CSULA - ENGL 095 (Basic Writing 1)  -  SPRING 2002

Instructor: Jayasri Hart

Office: E&T A618    Hours: Mon/Wed 8:00-8:45, 12:45-2:00
E-mail: jhart2@calstatela.edu   Voicemail: (323)343-4145     Instructor's website http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jhart2
Mailbox: English Department (E&T A637)

ATTENDANCE 
You must attend the first two class meetings of the quarter.  Any student who is absent on day 1 or day 2 will be dropped, and the space will be given to another student trying to add.  For the rest of the quarter, you are allowed only 4 unexcused absences.  Please let me know if you have to miss a class.  A 20-minute conference with me will be required during week 8/9.

COURSE PREREQUISITE  
You must take English 095 if your EPT score is 138 or less, or if you did not receive a CR grade in English 095. 

COURSE OBJECTIVES  
In this 10-week course, you will prepare for English 096 by reading and writing essays.  In this way, you will develop your skills of narration, description, comparison, and process-writing.  You will also strengthen your sentence and paragraph structure, and learn to improve through many drafts.  Typing is not required, but computer use is recommended.

BOOKS & SUPPLIES
Oxford Desk Dictionary & Thesaurus, American Edition (paperback) for everyday use. New Edition ISBN 0-425-18068-9
I will supply copies of all readings and grammar material.  If you have a grammar-handbook, bring it to class. 
8.5"x11" paper for essays, journals etc. I recommend a binder and IBM-formatted diskettes to save and organize your work. 
Portfolio materials - I will tell you more about this in Week 9.

COURSEWORK
Reading: You will read short essays which are models of Narration, Description, Comparison, and Process Analysis. 
Journals: After class discussion of each reading, you will write answers to questions on content and technique. You will freewrite on related topics which will help you find ideas for your own essays.
Essays:  You will complete the first drafts (at least 500 words) of 4 personal essays in the first 7 weeks.  Two will be written in class and two at home.  Then you will select and revise 2 of them until they are fully developed.  For Peer Review, you will give feedback on the work of at least two classmates while your work will receive feedback from two others.  All drafts of those 2 revised essays and your unrevised final essay will go into your portfolio for grading.  
Grammar:  I will show you how to make the best use of your dictionary and review parts of speech, sentence structure and verb tense.  Beyond that, grammar teaching will be customized to your needs.

GRADES    Your portfolio will be graded by at least two instructors. Criteria and possible scores are given below:

1. How well did your essays fit the topics?

2. How clear is the thesis or purpose of each essay?

3. How well did you support your thesis with details?

4. How well did you organize your details into paragraphs?

5. Did you think about who your reader is, and what he or she needs to know?

6. How well do you communicate in written English?

7. How much improvement did you show in your revisions?

6 = Highest possible score for a very good level of writing.
5 = Good level of writing
4 = CR (Credit, ready for English 096)
3 = NC (No Credit, not ready for English 096)
2 = Incomplete Portfolio
1 = Portfolio not submitted or incomplete coursework
U = Insufficient attendance and very little coursework