Syllabus English 1010: Expository Writing Instructor: Dr. Wilt Fall term, 2014 Contact information Required texts & materials Course goals & objectives Basic approach Assignments Assessment and grades Class participation The University Writing Center Online tools for checking English usage Academic integrity Students with disabilities Lottery Scholarships Academic calendar and Withdrawal deadlines Questions Instructor’s contact information Office: AMG 107 Office hours: W: 11:00—12:00; TR 10:30—12:30 plus extended virtual office hours via D2L email Email: Phone: TWilt (“Email” in the blue banner headline → “Compose”, sending to TWilt). Please use only D2L email; do not try to contact me via the general Pipeline email system. D2L email is the surest, quickest way to contact me. I check it practically every day, often several times a day. Do not expect replies to emails from Fri PM through Sunday. 898-5565 (Email is usually a quicker means of contacting me.) Required texts and materials • Bullock, R. The Norton Field Guide to Writing, 3rd ed. NY: Norton. 2013.. Course goals & objectives The main goals of this course is to prepare students to write in English at a satisfactory level for university work, to enhance students’ ability to think critically, and to encourage reflection on values in keeping with MTSU’s mission statement In keeping with these general goals, we will have these objectives as stated by the department for English 1010. Students will learn or improve their ability to • generate a writing plan with informed writing objectives, • draw writing content from experience, imagination, and outside resources, • analyze & synthesize different kinds of texts and material, • view writing as a process, • analyze their writing strengths and weaknesses, • develop a thesis clearly with a variety of supporting evidence, in different expository genres, • adapt their writing to audience and purpose, • integrate and document primary sources accurately, • vary the structure and length of sentences and paragraphs, • with grammatical competence and use conventional spelling. Basic approach Your written work throughout the semester will consist of  4-5 major essays or writing projects of various genres (70% of grade), length depending on the project with a normal range of 1000-1200 words;  Daily assignments: quizzes, in-class work, outside work related to essays, etc. (30% of grade), Tentative Schedule Weeks Unit Focus Chapter in textbook 1-3 Reporting Information 9 4-6 Profile 16 7-9 Compare & Contrast 34-35 10-12 Evaluation 13 13-15 Résumés & Job Letters 19 More detailed schedules of classroom activities and assignments will be posted on your D2L homepage as a News item. Students are responsible for checking the D2L course page regularly so that they can know what the assignments are and when the ...

1. Syllabus
English 1010: Expository Writing
Instructor: Dr. Wilt
Fall term, 2014
Contact information
Required texts & materials
Course goals & objectives
Basic approach
Assignments
Assessment and grades
Class participation
The University Writing Center
Online tools for checking English usage
Academic integrity
Students with disabilities
Lottery Scholarships
Academic calendar and Withdrawal deadlines
Questions
Instructor’s contact information
Office: AMG 107
Office hours:

2. W: 11:00—12:00; TR 10:30—12:30
plus extended virtual office hours via
D2L email
Email:
Phone:
TWilt
(“Email” in the blue banner headline →
“Compose”, sending to TWilt). Please use
only D2L email; do not try to contact me
via the general Pipeline email system.
D2L email is the surest, quickest way to
contact me. I check it practically every
day, often several times a day. Do not
expect replies to emails from Fri PM
through Sunday.
898-5565 (Email is usually a quicker
means of contacting me.)
Required texts and materials
• Bullock, R. The Norton Field Guide to Writing, 3rd ed. NY:
Norton. 2013..

