English 1A:
Reading and Composition
Thinking about enrolling in English 1A? What do I need to qualify?
This course is the same freshman composition course that is offered at all colleges and universities in the country, and thus it is transferable to nearly all four-year institutions, including campuses of the CSU and UC systems. To enroll in this course, students must either qualify for English 1A on the English Placement Test offered through the Shasta College Assessment Center or complete English 190 with a grade of "C" or better. This screening of prospective students is necessary because success in English 1A will depend heavily on an adequate level of writing skills that students bring into the course; students are expected to already have a substantial grasp of grammar, syntax, and organization involving their writing. What does this mean for you? If you feel that your writing skills are not at this level, that you tend to make frequent sentence-level mistakes and have difficulty organizing extended analysis of a topic, you should strongly consider taking English 190 or 280. Doing this will be to your benefit because in these other courses you can develop your writing skills to the level that will allow you to perform effectively in English 1A.
What kind of work and how much of it can I expect?
The emphasis of this course will be on quality of work rather than quantity. There are only three short (approximately 4 pages, typed, double-spaced) essays and a longer final essay (7-10 pages) that will incorporate the strategies and approaches used in the three previous assignments. Four essays doesn't sound too bad, does it? However, you need to keep in mind that all three essays will be research-oriented, meaning that you will have to find, evaluate, and effectively incorporate information from any number of sources: newspapers, books, interviews, lectures, web pages, etc.
In addition to the essays, there will be assigned readings from our textbooks, and written exercises designed to develop research-oriented skills such as effective analytical reading; accurate summarizing, paraphrasing and quoting of sources; avoiding plagiarism; evaluating, selecting, synthesizing, and presenting information. The overall purpose of these readings and exercises is to develop a clear understanding of what makes for good research.
What else will count towards the course grade?
In addition to the essays, reading assignments, and written exercises, you are also expected to regularly participate in class discussions and workshops. Workshops involve the entire class reading drafts of individual student essays. Although this may sound pretty agonizing, it's actually been proven to be a truly effective way to develop both reading and writing skills; readers get a stronger sense of what makes an essay work or not work, and this knowledge can in turn be applied to their own writing. Everyone in the class has the same goal in mind, to become better writers, and workshops are an important step in reaching that goal.
How important will attendance be?
Attendance will play a significant role in your course grade. Just showing up will not translate into a good grade; the participation component of the grading requires you to make a contribution to discussions and class activities. If you miss classes, you will miss important components of the writing process, and this nearly always results in lower grades for assignments and essays.
If at any time you plan on missing a class for a legitimate reason (a family crisis, a college-sanctioned event, etc.), it is your responsibility to inform me of your upcoming absence and to complete the work assigned.