Interboro Institute

Course Number: En 101

Course Name: English Composition I

Prerequisites and Entrance Competencies

• EN098, Developmental English Writing; composition of a three-paragraph essay with a score of 4, 5, or 6.

• EN099, Developmental English Reading; completion of the Nelson-Denny standardized reading comprehension test with a score of 184 or better.

• Preliminary knowledge of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

• Preliminary knowledge of essay-writing strategies: pre-writing, writing, revising, and proofreading.

Course Description

English 101 emphasizes the correct and effective use of written expression as it applies to the writing of college-level essays. Thesis statements, topic sentences, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and vocabulary building are important elements in this process.  The creative aspects of developing ideas in writing essays are also explored and the student is encouraged to use his or her own experiences to enhance the writing process.  In addition, the course stresses information literacy, and requires students to do basic research in order to complete a short research project.

  Credits

This course is equivalent to three (3) semester hours. 

Goals and Objectives

• To understand and produce examples of various rhetorical forms: exemplification, argument, narrative, and comparison and contrast.

• To become familiar with the five-paragraph essay format.

• To achieve proficiency in grammar, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary, and word usage.

• To plan, write, edit, and revise essays for clarity, coherence, grammatical correctness, and substance.

• To become familiar with basic methods of research.

• To quote and paraphrase with ease while avoiding plagiarism.

• To write creatively in the development of ideas and to develop critical thinking abilities.

Requirements

• Extensive reading from the textbook and other sources.

• Four short essays of five paragraphs each.  Two of these essays (the comparison and contrast and argumentative) must incorporate quotes from outside sources.

• One short research project.

• Timely completion of all homework assignments.

• Active and well-prepared participation in classroom discussions.

• Six in-class quizzes.

• Midterm examination.

• Grammar diagnostic exam.

• Departmental grammar final exam.

• Final examination involving multiple-choice, short answer, and a five-paragraph essay.

Exit Competencies

• Ability to compose a well-structured five-paragraph essay, following basic guidelines of style and grammar.

• Proficiency in basic research.

• Proficiency in using quotations to incorporate the ideas of others into one’s own work. 

• Development of critical thinking skills and comfort in communicating one’s thoughts.

Attendance

Attendance in this course is mandatory. More than three unexcused absences may negatively affect your final grade. Frequent lateness may likewise affect your grade.

Grading Criteria

• Class participation                    5%

• Homework                                5%

• Quizzes                                   5%

• Midterm examination                 15%

• Research project                       10%

• Short essays                            40%

• Final examination                      15%

• Departmental grammar final        5%

Time Distribution

Three contact hours per week; it is recommended that for every contact hour students spend two hours studying outside of class.

Texts 

Gilyard, Keith, Deborah H. Holdstein, and Charles I. Schuster, eds. Rhetorical Choices: A Reader for Writers. New York: Penguin Academics, 2004. ISBN: 0-321-05494-6.

Hacker, Diana.  A Writer’s Reference.  5^th ed.  Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.  ISBN:  0-312- 41262-2.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the replication of another individual’s work without attributing credit. It happens in the classroom more often than you might think. In this course, your writing is expected to be your own. Theft of intellectual property is unethical, unlawful, and, in your college work, grounds for failure.

EN101 – English Composition I

Course Outline*

Week 1: Introduction to course; preview of text.  Chapter 1 (1-18).  The writing process (3-23).     

Week 2: Chapter 1 continued.  Discussion of the five-paragraph essay.  Thesis statements (15-16), topic sentences and paragraphs (23-36).

Week 3: Grammar diagnostic exam given.  Narrative essay assigned.  Chapter 2 (19-22).  Strategies for Writers (76-78).  Suggested readings: Richard Wright, “The Library Card” (28-37); Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue” (54-60).    

Week 4: Narrative essay continued.  Read descriptive essay to help with narrative assignment.  Suggested reading: Julia Alvarez, “Snow” (91-92).  Narrative essay due.

Week 5:  Exemplification essay assigned.  Chapter 5 (209-214).  Strategies for Writers (263-265).  Suggested readings: Diane Ackerman, “The Vagaries of Taste” (230-237); Toni Cadé Bambara, “The Lesson” (240-248); Henry Louis Gates, Jr. “Delusions of Grandeur” (249-252).  Discussion of Standard English (134-135).

Week 6: Exemplification essay continued.  Exemplification essay due.  Subject-verb agreement (151-159). 

Week 7: Review for midterm exam.

Week 8: Midterm exam.  Argument essay assigned.  Chapter 10 (539-549).  Strategies for Writers (625-628).  Suggested readings: Norman Cousins, “Who Killed Benny Paret?” (577-579); Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” (580-597).