3. Course goals & objectives
The main goals of this course is to prepare students to write in
English at a satisfactory level for university
work, to enhance students’ ability to think critically, and to
encourage reflection on values in keeping with
MTSU’s mission statement
In keeping with these general goals, we will have these
objectives as stated by the department for English
1010. Students will learn or improve their ability to
• generate a writing plan with informed writing objectives,
• draw writing content from experience, imagination, and
outside resources,
• analyze & synthesize different kinds of texts and material,
• view writing as a process,
• analyze their writing strengths and weaknesses,
• develop a thesis clearly with a variety of supporting evidence,
in different expository genres,
• adapt their writing to audience and purpose,
• integrate and document primary sources accurately,
• vary the structure and length of sentences and paragraphs,
• with grammatical competence and use conventional spelling.
Basic approach
Your written work throughout the semester will consist of
-5 major essays or writing projects of various genres (70%

4. of grade), length depending on the
project with a normal range of 1000-1200 words;
-class work, outside work
related to essays, etc. (30% of grade),
Tentative Schedule
Weeks Unit Focus Chapter in textbook
1-3 Reporting Information 9
4-6 Profile 16
7-9 Compare & Contrast 34-35
10-12 Evaluation 13
13-15 Résumés & Job Letters 19
More detailed schedules of classroom activities and assignments
will be posted on your D2L homepage as
a News item. Students are responsible for checking the D2L
course page regularly so that they can know
what the assignments are and when they are due and so that they
can see any outside-of-class
communications from the teacher concerning the assignments.
“I did not know” is an unacceptable
excuse for work not done in keeping with requirements &
guidelines.
Classes will often have a workshop format and daily
assignments will include a variety of writing and
reading exercises. As in most classes, one should expect to do at
least two hours of outside work for each
hour of class.
There may be virtual classes in which work and communication
will be via the web rather than in the
physical classroom. If a student does not do the work for a

5. virtual class by the time it is due, s/he will be
considered absent for that class period as well as penalized in
keeping with the policy for late work.
Assignments
Essays/writing projects (70% of final grade). The essays or
writing projects will involve writing 1000-1200
words (about two, single-spaced pages). Some or all of these
projects may involve incorporating non-
verbal material. Class discussions, in-class writing, and out-of-
class assignments will provide guidance
and material for these projects. An important draft or a final
version of each writing project may be done
in class and the grade may be primarily based on this text
although there may be an opportunity to revise
the texts for the sake of improving writing skills and grades.
Daily assignments (30% of final grade). Throughout the
semester, you will have in-class and graded
homework assignments related to the major projects or related
to more general writing concerns such as
grammar and style. In-class work will frequently be graded.
Those absent when graded in-class work is
done will receive a “0” for that assignment as well as being
counted as absent. Some assignments may be
weighted two or three times more than others, depending on the
relative effort expected in working on
them.. For example, an assignment for which virtual class time
is given may be weighted twice as much as
a regular homework assignment. Quizzes cannot be taken after
the deadline posted in the assignment
schedule on the home page; this is because they are often

6. discussed in the first class after they are due.
Presentation of work. Most graded assignments done outside of
class are submitted via D2L. The unit
schedule on the homepage will tell you whether an assignment
should be submitted via Dropbox or
Discussions. You will also be doing much in-class writing so
should come to every class with writing
materials.
Spell and grammar checks should always be done before
presenting an assignment. MLA, APA, or Chicago
style should be followed (models are given in our textbook, at
MTSU’s library site, and at Purdue’s Online
Writing Lab).
All assignments should be formatted as follows unless there are
special instructions to the contrary:
-processing
formats such as Notepad or Wordpad are
unacceptable.
-spaced. DO NOT DOUBLE-SPACE !
12.
o not bother adding information like
“English 1020, Dr. Wilt”. Other teachers may want you to
add this, especially if they ask for hard copies of papers.
• Title of essay centered and in bold on first line;
• Your name centered on a separate line, with one blank

7. line between the title and it and one blank line between it
and the first line of your introduction;
• If there is a Works Cited, separate the title “Works Cited”
(centered, in bold) from the last line of your essay by one
blank line. Insert another blank line after the title, then
list the references single-spaced. Do not put the Works
Cited on a separate page! This practice is in keeping
with practically all academic journals and magazines.
(However, some teachers still ask for a separate page.)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
• The name for files submitted in the Dropbox or attached to a
Discussion Board entry should have
your last name followed by a brief description of the
assignment, for example:
o Smith article review
o Johnson Essay 1
Failure to respect any of these requirements may result in not
receiving credit for your work. You should of
course keep copies of all assignments, on a removable medium
as well as on the hard drive. Computer,
printer, or email problems will not be considered a valid excuse
for late or incomplete work.
Assessment and grades

