EN200 Syllabus

Studies the basics of grammar, punctuation, and the composition of paragraphs of description, explanation, narration, causation and process. Develops methods for free writing and brainstorming, for maintaining paragraph unity and coherence, and for critically reviewing, editing and polishing course work. Pass/No Pass grading available upon request.

Upon completion of this course, what you should know and be able to do includes:

q Controlling and managing the time you spend writing by using the writing process effectively.

q Understanding how, when, where, and why to use the different patterns of organization effectively, including narration, process analysis, definition/classification, causal analysis, comparison/contrast, and persuasion.

q Strategically applying the right tone to the right situation or task in writing and beginning to develop a writing style.

q Providing positive and constructive feedback of peers' writing style and composition.

q Finding useful writing resources and tools on the Internet and World Wide Web.

q Reviewing and practicing composition, grammar, punctuation from Internet sites.

q Working with contemporary communications packages such as electronic mail (e- mail).

The EN200 course is composed of eight modules, one for each week of the eight-week course. The weekly assignments for EN200 have the following components:

Readings: Posted online text to help you, Internet sites, and your facilitator’s and peers’ posts on the Discussion Board we will call the Writer's Workshop.

Videos: The videos you’ll find at http://www.learner.org/vod/login.html will bring you into the “writing world.” The videos are about a half-hour long.

q Hult, Christine A., Huckin, Thomas N, (2005)The New Century Handbook (3rd) Allyn & Bacon/Longman ISBN: 0-321-31808-0

Your facilitator will notify you if the performance percentages change for particular assignments.

The total points awarded will be a percentage of the total points for a given exercise so if an assignment is worth 80 points, the score will be x% of 80 points, depending upon how you performed in each of the areas listed above. The total points a student can get in the course are 2000.

Grades for the course will be based on your total accumulated points, and grades will be scaled as follows:

Writing Criteria	A(90-100%)	B(80-89%)	C(70-79%	D (65-69)%	F(64% or less)
Purpose = 15% The writer’s goal(s) is/are	explicit and unequivocal	implicit and unequivocal	implicit but ambiguous	absent and/or ambiguous	absent or logically contradictory.
Audience Awareness = 10% Action required by the reader and/or the needs of the audience expectations and content are	fully realized and met.	met 80% or more.	are met at least 70% or more	are met only 65% or more.	met less than 65%.
Main Point/Thesis = 10% Thesis is	explicit and unambiguous	implicit and unambiguous	ambiguous and or non-specific	non-specific, ambiguous, and logically fallacious	absent.
Organization/ Format = 30% Pattern of organization is paragraphing is	logically appropriate to the document’s purpose and thesis; formatted correctly and fully developed; paper fully follows the chosen document style (APA, MLA, or other)	largely logically appropriate to the document’s purpose and thesis; formatted correctly and developed at least 80% or more; paper follows the chosen document format at least 80% or more.	mixed and only partially logically appropriate to the document’s purpose and thesis; formatted correctly and developed at least 70% or more; paper follows the chosen document format at least 70% or more	logically inappropriate to the document’s purpose and thesis; formatted correctly and developed at least 65% or more; paper follows the chosen document format at least 65% or more.	Pattern of organization is logically inappropriate to the document’s purpose and thesis; formatted correctly and developed less than 65%. Paper follows the chosen document format less than 65%
Content = 10% Content is	relevant and fully developed to serve the audience’s needs, the paper’s purpose and the writer’s thesis.	relevant and adequately developed to serve the audience’s needs, the paper’s purpose and the writer’s thesis 80% or more.	relevant and adequately developed to serve the audience’s needs, the paper’s purpose and the writer’s thesis at least 70% or more	relevant and adequately developed to serve the audience’s needs, the paper’s purpose and the writer’s thesis at least 65%	relevant and adequately developed to serve the audience’s needs, the paper’s purpose and the writer’s thesis less than 65%.
Sentence Structure and Sentence Style = 10%	No sentence structure, style, or usage errors	No more than 5 sentence structure, style, or usage errors	No more than 7 sentence structure, style, or usage errors	No more than 9 sentence structure, style, or usage errors	10 or more sentence structure , style, or usage errors
Punctuation = 10%	Document is free of punctuation errors	No more than 5 punctuation errors	No more than 7 punctuation errors	No more than 9 punctuation errors	10 or more punctuation errors.
Spelling/ Proofreading = 5%	Document is free of Spelling errors and typos	No more than 1 spelling or proofreading errors	No more than 2 spelling or proofreading errors	No more than 4 spelling or proofreading errors	5 or more spelling and proofreading errors.

