English 0310

Course Policies and Syllabus

 

 

Fall 2008

 

Instructor:__________________________       Office phone #: _______________

 

Office:____________________                         Office Hours: ______________________________

 

E-mail: _____________________                      Department Website: http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson

 

Class Member: _______________________Phone #: ___________ E-mail: _________________

 

Class Member: _______________________Phone #: ___________ E-mail: _________________

 

 

TEXTS AND MATERIALS

Reading Across The Disciplines custom edition by Kathleen T. McWhorter

Newsweek (student will order online and pay by credit card)

Novel

Dictionary (recent copyright)

8 ½” X 11” (or 10 ½”) standard ruled notebook paper

Two 3 ½” diskettes (double sided, high density, IBM)

 

 

Additional Materials:

_______________________________________________________________________

 

            ________________________________________________________________________

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

ENGLISH 0310 will introduce students to effective reading habits for meaningful application to a variety of texts.  The reading habits for success in college level course work will be strongly stressed.  The course emphasizes the development of vocabulary, comprehension techniques, critical analysis, and written responses to various types of reading materials.

 

1. Working with a variety of texts, students will learn to apply effective reading strategies at all levels of the reading process.  Moreover, students will learn to recognize and apply appropriate reading techniques for reading across the disciplines as well as nonacademic reading.   

 

2.   Using the various stages of the writing process—prewriting, drafting, revising, revision,

and proofreading—students will compose paragraphs, summaries and essays to understand how to construct meaning in a text.

 

     3.   Students will respond to readings and practice expressive writing through journal entries.

 

 COURSE POLICIES

 

1.  Computers

      A.  All major papers written outside of class must be word-processed.

      B.  Students must get a UTEP e-mail account.

     

      2.  Attendance

A.      Satisfactory attendance is a course requirement.  For the purpose of this course, satisfactory and unsatisfactory are respectively defined:

      * The student must come to class prepared.  Assigned texts should be brought to  class and out-of-class assignments should already be prepared.  In class, students  are expected be alert, attentive, and focused on the subject at hand.  If a student’s  preparation is unsatisfactory, his/her attendance will be considered unsatisfactory. 

* The student must be present in the classroom throughout the entire class period.  Excessive tardiness or leaving the classroom early will be considered unsatisfactory attendance.                 

B.     In a MWF class, a student is allowed five absences, and in a TR or MW class, a student is allowed three absences.  When a student has accumulated six instances of unsatisfactory attendance in a MWF class or four in a TR or MW class, he/she will be dropped with a “W’ if the infractions occur prior to the official drop deadline (October 31).  However, if the unsatisfactory attendance instances happen after October 31, the student will fail the course.     

 

3.  Deadlines

A.      All assignments are due at the beginning of the class period.  All major papers and exams completed late will be penalized a letter grade for each class day the exam or assignment is late.  Instructors are not obliged to accept late daily work. 

B.     Students who are unable to attend class are responsible for acquiring class notes and completing make-up assignments prior to the next class meeting. 

           

            4.  Academic Integrity

A.      Plagiarism (stealing someone else’s ideas or writing) or any other type of academic

dishonesty will not be tolerated. 

B.   Cases of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Students.

 

5.  Please observe classroom etiquette

A.      Turn off cell phones. 

B.     Arrive to class on time in order to prevent class disruption.

C.     Do not talk when someone else is speaking.

 

6.  Grading

A.      The student’s final grade will be determined by his/her performance in the following areas:

            10%       One Summary Paragraph

            10%       One Reading Analysis Paragraph

            10%       Novel Assignment (Evaluation is at the discretion of the instructor)

20%       Reading Response Essay

            40%       Daily work (journal, exercises, quizzes)

            10%       Final Examination

 

1.  To earn a passing grade (“A,” “B,” or “C”) students must have completed all exams, paragraphs, and essays and achieved an average of 70% or better for the course.

 

2.  Students who have not met the course requirements or have not earned an average of 70% or better for the complete course will need to retake ENGL 0310.

 

 

IMPORTANT DATES

August 25                    First day of classes

September 1               Labor Day – UTEP Closed

September 10             Census Day-Classes dropped by this day are deleted from record

October 31                  Last day to drop a class with an automatic “W”

November 27-28         Thanksgiving Holiday – No Classes 

December 4                Last day of classes

December 5                Dead Day – NO CLASSES

December 8-12           FINAL EXAMS

 

 

DISABILITY STATEMENT

            If a student has or suspects a disability and needs an accommodation, he/she should contact the Disabled Student Services Office (DSSO) at 747-5148 or at dss@utep.edu or go to Room 106 Union East Building.  The student is responsible for presenting to the instructor any DSS accommodation letters and instructions.

 

 

DESCRIPTION OF MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS AND JOURNALS

 

1.  Summary

It is fundamental to your academic experience to be able to summarize information.  You may be asked to summarize a lab report, a movie, an article, or a chapter.  Summarizing consists of two important skills: (1) identifying the important material in the text and (2) restating the text in your own words.  Since writing a summary consists of omitting minor information, it will always be shorter than the original text. 

 

 

2.  Reading Analysis

Also important for academic success is the ability to identify and classify specific information from a text. In your reading analysis paragraphs, you will be asked to extract information from a text and paraphrase it in a well-developed paragraph.

 

 

3.  Reader Response

A reader response asks the reader to examine, explain, and defend her/his personal reaction to a reading.  You will be asked to explore why you like or dislike the reading, explain whether you agree or disagree with the author, identify the reading’s purpose, and critique the text.  There is no right or wrong answer to a reader response.  Nonetheless, it is important that you demonstrate an understanding of the reading and clearly explain and support your reactions.

 

 

4.  Journal Entries

Keeping a journal is helpful when clarifying your ideas and improving the fluency of your writing.  Though different teachers will have their own grading standards, in most cases, they do not revise spelling or grammar errors when evaluating journals.  Instead, a student’s journal entry will be evaluated on dedication and engagement.  Journal entries can consist of summaries, analyses, responses, reflections, syntheses, or refutations.

 

 

Calendar

Instructor reserves the right to modify calendar to meet the needs of the class

or learning community.

  

 

 

For educational purposes only.

                                                    

Owen M. Williamson - Education Bldg 211E - phone: (915) 747 7625 - fax: (915) 747 5655

The University of Texas at El Paso - 500 W. University Ave. - El Paso, TX 79968

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