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ENG 101 OT 7: English Composition I

Spring 2025 | 3 credits

 

Course Syllabus

Instructor Information

Instructor Name: Marianna Krejci-Papa, Ph.D.
Office Location:
Office Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays by appointment
Phone: 774-256-2012 (cell)
Instructor Email: Marianna Krejci-Papa, Ph.D.
Dean’s Office Phone: Liberal Arts & Professional Programs: 617-405-5920

Course Description

A required course for all students who have demonstrated acceptable writing proficiency as measured by a standard test or satisfactory completion of ENG 090.  This course will emphasize developing the student's ability to articulate his/her thoughts in writing a coherent, unified, and well-structured composition.  The student will write a series of papers.  The student will also learn the techniques needed to produce a library research paper.  The required research paper is a major component of the course.  

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Prerequisites/Co-requisites: Acceptable writing proficiency as measured by a standard test or satisfactory completion of ENG 090

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

CLO 1. Read critically and distinguish between opinion and evidence.

CLO 2. Compose unified coherent paragraphs that develop topic sentences with detailed support.

CLO 3. Compose essays using various rhetorical strategies.

CLO 4. Compose essays with a developed thesis.

CLO 5. Compose a research paper following commonly accepted standards.

CLO 6. Utilize various strategies (discovering ideas, providing evidence, idea organization, revising and editing) to write essays in class and outside of class.

CLO 7. Develop proficiency in oral communication through a brief class presentation.)

(CLO = Course Learning Outcome)

Course Materials & Resources

Required textbooks:

Bullock, Richard, et al. The Little Seagull Handbook. 4^th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,           Inc., 2021. ISBN 978-0-393-42291-7 [Text is referred to as LSH in syllabus.]

 

Goldthwaite, Melissa A., et al. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. Shorter 15th ed. New

York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2020. ISBN 978-0-393-69024-8 [Text is referred to as NR in syllabus.]

Course Assessments

Exercises (every module) 40% of final grade

These take a variety of forms: discussion posts and comments on discussion posts, short quizzes, practice writing and editing a targeted feature of grammar, practice with summarizing, quoting, and paraphrasing. Think of the exercises as the online equivalent of the full range of classroom activities and participating in a community of learners.  Sometimes students will need to share their written work or exercises with classmates (“DiscP” is the abbreviation for these on the course outline below).  Sometimes students will submit work privately to the instructor (“Assn” on the outline). Unless an assignment is labeled “Final Draft” or “Final Presentation,” both in Module 14, or numbered in the Progress Report series, it belongs to the “Exercise” category.  Each individual exercise is a small number of points, generally 10-20, but collectively over 14 modules these small tasks support your work on the larger final assignments and add up to 40% of the final grade.  This percentage reinforces that skill development takes place in small steps; large complex tasks, such as writing a research paper, demand deployment of a variety of separate skills.   

12 Progress Reports on reading and research (modules 1-12), 30% of final grade

Students will choose a topic to explore through independent reading. This reading will form the basis for an argumentative research paper and a recorded presentation (see below).  Students will complete a series of 12 Progress Reports (10-15 points each) that lead them through the steps and stages of learning through reading, and of mastering and “owning” a field of expertise. By Progress Report 8, student should feel like the class’s “resident expert” on the topic they have chosen and be ready to both write and speak about the subject. The independent reading topic must be one that students can access through a minimum of one book, one journal article (peer-edited), and one reference work, in addition to at least two additional sources (the student’s choice). If these three types of sources are not available for a topic, that topic may not be used for this assignment. Students should choose the topic carefully and mindfully.

