This document is the syllabus for an Honors English 102 course. It outlines the course objectives, which include demonstrating rhetorical strategies, research skills, critical thinking, understanding writing as a process, and composing academic arguments. Major assignments include a rhetorical analysis, annotated bibliography, critical conversation essay with a multimodal response, and a grit reflection project. Students will complete scaffolding assignments and peer reviews to support the major assignments. The syllabus provides policies on health and safety, participation grading, communication with the instructor, and file formats for multimedia projects.

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Honors English 102
Katie Krahn
katiek@uidaho.edu
Office Hours:
T 9:30am-11:30am, W 1pm-3pm, and by appointment.
All Office Hours and One-on-One Meetings are held on Zoom:
https://uidaho.zoom.us/my/katiekrahn
COURSE OVERVIEW
English 102 is an introductory composition course, designed to improve your skills in
expository writing, research, rhetoric, and your overall confidence as a writer. In this Honors
section, we will also focus on multimodal composition. This course centers around the
written word - both its affordances and limitations. You will create projects using the written
word and different modalities in order to enhance your communication with a particular
audience will increasing the effectiveness of your composition. Each unit will have a certain
amount of freedom for you to explore different ways of composing while simultaneously
relying on the rhetorical situation – just as you do for written texts.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Demonstrate awareness and application of rhetorical strategies in the writing produced by
others and yourself.
a. How writers use rhetoric:
i. Comprehend college-level and professional prose and analyze how authors
present their ideas in view of their probable purposes, audiences, genres,
modalities.
b. Use rhetoric yourself:

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i. Accurately assess and effectively respond to a wide variety of audiences and
rhetorical situations and articulate your rhetorical purpose for writing, who
you are writing for, what you are saying, and how you’ve decided to present it
(genre and modality).
ii. Use evidence for a rhetorical purpose in writing a research paper.
2. Apply effective research skills appropriate for your rhetorical purpose.
a. Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from a variety of
sources, including, but not limited to the following:
i. scholarly library databases;
ii. other official databases (e.g., federal government databases);
iii. informal electronic networks and internet sources;
iv. print and online books and journals;
v. and primary sources.
b. Use evidence appropriately according to the rhetorical situation (e.g. paraphrase,
summary, quote, attributive tags, in-text citation, etc.).
c. Correctly cite and document source material according to a current style manual.
3. Demonstrate critical thinking.
a. Productively incorporate a variety of perspectives when considering or composing an
argument.
b. Present ideas as related to, but clearly distinguished from, the ideas of others.
c. Write critical analyses and syntheses of college-level and professional prose.
4. Demonstrate your understanding that writing is a process.
a. Apply a variety of strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading.
b. Revise your writing using additional invention and re-thinking after initial draft is
produced.
c. Give and receive constructive feedback from peers.
5. Compose arguments that meet college-level expectations for academic compositions.
a. Compose a focused claim supported with logical and clear reasons and evidence.
b. Synthesize arguments made by other rhetors to develop and support your own claim.
c. Apply current citation rules in situations like paraphrasing, summarizing, citing and
documenting borrowed material.
TEXTBOOKS
1. The Vandal Field Guide to Writing. A custom textbook published by Norton. The
textbook is available through the Vandal Store. Purchasing the textbook comes with free
access to the e-book.
2. Grit by Angela Duckworth (ISBN: 1501111116). UI’s 2021-2022 Common Read.
Available through the Vandal Store or other sites.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Major Assignments
Unit 1: Rhetorical Analysis of a Multimodal Composition 100 points
Unit 2: Annotated Bibliography 150 points
Unit 3: Critical Conversation Essay & Multimodal Response 200 points
Unit 4: Grit Reflection Project 100 points

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Reflection Papers
As a part of creating multimodal projects, you will submit reflection papers that explain to
your instructor your process, the choices you made, and the goals for your multimodal
project. These reflection papers are included in the points assigned for each project listed
above and will only apply for Units 3 and 4.
Scaffolding Assignments
There will be shorter (“invention” or “prep work”) writing assignments due regularly. These
assignments are specifically designed to help you generate material to write the major
assignments. Complete drafts are also included in this category. For each major assignment,
you will also be asked to read and comment on the papers of other students. The number of
points available from process work is roughly equivalent to the total points for the major
assignments.
COURSE POLICIES
Healthy Vandals Policies. It is a longstanding tradition that Vandals take care of Vandals,
and we all do our best to look out for the Vandal Family. These simple precautions go a long
way in reducing the impact of coronavirus on our campuses and in our communities. With
everyone engaging in these small actions, we can continue to participate in our vibrant
campus culture where we are able to learn, live, and grow. Please bookmark the University
of Idaho Covid-19 webpage and visit it often for the most up-to-date information about the U
of I’s response to Covid-19.
1. Daily Symptom Monitoring and In-Person Class Attendance. Evaluate your own
health status before attending in-person classes and refrain from attending class
in-person if you are ill, if you are experiencing any of the known symptoms of
coronavirus, or if you have tested positive for COVID-19 or have been potentially
exposed to someone with COVID-19.
• If you display symptoms and/or test positive, you should quarantine
following the CDC’s recommendations. Do not return to class until you
meet the CDC’s requirements.
• If you have been exposed but are asymptomatic, you should stay home
for 10-14 days from last exposure if you remain asymptomatic; each
situation is unique and you should adhere to the CDC’s requirements.
If you miss an in-person class session, you are be able to make up participation
points. Please email me to make arrangements to submit any missed work and make
plans to use Zoom and/or online course materials to stay current with the course
schedule.
2. Face Coverings. It is REQUIRED that all faculty, staff, students, and visitors
across all U of I locations wear face coverings whenever in any U of I buildings. It
is that you wear a face covering over your nose and mouth in this classroom at
all times.
a. If you have a medical condition that you believe affects your ability to
comply with the face covering policy, please contact the Center for

