Mount Hood Community
College
WR 115, Section 05 -- Intro
to Expository Writing
MWF 10-10:50
Fall 06
AC 1504
Brandy McKenzie, instructor
mckenzib@mhcc.edu
website: http://mysite.verizon.net/res1ryso
office hours 11-12 MWF
and by appointment
PREREQUISITE: Successful completion
of WR 90, or permission from an ENL instructor, or suitable performance on the writing placement test.
REQUIRED TEXTS AND MATERIALS:
Penfield, Elizabeth. Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition. 8th
ed. New York: Longman, 2002.
Wilson,
Page, and Teresa Ferster Glazier. The Least You Should Know About English. Form A, 9th ed. Australia:
Thomson Heinle, 2003.
7-9 scantron sheets, available in
bookstore (50 questions/side)
1 blue book, available in bookstore.
Welcome to WR 115, in which you’ll
be learning the basic building blocks for college level reading and writing. In
this class, we will start to take a look at what makes successful writing work-- critical reading and writing skills, as demonstrated
through an understanding of clear communication and rhetorical analysis. Accordingly,
we’ll be reviewing some English grammar skills, learning how to create effective assertions through well-constructed
paragraphs, thesises, and short essays,
and learning how to respond to other writers who have done the same. Some
of these writers will be your peers, and some will be professionals. From all
of them, we have something to learn.
By the end of the course, you should have a solid understanding of the writing process
from prewriting to the finished product, which includes consideration of audience, purpose, thesis, organization, rhetorical
methods, support, critical analysis, and presentation. If that sounds like a
lot for ten weeks, it isn’t. The key to college writing is the understanding
that all of these factors build off of one another, so that when you learn about two, you are inevitably also learning about
a third. Furthermore, the more you understand about these factors, the more freedom
you give yourself when you’re writing. To help you along this learning
process, we’ll be using a number of different types of assignments in this class, including quizzes, readings, essays,
and exercises. Each of these is one step along the way, and you will have several
chances to improve on many of them: one of your short essays will be revised into a longer essay at the end of the term, and
you will be allowed a second chance at up to two of your grammar quizzes.
Please always bring the grammar handbook on the days with grammar reviews noted. On the days of grammar quizzes, you should come prepared with a blank scantron sheet. Please have all readings in Short Takes
completed by the beginning of class on the days noted in order to facilitate the most productive conversation possible. All assignments are due during the class period announced in the schedule.
I use a standard grading scale, but the assignments
will be weighted according to the following:
Essays--50%
Quizzes--25%
In
Class Exercises--10%
Homework--10%
Participation--5%
Policies of note:
--Because the assignments
for this course will be developed primarily in class, attendance is crucial. Therefore, you may take only three absences before your grade is affected. Unless there is an emergency, 5% will be taken off of your final grade for every absence after this limit
has been reached.
--There will be a constant flow
of papers and assignments between the class and myself. Please, then, for the
sake of our sanity, get your assignments to me on time. In order to be sure this
happens, be aware that unless an extension has been granted by me, late assignments
will have ten percentage points deducted for every class period they are late. As
always, I can work with you in an emergency situation. However, in-class assignments
cannot be made up if missed.
--Plagiarism, or the uncredited use of other people’s words and ideas, is unacceptable and will result in
an F for the course and your immediate expulsion from the class. The powers that
be at MHCC are generally kind and benevolent people. Let’s work to keep
them that way. If you intend to refer to, quote, or paraphrase work other than
your own in your essays, please be sure to ask me the accepted ways to cite such sources.
Tentative Schedule,
subject to instructor’s discretion
9/25 Introductions, syllabus
In class exercise: questioning
and listening
9/27 Discussion: “The Pie” (ST, 71-73))
9/29 In class exercise: mapping
Formatting the essay
10/2 Homework due: map of your
essay
Grammar lesson:
spelling and homonyms
10/4 Discussion: “The Night of Oranges,”
(ST, 62-65
In class exercise: paragraphs
10/6 Benchmark Essay Due (Tell me about a choice you’ve
made which was not understood by others. 2 typewritten pages; 1 copy)
Grammar Quiz
10/9 Grammar lesson: subjects and verbs, prepositions
10/11 In-class exercise: description/narrative
10/13 Discussion: “El Hoyo,” (ST,
32-35)
In class exercise:
pastiche outline
Grammar Quiz
10/16 Grammar lesson: pronouns
In class exercise: introductions
10/18 Pastiche Essay Due (In this essay you should introduce your favorite place, following the
structural
outline you’ve made of “El Hoyo.” 2 pages, 3 copies)
Discussion:
“Deep Cold,” (ST, 26-27); “The Raven,” (ST, 197-201)
In class
exercise: prewriting
10/20 Homework due: prewriting
Grammar Quiz
10/23 Grammar lesson: fragments
In-class exercise: thesis
10/25 Homework due: thesis
Thesis
workshop
10/27 Discussion: “High School, an Institution Whose Time Has Passed,” (ST, 291-295)
Grammar
Quiz
10/30 Grammar lesson: run-ons
Common Object/Action
Essay Due (This is to be a narrative or descriptive essay saying something new and interesting about a familiar action or
object. 2 pages, 3 copies)
11/1 Homework due: freewritten response
11/3 Discussion: “Torture
Warrants?” “Torture Should Not Be Authorized,” “Yes, It Should Be on the
Books”
(ST, 329-338)
In class exercise: freewritten response
Grammar Quiz
11/6 Grammar lesson: parallel structure
Discussion:
Current events
Homework due: support
11/8 Discussion: “Ringing Hollow,” “Grit and Spectacle
Help ‘Lord’ Ring,”(ST, 324-328)
Grammar
Quiz
11/10 No class; Veterans’ Day
11/13 Grammar Lesson: modifiers
Discussion,
cont.
11/15 In class exercise: audience
11/17 Grammar Quiz
Homework
due: audience
11/20 Movie Review
Essay Due (1 page, 2 copies)
11/22 No Class
11/24 Thanksgiving Break
11/27 mini conferences
11/29 How to Peer Review
12/1 Peer Review (Bring in the
extra copies of the essay you want reviewed.)
12/4 Grammar Bowl
12/6 Grammar Quiz second chances
12/8 Final Revisions due