8. Percentage grades will be assigned in keeping with the scale
used to calculate the final grade:
A 90-100
The work is in keeping with all requirements and guidelines.
The work indicates good effort, analysis,
understanding, and communication skills.
B 80-89 Work is in general good but could have been further
improved by more careful attention to all
requirements and guidelines, by more in-depth analysis or
support, or by improved style
(organization, grammar, etc.).
C 73-79 Work indicates minimally satisfactory analysis or
understanding and/or minimal care/skill in
communicating about it. Often, grades in this range indicate
that at least one important requirement
or guideline was not followed or that considerable work on
basic writing skills is needed.
C- 65-72
F 50-64 There is some indication that the pertinent material was
considered but the analysis or understanding
appears far from satisfactory or the manner of presentation does
not merit a passing grade.
Requirements and guidelines were not followed to the degree
expected of university students.
0 0 Work is not handed in within the acceptable range of time or
not in keeping with the assignment’s
requirements and guidelines.

9. The final grade for the whole semester will be an A, B, C, C-, F
or N. In keeping with MTSU policy, “D” is
not given as a final grade in English 1009, 1010 or 1020.
Explanation of “N”. N=“No grade”. Students taking the course
for the first time, doing all the required work, but
not achieving at least a “C” for the final grade will receive an
“N”. This will keep the GPA from lowering although the
student will need to retake the course. Students taking the
course for the first time who do not do all the work will
receive an “F” unless they have withdrawn from the course
before one of the “W” deadlines. Students retaking the
course who do not do satisfactory work will receive an “F”.
If you are struggling with this or other courses, it is important
to be aware of the withdrawal deadlines.
Late assignments. Five percentage points will be deducted for
assignments handed in after the due date
but before the next scheduled class meeting. Ten percentage
points will be deducted if the assignment is
not received by the next class but is handed in before one week
from the due date. After one week, no
credit can be received for the assignment and a grade of “0”
will be given. University-sanctioned absences
are not considered a valid excuse for handing work in late since
you can submit the work electronically
before you leave for the activity or while you are away.
Grades are given only for assigned work. There are no extra
credit possibilities. Grades are not negotiable.
If I have made a mistake in entering a grade, I am of course

10. glad to have this pointed out and to change
the grade in your favor. The lowest two dailly assignment
grades will not be counted.
Class participation
Students are expected to
• attend class regularly,
• bring to each class the materials required for active
participation (writing materials and texts that
are being considered during the unit),
• alertly follow classroom presentations and discussions,
• diligently work on in-class exercises,
• interact thoughtfully, civilly, and appropriately with other
students and the teacher.
Good classroom participation, including active listening as well
as thoughtful speech, contributes to a
positive learning environment, benefiting both the individual
and the other students.
In general, the more regularly and attentively students attend
and participate in class, the better they do.
Those with excessive absences are unlikely to pass the course
and late arrivals are a distraction to the
learning environment. To encourage a positive learning
environment, attendance and participation will
influence the final grade as follows.
Absences in terms
of class hours*

11. Percentage points
for final grade**
0-3 +2
4-6 +/-0
7-8 -2
9-10 -5
>10 -10
*As stated below, tardiness or inappropriate classroom behavior
may result in being counted as a
partial or full absence.
** Positive percentage points are awarded if the teacher views
the student as having regularly
contributed to positive classroom dynamics (alertness,
participation, etc.)
Late arrivals to class. Coming to class up to five minutes late
(after attendance has been taken and a
classroom activity has begun) counts as an absence of half a
class hour. Coming to class more than five
minutes late counts as an absence of a class hour. In general, a
person may come to class more than five
minutes late only twice; after that, they will need to miss the
class rather than be more than five minutes
late. (Exceptional cases should be discussed with the teacher
ahead of time.)
Courtesy and consideration of other students and of the teacher
is expected. This includes:
ee preceding paragraph);