 

Overview of Progress Report Topics:

 

1. Beginning with curiosity
2. Choose the topic or have the topic choose you.
3. Locate sources: library and internet
4. Evaluate sources
5. Read Critically
6. Taking Notes: summaries
7. Taking Notes: paraphrases and quotations
8. Becoming an expert: Your reflections and insights in a podcast
9. Transition to writing: “turning the ship”
10. A complete first draft
11. Re-visioning: Structural editing
12. Second Draft: Copy editing and final document preparation

Research paper (final draft), 7-9 pages, 20% of the final grade

This research paper will be the culmination (final result) of the independent reading and research as documented in the 12 Progress Reports.  It is due the last module of the course. The final draft of the research paper must grow and develop from the work students have submitted in the progress reports. It must reflect the student’s voice and be consistent with the student’s voice as demonstrated in other work in the class. Final drafts that do not clearly demonstrate continuity with the student’s progress report journey will not be accepted.  The final draft should have a title page, citations, a works cited section, and images or figures if required.    

Recorded presentation or podcast, 10% of final grade

This presentation or podcast will give students practice in expressing what they have learned over the prior 7 weeks through the independent reading assignment in a spoken, mediated form. The spoken presentation must show consistency with the progress reports. It is the last module of the course.

Course Delivery Format

Traditional Online (OT): This is an online course. All aspects of the class will take place in the Canvas Learning Management System rather than in a classroom each week. Instructional features include instructor-made video lectures, discussion questions, assignments, assessments, other activities, and opportunities for questions and answers. There are no on campus meetings scheduled for this course, however, we will have at least 3 voluntary, virtual meetings to support your learning and create class community.

Communication & Feedback

I use the “Announcements” section of Canvas to remind you of important dates and upcoming work.  I will also use the Announcements section to invite you to voluntary Zoom sessions where you can ask questions and meet classmates. The best way to reach me is to email me: Marianna.KrejciPapa@quincycollege.edu. Remember to use your Quincy College email address; refer to the Student Handbook for information about this.  Please give me 48 hours to respond to emails, though I can often get back to you within 24 hours.  For an emergency, you can call or text my cell 774-256-2012 or call the Dean’s office 617-405-5920. I will post feedback on written work within a week of the due date.  If you have questions about my comments, or concerns about your grade, you can use Canvas’s comment section after each assignment or you can email me.  I like questions, as it shows you care.   

Attendance & Participation

QC Attendance Guidelines for Online Classes: Reporting student attendance in online courses must follow federal regulations. According to these regulations, using Canvas LMS data showing that a student has only logged into the online course and not participated is not sufficient to demonstrate attendance.

Students must establish their “attendance” or “participation” by engaging in online course learning activities such as, but not limited to:

• Submitting assignments via Canvas
• Engaging in online discussion boards
• Completing assessments such as quizzes/exams
• Engaging in course group work via Google Collaborate, Canvas Groups
• Interacting with instructor via Canvas messaging and/or email or 1:1 Zoom
• Participating in third-party publisher activities
• Viewing and completing video quizzes
• Attending scheduled mandatory or optional virtual class sessions

Please note that these learning activities can easily be tracked by Canvas, email, and third-party publisher sites.

Class Cancellation Policy

In the event a class has to be cancelled, an announcement will be posted on the course home page in Canvas; an email will also be sent to the class. If a class is cancelled, students should always check for additional announcements regarding assignments prior to the next class.

Grading Policy

The grading policy section explains the overall grading scheme, which is the basis for final grades.

• 40% Exercises (including Discussion Posts)
• 30% Progress Reports on the Research paper
• 20% Research Paper Final Draft (including title page and works cited)
• 10% Final Video Presentation or Podcast

 

Letter Grade	Percentage (%)	Grade Point Average (GPA)
A	93 and above	4.0
A-	90-92	3.7
B+	87-89	3.3
B	83-86	3.0
B-	80-82	2.7
C+	77-79	2.3
C	73-76	2.0
C-	70-72	1.7
D	60-69	1.0
F	59 and below	0.0
I	Incomplete	0.0
W	Withdrawal	0.0
AUD	Audit	0.0

Make-Up Policy

As this is an intensive course, you should make every effort to manage your time carefully to keep up with the assignments.  In research-based writing, later assignments build on earlier work, so it is important to keep up; contact your instructor immediately if you have an emergency that interrupts your work in this course. Written work must be made up within one week of the original due date.

 

Please reference the Policy Manual for information about make-up work and exams.

