| Instructor Information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Name: | Gerald M. Kenney; prefers to be called Jerry. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Office: | Bldg. 6 (LRC) Adjunct Resource Center at the back of the first floor. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hours: | Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00 am - 11:50 am or by special arrangement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Contact: | Preferred method of contact is by e-mail at
gmkenney@mindspring.com. If it is absolutely, positively essential to attempt to contact me by telephone, call me at home - 407-282-0085 - and leave a message if you do not reach me including a contact number and the best time to return the call. Always back up your telephone attempts with e-mail whenever possible. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background: | Jerry Kenney's Personal Web Page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Description | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Catalog Description: | Application of skills learned in ENC 1101. Emphasis on style; use of library; reading and evaluating available sources; planning, writing, and documenting short research paper. Gordon Rule course which requires 6,000 words of writing. Minimum grade of C required if ENC1102 is used to satisfy Gordon Rule and general education requirements. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prerequisites: | Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in ENC 1101 or ENC 1101H or IDH 1110. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gordon Rule: | This is a “Gordon Rule” course which requires 6,000 words of writing. In addition, you must attain a minimum grade of “C” to use ENC 1102 to satisfy your Gordon Rule and general education requirements. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reasonable Accommodations: |
It is the policy of Valencia Community College to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified students with documented disabilities. If you feel that this policy applies to you, please contact the Office for Students with Disabilities. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Expectations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Students are expected to do their own work. Plagiarism and cheating are violations of Valencia Community College policies. Violators of these
policies risk dismissal from this class and possibly from the college.
That said, we must honestly face the problem entailed in writing a research paper of knowing when and how to use knowledge that students do not already have as a result of their life and academic experiences to date. Unless you are already engaged in a field or practice wherein you have experience and expertise that you can call upon in writing a research paper, you probably have very little real knowledge. This is not a problem as long as you recognize it and deal with it appropriately. For the most part, every fact or claim you assert in your paper probably comes from someone else. In some cases, the claim might be the result of your analyzing a body of facts or experiences. One critical element of critical thinking is the ability to sort through claims and assertions, determine where they came from, and acknowledge those sources appropriately. The greatest problem Comp 2 students have is separating what they have summarized from resource material and what they have concluded from analyzing research material. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FBI Warning |
The question you must always ask (and your reviewers must always ask of you) is “How do you know that?” This is the question I will be asking
throughout the term. “How do you know that?” If the answer is that this is what you have concluded, then your writing must say how you came to this conclusion, but
if the answer is that this is background information provided by a research source, you must provide the source and the location of the specific material. Of course, there is a
specific format for doing this, and this is what you will learn this term. Failure to acknowledge the source according to the conventions of the specific academic discourse is plagiarism. In this
course, the discourse is literary, and the conventions we follow are those of the Modern Languages Association (MLA).
We are probably all familiar with the garish red “FBI Warning” on the front of video programs. Although the literary community is a little less coarse than the film industry, the same copyright laws that protect motion picture productions also protect some material published in print or electronically. But the reason to follow the protocols of fair use is not that we fear federal prosecution, but as members of the academic community, we want to protect the validity of our research and our sources. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Academic Discourse | It is my professional belief that correct use of language is relative to the
context or discourse in which it is used. In Comp 2, we will be learning to write in an academic context, and so the level of expectation is that the language will be
appropriate to academia. For most Comp 2 students, this is not a “natural” way to speak, write, or think. Therefore, I encourage you to become aware
the language of literary criticism, to make notes of sentence structure, syntax, vocabulary, and figurative turns. An effective way to become aware of how academics
write and speak is to copy out extensive passages from research sources as part of note taking; some of that material may become useful in your research paper.
Another belief is that language is a physical activity that entails use of the brain plus other organs of expression. Spoken discourse uses, in addition to vocal apparatus, the face, the body, the arms and hands, and the eyes as well as the ears. Reading and writing, which are essentially one, should use the mouth and ears as well as the eyes and hands. Physically language, like any performance activity, requires all of the body to work in concert unconsciously, including the ability to speak and write with correct punctuation. If you have to think about a leap in ballet, you will fall. If you have to think how to catch a pop fly, you will miss. If you have to think how to punctuate a sentence, you will likely get it wrong. The only way to perfect performance in dance, sport, or language is through correct practice until it becomes unconscious. Finally, I believe that writing is a process, not a product, and that the work can always be improved, because it is never finished. Although you may have used the term “pre-writing” to describe those tasks preliminary to a draft, I do not. Gathering information and organizing your thoughts are essential parts of the writing process and not optional tasks. Regardless of the number of drafts a piece of writing may have undergone, it is never too late to gather additional information or to reorganize it as part of a revision. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To attend class promptly, prepared and
ready to learn.
