English 1102
English Composition II
Fall 2011
Arts and Sciences, 
TR 11:00am-12:15pm

Instructor: Salvatore Talluto					Email: salvatore.talluto@gcsu.edu 
Office: 	Arts and Sciences 1-53					Office Phone: 478-445-2013
Office Hours: Wednesdays 10:00am – 12:00pm				Mailbox: A&S 3-03
		or by appointment

Required Materials

•	Madden, Frank. Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th edition. New York: Pearson, 2009. Print. ISBN: 9780205640184
•	Wilder, Thorton. Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker. New		York: HarperCollins, 1985. Print. ISBN: 9780060912936
•	Steinbeck, John. To a God Unknown. New York: Penguin, 1995. Print.		ISBN:9780140187519
•	A folder with pockets or a three ring binder
•	White Lined Paper 
•	A writing utensil

Course Description
 A composition and literature course focusing on skills required for effective writing in a variety of contexts, with emphasis on the academic essay and also including introductory use of a variety of research skills. All students, regardless of their degree program, must earn a grade of C or better in ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102 in order to complete the requirements for promotion at GCSU. ENGL 1102 will cover the following topics:
* Basic introductions to various types of literature, including poetry, drama, and prose fiction;
* Strategies for college-level writing about literary texts, including vocabulary, grammar, style, purpose and audience;
* Revision;
* Basic research methods for college-level work;
* Analysis of texts orally (class discussion) and in writing.

Course Goals
The following general outcomes for ENGL 1102 were approved by the Departments of English and Rhetoric for ENGL 1102:
•	To reinforce principles of writing and speaking acquired in ENGL 1101;
•	 To reinforce the principles and strategies of argumentation and analysis acquired in ENGL 1101;
•	 To write organized, clear, and purposeful prose that meets conventional standards of correctness. 
•	 To understand complexities of culture in order to write or speak about them;
•	 To create forceful and effective written argument in the academic environment;
•	 To reinforce principles of academic research and how to synthesize research in writing so that the insights and documentation are logical and clear;
•	 To gain insight into various ways of interpreting texts and presenting insights about them orally and in writing.
•	 To experience public presentation and public reaction to finished work.

Attendance
One of the main goals of this class is to reinforce your introduction to the larger discourse within contemporary culture and society. In order to facilitate this introduction your presence is required. When you miss a class not only do you miss out on the discussion but the invaluable insight and commentary which you may contribute is then also denied to the rest of the class. However, life often takes us in inexplicable directions. With that in mind you are allowed three discretionary absences. Any absences beyond that will result in a letter grade reduction for each until a total of seven absences, including the three discretionary, at which time you will be given a Failure due to failing to regularly attend class.

		Tardiness
Please come to class on time. Coming in late is disrespectful to the entire class and it disrupts the flow of learning. Two tardies will count as one absence. 

Religious Observance Policy
Students are permitted to miss class in observance of religious holidays and other activities observed by a religious group of which the student is a member without academic penalty. Religious holidays do not pop out of nowhere, advance notice is expected. Exercising of one's rights under this policy is subject to the GC Honor Code. Students who miss class in observance of a religious holiday or event are required to make up the coursework missed as a result from the absence. The nature of the make-up assignments and the deadline for completion of such assignments are at the sole discretion of the instructor. Failure to follow the prescribed procedures voids all student rights under this policy. The full policy and prescribed procedures are found at: http://info.gcsu.edu/intranet/acad_affairs/ReligousObservancePolicy.doc

Grading
Please note that I do not assign grades but that you as students earn your grades and that they are non-negotiable. Prior to both midterm and final grades you will be given constructive feedback regarding your academic performance. Your grade will be determined by your class participation, by writing and completing two essays, by giving an oral presentation, by completing a research essay, and also by completing a final take-home exam. The range of each grade is as follows:

Grade	Percentage	
A	90-100	
B	80-89	
C	70-79	
D	60-69	
F	0-59	

The following weight is given to each aspect:

•	Class Participation: 30%
•	Two Essays: 20% (10% each)
•	Research Essay: 20%
•	Presentation: 10%
•	Take Home Exam: 20%

Class Participation
One of the main goals of this course is to introduce you as students to the larger discourse of contemporary culture and society. In order to take part in this discourse you must be present and make a willful effort to contribute to the discourse. This includes not only class attendance, but also reading all assigned materials within the time allotted as well as responding to particular materials and particular prompts in class and for homework. This also means participating in class discussions and peer group sessions. All participation must be enacted with respect to all participants. Because discourse is at the heart of this course, class participation counts for 30% of your final grade. 