Additional Information

Canvas Learning Management System (LMS):

If you have questions about Canvas login, please submit a help desk ticket to IT support.

Quincy College recommends you use the Firefox or Google Chrome web browser to access and participate in its online and hybrid courses. Internet Explorer is not recommended.

Academic Integrity:

Quincy College fosters a high standard of academic honesty for students, faculty, and staff, and expects all to adhere to the basic values of mutual respect and responsibility as well as individual and institutional integrity.

To promote the best environment for learning, courses utilize test proctoring and Turnitin, similarity/plagiarism software to maintain integrity of tests and coursework. Please contact your instructor for specific information about the academic integrity software used in your courses.

Our test proctoring software, Respondus Lockdown Browser, does require a working microphone and webcam. A student guide to Respondus Monitor will be made available during the course.

Please refer to the Student Handbook for more information on our Academic Integrity Policy.

Turnitin:

Written assignments in the course may be submitted to Turnitin for a similarity/plagiarism review. This can be done by you or your instructor.

Turnitin generates a similarity report of your writing by comparing it with a database of journals, books, websites, student papers and other work. This report can help determine when the sources are used fairly, cited properly, and paraphrased effectively. Detection of similarities does not necessarily mean plagiarism has occurred, as the copied text might be properly referenced.

Turnitin helps to foster academic integrity and encourages you to produce original academic work.

The Use of AI Tools:

You are permitted to use AI only as indicated on specific assignments, primarily to assist you in gathering potential bibliographical resources and investigating authors whose work you are considering using. Any attempt to represent AI output inappropriately as your own written work will be treated as plagiarism. At no time and for no assignment is Chat GPT or any form of AI-generated text allowed to create or process writing that will be submitted for a grade.  Dishonest use of AI or other types of cheating such as the manifest theft of the ideas of others (for example by handing in a paper that was purchased from the internet, or was borrowed or stolen from another person), will result in a zero for the assignment without the possibility of making up the points. All cases of plagiarism are reported to the Dean’s office.

1. Why so harsh a rejection of such a marvelous invention?
2. This is neither harsh, nor a rejection; it is an expression of the relationship between this course’s content and academic life.

A major goal of this class is to teach students to compose research papers following standard procedures, CLO #5.  An important part of research and the writing based on research is to develop the author’s mastery of content and ability to express that mastery both orally and in writing.  The individual writer’s voice (I am using “voice” in its literary sense of a writer’s style which is created through unique language usage) is a vital part of expressing mastery in writing. Encouraging students to strengthen and improve their voice is therefore a central goal.  Students will be required to document the development of their voice in both written assignments and in audio recordings.  The voice I hear in the audio, read in all course work, watch emerge in the progress reports, and hear in the final research paper, must be self-consistent.  In other words, the voice in all of these assignments must link up and match, creating a unified voice in the student’s portfolio of work for the course. Because of this requirement, students who inappropriately use AI will inevitably earn lower scores in the voice category on all assignments even if they are not “caught” using AI inappropriately—and this is because the world’s most powerful large language model does not have a particular person’s history, experience, or way of moving language through the world.

If your goal was to learn how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, would it be an asset to your learning if you used a calculator instead of doing these tasks for yourself?  Of course not.  People who master the basics of mathematics in elementary school go on to save time in higher-level calculations (in high school, college, the working world) which they do with the full understanding of mathematics that they gained through doing the hard work themselves. Similarly in the world of writing, I do not ask you for an essay because I wish to keep the physical object as an heirloom.  I ask you for an essay because I want you to do the mental work necessary to think, remember, sort, sift, prioritize, compose, evaluate, and edit written work. I want you to develop your written voice.

Writing is a form of thinking.  It feeds, expands, and invigorates the mind the way exercise invigorates the body.  If you run 5 miles, your heart and lungs benefit.  If you take the bus for those 5 miles, your heart and lungs have no benefit.  We never misunderstand the benefits of running, lifting weights, or practicing the swing of a bat when an athletic coach or personal trainer asks us to do those tasks.  Reading and writing exercise the brain and make us fit for a range of tasks we could not otherwise accomplish no less than physical exercise fine tunes the body. 

