English 67

Reading and Writing

047155

Mt. San Antonio College

Spring, 2003

Syllabus

Class Times: Mondays- 7:00-10:00

Room: 26D-204

Instructor: R. Scott Okamoto

Phone: 626-862-5614-cell/voice mail

e-mail: professorokamoto@hotmail.com

web: www.okamotos.com/mtsac

Office Hours: I’m available after each class and can be available to meet during the week.

Course Description:

(Taken from catalog)

Using an integrated approach, develops effective writing based on reading; emphasizing the sentence, the outline, the summary, the paragraph and an introduction to the essay. Gives attention to grammar, punctuation and vocabulary. Develops critical thinking through reading comprehension in conjunction with related writing. Students who repeat this course will improve skills by further instruction and practice.

Text:

Foundations First: Sentences and Paragraphs with readings, Kirszner, Mandell.

Attendance Policy:

Because each class is equivalent to one week in a regular semester, if you miss a class, you miss an entire week. Consequently, you may only miss one class session before your grade suffers. Three tardies or early departures from class will count as one absence. Bottom line: Come to class and come on time.

You are responsible for all material covered in class, as well as any announcements made in class.

If you have an excused absence, please try to let me know ahead of time so make-up work can be arranged.

I DO NOT ALLOW INCOMPLETES. Do not expect to miss more than three classes and make up the work. You will be dropped if you miss more than three classes.

Grading:

Take-home essays will be worth 440 points total. (100 for each final draft and 10 for each 1^st draft)

Exams (Midterm and Final) will be worth 100 points each.

*ALL PAPERS MUST CONFORM TO THE GUIDELINES DISCUSSED IN CLASS, OR THEY WILL BE RETURNED UNGRADED TO BE RE-WRITTEN

*You must turn in all assignments, and you must pass the final exam to pass this class.

Writing will be graded on the following point scale: A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69, F=0-59

Make-up work:

Late papers will be marked down a grade for each week they are late. You will have a maximum of one week after the due date to complete a late assignment. ALL WORK MUST BE TURNED IN TO PASS THE CLASS. FAILURE TO TURN IN ANY ASSIGNMENT WILL RESULT IN A COURSE GRADE OF “F.”

Plagiarism:

I will follow school policy on plagiarism and cheating. Anyone caught will be dropped from the class. Just don’t do it. If in doubt, ask me.

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Schedule (subject to change at instructor’s discretion):

Expect at least one quiz each week. No make-ups on quizzes.

We will write 6 paragraphs, both in class and out, based on readings and class discussion. The final will be an essay which we will prepare during the last week of class.

January 13- Course overview

Writing and Grammar diagnostics

Introduce nouns- worksheets

Chapter 1 in Foundations First

January 20- NO CLASS- MLK Holiday

January 27- Collaborative Noun activity; Subjects and Verbs

Reading: “Trigger-Happy Birthday,” p. 426

Chapter 2- Writing the Paragraph

Draft a paragraph; topic sentences

Chapter 27- Becoming an active reader; Chapter 6- Writing Simple Sentences

February 3- Introduction to “Peer Review”

Reading: “How Boys Become Men,” p. 439

Structuring an “Exemplification” paragraph

Exercises on basis sentence patterns

Chapter 3- Fine-tuning your paragraph; Chapter 4- section A (Exemplification); Chapter 12- Sentence fragments

Writing due next week- Exemplification paragraph, draft 1

February 10- Peer review: exemplification paragraph

Exercises on identifying and correcting sentence fragments

In-class writing practice

Chapter 7- Writing compound sentences

Writing due Feb. 24: revised Exemplification paragraph

February 17- NO CLASS- President’s Day Holiday

February 24- Structuring a descriptive paragraph

Reading: “Friends,” p. 428

Outlining; Exercises on combining sentences

Chapter 4- section C (Narration); Chapter 8- Writing Complex sentences

March 3- Recognizing and creating complex sentences

Reading: “Black and Latina—Face It!” p. 450

Chapter 11- Run-ons and Comma Splices

Chapter 16- Verbs: Past Tense

Writing due next week: Descriptive paragraph, draft 1

March 10- Peer review: descriptive paragraph

Identifying and eliminating comma splices and run-ons

Chapter 17- Verbs: Past Participles

Chapter 1- Section F; Chapter 9- Fine-tuning your sentences

Writing due next week: Descriptive paragraph, revised

March 17- Midterm

March 24- Chapter 4- Section D (Comparison and Contrast)

Chapter 13-Subject-Verb

Midterm assessment and goal setting

Exercises on Sentence Combining

Reading: “Gender Gap in Cyberspace,” p. 470

March 31- Sentence combining continued

Exercises on verb tense and verb formation

Chapter 13-cont.; Chapter 22- Using commas

Writing due next week: Comparison and Contrast, draft 1

April 7- Peer review- Comparison and Contrast paragraphs

Structuring comparison and contrast paragraphs

Reading: “Can You Imagine?” p. 433

Exercises on pronoun use

Writing due April 21: Comparison and Contrast paragraphs, revised

April 14- NO CLASS- Spring Break Holiday

April 21- Argument paragraph

Exercises on comma use and misuse

Writing to different audiences

Chapter19-pronouns;

Reading: “Why We Need Animal Experimentation,” p. 456

Writing due next week: Argument paragraphs, draft 1

April 28- Peer review- Argument paragraphs

Structuring effective arguments

Proofreading exercises; In-class writing practice

Chapter 19-cont.;

Reading: “When Life Imitates Video,” p. 447

Writing due next week: Argument paragraphs, revised

May 5- Chapter 24- Understanding Mechanics

Chapter 15- Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers;

Chapter 19-cont.;

May 12- Chapter 10- Using Parallelism

Review for Final

FINAL EXAM- Monday, May 19, 7:30-10:00