Composition I

Description: In this course, you will learn how to write effectively for a variety of audiences and in a variety of forms so that you will be better prepared to identify and work across the writing contexts that you’ll encounter in your college courses and, even, outside of them (e.g., in your job). You will learn to identify and effectively address an audience, to conduct research and engage with source material, as well as planning and revision strategies. To offer you a way into these processes and to deepen your relationship to them, you will be asked to choose a major communal, social, cultural, and/or economic issue connected to a place or community that is meaningful to you and explore it through a variety of exercises. In the end, you will produce a research-based persuasive paper in which you construct and weigh in on an informed conversation about the issue you’ve selected and that calls readers to respond in some way to the issue. In total, you will have produced 5,000 words of finished prose.

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

  1. Compose college-level writing, including but not limited to, academic discourse that achieves a specific purpose and responds adeptly to an identifiable audience.
  2. Provide evidence of effective strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading a text in order to produce finished prose.
  3. Compose an argument that makes use of source material that is relevant and credible and that is integrated in accordance with an appropriate style guide.

 

This is a textbook-free course. Please check Laulima for all course readings.

 

Laulima: Course materials (syllabus, schedule of assignments, assignment guidelines, articles, etc.) can be found in the “Resources” section on our Laulima site. You are responsible for downloading or printing out any materials for that day’s class from Laulima. You are also responsible for checking Laulima AND your UH Mānoa email before coming to class for any announcements or changes to the syllabus or office hours.

 

Assignments: Completion of all assignments is mandatory in order to receive a passing grade. Failure to complete all assignments will result in an automatic failing grade (F) for the course.

Each assignment will have an assignment sheet and rubric to explain guidelines and point breakdown.

 

  • Participation (100 points): All students are expected to attend class and engage with the course content, material lessons, and in conversation/discussion with peers. Those who arrive unprepared will have participation points deducted. This includes all in-class work, such as writing exercises, peer-review, group work/discussion, etc.

 

  • Try-Angle (150 points): Using Laulima’s “Discussion” section, you will post responses to weekly “Try-Angle” prompts that encourage you to engage with questions concerning rhetoric. You will try to view situations from various angles to see how rhetoric is used in a wide range of circumstances whether it may be in creative writing or in a physical place. “Try-Angles” should be at least 300 words in length.

 

  • Reflection on a Community Event (50 points): In your reflection piece, you will examine the rhetorical devices that are used at a community event. Describe the event and its focus, analyze the advertisements for the event (e.g. emails, flyers), and make observations about who attended as well as where the event was held.

 

  • Image Analysis Essay (150 points): Conduct an image analysis on one print-advertisement, found image, or other image related to Hawaiʻi that you can analyze fully. The materials selected must commercialize products and services, promote specific viewpoints, positions, or ideologies, and overall employ rhetorical strategies and devices toward a specific audience. Using the rhetorical triangle, you will observe the ways such materials use an idea of place to sell its corresponding product, service, or perspective.

 

  • Place-Based Personal Essay (100 points): Using personal experience, write about one communal, social, cultural, and/or economic issue pertaining to Hawaiʻi or your hometown (tourism, homelessness, overdevelopment, sustainability, and/or education, etc).

 

  • Summary/Critical Response Essay (150 points): Based on the issue developed in your Place-Based Personal Essay, you will find one scholarly article that discusses your chosen issue. Reading the text critically, you will develop a clear and concise summary of a piece of text pertaining to the physical place(s)/space(s) mentioned in your personal essay. What are the author’s primary claims/arguments? Identify the purpose and intended audience of the text. What evidence is used to support the author’s position? Then, provide a synthesis of the article and position your personal perspective against/alongside that of the author.

 

  • Final Project (300 points): Building off of both your Place-Based Personal Essay and Summary/Critical Response Essay, your Final Project will investigate solutions for solving your chosen issue. In your essay, you must contextualize the issue/problem and convince your reader that the issue/problem requires action. You will propose and defend at least three possible solutions to the issue/problem using multiple sources across various mediums, including scholarly articles, periodicals, interviews, multimedia, etc. Development of an annotated bibliography and oral presentation are all components of this project.

 

Grading Policies: In terms of percentages, I use the following grading scale to produce your final grade: 97 and above = A+; 93-97 = A; 89-92 = A-; 85-88 = B+; 81-84 = B; 77-80 = B-; 73-76 = C+; 70-72 = C; 67-69 = C-; 64-66 = D+; 60-63 = D; 59 and below = F.

 

Late Policy: I accept late homework up to 3 days after the due date for a grade higher than a F (e.g. if the assignment is due August 15, the last day I’ll accept it is August 18). For each day that the assignment is late, the grade for the assignment will be deducted by ½ a letter grade (e.g. from a B to a B-). After 3 days, you will receive an automatic F for the assignment. Please note that you are still required to turn late work in to pass the course. If an emergency occurs and you need an extension on an assignment, please contact me as soon as possible.