Week 9:  Argument essay continued.  Discussion of quotations (264-265), paraphrasing (333-334, 338-339), and plagiarism (316-320).  Argument essay due.  Fragments (194-199) and Run-on Sentences (200-206).

Week 10: Comparison and Contrast essay assigned.  Chapter 8 (403-408).  Strategies for Writers (456-458).  Suggested readings: Bharati Mukherjee, “Two Ways to Belong in America” (413-416); Jodi Kantor, “Wham!  Bam! . . .” (417-420); Cornel West, “Blacks and Jews” (421-425); Richard Rodriguez, “Aria” (433-440); and Laura Tohe, “Our Tongues Slapped Into Silence” (441-444).

Week 11:  Comparison and Contrast continued.  Comparison and Contrast essay due.  Apostrophes (256-259). 

Week 12: Research project assigned.  Literary essay discussed.  Suggested readings: Elizabeth Alexander, “Narrative: Ali” (45-53); Yusef Komunyakaa, “Blue” (84-85); and Alice Walker, “Am I Blue?” (86-90).

Week 13:  Discussion of research (295-315).  Review of plagiarism, quotations, and paraphrasing.  Homophones (111-124, 277-278). 

Week 14: First draft of research project due.  Review for final exam.

Week 15: Final exam (schedule to be announced).  In-class essay, short-answer section, and departmental grammar final exam.  Final draft of research project due.

Items in italics from A Writer’s Reference.  All other page numbers from Rhetorical Choices.

Dictionaries, Style Manuals, Grammar Handbooks, Editing Resources

• Apostrophe Protection Society: http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk. A good-natured site that promotes proper use of the apostrophe.

• Bartelby.com: Great Books Online: http://www.bartleby.com. Bartleby.com publishes thousands of free online classics of reference, literature and nonfiction.

• DeVry Online Writing: http://www.devry-phx.edu/lrnresrc/dowsc. The DeVry Online Writing Support Center offers a variety of links to writing-related resources.

• Dictionary.com: http://www.dictionary.com. Dictionary.com allows you to search multiple dictionaries and references at the same time.

• Encyclopedia Britannica http://brittanica.com.

• If you have a grammar question for which you can't find an answer, try one of the grammar hotlines listed in the Grammar Hotline Directory: http://www.tc.cc.va.us/writcent/gh/hotlinol.htm. Services are listed by state and include phone and e-mail information.  

• Infoplease http://www.infoplease.com. Infoplease has a complete encyclopedia, dictionary, and almanacs for research as well as information organized by subject matter.

• ITools: http://www.itools.com/lang. Look up words in dictionaries and thesauruses. Translate words, phrases, documents and web pages to other languages.  Everything language-related in one place.

• Merriam Webster Dictionary: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary. The complete Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus online -- free and searchable with definitions and audio pronunciations.  You can also read the Word of the Day, play Word Games, and purchase books and CDs.

• Online Dictionaries: http://www.yourdictionary.com.

• Online Dictionaries has a list of biographical info at http://s9.com/biography.

• Ask Oxford:  http://www.askoxford.com. Ask Oxford is a very comprehensive site produced by the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary that has answers to questions on English grammar, spelling, and usage and access to searchable dictionaries.

• Roget's Thesaurus: http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/ROGET.html.

• William Strunk's original version of the Elements of Style, (later made famous by E. B. White) is available courtesy of the Bartleby project: http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html.  

• WebGrammar: http://www.webgrammar.com. Web Grammar is a site devoted to grammar.

• Writer's Guide:  The University of Victoria: http://www.clearcf.uvic.ca/writersguide/welcome.html. Writer's Guide offers a hypertextual set of information relating to writing. This site is of special interest to writers in first-year composition.

Library Research (Your local library has a searchable online database)

• The New York Public Library: http://nypl.org. The New York Public Libraries include Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

• Brooklyn Public Library: http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.  

• Queens Borough Public Library: http://www.queenslibrary.org.

• Modern Language Association:  http://www.mla.org. Click “MLA Style,” then “Frequently Asked Questions” for documenting sources

Online Research

• The American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org. The ACLU takes a stand on controversial American issues. Visit this site if you're writing an argumentative essay on topics such as the death penalty, abortion, police brutality, and equal rights.

• The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, and it serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 120 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 18 million books, 2.5 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.5 million maps, and 54 million manuscripts. http://www.loc.gov.

• Public Broadcasting System: http://www.pbs.org. Click the 'explore' button and choose your topic. This is a great place to begin research.

• Questia offers tips for writing a research paper: http://www.questia.com/howto/step1.html.

• Voice of the Shuttle: http://vos.ucsb.edu/index.asp. Started in 1994 as a suite of static Web pages, VoS has now been rebuilt as a database that serves content dynamically on the Web. Users gain greater flexibility in viewing and searching, while editors are able to work more efficiently and flexibly.  VoS is a wonderful research site.