SYLLABUS: ENG 101/ENA 101 (FALL II/SPRING II)
Prof. Rockwood
ENG 101-8406 & ENA 101-8390 (IN PERSON)
Meeting Days: ENG/ENA meets Mondays & Wednesdays 5:45 – 10:15pm. ENA also meets Tuesdays & Thursdays 5:45 – 9:05 pm. All classes meet in E-113.
Contact: mattrockwood@hotmail.com; mrockwood@lagcc.cuny.edu; Navigate. (212) 749-1253
**PLEASE DO NOT USE THE BLACKBOARD EMAIL SYSTEM.
My website: www.rockwoodenglish.com (I will post some of the materials for the course on this website as well as links to resources to help with your research paper)
Office Hours: TBA & by appointment.
Texts (REQUIRED): (NOTE: PLEASE RENT OR BUY USED AS THESE ARE EXPENSIVE NEW)
*Please bring both text to class daily.
Across Cultures, A Reader for Writers (8th edition) Sheena Gillespie & Robert Becker
Rules for Writers (10th edition) Dianna Hacker & Nancy Sommers
Course description:
ENG/ENA is a writing workshop designed to help students become critical readers and proficient writers. We will study the process of writing – from brainstorming to final draft – with a focus on persuasive essay writing. We will also study essay and paragraph structure and review some common grammatical mistakes.
Critical thinking and analysis are a major focus of the course. Students will identify a text’s major assumptions and assertions and evaluate its supporting evidence. Students will also become familiar with the concepts of audience, voice, context, and purpose.
Much of our class time will be spent critically analyzing a variety of texts. Students will complete many informal “low stakes” writing assignments in response to these texts.
Additionally, students will write several formal essays over the course of the semester including a midterm and a final topic. Please note that formal essays must follow MLA style and integrate primary and/or secondary sources.
Grading Policies:
I will consider the following when determining your final grade:
Essay #1 (Your education story – connected to “From Dropout to Graduate” and/or “One Voice” 20%)
Essay #2 (Staged research supported persuasive essay 20%)
Journal Writings (Short low-stakes writings based on quotations and the readings 20%)
Quizzes (Mostly grammar review based on the weekly readings from Rules for Writers 10%)
Midterm Topic (In-class essay based on a reading from our text 15%)
Final Topic (In-class essay based on a reading from our text 15%)
*PLEASE NOTE: It is the policy of the English Department that to pass this course, students must submit a passing draft of all writing assignments. Students who receive a grade lower than a “B” on an assigned paper may revise the paper for a better grade (up to a “B”). Students who receive a failing grade on an assigned paper or exam MUST revise their work so that it receives a passing grade, or they may fail the course. I highly recommend students make use of LaGuardia’s Writing Center for help with their assignments.
Rules:
Attendance
In all English department courses, students can be absent without penalty for no more than two weeks’ worth of class time during session I, and one week’s worth of class time during session II. Absences begin to be counted on the first day of class, regardless of when you registered.
This means you can miss:
6 hours in a 3-hour per week course
8 hours in a 4-hour per week course
For ENA 101, which meets for 7 hours a week, students are limited to:
8 hours of absence in the ENG 101 course and 6 hours of absence in the ENA 101 course.
Students missing less than two weeks’ worth of class time will not be penalized for those absences. However, student engagement, which is part of the overall course grade, relies on in-class activities such as low-stakes writing assignments, peer review, and in-class high stakes essays. Some of these cannot be made up outside of class and may affect the engagement grade.
Students who exceed the two-week limit may receive a lower course grade. After four weeks of absence, students can no longer pass the course.
This policy applies equally across in-person, online-synchronous, hybrid and online-asynchronous courses. For hybrid courses, which meet once a week in-person and have a weekly asynchronous activity, missing the weekly asynchronous activity counts as an absence. For online-asynchronous courses, your instructor's syllabus will explain how attendance will be counted.
Plagiarism/Use of A.I.
Link to official statement: Academic Integrity | LaGuardia CC Catalog
A student will fail this course and be reported to the English Department if they engage in plagiarism. A student plagiarizes when they use the words of another without proper citation. Sometimes students inadvertently plagiarize by cutting and pasting sources found on the internet into their papers – so please be careful not to do this.
