Rhetoric & Composition II

Basic Objectives of all ENGL 1123 courses:

• Write thesis-based essays that provide strong support and specific details
• Engage in a writing process that includes invention, drafting, and revision
• Demonstrate proficient use of Standard Written English
• Find, evaluate, and synthesize credible sources in support of a research paper
• Document sources responsibly and follow a designated style guide  
• Additional information about course objectives can be found on the department webpage, http://libarts.mwsu.edu/english/.

Specific Objectives for ENGL 1123 with Dr Fields:

 Writing about Literature. For the first several weeks, students must write critically on assigned literary topics: a five-paragraph essay on poetry and a five-paragraph essay on fiction. Writing must follow MLA standards (both in-body and in the Works Cited). This module is designed to introduce students to supporting, demonstrating, and reinforcing a thesis with evidence and proper citation of sources—without as yet venturing onto the databases or into the book stacks.

 Student Research Project. The final 10 weeks are devoted to a three stage 15-paragraph research project (each stage of which is a five-paragraph essay in its own right) on a topic of the student’s own choosing (subject to instructor approval). Each stage will be evaluated for grade. The grade for the final combined document will reflect the degree to which the student has accommodated the corrections and concerns indicated by the instructor at each stage of the process. The research topic must relate to the student individually, whether in regard to the student’s personal experience (including family history), or the student’s prospective field of study, goals, or career. All writing must follow MLA standards (both in-body and in the Works Cited). Sources must be scholarly (e.g., peer-reviewed and recent research in professional journals) and come from the Moffett-supported databases or Moffett book stacks.

 Minimum English Department Requirements: Minimum of 2 In Class Essays (350-word min. each); Minimum of 3 Formal Revised Essays (750-word min. each); 1 Annotated Bibliography (incl. both print and web sources); 1 Final Research Paper (1500 words min.). Writing assignments should require students to produce approximately 5000 words of graded writing and count for at least 80% of the final grade.

In ENGLISH 1123 with Dr Fields, all documents begin as a bullet-point outline. Students then expand that outline into a full draft in class (over two class periods). The three stages of the research project are similarly drafted in class. Each stage of the research project is graded and returned with comments to students. Students must revise the three stages in a combined document. The revised research project is the most important grade of the semester. Accordingly, 100 percent of the course grade is student writing and all documents begin as in-class writing.

 Writing about Literature (see sample Hughes essay)

Students will write two five-paragraph literary essays based on key texts in A Short Guide to Writing about Literature. These essays are outlined and drafted in class to insure originality. Errors in grammar and punctuation will affect the grade.

• The first paragraph, or introduction, begins with the clearest possible explanation (3-5 sentences) of the student’s argument (and, for that reason, the first paragraph is best composed last). In the middle of the first paragraph, students should utilize a quote (of a sentence or two) from the assigned student essay in our book. The significance of the quote in the student’s own words should precede the quote. A parenthetical page number comes after the quotation mark but prior to the period. The first paragraph should end with one or two sentences that provide a context for the Block Quote that immediately follows (where we are in the action as of the Block Quote). The first paragraph ends on a colon (:).
• Each essay features a Block Quote (BQ), a long passage from the poem or story cited word for word in the essay. Instead of quotation marks, students set it off an extra 10 spaces on the left all the way down. For the essay on poetry, the BQ cannot be fewer than four lines. For the essay on fiction, the BQ cannot be fewer than five lines of student typing.
• The second paragraph mines the BQ for ideas. The second paragraph does NOT have any quotes, either from the Block Quote or from elsewhere in the poem or story.
• The third paragraph, regarding character (the motivation of a person in the story), utilizes four Short Quotes (SQs) that were not part of the BQ.
• The fourth paragraph, regarding irony (when the opposite of what we expect proves to be true), utilizes four more (never before used) SQs.
• SQ’s should NOT lead a sentence. They should come towards the end of a sentence, especially if the SQ is more than a few words.
• The fifth paragraph begins with the position, offers a concession, and then reinforces the position (refined position) with THREE sub-points: i.e., three supporting reasons in support of the position (derived from key points in pars. 2-3). NO quoting in this paragraph.
• The instructor must approve a BULLET POINT outline for paragraphs two, three, and four of a literary essay PRIOR to the student drafting an essay in class.

The Student Research Project (see sample essay). These essays are outlined and drafted in class to insure originality. Errors in grammar and punctuation will affect the grade.

