Syllabus

Instructor: Olivia Wood (she/her/hers)
Class Time and Place: M/W 8:00 am-9:15am, N.B. 1.91
Email: [email protected] (fastest way to get in touch) ** Use [email protected] until further notice**
Office Hours: After class on Mondays or by appointment

**A General Note**
I love getting emails from students! It means you’re engaged in the class. I invite you to email me whenever you have a question or want to talk about something further, or if you have anything you just want to give me a heads up about (like an upcoming absence). If I promised to send you something (like feedback on an assignment) and it’s taking more than two class periods, email me a reminder! I won’t be annoyed.

Contents

Course Description

 This composition course introduces students to the skills, habits, and conventions necessary to prepare inquiry-based research for college.  While offering students techniques and practices of invention and revision, this theme-based composition course teaches students the expectations of college-level research, academic devices for exploring ideas, and rhetorical strategies for completing investigative writing.

Course Objectives

At the end of the semester, students will be able to:

  • Use the conventions of Standard Academic American English in the writing of essays and other genres
  • Situate these conventions in broader systems of language practices and power
  • Critically evaluate texts across written, oral, visual, and other domains (7 Domains of Rhetoric) using fundamental rhetorical concepts
  • Use these rhetorical concepts to strengthen arguments they care about
  • Employ drafting, peer review, and revision techniques in order to improve the content, style, and structure of their own writing
  • Apply research skills to topics of their choosing to formulate well-supported and rhetorically effective arguments
  • Appraise their own composing abilities, processes, and goals through critical reflection

 Required Texts

You should always bring the readings assigned for the class period, either in hard copy or through an electronic device.

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil
Access to Silva Rhetoricae (http://rhetoric.byu.edu/)
Assorted PDFs posted to Blackboard

Optional but Recommended:

Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers, by Brendan McGuigan.
** The course calendar will always include assigned page numbers for this book, but if you do not purchase it, you should read the corresponding sections on Silva Rhetoricae.**

Grading

Paper 1: 15%
Process Assignments: 20%
Paper 2: 20%
Rhetorical Devices: 10%
Short Assignments/Participation: 15%
Portfolio: 20%

Course Policies

Attendance

Everyone has a unique perspective and set of experiences that brings value to the classroom. If you are absent, you cannot share your perspective and knowledge with us, and you cannot learn from the perspectives and knowledge that others share during class.

As a general rule, you have 3 free absences in this course without penalty to your participation grade. After those free absences, you will receive a 2% decrease to your participation grade per absence. However, sometimes important things happen that may prevent you from coming to class. (Physical or mental health difficulties, loved one in crisis, care obligations, unexpected financial hardship, etc.). If a life circumstance is preventing you from joining us, please email me so that we can stay in communication and I can help you keep up with the coursework while you are away. 

4 lates = 1 absence. Emailing me from the train/bus/etc. to let me know you are on your way is not required, but I do appreciate it! It helps with planning activities.

Participation

Throughout the semester, we will do a variety of short informal assignments and in-class activities. If an assignment is not listed elsewhere in the grading schema, that assignment or activity is part of your participation grade. Participating in class is vital not only for your own learning, but for the learning of your classmates. Many activities are designed so that we can learn from each other as well as from our participation in the activity itself.

There are many ways to participate in class. You can participate in class discussion, volunteer to share your writing, help your classmates, take notes, ask questions, write comments on your classmates’ posts, practice active listening, and more! All of these forms are valid and appreciated.

Late Work

Rhetorical devices assignments may be turned in late, but you will receive a partial score for each late post. While I would prefer you do the assignment late than not doing it at all, part of the purpose of the assignment is to develop a habit of noticing rhetoric in the world around you.

Turning in drafts on time will be part of the final grade for each major writing assignment. You cannot make up these points, but you can still receive full credit for other parts of the rubric.

You are permitted UNLIMITED revisions of your papers up until the end of the semester, so I strongly encourage you to turn in a draft on time, even if it is incomplete, and plan to revise it later.

Classroom Conduct

As rhetoric students, it is your responsibility to choose the best way to express your ideas. However, I have the following expectations for you in this regard:

  • Respect everyone in our classroom community and keep an open mind about their experiences.
  • When considering your words, ask yourself, “Am I contributing to the learning environment, or am I hurting the learning environment?”

Phones, Laptops, and Tablets

Please keep your volume off during class. If your phone’s vibrate feature is also noisy, you may want to turn that off as well. Feel free to use your devices for class-related activities or urgent personal matters that cannot wait until after class. This will be done via the honor system unless you are doing something disruptive to the rest of the class. However, please keep the following in mind:

  • If you know you’re prone to getting distracted on digital devices, you may want to keep it put away during class.
  • If you are using your device for something unrelated to class, please be mindful of how you may be distracting others from their own learning. 

ACE Program Required Workshops

Because this English 101 class is part of the ACE (Accelerate, Complete, Engage) program at John Jay, all students are required to attend 4 workshops over the course of the semester, one from each “series” (topic). The workshops are designed to offer you additional support in the skills needed for our assignments. Sign up here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B2KFBT9

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writings as your own. The following are some examples of plagiarism, but by no means is it an exhaustive list:

  • Copying another person’s actual words without attributing the words to their source
  • Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging the source
  • Using information that is not common knowledge without acknowledging the sources
  • Failing to acknowledge collaborators on assignments

For an overview of John Jay’s academic integrity policy and a link to the full policy, please visit https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/academic-integrity-0 

Resources

Accessibility

The Office of Accessibility Services provides resources to students with accessibility needs. It is located in NB, L.66.01 and can be reached at [email protected] or by calling 212-237-8031. Students seeking accommodations for this semester can contact the office or fill out this form online: https://doitapps2.jjay.cuny.edu/accessibility/. For more information, please visit: http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/accessibility. Or you can just email me with your accessibility needs.

Mental Health

Mental health is very important and mental illness should be treated with the same seriousness as physical illness. There are many steps you can take to maintain your mental health, ranging from practicing positive life habits, to talking with a loved one about your feelings, to seeking professional therapy and/or psychiatric medicine. Just like you may need to miss class if you are physically ill, you should also prioritize your mental health above coming to class in a similar fashion. Rhetoric and writing are important life skills, but having a healthy brain is more important.

John Jay’s Wellness Center offers FREE confidential counseling services and psychiatry to all students, available in English and Spanish. The Counseling Center is located at NB L.68.00. The Counseling Center phone number is 212-237-8111 and their email is [email protected].

For immediate after-hours assistance in crisis, you can call the National Hope Line at 1-800-784-2433 or the LIFENET network at 1-800-543-3638 (available in multiple languages). If you are unable to use the phone or if you have phone anxiety, you can speak with a crisis counselor via texting at the Crisis Text Line (https://www.crisistextline.org/) by texting HOME to 741741.

Students may also call The Trevor Project hotline at 1-866-488-7386 for LGBTQ-specific support.

For more mental health crisis resources, please visit: http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/emergency-crisis-contacts

Academic and Other Support

John Jay has many Centers on campus that offer free support in a variety of academic areas and for specific populations, some of which are listed below. For a full list, visit https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/student-resources

The Writing Center

The Writing Center is located in New Building 1.68 and offers both in-person and online consultations for anyone who wants to talk about their writing with someone! The required ACE workshops are run through the writing center, but I encourage you to visit them other times as well! Writing centers are not just for people who are “bad” at writing. They’re for anyone who wants an outside opinion on their paper. Throughout undergrad and my master’s degree, I both worked in the writing center AND visited it weekly to talk about my writing!

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.