Santa Ana College – Humanities and Social Sciences Division

Course: English 101, Freshman Composition, #81957

Meetings: Online
Semester: Spring 2020
Course Description: Expository and argumentative essays and the research paper.

Instructor: Charles Ramshaw

Office: D-419
Email: ramshaw_charles@sac.edu
Office Hours: N/A

Required Texts and Materials: Seeing and Writing 4, McQuade and McQuade; Rules
of Thumb: Guide for Writers, Silverman (opt.); Gone Baby Gone, Lehane; a dictionary of
your choice.

SAC Mission Statement: Santa Ana College inspires, transforms, and empowers a
diverse community of learners.

SAC English Department Mission Statement: The Santa Ana College English
Department provides numerous opportunities for our students to develop and improve the
reading, critical thinking, and writing skills required to succeed at their chosen careers, to
meet the rigors of the writing demands at four-year transfer institutions, and to foster
lifelong learning and an appreciation of literature.

Active Participation Policy: Your success in this class requires that you actively
participate in the course. You should log into the course daily to check for updates,
upcoming assignments, and so forth. Students are also required to look at my feedback on
their papers, so that they can grow and improve as writers. In addition, discussion board
participation is required of all students. If a student misses two consecutive weeks of
discussion boards, s/he will be dropped, or the course grade will be lowered. I also
encourage you to email me with any questions regarding the course or assignments. I
return emails within twenty-four hours during the week; on the weekend, I generally do
not return emails, so please plan accordingly.

Academic Honesty Policy: Students at Santa Ana College are expected to be honest and
forthright in their academic endeavors. To falsify the results of one’s research, to steal the
words or ideas of another, or to cheat on an examination, corrupts the essential process by
which knowledge is advanced. Academic dishonesty is seen as an intentional act of fraud,
in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or efforts of another without
authorization, or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any academic
exercise. Assignments that demonstrate academic dishonesty may receive an F grade, and
the student may be referred to the dean of the division for further disciplinary action.

Recording Devices: The use of any recording device during class without the prior
consent of the instructor is prohibited, except as necessary to provide reasonable auxiliary
aids and academic adjustments to students with disabilities who present official
documentation from the DSPS office to the instructor prior to recording. This is to protect
privacy and to create a safe classroom environment where all participants can discuss
potentially controversial or sensitive subjects freely. If you want to take a photograph or
make an audio or video recording, you must get prior permission from the instructor.
Even if a student gets permission to record, the recordings are only for personal use and
may not be distributed, posted, published, or shared in any manner.

Discussion Boards: All postings must be a minimum of 150 words in length. Responses
to at least two peer postings are required, and they must be a minimum of 100 words in
length. The topics of the discussion boards will be provided by me. No late postings will
be accepted for credit.

Essay Assignments: The Advertisement and Good Will Hunting papers must be in MLA
format. The Mini-Research paper must be in MLA format with MLA documentation,
and it must be a minimum of three pages in length. All papers must be submitted through
Canvas as a Word attachment. Late papers will be accepted only with the understanding
that the paper will be marked down one letter grade for every day it is late. It is each
student’s responsibility to ensure that her paper is submitted correctly. The timed essay,
90 minutes, based on assigned Seeing and Writing readings must be completed between
June 29-30 on Canvas, and it must be a minimum of two pages in length. There are no
make-ups for the timed essay.

Research Papers: There will be two research papers, the parameters of which will be
provided by me. Both papers must be in MLA format with MLA documentation, and
they must be at least six pages in length each. Both research papers must be submitted
through Canvas as a Word attachment. Research I will be accepted late only with the
understanding that the paper will be marked down one letter grade for every day it is late.
Research II will not be accepted late. It is each student’s responsibility to ensure that her
paper is submitted correctly.

Novel Essay: The final timed essay, 90 minutes, will be based on the novel Gone Baby
Gone. It must be completed between July 20-21. There are no make-ups for the novel
essay.

