Syllabus for Intermediate College Writing, English 102 Instructor's Name: Ricardo Acosta G.

Cellular phone: 6112-8134 E-mail: riacosta@hotmail.com Office hours: By appointment Monday to Thursday Class schedule: TTH 10:00-11:45 Course Description and Goals
As you grow as a writer, reviser, and researcher, this course will help you develop the skills that are central to academic thinking and writing. It will focus on the rhetorical and stylistic demands of college writing and the application of useful tools and techniques to sources you gather yourself when conducting research. It will deal with applying the principles of writing and revising essays; adapting writing for an audience; finding, summarizing, analyzing, synthesizing, quoting, and/or paraphrasing information from single and multiple texts; organizing information into a persuasive and coherent essay; understanding elements of style and grammar; and giving oral presentations that skillfully combine argument with the exposition of appropriate evidence. Since this class is all about active learning, we will be writing, revising and researching while maintaining a positive, collaborative environment. You will have to write daily, preparing drafts of your essays and revising your work, which you will share with both your peers and your instructor. Your classmates and I will give you ample written and oral responses that you could take into consideration at the moment of revising your essays.

Required Materials
A Sequence for Academic Writing, 3rd edition, Laurence Behrens et al. Pearson Longman, 2007. A thesaurus An English-English dictionary Two CDs or a memory stick to save all your writing and your final presentation

Course Structure
In this course you will write six essays; two of them will be portfolio essays. The first portfolio essay, based on some aspect of family, race, gender, sexual preference, religion, economics, politics, media, science, environment, technology or education, asks you to describe the chosen topic by synthesizing at least three written sources into your essay while presenting the information in a reasonably objective manner. I advise you to choose a topic that is related to the topic on which you are going to do your final paper, for you are allowed to incorporate the information you use in the first essay (an explanatory synthesis) into your research paper. The second portfolio essay (final research paper), based on a current issue in Panama, asks you to write a source-based argumentative essay

which carefully considers different points of view. It will be a paper of at least seven pages, and it will incorporate from 8 to 10 reliable sources. In addition to the two portfolio essays, you will be expected to do both collaborative work (mostly short essays and exercises) and individual work (mostly essays) involving the application of the core skills of summary, critique, synthesis, and analysis. For all your work you will be given ample time, information, and direction. You will also be required to give an oral presentation about the second portfolio essay at the end of the semester.

Participation
This is a writing intensive course that requires serious commitment to reading, studying, researching and writing on a daily basis. Attendance Your regular attendance is vital, for you are expected to do in-class writing as well as contribute to class discussions, peer-editing groups, and other class activities. Regular class attendance is a course requirement. Bear in mind that you have the responsibility to contact me in case of unavoidable absence, and that make-up work will be arranged at my discretion. Even though I understand that (on occasion) unavoidable events may prevent you from attending class--for example, major illness with proper written documentation or a death in the family, absences are strictly limited and are not to be labeled "excused" or "unexcused." Please note that any student with five (5) or more absences will receive a grade of F for this course. Your physical presence, full attention and participation in class discussions, peer editing, and any other class activities are required for the entire class period. Every time that you are late or leave early (no more than fifteen minutes in either case) will count as half an absence. Being present and participating in class also means willingness to thoughtfully and respectfully discuss your own writing, that of your classmates, and any other class readings or assignments. English Only! Please use English only while in class. Using other languages wastes your time and defeats the purpose of the class. Prohibition against the Use of Electronic Devices Please turn off all cell phones, pagers, laptops, notebook computers, tablet PCs, PDAs, and other electronic devices when class is in session. Laptops, notebook computers, and

tablet PCs may not be used in this class (unless you have been authorized by the instructor to use all or any of them for class purposes). Writing Workshop On workshop days, you must submit copies of your draft to your group members and me. During workshop, you will also be required to complete and turn in Editor's Comment Sheets for other group members at the end of the workshop class. Estimated due dates for workshops are listed in the calendar below. Handing in Papers/Assignments Papers must be handed in at the beginning of class. Any papers/assignments not given to me in person, whether before or after the day they are due, will not be accepted and will not be graded. No papers/assignments will be accepted over email. Bear in mind that under no circumstances will I accept a final copy of a paper for which I have not seen the prior drafting stages and/or approved its topic. Late Policy All papers and other assignments must be handed in at the beginning of class on the day they are due; otherwise, they will be considered late. Be forewarned that I will not accept papers/assignments that are more than one class meeting late. Your grade for a late essay/assignment (not more than two days overdue) will go down by ten points for each day it is late. For example, a late 91 paper will receive an 81. Drop/Withdraw Policy Students who wish to drop or withdraw this class must fill out a Drop/Withdraw form (available at the front desk), get it signed by the professor (I, in this case), and turn it in to Mariana Len or Mara Alejandra Quintero. Remember that students who stop coming to class and do not drop or withdraw the class will receive an F as a grade.

Academic Integrity
The integrity of the work done in this class is crucial, and it has a direct influence on the value of the work done and the validity of student evaluations. In the event of any violation of UofLs academic integrity policyplagiarism, fabrication and falsification, cheating, complicity in academic dishonesty, abuse of academic materials, or multiple submissions, among othersthe offender will get an F in the course and a letter written into his/her file. This same policy applies to group projects; consequently, all the members of a group submitting a group project must make sure that the work that they submit does not violate academic integrity in any way.

