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Course Description

Welcome to your English 110 composition (writing) course! This semester we’ll explore the connections between writing, reading, rhetoric, and critical thinking. You’ll practice writing for different purposes and audiences, and you will give and receive substantial feedback on your and others’ writing. As learning from each other will be a large part of what we do, you are expected to be an active participant in the classroom community.

Course Learning Outcomes

In this course, you will work to

1. Examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users.
2. Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.
3. Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.
4. Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.
5. Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.
6. Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.
7. Compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation.
8. Practice systematic application of citation conventions.

Required Materials

This is a “ZERO Textbook Cost” course. All reading materials will be accessible on our course website.

We will also read a collection of student writing (yours, your peers’, and others’). Please either print or have digital access to all course documents and materials for each class.

Bring a pen and paper to every class. I recommend a small notebook or journal, as we will start each class with a 5-10 minute freewriting exercise.

Online Technology and Software Requirements

You will need to regularly access:

• Google Classroom (GC) — to submit work, view any upcoming assignments and keep track of your grade
• Slack — to use as our main point of communication as a class.
  • You will be expected to address general inquiries to the “question” channel on Slack
  • Please allow up to 48 hours for a direct response from me
• CUNY Academic Commons — to create a digital portfolio
• Word-processing software of your choice: Microsoft Office, Office365 (available for free to CCNY students), Google Docs, etc.

I strongly recommend you make an effort to organize our course documents and your work. Create a designated English 110 Spring 2024 folder on your computer and be strategic in how you use subfolders and title documents. You will need to return to assignments, so the more organized the better.

Recommended Open Education Resources

Use these additional resources as needed for help with the writing process, editing, and formatting:

1. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1v2xmaster/
2. https://writingcommons.org/
3. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
4. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/
5. https://www.scribbr.com/

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is an essential part of the pursuit of truth, and of your education. If you plagiarize by using someone else’s work or ideas, you defeat the purpose of your education. In addition, academic dishonesty is prohibited in the City University of New York, and is punishable by failing grades, suspension and expulsion.

THIS INCLUDES THE USE OF AI APPS LIKE CHATGPT. If you are caught using one of these apps you will receive an “F” in the class and will be reported to the dean.

Assignment Formatting

All major and minor writing assignments MUST be formatted as follows:

1. 12 point font
2. Double-spaced (please format properly)
3. Legible font (such as Times New Roman or Arial)
4. MLA format, which includes a title, numbered pages with your last name, and a heading with the following:
   • Your name
   • Class name/number
   • Date
   • Instructor’s name
5. Save file with your full name and the assignment title in the document name.
   • Example: (Jane Doe_WLLN First Draft)
6. Save your work as a computer document (.doc or .docx), NOT .pdf, .zip, .html or .pages.

It is important that you understand what a polished academic paper should look like, and therefore, any papers that do not match these formatting guidelines will lose points. Please use the checklist provided with each assignment to ensure that you have hit all the requirements.

Assignments

Essays

You will compose, peer review, revise and reflect on three major writing assignments in this class: a personal narrative, a researched essay, and a self-assessment essay. Your personal narrative will be on the topic of language politics; your researched essay will be on any topic you choose; your self-assessment essay will reflect on your writing over the semester and the course learning objectives. You will also do a small amount of informal rhetorical analysis writing assignments. We will go over detailed prompts for each writing assignment at the beginning of each phase.

Peer Reviews

A major part of this class will be reviewing your peers’ writing over the semester. This is an essential part of the writing process — allowing you to help each other see where you have fallen short and to inspire your own work as well. You will be expected to review your classmates work based on the assignment requirements, your peers’ rhetorical choices, and offer constructive criticism. There will be a peer review for each essay, your presentation, and the final portfolio (five total). They will all be conducted in class and can not be made up.

Feedback from me will only be provide on the second draft of each of your essays so peer review will be essential in the early stages of your essay.

Reflections

For each essay, you will reflect on that phase of the course (which course learning objectives you feel you achieved or not), as well as your writing process and how you applied different rhetorical choices to your work. These reflections will be conducted in class and will help you understand how you have grown as a writer and highlight the areas you need to improve. In-class reflections will be turned in for a grade and can be made up for half credit.

Revisions

Revising is a part of the writing process that nobody enjoys. However, it is where the real writing happens. It is the place where you learn how to better organize your thoughts and edit for an intended audience. You will be expected to heavily revise each of your essays before uploading them to your portfolio, based on my feedback and the revision strategies that we will go over in class.

