Composition and Critical Thinking
Students develop critical thinking and writing skills beyond the level achieved in English 101 with an emphasis on logical reasoning, analysis, and strategies of argumentation using expository prose as subject matter. Students demonstrate the ability to use critical thinking in written arguments by applying established modes of reasoning, analyzing rhetorical strategies, evaluating logical fallacies, and detecting propaganda techniques. One of two critical thinking courses offered by the English department.
By the end of the term, English 103 students will be able to do the following:
Analyze topical, primarily written arguments by composing critical analyses, including a research paper, using models for formal reasoning and the application of logic to writing.
Compose unified, coherent essays, including a research paper, with minimal errors in Standard English grammar, mechanics, and MLA format.
This course uses an open educational resources (OER) text rather than a textbook. The OER materials are available free of charge here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp2kscopexmaster/
Any additional readings to be used will be posted with the corresponding assignments.
The work for this course is mainly divided into two categories: participation/homework and essays/papers. The breakdown of your final course grade will be as follows:
40%—Participation/Homework
60%—Essays/Papers
Generally speaking, each assignment in the journal, participation, and homework category will earn full credit if it adheres to assignment instructions, is fully completed, and is submitted on time. Work that is incomplete or does not follow assignment instructions may earn partial credit.
Essays/papers are graded according to a rubric covering several criteria: Unity/Content, Coherence/Structure, Support/Development, Sentence Skills, and MLA formatting.
<70% = not passing (revise/resubmit)
70-79% = C
80-89% = B
90-100% = A
Please be aware that it is highly uncommon to receive a "perfect" score on an essay/paper submission in my class; this is not due to work being unsatisfactory, but rather because I believe there is always room for some improvement to any serious piece of writing. If you have earned a score of 90% or higher, that constitutes an A. In my class, if you have earned an A, you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing. Let go of any notion of "perfect" and try to embrace the idea of "better than before."
For most of the work submitted, I will provide written comments in the gradebook comment area for each particular assignment. (Some homework/participation grades may be submitted without comment if the score is fairly self-explanatory.) I strongly urge you to adjust your notification settings in Canvas to receive a notification when I add a comment to your submissions. This way, you should see my feedback in a timely manner. Any work that earns less than 90% may be revised based on my feedback and resubmitted for a new score. Please be sure to read my comments and/or consult the rubric score for an understanding of how each grade was calculated. If you would like to ask questions or discuss my feedback, I encourage you to schedule a meeting with me.