English 100 is a class with at least two purposes. First, it is designed to help you master the writing process. What do I mean by the writing process? Let me explain.
You will be introduced to the writing process through the use of the workshop approach in this class by breaking into small groups—the number of groups depends on the class size—and sharing your writing with your group. As an audience, you will each need to respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to the work of your fellow writers, and I will get after you to make sure you do. In early drafts, you will share your writing by reading aloud to your group, after which each member of the group will respond to what you read. In later drafts, you will bring enough photocopies of your papers for your group’s members, and your group members will help you to revise, edit, and proof your paper. You will write, revise, and revise once more all papers written for this class. If you turn in a paper without doing the preliminary work of drafting
that paper or without participating in the workshops, I will not read your
paper. Through this workshop approach you will begin to fulfill the first two
stated learning outcomes (SLOs) of English 100:
- To compose college-level writing, including but not limited to, academic discourse, that achieves a specific purpose and responds adeptly to an identifiable audience.
- To provide evidence of effective strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading a text in order to produce finished prose.
The second purpose of English 100 is to introduce you to notions of argument. Most of the prose you write in college
will be argumentative: you will make a statement, then offer proofthat supports your statement. Statement. Proof. These are the two fundamental parts of writing for college; they are also the critical components of most writing ITRW. By studying argument, you will develop a richer sense of the importance
of the first SLO; you will refine your notions of how to achieve a specific
purpose and develop more strategies for responding to an identifiable audience.
You will also develop a greater awareness of how the second SLO—generating,
revising, and editing strategies—relates intimately to the first SLO. Finally,
you will understand why the third SLO—
- To 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—
is so crucial to this complex activity we label college-level writing.
The good news: For the most part, short (2-3 page) assignments. Little, if any,
lecturing.
The bad news: You will produce 20-25 pages of polished prose by the end of the semester if you wish to pass. In order to produce polished drafts, you should plan on working hard—very hard—in revising your work for this class. If you refuse to re-write, this class is not for you. In addition, I will assign you journals and a variety of outside assignments, as well as periodic quizzes on assigned readings.
Required Materials/Activities:
- Class readers to be purchased at Campus Center Copiers near Taco Bell/Pizza Hut:
- Spring 2012: English 100 Court Reader—Volume II: Studies in Argumentative Writing.
- Basic Library Research Handbook, 3rd ed. To be
downloaded and printed (optional) from http://manoa.hawaii.edu/blrh/pdf/hb20070601.pdf. - Lunsford, Andrea A. Easy
Writer. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2010. ISBN #
0312650310.