This course is organized around an eight-week program. Weekly outcomes, assignments, and critical information are organized week-by-week. Typically, each week includes

Online, weeks correlate to the seven-day work week. Week One begins on the first day of the term, which is always a Monday. The first thing you need to do is read the Facilitator Notes for the First Week. Make sure that you have a PowerPoint viewer as well as an audio player such as Windows Media Player. Then go to http://www.learner.org and sign yourself in because that’s where you will find the assigned videos for each week. Go to: ________ and take the diagnostic text.

On Sunday of each week, read your weekly critical information found in the Week-by-Week section.

You’ll need to watch the video assigned for that week, and listen to the lecture. Watch the PowerPoint presentation if there is one assigned for that week. Then click on and read the posted text. Plan to come into the course at least four times per week.

By no later than Wednesday of each week, post your Writer's Workshop piece for peer review, and participate in the Forum discussions. Read other student postings, and reply, when appropriate, to their postings Thursday - Sunday.

Week1

Read/Listen/Watch:

1. Syllabus

2. Week by Week content: Week One

3. Your facilitator’s notes

4. Listen to lecture [click here]

5. Watch video at www.learner.org: # 3 “Description”

4. Read about your Description assignment that will be due next week [click here]

Exercises:

1. Take the diagnostic test: http://

2. Click on and Practice the Art of Beginning to Write which takes you through pre-writing stages.

3. Click on Link and refamiliarize yourself with the Parts of Speech

4. Click on the bonus websites and discover how much help is out there.

Write:

Write your Description essay. Click here for instructions.

Forum Participation :

1. Post your Introduction on the Forum. Include the following information:

q Your name and email address

q The city where you live

q Your occupation or professional interests and aspirations

q Why you are taking the course

q Anything else interesting about you you’d like to share

2. Say hello to at least two other students.

3. Talk about how you get past Writers’ Block.

4. Talk about the results of your diagnostic test. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

5. Answer two of the following questions about the video:

a) Why is it important to learn to write descriptively?

b) What are some careers that demand descriptive writing?

c) Why is descriptive writing concrete?

d) Why should descriptive writing be specific?

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Week 2

Read/Listen/Watch:

1. Week by Week content: Week Two

2. Listen to lecture and read materials on Plagiarism

3. Listen to lecture and read materials on Critique guidelines

4. Listen to lecture and read Thesis guidelines

5. Read other students’ Description essays.

6. Go to www.learner.org and Watch video # 14 “Peer Review”

Exercises:

1 .Write thesis statements about:

a) Student ethics

b) Online courses versus On-the-Ground courses

c) Best or Worst Pet

2. Do fragment exercise.

Forum:

1. Post your Description essay by Wednesday.

2. Post your thesis statements by Thursday.

3. Answer two of the following questions about the video #14:

a) What are the first and second worst comments you can make?

b) What is “skeletal feedback”?

c) How can an “outsider” help to make a paper more understandable?

d) How might it be different or better to read other students’ papers online rather than to listen to them in the classroom?

4. Read other students’ Description essay, and offer critique on three of them.

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Week 3

Read/Listen/Watch:

1. Week by Week content: Week Three

2. Listen to lecture and read text about Audience.

3. Read the comma splice/run-on material.

4. Select and read one of the essays by a famous person.

5. Listen to Cause/Effect lecture and read materials on cause/effect.

5. Go to www.learner.org and watch #14 “Editing Sentences”

Exercises:

1. Do the sentence exercise.

Write::

Brainstorm and create the draft of your causal essay.

Forum Participation:

1. Answer two of the following questions about the video #22:

a) What’s parallelism in writing?

b) What’s a misplaced or dangling modifier?

c) What are some ways to deal with run-on or fused sentences or comma splices?

d) Why might you use a semicolon?

2. Answer the following questions about the famous essay you read:

a) What is the thesis?

b) What audience was this essay written for?