Responses to Assigned Reading and Class Discussions
	One manner in which to instill sensitivity to written and oral language is to develop reflective practices in which one stops and thinks upon what one has just read or upon a certain topic or just cycles through various ideas that might come across one’s mind. One of these practices is through creating a collection of responses to the required reading and to discussions held in class. These responses are due every class period! There may be exceptions on due dates of the essays and presentations. If ever absent or unsure if a response is required, then write a response anyway. Always assume a response is due! These responses will be shared with the class and will periodically be collected and responded to. This practice is meant to create a willful, reflective, and honest atmosphere in order to facilitate meaningful oral and written discussion within the class. This writing will be ungraded but is incorporated as an integral part of class participation.

	Computers, Cell Phones, and Other Distractions
	Unless needed for a documented disability or other documented special need, the use of computers, cell phones, mp3 players and all other distracting devices and behaviors are prohibited from being used or enacted during class time. If caught using these items or partaking in disruptive behavior you will be marked absent for the day. This absence counts against your three discretionary absences. Any absences beyond the first three will result in a letter grade reduction for each until a total of seven absences, including the three discretionary, at which time you will be given a Failure due to failing to regularly attend class. Note: You are still responsible for all work and material that is to be completed for that day.

Essays
You will be required to write two essays. One essay will be submitted to a peer group to be proofread, edited, and commented upon. After such a time, that essay will then be collected and commented on by the instructor. The essay will then be returned. That essay is then to be revised, proofread, and edited in order to be turned in as a final draft. A hard copy of the draft must be brought to class and handed in on the due dates assigned. An improvement in grade is not guaranteed by revision. A rubric for the essays is located at the end of the syllabus.

Research Essay
As part of the class you are required to develop a research essay based upon the literature and themes discussed in class. This essay can follow any number of approaches regarding the literature and themes discussed in class but must be approved by the instructor in advance following the times set in the class schedule. As part of the project you will develop a six page research essay with at least five outside sources, two of which can be essays or handouts assigned during this course and three of which must be sources found outside of the class from academic sources. A dictionary or encyclopedia can account for one required source but must be directly relevant and appropriate to the topic. A rough draft of the research paper will be submitted to a peer group to be read and commented upon. The rough draft will then be collected and commented upon by the instructor. The rough draft of the essay will then be returned and should be revised, proofread and edited. A final draft of the essay will be due on the date given in the syllabus. Revision does not guarantee a better grade.

Take Home Exam
The final assignment for the course is a take home exam. The essay will not be required to be drafted, peer grouped, or revised. Any and all material assigned within the class as well as any class notes may be used as long as they are properly cited. The essay is to be typed using Times New Roman font, is to be double spaced with one inch margins and should follow MLA format. This assignment will use the same rubric as the essays.

Length Requirements for Papers
Any final revised version of an essay or take home exam that fails to end three-quarters down on the minimum page length required will be penalized by one third of a letter grade. Each paper should follow MLA guidelines, be double-spaced, be only in Times New Roman font, use black font color, and have one inch margins.  For each additional page short of the page length requirement the paper will be penalized an additional one third of a letter grade. All drafts are to meet the full minimum page length requirement.

Turnitin.com
The school has provided us with a unique resource. This resource is Turnitin.com. Upon enrolling in Engl 1101 I will add your name to the class roster on Turnitin.com. You will be sent an email to your Bobcats email address. You must follow the instructions in the email. If by the third class you have not received an email from Turnitin.com or from me regarding registering to Turnitin.com, please come see me. We will go over the basics of how to use Turnitin.com but it is your responsibility to become familiar with the program. It is also your responsibility to make sure that you are registered on Turnitin.com in order to submit your essays on the assigned due date. Hard copies or emailed copies of final drafts are permissible only under extraordinary circumstances where you cannot access Turnitin.com otherwise: All final drafts will be submitted to Turnitin.com.

Late Assignments
Assignments are due during the class period on the dates designated. Failure to turn in the assignment during that class period will result in a one letter grade drop for each day (not class period) that you fail to turn in the assignment. Because we will be working on them in class, at any time when a rough draft of an assignment is due, you are expected to bring to class a hard copy of that draft. The draft must also meet all typing, MLA format, and length requirements. Failure to bring a hard copy when a rough draft is due will count as an absence and as a late assignment. All final drafts must be submitted to Turnitin.com. If for some reason I am unable to open the assignment or it has not been received by Turnitin.com I will let you know immediately. Each day (again, not class period) beyond the due date that a readable format is not turned in you will be penalized by one letter grade. At my discretion a short extension may be possible for valid reasons. Unless an emergency, at least a full twenty-four hours is needed for such an extension. 

