Bergen Community College     `                      

Division of Humanities

Department of English

Course Syllabus

WRT 201 - Composition II

Dual Enrollment – Open Educational Resources

Instructor:        Professor Mary Crosby

Office Location: LYN420

Phone: (201) 879- 8931

Office Hours: Tues & Thurs 10:30-11:30am AND Weds 1:05pm-2:05pm

Email Address: mcrosby@bergen.edu

“To write is to learn to have ideas” - Robert Frost

Course Description:

English Composition II is a three-credit, general education course that continues the emphasis of Composition I on expository/analytic writing, with a greater focus on critical thinking and writing in response to the class readings of short stories, poetry, and drama. Students will learn to evaluate and respond to the ideas that they encounter within the selections. The course will aim to develop students’ writing skills, essential for the production of persuasive, well-supported essays. A research paper is required for this course. The prerequisite in this course is WRT-101: Composition I.

Student Learning Objectives

As a result of meeting the requirements in this course, you will be able to:

1.      Employ active reading strategies and textual analysis to interpret and evaluate complicated texts including, but not limited to, literary texts. (PLG 1) (Gen Ed Goal 1 a)

2.      Respond to these texts, in discussion and writing, demonstrating an understanding of the themes, techniques, and rhetorical strategies employed in the texts.  (PLG 2) (Gen Ed Goal 1a, b; 6 a, b)

3.      Develop essays using the strategies learned in WRT-101 with a greater emphasis on extended development, tone, and style.  (PLG 3) (Gen Ed Goal 1c, d)

4.      Using argumentative strategies, compose persuasive analyses of texts, appropriately integrating evidence from these texts using language appropriate to the subject. (PLG 4, 5) (Gen Ed Goal 1 c; 6 b)

5.      In support of analysis, incorporate both primary and secondary sources; use critical stances of others as lenses through which to view primary texts.  (PLG 4, 5, 6) (Gen Ed Goal 4 a, b, c, d; 6 a, b)

6.      Employ current MLA style for text presentation, in-text citations, and Works Cited pages for essays and research papers.  (PLG 5, 6) (Gen Ed Goal 4 a, b, c, d)

7.      Perform research to support analysis of a particular text or texts using the resources of contemporary information science and write a focused research paper on a primary text synthesizing secondary sources in support of an argument.  (PLG 5, 6) (Gen Ed Goal 1 a, b, c, d; 4 a, b, c, d; 6 a, b)

Course Requirements:

 You will be required to do the following:

1.      Write at least four multi-paragraph, academic essays of at least 500 words.

(Meets student learning objectives 1-6)

2.      Write at least two in-class essays.

(Meets student learning objectives 1-4)

3.      Complete other writing exercises such as summaries, journals, reading responses, reading comprehension questions, quizzes on reading assignments, letters, etc.

(Meets student learning objectives 1-5)

4.      Read, interpret, and analyze literary works.

(Meets student learning objectives 1, 2)

5.      Comprehend and apply various literary terms to texts assigned by your instructor.

(Meets student learning objectives 2, 4)

6.      Conduct independent research and write a 7-10 page research paper using MLA style.

(Meets student learning objectives 4-7)

7.      Submit papers that adhere to MLA manuscript requirements and demonstrate effective proofreading and editing.

(Meets student learning objectives 3, 6)

8.      Participate in class discussions and other in-class (individual or group) activities necessary to produce quality academic prose. (Meets student learning objectives 1- 4)

Course Requirements:

Essays                                      50%

Research Paper                        30%

Journals, Quizzes,

Short Writing Assignments       20%

ASSIGNMENTS:

ESSAYS (50%) -  You will write four essays in response to assigned readings. Written assignments will be posted with instructions explaining what is required. Papers should be double space in 12pt Times New Roman with a header in the upper left hand corner, your last name and page number in the upper right corner, a title that conveys the main idea of your paper. All paraphrases and quotations must include in-text citations and a works cited page. Papers missing any of these elements will be marked down.  Because the writing process is stressed in this course you will first freewrite and then draft and revise your essay before uploading your final submission.

