overview slides

1. WELCOME TO ENGLISH 102 Course Expectations
and Overview

2. COURSE DESCRIPTION
English 102 is an introductory composition course
 Focusing more on rhetoric and transactional (for a rhetorical purpose) writing than literary analysis and strictly textual writing
 Questioning the world around you and using different modes and genres of writing to discuss and, eventually, solve those
problems
Your section of English 102:
▪ We will be focused on community awareness and thinking rhetorically about the interactions and situations we experience daily
▪ We will use research and exploratory writing to more critically explore issues we encounter in our community, our campus, or in
our individual fields of study and understand its connection to a broader issue confronting society at large
▪ My goal is to guide you toward thinking more critically about your environment and your place within it and help you communicate
these ideas effectively and for a variety of audiences, purposes, and genres

3. LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR ENGLISH 102
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.

4. LEARNING OUTCOMES, CONT.
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.

5. DEADLINES AND LATE WORK
 All assignment deadlines are listed on the Master Schedule and individual Unit Schedules
 All work must be turned in by the date listed on the schedule
 Final Projects and Process Assignments are due by midnight on the date listed
 Rough Drafts are due before class on the date listed
 You know the deadlines now, at the beginning of the term, so you will not receive credit for any work turned
in past the deadline
▪ Extensions may be granted on major assignments on a case by case basis, but you must notify me at least a day in advance of
the deadline

6. REQUIRED TEXTBOOK AND COURSE PLATFORM
 With the exception of your writing journal, all assignments in the course will be turned in to the course BbLearn
site
▪ You can log on to BbLearn using your University of Idaho NetID and password
▪ You will need a separate writing journal for this course. Your journal will be used for in-class writing prompts, as well as take-
home discussion prompts to accompany required readings. These will be collected for grading periodically throughout the
semester.
 The text for this course is Jodie Nicotra’s Becoming Rhetorical
▪ The textbook isn’t officially published until Spring 2018, so we will be using PDF versions of the assigned readings
▪ There will also be supplemental readings required throughout the course, which will be available as PDFs on the BbLearn site

7. ATTENDANCE
 Attendance in English 102 is mandatory
 If you receive more than three (3) unexcused absences, you will automatically receive an F in the course
 An excused absence is an official note specifying the days and reasons you were required to miss class, such as a doctor’s note
or university or athletic commitment
 If you have other special circumstances or trips planned, notify me in person or via email at least one week in advance, and
your absence may be excused on a case by case basis.
 You are responsible for making up work you miss due to absences
 Attendance means being physically present, awake, and fully prepared for class, with the day’s assignments completed. If you do
not meet all these conditions, you may be marked absent for the day
 Unexplained instances of being more than 5 minutes late to class will count as ½ an absence

8. EVALUATION
 Formal Writing Assignments: All major writing assignments will be evaluated based on rubrics
 Rubrics can be found on the last page of the assignment instructions for each of the major assignments
 Rough Drafts: Rough drafts of major assignments will be graded for completeness and effort
▪ Rough drafts are mainly designed for you to have the opportunity to receive feedback from your peers during the writing process, so
any feedback from the instructor will be minimal
 Process Assignments: Process assignments will be graded on completeness and effort
▪ Process Assignments are designed as building blocks toward major assignment drafts, as well as checkpoints to assess your
understanding of each unit’s concepts
▪ Deadline extensions will not be granted for Process Assignments. If you are gone, you are responsible for submitting the assignment on
time.
 Writing Journal
▪ Writing journals will be collected periodically. They will be evaluated based on engagement with daily prompts and homework tasks. If you
are absent, you are responsible for making up missing journal entries, either from your classmates or the instructor.

9. FINAL GRADES
Final grades are calculated on a standard 100 point scale
 You must receive 90% of the total points in the course to receive an A in the course
In order to pass the course, you must
1. Receive 70% of the total points in the course
2. Complete every major assignment by the deadline listed on the course schedule
3. Participate in the Library Instruction Unit
4. Accumulate no more than 3 unexcused absences over the course of the semester

10. UNIVERSITY GRADING SCALE
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.
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 9/1 but on or before 10/27. 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
Friday, 10/27 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 you accumulate more than three
unexcused absences, 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 or you exceeded the maximum number of unexcused absences, 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 or fail to come to class.
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.

11. PLAGIARISM
There are two basic kinds of plagiarism, as outlined with the Modern Language Association of America:
▪ Malicious or intentional plagiarism: Involves using someone else’s work as your own without citing the source,
including direct copying, rephrasing, and summarizing, submitting someone else’s paper as your own, or submitting
your own work from a different semester or different course.
 Should I detect this type of plagiarism, you will automatically receive an F for the course
▪ “Plagia-phrasing” or mosaic plagiarism: Not indicating directly quoted passages or ideas even while citing the work
as a general source.
 In this case, I will ask you to rewrite the paper using correct forms of documentation.

12. OFFICE HOURS AND COMMUNICATION CLAUSE
 I welcome you to stop by to discuss your work, questions about the course, etc. during my office hours
 My office is in Brink 102, and I will be holding office hours Tuesday through Thursday from 11:00 am to noon
 If you cannot make these times, please email me or speak with me after class, and we can arrange a different time
 Email etiquette: sdryden@uidaho.edu
▪ I welcome your emails and questions
▪ When you email me, please treat it as a professional correspondence: your message should have a greeting, be written in complete
sentences, and be signed with your name at the bottom
▪ If it is not formatted according to these guidelines, do not expect a response
▪ Generally, you can expect a response during regular business hours (Monday-Friday, 8-5 pm)
 Communication
▪ I am a very understanding person, so if a need or circumstance ever arises, feel free to contact me or speak with me after class time
▪ I am here to help you, and will do my best to ensure that you are successful in this course