ENGLISH 5 (Section: 2565): ADVANCED COMPOSITION AND CRITICAL THINKING – FALL 2019

Instructor: Purnur Ozbirinci, Ph.D.

Phone: 707 527 4562                        

Email: pozbirinci@santarosa.edu

Class Hours and Locations: Online

OFFICE HOURS (Room 1668 Emeritus Hall): MW 9:00-11:00 & by appointment     

MY WRITING CENTER HOURS (Room 1629 Emeritus Hall): TTh 10:00-10:50      

ONLINE OFFICE HOURS: Anytime by appointment (meet up in Zoom, Chat room or Conferences feature). You can send me a message to set up the appointment: Canvas inbox or pozbirinci@santarosa.edu  

ZOOM address: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/my/pozbirinci

 

REQUIRED MATERIALS

• Burrell, Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority. SmileyBooks, 2010.
• Atwood, Margaret. Handmaid’s Tale. Anchor Books, 1998.
• All the other articles and handouts will be provided for you through Canvas online companion which you can access through your SRJC Portal or through https://canvas.santarosa.edu/login/canvas
• A college dictionary (find one which is comfortable to use and easy to carry)
• A good online dictionary - www.merriam-webster.com.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course, we will dissect cultural myths that govern our individual and collective actions. This course is a critical reasoning and advanced composition course designed to develop critical reading, thinking, and writing skills beyond the level achieved in English 1A. The course will focus on the development of logical reasoning and analytical and argumentative writing skills. Prerequisites: Completion of ENGL 1A or higher (V8).

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Describe the principles of critical thinking.
2. Apply principles of critical thinking to texts, media, and everyday experience.
3. Write critical analysis and response papers.

GRADING

Essays must be original, analytically astute, thoroughly developed, supported and documented, coherent, and aware of audience. Workshops on writing and grammar as well as peer editing of drafts will help students prepare final copies of essays in proper form and format. To avoid academic sanctions, familiarize yourself with the SRJC procedures on dealing with academic dishonesty: http://www.santarosa.edu/polman/3acadpro/3.11P.pdf.

A - Excellent 90-100

B - Good 80-89

C - Satisfactory 70-79

D - Less than satisfactory 60-69

F – Failing 0-59

 

CALENDAR OF IMPORTANT DATES

Date Class Begins:	8/19/2019		Date Class Ends:	12/13/2019
Last Day Add w/o add code:	8/25/2019		Last Day Drop w/o W & Last Day Add with add code:	9/8/2019
Last Day Drop for Refund:	9/1/2019		Last Day Drop with W:	11/17/2019
FIRST CENSUS DATE:	9/9/2019		DATE FINAL ESSAY:	12/15/2019

 

ATTENDANCE

Students who fail to log on and initiate participation by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time of the first day of the class will be dropped by the instructor. If you miss completing three assignments in a row and fail to contact the instructor, you will be dropped by the instructor. To give yourself a chance to do well, you need to be on Canvas regularly. Please let me know if you have extensive medical or personal issues that necessitate continued and/or frequent missing of assignments.

Withdrawals must be completed according to college policy (see catalog) or risk a grade of F. You may not count on being dropped by me; if you plan on dropping the class, you’ll need to do so officially.                       

CONFERENCES:  I invite you to come to my office for conferences during my office hours or by appointment as often as you like. Moreover, we can arrange online meeting hours through Zoom. Check Canvas for details. There, I can give your papers personal attention and you can ask me questions about any concerns you may have about your essays and the course.

Student Conduct: We will conduct ourselves in a manner which reflects our awareness of common standards of decency and the rights of others.  As a student here, you are required to abide by SRJC’s Student Code of Conduct: http://www.santarosa.edu/for_students/rulesregulations/scs/section1.shtml. Failure to do so will result in suspension and/or dismissal from the class.

Respect: The best way to learn is through active participation; therefore, we respect others when talking by completing the assignments like peer-editing and discussions on-time, communicating actively, and by being polite even when we disagree with another’s viewpoint. 

Instructor Announcements and Q&A Forum: The instructor will post announcements on the Announcements page in Canvas throughout the semester. Canvas notifies students according to their preferred Notification Preferences. So, please make sure to check your notification preferences and subscribe to the discussion boards and be able to review my comments on the margins of your essays. A “Cyberlounge” is also available as a pinned Discussion to ask for the assistance of your classmates or of the instructor.

