English Composition II (online course) Instructor: David Chase Internet E-mail: dchase@raritanval.

edu (You should, however, contact me using WebStudy course e-mail. Only use the raritanval.edu e-mail address in case of emergency. Generally speaking, I will be accessible by email between Monday and Friday of each week.) Required Texts and Materials: All required literary texts are available via online sources or within the course environment. Students will be responsible for downloading and annotating print copies of ALL scheduled readings. Recommended Texts: Lunsford, Andrea. Easy Writer. 3rd ed. (2009 MLA). New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. (You also may substitute another writing/grammar handbook or information source of your choosing, provided that
it contains up-to-date details regarding MLA 2009 bibliographic, citation, and formatting standards.)

Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. (Consider purchasing this text for valuable and accessible
guidance with academic writing in general.)

Course Description and Purpose: English Composition II is the second in a two-course composition sequence that continues to expand and refine analytical writing and critical reading skills. Students produce a series of documented essays based on a range of fiction and non-fiction sources, focusing on the challenges posed by writing longer essays and using advanced research techniques. Among other matters, we will focus on analysis and synthesis of texts, finer points of writing style, and responsible researching skills. In our peer-oriented writing course, we will start from the assumption that reading and writing are social and collaborative activities. Whenever we read and we write, we do so as part of a community; our individual experiences (personal, cultural, academic) afford us the opportunity to make unique and valuable contributions to a conversation about the world that is already in progress. Because the aim of our collaborative classroom is to construct an actively engaged community of readers and writers, you will be responsible for providing attentive and thoughtful feedback on our course readings and on your peers work; by examining the style and content of other peoples written work, you will learn to readand, consequently, will be able to develop and to reviseyour own writing with greater insight and objectiveness. In essence, by becoming a more careful and thoughtful reader, you will grow into a more confident and effective writer.

Learning Outcomes: 1. Writing: Students will be able to a. write essays that identify thematic connections between and among a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts. b. write essays that demonstrate facility with research techniques and the conventions of citation c.write comparative and analytical essays that support a central point d. write clearly, grammatically and fluently with focus and continuity in standard American English in essays written in class as well as out of class. 2. Reading: Students will be able to explicate readings in writing as well as during class. 3. Research: Students will be able to a. research and employ scholarly sources b. make judgments about the relevance of sources c. use sources ethically Course Requirements (You must complete all course requirements successfully in order to receive a passing grade for the course): Grade Distribution: 1) Revised Essays: Essay 1, 3-4 pages: 5% Essay 2, 4-5 pages: 10% Essay 3 (one academic source required), 5-6 pages: 15% Essay 4 (five academic sources required), 7-8 pages: 30%: All essays, without exception, must be neatly word-processed or typed in a standard manuscript font, labeled according to instructions below, formatted according to MLA 2009 documentation standards (in-text citations and a Works Cited page), double-spaced with one inch margins (all sides), proofread, and spell-checked. NOTE: Teaching MLA documentation is NOT part of the curriculum of English Composition II; if you did not master this information in English Composition I (or its equivalent), it is your responsibility to get up to speed on MLA standards before the first essay is due. 2) Final Exam (120 Minute Timed Writing): 10% Guidelines for the final exam will be provided during the final week of class. 3) Reading Journal, (minimum length per entry, page): 10% Reading Journal entries should demonstrate engagement with idea, themes, and/or formal elements (characterization, figurative language, setting, structure) of the assigned literary texts; they should not be focused around plot summary. For each entry, you should strive to engage in a sustained and focused reflection on a single question or concern that occurs to you while doing the reading; Your aim should be to explore and to think through your chosen issue, question, or theme, developing and supporting your ideas and observations via analysis of relevant textual evidence. Because the goal of the journal is to help you deepen your understanding of the text, you should complete each journal entry as you complete each reading, rather than waiting until the due date for each installment of the journal. Dont just repeat or what the text says; you should be responding to its ideas. A separate journal entry of at least typed pages is required for each assigned literary text; students wishing to earn higher than a C on the journal assignment should exceed these standards, in both quantity and quality. Each time a journal assignment is due, submit entries to the appropriate assignment link as one word processing document that includes all journal entries for the current journal assignment. No late reading journals will be accepted.

4) Forum Participation, 20%: Minimum Forum Posting Requirement: For each assigned forum topic as listed in the Course Calendar, at minimum, you are to respond to my initial questions/prompts by the deadline indicated and then post a substantive response to a posting of your classmate within two days of the original assignment deadline. Meeting these minimum requirements will result in a Forum Participation grade of C. To receive a higher grade, you must participate actively and frequently in class discussions with thoughtful, carefully written postings. A substantive message consists of well thought out commentary that moves the class discussion forward. I will consider both quantity and quality when evaluating postings. For example: I agree. or Good comment. are not considered substantive messages. For a message to be considered substantial, it should meet two requirements: 1) be at least 50 words in length and 2) should move the discussion further along by showing the student is on-task and thinking about the questions and responses. NOTE: Class participation includes reading carefully ALL of the messages posted for each forum topic; simply clicking on messages so that they disappear from your new messages list does not count as reading them. Forum participation also includes substantive and thoughtful peer review of an assigned partners rough draft (and, for those of you wishing to earn higher than a C for participation, of at least one other classmates work of your choosing). Please take the peer review process seriously, because it is one of the most essential tools available for developing into a more effective writer. By examining the style and content of someone elses written work, you will learn to readand, consequently, will be able to develop and to reviseyour own writing with greater insight and objectiveness. In essence, by becoming a more careful and thoughtful reader, you will grow into a more confident and effective writer. How To Get The Most Out Of Your Forum Participation: When stating or defending an idea, substantiate and document your reasoning when possible. When questioning the ideas of another student, respect his/her opinion and ask your questions graciously. Simply stating "I agree" or "You are correct" is not considered active, relevant, substantive participation. Try asking probing questions about the responses you read. Using "open ended questions" can also add to the overall learning environment. An open-ended question is one that cannot be answered using "yes" or "no" responses. Comment on the ideas being presented by your classmates. What do you agree with, specifically? Why do you think your classmate made a good point? How is what was stated helping you understand the ideas from the reading? What kinds of ideas do you associate with the given responses?

