ENGLISH 213                                                             Jackie Bartley

EXPOSITORY WRITING II                                       DePree Art Center

                                                                                    x 7122 or 392-6556

                                                                                    Office Hours: MW 1-2:00 PM

                                                                                    or by appointment

 

TEXTBOOKS REQUIRED

 

Kitchen, Judith and Mary Paumier Jones, Editors. In Short. NY: Norton, 1996.

Style Manual, Dictionary and Thesaurus of Your Choice

 

 

COURSE FORMAT 

 

During the first part of the course, we'll devote our time to a variety of writing exercises and experiences that can help generate ideas and lead to further writing. We'll read In Short to see how writers assemble and condense the details of observation and use them to generate new ways of seeing and thinking. In the last part of the class, we'll work with revising prose, applying what one writer calls the "paramedic method" to our own writing. All this means we'll spend every class period writing, workshopping, discussing the text, and/or reviewing writing mechanics, so you'll need to come prepared for one or all of those things each time we meet. You'll also keep a journal based on the format described in the first class and bring it to class every meeting. I'll collect these journals three times on the following dates:                         .

 

Journal writing helps writers to write more freely, become aware of voice, their own and others, and will also help you in this class to decide what to write about in the essays you submit for workshops and the final portfolio. 

 

You're welcome to meet with me to discuss any concerns you have about the class or your writing during the office hours listed or by appointment, and required to do so at least once during the semester as listed on the calendar. Please do not wait till a worry or a question grows too large or too late to talk about. Seven weeks is really a very short amount of time. Come see me.  Really!

 

 

OBJECTIVES

 

By the end of the course, you should be more confident about your writing.  You should have a better idea of the kind of effort necessary to put a good piece of writing together. You'll also know what it means to revise, when it works, when it doesn't. And you'll be a closer reader of other people's writing, better able to discern what makes good writing vivid and necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

GRADING 

 

You must hand in all written assignments in order to receive class credit. Here's the breakdown of points each assignment earns:

 

Journal (2 4-page minimum entries/week, 10 pts. each)             120

Three original long (over 750 words) essays

for class workshop (30 pts. each)                                   90

Three original short (150-750 words) essays

                        for class workshop (15 pts. each)                                   45

Final portfolio of 2 deeply revised long essays (30 pts. each)

or 1 deeply revised long (30 pts.) and

2 deeply revised short essays (15 pts. each)                    60

Attendance (13 classes worth 10 pts. each)                                           130

Five sets of discussion questions/comments on selected

essay handed in at the beginning of specified classes     

(5 pts. each)                                                                               25

One required individual meeting with prof.                                               10

 

Total Possible Points                                                                             480

 

I'll determine your final grade by dividing the number of points you've earned by the total number of points possible and multiplying by 100 to give a percentage. Percentages convert to letter grades as follows:

 

A =93%-100%         B+=87%-89%         C+=77%-79%          D+=67%-69%

A-=90%-92%           B =83%-86%          C =73%-76%           D =63%-66%

                                 B-=80%-82%          C-=70%-72%           D-=60%-62%

                                                                                                   F = 0%-59%

           

 

LATE ASSIGNMENT POLICY

 

Because this class depends almost entirely on your writing for its format, you must meet ALL deadlines, not just for final drafts, but for rough drafts, Xerox copies, etc. Late assignments will earn fewer points, regardless of their quality.

 

 

PLAGIARISM

 

I probably don't have to say this, but, just in case, plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated. The Hope College Handbook clarifies what's meant by "academic integrity." If you are still not sure just what plagiarism is, please read about it in the St. Martin's Handbook. Each incident will be discussed in detail with the concerned party(ies).