ENC 1145 Course Policy Sheet

ENC 1145-07 1:25-2:15 MWF BEL 118
ENC 1145-12 2:30-3:20 MWF WJB 228
Instructor: Mr. Nesbitt
Office: 329 WMS
Office hrs: 3:15-4:30 T/T and 3:30-4:30 W
e-mail: wcn5418@mailer.fsu.edu
Use common sense when e-mailing me. Do not e-mail me your entire paper and ask me to "look over it." By the same token, do not e-mail me with broad questions such as "Can I talk about music?" E-mail me with specific, focused questions such as "Here is my introductory paragraph. Do you think the first few sentences pull the reader in? What are your suggestions for making this paragraph more exciting?" At the end of the semester, do not e-mail me about your grade; I will only press "delete" or tell that you that you have an "F" in the class.

First-Year Writing Courses at FSU teach writing as a recursive and frequently collaborative process of invention, drafting, and revising. Writing is both personal and social, and students should learn how to write for a variety of purposes and audiences. Since writing is a process of making meaning as well as communicating, FYW teachers respond to the content of students' writing as well as to surface errors. Students should expect frequent written and oral response on the content of their writing from both teachers and peers. Classes rely heavily on a workshop format. Instruction emphasizes the connection between writing, reading, and critical thinking; students should give thoughtful, reasoned responses to the readings. Both reading and writing are the subject of class discussion and workshops, and students are expected to be active participants of the classroom community.

Course Goals: The purpose of this course is to develop research, reading, and writing skills which may be applied throughout your academic career. As in ENC 1101, you will be encouraged to treat writing as a process; you will take each paper through a multiple draft process of revision. As we focus on the different writing assignments, I will discuss various elements of organization, stylistic concerns, and, occasionally, even punctuation and grammar; some may be familiar, some not. Expect that my style of teaching may be different from your previous instructor.
In this class, we will discuss the Beat movement of the 1950s and 1960s to shape our reading and writing activities as well as out class discussions. However, we will not limit our focus to the aforementioned two decades. Instead, we will look at some of the authors and read some of the same texts that the Beats read. Then we will look at the peak of the Beat movement in the 50s and 60s. Finally, we will look at a few of the contemporary branches growing out of the original Beat movement. Along the way, we'll try to define Beat and understand what the quality of "Beatness" might be. For now, we'll start with the assumption that Beat writers are those writers that in some way resist, question, attack, or just don't fit into the mainstream. Their writing, then, is a way to create their own rhetorical "space" as well as examine, critique, and question the ideas of the larger system.
From time to time, we'll hear recordings of some of these writers reading their own works and even try some writing ideas straight from the Beats.
Unlike ENC 1101, we will focus on critical analysis of individual readings. Do not concern yourself with telling me whether you liked the reading(s) or not. Instead, analyze, interpret, or discuss some issue within or among the reading(s).
Much of the work of this course will lead toward skills in developing the major project for this course--your research paper. Reading strategies, argument methods, MLA style documentation and research methods are a few of the tools that you will learn, develop, and employ during the course of this semester.

Required Texts:
The Portable Beat Reader , edited by Ann Charters
The Longman Writer's Companion , by Chris Anson, et. al.
I also recommend buying a dictionary (a cheap, used paperback Webster's will suffice)
You will also need: several manila folders, loose leaf paper, a notebook, and access to a computer.

Requirements of the Course:

Attendance is a requirement (more than 4 absences in a 2 day a week class is grounds for failure; more than 6 absences in a class that meets three times a week is grounds for failure.). What does "grounds for failure" mean? It means that if you miss more than the acceptable number of classes, I can flunk you at my discretion. Documentation of medical illness is not necessarily an excused absence, and I am under no obligation to excuse any absences due to sickness or any other personal misfortune. If you miss more than the allowed number of classes due to illness, you can use that documentation to apply for a medical withdrawl. Each absence or lateness beyond the first (you do not get one each) will result in a deduction from your participation grade. Bring the appropriate text to class every day as I will randomly check from time to time. If you do not have the text for the day, you are absent.
1. One annotated bibliography, one prospectus, and one research paper edited and polished.
2. Drafts and revisions
3. SUSSAI evaluations
4. Two conferences
5. Thoughtful, active, and responsible participation. This includes preparation for class.