Paper Policies/Procedures: Late Essays/Feedback/Drafts: Generally speaking, I will not accept late essays, except in cases of true emergency. If I decide to accept a late paper, I will lower the grade one letter grade for each day it is late. If an essay assignment or discussion board devoted to an essay indicates that you must post or email an essay draft, failure to provide such an essay draft as assigned will result in a lowering of your final essay grade by one letter grade for each day that it is late. Likewise, failure to conduct a substantive and thorough peer review of your assigned partners rough draft according to instructions by the required deadline will result in a one letter grade penalty on your own essay.

Submitting Work for Evaluation: You must submit each revised essay to the appropriate assignment link (in theWork2Do section, as well as embedded in the Timeline) in a file format that is readable (and can be edited within) Microsoft Word (for example, .doc, .docx, or .rtf). Please be sure your work contains the complete heading information required by MLA 2009 standards, including your name, the date, the essay, and a title, as well as your Works Cited page. Writing Support: Support for all stages of the writing process (brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing) is available both in-person and online through RVCCs Academic Support Center. See the Academic Support Center link at the Current Students section of the RVCC website for more information on how to arrange an in-person or online tutoring session: http://www.raritanval.edu/rvcc/frameset/current_students.html Note: RVCCs plagiarism policy will be enforced. If you use someone elses ideas in any way (quote, paraphrase, direct or indirect reference), no matter who that person is (a published author, your classmate, a friend, a tutor, etc.), you MUST give proper credit to the source of the information. Failure to acknowledge and document your sources according to MLA standards constitutes plagiarism; possible penalties include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, and/or a reporting of the infraction to the Deans office for further evaluation and/or discipline. Also: If you stop attending the course or keeping up with its workload, you must officially withdraw. Failure to do so will result in a grade of F. Courses can be dropped from your schedule via the web or in person through the end of the drop period. Tuition is refunded in accordance with the Colleges refund policy. Course Components and Requirements: 1) Course Syllabus: The Course Syllabus (the document that you are currently reading) contains course policies and procedures. Please print a copy of this document and keep it handy for ready reference. 2) Timeline: The Timeline includes clickable links to our forum discussions and assignments, and reminders of due dates for forum postings, essays, and reading journal installments. It is therefore your most essential planning/management tool for the timely completion of the coursework. All assignments are due by 11:59pm of the day indicated on the Timeline. In other words, if an assignment is due by 11:59pm Tuesday, you have all of Tuesday up until 11:59pm to submit it. Assignments submitted after this time will be considered late. Forum posting due dates refer to assignments in the course Forum. Please click on the appropriate link in the Timeline module and then read the prompt for the specific assignment instructions/question prompts. It might be a good idea to print out a copy of the Timeline at the beginning of the course and keep it handy for ready reference. 3) Forum: The Forum is the engine that drives our collaborative learning processes in the course. As such, it is essential that you keep current on the assignments, and that your postings are relevant, thoughtful and substantive. For each topic, my initial posting will provide instructions and will give you the online address for the text that you are required to read in order to respond to my questions.

Minimum Forum Requirement: 1) Respond to my initial questions by the date and time indicated in the Timeline and 2) Post at least one follow-up message in reply to one of the postings of your classmates. 3) Read all posted messages and responses for each Forum topic. See Course Requirements above for more detailed information on your Forum responsibilities. Note: Please be sure to read every posting in the Writing Lab forum area before writing the rough draft of your first essay. Please also keep an eye on the Questions about the Course Forum topic, as my responses to individual questions are likely to be useful and relevant to all course participants. 4) Course E-Mail and News: The Course E-Mail tool allows you to send and receive private email messages, but only to those individuals in the course. Use the course e-mail to ask me individual questions and to correspond with other students in the course. Please check your course email regularly (at least daily during the work week), just in case there are any timesensitive messages waiting for you there. When I need to communicate with the entire class, I will usually post announcements in the News section rather than send emails. Please check the News section of the course DAILY for time-sensitive information such as peer review partner assignments, revisions to the class schedule, additions to the course materials, and/or clarifications and reminders about required coursework. 5) Tips for the Online Student: This document contains important information that will help you to understand my expectations for a successful online course experience. 6) Submission of assignments: All revised essay assignments and reading journal installments must be submitted in a file format that is compatible with Microsoft Word so that I am able to use the comment function in order to provide personalized feedback and writing instruction for each student. For your convenience and for your reference while working in WebStudy (e.g., while planning your essay and/or engaging in peer review of rough drafts), the guidelines for all the various writing assignments both embedded in the relevant Timeline modules and in the Work2Do section of the course environment. Reasonable Accommodation: Students with disabilities who require accommodations (academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids or services) for this course MUST provide documentation of accommodations from the RVCC office of Disability Services, C143. No accommodations will be made without this documentation.