FALL 2021

EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE

SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR’S COURSE REQUIREMENTS

I. ENGLISH 1301 Expository English Composition

Course # Room # Class Meeting Time

10043 RG A239 MWF 12-1250
12072/12082 VV B102 TR 830-950
11919/17813 VV B171 MWF 9-950
12053/17813 VV B106 TR 7-820

Instructor: Armando De Avila

Office Hours: These will be virtual and asynchronous – if you send me an email
or text, expect a response within 24 hours.
Email is the best way to contact me, NOT via Blackboard.
Phone (cell): 915-252-5862 < texting is also better for communicating
Email: adeavil3@epcc.edu

II. Texts and Materials:

UPDATE: If there is a newer book, rent or purchase the newest edition. Bullock, Richard
and Maureen Daly Goggin. The Norton Field Guide to Writing. 5th ed. (2020).

Hacker, Diana and Nancy Sommers. A Writer’s Reference. 8th ed. Look for a red sticker which
says “2016 MLA Update.”

The instructor will upload additional copies of texts throughout the course of the semester should
it be deemed necessary.

III. Course Requirements:

Course Rationale: This course is designed to give you instruction and practice in
preparation of college-level writing. ENGL 1301 will help you understand
and use the logic expected of a college writer. As a college writer, you must
think clearly about both the subject of your writing and the way you plan to
communicate your understanding of that subject to readers.
Passing this course means that you can write a college paper that meets
minimum program standards of focus, development, and clarity; passing means
you are ready for ENGL1302. Students will develop and write short
essays.

Learning Outcomes:

Focus: The writing makes a judgment in answer to the question and most of the

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writing is relevant to that judgment.

Development: The writing provides reasons and evidence (including interpreted

material from an assigned written source) that supports the judgment. The
writing explains how the reasons and evidence support the judgment.

Clarity: The writing generally follows conventions of source attribution,

paragraphing, sentence boundaries, punctuation and spelling, and the
writing is coherent and readable

Course Competencies:

Upon completion of the course, the student will meet these outcomes:
1. Recognize multiple purpose(s) of “text(s).”
a. Apply appropriate conventions to fit purpose
b. Identify purpose(s) of various elements of a text
c. Identify author’s angle of vision
d. Recognize types of appeals
e. Use different types of appeal
2. Adapt messages to a specific audience.
3. Respect diverse perspectives of audience.

You will meet the objectives listed above through a combination of the following activities in
this course:

✓ Short essays
✓ Essay writing processes (brainstorming, researching etal.)
✓ Discussions and exercises on argumentative writing concepts
✓ Reflection in writing
✓ Revision

You are expected to meet the learning objectives for the course by

• Attendance/Participation
• Completion of all assignments to earn a ‘C’ or better
• Working collaboratively with your peers
• Asking for help from your instructor as soon as you need it

Alignment of Course Objectives with student learning outcomes:

In order to write essays that apply Focus, Development and Clarity according to the English
department standards, students will:

▪ Identify and recognize terminology and writing processes by taking regular

assessments to demonstrate understanding

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▪ Actively participate in discussions in order to define, describe, discuss, explain,

illustrate and write by criticizing, differentiating and examining rhetorical writing
concepts and techniques applicable to Focus, Development and Clarity

▪ Demonstrate MLA in-text and Works Cited page format and citation by
completing MLA mini-lessons and applying those skills to essays

▪ Complete essay writing processes that help students to locate research, read and
interpret source information, support their own judgments with quotes,
paraphrases and summaries and evaluate, analyze and argue how source
information supports judgments and argument structures in their own essays and
in their peers’ essays through peer review sessions

▪ Demonstrate an understanding of opposition/rebuttal by completing exercises

related to the skills of developing counterarguments and responding to counter-
claims

Assignments

Discussions, online writings based on research and discussions between the student-
teacher. These are more informal than the Essays.

Activities, online exercises to be determined as we go along.