Grades
Your work will be graded using the University of Louisville Grading System.
Grade GRADE POINT PER UNIT

A+ A AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D DF

4.0 4.0 3.7 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.3 2.0 1.7 1.2 1.0 0.7 0.0

97 100 94 96 90 93 86 89 83 85 80 82 76 79 73 75 70 72 66 69 63 65 60 62 59 and lower

Your final grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria: Two portfolio essays--50% Explanatory Synthesis--25% (10% for pre-writing, notes, drafts, and ECSs) Researched Argumentative Essay--25% (10% for pre-writing, notes, drafts, and ECSs) Individual assignments (essays)--15% Summaries, critiques, analyses, argumentative syntheses Collaborative assignments (short essays and exercises)--15% Individual fulfillment of requirements and active participation--5% Informal assignments, homework, quizzes, group work, active participation in class discussions Final oral presentation--15% Grading Criteria: A+, A and A- for EXCELLENT college level work B+, B, and B- for VERY GOOD college level work C+, C, and C- for GOOD college level work D+, D, and D- for FAIR (minimally acceptable) college level work F for POOR (incomplete, low quality) college level work

Course Schedule
Tuesday, August 31 -Introduction to class -Writing as a process -Stages of the writing process -Understanding the writing task -Gathering data -Invention -Collaborative work on writing as a process -Writing as a process -Stages of the writing process -Drafting -Revision -Editing -Collaborative work on writing as a process -Guidelines for expository essay (explanatory synthesis) -Source-based papers -The research question -Locating sources -Preliminary research -Collaborative work on constructing research questions -Focused research -Collaborative work on evaluating web sources -Review of guidelines for explanatory synthesis -Mining sources -Citing sources -Collaborative work on mining and citing sources Due: Pre-writing, topic, and sources for explanatory synthesis -Mining sources -Citing sources -Workshop -What is a synthesis? -Purpose -Using your sources -How to write syntheses -Types of syntheses: explanatory and argument -The explanatory synthesis -Demonstration: Explanatory synthesis -Collaborative work on explanatory synthesis

Thursday, September 02

Tuesday, September 07

Thursday, September 09

Tuesday, September 14

Thursday, September 16

Tuesday, September 21

Thursday, September 23

-Workshop Due: Thesis statement, outline, sources, and notes for explanatory synthesis -Workshop -Guidelines for researched argumentative essay Due: Typed (complete) draft of explanatory synthesis -What is a summary? -Can the summary be objective? -Using the summary -The reading process -How to write summaries -Demonstration: Summary -Collaborative work on summarizing -Guidelines for individual summary -Workshop Due: Final (typed) copy of explanatory synthesis -Summarizing a narrative or personal essay -Summarizing figures and tables -Collaborative work on summarizing -Workshop Due: -Pre-writing, draft, and source for individual summary -Paraphrase -Quotations -Avoiding plagiarism -Collaborative work on summaries, paraphrases, and quotations -Critical reading -Collaborative work on critical reading -Critique -Demonstration: Critique Due: Final (typed) copy of individual summary -Critique -Workshop -Workshop Due: Typed (complete) draft of critique -What is an argument synthesis? -Demonstration: Developing an argument synthesis -Citing sources

Tuesday, September 28

Thursday, September 30

Tuesday, October 05

Thursday, October 07

Tuesday, October 12

Thursday, October 14 Tuesday, October 19 Thursday, October 21

Due: Final (typed) copy of critique Tuesday, October 26 -What is an argument synthesis? -Demonstration: Developing an argument synthesis -Citing sources -Developing and organizing the support for your arguments -Collaborative work on argument synthesis -Review of guidelines for researched argumentative essay -Developing and organizing the support for your arguments -Writing argument synthesis -The comparison-and-contrast synthesis -Collaborative work on argument synthesis -Workshop Due: Pre-writing, topic, sources, and research question for researched argumentative essay NO CLASSPatriotic Holidays Break NO CLASSPatriotic Holidays Break -Workshop Due: -Thesis statement, outline, sources, and notes for researched argumentative essay -What is an analysis? -Demonstration of analyses -How to write analyses -Collaborative work on analysis -Workshop -Student-teacher conferences about final paper -Writing analyses -Analyzing visual media -Collaborative work on analysis -Workshop Due: Typed (complete) draft of argumentative essay -Writing analyses -Workshop Due: Final (typed) copy of argumentative essay
(portfolio essay 2)

Thursday, October 28

Monday, November 02 Wednesday, November 04 Tuesday, November 09

Thursday, November 11

Tuesday, November 16

Thursday, November 18

Tuesday, November 23

-Writing analyses -Workshop Due: -Typed (complete) draft of analysis

-Final copy of collaborative work on analysis Thursday, November 25 -Oral presentations -Workshop Due: Final (typed) copy of individual analysis

THERE WILL BE NO FINAL EXAM

*Note: This syllabus is subject to change. Modifications to it will be announced in due time if any may be necessary.