Would you show up to soccer practice and ask to ride an electric scooter because there is too much running?  The world’s best soccer players may drive to the stadium and home, but on the soccer field, they run.  Academics has a playing field, and on that field, at least in this class, expect to read and to write through your own hard work. 

Course Accessibility Statement:

Quincy College is committed to providing access and inclusion for all persons with disabilities. Students with disabilities who need access to course content due to course design limitations should contact Student Accessibility Services (SAS) sas@quincycollege.edu or by phone (617) 984-1682.

Please refer to our Student Handbook for more information about Student Accessibility Services.

Title IX Policy:

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination, including sexual misconduct, sexual violence, sexual harassment, and retaliation. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, click here for more information about QC’s Title IX Policies and Procedures.

Course Schedule

Abbreviations:

LSH = The Little Seagull Handbook, one of the required textbooks

NR = Norton Reader, one of the required textbooks

P or PP: A Page or PowerPoint, accessible in this module on Canvas

Assn = Individual assignment, i.e. submitted only to the instructor in Canvas. Some Exercises and Progress Reports will be done individually with no obligation to share with the class.

DiscP = Discussion post, work shared with peers in Canvas but graded privately. These may be exercises or parts of the Progress Report series. “DiscP” refers only to the obligation to share using the Discussion feature of Canvas—it is not the name of an assignment class. 

C+F= Comment and Feedback on peers’ discussion posts, graded privately.  All of these belong to the “Exercises” requirement. 

 

 

