This document provides the syllabus for an English 101 writing course. It outlines the course requirements, assignments, grading policies, and schedule. The major assignments include essays in various modes of writing such as process, illustration, cause and effect, classification and division, comparison and contrast, and argument. Students will write a total of 9 essays and compile a final portfolio at the end of the semester. Class participation, homework assignments, and multiple drafts are required. The course aims to help students improve their writing skills through practice, feedback, and revision over the course of the semester.

1. ENGLISH 101 P3: WRITING I
TUESDAY/THURSDAY 11:00 – 12:20 AM
BALDY 107
Instructor: Matthew A. Zebehazy, Adjunct Instructor
Office: Clemens 305
E-Mail: zebehazy@buffalo.edu
Office Hours: Thursday, 1:30 – 3:30 PM; ABA
Mailbox: Located outside the English Graduate Office, Clemens 302
Res quanto est maior tanto est insidiosior. (The bigger the undertaking, the trickier it is.)
-- Syrus, Maxims
Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. (The mountain groaned loudly in great labour, then bore a tiny mouse.)
-- Horace, Ars Poetica, 9
Mandare quemqueam litteris cogitations suas, qui eas nec disponere nec illustrare possit nec delectatione aliqua
adlicere lectorem, hominis est intemperanter abutentis et otio et litteris. (To write without clarity and charm is a
miserable waste of time and ink.)
-- Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, I, 2, 4
[All Latin quotes from Latin Quips at Your Fingertips: Witty Latin Sayings by Wise Romans by Rose Williams,
Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 2001, pages XXVI, LXVIII, LXXXIII.]
From small things, mamma, big things one day come.
-- Bruce Springsteen, From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come), The Essential Bruce Springsteen, Disc 3
This is a workshop course in writing in which class activities are essential to your development as a writer. In class
activities will include discussion, debate, written and oral responses, freewriting, and peer review. The success of the
course, and your successful performance in it, depends upon your participation and contributions, both spoken and
written. Therefore, you will write a lot and be given numerous opportunities to make writing a passion. Someday
you will be better writers than you are now. However, even the most accomplished writers are never truly finished
with their works; their writing is constantly changing and being tinkered with. That is what your job will be for this
course – to be able to start tinkering with your writing, using the tools that you will discover with guidance from me.
This will be a labor intensive undertaking, which will start out small and get bigger (and better) as we progress
through the semester. This is a tricky undertaking which will leave you dissatisfied and frustrated. However, from
that initial feeling of angst will come a feeling of accomplishment and success as you improve your skills
throughout the semester.
Texts: In the bookstore
 Handbook: Muriel Harris’ fifth edition of Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage (with
required dictionary and thesaurus)
 Readings: David Madden’s A Pocketful of Essays, volume II: Thematically Arranged
Supplies:
 A good dictionary, which I have included with the handbook. These are available in the bookstore.
 A full-sized notebook for writing assignments in class, OR a 3 ring binder with looseleaf paper.
 A sturdy folder in which you keep all your work for the class AND a disk on which you save all your writing
(including multiple drafts).
 A pocket folder in which you put the cover letter, drafts and final version of each assignment when you hand it
in.
Note: Save all the writing you do during the semester. You can clear your files in December. Until then, you
never know what may prove to be useful during a revision. If you compose and revise on a computer, periodically
print out (or save on disk) versions of your draft so that you have a record of its process. Keep a copy for yourself
(either on disk or a hard copy) of all major assignments handed in to me. In addition, keep all drafts on which you
have received comments from me or your classmates. I will want all of these reviewed drafts at the end of the
semester when I am evaluating your portfolios.
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2. Course Requirements and Grading Policy
This is a workshop course in writing in which class activities are essential to your development as a writer; in class
activities will include discussion, debate, written and oral responses, freewriting, peer review, and paper workshops
(critiquing and editing of your papers). The success of the course, and your successful performance in it, depends
upon your participation and contributions, both spoken and written.
UB uses a lettered grading policy, A - F, including + and - grades. Your final grade will be calculated according to
the following breakdown: Please refer to the handouts on grading for specifics.
An incomplete grade may only be given to students who have (1) fulfilled the attendance requirement for the
course and (2) completed all but one of the written assignments.
Engagement: 10%
Participation begins with attendance. Both absences and tardiness will affect this portion of your grade. You are
allowed two absences without penalty. A third absence will result in the reduction of this portion (Engagement) of
your grade by a full letter grade. [An A will become a B.] A fourth absence will result in the reduction of your final
grade by a full letter grade. [A B will become a C.] A fifth absence can result in a failing grade for the course.
