This document is the syllabus for an English 102 college writing course taught in the spring of 2017. The instructor is Jacob D. Wilson and the course will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at two different times. The goals of the course are to improve students' skills in persuasive and expository writing. By the end of the course, students should be able to analyze texts, present and support their own ideas, conduct research, give and receive feedback, and use proper formatting and citation. There are four major writing assignments, reflective journal entries, and requirements to pass including regular attendance, participation, submitting drafts on time, revising work based on feedback, and avoiding plagiarism. Meeting all the requirements listed in

1. Syllabus English 102 Spring 2017
College Writing and Rhetoric
Instructor: Jacob D. Wilson
Email: jdwilson@uidaho.edu
Office: Brink Hall, Room #112
Phone: (208) 885-6156 (messages only)
Office Hours: Tuesday: 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday: 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Course Location: TLC 241 (8:00 a.m) and TLC 148 (2:00 p.m.)
Course Time: Tuesday and Thursday, 8:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. and 2:00- 3:15 p.m.
COURSE GOALS & 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...
• Accurately assess and effectively respond to a wide variety of audiences and rhetorical
situations.
• Comprehend college-level and professional prose and analyze how authors present their
ideas in view of their probable purposes, audiences, and occasions.
• 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).
• Focus on, articulate, and sustain a purpose that meets the needs of specific writing situations.
• Explicitly articulate why they are writing, who they are writing for, and what they are saying.
• Write critical analyses and syntheses of college-level and professional prose.
• Be able to make the connection between questions and problems in your life both within
and outside of college.
• Gather and evaluate information and use it for a rhetorical purpose in writing a research
paper.
• Attend to and productively incorporate a variety of perspectives.
• Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading.
• Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and
rethinking to revise their work.
• Give and receive constructive feedback from peers.
• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation and practice
appropriate means of documenting their work.

2. • 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.
Of course, we expect that you are able to carry out some of these tasks already.
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.
28 August– Last day to add a course with a late fee.
1 Sept– Last day to drop the course without a grade of W. Last day to add a class.
27 Oct – Last day to drop the course with a grade of W.
Class Deadlines
As the term progresses, you will be given major writing assignments, along with your daily writing
and reading work. These are listed on the schedule and can be found on BBlearn.
Late Policies:
• All your homework will be due on or before the exact time designated. However, an
exception to this rule will be made once per semester as long as you complete the following
steps:
1) Email me explaining why your assignment will not be turned in on time and when it
will be turned in (it must be turned in within one week of the original due date).
2) Complete the final draft and post it to BBlearn on or before the exact time you
designated in your email. ***This can be done once during the semester, but the email
must be turned in before the time the paper is due.***
• I will not accept rough drafts late. Peer review is an important process and not having a
rough drafts hinders your ability to participate in classroom revision and hurts the classroom
community.
• All your major writing assignments will be due on or before the exact time designated.
However, exceptions to this rule will be made only for the first three major papers and then
only if you complete the following steps:
3) Email me explaining why your paper will not be turned in on time and when it will
be turned in (it must be turned in within one week of the original due date).

3. 4) Complete the final draft and post it to BBlearn on or before the exact time you
designated in your email. ***This can be done two times during the semester, but the
memo must be turned in before the time the paper is due.***
5) In all other cases of late major writing assignments (when no email was written or
after the allotted two extensions have been used), it will be considered a major
breach of the contract (see grading).
REQUIRED Textbook (WILL BE PROVIDED)
Jody Nicotra, Becoming Rhetorical (2016)
ATTENDANCE
Attendance in English 102 is mandatory.
• Arriving more than twenty minutes late counts as an absence.
• More than four absences is grounds for failing the course.
• If you are absent five days the highest grade you may achieve is a C, regardless of how well
you are doing in the course.
• The sixth absence results in an automatic failure of the course.
• Thus, plan for unforeseen emergencies or illnesses later in the semester. Being in attendance
means being physically present, awake, coherent, and fully prepared for class, with the day’s
assignments completed. If you do not meet all of these conditions, you will be marked
absent for the day. You are responsible for making up all the work that you missed.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Major Writing Assignments
There will be four major writing assignments with a rough draft required for each:
• Essay 1 Narrative Essay (21 August 2017 – 17 September 2017)
• Essay 2 Research Paper (18 September – 22 October 2017)
• Essay 3 White Paper: (23 October – 19 November 2017)
• Essay 4 Reflective Letter and Final Portfolio (20 November – 10 December 2017)
Reflective Journals
After each draft and major assignment, you will be required to complete a reflective journal entry in
your blog discussing your strengths and weaknesses as writer, areas of improvement, strategies for
the next essay, etc. These will be uploaded on BBlearn.