Students choose their own individual topic (subject to instructor approval). Here are some of the topics students have chosen in recent semesters:

Accounting Education, Alcohol Abuse in College, Amputees & Prosthetic Limbs, Antidepressants, Attention Deficit Disorder, Baby Pacifiers, Bariatric Surgery, Bilingual Education, Birth Control, Breast Reconstruction after Mastectomy, Black Holes, Breast Feeding vs. Bottle, Charter Schools & Post-Katrina New Orleans, Coaching for Life, Commotio cordis, Concussions & Collegiate Athletics, Congenital Heart Disease, Domestic Violence, DNA Profiling, Dream Act, Eating Disorders & Depression, Emotional Eating, Educating Incarcerated Young People, Enforcing Title IX, Engineering Challenges in Rebuilding New Orleans, Epidural Anesthesia, Ethical Business Model & Profitability, Failure of NCLB, Families without Fathers, Female Body Image, Fertility, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Freshman 15, Genetic Causes of Obesity, Global Business Model, Global Food Shortage, Government Accreditation of Religious Colleges, Hague Adoption Convention, HIV Origin & Zoonosis, Homosexual Parents & Adoption, Hooking Up on Campus, Inclusive Classrooms, Internet Loneliness, Lorenzo’s Oil for ALD, Maternal Smoking & SIDS, Military Deployment & Effect on Children and Marriage, Music Therapy, Nanotechnology, New Oil drilling Techniques, Nursing and Stress, Obesity & Diabetes, Online Dating, Online Gambling, Organic Cattle Ranching, Palliative Care, Parkinson’s & L-Dopa, PATRIOT Act, Post-Traumatic Stress, Praise & Classroom Discipline, Pre-School Education in Developing Countries, Racism in Hiring of Coaches, Radio Frequency Identification for Inventory, Restructuring of Air Traffic Control, Schizophrenia and Heredity, School Bullies & Suicidal Ideation, Cosmetic Surgery, School Cafeterias & Obesity, Shaken Baby Syndrome, Spiritual Counseling in Nursing, Surrogate Mothers, Telemedicine in Developing Countries, United Nations Sanctions, Vaccines and Autism, Video Game Addiction, Video Games as a Virtual Classroom, and Wind Power.

Students must have at least FOUR sources (scholarly sources—peer-reviewed, recent research articles in professional journals—from a Moffett-supported database, Moffett electronic books, and/or scholarly titles from the Moffett book stacks).

• The POSITION source is the basis of the five paragraph POSITION essay—the first stage of the research project.
• The OPPOSITION source is the basis of the five paragraph OPPOSITION essay—the second stage of the research project.
• The REFINED POSITION source (which reinforces the POSITION essay) is the basis of the five paragraph REFINED POSITION essay—the third stage of the research project.
• The SUPPLEMENTAL source is not the basis of an essay. Instead, students will utilize a point of fact from the SUPPLEMENTAL source at the end of par. 3 or 4 of the REFINED POSITION essay.
• Each of these five paragraph essays—Position, Opposition, and Refined Position—has its own due date and grade value.
• The final due date of the semester is the COMBINED DOCUMENT. Based on the instructor’s evaluation of each 5-paragraph stage (Position, Opposition, and Refined Position) students will make corrections and then combine the revised essays (Position, Opposition, and Refined Position) in one computer file. The result is a polished COMBINED DOCUMENT which is also the FINAL due date of the semester. Errors in grammar and punctuation will affect the grade.

 Before students start drafting the three stages of the research project:

• This course requires that students develop an expertise in utilizing the Moffett-supported data bases. Training is provided during the sessions with Faculty Partners.
• Before students may start the in-class drafting of the position essay (the first stage of the research project), the instructor must approve and sign their ANNOTATED BIBIOGRAPHY.
• The Annotated Bibliography features the four required sources formatted like a standard MLA Works Cited, but with a difference. After each cited item, the student indicates the source’s argument, bias, and alternative views (one sentence for each).
• In each of the three principal sources (position, opposition, and refined position), students must highlight and identify three passages: the argument passage (the main idea of the source), the bias passage (the source’s core convictions, overview, history, or theoretical assumptions), and the alternative views passage (where the source acknowledges a specific opposition or a range of views other than its own, and/or the problems and limitations of its own study or model).
• In each of the three sources (Position, Opposition, Refined Position), students should clearly identify and highlight which passage will serve as argument, bias, or alt views. Each of the three passages must themselves be divided into three parts, each part clearly labeled “A,” “B,” and “C.” There can be no gaps between A, B, and C. The order must always be A, B, and C.
• The “B” of bias and alt views passages should be equal to about two to four lines of the student’s typing. The “B” of argument should be substantial (6-10 lines).

