Class
Sessions: 8 am to 9:30 Mon. and Wed., LA-15
Office Hours: Mon. and Wed.
11-12:30; Tues. and Thurs. 1:30-2:30
Office: LA-7D
Phone
Number: 909-941-2412 (This number has an answering machine and is located in my office;
you may call this number 24 hours a day).
Class Web Page:
http://locutus.ucr.edu/~cathy/s99-350.html
Email: cathy@cassandra.ucr.edu
Course
Description: This class will give students practice in English grammar, punctuation, sentence
structure, and sentence variety. The course is designed to prepare students for English 450. This
course is offered only on a credit or no credit basis.
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, you should ...
1. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the
fundamental elements of the English language (words, sentences, parts of speech) and their
characteristics.
2. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the logical relationship between
the parts of a sentence.
3. Be able to recognize and compose complete, correct, and logical
sentences, particularly in short paragraphs.
4. Be able to identify parts of speech, phrases, and
clauses.
5. Be able to recognize and compose sentences in a variety of sentence patterns.
6. Be able to apply the rules of punctuation and capitalization correctly and effectively.
7. Be able to read and understand short essays.
8. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of
the basic elements of a paragraph.
9. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the writing
process and basic study skills, particularly in relationship to yourself.
10. Be able to
demonstrate an understanding of behavior that facilitates productive, harmonious group work.
11. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of how respect, responsibility, promptness, and clarity
contribute to academic success.
Required Materials for Every Class
Session
(1) Fawcett, Susan and Alvin Sandberg. Grassroots with Readings: The
Writer's Workbook. 6th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
(2) A college-level
dictionary
(3) An envelop or folder to store your homework and class materials
Plagiarism Policy
Any idea of another person must be cited as that person's idea
(ideas from lectures, interviews, the internet, videos, books, journals, etc.) Failure to indicate the
idea is another person's is plagiarism. Any exact wording of another author (including as few as two
words) used by students must be indicated by quotation marks or the MLA, indented, long quotation
format, or it is plagiarism. Any use of the sentence structure of another is plagiarism. Plagiarism
receives a grade of ZERO. If the plagiarism is malicious, extensive, or repeated, the student
discipline policy will be applied (see page 19 of the 1998-9 Catalogue or page 14 of the
Schedule of Classes).
Grading Scale (to receive a grade of CR, your
grade must be a 74 or above).
A+ 98 B+ 88 C+ 78 *D+ 68 *F 50
A 95 B 85 C 75 *D 65 *Not a Passing Grade
A- 93 B- 83
*C- 73 *D- 63
Grading Schedule: You can expect assignments that are turned
in on time back in one to two weeks.
Calculating Your Course Grade
The course grade is calculated in the following manner.
1. There are twenty-two quizzes
tentatively scheduled. Select the twenty best and add their scores together. Divide the number by
20. This resulting average is worth 50 points, so divide the number by 2 to get the number of points
you have earned towards the final grade.
2. The three final, proofread drafts of paragraphs are
worth 10 points. Add the scores for these together and divide by three. Round to the nearest whole
number. Divide the result by 10 to get the number of points earned towards the final grade.
3. The homework and any additional work collected or evaluated during the course is worth 35
points. There are forty-two scheduled homework exercises. Select the best thirty-five. Add the
scores of these together and divide by 35. Multiply this number by .3 and round to the nearest whole
number to figure out how many points you have earned toward the final grade.
4. The final
exam is worth 5 points.
5. Add these numbers together; this is your raw score. Record each
absence or partial missed class. Subtract two points from your grade for each absences and one point
for each partially missed class.
Attendance Policy: Each missed class is two points
off your raw course grade score; each partially missed class is one point off your score. Role will
be taken at each class. Because this is a pass/fail class, there are no exceptions to the deductions for
missing a part of or a whole class. Consult "Calculating Your Grade" and "Grading Scale" to
understand the effects of missing class.
Late Work: None of the 41 scheduled
homework assignments will be accepted late. Since only the best 35 will count towards your grade,
missing some due to emergencies should not hurt your grade. No quizzes will be permitted to be
made up, given that the two lowest quizzes will be dropped. Late final drafts will lose 3 points for
each day that they are late. The final exam cannot be rescheduled or taken at any other time than
that stated in the Spring 1999 Schedule of Classes.
Advice from Cathy ...
1. Make going to class a priority--it is more important to come to some of class than none, so come
in late if you arrive late. Likewise, if some personal emergency occurs, come to class without
homework rather than missing the class.
2. Come to class prepared: bring your textbook,
dictionary, paper to write on, and pencils.
3. Be prepared to have your homework collected.
Do not tear pages out of your textbook, do homework involving the textbook on separate paper or
photocopies. I will specify which assignments must be done on photocopies.