Module + Theme	Learning Resources	Assignments	Dates
Module 1   “Curiosity”	LSH: 1- W-8, “Building Up Academic Habits of Mind,” pp. 54-57. 2-W-6a-b, “Developing Paragraphs,” pp. 35-42 3-R-1a-b, “Doing Research,” pp.121-122.	1-Assn: Condense the syllabus to one page, two paragraphs   2-DiscP: Progress Report #1. What are you curious about?  Introduce yourself by explaining topics (at least 3) that appeal to you. 3-C+F: Connect your interests to others to form supportive peer groups	March 17-19
Module 2   “Chart a direction”	LSH: 1-W-9b, “Tips for Writing an Argument” 2-R-1c-d, “Narrowing Your Topic’s Focus,” and “Posing a Research Question” NR: 3-“What are Rhetorical Strategies?” pp. xxvi-xxvii (the Preface) PP: 4-“Everything a scholar can write about a chair.”	1-Assn: Progress Report #2. Choose a direction for your research paper and explain its importance to you personally 2-DiscP: What rhetorical strategies might you use to shape your topic?	March 20-23
Module 3   “Hunt + gather”	LSH: 1-R-1e-I, “Finding Relevant Sources,” pp. 123-133 2-MLA-c, “Sample Work Cited,” pp. 210 PP: 3- “Finding Something to Say”	1-Assn: Progress Report #3, Library and Internet Research. 2-Exercise in previewing, scanning, and skimming	March 24-26
Module 4   “Evaluate + Track”	LSH: 1-R-2, “Evaluating Sources,” pp. 153-141 2-MLA-c, “List of Works Cited,” pp. 166-196 (excerpts) PPs: 3- “Evaluating Sources” and the “Difference Between Scholarship and Other Kinds of Writing”	1-Assn: Progress Report #4, identifying the type of information in your sources, whether argumentative or expository, scholarly or popular, distinguishing evidence and opinion 2-DiscP: Share a source of scholarly information	March 27-30
Module 5   “Reading is work”	LSH: 1-W-3, “Reading Strategies,” pp. 9-17. NR: 2-NR, Frederick Douglass, “Learning to Read,” pp. 365-369. PP: 3- “Four Types of Reading”	1-Assn: Progress Report #5, what does it mean to read critically? Highlighting, annotation, questioning, re-reading, note-taking. Full bibliography and notes for 1/5 sources. 2-DiscP: What did it mean to Frederick Douglass to be able to read? Why did he take risks to learn?	March 31- April 2
Module 6   “Talk back”	LSH: 1-W-12a-b “Summary/ Response Essays,” pp. 83-88 2-R-3, “Synthesizing Ideas,” pp. 141-143. NR: 3-Tara Westover, “Educated,” pp. 74-83.	1-Assn: Progress Report #6, summary of 2/5 sources. 2-Assn: Summary/Response to Tara Westover’s “Educated.”	April 3-6
Module 7   “Talk back . . . some more”	LSH: 1-R-4a-d, “Integrating Sources (paraphrasing and quotation), pp. 143-148. 2-P-4a-h, “Quotation Marks,” pp. 460-465. NR: 3-Maya Angelou, “Graduation,” 46-55. PPs: 4-Paraphrase and Quotation	1-Assn: Progress Report #7, paraphrases and quotations in the notes for sources and 4/5. 2-DiscP: Paraphrase and Quotation exercise (see Canvas) using Maya Angelou’s “Graduation.”	April 7-9
Module 8   “Speak as an expert-in-training”	LSH: L-11, “Englishes,” pp. 442-450	1-Assn: Progress Report #8, 5-minute podcast or video explaining your research process so far, what you have read, what you have learned, and any new insights you have made. 2-DiscP: Write a one-sentence summary of your topic for two different audiences: an elementary school student, and a professor who teaches in the area of your topic.	April 10-13
Module 9   “Turning the ship”	LSH: 1-W-4a-c, “Writing Processes,” pp. 18-22. 2-W-9c, “Sample Essay,” pp. 64-67. NR: 3-Rebecca Solnit, “How to Be a Writer,” 341-344. PP: 4- “Turning the Ship”	1-Assn: Progress Report #9, use one of the strategies we learned (freewriting, brainstorming, mapping, questioning, diagramming, to get your ideas out of your head and onto the paper. 2-DiscP: What is the most useful piece of advice in Rebecca Solnit’s “How to Be a Writer?”	April 14-16
Module 10   “First Draft”	LSH: 1-W-5a-d, “Parts of the Essay,” pp. 31-34 2-R-4e-h, “Using Signal phrases,” Acknowledging Sources,” “Avoiding Plagiarism,” “Understanding Documentation Styles,” pp. 149-155.	1-Progress Report #10, a complete rough draft 2-DiscP: Share one in-text citation you will use in your paper. 3-DiscP: How do you attract attention?  Present your peers with two different strategies for capturing attention in the first paragraph of your essay and see which one they like best.	April 17-20
Module 11   “Look again”	LSH: 1-W-4d, “Taking Stock and Revising,” pp. 22-25	1-Progress Report #11, use sideways reading to look at your draft in a new way. 2-DiscP: Learn from a peer or another reader	April 21-23
Module 12   “Clean up”	LSH: 1-W-4e, “Editing and Proofreading,” pp. 25-26. 2-W-6c, “Flow and Parallelism,” pp. 42-45. 3-E-6, “Words Often Confused,” pp. 360-364. NR: 4-Stephen King, “On Writing,” pp. 353-355.	1-Progress Report #12, Final Draft 2-DiscP: Share a “Stephen King moment” as described in “On Writing.” Edit one section of your paper (you may do this yourself or you may use another editor as long as the editing produces and improvement).  Share your before/after version.	April 24-27
Module 13   “Catch up”	LSH: 1-MLA-d, “Formatting a Research Paper,” pp. 197-210. 2-W-7a-e, “Designing What You Write,” pp. 46-52	(This time is reserved for individual work students need to do before submitting their final drafts.  Assignments will be made individually as needed.)	April 28-30
Module 14   “Submit”	LSH: 1-W-4f, “Reflecting on Your Work,” pp. 27-28.	1-Assn: Final Presentation, a 5-minute podcast or video recording about what went well on this research journey and what you would do differently next time. 2-Assn: Final Draft	May 1-4

 

 

This syllabus is subject to change at the instructor’s discretion.