RESEARCH PAPER (30%):

The research paper will be a 7-to-10 page paper based on a poet of your choosing from the list provided. Your paper will be an argument about an aspect of the work you are analyzing. Perhaps you will make a claim about the work’s theme or the significance of a symbol. Or maybe you will consider the work within its historical context or compare several poems by your poet. You will then use your sources (the essays of literary criticism from the database) to support and extend your argument. We will discuss this further in the Research Unit. Your RP must utilize at least FIVE books, journals, magazines, papers, articles, and newspapers. A minimum of THREE CRITICAL ESSAYS (accessed from library database) must be included. If you use websites the domain must be .edu or .org. No Wikipedia or Shmoop or 123HelpMe.com. The paper is to be formatted in MLA style utilizing in-text citations, as well as a Works Cited page at the end of the document. MLA formatting guidelines are in your textbook and on OwlPurdue (link provided through the Library website and on our Moodle homepage). 

QUIZZES/SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENTS (20%):

Occasionally, there will be quizzes, journals and short writing assignments. Guidelines for these assignments will posted in weekly modules.

GRADE SCALE

A         90-100

B+        85-89

B          80-84

C+        75-79

C          70-74

D         60-69

F          below 60

Plagiarism

The work you hand in must be your own, developed for this course through our assignments, and documenting ALL paraphrases, summaries, and quotations from sources. We will go over how to do this and how to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious offense and will result in not only failing the paper and possibly the course, but the incident will be reported to the Dean of Students and the violation put on record.

CALENDAR

(Subject to Change with Notice)

Week 1

View:               Close reading/Annotating ,;

Review Literary Elements & Take Quiz

Read:               “Bird by Bird” by Annie Lamott

“A&P” by John Updike

Write                Journal:            Conflict & Character

Week 2

Read:               “Greasy Lake”  by T.C. Boyle

View:               Essay 1 Guidelines

PPT Literary Essay Structure & Quoting

Links on Quote bombs & quoting

MLA formatting

Write:               Essay 1

Week 3

Read:               Using Literary Criticism in your writing

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman“

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

Write:               Journal: Apply a Lens

Week 4

Read:               “The Maker’s Eye” by Donald Murray

View:              PPT on Comparing & Contrasting

Essay 2 Guidelines

Write:               Essay 2

Week 5

Write:               Ars Poetica -  a poem about Poetry

Read:               Poems on Moodle

                        Research Paper Guidelines & Post Topic

Research;         Poet & Poem (Historical time period and Bios of Poets)

Write:               Journal: Metaphor in Poetry

Week 6

SPRING BREAK – No Class

Extra Credit: Read: Love & Other Catastrophes, A mix tape; Post: Playlist poem

Week 7

Discuss:           Process

View:               Quoting lines of poetry“

Write:               Bio Poem

In-class Essay 3: Writing in the Zones

Use process to draft and revise

Self-edit worksheet

Week 8

Read: "Musee Des Beaux Arts"

 Literary Criticism: 1 &2

Research:         Access library database; Begin researching poem

View:               How to Use Literary Criticism in Your Work

Organizing RP

Write:               Journal: Summary of Auden’s poem & Lit. Crit. Sources

Week 9

Research:         Literary criticism for your poem

View:               RP worksheet and Outline worksheet

Sample Research paper

Sign up:           For Conferences

Write:               Outline/Draft/Works Cited page

Week 10

Conferences:   In Room 420 (my office)

Write:               Continue working on Research Paper

Week 11

Write:               Final Research Paper Due, Use Self-edit worksheet

View:               Short film: “The Cask of Amontillado”

Week 12

View &

Discuss:           “Trifles”

“Testify”

View:               Using a lens

Review literary elements

E4 Guidelines

Write:               Journal: Apply a lens

Week 13

View:               “Post-its”

View:               Writer/Audience/Purpose

Presentation/Images

Write:               Prewrite Presentation

Week 14

Presentations

Week 15

Read:               16 Drafts of Bishop’s “One Art”

Collins “Writing in the Afterlife”

Write:               Journal: Reflection on Writing