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Disability Access and Resources (CDAR) to request a reasonable
accommodation.
b. If you have other reasons you believe make you exempt from wearing
face coverings, please contact the Covid-19 Coordinator at
covid19questions@uidaho.edu.
c. Failure to wear a face covering means you will be required to leave the
classroom. If a disruption to the learning experience occurs due to
repeated offence and/or egregious behavior, it will be referred to the Dean
of Students Office for potential code violation.
Participation. You will be graded on participation in this course. We won’t meet every class
period, especially when you’re working on major projects. However, when we do meet, we’ll
be sharing ideas and critiquing each other’s work, so it’s vital that you are here and ready to
participate.
You must earn a total of 350 points of participation throughout the class. Coming prepared
to class each day means completing the reading, homework, and coming with
topics/questions to discuss in class. Below are tables that outline how you will be graded on
participation and how you can earn points outside of the classroom.
In Class Participation Points:
10 Points You attend class, complete readings and assignments, come prepared with
topics to discuss or questions to ask, and actively contribute to
conversations by asking questions or discussing the topic at hand
8 Points You attend class, complete readings and assignments, and partially
contribute to conversations.
5 Points You attend class, do not complete readings and assignments, and
minimally contribute to conversations.
3 Points You attend class and do not contribute to conversations.
0 Points You do not attend class.
Participation Points Outside of Class:
8 Points Plan an optional one-on-one writing conference with Katie to discuss
5 Points Watch the recorded lecture and write a summary of the class and outlines
three (3) key take-aways from the class. Submitted on BbLearn within a
week of the missed class. This option only works if you communicate with
your instructor at least 24 hours ahead of time so she can record class.
5 Points Meet with Katie during her office hours.
Contacting Me. You are encouraged to email me when you have a question, comment, or a
concern; when you want to request a writing conference; or when you would like feedback
on a draft via email. You may expect a prompt reply M-F 9am-5pm.
Multimedia Project Deliverables. Two of the projects require multimodal deliverables.
Students are not expected to have prior experience in producing multimedia products and
will be invited to create these using free, cloud-computing tools.

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Warning: Digital media files (MP3, MP4, WAV, WMV etc.) and Zip Files are not accepted in
this course. All digital files are required to be on a host site and play without a user needing
to download the file (or advance slides) because you are practicing how to share media as it
is shared in workplace environments.
Accepted File Formats. The following are the only accepted file formats:
• Print Deliverables: Word or PDF.
• PSA Billboard or Poster Deliverable: jpg, png, or other image file; Word, PPT or
PPTX, PDF file; or the URL where the file is hosted.
• Multimodal Deliverables: URL where the file is hosted.
Deadlines. All work is due by 11:59 PM on the day/date indicated in the project schedules.
Late work will lose 10% per day late including weekends. When I start to grade your work, if
a file will not open or a URL link does not work, I will notify you by email, and you will be
given 24 hours to submit work correctly in BbLearn and a late work point penalty will apply.
To avoid this problem, verify your submission.
You can submit work that is late, but only if it is in the project we are currently covering;
meaning, you may only submit late work for Project 1 assignments if we are still covering
Interpersonal Communication. You will not receive credit for work from Project 1 when we
start our Visual Communication Project.
I do not accept work via email. All submissions must be made via BbLearn.
Verify Submissions to Avoid Point Penalties. When submitting assignments, students are
responsible for verifying that files they uploaded are not corrupted and will open and that
the URL to your
This means you must return to the submissions box and open any files you uploaded and
check that a URL works. If your work does not submit correctly or if you failed to submit part
of it, you will need to submit all work again in a single attempt because the last submission
is the only one I grade.
University Disability Support Services. Reasonable accommodations will be made for
students with disabilities. Disability Support Services must approve your request: (208) 885-
6307• dss@uidaho.edu
Plagiarism. Violation of the University of Idaho Student Code of Conduct for Plagiarism will
result in a course grade of ‘F'. See PDF in BbLearn for more information about what
Plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
GRADING
Grading criteria are provided for each major assignment.
A = 90 – 100%
B = 80 – 89%

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C = 70 – 79%
D = 60 – 69%
F = 59% and less
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.
C
Represents achievement that meets the basic requirements in every respect. It
signifies that the work is average, but nothing more.
D
Represents achievement that does not meet the basic requirements. It
signifies the work is below average.
W
Stands for Withdrawal. This is the grade you will receive if you withdraw from
the course after September 3rd but on or before October 29th. 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 October 29th 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.
REPEATING THE COURSE
You may not hand in the same papers you used in a previous semester. If you are repeating
the course, you need to write new versions of the assignments.