Evaluation:
Prospectus 15% (2 pages)
Annotated bibliography (50-100 words of annotation per source)15%
Research project (6-8 pages) 25%
Participation 10%
quizzes 20%
journal 15%

Papers include all drafts, revisions, and zine work. Participation in workshops, participation in class discussions, timely arrival to class, and preparation for class affect your grade. If you do not bring the appropriate text(s) to class you face losing participation points. Final papers should be accompanied by any and all drafts that I ask for. Final papers will be graded on such things as editing, revision, organization, thoughfulness, and originality. All other written and oral work will be graded on meaningfulness, thoughtfulness, appropriateness to the assignment, and originality.
STAPLE ALL PAPERS IF YOU WANT CREDIT.

Late paper: For each week day that the paper is late, I deduct ten points. If your paper is more than three days late, don't even bother turning it in. All late papers, if not turned into me in class, should be taken to 405 WMS. Ask someone at the desk to put a timestamp on the paper and place it in my box. If you place the paper in my box, you may misplace it and/or I may find the paper a day or several days after you put it in my box; without a timestamp from the English department I will assume that it has been turned in only moments before I found the paper. I make go to no special effort to check my box in order to find late papers.

Late person: If you are not in class by the time that I have finished calling roll, you will be absent.

Personal responsibility issues: Consult your syllabus frequently, I may or may not, probably not, remind you of what is due. The whole reason I have made a syllabus for you is so that I do not have to constantly remind you of what is due.
I can't stand the type of behavior that cellular phones seem to encourage. If your cell phone or pager goes off during class, you will be marked absent.

Reading/Writing Center: The Reading/Writing Center offers one-on-one help for students with their writing, whether they need help with a writing problem, need assistance understanding what their teacher wants, or just want to do better with their writing assignments. The Center is staffed by teaching assistants who are trained in writing and teaching. Make an appointment by calling ahead (644-6495) or stopping in (WJB 230). Another hint: They are not proofreaders, but they will show you how to proofread.

Plagiarism is grounds for suspension from the university as well as for failure in this course. It will not be tolerated. Any instance of plagiarism must be reported to the Director of First-Year Writing and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Plagiarism is a counterproductive, non-writing behavior that is unacceptable in a course intended to aid the growth of individual writers. Plagiarism is included among the violations defined in the Academic Honor Code, section b), pargraph 2, as follows: "Regarding academic assignments, violations of the Academic Honor Code shall include representing another's work or any part thereof, be it published or unpublished, as one's own."
A plagiarism education assignment that further explains this issue will be administered in all First-Year Writing courses during the second week of class. Each student will be responsible for completing the assignment and asking questions regarding any parts that he or she does not fully understand.
I will do my utmost to see that plagiarizers are punished to the fullest extent possible.

Gordon Rule: Succesful completion of all writing in this course and a final course grade of C- or better will allow you to satisfy the Gordon Rule requirement. The university requires you to write 7,000 words, but you will be writing much more than that in any 1101 or 1102 English course.

Drafts, Revisions, and Final papers: You'll always need to make several copies of your drafts for workshop days. All drafts and revisions must be typed. However, you are free to make changes in pen or pencil on older drafts during the revision process, but an old draft with penciled in changes, crossed out lines, and strange arrows does not count as a new draft. Type all revisions and drafts. I refuse to go blind this early in life.

Students with disabilities needing academic accomodations should in the first week of class 1) register and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) and 2) bring a letter to me from SDRC indicating the need for academic accomodations. Atheletes and other individuals who miss school due to unavoidable school related activites need, in advance, to provide signed documentation on letterhead informing me of any absences that they will incur due to participation in such activities in sports games or band performances.

