Why is College Composition a required subject at all colleges?
College Composition is required because colleges recognize the integral relationship between good communication skills and success in college life. Since good writing and good thinking are inseparable, an ability to write effectively will serve you well the rest of your life. Also, writing plays a more important communication role in many vocations than most freshmen realize. The writing skills you acquire in this class may well prove valuable in your future career. Another important consideration is that this course functions as a prerequisite for the required upper division "W" courses and will help prepare you for writing success in those classes and in many of your other college classes. The teachers in your future college classes will expect you to use your composition writing skills to successfully complete the varied writing tasks they assign.

What is the difference between College Composition 101 and 102?
Both semester courses are part of the same writing class. The difference between 101 and 102 is a difference in what is stressed and what kind of writing is emphasized. The first semester of College Composition (101) provides the student with practice in writing 500-word essays in different writing modes The focus is on basic writing strategies which can be effectively adapted to varying writing purposes and intended audiences. Attention is devoted to the writing process (how one writes) and to the writing product (what one writes). Prewriting and rewriting skills receive special attention.

Since the second semester course (102) reinforces those skills and strategies covered in 101, taking 101 is a prerequisite to taking 102. in the 102 portion of College Composition students write 500-word persuasive essays and a 5-8 page research paper. Nearly one half of the class is devoted to the writing of the research paper, while logical thinking and rhetorical composition skills also receive conciderable attention.

Composition 101
1. analyze your intended audience and effectively gear your written message to your audience
2. clarify your primary purpose for each writing task and control and shape your writing according to your purpose
3. employ prewriting strategies such as brainstorming and peer feedback to ensure adequate and worthwhile development of your ideas
4. write paragraphs which share ideas in coheent, unified, and developed units of thought.
5. write sentences which communicate complete thoughts in the most effective arrangement, including combining ideas within a sentence when feasible
6. word ideas in a clear, direct (active voice), concrete, and appropriate manner
7. write beginnings to your compositions which attract the reader and which clearly establish your purpose
8. write conclusions to your compositions which smoothly end the essays and which reaffirm the thesis
9. use a thesis to unify your total written message
10. use transitions to sew your ideas together
11. arrange your ideas in the most effective order, given audience, purpose, and written mode
12. rewrite 1st draft of each paper a sufficient enough times to ensure that the final draft is organized, unified, and developed, and that the written style is flent and the langguage lean and engaging
13. edit the final draft to eliminate all mechanical errors which could hinder clear communication with the reader

Composition 102
1. more skillfully apply #1-13 above to persuasive and research writing tasks
2. effectively employ rhetorical strategies in your persuasive writing
3. distinguish between fact & opinion—fallacies & propaganda techniques, to understand basic patterns of logical thinking, & to employ this knowledge accurately when writing or reading
4. complete a library exercise which will orient you to library research materials & test your ability to locate/use them. If score is below 85, retake the test until you make a score of 85 or higher
5. write a research paper which

a. is 1250-2000 words in length excluding the title page, outline, works cited, annotated bibliography, and appendix pages.
b. conforms to MLA style
c. is thesis-oriented
d. contains correct paraphrasing of borrowed ideas and makes minimal use of direct quotations
e. employs correct in-text citations and bibliographic entries to document borrowed material
f. makes use of both periodicals and books to gleen ideas for the paper. Minimum of 8 sources is required—at least 2 books &2 periodicals
g. requires the student to use the reference room, on-line catalog, & specialized indexes (i.e., Reader's Guide) in preparation for the paper.

How much writing and what kinds of writing will I do in this course?
Since writing is learned best by writing, you will be doing a lot of writiing. For 101, your will be writing five 500-word essays, each in a different writing mode. In addition, there will be an essay test for the final exam which will test your ability to write a good essay under exam conditions. For 102, you will be writing three 500-word persuasive essays and a 5-8 page research paper, and you will need to earn a passing grade on this assignment in order to pass the course.

What materials will I need for this class?

• Lannon, John M. The Writing Process: A Concise Rhetoric. 7th ed. New York: Longmans, 2001.
• Hodges, John C., et al. Hodges' Harbrace Handbook. 14th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace, 2001.
• Morris, William, ed. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. (Recommended)
• Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide. 9th ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longmans, 1999.

Additional Material—English Folder, Form A, as a cover and file for major class writings turned in; Notebook; Bud's Easy Term Paper Typing Kit is a recommended aid for typing the 102 research paper and for typing future research papers.

How will I be graded?
You will be graded on your minor writing exercises, quizzes, and tests; the major writings, including the research paper for 102, will account for the major part of the grade; your final test will involve writing an expository essay for 101 and a persuasive essay for 102; and the specific grade percentages are outlined on Mrs. Kennedy's web site.

