FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of
English and Foreign Languages
Current Syllabus, good through 12/07
ENGL 1001 English Orientation
non-online course web site: http://www.keithmurphy.info/1001.htm
Instructor: Keith
Murphy, Ph.D.
http://www.keithmurphy.info
Office: 238 HMB.
Office hours announced in class.
Telephone: (912)825-6680 (messages only: 6392) Fax: (912)825-6110
Email: Sophist@Bigfoot.Com
Yahoo Instant messaging ID: docsophist
Course Description: Students will study the skills and strategies necessary to meet the academic and personal demands of the college experience. This course will emphasize study skills, basic research methods, communicative strategies, and basic word-processing skills. The student will also gain an understanding of how a university functions, strategies for working with faculty, staff, and insight into available services and assistance.
Course Objectives: The specific objectives of this course are:
General Education Outcomes:
Major Outcomes:
Required Texts and Materials:
Required Text: Strunk, Jr. William. and E. B. White. The Elements
of Style, (4th.) NY: Longman, 2000.***
You will also need a copy of the current FVSU catalog!
***This is a book that, if you are a major, you are going to
want to hang onto for your entire academic career!
Suggested texts:
DeGalan, Julie and Stephen Lambert. Great Jobs for English Majors, (3rd) NY: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
Worthington, Janet Farrar. The Ultimate College Survival Guide. NY: Peterson's Guides, 1998.
Plus the appropriate works selected by the class from the attached reading list. The class will, in the first few meetings, select the genres we will study this semester. AT THAT TIME, order the novels (or plays) from amazon.com (or some other website-- hint, for faster service, don't order used books as they are supplied by secondary suppliers and not Amazon. These suppliers can take up to TWO WEEKS to ship your books.) or a local bookstore
Supplemental readings will be posted to the class website or distributed in class.
I will be providing you with a great deal of photocopied material. To offset the expense of this, you will be expected to provide me with one package of photocopier paper. You can purchase this at Wal-mart, Staples, etc. for two or three dollars. You will also need at least one diskette, web access, and a valid EMAIL address.
Course Policies
Attendance. The student will attend class regularly. Attendance will be recorded daily. If a student arrives late, it is their responsibility to make certain the instructor records them as present. The student, not the instructor, is responsible for any work missed whether or not the absence is excused. Be Aware: This is NOT a class that one can pass by merely getting there in time to sign the roster.
FVSU has an official policy on "cuts" or unexcused absences which states that students may be absent from class a number of times equivalent to the credit hour value of the class. This is a 3 credit class, thus, you have 3 allowed absences. The policy also states:
The student may expect to lose one percentage point for each absence in excess of the above scale. (Points to be deducted from the final course average.) Exceptions to this policy in regard to point reduction may be approved by the instructors involving death in the family, illness of the student or member of the immediate family, or military duty. It is the student's responsibility to provide legitimate written excuses (From the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs) to the instructors of classes involved. Other reasons not covered here must be cleared with the appropriate school office.
An absence may be excused if cleared with the instructor in advance or if the student can provide a written excuse with the date, signature, and phone number from some responsible person. Graded assignments missed due to excused absences may be made up within one weeks of the student's return to class; however, it is the student's responsibility to initiate such arrangements and to persist in efforts to complete the work within the deadline.
The institutional policy on absences will be employed in this course. This means that any unexcused absences which total more time missed than the credit hour value of the course will reduce your final grade by 1 full percentage point. For an absence to be excused, you must go to the Vice President for Student Affairs and request an official excuse. However, attendance and participation are critical to passing this course. In addition, being absent does not excuse you from your responsibilities for that class period. Even if your absence is excused, your work must be turned in ON TIME.
Grading Policy: Letter grades translate into numerical grades as follows: A=90-100; B=80-89; C=70-79; D=60-69; F=59 and below. The student is responsible for maintaining copies of all drafts of all assignments to include in the final portfolio. The portfolio is used to determine whether the student has successfully passed the course. Any essay may be revised once within seven days of receiving returned work (within time constraints).
Your final grade is wholly based on your portfolio (which MUST include all drafts of all work) which should include 3 small genre take-home exams, the papers based on your individual analysis of a novel, and in-class essays as assigned. Due-dates will be announced in class.
Assignment List:
Remember that all writing assignments must be typed. You should save a copy of your work on disk as I will grade your first draft and give you an opportunity to revise your efforts. I expect you to engage in external research for each of your essays. In addition, that research had best be correctly cited (including both an in-text citation and a works cited page). If that concept is unclear to you or you are unfamiliar with the concept of plagiarism, click here.
