Syllabus Checklist Snapshot
Composition II (ENGL 1302 9M2) CREDIT 3 SCH Semester Credit Hours (3 Lec hours lecture, 0 Lab hours lab) MODE OF INSTRUCTION Online PREREQUISITE/CO-REQUISITE: ENGL 1301 with a D or higher COURSE DESCRIPTION Intensive study of and practice in the strategies and techniques for developing research-based expository and persuasive texts. Emphasis on effective and ethical rhetorical inquiry, including primary and secondary research methods; critical reading of verbal, visual, and multimedia texts; systematic evaluation, synthesis, and documentation of information sources; and critical thinking about evidence and conclusions. COURSE OBJECTIVES Upon successful completion of this course, students will: 1. Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative research processes. 2. Develop ideas and synthesize primary and secondary sources within focused academic arguments, including one or more research-based essays. 3. Analyze, interpret, and evaluate a variety of texts for the ethical and logical uses of evidence. 4. Write in a style that clearly communicates meaning, builds credibility, and inspires belief or action. 5. Apply the conventions of style manuals for specific academic disciplines (e.g., APA, CMS, MLA, etc.) CORE OBJECTIVES 1. Critical Thinking: To include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry and analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of information. Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative research processes. 2. Communication: To include the effective development, interpretation, and expression of ideas through written and visual communication. 3. Personal Responsibility: To include the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision-making. 4. Empirical and Quantitative: To include the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions.
INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION Instructor: Amy Strother Email: amjones7@lit.edu Office Phone: 409-679-3324 (text only) Office Location: No office on campus Office Hours: Text, email, or by appointment REQUIRED TEXTBOOK AND MATERIALS A reliable device with internet access is required. All required reading materials are provided by instructor in Blackboard. ATTENDANCE POLICY This course is completely online and requires students to login to Blackboard and complete assignments according to the course calendar. DROP POLICY If you wish to drop a course, you are responsible for initiating and completing the drop process by the specified date as listed in the College Calendar on the Student Success web page. If you stop coming to class and fail to drop the course, you will earn an “F” in the course. COURSE CALENDAR DATE TOPIC READINGS (Due on this Date) ASSIGNMENTS (Due on this Date) Course Introduction Module Week 1 Week 1 (1/20-1/25) • Classroom Orientation Lecture • ENGL 1302 Introduction • Academic Dishonesty Presentation • “That It Will Never Come Again” by Emily Dickinson • Orientation Quiz (1/25) • Academic Dishonesty Quiz (1/25) • Class Reading Contract (1/25)
Fiction Module Weeks 2-5 Week 2 (1/26-2/1) • The Art of Fiction Lecture • MLA Refresher Lecture • “The Lady, or the Tiger?” by Frank Stockton • Short Story Journal 1 (2/1) • MLA Template Due (2/1) • Critical Approaches to Literature Lecture Week 3 (2/2-2/8) • Plot Lecture • Point of View Lecture • Characters Lecture • Works Cited Page Lecture • Read either: “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker Or “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver • Short Story Journal 2 (2/8) • Works Cited Page Assignment (2/8) • Midterm Prewriting (2/8) Week 4 (2/9-2/15) • Setting Lecture • Tone and Style Lecture • In-Text Citations Lecture • Read either: “The Storm” by Kate Chopin Or “To Build a Fire” by Jack London • Short Story Journal 3 (2/15) • MLA In-Text Citations Assignment (2/15) • Midterm Outline (2/15) Week 5 (2/16-2/22) • Symbols Lecture • Theme Lecture • How to Structure a College Essay Lecture • Read either: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Or “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson • Short Story Journal 4 (2/22) • Midterm Rough Draft Due (2/22)
Poetry Module Weeks 6-9 Week 6 (2/23-3/1) • The Art of Poetry Lecture • Peer Review Lecture • Read either: “To a Locomotive in Winter” by Walt Whitman Or “Speech to the Young. Speech to the ProgressToward” by Gwendolyn Brooks Or • Poetry Journal 1 (3/1) • Submit Rough Draft to Midterm Peer Review Peer Review (3/1) Submit rough draft to assignment by 2/25 “Dog Haiku” by Anonymous Week 7 (3/2-3/8) • The Pleasure of Poetic Pattern Lecture • Poetic Meter Lecture • Steps of Poetry Analysis Lecture • Read either: “The winter evening settles down” by T.S. Eliot Or “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop Or “Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” by William Shakespeare Or “Metaphors” by Sylvia Plath • Poetry Journal 2 (3/8) • Midterm Final Draft (3/8) Week 8 (3/16-3/22) • Stanza Lecture • Rhyme Lecture • The Research Essay Lecture • The Seven Cs of Good Writing PowerPoint • Read either: “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks Or “Break, Break, Break” by Alfred Lord Tennyson Or “Dream Boogie” by Langston Hughes • Poetry Journal 3 (3/22) • Research Topic Discussion Board (3/18) • Literary Criticism Research Essay Topic Proposal (3/22)
