Fall 2025
Composition I
ENGL 1301_9C1 INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION Instructor: Alanna Riley Cornes Email: amcornes@lit.edu or alanna.cornes@colmesneilisd.net Office Phone: 409-837-5757 Office Location: H313, Colmesneil High School Office Hours: Monday-Thursday, 2:29-3:37 pm CREDIT 3 Semester Credit Hours (3 hours lecture, 1 hour lab) MODE OF INSTRUCTION Face to Face PREREQUISITE/CO-REQUISITE: TSI Complete in Reading and Writing. COURSE DESCRIPTION Intensive study of and practice in writing processes, from invention and researching to drafting, revising, and editing, both individually and collaboratively. Emphasis on effective rhetorical choices, including audience, purpose, arrangement, and style. Focus on writing the academic essay as a vehicle for learning, communicating, and critical analysis. COURSE OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to: 1. Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes. 2. Develop ideas with appropriate support and attribution. 3. Write in a style appropriate to audience and purpose. 4. Read, reflect, and respond critically to a variety of texts. 5. Use Edited American English in academic essays. Core Objectives 1. Critical Thinking Skills: To include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of information. 2. Communication Skills: To include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication. 3. Personal Responsibility: To include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making. REQUIRED TEXTBOOK AND MATERIALS An electronic device with access to the Internet. Textbook: Successful College Composition 3rd Ed (SCC) =Free PDF in Course (no purchase necessary) ATTENDANCE POLICY This is an in-person class. Students are required to attend and engage in person. There are in-person class meeting times for this class. Additionally, students are expected to check Blackboard and their LIT e-mail daily. Students are required to engage in class and participate in regular discussions and assignments to receive full credit. Students who do not engage with the class daily will fall behind. DROP POLICY If you wish to drop a course, you are responsible for initiating and completing the drop process by the specified drop date as listed on the Academic Calendar. If you stop coming to class and fail to drop the course, you will earn an “F” in the course. STUDENT EXPECTED TIME REQUIREMENT For every hour in class (or unit of credit), students should expect to spend at least two to three hours per week studying and completing assignments. For a 3-credit-hour class, students should prepare to allocate approximately six to nine hours per week outside of class in a 16- week session OR approximately twelve to eighteen hours in an 8-week session. Online/Hybrid students should expect to spend at least as much time in this course as in the traditional, face-to-face class. COURSE CALENDAR DATE TOPIC READINGS ASSIGNMENTS Week One: Orientation Plagiarism MLA Parts of Speech Textbook: Successful College Composition (SCC) Ch 1 (1.1 and 1.2 reading only) pg 6-16 Plagiarism Quiz Week Two: MLA Formatting, citations MLA Writing Assignment – - Sampling - Brainstorming - pre-writing Textbook: Successful College Composition (SCC) Ch 1 (1.1 Grammar: Nouns and Pronouns and 1.2 reading only) pg 6-16 “The Value of Grammar in the Workplace” MLA Samples Preview Informative Essay (Essay 1) Week Three: Informative/Descriptive Essay (1) - The Writing Process - Rough Draft Notes - Descriptive Essay Examples Grammar: - Comma Splices. - Commonly confused words Req’d Textbook: Successful College Composition (SCC) Ch 3 (3.1) pg 88-93, Ch 1 (1.6 pg 27-44) (optional) Textbook: Successful College Composition (SCC) Ch 2 (pg 44-71) -Informative Essay Rough Draft Grammar Quiz Week Four: Informative/Descriptive Essay (1) The Writing Process - Peer Review - Revising/Editing Introductions/Conclusions Thesis Writing Grammar: - Comma Splices. - Commonly confused words 2 BB- Descriptive Examples Textbook: Successful College Composition (SCC) Ch 2 (2.4 pg 71-87) Grammar Quiz Week Five: Informative/Descriptive Essay (1) The Writing Process - Proofreading Textbook: Successful College Final Draft Essay 1 (Informative Essay) - Final Draft Essay 1 Composition (SCC) Ch 3 (3.2) pg 94-97 Week Six: Research Essay (2) The Writing Process: - Brainstorming - Prewriting/Outline - Research Textbook: Successful College Composition (SCC) 1.3 Pg 17-19, 1.4 pg 20-23 And Ch 4 (4.1-4.4) pg 134-158 -Essay 2 Outline with citations Week Seven: Research Essay (2) The Writing Process: - Research - Citations and Works Cited Grammar Focus: Active and Passive Voice Second Person Textbook: Successful College