Engl 3130 Advanced Composition, Fall 2018

[ Policies ] [ Calendar ] [ Model Student Essays ] [ Final Exam Instructions/ Best Essays from This Semester ]

Policies 
last update: August 24, 2018 

 

Course and Instructor 
English 3130 Advanced Composition, Wednesdays 4-6:50pm in Burleson 304

Instructor: Dr. Kevin O'Donnell, http://faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/

odonnell@etsu.edu 423 439-6679 
Office: Burleson Hall 313

Fall 2018 Office Hours: Mon and Weds 12:35-1:30pm; Tues 12:45-3:35pm

 

Course Texts and Materials 

- Sid Holt, editor.  The Best American Magazine Writing 2017.  Columbia University Press, 2017.  $19.95.  ISBN: 978-0231-18159

- Steven Pinker.  The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.  Viking, 2014.  ISBN: 0670025852  $27.95 

- A grammar handbook of your choice.  

- Internet and printer access:  We will read numerous articles that are posted on the web, and you will print up to a few dozen pages of text. 

- Recommended:  A traditional composition notebook (9-3/4" x 7-1/2", 100-sheet, lined, stitch-bound). 

 

Five Major Essays 
Essay 1: Narrative Based on Experience  
Essay 2: Tech Writing ("How-to"-- Expository/ Explanatory) 
Essay 3: Review/ Criticism 
Essay 4: Writing from Sources 
Essay 5: Writing in the Nonfiction Genre of Your Choice 

Final Grade Breakdown

1. Five major essays of 1250-2000 wds each (the lowest grade, excluding Fs, is dropped): 40% 
2. Best essay, revised for the web: 35% 

3. Miscellaneous, ungraded short memos and other writings (including topic proposals, revision plans, etc): 10% 
4. Participation in 5 draft workshops, over the course of the semester: 10%

5. Final exam (a response to selected classmates' revised works): 5% 

 

Draft Workshop Policies

     We will conduct five draft workshops throughout the semester.  Here's how those will work:  A week before each major essay is due, you will bring to class a rough draft, along with two extra copies.  (See "Calendar," above, for due dates.)  You and two classmates, working as a group of 3, will then read each other's drafts, write comments, and discuss. 

     At the end of the workshop, you will submit one copy of the rough draft to me.  I will comment on the draft, but I will not grade it.  I must receive a copy of the draft, nevertheless, in order to read and grade the subsequent revision.  (In other words, you can't spring an essay on me for a grade, until I've see a rough draft first.) 

     If you show up for a workshop, on time and prepared, with three legible copies of your own draft -- and if, during that workshop, you read, write about, and respond to your classmates' work, in an engaged fashion -- then you earn two participation points for that session. For the five draft workshops over the course of the semester you can thus earn up to 10 points, total.

 

Attendance, Due Dates 
Attendance:  The official Lit & Language department policy says that if you miss more than three classes, you fail the course. 

Due Dates:  In general, I do not accept late work. However, if there are extenuating circumstances, talk to me. I am willing to make reasonable accommodations.  If you must miss a class during which a major essay is due, then email me that essay ahead of time; also then bring a hard copy of the essay to the following class meeting.