Week 9 (3/23-3/29) • Poetic Devices Part One Lecture • Poetic Devices Part Two Lecture • Works Cited and In-Text Citations Refresher • Read either: “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats Or “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath Or “Cinderella” by Anne Sexton • Poetry Journal 4 (3/29) • Literary Criticism Research Essay Pre-writing (3/29) • Works Cited and In-Text Citations Refresher Assignment (3/29) Research Module Week10 • The Annotated Bibliography Lecture • Annotated Bibliography (4/5) Week 10 (3/30-4/5) • The University Library Lecture • Finding Good Sources Lecture Drama Module Weeks 11- 14 Week 11 (4/6-4/12) • Analyzing a Play Lecture • The Parts of a Play with Trifles Lecture • Read or watch “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell • Drama Journal 1 (4/12) • Literary Criticism Research Essay Outline (4/12) Week 12 (4/13-4/19) • Greek Tragedy Lecture • Read or watch Oedipus the King • Drama Journal 2 (4/19) • Literary Criticism Research Essay Rough Draft (4/19)
Week 13 (4/20-4/26) • Shakespearean Theatre Lecture • Read or watch Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare • Drama Journal 3 (4/26) • Literary Criticism Research Essay Peer Review (4/26) Submit rough draft to assignment by 4/22 Week 14 (4/27-5/3) • The Modern Play Lecture • Read or watch A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen Or Read or watch Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett • Drama Journal 4 (5/3) • Literary Criticism Research Essay Final Draft (5/3) Final Module 5/4-5/12 • The Literary World Lecture Final Exam (5/12) Course Introduction Module Week 1 Week 1 (1/20-1/25) • Classroom Orientation Lecture • ENGL 1302 Introduction • Academic Dishonesty Presentation • “That It Will Never Come Again” by Emily Dickinson • Orientation Quiz (1/25) • Academic Dishonesty Quiz (1/25) • Class Reading Contract (1/25) COURSE EVALUATION Final grades will be calculated according to the following criteria: • Participation 10% • Daily Work Assignments 40% • Mid-Term Exam 15% • Research Paper- Common Core Assignment 20% • Final Exam 155 • Total 100%
GRADE SCALE • 90-100 A • 80-89 B • 70-79 C • 60-69 D • 0-59 F TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS For the latest technical requirements, including hardware, compatible browsers, operating systems, etc., review the Minimum Computer and Equipment Requirements on the LIT Online Experience page. 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 Instructor Availability: I teach for LIT completely online and do not have an office on campus. I am available via email (amjones7@lit.edu) or text message (409-679-3324). You may email me any time, but please limit text messages to between the hours of 7am and 8pm. I will get back to you within 24 hours unless it is the weekend. Due dates are subject to change. I will post an announcement as soon as possible if I need to change a due date. I will never make an assignment due sooner than the original due date. All assignments are due to Blackboard by 11:59pm on the due date listed. Most work is due by Sunday night, but please double check due dates as there are a few assignments due on other days as well. Extra Credit There are no extra credit opportunities in this course. • I do not allow students to retake assignments. However, I may ask students to resubmit assignments if they do them incorrectly. Once an assignment is graded, it cannot be revised and resubmitted. Late Policy: All unexcused late work will receive a zero. Students must tell me at least twenty-four hours before the due date if they are going to miss work. Once they have confirmation from me, students will be able to turn in assignments on the following makeup days: • If the assignment was originally due Sunday, the assignment must be turned in by the next Wednesday. • If the assignment was originally due Wednesday, the assignment must be turned in by the next Sunday. The assignment must only be turned into Blackboard. Once the student turns in the assignment, they must immediately e-mail me, or I will not know to look at the assignment.
Students who turn in late assignments but do not notify me will not get the chance to have their assignments regraded. Approved late assignments will be regraded for full credit. Students who turned in assignments late may not get detailed feedback on how to improve their assignments. 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. 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. 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. 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. AI Policy: While I do admit AI can offer valuable assistance in various aspects of paper writing, it should only be used to complement human creativity, critical thinking, and content knowledge. Using AI to complete any of the assignments in my class will not be allowed. If a student is suspected of using AI, the assignment will receive a zero. If a suspected student turns in a second assignment using AI, the student must meet with the Department Chair and may receive a failing grade for the semester.