Writing 121 - Cora Agatucci
English Composition [Expository Essay Writing]

Fall 2001 Syllabus for Cora's sections of WR 121:
CRN # 40588, Mon-Wed., 2:00-3:15 p.m., Ponderosa 103
CRN #40585, Tue-Thur, 12:30-1:45, Modoc 101
URL of Cora's WR 121 Course Website:
http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr121/index.htm

How to Contact Cora

Cora's Homepage:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/ 
Office Location: Deschutes 14
Office Phone & Voicemail Messages: (541) 383-7522
Office Hours: See my current schedule
http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/schedule.htm
I'm also available by appointment
Mailbox: Humanities Dept. Office, Modoc 226
Electronic mail: cagatucci@cocc.edu
. . . OR if you have a COCC FirstClass account, address in-house email to: Cora Agatucci
Humanities Dept Website:  http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/ 

Required Text & Materials

bullet Ford, Marjorie, and Jon Ford.  Dreams and Inward Journeys: A Rhetoric and Reader
for Writers.  4th ed.  New York: Longman, 2001.  (Available for purchase in COCC Bookstore)
bullet At least two college examination bluebooks
(Available for purchase in COCC Bookstore)
bullet Resources to zerox or otherwise duplicate clear readable copies of selected
writing assignments
bullet Ability or resources needed to wordprocess or type final drafts of selected
graded writing assignments.
If you don’t have a wordprocessor, use one of COCC’s during open lab hours in Pioneer Hall
and COCC Library.  For more information on COCC & District Center Computer Labs
& Open (Drop-In) Lab Hours, see:
...Student Computing (General Information & Links)
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/plab/
...Computer Lab Facilities (Bend Campus & COCC Centers):
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/plab/Facilities/facilities.htm
...Open Lab Hours (Pioneer Rm. 200 & COCC Library Rm. 118):
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/plab/Hours/hours.htm

Optional/Recommended:

bullet Hacker, Diana.  A Pocket Style Manual.  2nd ed.  Boston: Bedford, 1997
(...or access to a similar handbook).
bullet Recently published college dictionary & thesaurus.
bullet Inexpensive manila folder to hold assignments prepared on standard sized (8 ½"X 11") paper.
bullet Electronic Mail: [You can apply for a FirstClass account in Pioneer Computer Lab, 2nd floor;
or online - see COCC Online Resources: http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/resources.html
bullet COCC Writing Lab (drop-in tutoring or online) when you need extra help with writing assignments
for this or other classes.  More information will be given in class and may be accessed online -
see COCC Online Resources: http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/resources.html

Course Prerequisites
See Writing 121 Prerequisites and Override Policy
http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/courses/writing/policies.htm
(& attachment to in-class Syllabus handout)

WR 121 Course Prerequisites are meant to ensure that enrolled students are adequately prepared to succeed in this course, by having already acquired these basic college entry-level competencies:

  1. Ability to follow the conventions of standard written English—that is, to write well-formed sentences with generally correct grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics

  2. Ability to write paragraphs and short essays that are organized by a single central idea and supported by specific development

  3. Ability to communicate clearly and coherently in writing to specific audiences

  4. Ability to think critically, read actively with understanding, and analyze  college level texts

Course Grading & Late Work Policies

 30%   Preparation/Participation Credits [PC] - evaluated Credit / No Credit: "PC" points awarded based on good faith work completion/class participation (e.g. Exercises, Drafts & Writer's Workshops, Writer's Profiles)
Late/"Make-Up" may be permitted by arrangement with Cora.
 40%

Essays (prepared out of class) - letter graded: 2 highest grades (@ 20%) will be computed in determining final course grade.
Late out-of-class Essays will be penalized 1/2 letter grade.  See also Plagiarism Policy below.
Revision Options will be discussed in class.
 30% In-Class (timed) Essays - scored using Final Exam Essay evaluation criteria, and letter graded: 2 highest grades (@ 15%) will be computed in determining final course grade.
Late/"Make-Up"  not allowed.  See also WR 121 Final Exam Essay Policy & Plagiarism Policy below.

