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What is Composition? Writing is a skill that you need the rest of your life. There will be no escaping it—sending emails, texts, writing essay exams, memos, and more. In this course, you will write, write, a n d r e w r i t e . T h e m a j o r difference in this course is in terms of what you will write. You will experience how to discover topics of writing that are meaningful to you. You will also learn how to make an assigned topic your own. You will learn to know the difference between revision, editing, and proofreading. Through learning about the wr i t i ng p roce s s , th rough

multiple drafts, conferences, and readings of your work, you will learn to think deeply about your own writing. You will discover

the inherent power that you, as a writer, posses and learn how to harness it to improve your writing. You are expected to bring your writing to a level that is polished and publishable. You will then share your writing

throughout the writing process with the community of writers in this class. You will also receive and give thoughtful critiques about your own work as well as that of your classmates. You will learn to read critically. This will help you become a more thoughtful, deeper reader of your own work. You will combine all of this knowledge with your own experience and connect it to the wider world. This is all to help you prepare for the personal and academic writing you will do throughout college and your own life.

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Compositionin this syllabus >>>

What is Composition?

Grade Breakdown

Writing Resources

Nitty-Gritty Details

Course Calendar

While there isa great deal ofwriting; you, asauthor, will be infull control of the

topics and process.

Writers learn to write by reading, and readers learn to write by writing. It’s all circuitous. You can’t write well, without reading well. We will do both in this course.

questions?concerns?contact me

here:>>>

email: bsigurdson1010@gmail.com

phone/text: 715.937.0507

office/office hours: TBA

Course Website:bsigurdsonenglish1010. wordpress.com

An Overview of the Course, Expectations, Assignments, and Objectives

Your Instructor: Brett Sigurdson

Textbook: Writing: A Guide for College and

Beyond [SLCC Edition], by Lester Faigley

Salt Lake Community College

ENGLISH 1010

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The Nitty Gritty...Everything that you need to succeed in this course

AttendanceAs a student in this class, you will be expected to contribute to your fellow students’ edification and growth. As such, a certain level of decorum must be maintained so that we may all benefit from each other’s experiences, opinions, and perspectives.  I may or may not take attendance on a given day. However, repeated absences will negatively affect your grade. I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences. You may miss a maximum of four class periods. After four, your overall grade will be lowered at my discretion. More than nine absences will lead to automatic failure.

Class ParticipationThough the main objective of this course is to learn about and improve your writing, you cannot achieve this end without discussion. As the course progresses, you will find that writing—though ostensibly the most important facet of this course—may actually be only a small portion of what we will approach during our class sessions. It is my hope then that through collectively sharing ideas, views, and knowledge each of us will come to a better understanding of our own capacities, not just as writers, but as students and world citizens. To that end, please show up for class ready to talk and discuss. Part of your grade will depend on your

participation in class, which I will note for grade purposes during each session.

Writing NotebookPlease bring a notebook solely for fast-writing assignments beginning the second day of class and continuing until the end of the semester. Your notebook will be the place where you explore your ideas, doodle, react to writing prompts, and hopefully plant the seeds of ideas for future writing projects. The type of notebook that you provide is of little significance. What matters is that you’re comfortable writing in it and that you use it only for this class. I will require you to turn in your writing notebooks an unspecified number of times at various instances throughout the semester, something which will count towards your overall grade. Note: I have a strict deadline for notebooks. If I leave campus without your writing notebook, you will not receive points for the assignment, no exceptions.

Class Blog/Facebook Page

Please check the class blog, listed on the first page, daily. There you will find information on the class, including a chat feature for digital office hours, digital copies of all assignments, your grades, links to important websites, and postings concerning class discussions and topics of interest to you. You will also be required to join the class Facebook page. Should you ever miss class, need more information, or need a workshop partner, please post a request for information on the Facebook page. We will also use the page for

discussion assignments, each of which will be worth 25 points.

