Syllabus

ENA 101 {section 0704}

Fall I 2012, Tuesdays 2.15-4.25pm

E-222

Justin Rogers-Cooper, Ph.D

jrogers@lagcc.cuny.edu

Office Hours: Mondays and Thursdays 9:15 – 10:15am, Room M 120e

Course Description

In this course, you will learn about the various stages of the writing process, from generating ideas and developing a thesis to revising your work and directing it towards your intended audience. In preparing you to take the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing (CATW), you will learn valuable skills to serve you throughout your college writing career. In fact, you will see that many of the skills taught in your English 101 Composition course are reflected in the CATW, which assesses your ability to read, understand, and respond to a passage of 250-300 words. In the test, you are asked to:

⁻ identify key ideas within a reading passage

⁻ write a brief summary of the key ideas in the reading

⁻ demonstrate basic critical thinking in response to these key ideas

⁻ identify a key idea in the reading passage and present a clearly written response to that idea

⁻ write an essay that is well organized and shows connections between ideas

⁻ support ideas with relevant personal experience, readings, schoolwork, and/or other sources of information

⁻ demonstrate competence in sentence construction, sentence variety, and word choice

⁻ demonstrate correct usage, grammar, and mechanics

In addition to numerous in-class, timed writing assignments that will simulate the CATW test, the course will also involve peer reviews of your work, various class discussions, and class exercises designed to stimulate your thinking and ability to respond critically to various topic.

REQUIRED WORK

-Work for this course involves 1) focusing on the writing process in the assignments of your four-hour 101 class and 2) preparing for the CATW exam. These two aspects of the course are by no means mutually exclusive.

You will be expected to

-Engage in all in-class writing assignments

-Be ready with drafts of your 101 composition work for group critique and in-class revision

-Keep a reflective journal of your writing on the course website

CATW EXAM

The CATW Exam is a 90-minute essay exam. You must receive a score of 56 or higher to pass the exam. We will go over the exam thoroughly in class and you will be given a handbook that will answer a lot of questions you may have about the exam.

The exam will be administered by a representative from the Office of Educational Planning and Testing Services. You must pass the exam in order to pass this class.

COURSE MATERIALS

This course incorporates the material that you will use in the four-hour 101 class. We will expand and develop our work in that course.

Any additional material will be distributed or otherwise made available, please bring your texts to every class, along with the following:

-A notebook and a pen or pencil

-A paper (not electronic) dictionary

-A folder that contains all the work that you have engaged in, in this course (including the base 101 class).

GRADING

The grade that you receive from this class will be based on a portfolio of your course work. You can receive a passing grade in this class only if you receive a passing grade on the CATW exam. Note that excessive absences will result in a lowered grade.

-In-class essays and revisions: 65%

-Group production and additional informal work: 20%

-Class participation, and oral demonstration of knowledge of reading material: 15%

ATTENDANCE

You are permitted no more than 4 hours of unexcused absences. Excessive absences that approach this limit will result in a lowered grade. Please make every effort not to miss any classes. Your attendance is very important for your ability to succeed in this course.

OFFICE HOURS

You are invited to visit me in my office if you have questions, would like additional help, or simply wish to try out an idea on me. Please feel free to come and see me.

A STATEMENT REGARDING ACADEMIC HONESTY

The point of this class is for you to become a better writer. Obviously, then, the work that you submit must be of your own making. When students plagiarize, they undermine the very foundation of the academic community. As such, the college takes this very seriously: any act of plagiarism will result in failure in the course, and may lead to additional disciplinary action by the college.

 Meeting Dates

9-11 – Intro / CATW

9-18 – No Classes

9-25

10-2

10-9

10-16 – Classes follow a Thursday schedule

10-23

10-30

11-6

11-13

11-20

11-27

12-4

12-11

{CATW date TBA}