Beacon College—English 2272
Composition and Argumentation
Sec. 2 Tuesday and Friday 1:00-2:25 ED7
Sec. 3 Tuesday and Friday 4:00-5:25 ED5
Sec. 4 Wednesday 10:00-11:55 and 1:00-1:55 ED8
Three Credits
Instructor: Dr. William Nesbitt
Office Phone: 365-2839
Office Hours: Monday/Thursday 11:00-12:00 and 2:30-4:00
Tuesday/Friday 11:00-12:00 and 2:30-4:00
E-mail: wnesbitt@beaconcollege.edu
Webpage: www.oocities.org/wcnesbitt
Required Text: A Speaker's Guidebook: Text and Reference. Second Edition. Dan O'Hair, Rob Stewart, and Hannah Rubenstein. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Required Supplies: Pen, pencil, loose leaf paper, or notebook, white typing paper, collegiate dictionary, thesaurus, and two computer disks.
Course Description: This course allows the student to develop the important skills of putting forth a logical argument and convincing others of the argument's validity. Emphasis is on logical and rhetorical development styles of analysis, classification, compare/contrast, cause/effect, and persuasion as applied to written and oral communication.
Course Objectives: The student will understand and demonstrate a professional level of competency in both written and oral communication. Additionally, we will focus on logical and rhetorical development of argumentation, analysis, logic, and persuasion in verbal, written, and visual mediums.
Grading Scale:
93-100 A 90-92 A-
87- 89 B+ 83-86 B 80- 82 B-
77 – 79 C+ 73 – 76 C 70- 72 C-
67 – 69 D+ 63 – 66 D 60 – 62 D- Below 60 – F
How I will determine your final grade:
Daily attendance and participation 10%
Speech one Informative #1 (Personal) 10%
Speech two Demonstration (Show and tell) 15%
Speech three Informative #2 (Personal or Impersonal) 15%
Speech four Special Occasion 15%
Speech five Informative #3 (Impersonal) 15%
Speech six Persuasive 20%
Total 100 percent
Cell Phones: All cell phones must be turned off during class.
Intellectual Honesty: Students are responsible for the authorship of their own papers and oral presentations. Papers that show signs of plagiarism will be returned for rewrite and may put the student in jeopardy of receiving a failing grade for that paper and the course.
Late Assignments: If late papers are accepted, there will be a penalty of one letter grade. Unless the absence is excused, late speeches lose a letter grade.
Early Assignments: If a student turns in an A or B paper the class period before it is due, I will award five (5) bonus points.
Attendance and Tardy Policy (Monday/Thursday and Tuesday/Friday class): Students are expected to be present and on time for all class meetings. Making up work because of an absence is the responsibility of the student. The student is responsible for knowing and understanding the policies for making up work outlined in the syllabus for each course.
· Upon the fourth unexcused absence, the student’s final grade will be dropped one mark (for example, from A to A-).
· Upon the fifth unexcused absence, the student’s final grade will be dropped another mark (for example from A- to B+).
· Upon the sixth unexcused absence, the instructor will withdraw the student from the class.
Attendance and Tardy Policy (Wednesday class):
· Upon the third unexcused absence, the student’s final grade will be dropped two marks (for example, from A to B+).
· Upon the fourth unexcused absence, the instructor will withdraw the student from the class.
Three tardies (being 10 minutes late to class or coming back from break after the assigned time) will be considered an unexcused absence and plugged into the policy above. A student late to class and coming back late from break can receive two tardies in one class period.
Excused absences are covered by a doctor’s note.
On occasion I may be detained in an official college meeting or in a meeting with a student. Please allow the instructor 10 minutes to get to class. After that time, or upon notification by the Vice President of Academic Affairs, students may assume that class has been cancelled for that day.
VA Attendance Policy: Tardies or absence from part of a class will count as an absence from the class. Upon the fourth absence from any class during any month, the student will be terminated from Veterans Benefits for unsatisfactory attendance.
Field Trips: Any field trips taken in this course are required. No one may be excused without mitigating circumstances. The instructor must be informed of these circumstances at least two class periods in advance. Missed field trips must be made up with appropriate compensatory work.