Final PortfolioWriting is a process. You’re not going to sharpen your ability to write by getting one shot at it. Therefore, you will be encouraged to improve the assignments that you submit throughout the semester until the last week of the course. On the final day of classes, you’ll submit to me a por t fo l i o o f a l l the s emes te r ’s assignments, edited and sculpted to (I

hope) perfection. Here’s how it will work: after you submit an assignment to me, I’ll respond with comments and a grade—the grade you would receive if you didn’t do any more work on it. If you’re satisfied with your work and the grade, then you can leave it. If you feel that you can do better, continue to work on the paper throughout the semester through revision, visiting with the Writing Center, and meeting with me. At the end of the semester, you’ll submit your work to me in a portfolio with a cover letter. The work that you submit should be your very best. The portfolio will stand as the bulk of your grade for the class.

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“You’re a Genius all the time”

Jack Kerouac

It is imperative that you acknowledge in a paper any i n s t a n c e i n w h i c h yo u i n c o r p o r a t e i d e a s o r information borrowed from others. This includes quotes, s t a t i s t i c s , o r, i n s o m e circumstances, paraphrases of a n o t h e r ’ s w o r d s . A n intentional failure to a c k n o w l e d g e s u c h attribution is plagiarism and a serious violation of academic integrity. You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with the appropriate forms of attribution and documentation for this course. The penalty

for plagiarism in this course may include, but is not limited to, failure of English 1010. For questions or concerns, I encourage you to consult a reputable source, the Writing Center, or me.

AcademicIntegrity

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The Nitty Gritty...Everything that you need to succeed in this course

Late WorkWriting is about making choices and this is something that will be reflected in my classroom. All assignments are absolutely due on the date specified on the syllabus or by the instructor. However, I will allow you to turn in an assignment up to seven days past the due date without penalty to your grade. If you choose to do this, I will not provide any feedback for your paper, something that may hinder any revision attempts. You must let me know at least 24 hours via email, before the assignment is due that you will be turning in your assignment under these conditions.

Otherwise, if you do not notify me of your decision to take the extra week, I will not accept your assignment as I do not accept late work.

Note: This policy only pertains to the major papers of this course and NOT to weekly group postings, your Writing Notebook, or any other recurring assignments.

Finally, let’s face it: technology breaks. servers go down, transfers time out, files become corrupt. The list goes on and on. These are not considered emergencies. They are part of the normal production process. An issue you may have with technology is no excuse for late work. You need to protect yourself by managing your time and backing up your work.    

Other Graded Work

There will be a number of small assignments throughout the semester. They will be worth 25 points each and will mostly consist of discussion posts and responses on our class Facebook page. In total, we’ll have at least 800 points.

You’ll notice I haven’t marked these assignments on the course schedule. I’ve done so to keep you on your toes. Though you will certainly have ample time to complete each assignment, you must be involved in class in order to be on task.

Class PhilosophiesThis is not a difficult class, though it’s not an easy one either. The most successful students in my courses aren’t necessarily the best writers; rather, the most successful students simply do the work. To succeed in this class, you simply need to show up, do each assignment, push yourself to create your best work, and revise, revise, revise. While the quality of your work takes precedence over anything else in terms of your grade, the above-mentioned things will lead to quality work.

Here are some other things to keep in mind:

1. I will not tolerate laziness, entitlement, or excuses. It is my job to make sure that you succeed in this course and I will do all that I can to ensure you master the material. However, if you are to truly succeed in this class, you must meet me halfway. This is a classroom, not a business. You are not my customer and I owe you nothing beyond my devotion to your education. I don’t care what other obligations you have, classes you’re taking, etc. If you’re not willing to do the work, be in

class, or communicate with me, you won’t succeed. And I won’t accept the blame for poor performances.2. I don’t care if you were the best writer in your high school or the worst. You each have something to gain from this class. I expect everyone to push themselves. 3. If you tell me before, it’s an explanation, which I can deal with. If you tell me after, it’s an excuse, and that doesn’t work for me.4. I will put as much work into your writing as you do. If you don’t come to class, if you don’t turn in assignments on time, and/or if you aren’t on task in class, I won’t spend much time on your work. This is the fair way to do it. I have a limited amount of time and I can’t waste it on students who don’t care. 5. At any po int dur ing the semester, I will be happy to respond to questions or concerns regarding this course. Please feel free to visit me during my office hours or to email me.6. I reserve the right to change assignments, due dates, etc. on the syllabus. However, I will attempt to provide you with any pertinent changes at minimum a week before said change is going to occur.7. You have a number of ways to contact me. I expect you to work with me if you are having problems with your work or the course. Please don’t wait until the end-of-course evaluations to share your issues or struggles with this class.