Format and Heading:
The single-spaced heading, placed in the upper left hand corner of the first page, will adhere to the MLA format for headings. Here is an example:
Ginsberg Allen (lastname firstname)
ENG 1102-22 (course prefix, number, and section number)
Mr. Nesbitt (Instructor's name)
20 March 2002 (numerical day month year)

Title

The first sentence of your paper.

Paper will be typed and double spaced unless otherwise undicated. A page number shall appear in the upper right hand corner of all pages except the first (i.e. Nesbitt 2). The title will be centered and capitalized but will not be bolded or italicized, and, as shown in the above example, a blank line will both precede and succeed the title. Use 12 pt. type in the font of Times New Roman with one-inch margins surrounding the paper.

Here are some things to keep in mind for the prospectus:
With this assignment I am concerned primarily with content, and this is what I will respond to.
Develop an original title; the subject of your paper is not the title.
Originality.
Focus. I would like to see you develop a specific focus. However, you may end up talking about several topics and then narrowing your focus for the research paper. Only papers with, according to my definition, a very specific focus will get an A.
Introduction
(a) interest level (does the introduction pull the reader in?)
(b) thesis (an underlined or italicized thesis of one to two sentences that takes a position and attempts to argue something)
Integration of research with appropriate citations
(a)one source with four direct quotes used in the paper and appropriate ciation after each quote
(b)a second source with four direct quotes used in the paper and appropriate citation after each quote
(c) a works cited page with citation of each of the two sources
Use of Internet sources should follow the same guidelines as those for the annotated bibliography.

We will workshop your prospectus in class, and you will bring typed copies for everyone. You will read your paper aloud, we will jot down notes as your read, and then share our responses and ideas. Though many of you may write about the same author and/or text, each person will pick a different angle. The workshop cannot be made up. If you miss it, you will lose twenty points from your prospectus grade. The purpose of workshop is not to tear people's esssys to shreds, nor is it to simply compliment them. Ideally, we will give a mixture of response that will point out possible flaws and areas of difficulty, strong points and good ideas, questions and opinions. We will address content and research issues first and, if time permits, lesser issues such as grammar. Any trading of presentation dates between class members must be approved ahead of time by me.
This assignment will receive a flat letter grade with plus and minus used for grammar.
Here are a few ideas:
1) Close reading. Explication. Line-by-line analysis. This is a good approach for poems.
2) Introduction to the work of an author not on our syllabus but who qualifies as a "Beat" or whom we know influenced one of the Beats. You might try another author in our book, though the author doesn't have to be in our book. Or you might pick a work that isn't on the syllabus from an author who is on the syllabus. Clear this with me before you hand in the prospectus. For exmaple, I'll take Henry Rollins or Kurt Cobain, but I'm not interested, from a literary standpoint in Disturbed or Rage Against the Machine.
3) How does an author use a particular symbol or image or theme in a handful or works, or how do two authors each approach the same symbol or image or theme in their works? The two authors might have similiar or very different things to say about a common symbol, image, or theme.
4) Historical overview. For example, in DiPrima's case, what was going on with abortion in the time that she would have been writing? Or you might pick a particular event and explain how this event influenced a work or two by a particular writer. A war, for example, might work here. The prevalence and influence of Jazz music on Beat writing (pick a particular author) is another possible topic.
5) Biographical overview. Don't just give me a wide, sweeping biography. Discuss a particular time in an author's childhood or adult life and how those experiences might have affected or been incorporated into that author's work.
6) Another approach you develop. Again, talk with me about this before you turn in the prospectus.

In all of these cases, make sure to continually refer back to specific passages in the work(s). Also, remember that you might use works that are not Beat related. For example, the way to write the paper in example number four is to find a book that gives some sort of background of or overview on abortion, find a biography of DiPrima, use the primary text, and start building. You will probably not find a book on DiPrima and abortion, though you might find an article. Or, if you want to talk about religion, you might find a book on Buddhism, and then find a particular work by Kerouac in which he talks about Buddhism. Again, you will probably not find a book on Kerouac and Buddhism, though you will find some articles.

