English 102: Rhetoric and Composition

Textbooks and Materials:

Plays by Maria Irene Fornes

MLA Handbook, 7th edition

Learning Outcomes: This course will build on the skills that you learned in 101. Over the course of the semester, you will become more adept at writing papers and doing research. We will concentrate on organizing your thoughts into theses, topic sentences, paragraphs, introductions, etc. In addition, you become more competent at finding, using, and citing secondary sources. Another component of the course will help you hone your editing processes.

Attendance:
Come to every class on time if you want credit for the work done that day.

If you have to miss class or be late to class, you need to call ahead if you want any credit for the work turned in or completed on that day.

You can be late to class three times with no major penalty as long as you are no more than ten minutes late.

After those ten minutes or three times, no credit will be given for work due or done before your arrival in class, unless you have made prior arrangements.

If you are late for class and we have begun working on something, you will not be given any extra time to complete the task. So, if we are taking a quiz, you will have less time to do so because of your tardiness. (If you are late and called ahead a make-up quiz can be given.)

Being late means walking into the classroom after the professor.

No excuses will be accepted after the fact.

No late work will be accepted unless approved in advance.

Any student who disrupts class will be dismissed from class, and if he or she wants to return he or she must bring a 250-word typed apology. Cell phones should be turned off and put away. Texting in class will result in dismissal.

Grading Scale:
100-90 A
89-80 B
79-70 C
69-60 D
59-0 F

Grade Breakdown:
Participation 10%
1st Drafts 10%
Peer Review 20%
Lowest Paper Grade 10%
Second Highest Paper Grade 20%
Highest Paper Grade 30%

Participation: Various homework and in-class exercises, including, but not limited to, unannounced quizzes, will be collected and graded during the course of the semester. I believe participation should help out the students who always come to class and come prepared. This participation grade allows me to reward you for your effort.

First Drafts: I will grade these drafts just as I would your final drafts.

Peer Review: When the first draft of the paper is due, you will bring at least three copies of your paper: one is for me and the other two are for classmates. It is essential that you attend and are on time on the day these drafts are traded. Your peers will make trades without you if you are not there and you will lose points for peer review. Each of you will be responsible for making marginal comments and 100-word responses to two papers for each of the three first drafts. You will also be responsible for 100-word essays on your revisions and turning that and your colleagues’ peer reviews in with the final draft of the paper. Plus you will be given points for class discussion of the papers. Each of you will bring enough copies of your first drafts for the entire class twice during the semester—you will be assigned these two papers. I will monitor this discussion participation. Failure to bring your copies on the day they are due for the entire class will result in a deduction of 20 peer-review points.

Final Drafts: After you revise your papers, you will turn them to be graded by me. Failure to turn in this draft on time will result in a failing grade for the assignment. If you are late to class on the day that it is turned in, you will not receive points for the assignment.

Rewrites: If you receive a D, F, or P on a final draft of paper 1 or paper 2, you may rewrite that paper—only if you turn in all your drafts throughout the entire semester on time. The grade for this rewrite will completely replace the previous grade.

Plagiarism Policy: The University of South Carolina Sumter has outlined its policy in the student handbook. The University’s policy allows the instructor to decide the grade penalty in the course. My policy is that you will receive an F in my course if all the work you turn is not your own. Students are expected to document their sources whether that source is a written document, a television program, something someone said, etc. If you did not come up with it, you had better cite it. Even when paraphrasing (putting things in your own words) you must acknowledge your source. I will report any plagiarism that occurs in my class to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, and I will report any student who allows another student to copy his or her work.

You will also receive a failing grade if I learn that an assignment has been used in another class.

Additional Help and Information:
For students with disabilities: If you have a disability and need classroom accommodations, it is your responsibility to notify me as soon as possible. You also must register with your advisor in the Academic Advisement/Counseling Center, Administration Building 103, 938-3771.

For all students: Opportunity Scholars Program provides English help in Business Administration Building 104. Contact OSP at 938-3794.