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Dear Students,

Hi! Welcome to English 450, Fundamentals of Composition! In this class we focus on what makes a great paragraph. I believe a good paragraph has an insightful, clear topic sentence; a sufficient amount of vivid, concrete, and relevant supporting detail; a clear, logical order; grammatical and mechanical excellence; and style, tone, and diction that are appropriate to the topic and audience. We will work on understanding, producing, and evaluating good writing. Be sure to tell me in person, by phone, by email, or by fax if you need help with these key concepts or any of the we are trying to master.

The key to success in this class is to read the books and do the work in and out of class. That sounds pretty obvious, but I've noticed again and again that some students don't read the textbooks and don't do work. These same students expect that they will be able to get by as they likely did in high school. Sadly, eleven years of teaching experience has taught me that most students who fail could pass but simply didn't use common sense--they didn't attend class, turn in the required work, or read and study the textbooks. Occasionally a student gives a class their best effort and can't pass, but I've always found the student enrolled in the class when they should have taken a lower-level course--he or she simply didn't have enough of the basic skills required to do well in the course. Taking a placement test or consulting an academic advisor could have prevented this bad experience.

Successful students, I've noticed over the years, are students who are persistent, consistent, and "study smart." If you persist in going to the class and doing the required work consistently, you often can stand out in the classroom as a model student. This seems a pretty minimal level of work to be a model student, but amazingly many students can't be consistent or persistent! To be "study smart" means to me to understand that what you put in most cases will relate to what you get back. If you can't tell someone what you've read after reading it, you will do badly when tested on the material or doing an assignment that requires you to apply that material. If you do your homework hastily and don't double check it, you will get a poor grade. If you sit down and write a paragraph straight through and then turn it in without revision or proofreading, you will probably get a failing grade. In short, using common sense will tell you how to succeed in this class!

With best wishes for a productive, healthy semester,
Cathy Decker, Ph.D.
 
 

1. Gain an appreciation of the aesthetic and literary characteristics of good writing.

2. Develop the ability to think logically and express thoughts in clear, effective prose.

3. Explain and be better able to apply the principles underlying the creation of unified and coherent paragraphs.

4. Recognize and formulate clear and specific topic sentences and develop these into unified and complete paragraphs.

5. Analyze the structure of various kinds of paragraph development, including exposition and argumentation, and construct paragraphs in such patterns.

6. Demonstrate an understanding of the various logical relationships of ideas within a paragraph and apply these in their own writings.

7. Study their own grammatical and punctuation errors to make their writing more effective. 

8. Study and practice the coherency and rhetorical devices that make a paragraph rational, clear, and aesthetically sound.

During our first class we will determine what we will give participation points for. I have already specified a few basic things that will receive points below. When this policy is finalized, I will give a copy to each class member. Basically I will keep a running tab of the maximum number of points a person can get. Because the maximum will be indicative of giving 110%, that number will equal 110% (11 points out of a possible of ten)! I will then calculate what number of participation points earns a 100%. What percent of these points that you have is your participation-point grade. Feel free to email me or come to office hours to clarify this!

We will give participation points for the following.

1. Arriving at 11 a.m. ready to go

2. Attending college book events

Required Supplies

• Barbara Kingsolver's  The Bean Trees
• John Langan's English Skills with Readings, 4th ed.
• Folders and/or 3-Ring Binder for Portfolio, Class Handouts, Charts, Schedules, Calendar
• Three-hole punch lined paper
• Scantron Sheets as announced in class (available at the College Bookstore in the Quad)

• Expect that work turned in on time will be graded in two to three weeks.
• Expect that I won't return most weekend phone calls until Mon. and will take a few days to respond to email, snail mail, faxes, and phone calls.
• Expect that plagiarized work gets zero credit; repeat plagiarizers fail the class with an F.
• Expect that tests, quizzes, oral work, and such one-time things will not be rescheduled.
• Expect that when I don't get work at the due date, I enter a zero in the grade book.
• Expect that if you stop coming to class and don't drop yourself, you will get an F.
• Expect that I will make mistakes and that copies of all your work will come in useful at these times.
• Expect that we will deal with adult content in this course.
• Expect that you will feel anxiety about the class--this is a sign you are challenging yourself and learning new things. If you feel totally comfortable and confident, you probably should have taken 1A not 450.

Good Things We Want in This Class . . .
 

Planning Ahead Supporting Others Rewarding Excellence Cooperativeness Politeness Promptness Good Listening Assertive Approaches to Problems and Problem Solving Effective Working with Others Drinking Water Without Destroying Stuff

Things that I Avoid and that I'd Like the Class to Avoid . . .
 

Silent Anxiety Not Asking Questions When You are Worried or Confused Badgering or Brutally Questioning Others Leaving Others Out in the Cold Hostility Finger Pointing Noisy Cell Phones and Pagers Reading the Paper or for Other Classes Breaking the Food/Drink Policy

Go to Participation Points Chart