In addition . . .
Passing score/grade on WR 121 Final Exam Essay is required to earn a passing grade in WR 121.  See WR 121 Final Exam Policy below. 
For Cora's sections of WR 121 only:  If your grade on the WR 121 Final Exam Essay is one of your two highest In-Class Essay grades, it will be computed in determining your final course grade.

See Wr 121 Course Plan for a week-by-week schedule of course assignments & activities.

Welcome to WR 121!

Writing 121 is an introductory college writing course required by many COCC programs, certificate and associate’s degrees. The first course in a three-term English Composition sequence, WR 121 emphasizes effective college-level critical thinking, reading and writing skills--focusing on writing essays with a thesis--needed for success in college, civic, and professional life.  WR 121 presents reading and writing as conscious communication acts between authors and their audiences--a rhetorical approach--and provides instruction in effective principles and practices for communicating writers' purposes with their intended readers.  

Course Competencies, or learning objectives, for Writing 121 students have been established by the Humanities Dept. Composition Committee.  This course has been designed to help students meet those course Competencies, which are listed below and will be discussed further in class:

[College Essay Writing, Reading, & Analysis Skills:]

Competency 1:  Write essays that use a thesis to establish control over content; supply relevant and adequate supporting details; employ the organizational strategies of effective beginnings, transitions, and endings; and conform to standard edited English.

Competency 2:  Achieve Competency 1 under time constraints (during the WR 121 final exam), while conforming to expectations of an assigned topic and of edited English appropriate for timed writing.

Competency 3:  Demonstrate the ability to use a variety of expository essay patterns, such as definition, classification, analysis, problem-solution, and comparison-contrast.

Competency 4:  Employ observation; personal experience; active, responsive reading as the basis for essay content.

Competency  5:  Employ the responsible use of sources (without plagiarizing) as the basis for essay content.

Competency 6:  Demonstrate, in an essay, a sustained style employing rhetorically effective tone, persona, diction, idiom, and syntax.

Competency 7:  Use critical reading and writing to analyze and synthesize ideas in an academic writing sample, identifying rhetorical patterns, major assertions, and supporting details.

[Teamwork, Self-Assessment, Revision & Editing Skills:]

Competency 8:  Complete appropriate written critical peer reviews of student essay drafts, including suggestions for revision and editing.

Competency 9:  Complete at least one (formal or informal) written review of the student's own writing strengths and weaknesses, including effective self-prescriptions for improvement.

[Writing Process Skills:]

Competency 10:  Demonstrate, monitor, and articulate the complete idiosyncratic process that the individual writer uses to complete an essay, including such steps as invention, thesis formation, organization, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading

[Communication & Rhetorical Analysis Skills]

Competency 11:  Demonstrate an awareness of a variety of purposes and audiences.

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Attendance & Plagiarism Policies

Attendance Policy: I expect students to come regularly to class prepared for the day’s activities, to participate actively in class activities, and to complete assignments promptly so they will receive timely feedback from Cora and other students, and opportunity for self-assessment and reflection necessary for improvement.  Students are responsible for course material whether or not they are in class. When an absence is unavoidable, find out what you have missed by consulting the Wr 121 Course Plan, contacting Cora and/or other students in the course, and preparing to make-up missed work when possible by arrangement with the instructor. 
NOTE WELL:  Attendance is required at the scheduled Wr 121 Final Exam, as published in the current COCC Class Schedule and the Wr 121 Course Plan. However, you may be able to arrange with Cora to take the final early if you meet criteria established by COCC policy.

Plagiarism Policy: Proper citations and documentation of any sources that you quote, paraphrase, and/or summarize in your writing are required whenever you borrow the words, facts, and/or ideas of others.  NOTE WELL that even putting others’ ideas into your own words still means you are borrowing, and you need to give credit where credit is due.

