English 90

Developmental Reading and English

Fall 2014
Instructor: Abigail Morris
E-mail: morrisa@albemarle.edu
Prerequisites: DRE 070, DRE 080, or satisfactory score on placement test
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours/wk: 5
Course Grades: P = pass
R = re-enroll
Instructor Contacts:
I can be reached via email at the above address or through Twitter via @bewarethewriter. While
I do not have official office hours or a stable office space, I may be available for on-campus
consultation most days.
Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary,
how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows
how to combine them.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Course Description:
This eight week writing intensive course is designed to prepare students for success in ENG 111
by providing instruction in composition strategies, ample opportunities for students to practice
writing, and appropriate instructor and peer feedback on works produced. Beginning with single
paragraphs and progressing to a minimum of five pages, students will compose essays of varying
lengths. Grammar and style instruction will be provided as mini-sessions throughout the eight
weeks, and the course work will culminate in final group projects due the last week of class in
the form of multimodal presentations.
Course Goals:
By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Write complex sentences using proper syntax and appropriate word choices.
Form paragraphs that convey a logical progression of ideas with varying sentence
structure.
Compose organized essays that showcase invention while communicating in a clear and
concise manner.
Display a firm understanding of the basic standards of American academic composition.
Engage in active critical thinking and team work to present an idea or argument to their
peers and instructor.

Required Texts:
College Writing Skills with Readings, 8th ed. Edited by John Langan ISBN: 978-0073371665
Required Materials:

Computer & Internet access if you do not have internet access at home, there are
several computer labs on campus that are open to students until 5pm, the library lab is
open M-Thu until 9pm, and the public library is open from 9am to 7pm M-Sat.
Flash Drive
Access to Drop Box I can help with this on campus
Loose Leaf paper
Notebook (not spiral!)
Writing Utensils (pen, pencil, quillyour choice)

Class Participation:
Participation isnt everything, but it is 10% of your final grade.
Technology Policy:
Your education is your responsibility. Computers, smart phones, tablets, and various forms of AI
are welcome in the classroom as long as they are used educationally for research, writing, etc.
While I may not penalize electronic detours during class time, I may call you out on it, and if
your behavior becomes disruptive to other students, you will lose the privilege of being allowed
to use technology during class. If you have been banned from technology use during class time
and you continue to use it without my explicit permission, you will lose all participation points.
This will automatically reduce your final grade for the course by 10 points.
Late Work:
Late work will be accepted with an automatic reduction of ten points for every day it is late,
including each weekend day.
Homework, Essays, and Peer review:
You will be assigned weekly readings and occasional homework exercises along with the essays
that will make up the bulk of your course work. All essays will be assigned on Mondays, and
final drafts will be due the following Monday. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO DUE DATES!
After the class has received sufficient instruction on conducting peer reviews, all peer reviews
and instructor feedback will be conducted via Drop Box.

Weekly Goals:
Week 1-

Introductions and Assessments

Constructing Sentences
Finding an Angle, Planning the Attack

Week 2-

Building Paragraphs
Structuring Essays
Research Orientation 1

Week 3-

Writing a Narrative Essay

Drop Box Orientation
How to do a Peer Review

Week 4-

Writing an Compare/Contrast Essay

Research Orientation 2

Week 5-

Writing a Cause and Effect Essay

Developing a Peer/Instructor Feedback Heuristic

Week 6-

Writing a Persuasive Essay

Flawed Logic Workshop

Week 7-

Final Project Assignment

Group Work Sessions

Week 8-

Team Presentations
Final Reflective Essay

Grading:
Narrative Essay
Compare/Contrast Essay
Cause and Effect Essay
Persuasive Essay
Presentations
Participation

10 %
15 %
20 %
25 %
20 %
10 %

For Individual Assignments: 100-90=A; 89-80=B; 79-70=C; 69-60=D; 59-below=F

This is a Pass / Fail course. A grade of P (Pass) means you have successfully completed this
course and may move on to ENG 111. A grade of R (Re-Enroll) means you have scored below
the cutoff and must re-enroll in ENG 90 or retake and score high enough on the placement test to
place into ENG 111.
For Final Course Grade:

100-79= P
Below 79= R

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity:

Plagiarism is the knowing appropriation or theft of ideas, language, and/or expressions, and is a
punishable offence that can result in a zero grade for the course and/or expulsion from the
college. As such, properly cited sources will be a topic of frequent conversation and instruction
in this course. All essays will require some research, which means incorporating outside sources
into the body of your work. All final essays will be run through a mandatory plagiarism detection
program. Further information will be provided during week twos research orientation class.
Students with Special Needs:
I will be happy to work with students in making this class as fully accessible as possible, but
students requiring specific disability related or special needs accommodations must contact the
Office of Disability Services.
In Case of Emergency:
Potentially hazardous weather conditions, cases of natural disaster, and pandemics may suspend
college services including classes. As such, make sure you enroll in the college emergency
notification system to receive updates via email, text message, and/or voice mail.

I designed this Syllabus based on common course content and descriptions of the eight week
session Developmental Reading and English courses of several North Carolina Community
Colleges. I based this on the level of creativity afforded developmental course instructors at
College of the Albemarle, because that is my local community college system. Of all the
community colleges in Eastern North Carolina, this is the one I would be most likely to apply to.