Grading Policies: Final grades will be based on the following percentages:

Discussion Boards: 10%

Essay Assignments: 35%
Research Papers: 35%
Novel Essay: 20%

90%-100%=A; 80%-89%=B; 70%-79%=C; 60%-69%=D; 0-59%=F.

Student Learning Outcomes: Students will use the writing process to write, in MLA
format, academic essays, including a documented research paper, using appropriately
chosen details, organizational strategies, more complex sentence variety, and sufficiently
correct grammar, punctuation, effective word choice, and style. Students will be able to
read critically for literal and implied meaning, identify main ideas, organizational
strategies and authors’ writing strategies as well as summarize, paraphrase, and analyze
written works. Students will evaluate and ethically use primary and secondary academic
sources to avoid plagiarism and will use the library’s resources, including online
databases.

Title IX Statement: Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and certain other
federal and state laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation
in employment, as well as in all education programs and activities operated by Rancho
Santiago Community College District (both on and off-campus). The protection against
discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation includes sexual harassment,
sexual misconduct, and gender-based dating and domestic violence and stalking.

Under Title IX, discrimination on the basis of sex can include sexual harassment, sexual
misconduct, dating and domestic violence, and stalking. The District is committed to
providing an academic and work environment that respects all members of its campus
community. The District shall be free of sexual harassment and all forms of sexual
intimidation and exploitation including acts of sexual violence. It shall also be free of
other unlawful harassment, including that which is based on any of the following
statuses: race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental
disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender
identify, gender expression, age, or sexual of any person, or military and veteran status,
or because they are perceived to have one or more of the foregoing characteristics. The
District seeks to foster an environment in which all members of the campus community
to feel free to report incidents of harassment without fear of retaliation or reprisal.
Therefore, the District also strictly prohibits retaliation against any individual for filing a
complaint of harassment or for participating in an investigation.

Accommodations: Your success in this course is important to me. Santa Ana College
and I are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all individuals with
disabilities. If you have a disability that may have some impact on your ability to do well
in this course, I encourage you to speak with me as soon as possible. Also, please contact
Disabled Student Programs & Services so that we can all collaborate on your classroom
accommodations in a timely manner. DSPS&S is located in the Village, VL-204, and
their phone number is 714-564-6264. The DSPS&S office requires documentation of
your disability in order to receive reasonable accommodations. If you do not have
documentation, they will work with you to acquire it. I look forward to supporting you to
meet your learning goals.
 Tentative Schedule for English 101 – Summer 2020

Week 1 (June 15-19): Introduction to class; Read Guterson’s “No Place Like Home” (158); Sanders’
“Homeplace” (172); Tan’s “Fish Cheeks” (218); Momaday’s “The Photograph” (252); Nachtwey’s
“Ground Zero” (284); begin reading the novel Gone Baby Gone; Discussion Board Posting #1 due June
15; responses due June 16; Discussion Board Posting #2 due June 17; responses due June 18.

Week 2 (June 22-26): Read Kincaid’s “Girl” (329); Pollitt’s “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls” (381);
Alexander’s “Cool Like Me” (415); Allende’s “Omayra Sanchez” (590); Johnson’s “Watching TV Makes
You Smarter” (627); Discussion Board Posting #3 June 22; responses due June 23. Discussion Board
Posting #4 due June 24; responses due June 25; Advertisement Essay due June 26.

Week 3 (June 29-July 3): Timed Seeing and Writing readings based essay must be completed between
June 29-30; View Good Will Hunting (film); Discussion Board Posting #5 due July 1; responses due
July 2; Good Will Hunting essay due July 3.

Week 4 (July 6-10): Hero with a Thousand Faces and Mini Research Paper; Discussion Board Posting
#6 due July 8; responses due July 9; Mini-Research Paper due July 10.

Week 5 (July 13-17): Research Paper Part I; Discussion Board Posting #7 due July 15; responses due
July 16; Research I due July 17.

Week 6 (July 20-24): Timed Gone Baby Gone essay must be completed between July 20-21; Research
Paper Part II; Discussion Board Posting #8 due July 22; responses due July 23; Research II due July
24.