A student can also commit plagiarism even if they do not use the exact words of another. The original ideas of another author must also be properly cited, even if the student puts these ideas into their own words.
Students are not permitted to use A.I. to write their assignments for them. Students MAY (and probably should) use A.I. as a tool to help them generate ideas and suggest outlines for papers. A.I. can also provide feedback by analyzing drafts of papers for content, grammar, and style.
If you engage in plagiarism, I will almost certainly find out – so please don’t. I have also become very good at recognizing A.I. generated writing, and A.I. is not capable of incorporating secondary sources into its writing (yet), which is a requirement for all your major assignments.
The only way to become a better writer is to practice. If you put an effort into this class, you will improve as a writer and have the best chance of passing the course with a good grade.
Papers
Please follow MLA style for all written work. PLEASE SUBMIT ALL WORK IN BLACKBOARD (NO EMAILED PAPERS). Please use PDF format or cut & paste into the provided editor. I cannot read Pages files and Google Docs often requires permissions – so please convert these into PDF files and submit them. I can read Word files and, if they do not require permissions, these are also acceptable.
Please use a word processor for all formal work and take advantage of the grammar and spell-check features available, but keep in mind that they don’t find everything (particularly with grammar).
Please double-space papers so I can more easily read and correct them.
I will accept late papers without penalty if you ask for a reasonable extension and don’t take advantage of this policy. I understand that many students here are not full-time and that many of you have busy lives outside of class. I want to see your best work and not the hastily written first draft you handed in to meet an arbitrary deadline. Taking the time to revise your work is also one of the best ways to become a better writer.
Links to Office of Accessibility & The Writing Center:
Office Of Accessibility At LaGuardia Community College
Writing Center
MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS:
Many students find balancing their academic, personal and professional lives quite challenging, and in some instances, overwhelming. If you or a peer experience this, mental health and wellness services are here to help. Email WellnessCenter@lagcc.cuny.edu or use the English [forms.office.com] or Spanish [forms.office.com] in-take form, and you will be contacted by a Counselor (you can also call 718-482-5471 or visit C-249). Peer-to-peer support is also available via the Women’s Center (MB-08, 718-482-5188 or womencenter@lagcc.cuny.edu), or our Multicultural Exchange Programs.
Declaration of Pluralism (link): declaration_of_pluralism.pdf
Pathways Common Core Student Learning Objectives (SLOs):
Per the recommendations of the Pathways Six Year Review Report, the following SLOs must be included on all syllabi of courses in the respective Pathways Common Core area, regardless of instructor.
REQUIRED CORE:
English Composition
* Read and listen critically and analytically, including identifying an argument's major assumptions and assertions and evaluating its supporting evidence.
* Write clearly and coherently in varied, academic formats (such as formal essays, research papers, and reports) using standard English and appropriate technology to critique and improve one's own and others' texts.
* Demonstrate research skills using appropriate technology, including gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing primary and secondary sources.
* Support a thesis with well-reasoned arguments, and communicate persuasively across a variety of contexts, purposes, audiences, and media.
* Formulate original ideas and relate them to the ideas of others by employing the conventions of ethical attribution and citation.
SCHEDULE
The following schedule should serve as a general guide. I reserve the right to change this schedule and to add or delete assignments to cater to the specific needs of the class. PLEASE NOTE: CHANGES TO THIS SCHEDULE ARE LIKELY! HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE POSTED ON THE BOARD AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH CLASS. A SPECIAL LIBRARY CLASS WILL ALSO BE SCHEDULED AND I WILL ANNOUNCE THE DATE AS SOON AT IT IS MADE AVAILABLE.
NOTE: Additionally, there will be a special library class scheduled at some point during the term.
Note to ENA students: I will provide materials for our meetings which will be designed to reinforce what we have done during the previous week. We can, however, also spend this time working on assignments and/or going over areas you feel you need more work on.
Week 1 (Jan 6 – 9)
Monday
Introductions/Syllabus; diagnostic essay & possibly some other group work. HOMEWORK: Read Chapter 1: “The Writing Process” pages 1-48 in Rules for Writers (you can just skim this, and you don’t have to hand in anything, but please review this important material. Pay special attention to the sample essay at the end of the chapter). Also read: run-on sentences (173-179) in Rules for Writers.