To avoid plagiarism, source(s) must be cited and documented, both:

(a) at the point in your papers where the borrowing occurs (using parenthetical citations for most documentation styles), and

(b) in a list of all sources cited given at the end of your papers.

WR 121 Final Exam Essay Policy

NOTE WELL:  Attendance is required at the scheduled Wr 121 Final Exam, as published in the current COCC Class Schedule and the Wr 121 Course Plan. However, you may be able to arrange with Cora to take the final early if you meet criteria established by COCC policy.

The Writing faculty of the Humanities Department require Writing 121 students to demonstrate satisfactory college-level essay writing skills at the end of the term, tested by a two-hour in-class timed examination essay, because such skills are important to success in academic classes and professional careers. All students in Wr 121 courses are required to write the final exam essay on an assigned topic selected from several choices. Final exam essay topics will be distributed the week before finals so that students will have a chance to plan their final exam essay in advance. Grading and scoring criteria will be discussed further in class, and in-class essays completed earlier in the term will provide essential preparation for passing the final.

WR 121 Final Exam Essays will be scored on a four-point scale by two COCC Writing instructors: your regular Writing 121 instructor (i.e. Cora) and a second "outside evaluator" (that is, another COCC Writing instructor) to ensure objectivity in scoring. Each of the two evaluators must award the Final Exam Essay a passing score (3 or 4) for demonstrating satisfactory college-level essay writing skills. (Failing scores are 2 or 1.)  Thus, a Wr 121 Final Exam Essay must earn a combined score from the two evaluators of 6 or higher to pass the WR 121 Final.

To summarize, there are 3 possible scenarios:

  1. Students who pass the Final Essay Exam and have averaged a grade of "C" or higher on regular coursework will receive the course grade they have earned on regular coursework. Cora will award the Final Essay Exam a letter grade, in addition to the score, and if it is one of the two highest grades earned on students’ three in-class essays, it will count as 15% of the final course grade.
  2. Students who fail the Wr 121 Final Exam Essay and have averaged a grade of "C" or higher on regular coursework will be given an "INCOMPLETE" in WR 121. These students should return to meet with Cora as soon as possible during the following term to discuss the Final Exam Essay and to arrange to retake and pass it so that Cora can change the Incomplete to the grade earned on regular coursework. COCC policy on "Incomplete" grades allows students one (1) year to retake and pass the Wr 121 Final Exam Essay, and have a grade change recorded on their permanent transcript. Otherwise, their final course grade in Wr 121 will be transcripted as a permanent "Incomplete" and students will have to retake the course to earn credit for WR 121.
  3. Students who fail the Wr 121 Final Essay Exam and have averaged a grade LOWER than "C" on regular coursework will receive a grade of "F" in Wr 121 by departmental policy, and will be required to retake the course if they wish to earn passing credit for Wr 121.

If unforeseen problems emerge during the quarter that may seriously hurt
your progress or performance in this course,
please contact Cora right away.
- Or E-mail me now cagatucci@cocc.edu -
Together we can perhaps reach a solution or compromise
that will enable you to continue the course
and complete requirements successfully.

Any WR 121 student with a documented disability
(physical, learning, psychological, vision, hearing)
who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations
must inform the College and Cora as soon as possible.
If you require any assistance related to a disability,
contact the Disability Services Office located in
Boyle Education Center – call (541) 383-7580,
or send e-mail to sobrien@cocc.edu

I look forward to working with all of you this term! . . . Cora
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Fall 2001 WR 121 Syllabus | Course Plan | Links: Writer Resources |
Assignments will be webposted after they are discussed in class
Example WR 121 Student Writing - Fall 2001

Cora's WR 121 Home Page | Past Student Writing |  Humanities Dept Web: Writing Home Page

You Are Here ~ WR 121 Fall 2001 Syllabus  - URL of this webpage:
http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr121/syllabus.htm
Last Updated:  26 July 2003

This webpage is maintained by Cora Agatucci, Professor of English,
Humanities Department, Central Oregon Community College
I welcome comments: cagatucci@cocc.edu
© Cora Agatucci, 1997-2001
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