To treat your classmates with the respect each deserves as a human being. To support your classmates with a helpful hand when any of them appears to be in need. To hand all assignments in on time. Of course, things happen, so to protect your grade, here is one emergency late pass to use in the event you miss a deadline for an original (not revised) essay, back-up, or homework assignment. Just open and print the form, fill in the blanks, and attach it to your late assignment. To ask me to explain anything you do not understand and not your neighbor. Raise your hand during class, see me after class, or take advantage of my on-campus office hours. If you have questions while writing, doing research, or homework, use e-mail or the telephone for answers. “I didn't understand” will never be accepted as an excuse. To seek additional help through Valencia's advising or writing lab services when classroom instruction does not seem sufficient for your learning needs. To learn and do the complete process: list points, organize ideas, rough draft, outline, rewrite (second draft), peer reviews, edit, submission draft. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To respect you as an adult
and a student, eager to get on with your college education.
To explain completely and clearly every point critical to your success with English Composition. To show patience whenever you do not understand and to stick with it until you do. To listen attentively to your concerns and to adjust the instructional program as appropriate for your learning. To evaluate your learning progress fairly and frequently and to provide timely feedback. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Your Additional Expectations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I'm interested in what you expect from ENC1102 and from me as your instructor. Send me e-mail and share what want to get out of this course. I will compile your comments and update this section of the syllabus monthly as long as you keep sending them to me. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Materials | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Required: | “Required” means that you have a responsibility
to come to class prepared to work. I will not check up on you to see that you have these materials, but if you
are called on to respond with any of these and you fail to produce, I will deduct points from your work.
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Strongly Recommended: | For your convenience, a small paperback dictionary will be helpful
for use with in-class writing assignments. For convenience at the desktop, I strongly recommend the on-line dictionaries
and thesauruses. They are kept more current and are much easier to use than printed dictionaries. I suggest you look at both
Dictionary.com
and Merriam-Webster OnLine.
To create convenient shortcuts for your Windows applications, place your mouse over these links, right click and select “Copy Shortcut” or “Copy Link Location.” Then right click over your Desktop and select “New” and then select “Shortcut.” Paste the link [Ctrl+V] into the text box labeled “Command Line” or “Type the location of the item:” and label the shortcut accordingly. (I don't know how one does it on a Mac, but the steps should be similar.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Competencies and Evaluation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VCC Competencies: | This syllabus and the course it supports meets specific
VCC educational requirements starting with the VCC Competencies:
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CLAST Competencies: | The College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST)is
required by the State of Florida for everyone aspiring to receive an A.A. degree or to transfer to a
university with 60 or more credits. Under certain circumstances, success in ENC 1102 may exempt you from having
to take the CLAST. Nonetheless, ENC 1102 will prepare you for the following CLAST competencies.
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Final Exam | You will take a final examination designed to measure your knowledge and skills
in the general area of correct academic language usage and fundamental literary concepts including, but not limited to, grammar, literary terminology,
appropriate usage and formats for working with research materials in a formal academic paper. You will take the Final Exam on the last day of class, August 1, 2005. Failure to take the exam will result in an automatic failure of the course. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Policies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
You Must be Here |
This course is one of the foundations for any future academic or vocational career to which you may aspire. It is very
labor intensive — on my part as well as yours. If you miss a session for any reason, you will have missed work that will
be difficult to make up. Because this course runs during a five-week summer session instead of the standard 16-week semester, a great deal of work must be packed into each meeting. In fact, one class meeting is equal to 1.6 class meetings during a regular semester. Therefore, I must hold you to a Two Strike Rule. Because your presence is so vital to your success in this course, there are no excused absences, and two absences (including excessive tardiness) means that I will have to initiate Withdrawal procedures. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tardiness | The Ten Minute Rule - ten minutes late for class or leaving ten minutes before class is dismissed counts as an absence. I will call roll at the beginning of each session until we get to know each other better. After that, I may pass around an attendance sheet. If you enter the classroom after roll call, please do so quietly, and quietly make sure that your presence is noted on my attendance sheet provided you do not violate the ten-minute rule. I encourage coming to class even if you know that you will be later than ten minutes, because the work you might otherwise miss could be more costly than the marked absence. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Withdrawal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The withdrawal deadline for this semester is July 22, 2005. If you withdraw or are withdrawn by the instructor before the deadline, you will receive a W on your transcript. If you withdraw or are withdrawn by the instructor after the deadline you will receive a W/P or W/F depending on your grade at the time of your last class attendance. Withdrawal forms are available in the admissions and must be filed with the records office. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assignments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Words Processed | In the year 2005, when personal computers are almost ubiquitous,
we expect student writing to be produced in a professional manner using appropriate word-processor and printing technology.