3. Discuss audience. What kind of audience are you? Are you a combination of two or more of the examples?

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Week 4

Read/Listen/Watch:

1. Week by Week content: Week Four

2. Listen to lecture and read about common fallacies

3. Read other students’ causal essay drafts.

4. Read “Pet Peeves in Punctuation and Grammar”

5. Go to www.learner.org and watch #24 “Editing: Word Usage”

Exercises:

1. Do pronoun exercise.

Forum Participation :

1. Post your causal essay by Wednesday.

2. Offer critique on three of the student causal essays.

3. Select and answer two of the following questions about the video #24:

a) Why are first impressions important in writing?

b) What’s an example of subject/verb disagreement?

c) Regarding “antecedent,” how do you make sure pronouns match the noun they’re referring to?

d) What does “change of voice” refer to in this film?

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Week 5

Read/Listen/Watch:

1. Week by Week content: Week Five

2. Listen to lecture and read material about Definition/Classification

3. Listen to lecture and read material about Compare-Contrast

3. Read Introduction and Conclusion postings

4. Go to www.learner.org and watch #26 “Editing: Mechanics”

Exercises:

1. Write a classification paragraph.

4. Write a definition paragraph.

5. Write compare/contrast paragraph.

4. Rewrite Paragraph by famous person (Your facilitator may assign you partner or partners for this assigment.)

5. Post your revised causal essay.

Forum/Participation:

1. Post classification paragraph.

2. Post definition paragraph.

3. Post compare/contrast paragraph.

4. Post the rewritten paragraph by famous writer.

5. Post three thesis statements for subjects you are considering for the Persuasive essay.

6. Answer two of the following questions about the video #26 “Editing Mechanics”:

a) What’s the (funny) relationship between being a heavy and frequent breather and commas?

b) With introductory phrases or clauses, when should you use commas?

c) How do commas help to create meaning in the sentence?

d) What are some examples of when to use apostrophes?

Peer Review:

Offer peer review to three students’ essays.

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Week 6

Read/Listen/Watch:

1. Week by Week content: Week Six

2. Listen to lecture and read “Strategies for Persuasion”

3. Go to www.learner.org and watch #23 “Critical Thinking”

Exercises/Assignments:

1. Watch video

2. Listen to lectures.________

3. Do (grammar) exercise.

4. Unscramble Exercise

Write:

Persuasive draft.

Forum:

1. Answer two questions re video #23 “Critical Thinking”:

a) What is a definition of critical thinking?

b) How do we challenge philosophical ideas?

c) Why might an opinion change when we use critical thinking?

d) How can you identify propaganda?

2. Discuss fallacies

(a) What is the story of a fallacy or fallacies you’ve encountered?

(b)

3. Post your persuasive draft.

Peer Review:

Provide peer review to three other students’ essays.

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Week 7

Read/Listen/Watch:

1. Week by Week content: Week Seven

2. Read Famous Essay.

3. Listen to lecture and read materials about Evidence_____

4. Go to www.learner.org and watch #18 “Reading as a Thinker”

Exercises

1. Do sentence exercise

Forum:

1. Post Persuasive draft.

2. Answer questions about famous essay.

a) What is thesis?

b) Who is author’s audience?

c) What support does author use to support the thesis?

3. Answer two questions about the video #18 “Reading as a Thinker.”

a) How might the love of reading be killed?

b) What are some reasons a professor may assign readings?

c) What are some approaches you might take with a reading you don’t understand?

d) Why is reading not really a solitary activity?

Peer Review

2. Utilizing Audience Questions and Critique Outline, while also referring to the Writing Rubric, critique three others’ Persuasive drafts. Discuss the relative success of the purpose, audience awareness, organization, and content of peer drafts. What additions or deletions might need to be done

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Week 8

Read/Listen/Watch:

1. Week by Week content: Week Eight

2. Listen to lecture on _____

3. Go to www.learner.org and watch video #8 “Revision.”

Exercises:

1. Retake the Diagnostic Test. Submit it to your facilitator.

Due Friday

1. Proofread and complete your essay draft and submit it to your facilitator.

Forum Participation:

1. Answer two questions about the video #8 “Revision”:

a) What is one of the major problems college students experience regarding their thinking?

b) What has your revision process included that relates to this film?

c) How might recursive writing mate with the drafting?

d) Why is flexibility important?

Complete online evaluation located at the bottom of the content in the Week by Week.

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