Academic Honesty
The Honor Code of GCSU and all inquiries and procedures regarding said code can be found under the link within your Student tab in Mycats. Within the Honor Code two items of importance are “cheating” as defined as “the employment of or rendering of any illicit aid in any assigned work” and “plagiarism” as defined as “presenting as one's own work the words or ideas of an author or fellow student. Students should document quotes through quotation marks and footnotes or other accepted citation methods. Ignorance of these rules concerning plagiarism is not an excuse. When in doubt, students should seek clarification from the professor who made the assignment.” Please be advised that while special emphasis is put upon these two particular items the entirety of the GCSU Honor Code is to be followed at all times. There will be serious consequences for breaching any of these items at any time.

The Writing Center
Located at 209 Lanier Hall, the Writing Center is designed to assist all students in all aspects of writing. In their own words at http://www.gcsu.edu/writingcenter/index.htm 

Student Needs and Disability Accommodations
If you have a disability as described by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, you may be eligible to receive accommodations to assist in programmatic and physical accessibility.  Disability Services, a unit of the GCSU Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, can assist you in formulating a reasonable accommodation plan and in providing support in developing appropriate accommodations to ensure equal access to all GCSU programs and facilities. Course requirements will not be waived, but accommodations may assist you in meeting the requirements. For documentation requirements and for additional information, we recommend that you contact Disability Services located in Maxwell Student Union at 478-445-5931 or 478-445-4233. (source Dean of CoAS, 12/2/2009)

Fire Drills and Alarms
Fire drills will be conducted during the semester.  In the event of a fire alarm signal, students will exit the building in a quick and orderly manner through the nearest hallway exit.  Learn the floor plan and exits of the A & S Building.  Do not use elevators.  Crawl on the floor if you encounter heavy smoke. Assist disabled persons and others if possible without endangering your own life.  Assemble for a head count on front lawn main campus. (source Dean of CoAS, 12/2/2009)

Student Opinion Surveys
Given the technological sophistication of Georgia College students, the student opinion survey is being delivered through an online process. Your constructive feedback plays an indispensable role in shaping quality education at Georgia College. All responses are completely confidential and your name is not stored with your responses in any way. In addition, instructors will not see any results of the opinion survey until after final grades are submitted to the University. An invitation to complete the online opinion survey is distributed to students near the end of the semester. Your participation in this very important process is greatly appreciated.

Class Schedule
This schedule is subject to change in order to fit the needs of the specific class, particularly in the events of canceled classes due to weather or unforeseen circumstances. 