Although the advice "Better late than never" should be heeded (you will learn by being present), arrival in class
more than 10 minutes after it begins will be considered an absence, and these will count against the total number of
absences you are allowed for this class.
*You are responsible for contacting me or a fellow class member if you miss a class, and you are expected to be
fully prepared for the next class session. This should not be a problem since everything covered in class is posted to
Blackboard on a daily basis. Further, I check my e-mail once per day, at a minimum. I know that sickness happens,
accidents happen, bad weather happens, computer problems happen, over-sleeping happens, family crises happen,
the bus never comes ... that's what the two excused absences are for. Save them for these kinds of emergencies.
Your engagement grade will also reflect the quality and thoughtfulness of your contributions in class, respect shown
to class members, your attitude and role in small group exercises, and evidence given of completion of reading
assignments. Preparation for, attitude toward, and involvement in our individual conferences count here, too.
Please note that many in-class writing exercises assume (and depend upon) your having read the assigned material.
Review your syllabus frequently, and plan your workload accordingly.
Major Assignments: 70%
Cover Letters, Letters of Response, and Homework: 10%
Essays are due at the beginning of class on the date due. Late essays are subject to having their final grade reduced
1/3 grade for each day late. [An A becomes an A- and an A- becomes a B+ on the second day late.] Don't test me on
this. And don't make it a habit. Absence from class on the date due does not excuse the lateness of your assignment.
Allow plenty of time for printing your essay in the computer lab, and/or keep an extra printer ribbon/ink cartridge
handy at home. If you are absent on a day when a paper is due, please submit it either through a friend in the class or
the Electronic Dropbox on Blackboard. These are the only methods that will prevent the paper from being
considered late and accruing late penalties.
All essays handed in to me are to be typed/word-processed. Use a reasonable font (usually 12 point Times New
Roman), double-spaced, with 1 inch margins. Be sure that you print on only one side of the page. Each essay to be
graded will be accompanied by a cover letter, minimum one page, detailing your writing process for that particular
piece and the essay's evolution, along with your assessment of the successful and less successful aspects of the
essay. Please be sure that these do not become formulaic. Consider each paper independently of the others. I will
not grade essays that are hand-written or lack a cover letter, and the assignment will accrue late penalties until it
satisfies this requirement.
Essays will be evaluated for: quality (including technical and mechanical elements); command of voice, tone, and a
sense of audience; the degree to which they satisfy the given assignment; and the development they demonstrate
from earlier efforts or original drafts. Please refer to the handouts on grading for more information.
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3. Assignments submitted more than one week late will receive an F. However, you must complete all nine major
essay assignments and submit a complete final portfolio in order to earn a passing grade for the course.
Major assignments will be graded using the A - F scale. At times, I may assign you a grade of R, requesting a
revision of the piece before I formally grade it. You always have the right to revise your assignment for a higher
grade, and you may revise it as many times as you like, but I strongly encourage you to meet with me to discuss the
nature of the revisions you will make. All revisions of essays for a higher grade (accompanied by the original graded
essay) are due to me no later than Monday, November 18. We will use the last two weeks of class to workshop
essays and to develop writing portfolios. The writing portfolio will include three final revisions of earlier essays.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is using another person's words and ideas as though they were your own. It is easy to avoid
plagiarism: simply put the material you have taken from someone else's writing in quotation marks and cite the
person's name and publication in your paper. Plagiarism is a serious offense which can result in expulsion from the
University. A paper which contains any plagiarized material at all will receive an F; two such plagiarized papers will
result in the student receiving an F for the course. (Note: plagiarism is not restricted to the use of published work;
the passing of another student's work as your own is also a case of plagiarism.) Further, according to Student
Conduct Rules, University Standards and Administrative Regulations (August, 2003) plagiarism is defined as
“copying or receiving material from a source or sources and submitting this material as one’s own without
acknowledging the particular debts to the source (quotations, paraphrases, basic ideas), or otherwise representing the
work of another as one’s own” (p. 2).
End of Term Portfolio: 10%
Your portfolio consists of all writing submitted in this course: rough drafts, graded drafts, and writing especially
revised for the portfolio reviews (see the schedule). The end-of-semester portfolio will include a midterm and final
autobiography of yourself as a writer and final revisions of three of the major assignments. The nature of these
revisions will be discussed in class.
WARNING
Please do not stop coming to class without contacting me as soon as possible. The more you miss, the less likely it is
that you will do well in this class. Please remember that a third absence negatively impacts your Engagement grade
and any absences after that negatively impact your final grade. Also, do not, under any circumstances, decide not to
turn in any assignments until the middle of the semester. I will not tolerate this and will be forced to take
disciplinary action.