Portfolio

The final for our class will be a digital portfolio that will house all of your work for the semester. This portfolio will serve as a medium to showcase you as a writer and will be something you can take with you and update throughout your education and beyond. Learning to use digital landscapes to showcase your work (in any field) is an essential skill to have. You will customize your WordPress site to demonstrate to anyone who looks at your portfolio that you have achieved our course learning outcomes.

Homework/In-Class Assignments

You will have a total of 18 smaller assignments throughout the semester. In an effort to lighten your homework load (there will still be plenty of homework), we will conduct a decent amount of work in class, including worksheets and freewrites. You will sometimes have the opportunity to finish in-class work for homework, but all of these assignments are intended to coincide with the days lesson plan and will be turned in for a grade. Missing class on a these days may result in half or no credit for that days in-class work.

Attendance

Attendance is an essential part of your grade. You are allowed THREE absences without penalty or documentation. Any more than that and your final grade will be affected. If you miss SEVEN classes or more, you are not be eligible to pass the course. You may make up ONE absence by visiting a one-on-one tutoring session at The Writing Center and providing documentation (see details below).

You are allowed two tardies of up to 10 minutes each without penalty. Arriving later than 10 minutes after class begins, or leaving class early may result in grade deductions.

Grading

Students are expected to take an active role in developing their writing and language. I also recognize that students come from different educational, linguistic, and racial backgrounds and that it takes several years, not a semester, to develop English academic language. We will spend a significant section of our class on the topic of language politics, and specifically how Standard English is used to empower and oppress language users in academia and beyond.

As your instructor, I am committed to adopting approaches deemed most effective by the fields of Second Language Writing and Composition and Rhetoric. I will provide ongoing feedback on your writing to highlight potential areas to revise and develop (including language uses). I will refrain from penalizing you for your language and will not deduct points for “improper” use of grammar or punctuation.

We will use a standard grading schema in this class. Each assignment will be assigned a set number of points and will be graded as followed:

Full Points

• The assignment is turned in on-time.
• The assignment meets all requirements on the assignment checklist.

Half Points

• The assignment is turned in anytime past the due date.

AND/OR

• The assignment is missing 1-2 of the requirements on the assignment checklist.

Zero Points

• The assignment is not turned in at all.

OR

• The assignment is missing 2 or more of the requirements on the assignment checklist.

Late Work

All due dates are clearly stated in our course calendars and it is expected that you turn in your work on time. However, if you communicate with me ahead of time and make arrangements to turn your work in, I will accept late work with some exceptions (drafts for peer reviews or any assignment utilized for an in-class activity can not be handed in late). If you do not communicate with me before an assignment is due, it will receive half or no credit.

NOTE: Out of respect for my time management and organization, I cannot guarantee my comments on late essays.

Course Policies, Procedures, and Pertinent Information

Contacting Your Instructor

I want to get to know you, and I take seriously my role in supporting your learning. I strongly encourage you to contact me and visit during office hours (or make an appointment). And I expect you to keep me informed about your work, your progress, your questions, and your problems.

I am available via email or Slack and will answer your questions or address your concerns as soon as I am able. However, please allow up to 48 hours for my response.

1-on-1 Consultations Policy

Students in first-year writing courses at City College are required to meet 1-on-1 with their instructors at least once per semester. These meetings will provide you with invaluable individualized feedback on your writing. Your instructor will provide additional details for scheduling your 1-on-1 meeting.

Professional Courtesy

It’s essential that we are all courteous and considerate of each other at all times. As a group, we will represent diverse cultural, racial, linguistic, and gendered identities and abilities. We must all commit to honoring, respecting, and accounting for our differences. As your instructor, I am committed to this.

Technology Expectations

I ask that you please turn off all electronic devices that are not to be used for class work during class time. We will sometimes rely on our cell phones, laptops, or university desktop computers (located in library computer labs). You are tasked with accessing and submitting documents online, as well as creating a digital portfolio. Learning about and regularly accessing technology is thus a critical part of our course.

The Writing Center

The CCNY Writing Center provides a supportive learning environment where students can have one-on-one tutoring sessions with experienced writing consultants. The Writing Center is available for virtual meetings, and students can schedule an appointment through the online booking system.

This is a free resource available to all students and recommended for all writing assigned in this and other classes. As an incentive to utilize this resource, I will allow you to make up one absence by attending a one-on-one tutoring session and proving documentation.

Visit their website for more info http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/writing/ and to book an appointment.

Special Needs and Accommodations

There are several Student Support Services available for CCNY students. Check this website for more information: https://ccny.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2019-2020/Undergraduate-Bulletin/Student-Support-Services-Program

If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact CCNY’s AccessAbility Center (Student Disability Services), https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/accessability or call (212) 650-5913 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations. I am committed to accessibility; please do not hesitate to reach out to me so that we can determine ways to make this course accessible to you.