Date	Assignments	
08/16/2011	In Class: Introductions; Syllabus; Close Reading
Handout: Dana Gioia “Do Not Expect…”
HW: Handout: William Carlos Williams; Katherine Acheson “Research within the Text”	
08/18/2011	In Class: Discuss WCW responses.
What is Art?
Handouts: Robert Frost, Sharon Olds, Denise Levertov
HW: Handouts: Walt Whitman and John Keats	
08/23/2011	In Class: Discuss Responses; MLA Format, Library Tutorial, and Turnitin.com
HW: Handout: Ernest Hemingway “Big Two-Hearted River Part I and II	
08/25/2011	In Class: Discuss Responses
HW: Exploring Literature Ch. 3 p. 57 - 105
Close Reading Essay Rough Draft Due Class 09/01/2011	
08/30/2011	In Class: William Wordsworth, John Keats “On Chapman’s Homer,” Alfred, Lord Tennyson “Ulysses” and “The Eagle”
HW: Close Reading Essay Rough Draft Due Class 09/01/2011 	
09/01/2011	In Class: Peer Groups: Swap papers, proofreading and commenting on each. We will swap at least twice.
HW: Close Reading Essay Due 09/06/2011	
09/06/2011	In Class: Close Reading Essays Due in Turnitin.com
Percy Bysshe Shelley “Mask of Anarchy”
HW: Henry David Thoreau “Resistance to Civil Government” 
Katherine Acheson “Research About Social and Historical Contexts”  and “Research about the Current Critical Assessment of Literary Works”	
09/08/2011	In Class: Handouts: Critical Theory Presentation Packet
HW: Excerpts from Walden Pond
Critical Theory Presentations Due 09/15/2011	
09/13/2011	In Class: Discuss responses
HW: Work on Critical Theory Presentations Due 09/15/11	
09/15/2011	In Class: Critical Theory Presentations Due
HW: Exploring Literature 1275 – 1286: Plato “Allegory of the Cave,” Phillip Simmons “Learning to Fall,” and  Handout: Ralph Waldo Emerson “Nature”	
09/20/2011	In Class: Discuss Responses; Thorton Wilder Our Town
HW: Our Town Acts I and II	
09/22/2011	In Class: Discuss Our Town
HW: Finish Our Town and read 	
09/27/2011	In Class: Film Case Study: Our Town 
HW: To A God Unknown pp. 1- 48	
09/29/2011	In Class: Film Case Study: Our Town
HW: To A God Unknown pp. 49-140	
10/04/2011	In Class: Our Town and To A God Unknown
HW: To A God Unknown pp. 141 - 188
Critical Research Essay Rough Draft Due  10/18/2011	
10/06/2011	In Class: Discuss To A God Unknown
HW: Critical Research Essay Rough Draft Due 10/18/2011	
10/11/2011	Fall Break: Enjoy!
HW: Critical Research Essay Rough Draft Due 10/18/2011	
10/13/2011	In Class: Library Research Day: Meet at the Circulation Desk
HW: Critical Research Essay Rough Draft Due 03/17/2011	
10/18/2011	In Class: Peer Groups: Swap papers, proofreading and commenting on each. We will swap at least twice.
HW: Frederich Nietzsche “The Madman,” “The Meaning of Our Cheerfulness” “L’art Pour L’art” and Exploring Literature: Albert Camus “The Myth of Sisyphus” p. 1272 – 1275
Critical Research Essay Due 10/27/2011	
10/20/2011	In Class: Discuss responses
HW: Samuel Taylor Coleridge “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” and Edgar Allen Poe	
10/25/2011	In Class: Discuss Responses
HW: Critical Research Essay Due 10/27/3011	
10/27/2011	In Class: Critical Research Essay Due in Turnitin.com
HW: : Exploring Literature: Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper” 720 -732 and Flannery O’Connor “A Good Man is Hard to Find” 1185 – 1196	
11/01/2011	In Class: Discuss Responses
HW Ernest Hemingway “Now I Lay Me,”
 “A Clean, Well Lighted Place” and Flannery O’ Connor “The River	
11/03/2011	In Class: Discuss responses to the readings; The Human Experience Essay
HW: Exploring Literature 1076 – 1084 and Harlem Renaissance 1098 - 1136
The Human Experience Essay Due 11/17/2011	
11/08/2011	In Class: Discuss Responses; Jazz and Jazz Poetry Amiri Baraka Am/Trak
HW: Sterling Brown; Jean Toomer; and Kenneth Rexroth “Beat Poetry: The Art of Disengagement”
The Human Experience Essay Due 11/17/2011	
11/10/2011	In Class: Beat Poetry; Allen Ginsberg’s Howl
HW: Exploring Literature: 951 – 977 and Tim O’Brien “The Things They Carried” 1172 – 1184
The Human Experience Essay Due 11/17/2011	
11/15/2011	In Class: 1185 Finish Howl; Rexroth; Di Prima
HW: The Human Experience Essay Due 11/17/2011	
11/17/2011	In Class: The Human Experience Essay Due in Turnitin.com
Exploring Literature: David Mamet Oleanna 720 -732
HW: Finish Oleanna
Take Home Exam Due 12/01/2011	
11/22/2011	In Class: English Lit: Beyond American and British Authors; Noemia de Sousa; Stella Chipasula; Ben Okri; Ayi Kwei Armah; Wole Soyinka; Syl Cheney Coker; Ahmed Tidjani-Cisse
HW: Take Home Exam Due 12/01/2011	
11/24/2011 Thanksgiving Break	Thanksgiving Break: Enjoy	
11/29/2011	In Class: Film Case Study:TBA
HW: Take Home Exam Due 12/01/2011	
12/01/2011	In Class: Film Case Study: TBA
Take Home Exams Due in Turnitin.com

Grading Rubric for Essay Papers

Papers tend to have certain characteristics. This rubric is to help guide you in developing those characteristics. The rubric and the descriptions of types of papers is by no means concrete or exhaustive. There is always room for improvement. 

Excellent papers tend to:
•	Synthesize a clear knowledge of the rules and effects produced by language through analysis and evaluation of texts and topics utilizing a controlled use and manipulation of diction, grammar, syntax, and organizational techniques. Examples include
•	Having a compelling introduction that leads to a clearly understood thesis.
•	Superbly addressing all requirements of the assignment which may include meeting the length requirement, answering prompts, or following proper paper format.
•	Provides unique and insightful analysis of any texts, material, questions, conflicts, or issues concerning the topic.
•	Is free of any mistakes regarding spelling and grammar.
•	Ends in a thoughtful, compelling conclusion that recaps the major points of the paper and propels the reader into a forward-thinking frame of mind.