Portfolio, a compendium of final assignments towards the end of the semester

Essays, major essays assembled from various chapters in the textbook.

Diagnostic, assignment at the beginning of the semester to gauge student

writing.

Final, assignment written during the Final two hours of the semester.

Evaluation

Group Weight

Online Participation……. 50
Discussions:
Premortem…………. 50
Activities
Diagnostic…………… 50
Essays:
Report (Problem/Solution).. 200
Narrative…………… 100
Portfolio:

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Cover Letter……………. 100

Dissertation………….... 100
Scenario………………… 100
Design/Environment (Final) 100
Total………………….1050 points

METHODS OF EVALUATION: Your instructor will evaluate your papers against the ENGL
1301 minimum standards. Before a paper is considered passing with a C or better, it must receive
a “yes” answer on all questions on the trait analysis sheet. If there is a “no” on any question, the
paper is not considered passing. Once it receives a “yes” answer for each question, it will be
assigned a letter grade. The grade profiles are as follows:
The work is of inconsistent quality. While the work shows
some development of both thinking and writing skills, on
C the whole the performance is uneven. The writer
sometimes applies the concepts of the course, but the result
does not demonstrate consistent, college-level control.
The work is of consistent quality. The work consistently
shows clear development of both thinking and writing
B skills. While the performance sometimes lapses, the result
demonstrates consistent, college-level control over the
course concepts.
The work is of strong quality. The work routinely shows
clear development of both thinking and writing skills. The
A
resulting product demonstrates strong, college-level
control over the course concepts (standards).

Grading scale

900-1000 points =A
800-899 points =B
700-799 points =C
600-699 points =D
Below 600 points = F

IV. Instructor Policies

ATTENDANCE AND COURSE PURSUIT

Attendance, Late work and Withdrawals Policy

The instructor reserves the right to have you administratively withdrawn for persistent absences
and/or too many missed assignments. If you do miss class, you are responsible for alerting the
instructor beforehand if possible or afterwards, if absence was unavoidable. You are also
responsible for any material/assignments missed. Attendance or lack thereof is noted but not

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recorded. Late work is accepted only at the discretion of the instructor and only if you have made
arrangements with the instructor prior to the deadline.

Assignments for our class are listed on Blackboard, as they are assigned, along with the
corresponding deadlines for the course work, essays and other written assignments. However, the
details of these assignments are obtained by reading regular class emails, delivered via EPCC
Outlook. Having access to a syllabus and the assignments through Blackboard will help organize
your semester but reading EPCC Outlook emails and Blackboard announcements is the only way
to adequately remain informed and up-to-date.

Your instructor will not automatically withdraw you from the course. The decision to withdraw
from the course is up to you, the student.

If you do not contact your instructor or fail to turn in assignments, you may earn a failing grade
if you do not withdraw from the course. Rather than receive an “F” on your academic transcript,
you may be advised by your instructor or by an advisor to withdraw from the class. The last day
to withdraw from a single course is posted online on EPCC. If you have questions about how to
withdraw, contact your counselor/advisor.

Out-of-Class Work Expectations: College courses generally require students to complete a

majority of their work outside of class. Since we are now online and do not have a classroom, a
reasonable formula is to plan 2-3 hours of homework for most assignments. This formula may
vary from day to day, class to class and from assignment to assignment.

Classroom Management:
If you do not submit work in a timely manner and/or do not maintain contact with the instructor
across two weeks total, the instructor reserves the right to have you administratively withdrawn.
If you miss emails, you are responsible for all the material you missed. Participation is recorded.
Late work is accepted only at the discretion of the instructor, and only if you have made
arrangements with the instructor prior to the deadline.

Coursework Deadlines and Late Work:

Assignments are due on Blackboard or EPCC Outlook, on the due date. Assignments which are a
few days late (and meanwhile there is no contact with the instructor) or more may receive
reduced or no credit, at the instructor’s discretion.