Composition (SCC) Ch 4 (4.4-4.5) pg 145-164 and Ch 4 (4.8) pg 179-181 and Ch 5 (5.4 -5.5) pg 240-251 -Essay 2 Rough Draft Due 10/13 Grammar Quiz Week Eight: Research Essay (2) The Writing Process: - Peer Review/Revision Grammar Focus: -Comma Usage BB - “Name the Logical Fallacy: COVID-19 Edition” by Charlotte A. Moser -Peer Review for Essay 2 Grammar Quiz Midterm Exam Week Nine: Research Essay (2) The Writing Process: - Editing - Revision - Final Draft Essay 2 Grammar Focus: -Quotes and Italics Textbook: Successful College Composition (SCC) Ch 5 (5.1) pg 195-214 The Three C’s of Good Writing Essay and skills review -Final Draft Essay 2 due (Professional Research and Writing Essay) Grammar Quiz Week Ten: Persuasive Research Essay (3) The Writing Process: - Brainstorming - Prewriting/Outline - Research Continue Brainstorming and Research LU Library Access -Topic Proposal due Week Eleven: Persuasive Research Essay (3) The Writing Process: - Pre-writing/Outlining BB “7 Tips on How to Avoid Bias in Your Writing” by Beth Anne Freely Rauch Essay 3 Outline Due Week Twelve: Persuasive Research Essay (3) The Writing Process: - Drafting -Essay 3 Rough draft due Week Thirteen: Persuasive Research Essay (3) The Writing Process: - Peer Review/Revision -Peer Review of Essay 3 Week Fourteen: Persuasive Research Essay (3) The Writing Process: - Editing - Revision - Final Draft Essay 2 Grammar Focus: Review -Final Draft of Persuasive Research Essay (Essay 3) Week Fifteen: Review Week Sixteen: FINALS TBA TBA Final Exam COURSE EVALUATION Final grades will be calculated according to the following criteria: ● Participation 10% ● Short Writing Assignments 10% ● Daily Assignments 10% ● Informative Essay 10% ● Midterm Exam 10% ● Professional Research Essay 15% ● Persuasive Research Essay- Common Assessment 20% ● Final Exam 15% ● Total 100% GRADING SCALE 90-100 A 80-89 B 70-79 C 60-69 D 0 – 59 F LIT does not use +/- grading scales TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS The latest technical requirements, including hardware, compatible browsers, operating systems, etc. can be online at https://lit.edu/online-learning/online-learning-minimum-computer-requirements. A functional broadband internet connection, such as DSL, cable, or WiFi is necessary to maximize the use of online technology and resources. DISABILITIES STATEMENT The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are federal anti-discrimination statutes that provide comprehensive civil rights for persons with disabilities. LIT provides reasonable accommodations as defined in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, to students with a diagnosed disability. The Special Populations Office is located in the Eagles’ Nest Room 129 and helps foster a supportive and inclusive educational environment by maintaining partnerships with faculty and staff, as well as promoting awareness among all members of the Lamar Institute of Technology community. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Special Populations Coordinator at (409)-951-5708 or email specialpopulations@lit.edu. You may also visit the online resource at Special Populations - Lamar Institute of Technology (lit.edu). STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT STATEMENT It is the responsibility of all registered Lamar Institute of Technology students to access, read, understand and abide by all published policies, regulations, and procedures listed in the LIT Catalog and Student Handbook. The LIT Catalog and Student Handbook may be accessed at www.lit.edu. Please note that the online version of the LIT Catalog and Student Handbook supersedes all other versions of the same document. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE STATEMENT Lamar Institute of Technology (LIT) recognizes the recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, have changed the landscape of many career disciplines and will impact many students in and out of the classroom. To prepare students for their selected careers, LIT desires to guide students in the ethical use of these technologies and incorporate AI into classroom instruction and assignments appropriately. Appropriate use of these technologies is at the discretion of the instructor. Students are reminded that all submitted work must be their own original work unless otherwise specified. Students should contact their instructor with any questions as to the acceptable use of AI/ChatGPT in their courses STARFISH LIT utilizes an early alert system called Starfish. Throughout the semester, you may receive emails from Starfish regarding your course grades, attendance, or academic performance. Faculty members record student