4. Grading
Your final grade for this course will be based on two things: your participation in class according
to the contract outlined below, and the quality of the writing you include in your final portfolio.
If you follow the contract for the entire semester, you will receive a B for the course. If the writing
you include in your final portfolio is exceptionally strong, your final grade may be
higher.
Contract grading is intended to shift your focus productively: it assures you that, if you work
hard and complete the contract, you will receive a grade that is above the average for English
102 courses. I hope this will permit you to concentrate on improving your writing in two or
three manageable ways in each unit, rather than feeling pressure to master everything at once.
To earn a B for this course, you must:
1. Engage actively during every class period, and always use classroom time productively.
Everyone has an off day from time to time, but for nearly every class meeting, your brain
should be working from 8:00 to 9:15.
.
2. Participate actively during every workshop, and push yourself to provide your
groupmates with consistently thorough, thoughtful, helpful feedback. You should help
your groupmates to become better writers throughout the semester. Taking their work
seriously enough to think hard about how it can be improved is crucial for your success,
and theirs, in this course.
3. Use the feedback provided by your instructor and your groupmates to improve your
writing. You do not have to make every change suggested by your readers, of course, as
readers will sometimes disagree. But you must take all feedback seriously, and your
drafts should show evidence of your careful consideration of your readers’ suggestions.
5. Produce complete, thoughtful drafts of every assignment, and turn all work in on time.
Post every assignment to BBlearn by the deadline, and bring a complete, printed
draft to every workshop. If assignments or drafts do not meet the requirements laid out in the
prompt, are low-effort, and/or incomplete you will be required to resubmit the assignment to
standard, in an agreed upon timeframe, not to exceed 10 days.
6. Revise thoroughly and thoughtfully after each rough draft. Revision means substantially
clarifying your ideas, reorganizing your argument, rethinking your claims,
strengthening your evidence, deepening your research, adjusting your style, and/or reimagining
your relationship to your audience. Revision isn’t about making sentence level corrections (although
this important) it is about revising the essay as a whole. The expectation is that your final drafts
should be substantially different than your rough drafts.
7. Proofread final drafts to eliminate distracting surface errors and typos. Final drafts do
not have to be perfect, but you should learn any grammar rules that consistently cause
you trouble, by talking with a classmate, using online resources, going to the writing center, and/or
meeting with me.

5. 8. Attend all scheduled conferences with me and come prepared to use the conference time
productively (i.e. a copy of your rough draft and something with which to take notes).
9. Avoid plagiarism by (a) taking careful notes to help you distinguish between your own
ideas and language and those you have borrowed from sources, (b) attempting to cite all
sources correctly even in first drafts, (c) mastering citation conventions and citing all
sources correctly in all final drafts, and (d) never attempting to disguise another’s work
as your own, never purchasing essays online, and never engaging in any other act of
academic dishonesty. New ideas only come about because we are all constantly
borrowing ideas and sharing our work with others; be generous about attributing and
citing those whose work has influenced your own.
10. Show respect for your classmates and your instructor. This includes using respectful
language, taking each others’ ideas seriously, and refraining from distracting behaviors,
such as falling asleep, playing on your phone, etc
11. Be on time for class consistently, and be absent very rarely. Being more than 20 minutes late for
class counts as an absence. Five absences throughout the semester will result in a C. The sixth breaks
the contract and initiates an automatic failure of the course.
12. Be prepared for class consistently. Complete the required reading, print any required
handouts, and bring your laptop and whatever drafts, revisions, or research I’ve
required.
If you break the contract, your contracted grade for the course will be lowered as follows:
1. For minor breaches (excessive tardies, multiple absences in a single unit, or a slight drop in the
quality of your workshop participation, for example): in each Unit, I will permit you one
“Mulligan”—one minor misstep that will not break the contract. But two minor breaches
during any Unit will lower your contract grade to a B-; two minor breaches during the
next Unit, and your contract grade will be lowered further to a C+, and so on. These
lowered grades can still be improved by an exceptionally strong portfolio.
2. For major breaches (missing a conference, failing to participate actively in group
activities, or failing to turn in or revise an assignment, etc.): no Mulligans; your
contract grade will immediately be lowered to a B- after the first major breach, C+ after
the second, and so on. These lowered grades can still be improved by an exceptionally
strong portfolio.
3. Failure to submit any of the major assignments will result in a failure of the course.
To Earn an A for this Course:
You need to show dedication to improving your writing, make substantial revisions (not just
sentence level and copy editing) on each of your drafts, show improvement in your writing from the
start of the course (and be able to identify and articulate how you improved your writing), and show

