Charles Phillips            Office phone: 434-736-2038   Home phone: 434-223-2150   
 
Course: English 137-K6 credits 3          E-mail:svphilc@svccdan1.sv.vccs.edu  
Office:  46B                                           Office Hours: By appointment  
. 
Web Site 
Postal mail:  200 Daniel Drive   
                     Keysville, VA 23947 

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Links Page

My Website

http://luna.moonstar.com/~acpjr/index.htm

All documents on the website are considered addenda to this course outline. Please report any inconsistencies or errors in this course outline or re d documents so that I may make the necessary corrections.

DESCRIPTION OF COURSE

 Covers content, form, and procedures for research writings, which may include reports, articles, summaries, essays and correspondence. Stresses editing, proofreading skills, sentence structure, and paragraph development.

TEXT

Troiano, Edna M. and Julia D. Scott. The Contemporary Writer. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2001.

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES

  • Readings in the textbook

  • Writing assignments (described below)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

 Read the assigned chapters in the textbook and submit for grading eight essays on the topics indicated below.

Length Requirements for Essays

Each completed essay must at least 500 words. There is no limit on length, but all essays should be concise, informative, and correct. Longer essays that multiply errors simply provide more justification for a poor grade. Microsoft Word will tell you how many words there are in a document.

EVALUATION SYSTEM

 Your course grade will be based on the average grade for the eight essays.

GRADING SCALE

I will grade each essay by giving it a number from 1 to 100. An "A" grade is from 100 to 90; a "B" grade is from 89 to 80, etc. At the end of the semester, I will average the eight essay grades to determine your semester grade.

Calculating Final Grades

In calculating your final grade, if your grade falls one point short of the next higher grade, I will give you the extra point and the higher grade, but only if you have completed all the assignments.

Grading Criteria

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Because this is an Internet course, class attendance is not required. However, you must submit work on time to avoid a grade penalty.

TOPICS COVERED

  • Writers, Roles, and Readers
  • Effective Reading
  • Purpose and Thesis
  • Information Gathering
  • Paragraphs and Essays
  • Supporting Evidence
  • Appropriate Words and Style

LATE WORK

Work assignments are due on Mondays of the weeks designated. If I do not receive the work on the designated Monday, five points will be deducted from your grade. Five additional points will be deducted for each subsequent Monday that an assignment is not received. No assignment will be accepted after the last day of class.

Submit Work on Time

This course has a definite schedule for work assignments. The reading and writing assignments have been apportioned so that you can easily keep up if you do the work according to the schedule. There are four reasons why you should meet the requirements on time:

  1. You will automatically lose points when an assignment is late (see Administrative Matters below).

  2. When you get behind, you hurry to catch up, and work done under pressure is never as complete or correct as work done in the allotted time.

  3. When an assignment is late, you do not get the benefit of feedback so that you can make corrections on the next assignment; therefore you are likely to repeat errors that will cost you points.

  4. Late papers create an avalanche effect giving me less time over the course of the semester to grade more papers; therefore, I cannot do as careful a job.

HONOR CODE

Proscribed Conduct is specified on page 164 of the 2006-2008 Catalog/Student Handbook. Proscribed conduct includes "all forms of dishonesty including cheating, [and] plagiarism . . . ." Students who commit plagiarism or who are otherwise dishonest in their conduct in this course will be dealt with according to college policy.

HOW TO USE THE TEXTBOOK

I have assigned specific chapters to read in The Contemporary Writer. You must read these chapters in order to understand the writing assignments. Some writing assignments require that you read particular essays. You should also use your text as a handbook to help you with grammar, punctuation, and documentation.

UNRETURNED WORK

If you want confirmation that I have received an essay that you have sent, look for an option in your email program that says something like "Return Receipt Requested." Barring illness, injury, or computer failure, I should be able to return your essays within a week.

Sometimes things get lost in the mail and I do not receive your work, so if you do not get an assignment back within seven days, you should resend it. In your email message, tell me that you are resubmitting your work because you have not gotten the assignment back. If you wait longer than seven days to resend work which I have not received, it will be considered late and a grade penalty will be imposed.

NAMING YOUR FILES

Please name each file using this convention:
  • The initials for your complete name. There have been cases when two people in the same class have had the same initials for their first and last names.

  • The number of the assignment

As an example, acp1 would be read like this: Alison Charles Phillips, assignment one.

Leave no spaces in the file names.

Each file must have a unique and correct identification. If your file name is not correct, ten points will be deducted from your grade.

Changes in Assignments

During the semester it may be necessary to change course assignments or procedures. If this becomes necessary, you will be notified by an announcement posted on my website. Changes may involve modification or substitution of assignments or changes in due dates. No change will increase the work load or reduce the amount of time allowed for an assignment. Click on the button below to view the announcements page.

Announcements

BACK-UP COPIES

You should maintain back-up copies of your work. Copies should be saved to the hard drive of your computer, a floppy disk, a RW-CD, a zip disk, or a jump drive. If an assignment is lost and cannot be recovered by means of a back-up copy, the assignment must be rewritten.

SCHEDULE FOR SUBMITTING WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Redblue line

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ESSAYS

You should use Microsoft Word to write your essays. If you have Microsoft Works or WordPerfect, save your files in Rich Text Format. You will submit your essays as Email attachments. Click on the button below for important directions.

E-mail

PROOFREADING

I will not try to correct all of the grammatical and punctuation errors in your your work but will only mark some instances of the errors I see to indicate the nature of the problems. If the number and severity of grammar and punctuation errors are extensive, the assignment may receive a grade of "D" or "F" regardless of the quality of the content. I do not accept revisions; therefore, it is important that you read my comments on each essay so that you can do better on the next assignment.

Report Errors

In revising course documents, I frequently make mistakes. If you discover contradictory instructions, misspelled words, bad links, or any other problems, please report them to me so that I can make corrections. Be sure to give the web address of the page that contains the error. Copy the page address from the location box of your web browser and paste into your email message. Thanks.
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

MAKE-UP WORK AND REVISIONS

 Make-up assignments will not be given and revisions will not be accepted. Students are expected to read the comments on returned essays, study the notes and web documents they are referred to, and do better on the next assignment.

DEADLINE FOR RESOLVING PROBLEMS

 The deadline for resolving problems of missing or unreturned work is the last day of the exam period. If any assignments have not been returned to you, it is your responsibility to resolve the problem either through a telephone conversation or by a face-to-face meeting. If you do not do this before the last day of the exam period, you will receive a grade based on the work that has been received and graded, and no additional work will be accepted.

WITHDRAWAL FROM THE COURSE

 If you want to withdraw from the course without a grade penalty, you must do so by March 16, 2007; otherwise, you will be assigned a grade. See the College Catalog (page 20) for complete information concerning withdrawal. You can check your enrollment status at anytime in the VCCS Student Information System.

INCOMPLETE GRADES

 An incomplete grade will only be granted under extraordinary circumstances. No incomplete grades will be granted to students who have not completed at least seventy percent of the course work. You can check your enrollment status at anytime in the VCCS Student Information System.

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