Syllabus VI

ENC 1101/WRITING AND RHETORIC I

Instructor: ________________________ Class Hours: ________________________ Location: ________________________ Office Hours: ________________________
Phone: ________________________ e-mail: ________________________

WELCOME!
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Welcome to ENC 1101 Writing and Rhetoric I, the first of a two-part writing sequence. Since much of your work here at FIU and in your life will likely involve writing, this course introduces you to rhetorical concepts and practices that you can apply throughout your college and professional writing career. Simply put, this course will help you to succeed as you progress here at FIU and beyond. Studies have shown that the more effectively you can write, the more successful you’ll be—academically and professionally. While this class will teach you how to write to meet the demands of your various courses, it’s my hope that it will also teach you the value of writing for yourself–as well as of learning about yourself as a critical thinker, orgainizing your thoughts, and sharing those thoughts with others.

COURSE OUTCOMES
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By the end of the course, you will be able to produce documents that do the following:
○ Generate relevant and timely writing topics that are appropriate for their chosen audience and
the assignment;
○ Develop their ideas through an effective and recursive process of writing, revision, and
editing;
○ Indicate their ability to write in various genres including peer review, prewriting,
narrative, thesis-driven essays, and researched writing;
○ Respond to various rhetorical purposes and address the needs of various audiences;
○ Display genre-appropriate format, structure and stylistic choices, understanding differences
in open and closed form prose;
○ Develop an effective thesis and support it with reasons and evidence;
○ Exhibit appropriate syntax, punctuation, and spelling;
○ Produce documents that incorporate primary and secondary resources which are documented using
MLA or similar style manual;
○ Develop a rhetorical vocabulary for talking about writing.

WEB-ASSISTED COURSE
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This is a web-assisted course. While you’ll rarely need a computer in class, the course materials are located on Moodle. Follow these directions to log in:
○ Go to http://ecampus.fiu.edu
○ Click the Login button
○ User ID and password
● User ID = Your My Accounts user ID
● Password = Your My Accounts password
○ For login help, call 305-348-2284.

○ If you need to look up your My Accounts user ID or reset your My Accounts password, go to http://myaccounts.fiu.edu and follow the instructions.

Please log into the course Moodle website as soon as possible. If you’re having log in issues, please see me or go to ULS in Green Library, you don’t want to fall behind at any point in the semester. If you do not have a computer, there are computer labs on campus (one located on the first floor of GC) and the library allows students to check out laptops (both Mac and PC) for three hours at a time.

REQUIRED TEXTS
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– Lunsford, Andrea. The Everyday Writer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 4th edition, 2009.
Customized for Florida International University.
Companion Website: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/everydaywriter4e/default.asp#t_11472

– Ramage, John, John Bean and June Johnson. The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing. New
York: Pearson, 2010. Customized for Florida International University. Fourth Edition.
Companion Website: http://www.pearsoncustom.com/fl/fiu_english/

RESOURCES
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– The FIU English Department, Writing and Rhetoric Program
Companion Website: http://casgroup.fiu.edu/english/pages.php?id=437

– The FIU Center for Excellence in Writing (CEW)
Companion Website: http://casgroup.fiu.edu/writingcenter/

– The FIU Disability Resource Center (DRC)
Companion Website: http://drc.fiu.edu/

PLAGIARISM
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FIU defines plagiarism as: “The deliberate use and appropriation of another’s work without any indication of the source and the representation of such work as the student’s own.” While we’ll have a class period where we discuss plagiarism, it’s your responsibility to make sure that understand what it is and how to avoid plagiarizing other’s works.

Please see FIU’s policies on plagiarism at:
http://coeweb.fiu.edu/plagiarismFIU_Procedures_in_Plagiarism.htm
and take the plagiarism quiz located at:
http://coweb.fiu.edu/plagiarism/quiz_content.htm.

Once you have reached your score on the quiz, do a print screen (hit alt + the Prt Scn button for windows PC’s or Apple Key + Shift + 3 on a Mac) and then print that image and bring it to class by the end of the second week. Remember to put your name and your Panther ID on the paper!

ATTENDANCE
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Because the work we do in class will be directly connected to work online (and vice versa), attendance is crucial, and will be a significant part of your participation grade. You must attend 80% of face-to-face meetings in order to pass this class. Exceptions to this policy will be discussed on a case by case basis, please see me to discuss.

READING AND PARTICIPATION
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Coming to class having read the material, will allow you to participate in class discussions and group work. The readings are directly connected to the prewriting and drafting process of the writing projects, so your writing will be strengthened by critically thinking about the rhetoric discussed in the text. If something you read is unclear, ask and we will discuss it in class.

HOMEWORK
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Writing is a process, and I will guide you through the writing of each essay by working with you every step of the way. If you do all the homework, there’s a high likelihood that you’ll do well in the class. If you don’t do the homework, you won’t do well, and you may fail the course. The forum posts and in-class writing constitute 25% of the grade for this course.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
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There are four major assignments for this course. For each assignment there will be a detailed instruction sheet posted to the course Moodle site. This sheet will lay out the assignments leading up to the final submission. For each assignment, we’ll spend several weeks in and out of class working towards the final paper.

REVISION
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You will be able to revise one graded writing project. If the revision shows significant improvement, you’ll receive a higher grade which will replace the original grade. We’ll discuss revision throughout the semester.

LATE SUBMISSIONS
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All assignments are due by the assigned due date and time. The letter grade will be reduced ½ grade (5%) for every day the writing project is late, and the reduced grade will carry over to revisions. For example, if you turn in an C+ paper a day late, it will be reduced to a C, and cannot be revised past an A-. If you turn in the paper on the due date, but after class has ended, it will be considered a day late. If you’re going to have an issue getting the paper in on time, talk to me BEFORE the due date. Being proactive with this will allow me to help you.

GRADING
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You must receive a “C” grade or higher to pass ENC 1101 (please note that a “C-” is not a “C”). If you do not hand in all three major writing projects, you will fail the course. Grading weights are shown below.

○ Writing Project 1—Literacy Narrative 10%
○ Writing Project 2—Writing to Inform 20%
○ Writing Project 3—Writing to Persuade 25%
○ Writing Project 4—Writing Under Pressure 10%
○ Participation/Attendance 10%
○ Homework/Online/In-class Assignments 25%

GRIEVANCES AND YOUR RIGHTS
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If at any point in the semester you have any questions or concerns about your grade or your standing in the class, please come see me. Addressing your questions and concerns is part of my job.
You may also contact Dr. Kimberly Harrison (harrisok@fiu.edu), Director of FIU’s Writing and Rhetoric Program, Associate Director Robert Saba (robert.saba@fiu.edu) at MMC, Associate Director Michael Creeden (creedenm@fiu.edu) at MMC, or Associate Director Cindy Chinelly (chinelly@fiu.edu) at BBC.

As students you’re not helpless, you’ve got rights – make sure you know them.
Go to this website: http://www2.fiu.edu/~sccr/.
Also make sure you have a copy of the FIU student handbook, get one from the Office of Campus Life in GC.

I look forward to working with you this semester!