Annotated Bibliography 10%
Ten sources each source counts 10% 10X10=100
*For each grammar mistake, formatting mistake, missing header, and other such imperfections including but not limited to the aforementioned list, I deduct one point, out of one-hundred, from your annotated bibliography grade. Number each source or lose five points.

one source

Citation . . . . 1% (it is either correct or it is not)

annotation
a) summary/description of the work . . .2%
an okay summary will yield one point
a good summary will yield two points
b) incorporation into the summary of three direct quotes, not paraphrases, with page numbers . . . 3%
c) explanation of why it will
or won't be useful to your study . . . 2%
an okay summary will yield one point
a good summary will yield two points
length at least 50 words per source. . . 2%
If the length per source is under fifty words, you lose the whole two points. Usually, it will be impossible for you to give a good summary and a good explanation of usefulness in less than one-hundred words.
Using a website more than once, a collection of essays more than once, or a class reading cannot count towards the ten mandatory sources. You may use one and only one website; the rest of your sources should be a mixture of periodicals and books. Your sources should all be critical, secondary works, not primary sources. Do not expect to use the course reserves for all or even most of your sources. The course reserves should comprise no more than 2 or 3 of your sources.

Questions/Quizzes 15%

I will give in class quizzes of five or more questions calling for factual information that will count for the quiz portion of your grade. Missed quizzes cannot be made up. If you come in late, do not ask me to repeat any questions. Once we are on a new question, I will not repeat any previous questions.

Journals 15%
I will provide fifteen journal topics that you are free to write about in first-person. You will produce one double-spaced, typed page for each topic for a total of fifteen pages. Do not waste space with giving your name, the class, or the topic on every page; include that information on a cover page. Instead, include the number of the journal topic, in bold, beside your first sentence; do not give the journal number its own line, or your entry will be too short. Use a header on each page with your last name. Here is an example:
4 If I could have one power in the world, it would be the power to travel through time . . .
At the start of your journal, you will include a cover page that will use the same type of heading explained at the bottom. The pages should be in a notebook or folder of some type; no three-ring binders. If you hand me a stack of typed papers that are not in some type of notebook or folder (i.e. the journal is simply stapled or paperclipped at the top), you will lose ten points. The journal will be due on the date stated on the syllabus. I suggest you that you do not wait until the night before to do fifteen typed pages of journal entries, but it's your life. Every missing entry will lose one point. Every entry under a half-page will lose one point. Every entry over half a page but under a full page will lose half a point. Fifteen entries that are fifteen pages long will result in a full fifteen points worth of credit. I will be reading, but probably not responding, to these, so don't cut and paste something you've already done for another assignment and use it for the journal.

Research Paper 25%

Your paper will take one of the topics from your prospectus and explore that topic more fully.

Remember, the research paper should do more than spout research, summarize, and restate commonly know positions; the research paper should question, analyze, synthesize, make new points, and fresh conclusions. I should see at least four to five quotes or paraphrases per page.Half of these should be from the primary text. In other words, don't just string quotes together from critical resources.
Grammar . . . 7%
Title . . . 3%
Introduction
(a) interest level 5%
(b) underlined or italizied thesis 5%
Conclusion . . . 10%
Overall Content (this includes such things as use of examples, voice, originality, analysis, detail, focus, the absence of "filler," and using new information rather than information that is commonly
known). . . 20%
Transitions . . .5%
organization . . .5%
use of research (this includes integration of research, citations, and amount of research in the paper). . .30%
Also include a works cited page, which is worth 10%. If you do not, you will lose ten points. The works cited page does not count toward the minimum required length of six pages. For the works cited page, you are not limited to only the works you have in your annotated bibliography. I expect that you may uncover some new sources while writing the paper. I will, however, find any works cited page than does not use at least some of the works from the annotated bibliography to be suspect. I should see at least as many sources on your works cited page as there are pages in your paper.

A final word: Please don't come to me in the final days of the semester and tell me that you have to make such and such a grade or you will lose your scholarship/car/mind. This is a personal problem. The time to make a dedicated, concentrated effort is early in the semester. Also, if your grade is in danger don't ask me to give you an incomplete, drop you, or withdraw you from the course because it is not in my power to do those three things.

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