What will the teacher expect from me in this class?
When you enroll in Composition 101 or 102, you and your instructor enter into a partnership to help you achieve the writing skills you need and a personal style that represents you at your best and makes your ideas acceptable to others. Both you and your teacher agree to fulfill certain responsibilities. Let's spell them out:
1. The improvement of any skill depends largely on practice. So with writing. This being true, you agree to do all the assigned writing and to submit it at scheduled times. You agree to write as honestly as you can. The instructor agrees to take what you say seriously and to react to it candidly and responsibly, transmitting to you the best suggestions the teacher is capable of for improving your writing.
2. Because students can help other students and in so doing make giant leaps toward improving their own understanding or achievement, you agree to take sincere interest in what classmates write, to listen to them, and to react thoughtfully and as affirmatively as possible. Your instructor agrees to promote a climate of mutual trust and noncompetitive evaluation. Don't write anything you don't feel comfortable sharing with classmates.
3. You agree to read thoughtfully the assigned material in textbooks or in selections provided by the teacher, applying the ideas to yor own needs. The instructor agrees not to plod through material in class, but to use it as a launching pad for discussions, demonstrations, projects, and sometimes for lectures which prob furether into areas which the readings uncover.
4. Not all students come to College Composition with equal backgrounds or identical interests and abilities. Because that is so, the instructor agrees to individualize part of the course and to provide those needing extra help with tutorial aid.
5. Emergencies sometimes occur. When they keep you from attending class, you agree to ascertain what work you've missed, and, if the situation warrants, to make up missed work. You further agree to arrange make-up work for the first time you attend class following an excused absence. Work for days when you had an unexcused absence will usually not be accepted. In addition, you are responsible to have the assignment for the current day upon your first return following an absence (unless you've worked out an arrangement previously). Be sure you know your teacher's attendance policy since you will be help responsible for this policy. Mrs. Kennedy's attendance policy is spelled out on this web site.
6. All major papers must be typed and double-spaced. The student should write or type on one side of the paper only, leaving approx. 1 inch margins. You may justify the right margin if you wish (in Mrs. Kennedy's class). Other papers may be written in blue or black ink or typed as the teacher specifies. Pencil work is never acceptable. All writing must be neat and legible and should be proofread. NOTICE: The student also accepts full responsibility for his/her typist's prompness and correctness. Excuses such as, "My typist didn't understand the proper form," or "My typist didn't finish my paper in time," are not acceptable.
7. Your teacher pledges to make your assignments as cleas as possible. Consequentlym, you agree to fulfill each assignment according to the teacher's instructions. This includes avoiding all forms of plagiarism, which involves taking and using as one's own the ideas or words of another without documenting such use. Use of material from other sources, whether printed matter or writings of other students, should be acknowledged both in the body of the paper and in Works Cited and Annotated Bibliography pages. Typists should be faithful to the writer's draft, and any changes made by a typist constitute plagiarism. / Deliberate plagiarism is a serious offense which can result in suspension from school and/or failure in a course. Please read the school's stance on academic honesty in the catalog and let its principles guide you in your writing.
8. Periodically you will need to ask a teacher or a tutor for help with a paper. The manner in which you ask for help is very important since it reveals your learning attitude and determines the quality of help you will receive. Therefore, please ask focused questions when seeking help with a piece of writing. Askiing questions like: I my thesis limited enough? Have I worded my ideas effectively in my third paragraph? and What could I do to make my ending smoother? proves more productive than handing a paper to someone and asking him/her to read all of it and indicate everything that is wrong with the writing. This latter approach reveals a poor learning attitude and invites an unfocused and ineffective response. Ask the most focused questions that you can about your writing problems to insure the best quality responses from teachers and tutors.
9. Once you begin a class with a composition teacher, it is expected that you will remain iin that teacher's class for the semester unless you face an adjustment in your work or course load calling for a class schedule change. If you must change sections where the change involves two teachers, see Helen Pyke, the Composition Coordinator.

If you've done your part in these agreements and your work meets acceptable standards, you'll receive course credit. However, there are at least four ways to invalidate our agreement. Any one of them can result in automatic failure to earn course credit.
1. Exceed 6 absences for a 3-day-a-week class or 4 absences for a 2-day-a-week class. (See the college catalog for the college absence polity.)
2. Failure to complete all assigned major writings, including the 102 research paper. (NOTE: You must pass the research paper in order to pass 102.)
3. Neglect to revise the major writings if the instructor requires such.
4. Fail to take or complete the final examination.
5. Commit deliberate plagiarism.