 Writing each Stage of the Research Project (each stage a five-paragraph essay):

• Each of the three essays (or stages) of the research project are FIVE paragraphs.
• A BULLET POINT outline offers a thought for each point (A, B, and C)—nine points altogether (pars. 2-4). Quotes may be pre-entered. Instructor must approve the outline before students start drafting.
• The introductory paragraph features the clearest possible expression of the source’s position along with key sub-points (some three to four sentences). Then students provide full attribution, title of the article, and name of the journal, along with a brief summary of the article. The introductory paragraph also provides a meaningful context for the Block Quote which follows. This context anticipates a key idea in the Block Quote and ends on a colon (:).
• The Block Quote comes after the introductory paragraph and prior to the second paragraph. The Block Quote is the B of the argument passage in a given source.
• The second paragraph which follows the Block Quote addresses the A, B, and C of the argument passage of a given source.
• There is NO internal quoting in paragraph two.
• Students may freely use technical terms in their own discussion of an A, B, or C if those terms are repeated throughout the sources on a given topic: e.g., online gaming, fetal alcohol syndrome, commotion cordis, inclusive classrooms, etc. These terms do NOT require quotation marks or parenthetical numbers. They are NOT considered plagiarism or too close to source. If students want to highlight a term, they may use italics.
• AVOID repeating lists as you find them in a given A, B, or C, even if the terms in the lists are common throughout the sources.
• The third paragraph explains the bias passage of the same source: i.e., making three points, the A, B, and C of the passage in that order, at least three sentences for each point followed by the source’s page number in parentheses.
• The fourth paragraph explains the alt views passage of the same source (again, the A, B, and C).
• For a given point (A, B, or C), students should express the implication and insight in their own words (at least three sentences for A, three sentence for B, and three sentences for C).
• The B of bias and alt views requires a discussion of at least three sentences in the student’s own words. This B-discussion is then immediately followed by the entirety of B as a quote which in turn is immediately followed by a parenthetical page. Only the B is a quote as well as a student discussion prior to the quote.
• The final sentence prior to the quotation should end on a colon (:)--not a parenthetical page.
• The parenthetical page for B in bias and alt views follows the quotation comes before the period (but after the closed quotation mark).
• NOTE: It is IMPERATIVE that students provide a page number (or paragraph number) in parentheses at the end of the last sentence of a given A, B, or C point which they express in their own words.
• MSU Legal Stipulation: By enrolling in this class, the student expressly grants MSU a “limited right” in all intellectual property created by the student for the purpose of this course.  The “limited right” shall include but shall not be limited to the right to reproduce the student’s work product in order to verify originality and authenticity, and for educational purposes. Note: You may not submit a paper for a grade in this class that already has been (or will be) submitted for a grade in another course, unless you obtain the explicit written permission of me and the other instructor involved in advance

Grading and Evaluation 

• There are six due dates and six grades.
• Grammar and punctuation errors will affect a given grade.
• The Hughes essay is worth 10 percent; the Chopin essay, 20 percent.
• The three stages of the research project (Position, Opposition, and Refutation) are each worth 10 percent. The final Research Project (combined document) is worth 40 percent.
• All documents are drafted in class.
• Before each in-class drafting of an assignment, the instructor must approve the bullet-point outline.
• The instructor must approve (and sign) the Annotated Bibliography before students begin the first stage of the research project.
• The instructor must approve (and sign) the Works Cited before the due date of the combined document.
• Students are required to send the stages of their Research Project and combined document to Dr. Fields by e-mail attachment for archival purposes. Dr. Fields may ask students also to send attachments of their literary essays, bullet point outlines, and annotated bibliographies as well.
• In lieu of a final exam, students will come to the instructor’s office on the day of the final exam, any time between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, and receive their folder with the grade for their research project and the course as a whole.

Proper Format and Submission of all Work

• All writing must be typed (12 point Times New Roman), double-spaced, with a header for the student’s last name (in the default .5 setting in upper right corner), page numbers inserted (upper right, .5 setting), and MLA format for citing, including the Works Cited. However, while the top, right, and bottom margins should be set at one inch, the left margin should be an inch and a quarter to accommodate the folder.On the first page of an essay, the student name, instructor name, course, and date should be in the upper left, double-spaced.
• Students must submit, and retain, all their typed hole-punched assignments in the clasps (i.e., “brads”) of a folder (which has both brads and pockets) in the order that they were assigned. The photocopy or printout of the relevant sources must be in the left pocket. Each source should be clearly bracketed or highlighted for argument, bias, and alt views. In each source, each of these three passages is clearly divided into three sections which are marked as A, B, or C. The most recent assignment that needs to be graded is always the last item (hole-punched and fixed in the brads).
• Students must submit their work in person (from their hands into the instructor’s hands). Submission for a due-date is never by e-mail attachment or under the office door, or left on a desk, or by surrogate (classmate or relative). Late work also must be submitted in person.
• Work submitted apart from the guidelines of this syllabus will not be evaluated and must be resubmitted and penalized for lateness.