If you do not have access to a computer at home, VCC provides access to machines in Computer Labs on all campuses. You can also access
personal computers throughout the Orange County Public Library system, at the UCF library, and possibly places I don't even know about.
Therefore, all homework assignments are to be printed, double-spaced, using an appropriate font (Arial, Helvetica, Times, Courier) at 11 or 12 pt size with at least 1-inch margins on all sides. For the most part, print at least two copies of your work — one to turn in and one to hold on to for further work and revision. I will maintain a portfolio of all turned-in work, but I expect your portfolio to be more complete, because as projects are completed, they will be graded and returned with comments. I will accept no technology-related excuses for work not turned in on time. Back up your work regularly. Save it on both a your hard drive and a floppy disk. Or email it to yourself so it can be saved (within limits) on the network. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reading & Homework | This course includes regular reading assignments, because literature is a major
component of the course and reading is also a major component of writing. Our approach to writing will be to model our work after the successful work of others.
Readings are to be completed before the class session
when they are scheduled. This will be spelled out in detail on the Study Pack and the Schedule. In conjunction with your readings, you will be asked to respond to some of the work you read. Response papers are to be word-processed and handed in at the beginning of the class session for which they are assigned. These and other homework assignments will be scored and counted against your final grade. Assignments not handed in during the first ten-minutes of the class session in which they are due will receive a zero, and that zero will still be counted against your average for that component of the grade. Homework assignments will include other preparatory work toward a finished research paper as well. All homework assignments are due at the beginning of the class session for which they are scheduled. To be complete, all writing assignment, including the research paper, must include all of the preliminary work — topic selection, research notes, bibliography cards, outline, and marked-up preliminary drafts — attached. The preferred form of physical attachment is a staple in the upper left-hand corner. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In-class Work | In addition to homework assignments, a series of in-class writing assignments will also be part of the work in this course. In-class writing assignments can be roughed out on notepad or loose-leaf paper (in blue or black ink), and unless otherwise specified, the finished work must be completed in blue books. All work done in class must be accompanied by your rough work and notes tucked into the blue book. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Extra Credit Work | This semester we will experiment with awarding extra credit for occasional general knowledge questions. The purpose of pursuing these trivial points is to lighten up otherwise intense work sessions and to help make you become more interesting writers and speakers of Standard American English. In addition, performing additional peer reviews and responding to them will also generate extra credit. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grading | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Holistic Scoring |
Valencia Community College follows a holistic rubric to score essays; we will also use a similar rubric to score essays written for this course including
scoring the content of the research paper. Click this link for an overview of the standards used in scoring essays in the Six-Point Scoring Rubric.
The point values of holistic scoring will be translated into percentages to calculate the total grade based on this scale of grade equivalents:
Forty percent (40%) of the grade value of each response papers will be for preliminary work handed in with the final draft: pre-writing questionnaires, peer review comments on early drafts for other class members, and your response to those review comments. The balance of the grade will be determined by the content using the six-point holistic scoring rubric. Response papers that earn a score of 4 or less for content may be revised for a higher score within two weeks of your receiving them back. You cannot improve your grade for the preliminary work simply because once you write the final draft, nothing can be preliminary for that assignment. In addition, occasional quizzes, homework assignments, and in-class participation will all be factored into the final grade as follows:
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| Student Conduct | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal Responsibility |
Attending Valencia Community College is a privilege, not a right. As a registered student, you are expected
to take personal responsibility for your learning and for abiding by the rules of good conduct listed in
the Valencia Student Handbook. Coming to class late or leaving class early are disruptive behaviors in addition
to cheating yourself out of the learning opportunities taking place there. We will review carefully and honestly
the differences between cheating and collaboration, modeling, and research. Cheating, chatting with others during class
instruction, leaving and reentering class are all disruptive behaviors that will not be tolerated. Campus policy regarding food and drinks in the classroom is made clear through posted notices. Absolutely no food (including candy) will be consumed in the classroom. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Helpful Web Links | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
You will find some of these web site particularly helpful for finding your way around the college as well as
for navigating academic discourse and the demands of Comp 2:
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