ENG 1121 – OL78 — English Composition II

(3 credits/ 3 hours)

Fall 2020

Professor: Dr. Ruth G. Garcia

Email: RGarcia@citytech.cuny.edu

Office Hours: 

Days & Times: Monday 3:00–4:00 pm, Thursday 12:00-1:00 pm, and by appointment.

  • These office hours will not occur on the Mondays and Thursdays that we do not have classes.)

Place: These will occur on Zoom.

  • Each week, just before office hours begin, I will post a zoom link on our course site (this will be in announcements).
  • If we have set up an appointment to meet, I will similarly send you a Zoom link via email just before we meet.
  • If Zoom doesn’t work for you, just let me know and we can figure something else out.

 Course Website: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/garciaeng1121ol78fall2020/

This course will take place online. Our class is asynchronous, meaning that we never all gather together at the same time. Instead all your work will be done on our OpenLab course site.

Our OpenLab site is where you will find your assignments and post all your work.  Therefore, it is important that you familiarize yourself with our website and find out where everything is and that you check in daily for updates. You are responsible for being up-to-date and knowing what is on our course site.  Please contact me if you are having trouble! 

Course Description and Learning Outcomes

This is a course in effective essay writing and basic research techniques, including use of the library. College-level readings are assigned as the basis for classroom discussion and for essay writing.

Students in this course will do the following:

  • Read and listen critically and analytically in a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.
  • Write in a variety of genres, including adapting writing conventions in ways that are suitable to different situations and purposes in a variety of contexts.
  • Develop rhetorical awareness by understanding and responding appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations.
  • Use research as a process of inquiry and engagement with multiple perspectives,
  • Demonstrate research skills through attribution and citation gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing both primary and secondary sources.
  • Learn how to use appropriate citation styles depending on disciplinary and situational requirements (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.).
  • When appropriate, repurpose prior work, including research, to new genres, audiences, and media by adjusting delivery, design, tone, organization, and language.
  • Use reflection and other metacognitive processes to revise prior assumptions about reading and writing and transfer acquired knowledge into new writing situations.

(Prerequisite: ENG 1101) 

Required Texts/Materials

All course texts are OER/ZTC (see below) and can be found on our course website in the schedule and the weekly agendas. A list of readings is also available in the Course Resources.

 Open Educational Resources/Zero Textbook Costs (OER/ZTC):

This course uses OER/ZTC materials, which means instead of buying a textbook, you will use materials that are freely or openly available. These OER/ZTC materials, available to you throughout the semester and remaining available after the end of the semester, can include:

  • Open educational resources that are Creative Commons (openly) licensed, including but not limited to open textbooks
  • Freely available web resources that do not violate copyright
  • Library licensed digital resources
  • Materials in the public domain.

 Core Books at CUNY

Several of the books we’ll read in this course are part of Core Books at CUNY (a Multi-Campus Teagle Foundation grant). Reading these texts will help us engage with broad humanistic questions that we will use to inspire our writing.

Other Materials

Consider a sturdy notebook with paper for notes and at least one folder with pockets to keep track of materials you gather for this class. Regardless of your method, you must devise a system to record, store, and organize the course materials. It is very important that you save all of your work for this class. Devise a filing system that allows you to maintain prior drafts and final copies of all major assignments, as well as your research notes, outlines, and evaluations. Save all final drafts of assignments on a stable format such as a flash drive or on a remote hard drive/server such as Dropbox. Never throw away or delete drafts or notes until after you have received your final grade.

Grading

Your course grade will be calculated according to the following breakdown:

  • Unit One: 15%
  • Unit Two: 15%
  • Unit Three: 15%
  • Final Reflection for the Portfolio: 15%
  • Participation (this includes your timely and participation in all OpenLab assignments and quality of these assignments): 40%

Course Structure and Class Participation/Attendance

You will complete four major writing assignments throughout the course of the semester. These are Units1, 2, 3, and a Final Reflection to accompany a Portfolio where you will pull together the major assignments, one of which you may choose to revise, and a few samples of other work from the semester.

 In addition, to the graded major assignments, you will also be required to post work on our OpenLab site twice a week:

  • By the end of every Thursday I will post a weekly class agenda (in the Agendas tab). This is your work for the upcoming week.
  • You will have two assignments due every week. This work will be due by the end of the day every Monday and Wednesday, beginning with the first day of class (Wednesday, August 26th).

These bi-weekly posts will help you engage with and think critically about the ideas in the reading. Additionally, these posts will help you develop your own ideas and draft your larger projects by breaking down and guiding you through the writing process.

*** These posts are a major component of your grade. Therefore, regular attendance and active participation on our course site are extremely important in order to succeed in this course. All work is due online when indicated–otherwise I can not read it and you will not get credit for your work. These posts will also count as your attendance and you will only be marked present when the posts are completed on time.

However, if you have a personal emergency or other circumstances that prohibit you from finishing your assignment on time or turning in work as scheduled, email me as soon as possible so we can discuss your situation.

Your bi-weekly posts will be evaluated on a scale from 0-5 based on the following criteria:

  • Understanding. Your response demonstrates a clear understanding of the concepts and/or readings.
  • Content. Your response completes all elements of the assignment and accurately addresses the questions and directions given.
  • Thoroughness. Your response shows that you have taken the time to carefully and thoughtfully complete the assignment.
  • Timeliness. Your work is done by the indicated deadline.
  • Writing Skills. While posts do not have to be as polished as major assignments, you should proofread your responses and make sure they are clear and to the point.

***Please keep in mind throughout the semester, if ever any type of question, problem, or confusion should arise contact me so that we can address whatever may prevent you from successfully completing this course.

Schedule

Find a weekly outline for this course on the Schedule page

University Resources and Policies

Writing Center

For one-on-one help with your writing assignments, send an email to CityTechWritingCenter@gmail.com requesting an appointment. You will receive an automatic reply with information about available tutoring sessions.

 Microsoft Office

The City University of New York provides Microsoft Office 365 for Education to students at participating colleges, including City Tech via the Microsoft Office in Education program. You sign in using your Blackboard credentials (this is different than your regular CityTech email) and have online access to MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel and other programs in the MS Office Suite. You may also be eligible to download the Suite to your computer.  For more information, see THIS LINK .

Accessibility Statement

Your success in this class is important to me. If there are aspects of this course that prevent you from learning or exclude you, please let me know as soon as possible so we can find a way to meet both your needs and the requirements of the course. Additionally, if you need official accommodations, you should contact the Center for Student Accessibility. 

City Tech is committed to supporting the educational goals of enrolled students with disabilities in the areas of enrollment, academic advisement, tutoring, assistive technologies and testing accommodations. If you have or think you may have a disability, you may be eligible for reasonable accommodations or academic adjustments as provided under applicable federal, state and city laws. You may also request services for temporary conditions or medical issues under certain circumstances. If you have questions about your eligibility or would like to seek accommodation services or academic adjustments, please contact the Center for Student Accessibility at 300 Jay Street room L-237, 718-260-5143 or http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/accessibility/. Email: accessibility@citytech.cuny.edu

 Academic Integrity Policy

Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions, and other intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, crediting, and citing sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the College recognizes its responsibility for providing instruction in information literacy and academic integrity, offering models of good practice, and responding vigilantly and appropriately to infractions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and at New York City College of Technology and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. The complete text of the College policy on Academic Integrity may be found in the College Catalog.

You are expected to be familiar with the accepted academic principles regarding plagiarism. If ANY section, no matter how small, of your work is plagiarized, you will get a ZERO for that paper, with no rewrites.

 

 

 

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