CHAT GPT/A.I. (DOs & DON'Ts) Basic Essay Writing/Common Grammar Mistakes (ENG 101 IN A NUTSHELL).
Wednesday
STAGED PERSUASIVE ESSAY ASSIGNED (TOPICS DUE WEEK 3; FIRST DRAFT DUE WEEK 5 & FINAL DRAFT DUE WEEK 7)
Active vs. Passive Reading; READ: “From Dropout to Graduate” & group work
Run-on sentences; READ: “One Voice”/; group work & PAPER #1 Assigned
Homework: Read: Evaluating Sources (364-374); Reading & Writing Arguments (80 – 106)
ENA Meets Tuesday & Thursday
**ATTENDANCE VARIFICATION DUE BY SATURDAY**
Week 2 (Jan 13-16)
Monday
Research Paper Basics; “From Captors to Custodians: How Zoos Protect Animals, People, and the Planet” (Rules for Writers 98-105); Good vs Questionable Sources & Fake News
Reading & Writing Arguments: Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle & logical fallicies; “Is That Video Game Programming You?”
Homework: Read: Double Negatives (209-210); Capital letters (315-318)
Wednesday
READ: “Why We Crave Horror Movies”/ Double Negatives (209-210)
“The Man I Killed”/ Capital letters (315-318)
HOMEWORK: Topics & sources due next week; Quotations (291- 297)
PAPER 1 DUE.
ENA meets Tuesday & Thursday
Week 3 (Jan 20-24)
NO CLASS MONDAY 1/20
Wednesday
READ: “People Like Us”; Quotations (291-297); Grammar Review (GRAMMAR QUIZ #1 NEXT CLASS – COVERS ALL ASSIGNMENTS IN RULES FOR WRITERS TO DATE)
READ: “The Lesson” (Link Provided in Blackboard)
Homework: READ: Sentence Fragments (166-173); READ: Rules for Writers (Building Effective Paragraphs 20-34)
PAPER #2: TOPICS & SOURCES DUE (2 quality sources minimum from the library)
ENA meets Tuesday & Thursday
WEEK 4 (1/27-1/30)
MONDAY
GRAMMAR QUIZ #1
READ “The Joy of Reading & Writing: Superman & Me”; Sentence Fragments (166-173)
Review for Midterm Topic: Time management & test-taking strategies (Arnie’s Test Day).
WEDNEDSDY 1/29 – COLLEGE CLOSED
THURSDAY 1/30 IS A WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE (ENG & ENA MEET)
MIDTERM TOPIC (IN-CLASS ESSAY OPEN BOOK – FULL PERIOD)
Homework: Choose Appropriate Language (147 – 153); Eliminating distracting shifts (127-132)
ENA meets Tuesday – **everyone meets Thursday
WEEK 5 (Feb 3-6)
Monday
READ "Too Much Technology"; Choose Appropriate Language (147 – 153)
READ: “A Letter to a Child Like Me”/ Eliminating distracting shifts (127-132).
Homework: Tighten wordy sentences - writing concisely (143-146); The apostrophe (287-291)
Wednesday
READ" Why We Work"/Tighten wordy sentences - writing concisely (143-146)
READ "Stone Throwing in India an Annual Bash"/ The apostrophe (287-291)
ENA meets Tuesday & Thursday
FIRST DRAFT OF PAPER#2 DUE
Week 6 (Feb 10 – 13)
Monday
READ: "The Lottery" (SYMBOLISM EXERCISE).
LIBRARY CLASS TIME SLOT (LIBRARY CLASS SCHEDULE TBA)
WEDNESDAY 2/12: COLLEGE CLOSED
ENA meets Tuesday & Thursday
Week 7 (Feb 17 – 20)
MONDAY 3/17: COLLEGE CLOSED
TUESDAY 3/18 MONDAY SCHEDULE (EVERYONE MEETS)
Grammar quiz #2 (covers everything from quiz #1); Introduction to poetry (I will bring materials)
WEDNESDAY 3/19
Final Topic (in-class essay – full period & last ENG class)
ENA meets Thursday 3/20 for our last class
ALL WORK DUE BY 5 PM THE LAST DAY OF FINALS WEEK (2/27)
We do NOT meet during finals week.
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