12. unrelated ones);
devices for translation tools);
ectronic devices turned off & put away (no excuses)
unless their use is explicitly allowed or
requested by the teacher;
ts of classroom policy as stated
in “Civility in the Classroom,” at the
English department’s web page.
http://www.mtsu.edu/english/forstudents/classpolicy.shtml
Not complying with these standards during a class may result in
being counted as late or absent (two lates
= one absence). At the teacher’s discretion, a student may be
asked to leave class for what the teacher
views to be disruptive behavior and may not be allowed back
until receiving permission from Student
Judicial Affairs to do so.
If you miss a class, do not write to me to ask about what you
missed. Contact one of your classmates so that
you can get notes & info from them and, importantly, check the
D2L homepage for updates and assignments.
The only excused absences are for official university activities
or for military duty if an official letter

13. concerning the absence is given to the teacher . If you find that
you are missing many classes due to
sickness, funerals, transportation problems, etc., you are
probably better off dropping out for the
semester and returning when conditions are more favorable for
study. You do not need to show me
medical reports or any other materials related to absences since
you will still be counted as absent if the
reason is for anything other than an official university absence.
The University Writing Center
The University Writing Center offers
“free writing assistance for any assignment
for any class.”. The tutors here can be a
great help as you work on your writing.
Online tools for checking English usage
Have you read or heard an expression in English whose meaning
you would like to check? There are of
course translation sites and good dictionaries (Merriam-
Webster, Oxford English Dictionary). But these
give very limited if any examples of actual usage. A very
helpful tool, especially for speakers of other
languages who are learning English, is the Corpus of
Contemporary American English and the British
National Corpus where you can see how an expression is used in
a wide variety of contexts (examples
taken from conversations, magazines, journals books).
Academic Integrity
Learning to use source material responsibly will be a focus of
this class. In your compositions and
presentations, you must give credit for text, ideas, and images

14. that did not originate with you. Your
handbook distinguishes between unintentional and intentional
plagiarism. Unintentional plagiarism, or
misuse of sources, is a “teaching moment”; intentional
plagiarism—such as downloading a paper, having
someone else write your essay, or cutting-and-pasting with no
acknowledgement of the source—is a form
of academic misconduct.
I am required to report all instances of academic misconduct to
the Provost’s Office. See the MTSU
student handbook for an explanation as well as the possible
consequences of engaging in academic
misconduct. In this class, sanctions range from a mandatory
rewrite for partial credit to an F in the course.
The Provost’s Office may impose additional sanctions such as
probation or suspension. To avoid such
penalties, always do your own work and ask for help when you
are using source material. You can get help
in class, during my office hours, at the University Writing
Center, from a librarian, or online at Purdue’s
OWL.
A “Plagiarism Detection Device” will be used for drafts
submitted to the Dropbox.
http://www.mtsu.edu/uwc/index.php
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
http://oxforddictionaries.com/
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca
http://www.corpus.byu.edu/bnc
http://www.corpus.byu.edu/bnc

15. Students with disabilities
ADA accommodation requests (temporary or permanent) are
determined only by Disabled Student
Services. Students are responsible for contacting the Disabled
Student Services Office at 898-2783 to
obtain ADA and for providing the instructor with the
Accommodation Letter from Disabled Student
Services.
Lottery Scholarships
Do you have a lottery scholarship? To retain the Tennessee
Education Lottery Scholarship eligibility, you
must earn a cumulative TELS GPA of 2.75 after 24 and 48
attempted hours and a cumulative TELS GPA of
3.0 thereafter. A grade of C, D, F, FA, or I in this class may
negatively impact TELS eligibility. If you drop
this class, withdraw, or if you stop attending this class you may
lose eligibility for your lottery
scholarship, and you will not be able to regain eligibility at a
later time. For additional Lottery rules,
please refer to your Lottery Statement of Understanding form or
contact your MT One Stop Enrollment
Counselor.
Academic calendar & deadlines for withdrawal from a course
August
September
October
November

