This course syllabus outlines an English 102 college writing course that will focus on perspectives and the question "Why Write?". Over the semester, students will write essays exploring their own perspectives and those of others. Major assignments include a reflective essay, an apology essay comparing perspectives on a conflict, an annotated bibliography, and a research paper analyzing changes in perspectives on a social movement. Students will also create a final project presenting their research. The course emphasizes discussion, considers various viewpoints, and aims to help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. It covers expectations for attendance, participation, assignments, grading, plagiarism, and provides contact information for the instructor and their office hours.

1. English 102-20, College Writing and Rhetoric
TLC 245, 2:30-3:20 MWF, Spring 2017
Caitlin Palmer
cpalmer@uidaho.edu
Office: Brink 106
Office Hours: Mon, Wed, Fri (3:30-4:30) and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course, while providing skills for reading, writing, and other forms of “composition,” will
also be intensively discussion-oriented. The central question we will be following for the
semester is, “Why Write?” The solution for addressing this question will be perspectives-based,
and investigate the nature of communication. We will start perspectives based on “Myself,”
move onto “Those Around Me,” then “Those Outside Me,” and “Others on Themselves.” Thus,
you will be asked to step outside of assumptions and models you have always accepted, and be
asked to consider other perceptions.
COURSE GOALS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES
English 102 is an introductory composition course, designed to improve your skills in
persuasive, expository writing, the sort you will be doing in other courses in college and in many
jobs. Sometimes this kind of writing is called transactional writing; it is used to transact
something—persuade and inform a reasonably well-educated audience, conduct business,
evaluate, review, or explain a complex process, procedure, or event.
By the end of the course, a successful student should be able to...
1. Accurately assess and effectively respond to a wide variety of audiences and rhetorical
situations.
2. Comprehend college-level and professional prose and analyze how authors present their
ideas in view of their probable purposes, audiences, and occasions.
3. Present ideas as related to, but clearly distinguished from, the ideas of others (including
the ability to paraphrase, summarize, and correctly cite and document borrowed
material).
4. Focus on, articulate, and sustain a purpose that meets the needs of specific writing
situations.
5. Explicitly articulate why they are writing, who they are writing for, and what they are
saying.
6. Write critical analyses and syntheses of college-level and professional prose.
7. Be able to make the connection between questions and problems in your life both within
and outside of college.
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2. 8. Gather and evaluate information and use it for a rhetorical purpose in writing a research
paper.
9. Attend to and productively incorporate a variety of perspectives.
10. Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading.
11. Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and
re-thinking to revise their work.
12. Give and receive constructive feedback from peers.
13. Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation and
practice appropriate means of documenting their work.
14. Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources,
including scholarly library databases; other official databases (e.g., federal government
databases); and informal electronic networks and internet sources.
DEADLINES
Administrative Deadlines
The university has certain deadlines of which you need to be aware if you want to drop the
course at some point during the term.
January 19th– ​Last day to add the course WITH a late fee.
January 25th – ​Last day to drop the course without a grade of W.
March 31st– ​Last day to drop the course with a grade of W.
Class Deadlines
Essay 1, Reflective: ​Monday, January 23rd
Essay 2, ​Apologia: ​Sunday, February 19th by midnight (online)
Annotated Bibliography: ​Wednesday, March 29th
Research Paper: ​Friday,​ ​April 28th
Multimodal Presentation/ Remediation: ​Monday, May 8th; Wednesday, May 10th
**These deadlines are for final drafts; we will be working on rough drafts and revisions in
stages, before these due dates.
TEXTBOOK (Provided)
● Jodie Nicotra, ​Becoming Rhetorical, Forthcoming
OTHER READINGS (ON BBLEARN)
● Weekly selections such as: ​Essaying; Bird by Bird; The New Yorker; Call Me Ishmael,
and others TBD.
