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.