English Composition I Syllabus and Course Policies

Except where otherwise noted, Writing Rhetorically: Framing First Year Writing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Kirk Fontenot, Shelly Rodrigue, William Rogers, and Wanda Waller.

Course Number and Title:

CENL 1013: English Composition I

Course Brief Description:

Introduces students to the critical thinking, reading, writing, and rhetorical skills required in the college/university and beyond, including citation and documentation, writing as a process, audience awareness, and writing effective essays. Four major writing assignments focus on developing mastery of a variety of rhetorical methods (narrative, description, definition, exemplification, comparison/contrast, evaluation, cause and effect, and argumentation). 3 credit hours.

Prerequisite Knowledge:

Students should be comfortable with writing complex sentences and paragraphs as part of a longer, multipage composition. They should have a strong grasp of spelling and basic grammatical rules. Students will also need to be comfortable with reading, analyzing, and discussing others’ writing. Experience with conducting research and integrating and documenting external sources is not necessary.

Course Goals:

There are six student learning objectives (SLOs) for this course.

SLO 1: Writing as a process

Students will adopt a multi-step, recursive writing process that includes prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading.

SLO 2: Purpose, audience, voice, tone, and style

Students will apply appropriate language and tone for an intended audience and rhetorical situation.

SLO 3: Organization, structure, and format of essay

Students will write academic essays in logically sequenced paragraphs including an introduction, supportive body, and conclusion.

SLO 4: Persuasion, rhetorical tactics/situation, thesis development

Students will use persuasive strategies and rhetorical patterns in written original arguments.

SLO 5: Handling and gathering evidence/support

Students will demonstrate effective support of assertions with rhetorically appropriate strategies to evaluate, represent, and respond to the ideas and research of others.

SLO 6: Grammar

Students will apply rules and conventions of grammar, word choice, punctuation, and spelling in a variety of sentence structures.

Course Materials:

Course Moodle site

Writing Rhetorically: Framing First-Year Writing textbook; adaptation by Kirk Fontenot, Shelly Rodrigue, Will Rogers, and Wanda Waller

Instructor Contact Information:

Instructor Name:

• Email:
• Phone:
• Office:
• Office Hours:
• Communication Policy: Instructor will reply to emails within 24 hours or, if on a weekend, by the end of the next business day. Holidays and university breaks may impact response times.

Course Schedule:

Course Policies:

Technology Requirements

• Students must have access to a computer that can connect reliably to broadband internet, as well as the ability to navigate the school’s LMS (Learning Management System). For synchronous online courses, students must have web cameras, microphones, Zoom, and a reliable high-speed internet connection. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are recommended web browsers to use for accessing the school’s LMS and submitting materials online.

Computer Skills

• Students must have at least basic proficiency in word processing applications (MS Word, Google Docs, etc.) and be able to submit files to an online system. Word processing files should be saved with the .docx extension.
• Regardless of the course’s modality (online or f2f), students must be prepared to check the LMS and receive announcement emails on a daily basis during the week in order to keep up with the class.

Evaluation

• Discussion questions and Your Turn activities provide low-stakes formative assessments for students.
• H5P exercises are for self-evaluation to check comprehension only and are not graded.
• Four major papers, each with a preliminary rough draft due at least a week before the final draft, will provide high-stakes, summative assessments for students.
  • Instructors will provide feedback for rough drafts of major papers prior to the weekend before the paper is due.

Grading Policy

The students’ grades for the course will be made up of their scores on discussion questions and Your Turn activities, four major writing assignments, and attendance.

Paper 1 = 20%
Paper 2 = 20%
Paper 3 = 20%
Paper 4 = 20%
Discussion questions and YT exercises = 15%
Attendance = 5%

• [Grading scale and late work policy, if applicable.]

University Policies and Support: [Keep as a placeholder for future adopters]

• Code of Conduct
• Online Etiquette
• Academic Integrity
• Diversity Statement
• Accessibility and Disability Services
• Technology Support
• Academic Support Services