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4. TR Schedule
DATE ACTIVITIES/ASSIGNMENTS
T Aug 31 Syllabus overview. Brief review of eight parts of speech plus run-ons and fragments. In-class
writing: The title of my autobiography would be … because … Essay #1: Process intro. Topic:
How to X. Explain a unique or weird talent you have OR Describe a skill you learned from
someone whom you admire. Assigned readings: “Those Crazy Ideas” (p. 132) and “My Daily
Dives in the Dumpster” (p. 88).
R Sep 2 Readings discussed. Lesson on paragraphs and thesis statements. Essay #1 workshop.
T Sep 5 Process due. Lesson on critical reading. Essay #2: Illustration and Example intro. Topic: My first
experience of race/class/gender discrimination OR Times when I hate my country/disagree with
the government. Assigned readings: “On Holidays and How to Make Them Work” (p. 159) and
“University Days” (p. 40).
R Sep 9 Readings discussed. Lesson on passive and active voice plus prepositions. Illustration and
Example workshop.
T Sep 14 Illustration and Example due. Lesson on responding to literature and cover letters. Essay #3:
Cause and Effect #1 intro. Topic: If x happens, then y will result because of z. Assigned readings:
“A Nation of Welfare Families (p. 100), “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs”
(p. 141), and “The Human Cost of An Illiterate Society” (p. 49).
R Sep 16 Readings discussed. Lesson on comma usage and splices. Cause and Effect #1 workshop.
T Sep 21 Cause and Effect #1 due. Lesson on consistency, sentence variety and themes. Essay #4: Cause
and Effect #2 started in class. Topic: Decided by class brainstorm.
R Sep 23 Lesson on summarizing and outlining. Cause and Effect #2 workshop
T Sep 28 Cause and Effect #2 due. Lesson on agreement and modifiers. Essay #5: Classification and
Division intro. Topic: Lies or Greed. Assigned readings: “Territorial Behavior” (p. 80), “”Mother
Tongue” (p. 59),and “Friends, Good Friends – and Such Good Friends” (p. 120).
R Sep 30 Quiz 1: Grammar and Mechanics. Readings discussed. Letter of self-evaluation #1 discussed.
Classification and Division#1 workshop.
T Oct 5 Classification and Division#1 due. Lesson on writing for a specific audience. Essay #6:
Classification and Division #2 started in class. Topic: Open to class brainstorm.
R Oct 7 Lesson on the apostrophe and faulty parallelism. Classification and Division workshop.
T Oct 12 No class. Midterm Conferences. Bring letter of self-evaluation with you.
R Oct 14 No class. Midterm Conferences. Bring letter of self-evaluation with you.
T Oct 19 Classification and Division due. Grammar reviewed until last day. Essay # 7: Comparison and
Contrast intro. Topic: Compare and contrast gender approaches to a given activity or ritual.
Assigned readings: “The Tapestry of Friendships” (p. 124) and “Two Views of the Mississippi”
(p. 70)
R Oct 21 Readings discussed. Comparison and Contrast workshop. (Oct. 22: Resign date for continuing
students)
T Oct 26 Comparison and Contrast #1 due. Revision Workshop #1.
R Oct 28 Quiz 2: A Smattering of What We’ve Learned. Revision Workshop #2.
T Nov 2 Essay #8: Comparison and Contrast #2 started in class. Topic: Then and Now. Assigned reading:
“Talk in the Intimate Relationship: His and Hers” (p. 5).
R Nov 4 Comparison and Contrast #2 workshop.
T Nov 9 Comparison and Contrast #2 due. Essay #9: Argument intro. Dear Matt letters explained.
Assigned readings: “None of this is Fair” (p. 45) and “Letter from Birmingham Jail in Response to
Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen” (p. 104).
R Nov 11 Readings discussed. Argument topics brainstormed. Dear Matt letters due at end of class. (Nov
12: Extended resign date for first-semester students)
T Nov 16 Argument essays started in class.
R Nov 18 Quiz 3: Modes. Argument essay conferences. Final day to turn in revisions for a higher grade.
T Nov 23 Argument workshop.
R Nov 25 THANKSGIVING
T Nov 30 Argument essay due. Letter of self-evaluation #2 discussed and started in class.
R Dec 2 Portfolio setup and review.
T Dec 7 Portfolio setup and review.
R Dec 9 Final portfolios due to me in my office no later than 3:30 PM.
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