Course Syllabus
ENGL1302, Composition II
Instructor: Dr. Bill Franklin
Email: Use the Canvas INBOX. If it is unavailable, use wfranklin@nctc.edu
Phone: (940) 498-6240 Note: Quicker and more reliable communication via Canvas INBOX.
Office: COR 201 Office 207
On-Campus Office Hours:
Tuesday 10-11; 12:30-1:30; 5:30-6:30
Thursday 10-11
Online Office Hours:
24/7, with shortest response time between 7-11 a.m. and 7-11 p.m. I check Canvas INBOX frequently and prefer you contact me there. I am happy to set up a Skype or face-to-face appointment as needed.
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.
Prerequisite: English 1301 or its equivalent.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will:
- Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative research processes.
- Develop ideas and synthesize primary and secondary sources within focused academic arguments, including one or more research-based essays.
- Analyze, interpret, and evaluate a variety of texts for the ethical and logical uses of evidence.
- Write in a style that clearly communicates meaning, builds credibility, and inspires belief or action.
- Apply the conventions of style manuals for specific academic disciplines (e.g., APA, CMS, MLA, etc.)
Core Objectives
- Critical Thinking Skills (CT)- to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information
- Communication Skills (COM)- to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication
- Teamwork (TW)- to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal
- Personal Responsibility (PR)- to include the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision-making
Foundational Component Area: Communication. Courses in this category focus on developing ideas and expressing them clearly, considering the effect of the message, fostering understanding, and building the skills needed to communicate persuasively. Courses involve the command of oral, aural, written, and visual literacy skills that enable people to exchange messages appropriate to the subject, occasion, and audience.
Required Texts
All reading materials are available online.
For matters of style, grammar, sample papers, etc., we will use Purdue Online Writing Lab at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
Grading Policy
Grades will be weighted as follows:
30% Weekly Discussion Forums
30% Major Papers
40% The Book of the Course
An A requires 90-100 percent; a B, 80-89; a C, 70-79; a D, 60-69; an F, less than 60.
Academic Integrity
Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion. See Student Handbook, "Student Rights and Responsibilities: Student Conduct [FLB- (LOCAL)]" #18. Anyone who commits such acts will fail the course and may be suspended from the university.
Plagiarism is the presentation of another person’s work as your own, whether intentionally or not. Plagiarism includes copying a passage from another writer’s work without acknowledging that writer. But it also includes not paraphrasing sufficiently, or even getting an idea from another writer without acknowledging the source of that idea.
Collusion is receiving unacknowledged help on an essay. If you get help on a particular assignment, you need to describe that help in writing and submit it along with the assignment. You can always discuss your ideas with others and even let them proofread your essays; however, the actual wording of the essays should be your own.
Disability Services (OSD)
The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) provides accommodations for students who have a documented disability. On the Corinth Campus, go to room 170 or call 940-498-6207. On the Gainesville Campus, go to room 110 or call 940-668-4209. Students on the Bowie, Graham, Flower Mound, and online campuses should call 940-668-4209.
North Central Texas College is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, ADA Amendments Act of 2009, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-112). http://www.nctc.edu/StudentServices/SupportServices/Disabilityservices.aspx
Support Services
Counseling and Testing staff offer a variety of services to current and prospective students, such as College 101, placement testing, academic advising and course registration, transfer assistance, and College Success seminars (Time Management, Study Skills, Test Anxiety, Choosing a Major, Learning Style Strategies, Career Exploration), and much more. http://www.nctc.edu/StudentServices/CounselingTesting.aspx
Student Success offers academic coaching, tutoring, including a Writing Center, a Math Lab, free 24/7 online tutoring through Grade Results and assist new students acclimate to college by providing computer lab services for prospective students. First generation students can also participate in TRIO which offers specialized support services.
http://www.nctc.edu/StudentServices/SupportServices.aspx
Financial Aid offers financial resources for students that qualify, visit the financial aid offices for more information. http://www.nctc.edu/FInancialAidHome.aspx
Early Alert/CARES
The NCTC Early Alert program has been established to assist students who are at risk of failing or withdrawing from a course. Your instructor may refer you to this program if you are missing assignments, failing tests, excessively absent, or have personal circumstances impacting your academic performance. If submitted as an Early Alert you will be notified via your NCTC e-mail address and then contacted by a Counseling and Testing advisor or counselor to discuss possible strategies for completing your course successfully.
The NCTC CARES (Campus Assessment Response Evaluation Services) Team addresses behavior which may be disruptive, harmful or pose a threat to to the health and safety of the NCTC community-such as stalking, harassment, physical or emotional abuse, violent or threatening behavior, or self-harm. As a student, you have the ability to report concerning behavior which could impact your own safety or the safety of another NCTC student. Just click the NCTC CARES Team logo posted on MyNCTC, or send an e-mail to CARESTeam@nctc.edu. As always, if you feel there is an immediate threat to your own safety or welfare (or to another student), please call 911 immediately.
The following calendar is tentative and will change as necessary. Each current week will be shown on the Home Page of the course. Look there to see the current assignments, and read the discussions carefully for updates. Once I post it to the class, you are responsible for the updated information.
CALENDAR OF THE COURSE
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Week 9 March 20-26
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The Sweat Swamp Plantation Saga
Creating a Collaborative Rhetorical Narrative
Proposal: Working from research on the general history of ideas and populations from about 1500 through 1783, we are going to construct a story suitable for a New Media publication with the working title of “The Sweat Swamp Plantation Saga.”
Focused Research: Setting, Characters, and Conflicts of the Little Pee Dee River and swamp areas of South Carolina, 1757-1783
"Narrative exposition is the insertion of important background information within a story (Links to an external site.); for example, information about the setting (Links to an external site.), characters' backstories (Links to an external site.), prior plot events, historical context, etc.[1] (Links to an external site.) In a specifically literary context, exposition appears in the form of expository writing (Links to an external site.) embedded within the narrative. Exposition is one of four rhetorical modes (Links to an external site.) (also known as modes of discourse), along with description (Links to an external site.), argumentation (Links to an external site.), and narration (Links to an external site.)" (Wikipedia (Links to an external site.)).
Part One: Who are the primary characters on the plantation and what are the conflicts of their lives? How does the setting influence the people and their actions?
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Week 10 March 27-April 2
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Part Two: Who are the secondary characters in the world of swampland South Carolina? How do their goals and conflicts influence the primary characters and their goals and conflicts? How does the broad setting influence the narrow setting of the story?
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Week 11 April 3-9
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Part Three: What is the incident that triggers the story (Plot Point One)? How does conflict of that incident resolve (Plot Point Two)? What are the incidents in between?
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Week 12 April 10-16
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Narrative Assignment: Write at least 500 words in which two minor characters have an argumentative dialog around an incident within the primary story.
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Week 13 April 17-23
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Proposal: What is the form of the final project and how do you propose this be realized? Take the Narrative you developed last week and propose a film, a book, a short story, a video game, a virtual reality production, or a music video that elaborates on the argument of the dialog.
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Week 14 April 24-30
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Final Essay: For the significant characters from our collaborative stories, what are the most significant conflicts and how has that influenced the lives of their descendants?
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Week 15 May 1-7
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Conclusions about the nature of collaborative writing.
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Week 16 May 8-11 Final Exams
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Final Exam
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