If there are extenuating circumstances which prevent you from completing assignments or
participating in the class, please contact the instructor before the assignment deadline.

Points for each assignment will be awarded based on:

Following the assignment directions (accuracy)

Satisfying the assignment specific rubric and/or grade scale
Thoroughness and evidence of thought and effort
Clarity of expression
Grammar

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For each week, you will need to complete all coursework activities and essay writing activities.

Completing Assignments

Assignments will be completed electronically through Blackboard.

Extensions will not be given beyond the next assignment except under extreme circumstances.

The instructor reserves the right to drop any student for disruptive behavior, especially if said
behavior infringes on the classroom environment and student ability to learn effectively. It is at
the discretion of the instructor to define disruptive behavior. This is as critical, if not more so,
now that we are engaging in online education.

Respect the instructor and, especially, the rights of other students (including yourself).
Students purposefully disrupting class will be asked to stop. Any student who
demonstrates an inability to stop faces possible administrative removal from the course.

Absolutely no cruel teasing or name-calling is allowed. I have a zero tolerance policy for
this = no racial slurs or derogatory sexual terms shall be used against anyone at any time.
If this occurs, the student will be dismissed from any course discussions and possibly
dropped from the course completely.

Understand that these items are critical to the integrity of the class and that the instructor
reserves the right to call campus security if the offense warrants such consideration and if
the student that has been dismissed from class refuses to stop. Campus security treats
such incidents with the same seriousness as the civic police department would in
responding to an assault. While we may not have a physical component during this
particular time due to the shutdown, any disruptiveness or worse will be recorded and a
student’s future educational pursuit may be jeopardized.

There will be some extra credit in the course. Work that is not turned in on the due date will be
accepted but deducted one letter grade, provided you speak to me about an extension. A late
paper would start at 89, for example. Be advised that falling behind in the course will make
catching back up difficult and should be avoided.

I will work with you as much as possible to help you succeed in this course. If you are having
problems of any kind, please talk to me first. If you do not speak with me, I cannot help you.
Anyone not attending classes and turning work in on a timely, regular basis will have a difficult
time passing the course.

V. Calendar

The calendar is very tentative and will adjust as we proceed through the semester. What I post
here is content-informative. You’ll see the types of assignments we’ll be working on. For an
actual plan of action, you can go to Blackboard to see the actual assignments you’ll work on.

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NOTE: In order to see the order of assignments and readings, you will need to read on our
Blackboard course itself.

Week Pre-mortem Diagnostic Purpose = do/think/feel

One “Reader-response” Problem/Solution Audience = demographics/targeting
Genres

Week Begin Report > Thesis writing = narrowing it down

Two Discussion #1 Prewriting/Brainstorming/ Writing Spaces-Rhetoric and
Pathos/Logos/Ethos Composition Wiki/Topic sentence
structure
Week Research/MLA/APA EPCC Online Databases
Three Applied-Quantitative-Qualitative- Valid versus invalid/plagiarism
Problem/Solution research Memo writing/Proposal
Purdue Owl

Week Four Narrating/Describing/Profile/Discussion #2 Mixing genres with

Argument
Week Five Argumentation/Discussion Narrating/Describing
#3
Week Six Memo writing Abstract

Week Seven 3/2-3/5 Week Eight Text Analysis

Week Nine Begin Design/Environment Week Ten Cover Letter
Portfolio
Week Eleven Scenario Week Twelve Week Thirteen Dissertation –
Best and Worst Case Cover Letter Interviewing
Preparation

Week Fourteen Argument review Begin Design/Environment

Week Fifteen MLA Problem-Solution review Scenario/Interviewing review
review

Conferencing Conferencing

Portfolio submission

Week Sixteen December Rollercoaster

FINAL

The EPCC District calendar can be found on the EPCC main website. I’ll go over how to
navigate it to view important dates (Late Registration, holidays, Final Date to Drop et al.) in
EPCC Outlook/Blackboard.