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3. ATTENDANCE
20% of the total grade​ will be made up of participation. This will include:
- class attendance (​3 missed days without penalty​; ​2 additional requiring a write-up​ of
what is missed in class; ​any additional​ will result in ​dropping a letter grade​)
- participation​. While we’ll learn forms of writing, we’ll be practicing them in the context
of issues and questions. My vision for this class is to at least once a week be “circling
up,” where we will be discussing these issues and questions. This could involve going
around one at a time and sharing a thought about the reading, a quote that stuck out to
you, or response to a prompt; or more of an informal back-and-forth. You will be
expected to contribute at least once a week in this way. As an instructor, I should easily
remember your contribution.
- respect​. Conversation is not about waiting for your turn to talk, but listening to what
others have to say, and valuing their role in the discussion.
If you are absent due to health, University-affiliated commitments, family emergency, etc., these
are considered excused absences and do not count toward your total. Being in attendance means
being physically present, awake, coherent, and fully prepared for class, with the day’s
assignments completed. You are responsible for making up all of the work that you miss. It
might be in your best interest to exchange numbers with your classmates.
COURSE ETIQUETTE
Classroom citizenship.​ The classroom is a learning community. To foster an environment
conducive for intellectual rigor and openness, we must respect each individual. Behavior or
language that transgresses this respect is not tolerated. If you have a problem with anything in
the course, you may speak to me about it privately after class or during my office hours.
Technology. Unless otherwise stated by me, cell phones are to be PUT AWAY and SILENCED.
You may use your laptops during class to take notes, if you wish, but if this becomes a
distraction, I will ask you to put it away.
OFFICE HOURS
My office hours and office number are listed above and on the BbLearn home page. I enjoy
talking to students outside of class, and welcome you to stop by to discuss your work, questions
about the course, etc. I’m in my office a lot during the week outside of my posted hours, as well,
so please stop by!
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
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4. Major Writing Assignments
Reflective Essay​ (~800 words or 3 pages)
This will be starting off our “Perspective Series” with one of our own. When was a time words
failed you? What was that moment like? What gestures do you reach for in communication when
words are a struggle?
Apologia Essay ​(800 - 1000 words, 3 - 4 pages)
From the Greek for “justification” or “defense,” this paper will move towards a compromise of
your perspective and someone else’s, specifically around a conflict that you have had trouble
discussing or resolving in a personal relationship. How can you present where you come from?
How can you help someone who disagrees with you, to see the issue in a different light? What is
a common ground you would like to come to?
Annotated Bibliography ​(500 - 750 words)
This assignment will move to perspectives outside of your own, to that of “bounded” sources, or
information of groups as they present it on themselves, and “ambassadorial” sources, or authors
outside a group, writing as allies. The bibliography asks you to collect 8 sources and explain how
you will employ them in your Research Paper. You will summarize them and present how they
are affecting your thinking. I will be looking for: a primary source (book), a secondary source
cited in the book, an article from a scholarly journal, an article from another source, a website,
and an audio/ visual representation of either painting, song, photograph, or film.
Research Paper​ (~2500 words or 8 pages)
The final paper will be a summative analysis of the process of changing perspectives. It will
involve addressing your beginning assumptions of a group/ social movement; a neutral,
informed introduction to the movement that you have come to be educated on; and lastly the
effect of outside perspectives merging with your own. Have your thoughts changed? Your
knowledge field? Is there more to be learned? What, if anything, makes messages of these
groups compelling? What rhetoric is hard to bridge a connection to?
A few groups of social movements we will do reading on, as options for your research:
- Black Lives Matter
- North Dakota Pipeline Access protest group, Native American Lakota People
- Anti-War Movement groups (such as Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against
the War, Code Pink, others as introduced or approved)
- Refugees International (specifically Syrian Refugee Crisis-related)
*The aim of this research project is to be able to report in an informed manner on the goals and
representation of marginalized groups not given widespread coverage. This project aims to get us
out of our own “bubble” of recycled information, and inject topics with new life and data. This
list will be added onto as time approaches.
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5. Final Project and Presentation
In the last weeks of the semester, we will be doing a “remediation,” or translating your research
from one form - a paper - into another. This translation could take the form of creating a booth or
table for a showcase such as one would come across at a networking fair; or an online
presentation of either video or website. We will discuss and make a decision according to class
preferences when the time approaches.
