Instructor: Trena Houp
E-mail: thoup@english.ufl.edu
Mailbox: 4301 Turlington
Office Hours: MW4 by appointment

Required Texts
Faigley, Lester and Jack Selzer. Good Reasons: Designing and Writing Effective
Arguments. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.
Houp, Trena (Editor). Mercury Reader. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2005.
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) will serve as our handbook:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Overview
This course introduces students to the principal elements of writing effectively. ENC 1101 focuses on writing rhetorical arguments, building research skills, and developing critical thinking through reading, writing, and discussion. Students will learn how to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their own and their peers’ writing and will explore how differing conventions, styles, purposes, and audiences affect writing practices.

ENC 1101 will teach students to:
• Employ the stylistic principles necessary for writing coherent, cohesive, and clear prose
• Understand the goals and use the methods and sources of research in a variety of fields
• Read, write, and think critically
• Evaluate and edit one another’s work constructively
• Navigate the writing process, from planning, drafting, and revising to editing and proofreading
• Shape their writing for different audiences and rhetorical contexts, adapting purpose, style, tone, and diction.

Major Assignments
Reading Journal: Students are expected to arrive prepared to contribute to class discussion. This preparation involves careful reading and developing thoughtful responses to the texts. In this journal, you will take notes while reading in order to summarize and offer critical commentary on the required readings. Students are encouraged to use this journal to explore ideas for essays. Students should write at least two pages a week in the journal.
Essays: Students will write the following essays throughout the semester:
Essay 1 - In this essay, students will narrate and describe experiences with reading and writing while defining their own notions of literacy. This essay should have a well thought out thesis with organized supporting details and be 5-6 pages in length.
Essay 2 - Using the rhetorical techniques of comparison and contrast, students will choose two essays from the class reading to discuss the author’s views on language or writing. This essay should be 5-7 pages in length.
Essay 3 - Students will choose an essay from the assigned reading they disagree with and provide a rebuttal argument in 5-7 pages.
Essay 4 - Students will identify a problem with education and argue why this problem is important while offering a possible solution. This essay must include both persuasion and process analysis when presenting the arguments and be 6-8 pages in length.
Additional details will be discussed in class and students are encouraged to consult with me prior to beginning each assignment.

Grade Distribution
Reading Journal 15%
Essay 1 10%
Essay 2 15%
Essay 3 20%
Essay 4 20%
Class participation including in class writing and quizzes 20%

Grading Scale
A 90-100
B+ 86-89
B 80-85
C+ 76-79
C 70-75
D+ 66-69
D 60-65
E 0-59

Course Policies
Rules for all Assignments
• Be prepared to discuss readings on the date listed.
• Ask for clarification if any assignments / requirements seem unclear.
• All writing assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date due unless specific arrangements have been made with me beforehand.
• Late essays will be lowered by one letter grade for every day late. Nothing will be accepted after five calendar days (as opposed to class days) have elapsed. If you need to submit something late over a weekend or holiday, you should contact me via e-mail to make appropriate arrangements. 
• Small writing assignments and quizzes will not be accepted late under any circumstances.   
• Average writing gets an average grade - a C. To earn a higher grade, you must demonstrate critical acumen, an engaging style, and a convincing arguing ability. Your essays will be graded on content, organization, persuasive force, wisdom, lucidity, and other criteria according to each assignment. I expect your papers to be free of major grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.
 
Submission of Writing Assignments
• Writing assignments will be submitted to me either paper or electronic format. 
• If papers are submitted via e-mail, they must be sent by the beginning of class on the day they are due. I must receive your papers via e-mail at the following e-mail address: thoup@english.ufl.edu. The paper must be e-mailed as an attachment in MS Word Format. If you do not have Word, please let me know.  
• If I request a hard copy of your papers, you must submit them at the beginning of class on the day that they are due.  
• Whether in hard print or electronic file, all papers must be typed and formatted according to the following guidelines: All margins should be 1 inch and the font should be 12 point Times New Roman. Any deviation from this format will result in penalties.  
• All citations are always expected to be in MLA format.

Attendance
Promptness and attendance are imperative in a discussion class. It should go without saying that you should arrive to class on time and well prepared. Tardiness, like sporadic absences, disrupts the class. Do not enter the class more than five minutes after it has begun. Three tardies will count as an unexcused absence. The University Writing Program policy is that if you miss more than six periods, you will fail the entire course. Only absences involving university-sponsored events, such as athletics and band, and religious holidays will be excused. If you miss class, you are responsible for getting any assignments and making up any work.

Academic Honesty
As a University of Florida student, your performance is governed by the UF Honor Code, available in its full form at http://www.reg.ufl.edu/01-02-catalog/student_life/. The Honor Code requires Florida students to neither give nor receive unauthorized aid in completing all assignments. Violations include cheating, plagiarism, bribery, and misrepresentation, all defined in detail at http://www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/honestybrochure.htm.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious violation of the student academic honor code. Students commit plagiarism when they present the ideas or words of someone else as their own.
Plagiarism results when students use (without crediting the source):
• Any part of another person’s essay, speech, or ideas
• Any part of an article in a magazine, journal, newspaper; any part of a book,
encyclopedia, CD-ROM, online WWW page, etc.
• Any idea from another person or writer, even if students express that idea in their
own words.
Important tip: There should never be a time when you copy and paste something from the Internet and do not provide the exact location from which it came.
All acts of willful plagiarism will result in failure of the assignment and will likely
result in failure of the entire course.
Unless otherwise indicated by the instructor for class group work, all work must be your own. Nothing written for another course will be accepted.

