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9/11 Image

The Twin Towers burn after beingstruck by passenger liners onSeptember 11, 2001.

80354 ENGL 1101.23 MW 12:30-1:45p H/SS-124Fall 2008

Dr. Gerald Lucascomp@grlucas.nethttp://litmuse.net/Office: H/SS-117

ENGLISH COMPOSITION 1

This section of ENGL 1101 will examine the politics of war and the environment through our reading, discussion,and writing. Our goals will be to learn the basics of writing and thinking at a college level.

The objectives of English Composition 1(ENGL 1101) are to teach students how to readand write at a beginning college level. During thecourse, students will learn to write essays thatare efﬁcacious, succinct, and interesting; to citeproper support for suppositions; to examine andthink critically; and to increase their conﬁdencein all forms of written discourse.Through various class readings, blog en-tries, discussions, and individual guidance, stu-dents will practice and develop integral skills forthe communication and inference of ideas bothwritten and verbal.In an effort to satisfy these goals, we willexamine several texts that address current po-litical and environmental issues, namely the warin Iraq and global warming.

Textbooks

Three textbooks are required for this course, twoof which are available in the bookstore; the Ly-nas will need to be purchased on your own.•Hacker, Diana.

A Handbook for Writers

.•Lynas, Mark.

Six Degrees: Our Future on aHotter Planet

. 2008.•Mailer, Norman.

Why Are We at War?

2003.

LitMUSE

You are required to have an account on Lit-MUSE, the server that will support all of yourwork in this class. As a part of this requirement,you should have access to a computer withInternet capability and a current web browser,like Safari or Firefox.

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Pen and Paper

You should also bring an ink interface of somesort, as well as dead trees on which to takenotes. Notes should not only reﬂect good listen-ing skills, but individual interest in every topicdiscussed in class. You should not sit in classlike you’re watching TV: learning requires activeparticipation.

Electronics & Things

Materials, like cell phones, food, magazines,iPods, etc., are not needed for our class andshould, therefore, not accompany you. Addi-tionally, I do not allow class discussions to betaped, so do not bring any voice recording de-vices to class. You may use laptops unless I askyou not to bring them.

Criterion

You will also need to purchase a Criterion loginand password from the book store.

Rated PG-13

Finally, since class lecture and discussion willoften touch on the controversial, this collegeclassroom is not an appropriate place for chil-dren. Please leave them at home.

REQUIREMENTS

Grades are based on a point system, and stu-dents' ﬁnal grades will be based on their per-centage of total points accrued. For example, ifthe total number of possible points is 1000, anda student has 900 (90%), she will earn an A.Remember: two aspects of composition in 1101are critical in the grading process: mechanicsand content. Always proofread and revise anywriting before submission. All requirements mustbe fully completed for a student to pass thecourse.

Formal Essays

Students will complete four, formal, essays onassigned topics, including one as a ﬁnal exam.Since this is a writing class, essays will beweighed most heavily in evaluation.

Blog/Forum

Students are required to keep a weekly writtenresponse on assigned topics. Each blog andinitial forum entry must have a minimum of 350words. Along with every forum entry, each stu-dent is required to comment critically on at least

WAR IN IRAQ

Mailer on War

“Behind the whole push togo to war with Iraq is thedesire to have a hugemilitary presence in theMiddle East as a stepping-stone to taking over therest of the world” (Mailer51).

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two other students' entries. We will do yourinitial blog set-up during the ﬁrst week of class.

Daily Work/Online Activities

Regular class attendance and active participa-tion in classroom discussion and online activitiesare required. Additional assistance can be ob-tained from me during ofﬁce hours, by appoint-ment, or by email. I encourage students tocommunicate with me if they have any difﬁcul-ties with the course or the materials. It is ulti-mately your responsibility to succeed, so gainingadditional assistance — especially if you arestruggling — is paramount. Any work that doesnot explicitly fall into an above category willfactor into your daily work average.

POLICIES

Assignments

Your work represents you. Therefore, I expecteverything you turn into me to exemplify thevery best of your professional self. Please proof-read all writing before submission.

Attendance

Attendance will be taken at every class meeting.If you come in late, it is your responsibility toinform me of your presence that day. If you failto do so, you are absent. Two tardies count asone absence. There are no “excused absences”in my class, but you are allowed to miss oneclass before your grade suffers. Each additionalclass missed beyond the allotted one will resultin your ﬁnal semester’s grade being droppedone letter.

Deadlines

Late work is not acceptable and will receive azero. Technical, computer malfunctions are notacceptable excuses for late work. Quizzes andin-class activities cannot be made up for anyreason.

The best and quickest way of contacting me isvia email. Only use the email address that I pro-vided on this document for class business:<comp@grlucas.net>.

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Six Degrees

In 2001, the Intergovern-mental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) released alandmark report projectingaverage global surfacetemperatures to rise be-tween 1.4 degrees and 5.8degrees Celsius (roughly 2to 10 degrees Fahrenheit)by the end of this cen-tury.