4. Ask questions
and talk about your worries, problems, or fears about the class material in class or at my office
hours. The school has a Basic Skills Lab, tutoring services, academic counselors, and health
professionals to assist you. Get help if you need it.
5. Schedule time to do any reading for the
class--treat the reading as a serious assignment. If you try to read your assignments in bed or as you
are doing something else, you will not understand the readings or be able to correctly answer the
questions about the readings.
Tentative Class Schedule
Week 1
1) Jan. 11 Discussion of syllabus and code of cooperation.
2) Jan. 13 Quiz 1 on syllabus. Have
read "Exploring the Writing Process" (pages 4-7). Discussion about dictionaries and the homework
practices.
Homework #1- 2 Due: Practice 1 and 2 (page 6).
Week 2
Jan.
18 Martin Luther King Day/No School
3) Jan. 20 Quiz 2 on "Exploring the Writing Process"
and dictionaries. Have read "Prewriting to Generate Ideas" (pages 8-15).
Homework #3-5
Due: Practice 2 of page 9, Practice of page 12, Practice 2 of page 14.
Week 3
4) Jan. 25 Quiz 3 on "Prewriting to Generate Ideas." Have read "Effective Reading" and "Women
Are Missing from Newspaper Pages" (pages 405-407).
5) Jan. 27 Quiz 4 on "Effective
Reading" and "Women Are Missing from Newspaper Pages." Have read "Defining the Paragraph
and Topic Sentence" (pages 16-19).
Homework #6 Due: Practice on pages 18 and 19.
Jan. 29 (Friday, no class) Last day to add this class; students not officially on the role by this day
do not receive grades or course credit and may no longer attend classes.
Week 4
6) Feb. 1 Have read "A Homemade Education" (pages 407-410) and "Capitalization" (pages
318-323).
Homework #7 Due: Practice of pages 320-321 (must be on photocopies).
7)
Feb. 3 Quiz 5 on "A Homemade Education" and "Capitalization."
Have read pages 354-357
on spelling and "Commonly Misspelled Words" (pages 367-8). Group work on "Look-alikes/Sound
alikes" (pages 372-395).
Homework #8-9 Due: Practice of page 355 (must be on photocopy)
and Practice 1 of page 356 (must be on photocopy).
Feb. 5 (Friday, no class) Last day to drop
this class without having a grade or a "W" on your transcript.
Week 5
8) Feb.
8 Group work and presentations on "Look-alikes/Sound alikes."
Homework #10 Due: Chapter
Review pages 394-5 (must be on photocopies).
9) Feb. 10 Quiz 6 on "Look-alikes/Sound
alikes." Have read "Parts of Speech Review" (pages 400-403).
Week 6
Feb. 15
(Chaffey's) George Washington Holiday/No School
10) Feb. 17 Group work and
presentations on "Parts of Speech Review"
Week 7
11) Feb. 22 Quiz 7 on "Parts
of Speech Review." Have read "Say Yes to Yourself" (pages 424 427) and pages 19-27 of Chapter
3.
Homework #11 Due: Photocopy of freewriting on your own negative and positive thoughts
(see pages 425 and 426 for examples of negative and positive thoughts). (You will need the original
freewrite to help with your paper inspired on this reading).
12) Feb. 24 Quiz 8 on "Say Yes
to Yourself" and "Narrowing the Topic and Writing the Topic Sentence."
Homework #12-13
Due: Photocopy of topic sentence and brainstorming list for one of the three writing assignments
on page 427. (You will need the originals to write the paragraph).
Week 8
13)
Mar. 1 Quiz 9 on "Generating Ideas for the Body" (pages 23-24). Have read pages 28-34.
Homework #14-5 Due: Four photocopies of your first draft of your paragraph based on an
assignment on page 427. Practice 1 of page 33 (must be on photocopy).
14) Mar. 3 Discussion
of "Subjects and Verbs" (pages 66-77)
Homework Due: Final draft that has been proofread
of your paragraph (attach peer review sheets). (1st Final draft)
Week 9
15) Mar.
8 Have read "Subjects and Verbs" (pages 66-77).
Homework #16 Due: will be announced
on 3/3/99
16) Mar. 10 Quiz 10 on "Subjects and Verbs" (pages 66-77). Have read "Avoiding
Sentence Fragments" (pages 78-88)
Homework #17 Due: will be announced on 3/15/99
Week 10 Spring Break/No School
Paper Assignment Due March 22 (All seven
items must be turned in).
(1) Select a topic from pages 33-34 or page 89. Narrow the topic and
write a tentative topic sentence.
(2) Do freewriting, brainstorming, or clustering to generate
ideas.
(3) Select ideas and plan or outline them.
(4) Write your first draft.