Students with Disabilities
The University of Florida complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.

Classroom Conduct
Please keep in mind that students come from diverse cultural, economic, and ethnic backgrounds. Some of the texts we will discuss and write about engage controversial topics and opinions. Diversified student backgrounds combined with provocative texts require that you demonstrate respect for ideas that may differ from your own. Every student in this class is expected to participate in a responsible and mature manner that enhances education. Each student is expected to show respect for the diversity of opinions expressed during discussion and in drafts. Each student should balance the desire to express opinions with the recognition that other students and the instructor in the class also need to be heard. Any conduct that disrupts the learning process may lead to disciplinary action.

General Education Learning Outcomes
You must pass this course with a grade of C or better to receive 6,000-word Gordon Rule credit (E6). You must turn in all writing assignments to receive credit for writing 6,000 words and pass with a “C” or better. A grade of D or better satisfies the University's General Education Composition (C) requirement. You must pass with a grade of C or better if this course is to satisfy the CLAS requirement of a second course in Composition (C). If you are not in CLAS, check the catalog or with your advisor to see if your college has other writing requirements.

Documenting Work
Students are responsible for maintaining duplicate copies of all work submitted in this course and retaining all returned, graded work until the semester is over. Should the need arise for a re-submission of papers or a review of graded papers, it is the student's responsibility to have and make available this material.

Peer Review
Bring two copies of the assignment to the peer review session. Drafts for writing workshops should not be "rough," but complete and polished. You will be graded on this. Peer reviews are mandatory. I will not accept a final text that has not been reviewed.

Conferences
I encourage you to make arrangements to see me, especially when you have questions about an assignment, need help with a particular writing problem, want extra feedback on a draft, or have questions about my comments on your work. Of course, we can also correspond via e-mail.

Schedule

Week 1
August 24 W Class introduction and review of syllabus
August 26 F “Language and Writing” and “Writing” MR p. 1-6

Week 2
August 29 M Overview of Grammar
August 31 W “Mr. Language Person Takes Some of Your Questions” and “Summons for
Reckless Grammar” MR p. 7-13
September 2 F Good Reasons Chapter 1 p. 1-22, “Notes on Punctuation” MR p. 14-19

Week 3
September 5 M No class – Labor Day
September 7 W Peer Review Day
September 9 F Essay 1 Due, Good Reasons Chapter 2 p. 23-38, “What is Style” MR
p. 20-24

Week 4
September 12 M Good Reasons Chapter 3 p. 39-60 and “How to Say Nothing in 500
Words” MR p. 25-39
September 14 W Orwell “Why I Write” and Didion “Why I Write” MR p. 40-56
September 16 F Good Reasons Chapter 4 p. 61-84, Coherence and Cohesion

Week 5
September 19 M “Don’t You Think It’s Time to Start Thinking?” and “How to Mark a
Book” MR p. 57-66
September 21 W Good Reasons Chapter 5 p. 85-104, “Frank and Ernest,” “Panic Helps
You Focus,” “Writer’s Block” and “Doonesbury” MR p. 67-78
September 23 F Good Reasons Chapter 6 p. 105-126, Concision

Week 6
September 26 M Good Reasons Chapter 13 p. 223-244
September 28 W “Who’s in Charge of the English Language?” and “Politics and the
English Language” MR p. 79-102
September 30 F Good Reasons Chapter 16 p. 271-286, “Little Red Riding Hood
Revisited” and “Today’s Kids Are, Like, Killing the English Language” MR p.
103-112

Week 7
October 3 M Peer Review Day
October 5 W Essay 2 Due and “Talking Back” MR p. 113-119
October 7 F No class - Homecoming

Week 8
October 10 M “Women Like Us” and “Incorrect Words” MR p. 120-132
October 12 W “Theme for English B” and “That Word Black” MR p. 133-139
October 14 F Library Orientation in MSL 107

Week 9
October 17 M “Autobiographical Notes” MR p. 140-147
October 19 W Good Reasons Chapter 7 p. 127-144, “The Case for Curling up with a
Book” and “The Death of Reading” MR p. 148-167
October 21 F Good Reasons Chapter 8 p. 145-158 and “Letter to John Adams on the
State of Education” MR p. 168-171

Week 10
October 24 M Good Reasons Chapter 9 p. 159-171
October 26 W “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and “From Silence to Words: Writing as a
Struggle” MR p. 172-194
October 28 F “Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective” MR p. 195-
208

Week 11
October 31 M “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” and “Mother Tongue” MR p. 209-231
November 2 W Good Reasons Chapter 10 p. 173-188
November 4 F “What Means Switch” MR p. 232-249

Week 12
November 7 M “Everything Has a Name” MR p. 250-254
November 9 W Peer Review Day
November 11 F No class - Veteran’s Day

Week 13
November 14 M Essay 3 Due, Clarity and Emphasis
November 16 W Good Reasons Chapter 11 p. 189-210
November 18 F Good Reasons Chapter 12 p. 211-222

Week 14
November 21 M Good Reasons Chapter 15 p. 253-270
November 23 W “The Groves of Academe” MR p. 255-268
November 25 F No class - Thanksgiving

Week 15
November 28 M Good Reasons Chapter 14 p. 245-252
November 30 W Conferences
December 2 F Conferences

Week 16
December 5 M Peer Review Day
December 7 W Last day of class, Essay 4 Due

NOTE: I reserve the right to alter the syllabus at any time.