Grade Breakdown
- Essay 1: 10%
- Essay 2: 15%
- Annotated Bibliography: 15%
- Research Paper: 25%
- Presentation of Research: 15%
For each major assignment, we will decide as a class what is considered necessary for a
“successful” paper. You’ll receive feedback from your peers, as well as myself. This will include
comments on rough drafts, which will be ungraded, but used to provide improvement for final
turn-in’s. I plan on holding one conference early on to check in with progress with the course,
and another mid-term to examine your ideas and use of resources for the research paper. In class,
we’ll be sharing what we think of each other’s progress, as well.
Daily Assignments/Homework
There will be an amount of reading due every week from both the textbook and additional
sources linked to on Blackboard. Homework will vary but will include preparation for class
discussion, whether responding to a prompt, selecting a quote or passage that stuck out to you
and why, or formulating questions to bring to the class’s attention.
GRADING
If you withdraw from this course on or before ​Friday, March 31st​, nothing will appear on your
transcript. If you stay registered for the course after that date, you will receive one of the
following grades. ​Only an A, B, or C are passing grades.
A
Represents achievement that is​ outstanding or superior relative to the level necessary
to meet the requirements of the course.
B
Represents achievement that is ​significantly above the level necessary to meet the
requirements of the course.
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6. Grades of A or B are honors grades. You must do something beyond the minimum
required in order to earn an A or B.
C
Represents achievement that ​meets the basic requirements in every respect. It signifies
that the work is average, but nothing more.
W
Stands for ​Withdrawal. This is the grade you will receive if you withdraw from the
course after ​January 19th​ but on or before ​January 25​th​
. ​A W has no effect on your
GPA, but you can have only 20 W credits during your time as an undergraduate at UI
(about six courses). After ​January 25​th​
​you can no longer withdraw from the course.
N
Stands for ​No Credit. A grade of N has no effect on your GPA, but it does mean that you
need to take the course again. You will earn a grade of N if your grade is an N ​and you
have done all the work for the course. You also must have made a good faith effort to
complete all the assignments. Handing in just any piece of writing just to avoid getting
an F will not work.
F
Stands for ​Failure. A grade of F has a negative effect on your GPA. If you fail to hand in
any major writing assignment or do not make a good-faith effort to succeed at a major
assignment, you will automatically earn an F. If your average grade is an N ​but you did
not complete one of the major components of the course (one of the major papers of
all of the homework assignments or drafts), you will automatically earn an F in the
course. There is no reason for receiving an F in this course, unless you simply fail to
submit the required work.
I
Stands for incomplete. Under very unusual circumstances you could be assigned an
Incomplete in the course if something happened to you within the last two weeks of
the semester that made it impossible to complete the course (a serious accident or
illness that left you hospitalized and very significant personal tragedy, etc.
POLICY ON PLAGIARISM IN ENGLISH 102
At the University of Idaho, we assume you will do your own work and that you will work with
your instructor on improving writing that is your own. Plagiarism—using someone else’s ideas
or words as your own without proper attribution--is a serious matter.
The consequences of plagiarism:
If I find that you have plagiarized willfully, you will receive an ​F ​for the assignment, which
could result in a failing grade for the course.
When you need to use words or ideas from another person—whether an idea, a picture, a
powerful statement, a set of facts, or an explanation—cite your source!
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS
STATEMENT
Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have documented
temporary or permanent disabilities. All accommodations must be approved through
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7. Disability Support Services located in the Idaho Commons Building, Room 306 in order
to notify your instructor(s) as soon as possible regarding accommodation(s) needed for
the course.
● 885-6307
● email at <dss@uidaho.edu>
● website at ​www.access.uidaho.edu
And lastly…
This class will be fun! It will be interactive! It will be relevant to your own life. And while I will
ask you to become more considerate, analytical, and empathetic people, the classroom
environment will be welcoming and fairly informal.
Welcome!
Caitlin Palmer
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8. Syllabus Contract
I, __________________________________, have read and understand what is expected
of me in English 102. I have spoken with Caitlin if I had any concerns with the syllabus.
Finally, I understand that I am an equal part of the class and have the right to be valued
as such.
Signed,
_______________________________________________
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