16. December
December
24
6
7
10-13
28
29
25-28
2
3
4-10
Classes Begin
Last day to drop with no grade; after the 6th, a “W” ” will be
given if class is dropped.*
Labor Day Holiday - No Classes
Fall Break - No Classes
Last Day to Drop classes or withdraw completely with a
Grade of “W” on RaiderNet
Students withdrawing from ALL classes beginning today
should complete online
withdrawal form via RaiderNet.
Thanksgiving Holidays - No classes
Last Day of Classes
Study Day - No Classes
Final exams

17. * The Withdrawal website gives important contact, process, &
policy information. As stated there, dropping
classes can have consequences for financial aid, health and
personal insurance, campus Housing, veterans
benefits, and subsidized housing.
Questions?
Questions particular to this course? Email me.
Questions about D2L in general ? Click the “?” icon on the
blue banner bar for a general introduction to
D2L and to the tools that we will be using in this course.
Questions about problems particular to your use of D2L or other
electronic tools? Contact the IT Help
Desk: 615-898-5345 or [email protected] For example: “I can’t
upload/download/read a posted
document.”
Questions concerning library use ? Go to their website and click
“Library Help”, or call 898-2817. On our
course’s homepage, a link to the library is in the top, upper-left
hand corner.
http://www.mtsu.edu/financial-aid/forms/LOTFOD.pdf
http://www.mtsu.edu/one-stop/counselor.php
http://www.mtsu.edu/one-stop/counselor.php
http://www.mtsu.edu/withdraw/
mailto:[email protected]SyllabusClass participationInstructor’s
contact informationRequired texts and materialsCourse goals &

18. objectivesAssignmentsThe University Writing CenterAcademic
IntegrityStudents with disabilities
· after reading, answer:
· Does it make sense to you that companies who prioritize
employee job satisfaction tend to be more profitable?
· IF so, why don't more companies focus on making their
employees happy?
· What is something YOU will do differently as an employee
and/or manager based on the information in this article (and the
textbook)? Be SPECIFIC and CREATIVE!!
THE PROOF IS IN THE PROFITS: AMERICA'S HAPPIEST
COMPANIES MAKE MORE MONEY
WORKPLACE HAPPINESS MAY SEEM LIKE A FUZZY
CONCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO FINANCIAL VALUE. BUT
AS THE PARNASSUS WORKPLACE FUND HAS PROVEN,
DIGNITY HAS—AND CREATES—VALUE.
BY MARK C. CROWLEY
"Goodness is the only investment that never fails." —Henry
David Thoreau
Every year around this time, a new edition of the "100 Best
Companies To Work For" is released, and employers deemed to
have the happiest and most satisfied workersare heartily
celebrated by the media.
What’s perplexing about all this fanfare, of course, is that we
know most workplaces in the U.S. aren’t at all that good in
sustaining employee morale. Gallup’s announcement a few
months ago that only 19% of American workers are fully
engaged in their jobs sufficiently validates this. It also suggests
that few organizations have made it a priority to learn and
model the leadership practices known to produce high employee
contentment.
The question needing to be asked is whether or not we fully
believe there’s a direct connection between having happy

19. workers and improved profitability.
At this point, the evidence suggests many of us remain
suspicious of any firm that, say, allows its employees to play
foosball or shoot hoops during work hours. But our enduring
cynicism may also have its roots in traditional beliefs about
leadership effectiveness. Many of us have been taught that it’s
actually desirable to have some worker unhappiness. The idea is
that keeping people under some constant tension actually is a
more powerful driver of productivity. There’s also the concern
that when employees are cared for to any extent they’re likely
to get soft in the middle—so sufficiently sated that motivation
to work hard and produce is spoiled.
One person who may have the answer is Jerome Dodson, the
founder in 1984 of Parnassus Investments. Since April 2005,
Dodson has held the additional role of portfolio manager for
the Parnassus Workplace Fund, a mutual fund that invests
exclusively in large American firms proven to have outstanding
workplaces.
"The idea of creating a fund that only invested in organizations
where employees were really happy," Dodson told me recently,
"was brought to me a decade or so ago by a journalist
named Milton Moskowitz." In 1998, Moskowitz and his
associate Robert Levering (cofounder of the ) oversaw the
production of the first "Best Companies To Work For" list ever
published in Fortune magazine.
"He told me that the Russell Investments, publishers of the
Russell 2000 Index, had performed an investment return
analysis of all the "100 Best Companies To Work For" and
proved it was phenomenal and much better than the S&P Index,
one of the most commonly used benchmarks for the overall U.S.
stock market. So, Moskowitz said, 'Why don’t you start a fund
like this?'"
Initially, Dodson, a Harvard Business School graduate, was
resistant and told Moskowitz directly, "It’s a little different
using real money compared to doing an analysis on a
hypothetical basis." But soon after their conversation, Dodson

