EN 100 ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Dr. Hamblin
rhamblin@semo.edu
573-651-2628

 I. Catalog description

   Focus on the process of effective written communication.  Three hours.

 II. Prerequisites

   EN-099 or satisfactory placement exam results.

III. Purposes or objectives

   A. To refine the students' composition skills as reflected in coherent thought, effective organization, reasonable stylistic force and fluency, and regularity in the grammatical and mechanical conventions generally practiced in educated usage.

   B. To practice increasingly sophisticated forms of composition assignments requiring increasingly higher orders of thought.

   C. To promote critical reading of their writing and the writing of their peers as a basis for revision.

IV. Expectations of students

   A. To participate in class discussions and peer review/collaborations.

   B. To practice writing as a recursive process.

   C. To turn in assignments as required.

   D. To achieve a level of writing appropriate to entry level into EN 140.

 V. Course content

   A. Writing as process: informal and formal discovery techniques, problem solving techniques (2 weeks).

   B. Writing to purpose:

            remembering/observing (1 week)
            investigating (2 weeks)
            explaining (2 weeks)
            evaluating (2 weeks)
            problem solving (2 weeks)
            arguing/persuasion (2 weeks)

   C. Writing as final edited product (3 weeks)

VI. Textbooks

   Stephen Reid, The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers, 5th ed. (Textbook Service); Lynn Troyka, Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers (student purchase).

VII. Basis for student evaluation

   A. At least one essay representing each of the purposes of writing (60%).

   B. A final examination, including but not limited to an original essay or revision (20%).

   C. Class activities (20%).