INTRODUCTORY COMPOSITION: ENGL 106 Instructor: Aaron DeRosa Office: HEAV 214 Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday,

9:30-10:30 E-Mail: aderosa@purdue.edu Website: Course Description and Objectives English 106 is the standard 4-credit hour composition course for entering students at Purdue. To meet all your goals in this one-semester course, you should expect to produce between 7,50011,500 words of polished writing. Some of this text production will be done using multimedia, and some of it may be given through short assignments. Your writing topics will be closely tied to the courses theme or approach, and may include personal experiences as well as researchbased arguments. It is common practice in English 106 to conduct different types of research and create a final project that demonstrates the expertise you have gained over the semester. So, we will be planning assignments in order to help you discover and explore a topic, perspective, or audience. We will also spend some time in exploration of topics and rhetorical contexts, and in the production, interpretation, and analysis of multimedia environments. This course requires reading and discussing writing by you, your peers, and professionals. This reading and discussion will be accomplished through in-class review sessions or in bi-weekly conferences. Course Texts & Films Moore, Alan. Watchmen. (Graphic Novel) Matheson, Peter. I am Legend (Novel) I, Robot (Film) The Matrix (Film) Recommended Films I am Legend (try to watch the extended edition as well as the original) Watchmen (Release Date 3/6/09) District 9 Assignments One response paper 3-4 pages (5 points) Two 4-6 page essays (10 and 15 points) One group visual rhetoric assignment (15 points) One 10-minute Presentation (10 points) One in-depth research project: o Abstract (5 points) o Annotated bibliography (5 points)

o 7-9 page research paper (20 points) (25 points total) Class Participation (15 points)

Grading Your points will be translated into percentages; your final grade will be calculated according to the following percentage scale: 90-100 A 80-89 B 70-79 C 60-69 D 1-59 F Note about Incompletes: The mark of I is inappropriate if, in the instructors judgment, it will be necessary for the student regularly to attend subsequent sessions of the class. I will give an Incomplete only in cases of extreme emergency. Writing Deadlines and Extensions You are expected to submit assignments by the deadlines listed. All written work is due at the beginning of class unless otherwise noted. In order to be considered for a grade, all assignments are to be complete, of the minimum page count, and must conform to appropriate formatting. If you are absent on the day an assignment is due, I expect that assignment in my inbox at the BEGINNING of that class period. I will not accept the I forgot to attach it excuse. Late assignments will not be accepted. If you need an extension, you must contact me 48 hours in advance. No extension is guaranteed, so if you do not hear from me immediately do not assume you will have the extra time. Revisions and Challenges On the larger projects, you will be allowed one of two options: revising your paper or challenging your grade in an effort to increase your score. The details of this process will be passed out when appropriate. You will not be allowed to revise your paper if you have not submitted a completed assignment as the original. Available Resources: Office Hours, Conferences, and the Writing Lab Every other week we will meet in conference for 10 minutes as designated. These sessions will be an opportunity for us to work on whatever it is youre interested in. These are not sessions where I grill you for information. They are there to help you with your writing. Therefore you should come prepared with questions. In addition, I will be available for additional help during my office hours as listed above. If you cannot make it during this time, please get in touch with me to arrange an alternate time. Because of the nature of the beast, I will be unable to read full drafts of papers before they are due (this is why we have a revision process). But you are not without resources. We will hold regular peer review sessions before every major paper and you will always have access to the nationally recognized Writing Lab at HEAV 226. The staff there can help you with whatever

stage of the paper youre at, from brainstorming to revisions. You can also find the answers to many of your common questions on the Online Writing Lab website: <owl.english.purdue.edu>. Plagiarism Plagiarism is the act of presenting as your own work another individuals ideas, words, data, or research material. The concept applies equally to written, spoken, or electronic texts, published or unpublished. All ideas and quotations that you borrow from any source must be acknowledged: at a minimum, you should give the name of your author, the title of the text cited, and the page number(s) of the citation. The only exceptions to this requirement would involve common knowledge (e.g. the fact that the earth is round). You should know that penalties for plagiarism are severe and can entail suspension from the University. Students are responsible for reading and understanding the University policy on Cheating and Plagiarism set forth in Purdue Universitys Academic Integrity: A Guide for Students available at http://www.purdue.edu/odos/osrr/integrity.htm. If you have questions or concerns about this policy, ask. I have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to plagiarism. It is better to be safe than sorry. Attendance Attendance is expected and mandatory. You are considered absent if 1) you are more than 10 minutes late, 2) you are unprepared for class, or 3) you disrupt class in some way. You may miss three sessions without penalty. If you miss four classes, your final grade will be lowered by a letter grade. The same is true of your fifth missed class. Missing six classes will result in your automatic failure of the course. Class participation is one of the most important components to the success of the course. All reading and outside assignments are to be completed prior to class. This means reading carefully and critically, bringing materials to class, and coming prepared to engage with the ideas. If you are found unprepared, you will be asked to leave. Behavior As we will be discussing potentially controversial topics (race, gender, sexuality, politics, etc.), all remarks made in class must be of a non-judgmental nature. Anything that might be considered an insult, slur, or attack of any kind will not be tolerated. If there is a problem of disrespect in the classroom, you will be permanently removed from the class and forced to drop the course, in addition to other possible punishments given by Purdue University (See the Purdue University Student Code of Conduct available at http://www.purdue.edu/ODOS/osrr/conductcode.htm). In addition, if you are found to be disruptive or disrespectful to the class, your classmates, or your instructor (talking, cell phone use, falling asleep, etc.) you will be asked to leave the class, garner an absence, a mark against your class participation grade and, depending on the severity, you will be asked to drop the course. Dat e 8/24 8/26 Reading Assignments Introduction 1

8/27 8/31 9/2 9/3 9/7 9/9 9/10 9/14 9/16 9/17 9/21 9/23 9/24 9/28 9/30 10/1 10/5 10/7 10/8 10/1 2 10/1 4 10/1 5 10/1 9 10/2 1 10/2 2 10/2 6 10/2 8 10/2 9 11/2 11/4 11/5 11/9 11/1 1 2

Bradbury Martian Chronicles How to Watch a Film Vonnegut Barnhouse No Class I, Robot Matheson (1-100)

3 4

Short Assignment DUE Matheson (101-170) 5 The Matrix 6 Peer Review 7 Paper 1 DUE No Class 8 Watchmen (Ch. 1-4) Watchmen (Ch. 5-8) 9

Watchmen (Ch. 9-12) 10 Visual Rhetoric Project DUE

11 Film (TBD) 1 2

11/1 2 11/1 6 11/1 8 11/1 9 11/2 3 11/2 5 11/2 6 11/3 0 12/2 12/3 12/7 12/9 12/1 0

Film (TBD) 13

Peer Review

Paper 2 DUE

14

No Class

15 Peer Review 1 6 Paper 3 DUE