attendance, raise flags and kudos to express concern or give praise, and you can make an appointment with faculty and staff all through the Starfish home page. You can also login to Blackboard or MyLIT and click on the Starfish link to view academic alerts and detailed information. It is the responsibility of the student to pay attention to these emails and information in Starfish and consider taking the recommended actions. Starfish is used to help you be a successful student at LIT ADDITIONAL COURSE POLICIES/INFORMATION Due dates are subject to change. I do not allow students to retake quizzes or exams. Students will be allowed to redo one essay for 70% credit. Communication: I will respond to e-mails within 24 hours during the week and within 48 hours over the weekend. Typically, I will only respond to e-mails during my office hours. Special Populations: If a student requires accommodations while on LIT campus, they must contact Jamarcus Corks in the Special Populations office in Student Services. If a dual credit student has accommodations through their school’s special populations office, they must still contact LIT’s Special Populations office at specialpopulations@lit.edu. Plagiarism/Cheating: Academic Dishonesty is a crime that Lamar Institute of Technology and I take seriously. Most colleges expel cheating students. Examples of academic dishonesty include but are not limited to: –Directly copying a source into an essay without citing the original source. –Paraphrasing a source without citing the original source. –Self-plagiarism: submitting a piece of writing that’s already received credit in another course. –Paying someone to complete an assignment, having a friend or family member complete an assignment, or using Artificial Intelligence to write a paper. If a paper has a student’s name on it, I expect to see that student’s work. –Making minor changes to an original source while still retaining up to 75% of the structure of the sentence. –Using AI (ChatGPT, any AI bot, or artificial intelligence learning tools that can mimic student-produced work) to write any part of the content of your essay is considered academic dishonesty and will receive consequences in congruence with plagiarism or academic dishonesty consequences. –Taking a quiz or test with another student, giving the answers to a quiz or test to another student, or Googling the answers to the quiz or test. My quizzes are not open-book quizzes. Students are only allowed the notes they have taken over an assignment during a quiz. –If I receive a paper that requires a works cited page and in-text citations but does not feature either of those criteria, I will give the paper a zero. How to Know If Something Is Not Plagiarism: Generally, plagiarism only covers things that are not general knowledge. If a student makes the claim that the sky is blue, then they do not have to cite where they got that information, because it is something that 90% of the world already knows. However, if a student describes why the sky is blue, they have to cite their source, since that is not common knowledge. How to Avoid Plagiarism: First, students should practice good paraphrasing and rewrite sentences in their own words. Part of the course will be discussions, assignments, and videos over good paraphrasing. Also, when students turn in their assignments, they should get a visible score from SafeAssign. SafeAssign is not perfect, and I have found plagiarism in papers with as low as a 10% score. If a paper flags anything in SafeAssign, a student must rewrite and resubmit the paper until the percentage is at zero. Late Work: Late work is not accepted for this class. Any assignment turned in late will receive a zero .In very rare and extreme cases, if you feel that you must request an extension, it must be requested at least 24 hours before the assignment is due in order to be considered, although no guarantees are promised. It is important that students not get behind in a class. Typically, if a student gets in the habit of turning in all assignments within the first three weeks, they can build that habit for the rest of the class. Make-Up Work: I can make accommodations on deadlines for extenuating circumstances (family emergencies, sickness, mental health, chronic health issues, etc.) However, communication is necessary in these circumstances. I need to know at least 24 hours before a deadline if a student cannot complete an assignment on time. Upon evaluation of case by case circumstances, a new deadline may be determined in advance if approved by the instructor. If a student asks for more time on an assignment the day before or the day it is due, I will not grant their request.