6. how you went above and beyond the requirements for a B. As well completing every course
assignment. We will meet mid-term and the end of the semester to discuss your grades.
Grading Scale:
Course Grades possible:
A: Represents achievement superior relative to the basic terms outlined above.
B: Represents meeting the terms of the contract outlined above.
C: Represents achievement that fails to meet basic requirements of the contract 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
Friday, September 1st, but on or before Wednesday, October 27th. 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 Wednesday, January 25th 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 writing does not meet the standards for
ENGL 102, but you still 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 or 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.)
COURSE ETIQUETTE
Classroom Civility
In any environment in which people gather to learn, it is essential that all members feel as free and
safe as possible in their participation. To this end, it is expected that everyone in this course will be
treated with mutual respect and civility, with an understanding that all of us (students, instructors,
professors, guests, and teaching assistants) will be respectful and civil to one another in discussion,

7. in action, in teaching, and in learning. Should you feel our classroom interactions do not reflect an
environment of civility and respect, you are encouraged to meet with me after class or during office
hours to discuss your concern.
Technology
All cell phones must be silenced and put away. If there is an urgent matter, you may step outside to
use your phone, pick an opportune moment, and leave quietly. Unless you have been given explicit
permission to use your laptop in class, all laptops should be shut and stowed.
Email Etiquette
I welcome your emails and questions – if you have questions about the course, your work, meeting
times, etc., please contact me at the address listed above or on the BbLearn home page. When you
contact me, please treat it as a professional correspondence—your message should have a greeting,
be written in complete sentences, and signed with your name at the bottom. Generally, you can
expect a response during regular business hours (Monday-Friday, 8-5 PM)
Writing Community
Please consider every piece of writing you do for this class to be "public property." Part of
becoming a good writer is learning to appreciate the ideas and criticisms of others, and in this course
our purpose is to come together as a writing community. Remember that you will often be expected
to share your writing with others, so avoid writing about things that you may not be prepared to
subject to public scrutiny, or things you feel so strongly about that you are unwilling to listen to
perspectives other than your own. This does not mean that you are not entitled to an opinion but
that you adopt positions responsibly, contemplating the possible effect on others.
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 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.
Disability Support Services
Phone: 208-885-6307
Email: dss@uidaho.edu
Web: http://www.uidaho.edu/studentaffairs/asap/dss
Policy on Plagiarism in English 101

8. 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 yours own without proper attribution--is a serious matter.
The Council of Writing Program Administrators defines plagiarism in the following way: “In an
instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language,
ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source. This
definition applies to texts published in print or on-line, to manuscripts, and to the work of other
student writers.” (From “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best
Practices,” http://wpacouncil.org/node/9).
The consequences of plagiarism:
If evidence of plagiarism is found in student work in English 102, the instructor is empowered by
Regulation 0-2 of the general catalog to assign a grade of F for the course, a penalty that may be
imposed in particularly serious cases. In most cases of plagiarism, the instructor will also make a
complaint to the Dean of Students Office, which is responsible for enforcing the regulations in the
Student Code of Conduct. So in addition to the academic penalty of receiving an F in the course,
you may also be subject to other disciplinary penalties, which can include suspension of expulsion.
Although such severe penalties are rarely imposed for first-time offenders, the Dean of Students
Office maintains disciplinary records as part of a student’s overall academic record.
Instructors may demonstrate that a paper involves plagiarism in two ways: 1) by identifying the
source, and 2) by showing the discrepancy of style between previous papers and the paper in
question.
If a paper involves misuse of sources or other materials--which the CWPA defines as when a writer
“carelessly or inadequately [cites] ideas and words borrowed from another source”-- the instructor
may ask you to rewrite the paper, using correct forms of documentation.
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!