(5) Get
someone to answer the five questions on the Peer Feedback form about your first draft.
(6)
Write your final draft.
(7) Proofread and correct final draft.
Week 11
17)
Mar. 22 Read "Emotional Intelligence" (pages 433-436) and "Writers' Workshop" (pages 92-93).
Discussion of "Coordination" (pages 186-190).
Homework #18 Due: In a folder, turn in your
topic, topic sentence, your prewriting, your plan, your first draft, the peer feedback questions, your
final draft with proofreading marks, and the proofread final draft. All seven items must be labelled
with your name and included in the folder. (You will receive a single grade for parts 1-4 and 6
towards your homework portion of the grade; part 7 is your 2nd Final Draft of the paragraph portion
of the grade).
18) Mar. 24 Quiz 11 on "Emotional Intelligence" and Chapters 7 and
8.
Have read "Coordination" (pages 186-190) and "Subordination" (pages 191-199).
Homework #19-20 Due: Review exercise pages 90-91 (must be on photocopy) and Practice 4 of
page 189.
Week 12
19) Mar. 29 Quiz 12 on "Coordination" and "Subordination."
Read "Avoiding Run-ons and Comma Splices."
Homework #21-22 Due: Practice 2 of pages
192-4 and Practice 3 of page 198.
20) Mar. 30 Quiz 13 on "Avoiding Run-ons and Comma
Splices" (pages 201-205). Read "Semicolons" and "Conjunctive Adverbs" (pages 209-218).
Homework #23 Due: Chapter Review pages 206-208 (must be done on photocopies).
Week
13
21) Apr. 5 Quiz 14 on "Semicolons" and "Conjunctive Adverbs." Read "Relative
Pronouns" and "-ING Modifiers" (pages 219-228).
Homework #24-26 Due: Practice of pages
220-221 and Practice 2 and 3 of page 223.
22) Apr. 7 Quiz 15 on "Relative Pronouns" and
"-ING Modifiers." Have read "For a Parent, There's No Language Dilemma" (pages 451-453)
Homework #27-28 Due: Proofreading exercise page 231 (must be on photocopy) and Combining
exercise page 232.
New Paper Assignment--parts (1) to (4) due 4/12/99
(1) Select a
topic from page 453 or page 229. Narrow the topic and write a tentative topic sentence.
(2)
Do freewriting, brainstorming, or clustering to generate ideas.
(3) Select ideas and plan or
outline them.
(4) Write your first draft.
Week 14
23) Apr. 12 Quiz 16 on
"For a Parent, There's No Language Dilemma." Read "Writer's Workshop" (pages 234-5) and
"Commas" (pages 324-334)
Homework #29 Due: Photocopies of your tentative topic
sentence, prewriting, plan or outline. Bring four photocopies of your first draft.
24) Apr. 14
Comma group presentations
Homework: Final, proofread version of your new paper
assignment due. (3rd final draft)
Week 15
25) Apr. 19 Quiz 17 on "Commas."
Read "Apostrophes" (pages 335-340) and "Direct and Indirect Quotations" (pages 341-345)
Homework #30-33 Due: Chapter Review page 334 (must be on photocopy) and Practices 1, 2, and
3 on page 337.
26) Apr. 21 Quiz 18 on "Apostrophes." Read "Writer's Workshop" (pages
350-1).
Homework #34-35 Due: Practice 1 and 2 of pages 343-4.
Week 16
27) Apr. 26 Quiz 19 on "Direct and Indirect Quotations." Read "Present Tense
(Agreement)" (pages 96-117).
Homework #36-38 Due: Practices 2 and 3 of pages 98-9 (must
do on photocopies); Practice 3 of page 104 (must be on photocopy).
28) Apr. 28 Quiz 20 on
"Present Tense (Agreement)."
Homework #39 Due: Chapter Review pages 118-9 (must be
on photocopies).
Week 17
29) May 3 Have read "Past Tense" (pages 120-130)
and "Consistent Tense" (pages 296 300).
Homework #40-41 Due: Practice 1 and 2 of pages
125-6.
30) May 5 Quiz 21 on "Past Tense." Read "Sports Nuts" (pages 437-439).
Homework #42 Due: Chapter Review pages 131-2 (must be on photocopies).
Week
18
31) May 10 Quiz 22 on "Consistent Tense" and "Sports Nuts."
Exam
Preparation
32) May 12 No student work, other than the final exam, will be accepted after the
completion of this class. Exam Preparation
Week 19 Finals Week
May 17
(Monday) 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm Final Exam
You will need your textbook, dictionary, and a
blue book to take the final exam. The exam will cover all material covered in the class. The exam
is
"open book" in that you may use your textbook, dictionary, and any notes or study guides that you
have.