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WORKSHOPSOne of the most important aspects of this course is learning

that writing isn’t just about you—it’s really about the reader. The best way to find out if your paper is successful is to get feedback from other people. To that end, we’ll spend a number of class sessions doing workshops throughout the semester.

Though you’ll participate in a few kinds of workshops, you’ll always do the same three things:

1. Read and respond to line-level things such as misspellings, inconsistencies, etc.2. Write a few sentences about at least one thing that is working at the end. Write a few sentences about one thing that could be better.3. Go over feedback with your partner. Ask the writer if he/she has questions.We will spend one class period during week two going through

how to workshop effectively. You can also see a detailed overview of how to workshop on the class blog.

While many of you may be against letting peers read your work, this is a required part of my class and one that you’ll soon come to see will have enormous value to you.

Each workshop will be worth 10 points. If you miss a workshop due to absence, you can still get the ten points by finding a partner with whom to exchange papers. You must read a paper as well as exchange your own. Each partner must verify he or she workshopped in order to get the points.

If you don’t have a paper to share, don’t come to class. You won’t receive the points. Use the time to work on your paper.

I expect you to take workshops seriously. They aren’t a time to talk or do work for other classes. In order to realize the true value of workshops, you’ve got to come prepared each time ready to talk about your revised work

Ultimately, it’s up to you to take advantage of the workshop experience. You must come to class ready to get good feedback and offer it to your partner. Simply participating in workshops doesn’t guarantee your paper will improve. You’ve got to be an active participant in the workshop process. Ask questions. Listen. Ask more questions. Do this until there are no more questions

I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.

~James Michener

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Writing Center

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Week One [1/9–1/11]M: Introduction to Class.W: Introduction to Class. Chapters 1& 2. MLSLT

Week Two [1/16–1/18]M: No Class [MLK Day]W: Chapters 3 & 4. How to Workshop Week Three [1/23–1/25]M: Workshop.W: Workshop. MLSLT Due

Week Four [1/30–2/1]M:MLSLT CD Response Due.Chapter 10. Personal EssayW: TBD

Week Five [2/6–2/8]M: No Class [Conferences]W: No Class [Conferences]

Week Six [2/13–2/15]M: Chapter 26. WorkshopW: Chapter 27. Workshop

Week Seven [2/20–2/22]M: Personal Essay Due. No class [President’s Day]W: Chapters 9 and 18. Annotated Bib./Exploratory Essay

Week Eight [2/27–2/29]M: Chapters 12W: No Class [Work day]

Week Nine [3/5–3/7]M: Chapter 24W: Chapters 19–22. Library Day

Week Ten [3/12–3/14]M: Workshop. Annotated Bibliography DueW: TBD

March 19–24 [Spring Break]M: No Class W: No Class

Week Eleven [3/26–3/28]M: Chapter 28. WorkshopW: Chapter 29. Workshop Exploratory Essay Due.

Week Twelve [4/2–4/4]M: Workshop. Exploratory Essay Due. Summary/Strong Response.W: Chapter 13

Week Thirteen [4/9–4/11]M: Library DayW: Chapter 23

Week Fourteen [4/16–4/18]M: WorkshopW: Workshop

Week Fifteen [4/23–4/25]M: WorkshopW: Workshop Summary/Strong Response Due

Final Portfolios Due: Tuesday, 5/1.

E-Portfolio Due: Tuesday, 5/1

This is a broad overview of this course’s trajectory. This will most likely evolve and change as we progress and figure out where we need to spend more or less time. Homework will be given each day in class and on the class blog. You should read each chapter before the day it is listed on the schedule.