An assignment is late if submitted after the class period it is due. If late by one period, the assignment will be penalized 10 points. If late by two class periods, the essay is penalized 20 points (the penalty is capped at 20 points). No late work may be submitted after the last official class period, Thursday, May 5^th.  A class period is officially over when the instructor dismisses it. All late work must be submitted IN PERSON.

If students are too ill to submit their work personally, they should submit it when they return to class. They may avoid penalty for late submission by obtaining documentation from a relevant professional in a timely fashion (e.g., a doctor or the Dean of Students’ office). Absence for the sake of others requires similar documentation.

Attendance Policy: Roll is taken right away as soon as class begins. The instructor is not obliged to count people present who arrive late. A student with three unexcused absences receives a warning from the instructor. As of the fourth unexcused absence, the instructor reserves the right to notify the Dean of Students and to initiate removal of the student from the course.

Workshop Decorum (ENGL 1123 is a WORKSHOP, not a lecture--but courtesy is paramount):

• In the Bolin 103 lab there should be no eating or drinking.
• Students should not spend time on computer sites the instructor has not authorized.
• Except for emergencies, students shouldn’t text or talk on their “cells” during class.
• Students may consult with each other during class as long as they don’t hinder the progress of those around them.
• Students may go to the restroom as the need arises except when the instructor is explaining a detailed point to the whole class.
• In this course students must allow other class members to see their works-in-progress, including on the big screen. Most importantly, students should know that we write in class. Students are well-advised to have their own memory device applicable to the lab computer. Students MUST demonstrate progress in the lab on the computer.
• Students must have the instructor’s permission to leave class early.
• If students know they are going to be absent, they MUST e-mail the instructor or leave a message at 940-397-4246.
• If students have been absent, they MUST e-mail the instructor or leave a message at 940-397-4246 or otherwise explain the absence to the instructor.
• The above messages, however, do NOT constitute an excused absence. But if reasonable or otherwise plausible, these messages may influence the instructor to assume the student is still in the class.
• An excused absence is when students follow up on their e-mail or voice-mail message to the instructor by showing him documentation from a doctor or clinic or court. The instructor will also count any message from the Dean of Students on the student’s behalf. Students are well-advised to contact the Dean of Students with relevant information about an absence

Plagiarism and use of sources:

ENGLISH DEPARTMEMT POLICY: Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s thoughts, words, ideas, or lines of argument in your own work without appropriate documentation (a parenthetical citation at the end and a listing in "Works Cited")—whether you use that material in a quotation, paraphrase, or summary. It is a theft of intellectual property and will not be tolerated, whether intentional or not.

 Language too close to the student’s own documented sources: In our course, restating language word for word (or close to word for word) from the student’s own documented sources without using quotation marks or setting it off as a Block Quote puts an essay at risk of penalty in regard to the grade, even if the student provides a parenthetical page at the end of a sentence and includes the source in the Works Cited.

The three stages of the research project are opportunities for the instructor to have teachable moments with students regarding language which is TOO CLOSE to their own documented source (e.g., any four words in a row verbatim from the documented source must be revised; use of the same key nouns, verbs, adjectives, and phrases must be revised). Students must revise such lapses in the three stages of the research project—fully, dynamically, creatively, and insightfully—by the due date for the combined document. Students who persist even at this final stage in using language too close to their own documented sources risk penalty to the project’s grade and the grade for the course.

 Non-Documented Sources: Students who use information and/or phrasing from sources that are not documented in the Works Cited bibliography are guilty of plagiarism and will receive a failing grade of 0 (no points) for the assignment even if the rest of the essay is original and the other sources are properly documented. Use of undocumented sources is an infraction of the university’s policy on academic dishonesty and may be reported to the university.

Disabilities Act: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Disability Support Services in Room 168 of the Clark Student Center, 397-4140.

Safe Zone: The professor considers this classroom to be a place where you will be treated with respect as a human being – regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, political beliefs, age, or ability. Additionally, diversity of thought is appreciated and encouraged, provided you can agree to disagree. It is the professor’s expectation that ALL students consider the classroom a safe environment.

Writing Tutors: I encourage you to begin drafting papers as early as possible and to take advantage of the MSU Writing Labs located in 224 Bea Wood and RC246 Moffett Library.  Writing tutors will not edit your papers for you, but they will provide you with specific suggestions for improving your writing. 

Writing Proficiency Exam after 60 earned credits: All students seeking a Bachelor’s degree from Midwestern State University must satisfy a writing proficiency requirement once they have 1) passed English 1113 and English 1123 and 2) earned 60 hours.  You may meet this requirement by passing either the Writing Proficiency Exam or English 2113.  Please keep in mind that, once you have earned over 90 hours, you lose the opportunity to take the $25 exam and have no option but to enroll in the three-credit-hour course.  If you have any questions about the exam, visit the Writing Proficiency Office website at http://academics.mwsu.edu/wpr, or call 397-4131.