Grading Criteria:
To earn a grade of C, an essay or an assignment must:
- Contain either a clearly implied or explicitly stated central idea.
- Be unified and coherent. The paragraphs must stand in clear relation to the thesis and each other.
- Be fully developed. Each paragraph should contain a leading idea and specific details or examples that clarify, support, and explain the leading idea.
- Contain clear sentences that are in general conformity with standard English. Errors in grammar and/or mechanics must be so minimal that they do not distract from the meaning of the essay.
- Preferably the essay will end with a paragraph, or at least a sentence, which conveys a sense of completion.
An essay fulfilling the above criteria represents acceptable college work. To exceed this criteria, an essay must show superiority in content and development, organization and coherence, sentence style, and vocabulary.
To earn a "superior" grade of A or B, an essay or assignment must fulfill the requirements for a C and:
Instructor's Policies:
No late work will be accepted. No incompletes will be assigned. You are solely responsible for getting the work completed and to me by the due date. Your failure to do so does not constitute an emergency on my behalf.
Tentative Course Schedule
| week | Theory Topic | Assignment |
| 1 | Introduction | Essay, Vonnegut's "Last Words For a Century" |
| 2 | English as a major | Literature Diagnostic |
| 3 | Surviving College | Reading Diagnostic |
| 4 | Goal Setting | Writing Diagnostic |
| 5 | Classroom skills | The History of HBCUs and FVSU |
| 6 | Test-taking | ETS presentation |
| 7 | Critical Thinking | Video...what the %$^% do we know? |
| 8 | Cont. | |
| 9 | Time Management | Intro to Research |
| 10 | Organizing Thought | Synthesis of Ideas |
| 11 | Writing the essay | |
| 12 | speaking | Surviving Public Speaking (handouts) |
| 13 | interpersonal com | non-verbal communication (handouts) |
| 14 | groups | leadership and problem solving |
| 15 | making the most of campus |
"hidden" campus tour |
| F | Final and due date of portfolio TBA |
| Reading List for English 1101 | ||
| Essay | list is here | |
| Science Fiction | Starship Troopers | Robert Heinlein |
| Military | Hiroshima | John Hersey |
| Slaughterhouse-Five | Kurt Vonnegut | |
| Classics | Heart of Darkness | Joseph Conrad |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | |
| The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath | |
| Soul on Ice | Eldridge Cleaver | |
| Confederacy of Dunces | John Kennedy Toole | |
| Animal Farm | George Orwell | |
| Maus | Art Spiegleman | |
Alignment Matrix for 1101 English Orientation
| Course Standards | Major Goals | NCTE /IRA standards | Georgia Performance Standards | FVSU General Education Outcomes | Assessments | |
As a result of successfully completing the
course, a student will:
|
The student will gain the basic skills needed to build a foundation for the development of superior oral and written expression. | 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information). |
|
The student should enhance writing
and speaking skills. The student should also develop a basic
understanding of the practice of both traditional and electronic research. The student should develop the basics abilities of critical and logical thinking. |
Students will write short critical essays in which they will engage in brief critical analyses of both fiction and non-fiction texts. Students will be expected to use, and properly cite, external research to support their arguments. | |
|
7. Students
conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions,
and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a
variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to
communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge. |
Standard: Engages in the research
process using appropriate print, electronic, and interview sources; cites
sources according to a standard style sheet (MLA, APA, or other). Standard: Gathers information from print and nonprint sources; writes orders, descriptions and reports using research; quotes, paraphrases and summarizes accurately; and cites sources properly. |
The student should enhance writing and speaking skills. The student should also develop a basic understanding of the practice of both traditional and electronic research. | All student work will be composed (and revised) on computers using Microsoft Word or similar word-processing software. Some work will be submitted for grading via electronic means. | ||
|
The student will gain a basic understanding of the appropriate styles of language for the academic environment. | 11. Students participate as
knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of
literacy communities. |
Standard: Adapts language to various situations and cultures of audience. | The student should gain an understanding of the unique culture that exists within the university setting. The student will also gain an understanding of the structure of the university's organization and its processes. | Students will, through quizzes, journals, and other assignments, demonstrate their knowsledge of and ability to navigate the university bureacracy. |
Information on the last table is primarily for Education majors. If you have questions about this, see me. For the conceptual framework, click here. For more information on NCATE/IRA click here.