Though the plethora of portable devices (laptops, iPods, smart phones, etc.) available to us can make our lives easier and more enjoyable, they are of limited application in the classroom.

I have no patience for cell phones in my classroom.This is disrespectful to me and your classmates. If I see you using a cell phone for use other than recording homework or an appointment, you will be given an absence. If you must text or call someone during class, simply let me know and step outside the classroom.

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SLCC’s Student Writing Center is multi-functional. In addition to computers for class use, the Student Writing Center also offers an advising program where you have the opportunity to discuss your work with a peer tutor or faculty writing advisor. The intent of the Student Writing Center advisor is to help you think about your writing process by sharing their impressions of your materials, offering revision strategies, discussing different ways to approach an assignment, as well as to provide another reader and voice for you. The Student Writing Center is not simply a place to go to get a paper “fixed” or “corrected.”

Go to the Student Writing Center website (listed below) and click on online advising.Campus Locations:

Taylorsville Redwood:  AD 218 (call 801-957-4893 to sign up for an appointment)South City:  N316Jordan:  HTC102Online:  http://www.slcc.edu/swc

If you have any disability which may impair your ability to successfully complete this course, please contact the Accessibility Services Department [LC 312; 863-8747; www.uvu.edu/asd. Academic accommodations are granted for all students who have qualified, documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the Accessibility Services Department.

Disability Statement

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√ Focus on a purpose√ Respond to the needs of different audiences√ Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations√ Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation√ Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality√ Understand how genres shape reading and writing√ Write in several genres

Course Objectives...

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Submitting Assignments

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Helpful Words >>>

“A good writer is basically a story-teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.”

—Isaac Bashevis Singer

“Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.”

—Jonathan Swift

MajorAssignments

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Paper Two: Personal Essay With this paper, you’ll choose a single autobiographical event, describe it, provide sufficient context, and make wise choices about the inclusion/exclusion of details. You’ll be taught to identify problematic issues suggested by the event and complicate simplistic interpretations of its significance. Through the requirement of reasoned argument and an inward focus, you’ll be encouraged to explore your significant event beyond easy answers, simplistic binaries, cliches, and truisms. 100 Points

Paper Three: Exploratory Research Paper. This won’t be the typical research paper. You’ll write a first-person narrative of your research process. What did you discover? How did your understanding of the topic change as you encountered new sources? To explain all of this, you’ll consider various organizational strategies for moving from one source or grouping to another. The paper will lead to a tentative, considered thesis or claim based on all the evidence you’ve examined and carefully demonstrate the complexity of the research issue. 100 Points

Paper Four: Proposal/Annotated Bibliography. In the proposal part of this two-part paper, you’ll explain a research question that you’re interested in and offer a plan for researching it. After completing some research, you’ll create an annotated bibliography, which will summarize and discuss the sources that you’ll use for your final paper. 50 Points

Paper Five:Summary/Strong Response. You’ll be introduced to strategies for reading and summarizing difficult material and responding to it as a way to enter the scholarly conversation. You’ll learn standard research methods as you prepare this paper, and you’ll be encouraged to explore academic arguments in areas of your own personal or professional interest. 100 Points

Paper One: My Life Sounds Like This. We’ll start with something fun, something to give you a different perspective on your favorite music, your life, and writing. 75 points.

You will submit all assignments to me via Google Docs and I will return them to you via the same manner. You don’t need a Gmail account to do this. Please watch the videos on the class blog about setting up a Google account with another email account as well as those that describe how to use Google Docs.

IMPORTANT: As I teach a number of classes, I take in a number of papers each

semester and it’s often difficult to keep them organized. To ease the burden on me, please save each of your papers like this: “StudentName Course PaperTopic.doc.” An example:

JoeStudentEnglish2010PlaceEssay.doc

I will likely detract points if I receive files that are not saved in this manner.

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Grade Scale≥ 100=A+94–98=A90–93=A-87–89=B+

83–86=B80–82=B-77–79=C+73–76=C

70–72=C-

60–69=D

0–59=F