Students with disabilities: If you need disability related accommodations for this class, such as a note taker, test taking services, special furniture, etc., please provide the Authorization for Academic Accommodations (AAA letter) from the Disability Resources Department (DRD). You may also speak with me privately during office hours about your accommodations. If you have not received authorization from DRD, it is recommended that you contact them directly. DRD is located in Analy Village on the Santa Rosa campus, and Jacobs Hall on the Petaluma Campus.

In addition, you will want to talk to me early in the semester if you believe you may benefit from the assistance of a tutor (should one be available). Also, if you have any social, cultural, economic, or other issues that you think I should be aware of, please don’t hesitate to speak with me. Finally, make sure to look through SRJC student services (https://www.santarosa.edu/students/) and our Writing Center Website (https://english.santarosa.edu/writing-center-0).

ASSIGNMENTS

All writing must be appropriately labeled with your name, our class name and section number, date and the title of the assignment. After finishing your first draft, make sure to edit your work. Use the checklists provided on Canvas as well as the rubric for the assignment. Make sure your essay is double spaced, 12 font Times New Roman. For major assignments, you must submit your final work to Turnitin link which you will find under the essay prompts.

Occasionally, for a variety of legitimate reasons, you may need more time to complete an essay. If this happens to you, you must inform me ahead of time and be ready to present all the drafts, outlines, etc., you have so far completed for the assignment. You will lose 10% of the grade each class day until an assignment is turned in.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

All written work is to be original; plagiarism of any kind will result in a failing grade on that assignment. Students who plagiarize or cheat may be suspended [for one or two class meetings by the instructor] and referred to the Vice President of Student Services for discipline sanction, in cases of egregious violation. Please read the college policy/procedure on academic integrity at: http://www.santarosa.edu/polman/3acadpro/3.11P.pdf

Plagiarism is a form of cheating and it means stealing the writings or ideas of another person.

Therefore, YOU MAY NOT:

• copy another person’s work, whole or in part, published or not;
• cut and paste from an internet source;
• copy and then change some words or the order of words;
• copy an idea and claim it as your own;
• get another person to do the work for you and hand it in as your own;
• fail to give credit to sources of information;
• and the like.

Do not try to submit someone else’s work (or the Internet’s) work as your own.  Nor should you consider “loaning” someone else your work. All sources for your papers must be carefully documented, and appropriate references using quotation marks and citations must follow MLA guidelines. If you are having trouble: you can get me to help you. If you are stuck, or feel that you don’t understand something, please contact me and I’ll be more than happy to help you. Do not resort to plagiarism!

ESSAY CHECKLIST

After finishing your first draft, make sure to edit your essay. Use the checklist below. Make sure your essay is double spaced, 12 font Times New Roman. You must submit your final work to Turnitin link which you will find under the essay prompts.

• Do you respond effectively and intelligently to the prompt?
• Do you have an effective title?
• Do you have your name, name of the instructor and the course, along with the date on the top left corner?
• Do you have your last name and page number on the top right corner? (Insert page number and double click on the page number to add in your last name.)
• Do you have an interesting introduction which prepares the reader for what lies ahead in the essay?
• Do you have an argument that is insightful, sophisticated, original, and takes a risk?
• Do you argue your position (main argument in your thesis) through the rest of the essay?
• Is your essay effectively organized, and ideas are focused and fully developed without generalizations or assumptions and is always concrete and explicit?
• Are the body paragraphs developed with reasons, examples, details, evidence, and/or analysis? Does your essay include abundant, well-chosen/introduced evidence and in‐depth analysis that effectively “proves” the thesis?
• Do you provide clear transitions between your ideas and paragraphs?
• Does your paper display a strong comprehension of the sources, clearly summarizing/paraphrasing the main claims and supporting points throughout the essay?
• Have you introduced and explained the quotes you are integrating into your essay?
• Have you checked your in-text quotes for proper MLA formatting? Is your works cited properly formatted and in alphabetical order? Check: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/11/
• Do you have an appropriate concluding paragraph that clarifies the purpose and importance of your essay, explains the significance or consequences of your findings, and establishes the basis for further investigation?
• Do you use a variety of sentence structures avoiding awkward or repetitive language or phrasing? Are you employing appropriate tone and demonstrating a distinctive voice?
• Are grammar usage, punctuation, and spelling sufficiently controlled to allow a reader to understand your ideas clearly? (Check fragments, run-ons, comma splices, tenses, spelling, capitalization, etc.)

List of assignments

Note to students: the assignments listed below do not include all course content. To view all course content, go to Modules.