 

Attendance Policies: Attendance is crucial to your success in this course. I will allow 2 unexcused absences. Each additional absence (up till the 6th unexcused absence) will drop your final grade by ½ a letter grade (e.g. from a B to a B-). If you are 10 minutes late to class or leave class early, you will receive an unexcused absence. If you know you will be late for class or need to leave class early with reason, please contact me to be excused. 6 unexcused absences will result in failure of the course. Emergencies, such as health issues, may be excused as long as you provide me with documentation to validate the absence.

 

Incompletes: An Incomplete or “I” grade may be issued to a student who fails to complete a small but important part of a course before the semester grades are issued, if and only if the course instructor believes that the failure is due to reasons beyond the control of the student, and not due to carelessness or procrastination on the part of the student.

 

Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty includes cheating and plagiarism. The following are examples of violations of the Student Conduct Code that may result in suspension or expulsion from UH Mānoa (http://www.catalog.hawaii.edu/about-uh/campus-policies1.htm):

  • Cheating: Cheating includes, but is not limited to, giving unauthorized help during an examination, obtaining unauthorized information about an examination before it is administered, using inappropriate sources of information during an examination, altering the record of any grade, altering an answer after an examination has been submitted, falsifying any official UH Mānoa record, and misrepresenting the facts in order to obtain exemptions from course requirements.
  • Plagiarism: Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, submitting, to satisfy an academic requirement, any document that has been copied in whole or in part from another individual’s work without identifying that individual; neglecting to identify as a quotation a documented idea that has not been assimilated into the student’s language and style; paraphrasing a passage so closely that the reader is misled as to the source; submitting the same written or oral material in more than one course without obtaining authorization from the instructors involved; and “dry-labbing,” which includes obtaining and using experimental data from other students without the express consent of the instructor, utilizing experimental data and laboratory write-ups from other sections of the course or from previous terms, and fabricating data to fit the expected results.

The first occurrence of willful cheating or plagiarism will result in a failing grade (F) for the assignment. The second occurrence of willful cheating or plagiarism will result in a failing grade (F) for the course. Do not be tempted to cheat or plagiarize! We will go over what constitutes plagiarism at the beginning of the semester to ensure everyone has an understanding of what it is. Please contact me if you ever have questions!

Respect and Behavior in the Classroom: In addition to academic responsibilities, University faculty and students also have responsibilities to one another to ensure that learning takes place in an intellectually safe and hostility-free environment. Given that cultural issues, such as ethnicity, race, gender, class, sexual identity, and relationship to land and place, can be controversial in ways that affect us personally, we must demonstrate mutual respect and consideration for one another in order to create a safe and welcoming classroom environment. A student who does not uphold their responsibility to respond to others in a respectful and considerate way will be asked to leave the class.

Please turn phones off before you come to class. Computers or tablets may be used only for note-taking, for reading assigned materials, or for class-related activities.

 

Other Writing Resources:

  • The Writing Center:

Kuykendall Hall 411

Email: tutors@hawaii.edu

Website: https://sites.google.com/a/hawaii.edu/writingcenter/about

 

KOKUA Program: If you have or think that you may have a disability and therefore need some support, you are encouraged to contact the KOKUA Program for students with all disabilities including learning, mental health, and physical disabilities.  Contact KOKUA at 808-956-7511 (V/T), email KOKUA at kokua@hawaii.edu, visit KOKUA in Room 013 Queen Lili‘oukalani Center for Student Services, or visit the KOKUA web site at http://www.hawaii.edu/kokua/ for further information. KOKUA services are confidential and there is no charge to students.

 

Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence: Sexual harassment is one type of sex discrimination under Title IX, United States Education Amendments of 1972. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) states that sexual harassment is any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual Violence is a severe form of sexual harassment. For more information, you may visit the UH Office of Gender Equity, or their website.

Under Title IX, employees cannot ensure confidentiality. Employees must report any instance or disclosure of alleged sexual harassment. If you would like to speak to someone confidentially about your options regarding something you have experienced or witnessed, please contact The UH Office of Gender Equity. The UH Office of Gender Equity is a confidential resource that provides information about options regarding University policies and procedures to potential complainants of gender-based discrimination, sexual violence, stalking, dating violence, or intimate partner violence.

Office of Gender Equity

2600 Campus Road

QLCSS 210

Honolulu, HI 96822

For more information on sexual violence prevention and advocacy services for survivors, contact the UHM PAU Violence Program at 808-956-8059 or email: uhmpau@hawaii.edu.