COURSE INFORMATION/COURSE SYLLABUS

BLOG: (10%)
Each week there will be a question on the blog. You will write at least 250 words(a long and brilliant paragraph) in response to that question. You must also respond to your classmates’ writing. The more you write, the better.

READING:
Each week there will be reading on the blog. The only exception to this is the two weeks when you’ll be reading Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point.

WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ: (10%)
After you read each week’s selection, you will respond to a question about the reading.

PARTICIPATION: (10%)
In addition to the weekly blogs, you will be graded on participation. This is strange in an online course, but it simply means that you should be actively contributing on the blog, responding each week to the mental meanderings of your classmates.

PEER REVISION: (10%)
You will receive two rough drafts written by your peers. You will make substantive comments on those rough drafts for the purpose of helping your classmate to improve the overall written quality of the essay. I will create groups and you will email your essay to the students in the group. Those students will comment on the essay and send the comments to you and to me.

TIPPING POINT FINAL DRAFT: (30%)
For this assignment, you will email me the final draft copy of your essay.
The essay should be attached as a Microsoft Word document and should be 4-5 pages in length, double spaced.
There are two essay topics to choose from.
Write a 4-5 page double spaced essay on one of the following topics:
1. How might one or more of the ideas in the book The Tipping Point apply to your chosen profession?
2. Locate a trend [social, political, cultural, other] that seems to exhibit a "tipping point" phenomenon. Provide a brief explanation of why you think this phenomenon meets Gladwell's three criteria for tipping point phenomenon: a) contagiousness b) little causes having big effects c) not gradual but dramatic change.

ROUGH DRAFT OF TIPPING POINT ESSAY MUST BE EMAILED TO YOUR REVISERS AND TO ME BY FRIDAY OCTOBER 28TH.
REVISERS, YOU MUST EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS ON THE PAPER BACK TO THE AUTHOR AND TO ME BY MONDAY, OCTOBER 31ST.


RESTAURANT REVIEW: (20%)
Go to any restaurant in town. As you eat, take notes on the ambiance, the food, and the service. You may choose any restaurant (from Taco Bell to Café Med), but you should use this writing assignment to explore your descriptive capabilities. Use sound, touch, taste, smell, and the look of the food and surroundings. The review should be approximately two pages in length. You may use the first-person in this review.

IN CLASS ESSAY: (10%)
Since this course satisfies the GWAR, you must pass one in class essay to be eligible to pass the course. That essay will be given during our meeting on Saturday, November 12.

Students must earn a grade of C or higher in this course to satisfy the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR). In addition, this course can fulfill the GWAR only if a student has completed 90 or more quarter units of college work before taking it.

To be eligible for a C in English 305, students must earn a C or higher on at least one in-class writing assignment and a C average on all other course assignments. Since this is an online class, in-class writing assignments may be given at the first meeting or the last.

English 305 Waiting List/Drop Policy Statement

Students enrolled in English 305 must attend the first Saturday orientation session. Students who miss this session will be dropped so that other students may add the course. There is no make-up orientation session.

Students who wish to add the course once the class is full can contact the instructor before the quarter begins and ask to be put on a waiting list. These students must attend the first Saturday session to remain eligible for a seat, and these students can only be added if a spot in the class becomes available.

Course Description: An online course in effective expository writing. Emphasis on writing as a process. This course counts toward the Teacher Preparation programs in English, Liberal Studies, and Child Development but does not count toward the major or minor. Fulfills the GWAR.

Course Goals
At the end of ten weeks, students in English 305 should be able to do the following:
1. read and write literally, interpretively, and analytically or critically;
2. recognize a writer’s tone and how it informs a text’s statements; this includes analyzing diction and syntax;
3. consider rhetorical strategies and their connection to meaning;
4. identify assumptions in reading and writing;
5. analyze a potential audience and use an appropriate style and tone;
6. analyze and adapt writing techniques to purpose;
7. present appropriate details, examples, and definitions as support;
8. fully develop arguments and write cohesively using adequate transitions;
9. recognize faulty logic;
10. use a variety of sentence structures;
11. use varied levels of linguistic formality;
12. revise and edit their own writing using standard, edited American English.

Writing Requirements
Assignments will gradually increase in difficulty, and each assignment will include both a rough draft and a final essay. Writing assignments may be distributed as follows:
● at least one in-class assignment, during the first or last meeting
● writing to inform
● writing to amuse or move the reader emotionally
● writing to persuade
● writing to analyze literature and/or art

Participation
Students will be required to participate in peer revision and discussion on a bulletin board, chat room, or blog set up exclusively for this class. Your instructor will give you specific instructions.