Course Syllabus

INSTRUCTOR NAME                                                       

INSTRUCOTOR OFFICE LOCATION                                                                                                   

INSTRUCTOR EMAIL ADDRESS or via this Canvas site                                               

INSTRUCTOR TELEPHONE NUMBER OR SKYPE HANDLE                          

Required Material

* No textbook is required for this course. This course uses what's called "Open Educational Resources" (OER), which means all of our material will come from the web and/or will be provided by me within Canvas.

* Regular and consistent access to the Internet and to a computer is absolutely non-negotiable!

Course Description and Goals

This course emphasizes rhetoric, researching social and political issues, taking a stand on those issues, and the writing process. We will analyze and practice the different skills, styles, and strategies writers use to achieve their goals for different contexts and audiences. This course will emphasize content: maturity and validity of the ideas in your final product, the rhetorical expertise you exhibit and the sophistication of your analysis and use of conventions. In so doing, we will consider purpose, audience, and circumstances surrounding a text.

Standard Policies

1. Policy on class attendance

Because writing classes are performance courses that depend upon student attendance for both the class and the student’s success, this policy is non-negotiable.  All absences count equally, irrespective of the cause and students who exceed the allowed number of absences cannot pass the course and will fail with a grade of “F.” More than four absences will result in failure if the student chooses to stay in the course; a student may also withdraw themselves (the instructor will not initiate the withdrawal). In online class, "attendance" means posting something - anything - by the due date. Even if you don't post the full requested assignment, you have to at least log in and post "I was here but don't have my work done" in order to be considered "in attendance."

• Note: Students who participate in SMCC-sanctioned activities and/or who will be unable to meet the attendance requirements for a particular section should move to another section where their activity schedules will not interfere with their classroom obligations.

2. Attendance: first week of classes

According to MCCCD policy, students who are registered but do not attend any of the first day of class will be dropped. This means you must log in and post/take the first quiz in order to prove to me you attended.

3. Grading

Grading for Writing Projects will follow MCCCD Course Competencies.

100-90 percent A

80-89 percent B

70-79 percent C

Lower than 70 percent is Failing (you will have to re-take the course)

5. The public nature of class writing and discussions

Please consider every piece of writing you do for this class to be "public property."  Part of becoming a good writer is learning to appreciate the ideas and criticisms of others, and in this course our purpose is to come together as a writing community.  Remember that you will often be expected to share your writing with others, so avoid writing about things that you may not be prepared to subject to public scrutiny or things you feel so strongly about that you are unwilling to listen to perspectives other than your own.  This does not mean that you are not entitled to an opinion but that you adopt positions responsibly, contemplating the possible effect on others. 

6. Late Writing Projects

Late work is not accepted for any reason.

7. All writing for this class must be written for this class

To pass this class all major writing assignments must be completed, and note that all writing for this class must be written for this class.  Reusing a paper you wrote for another class, or back in high school, constitutes academic dishonesty. However, due to the highly specialized nature of these assignments, it will be virtually impossible to reuse a paper with any success.

8. Plagiarism

Plagiarism is stealing.  Whenever you borrow a phrase, sentence, paragraph—or even an idea stated in your own words—from any outside source (news writing, magazine, TV show, book) without giving credit to that source, you have plagiarized.  Plagiarism is cheating yourself and someone else. If you have any questions about how to acknowledge someone else's words or ideas, see me.

Tentative Semester Schedule (Calendar & Assignments)

This information reflects due dates, assignments, holidays, and other important dates as of now; there is a high likelihood that the schedule will change as we progress through the semester. As modifications become necessary, we will discuss them in a timely manner.