20. said, "the idea struck a chord in me because I’d always felt that
having a happy workforce really meant a much better business
as an investment. But until then I had no way of proving it."
To get the fund going, Dodson and his firm invested $600,000
and solicited investors in other Parnassus funds to contribute
more. In the first few years, with no track record of
performance to draw on, along with an unproven premise, the
fund grew very slowly.
TREATING PEOPLE WELL AND AUTHENTICALLY
RESPECTING THEM DOES LEAD TO FAR BETTER
BUSINESS PERFORMANCE. WE PROVED IT
WORKS.Dodson spent his time scouring the country for
companies that had built solid reputations for treating
employees with profound respect and which supported them
through ongoing training and personal development. To quote
Moskowitz, they were the kinds of firms that "genuinely cared
about their employees as people, not just hired hands."
Other important characteristics of the firms Dodson inevitably
selected: they provided some meaningful form of profit sharing,
health care, and retirement benefits while also being especially
supportive of working mothers. He found many of these firms
amongst the "100 Best Companies To Work For" list and
discovered others that had never submitted the documentation to
be officially considered an outstanding workplace. Ultimately,
he chose companies like Intel, Google, Charles Schwab,
Microsoft, and Gilead Sciences and then waited to see how they
would all perform.
America's 50 Most Innovative Companies
Get inspired by Fast Company's annual guide to the businesses
whose innovations have the great impact across their industries
and our culture as a whole.
To Dodson—and Moskowitz’s—delight, the Parnassus
Workplace Fund proved immediately, enormously, and
enduringly successful. Since the fund’s inception (April 2005-
January 2013) it’s had a 9.63% annualized return. This
compares to the S&P Index which has earned just 5.58% during

21. the same period. "Our fund has had returns over 4% better than
the S&P Index every year," Dodson noted. "Eight years later,
the performance of the fund confirms what I’ve always
believed. Treating people well and authentically respecting
them does lead to far better business performance. We proved it
works."
Another compelling statistic buried in the Parnassus prospectus:
Over the past five years—the height of the Great Recession—
the average annual return on the Workplace Fund was an
incredible 10.81%. The S&P Index for the same period was just
3.97%, a 6.84% difference. Dodson believes the wide gap in
performance is easily explained: "I think what happens when
you have a contented workplace, people are willing to put out
more effort to improve operations during really difficult times.
While I think every organization has their ups and downs, the
downs are not as pronounced because everybody pulls together
to try to get through the crisis. And, of course, this consistently
more engaged performance inevitably reveals itself in the firm’s
bottom line."
After five years, investments in the Workplace Fund had grown
to $80 million. Today, less than 3 years later, balances have
ballooned to over $300 million. As reported by rating agency
Morningstar, the fund also ranks highest in shareholder return
compared to 1,303 other peer funds.
According to a 1997 article in the San Francisco Chronicle,
many business leaders dismissed Moskowitz’s earliest list of
"Best Places To Work" and derided it as being "a ’beauty
contest’ that didn’t matter to anyone outside of corporate
personnel departments." But Moskowitz, and soon after,
Dodson, have gone on to prove that the leaders at organizations
which ensure employees feel valued, supported, developed, and
rewarded are the most enlightened. They inspire a greatly
expanded bottom line and set an example for all to follow in
this 21st century